First, I'd like to apologise for not updating in so long! I haven't been able to find the motivation to write in the past month or so, so I just stopped for a bit. I hope you're all still out there, and hopefully this update would be good enough :)

I will definitely try my best to update more often! I have pretty much planned out all the chapters already, so I just need to start writing them out. Thanks so much again to everyone who has subscribed and commented - definitely a great form of encouragement for me ^^

Enjoy!

‘’Hi noona, hope it wasn’t hard for you to find this place!’’ Baekhyun smiled and greeted Taeyeon as she approached the music studio that Baekhyun asked her to meet.

Taeyeon smiled and slightly gasped when Baekhyun approached to hug her. She awkwardly patted his back and pulled away when she felt her heart was beating a bit too fast.

Baekhyun turned around and another young boy with big eyes sat in front of the piano. He nodded at Taeyeon as they met eyes.

‘’Nice to meet you, Taeyeon sunbae. I’m Kyungsoo.’’

Taeyeon nodded. ‘’Nice to meet you, Kyungsoo. You can call me noona like Baekhyun does.’’ She smiled as they shook hands.

Baekhyun clasped his hands together as he looked at the two. ‘’So let’s make good use of the time that we have and hope that my project will get an A!’’ the three chuckled as they settled down.

After spending some quality time at the studio, Taeyeon and Kyungsoo managed to help Baekhyun finish his music project. Kyungsoo had a family event to attend so he left almost immediately everything was finished, leaving Taeyeon and Baekhyun behind to pack away all the equipment.

‘’Where do I put these?’’ Taeyeon asked as she held up a few music sheets.

Baekhyun looked up. ‘’Oh just put them in the black folder behind you, Noona. Thanks.’’ Taeyeon nodded and placed the music sheets in the folder. As she revealed the contents of the folder, she found some finished and unfinished art pieces, mostly black and white sketches placed inside. Out of curiosity, she picked one which was a drawing of their school to examine it.

‘’Baekhyun? Did you draw this?’’ Taeyeon kept her eyes locked on the art piece.

Baekhyun approached her and laughed awkwardly. ‘’Yeah…is it bad?’’

Taeyeon blinked and shook her head. ‘’No. This is…amazing. Wow. I never knew you could draw like this. It looks like a photo of our school, an exact replica.’’

Baekhyun rubbed his neck shyly. ‘’Thank you Noona. I never really showed anyone my work…since I never draw in colour, so I thought it might look dull and boring.’’

Taeyeon looked at him, confused. ‘’Why not?’’

‘’The best quality watercolours or paints that I want are expensive. So I just settle for pencil sketching since it’s easier and much cheaper.’’ He chuckled.

Taeyeon nodded. ‘’Money is a big problem at home…?’’ Baekhyun stopped smiling.

‘’Did I tell you about my family?’’

Taeyeon put down the art piece and sat down next to Baekhyun. ‘’I’m here to listen whenever you need someone.’’

He sighed. ‘’My dad…is in jail right now.’’ Taeyeon’s eyes widened.

‘’I’m so sorry Baek-‘’

‘No Noona, it’s alright.’’ He smiled a little. ‘’My dad had a business partnership with someone before, it didn’t go well and although it was the partner’s fault, the issue dragged my dad down too. It’s been a year now.’’

‘’Sorry Baekhyun. I didn’t know…’’

Baekhyun shook his head. ‘’I trust you Noona. I know you won’t tell anyone about this, right?’’ Taeyeon nodded.

‘’Mom has to work for dad’s part as well so that I can go to school and live healthily. I would work but mom says I’m still too young and should just focus on studying so I can get a better job to help them out later on. And maybe get my own art equipment in the future.’’ He smiled as he thought of it.

Taeyeon smiled as she stared at Baekhyun’s face. ‘’You’re a strong boy. It’ll be alright.’’

Baekhyun met eyes with Taeyeon and hugged her. ‘’Thank you so much, Noona.’’

Taeyeon patted his back as she felt her face burning. ‘’N-no problem, Baekhyun.’’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Taeyeon and Baekhyun bid goodbye, Taeyeon decided to head to the mall to stock up some stationary. Upon arriving the stationary store she usually goes to, there was a gift set of paints and colour pencils set on the table at the entrance. It was a brand promoting their newest art equipment, and it contained everything an artist would want and would need to produce the best art pieces. Taeyeon smiled, and without hesitation, she picked up a set and headed for the cashier.

As Taeyeon left the store, she bumped into Yuri who was walking into the store.

‘’Taeyeon ah! You’re here to buy stationary? Oh what’s in that big bag?’’

Taeyeon slowly hid the bag behind her. ‘’Nothing much, I was just getting a gift for my cousin. You’re buying stationary too?’’

Yuri smiled. ‘’Yeah, I lost my pencil case actually. I need to buy a completely new one.’’ Taeyeon laughed.

‘’So clumsy, Yul.’’

The girls laughed. ‘’Anyways, did I tell you Tae? I’m going out with Baekhyun tomorrow.’’

Taeyeon stopped laughing almost immediately. ‘’Oh…for what?’’

‘’The boy said he wanted to celebrate our middle birthday together, isn’t that sweet of him?’’ Yuri smiled as she thought about it.

‘’Yeah…it’s cute. Have fun then, Yul. Tell me all about it.’’

