It was back to school the next day and Taeyeon was collecting her textbooks for her next class. She placed the gift she prepared for Baekhyun in her locker and mentally reminded herself that she would find him later today and give it to him personally.

‘’You can do it, Kim Taeyeon. You can do this. No big deal.’’ She chanted to herself as she closed her locker door.

By lunchtime that day, Taeyeon called Yuri to meet up with her for lunch as the girls didn’t share any lessons in the morning.

‘’Yul? Roof again?’’

‘’Ta-tae? Sorry, I forgot to text you this morning. I have a fever and I’m stuck at home right now.’’

‘’Omo- are you alright? Have you been to the doctor’s yet?’’

‘’Yes I did. I took the medicine and planning to rest now. Sorry Tae, you’re alone today.’’

‘’No worries. Get well soon, okay? I’ll stop by after school.’’

‘’No it’s fine. I’m super sick and coughing badly so my mom told me not to go near anyone. I’ll just see you tomorrow hopefully? Thanks though.’’

‘’Alright, rest well. I’ll take notes for you for the classes later, don’t worry!’’

‘Thanks Tae, you’re the best. I’ll text you tomorrow. Love you!’’

‘’Love you too! Get some sleep, bye.’’

Taeyeon hung up and turned around to approach her locker once again. Her eyes wandered to the gift bag she was going to give Baekhyun. She took her phone out again and dialed a number.

‘’Hello noona?’’

‘’Hi Baekhyun, can you meet me at the roof?’’

‘’Sure noona. I’ll see you later.’’

With a nervous heart, Taeyeon took the gift bag and headed for the roof to meet Baekhyun. She arrived first and sat down under a shaded area where Yuri and she often stayed during lunch. Baekhyun arrived a few minutes later and the two waved as he approached Taeyeon’s side.

‘’What’s up, noona?’’ he smiled.

Without saying anything, Taeyeon pushed the gift bag towards Baekhyun. Baekhyun looked at Taeyeon confusedly, but Taeyeon just nodded at the bag.

‘’Open it.’’ She smiled.

Baekhyun nodded and carefully opened the bag, revealing the art set that Taeyeon bought earlier.

‘’Happy birthday, Baekhyun. I hope this is a nice enough gift.’’

‘’Noona, this is…perfect. It’s amazing. Thank you so much.’’ He smiled as he touched every art tool. He looked up and leaned in to embrace Taeyeon tightly. ‘’You didn’t have to, but…thank you so much, thank you.’’

Taeyeon plucked up the courage and returned the hug, as tight as possible. ‘’No problem, Baekhyun. Anything for you.’’ She whispered to herself, wondering if Baekhyun heard the last part of her sentence.

The two broke off the hug after a while and Baekhyun smiled as he pulled away. ‘’Noona, I don’t know if this is okay but can you do me a favour?’’

‘’If I can help, sure. What’s up?’’

‘’Do you think you will have time to tutor me? I have mock exams coming up and I need to do really well. Everything else is alright to be honest…but I seriously hate Science and Maths.’’ He chuckled awkwardly.

Taeyeon chuckled. ‘’I should be able to spare some time once a week or so to help you. We’ll plan out a schedule, alright?’’

‘’Really!? Thank you noona, you’re amazing!’’

Baekhyun and Taeyeon both smiled at each other. ‘’Should we start this Friday? I think I’m more flexible on Fridays, what do you think?’’ Taeyeon asked as she flipped through her schedule book.

‘’Noona, you’re such a busy person. Is this alright…?’’ Baekhyun asked as he looked at Taeyeon.

Taeyeon smiled. I’ll be free for you no matter what. ‘’Nah, I’m good. Of course this is alright. You better treat me nicely from now on, okay?’’ she laughed.

‘’Definitely! And Friday sounds good. My place or yours?’’

Taeyeon blushed. ‘’The way you just asked that….’’ She laughed nervously.

Baekhyun was silent for a while and then realized what he just said. ‘’Oh Noona! You and your dirty mind. I meant, are we tutoring at my house or yours? Whichever place is more convenient for you, we can have the tutor sessions there.’’ He laughed as well.

‘’I don’t mind actually, you choose.’’

‘’No, noona choose.’’

‘’You choose.’’

‘’Alright, let’s do rock paper scissors. Whoever wins, we’ll go to their place.’’

‘’1…’’

‘’2…’’

‘’3!’’

‘’Your place then.’’

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

‘’This is so hard!’’

Baekhyun yelled as Taeyeon walked out from the kitchen holding drinks. She chuckled as she put down the drinks.

‘’Coke for you, Baek. To calm you down.’’

‘’Noona…’’ he wailed as he looked up at her. He pouted as Taeyeon sat down next to him.

‘’Such a little baby. Now what are you stuck on? Didn’t I already demonstrate the working out for this equation 5 minutes ago?’’

‘’Yeah but I got it wrong here. And here…’’

The two were at Taeyeon’s house after school on Friday afternoon, as Taeyeon started their first tuition session with Maths, the subject Baekhyun hated the most. After spending a few more hours on Taeyeon’s dining table, Baekhyun decided to call it a day.

‘’Noona…I’m so tired now. And look at the sunset! We won’t have enough energy and light to work like how we did, so let’s just rest for-‘’

‘’Yes yes, let’s call it a day. Lazy pig.’’ Taeyeon chuckled.

‘’Noona, it’s Friday night. Let’s go hang out! Dinner is on me.’’ He smiled. ‘’I’ll just head to the bathroom, you go get ready!’’ he quickly jumped up and rushed to the bathroom at the end of the hallway.

Taeyeon chuckled to herself again. This kid. She sighed and headed to her room to get changed.

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

‘’Noona, let’s eat here.’’

The two arrived at a Japanese restaurant, and Taeyeon just nodded along to Baekhyun’s suggestion. As they made jokes and laughed about silly things, they enjoyed each other’s company as well as the authentic Japanese cuisine laid out in front of them. When they were about to finish, Baekhyun excused himself to head to the washroom. When he came out to join Taeyeon again, he gestured for her to leave the restaurant.

‘’Baek, the bill…waiter, excuse me!’’ Taeyeon was about to call a waiter over when Baekhyun stopped her.

‘’It’s taken care of, noona. Let’s go.’’ He smiled as he reached for her hand that was in mid-air and pulled her up from her seat.

‘’But…’’

‘’I said, my treat. It’s my way of expressing thank you for today’s tuition session. I hate maths but I think you made it easier for me to accept.’’ He chuckled.

She blushed as she looked at the floor. ‘’You’re welcome.’’

‘’Come on, let’s go now.’’ The two walked out of the restaurant together as Taeyeon thanked Baekhyun again and again.

‘’Noona, do you want to watch a movie? It’s still pretty early, right?’’

Taeyeon smiled. ‘’Sure.’’

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

Although the movie they picked wasn’t particularly a horror movie, Taeyeon somehow found herself leaning towards Baekhyun when there were some parts that ’scared’ or ‘surprised’ her.

‘’Sorry Baek.’’ Taeyeon whispered after cuddling closer to him when some ‘creature’ popped out from the screen for the millionth time.

He smiled and patted her shoulder. ‘’No problem, noona. You should have told me you were scared and we would have watched something else.’’ He whispered back.

‘’I’m actually not! Sorry. Let’s just watch it.’’ She whispered after he lightly hit his arm.

He chuckled softly. ‘’You can lean on me if you’re really scared. Just this once though, so be honoured.’’

Taeyeon rolled her eyes and shook her head whilst doing a no-thank-you-who-do-you-think-you-are hand gesture. But before she could focus on the movie again, another loud boom was heard and startled Taeyeon, leading her cuddling Baekhyun to search for ‘protection’.

‘’I told you. Just stay there, noona. I’ll be your superhero for now.’’

Taeyeon looked up as he looked down at her, and they both chuckled softly. The rest of the movie was spent with Taeyeon’s head on Baekhyun’s shoulder and his head on hers. Their arms would brush occasionally but no words were exchanged until the movie ended.

Baekhyun stood up first and lent his hand to Taeyeon as he pulled her up from her seat. ‘’Let’s go home, noona. It’s quite late.’’ She nodded and followed him out of the cinema.

As they were walking to the exit, they continued to talk about the movie with Baekhyun occasionally teasing her about her getting scared. They joked and laughed as they walked when Taeyeon bumped into someone.

Taeyeon turned around and bowed. ‘’I’m so sorry!’’

‘’Noona, are you alright?’’ Baekhyun put his hands on her shoulders as Taeyeon shook her head and smiled at him.

‘’Is that you, Taeyeon?’’

Taeyeon froze. The one voice that she would never forget, the voice of someone she loved so dearly for so long that she would recognize it anywhere, anytime. Could it be? She slowly turned around again and looked up at the man in front of her, expecting to see the face she’d been longing to see for a very long time, until Baekhyun appeared in her life.

‘’Ji-jiyong oppa?’’