‘’Sure! I’ll see you soon then!’’ The girls hugged and bid goodbye.

Taeyeon looked down at the gift she just bought and sighed. Why can’t I be Yuri?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘’Sorry Baek, I know I’m late!’’

Baekhyun turned around and saw Yuri running towards him. He grinned widely and waved enthusiastically.

‘’No worries, noona. I just got here actually.’’ He smiled as they met.

‘’Should we head to the cinema then?’’ Yuri smiled and Baekhyun nodded.

The two walked side by side to the cinema and coincidentally chose the same movie.

‘’Didn’t know you’d like this kind of movie, noona. Its hardcore action.’’ Baekhyun asked as he was paying for the tickets.

‘’Well, I watch any genre. But I heard this was a good movie and the trailer seemed exciting, so I’ve wanted to watch this. How much was the ticket? I’ll pay you back.’’ Yuri smiled as she started to rummage through her wallet.

Baekhyun reached out to stop her hand searching. ‘’My treat, noona. We’re celebrating your birthday.’’

Yuri smiled. ‘’And yours too. Dinner is on me later.’’ Baekhyun nodded and they walked off to catch the movie.

After the movie, they strolled around the mall when Yuri spotted a new jewelry shop. She quickly approached it with Baekhyun blindly following.

‘’You like this shop, noona?’’ Baekhyun asked once they were inside.

‘’I think it’s new. Tae would love this.’’ She muttered to herself and then turned around to look at Baekhyun. ‘’I hope you don’t mind staying here for a while.’’

Baekhyun smiled. ‘’No problem, noona. Taeyeon noona likes jewelry?’’

‘’Yeah. She doesn’t buy a lot actually but she looks good with all sorts of jewelry. I better bring her here next time. These necklaces look so good.’’ She talked as she looked through each one.

Baekhyun chuckled softly as he watched Yuri’s concentrated face. He strolled to the other side of the room and spotted some rings with a sign above saying ‘BEST SELLER’. He picked one out and called Yuri over. When she approached his side, he took her hand and put the ring on her middle finger. Yuri was surprised at this gesture, but smiled as she saw how beautiful the ring was.

‘’I thought you were going to put it on the ring finger.’’ She laughed.

‘’Noona, let’s get one each! It actually looks really nice and it says that it’s the best seller here.’’

The shop owner spotted the two holding the rings and approached them. ‘’It suits the both of you very much. These rings come with a free service of carving words on the inside rim of the ring.’’

Baekhyun and Yuri spent some time deciding on the best looking ring for each other, and ultimately decided what to write inside the rings. Yuri’s ring said ‘’Best Noona <3’’ and Baekhyun’s said ‘’Bacon <3’’.

‘’What!? Noona, why am I Bacon?’’ Baekhyun exclaimed when Yuri gave him the ring.

Yuri laughed. ‘’Your name sounds like it!’’

Baekhyun sighed, but smiled at the thought that Yuri gave him a ‘cute’ nickname. The two thanked the shop owner and headed out to search for a restaurant to feed their empty stomachs.

When they finished dinner, Baekhyun offered to walk Yuri home. Yuri stopped as they reached a park on their way.

‘’What’s wrong noona?’’ Baekhyun stopped walking as he glanced at Yuri. ‘

‘’Come sit. You need to open your birthday present!’’ She smiled as she walked over to sit on one of the benches. Baekhyun chuckled as he walked over to join her.

‘’Now, close your eyes. I need to take it out first.’’ Baekhyun nodded and closed his eyes. Yuri carefully took out the scarf she knitted from the gift bag she had with her, and put it around Baekhyun’s neck.

‘’Ta-da!’’

Baekhyun slowly opened his eyes and looked down in surprise. ‘

‘’Noona….this….’’ he stuttered as he felt the texture of the scarf.

‘’Well you said you wanted to get a new scarf right? But I wanted to learn knitting anyway, so I thought I’d target you as my first experiment! I hope it’s not too bad.’’ She laughed.

‘’You…knitted this for…me?’’ Baekhyun was still in awe.

‘’Happy birthday, Baekhyun! It’s my first time, and I’m actually terrible at it so Tae was there to guide me. Big thanks to her, really. Do you like it?’’ she smiled.

‘’I love it. Thank you so much noona.’’ He smiled back.

‘’Use it well…or else.’’

Baekhyun chuckled and nodded. ‘’My turn.’’

Before Yuri could ask, Baekhyun took out a carefully wrapped gift box. Yuri slowly lifted the lid and a pair of beautiful dancing shoes was revealed. 

‘’Oh my god! Oh my god! This is what I wanted. How did you know!?’’ Yuri excitedly lifted them up to admire it. ‘’Baek…this is really expensive. Where did you get all the money?’’

‘’Nothing you need to know, noona. And it wasn’t that expensive actually. Happy birthday, Yuri noona.’’ He smiled.

‘’Thank you so much, Baek. I love it.’’ She leaned forward to hug him tight. Baekhyun struggled to hug her back as his heart was beating a little too fast compared to usual.

They gathered their things as they continued to walk towards Yuri’s house. They exchanged another hug and Baekhyun stayed until Yuri disappeared into the house. He felt the scarf on him and whispered to himself: ‘’best birthday ever.’’ He turned around to walk home as he continued to smile foolishly.