FAIRY TALES

 

“I’m sorry,” the man said, looking genuinely apologetic and flustered. “H-he forced me.”

 

Cara only stared at the ceiling, eyes blank and wet but she had stopped crying. Her chapped lips were parted, but the screams had ended. She could only blink and feel how her will to stay alive keep on fading away with every second passing by.

 

Her palms were red and scrapped, injured because of how hard she was curling her hands into tiny fists to redeem the pain. Scars could heal. Blood could dry away. But the pain never left her mind no matter how much she tried.

 

And that hatred she felt toward herself, of being weak, of being helpless, of that man who had forced himself on her—

 

“Fantastic!”

 

—of her own husband who paid people to ‘use’ her like this and watched her as his source of entertainment.

 

She was so disgusted over everything and yet here she was, doing nothing but swimming in her own fear.

 

Her husband laughed almost hysterically. “That was great!” He clapped his hands a couple of times when the old man scrambled off the bed, picking up his shirt and zipping up his pants. “You did great, Mr. Lee,” Woo Bin called, eyes all smile and joy. “Consider your debt is paid. You may take your leave. I need to be alone with my lovely wife for a moment.”

 

Cara felt shivers running down her spine, but she was used to it by now. She knew what would come next.

 

The fifty year-old man—the one Woo Bin called Mr. Lee—bowed to Cara once again, crying and begging for her forgiveness. “I’m sorry—I’m so sorry, I had no other choice—If I didn’t touch you, he would have—”

 

“Hey,” Woo Bin called, voice suddenly going dangerously low, “I said get out.”

 

Mr. Lee, albeit a little scared, glued his eyes to the young man and spoke, “How could you do this? She’s your wife. And she’s still so young—”

 

Woo Bin sharply scoffed, answering, “Hey, shut the up, old man. Just because you just had with my wife, doesn’t mean you get to say anything for her sake. Besides, she’s happy.” She could hear the smirk in his words. “Aren’t you happy with me, my sweet darling?”

 

His wife only bit the insides of her cheek to keep her away from saying things she shouldn’t. Because otherwise, everyone would just get hurt.

 

“You’re crazy,” The man said and Woo Bin’s smiley eyes turned into a scowl.

 

“Say that again, Mr. Lee,” he spoke in the sweetest manner, “And next time, you’ll see me ing your daughter on your bed with my hands chocking . How does that sound to you?”

 

Cara could hear the man’s broken sobs as he scurried out of the room with hasty steps, muttering, “I’m so sorry,” over and over again.

 

With the man’s disappearance, Woo Bin laughed.

 

“Oh, that was so fun~” He said, grinning wickedly as he moved to the bed, climbing on top of her body. “I was so watching you being ed like that, darling.”

 

Cara didn’t flinch anymore with him being so near, but her heart still thundered loudly against her chest, telling her to get out of his hold. She did not react on it, though. She thought everything would’ve been pointless at this point.

 

Seeing no reactions coming from her, Woo Bin chuckled. “Look at you. You’re speechless. You had so much fun too, didn’t you? Being ed by a total stranger like that. You love it, don’t you?”

 

Then he slapped her, so hard it felt like a knife cutting through her cheekbones.

 

“You little ,” he said, almost growling. But a second later, he was smiling again, tilting her face upward so he could plant a kiss on her lips. The way he kissed her was so gentle, but Cara would much prefer being slapped two times in a row than having his mouth on hers. She despised his touch. Woo Bin tasted like nothing but sweet but he was like venom, killing her and burning her from the inside.

 

She didn’t know what had gotten into her, but she found something in herself that made her brave enough to land a hard slap across his cheek. Her nails scratched the soft skin and Woo Bin pulled away from her with a sickening glint in his eyes.

 

“Oh you want to hurt me?” he asked, craning his neck a little and Cara’s stomach lurched over the sudden fear that entered her mind. “Is that what you want?” The corner of his lips twitched up in a sardonic smile. “Do it, then.”

 

She went still, eyes wide in horror. She didn’t even dare to take a breath.

 

“DO IT!”

 

She muffled her gasp from his ear-splitting roar and she turned to her stomach, trying to crawl and get away from him as far as she could. But before she could even reach the end of the bed, Woo Bin already grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her back to him.

 

“Come here, you !” He said, and she yelped, struggling and moving her fists blindly in front of his face. She must have hit him a couple of times because he was laughing like a maniac, pleased to see her trying so hard. Not a few seconds later, he had her hands pinned against the bed with him straddling her.

 

“Look at you, trying so hard~” he said, giggling in delight. “You’re so adorable.”

 

She tried to break free once again but his hold on her was getting stronger. She didn’t stop trying until he had enough of her and tied her hands to the bedpost with the usual ropes he used. She struggled to untie her hands but the only thing that came out from her effort was a little drop of blood trailing from her wrists because she scratched her skin against the ropes.

 

Woo Bin leaned in and gnawed harshly at her bottom lip, forcing her to kiss him properly with an open mouth by pressing a hand around her chin.

 

“You’re beautiful,” he said in a sigh as he moved down and ran his fingers along the scars he made on her bare stomach, “So beautiful,” Woo Bin whispered and Cara bit her lip so she wouldn’t cry or scream in fear.

 

One of his hands ended up on her neck. His fingers were pressing lightly against . “And you’re mine, remember?” he said, and tilted her chin down so she’d look at him. But Cara never did. “They can use you whenever they want, but you’re mine. I own you.”

 

“Look at me,” he said. His horrifying smile had wept out from his face when Cara didn’t respond although tears started falling down from the corner of her eyes. “I said, LOOK AT ME!”

 

She pressed her eyes shut before she couldn’t stand it anymore and did as he say. Woo Bin became nice again, purring and caressing her cheek. “Now, it’s not that hard, is it?” The fingers around became loose and tender. “Let me see how beautiful you look. I always have a thing for women with bright brown eyes, do you know that?”

 

She whimpered softly, nibbling on her lip to muffle her sobs until she tasted copper on her tongue.

 

“Aaw, don’t hurt yourself,” he said, humming as he placed a trail of kisses along her jaw. “The only one who can hurt you is me.”

 

She curled her hand again, clutching to the ropes along her wrists.

 

“But I’m not hurting you, am I?” Woo Bin asked rhetorically. He started giggling again like a child. “What am I even talking about? Of course I’m not hurting you. I’m making you happy. You’re happy with me, aren’t you?”

 

He took a hold of her chin and forced her to nod a couple of times. His smirk got wider. “Yes, that’s right. You wouldn’t want me to go and leave you, would you? You can’t live without me.”

 

Cara almost snapped and barked at him about how much she hated him but whenever Woo Bin saw the fury in her eyes, he would started choking her until she couldn’t say anything.

 

“Oh, I’m actually in a bad mood today, by the way,” Woo Bin rambled, pouting as he played with the end of her hair. “I saw a picture of a guy on your phone. The one with the pink hair.”

 

Cara’s eyes shot open.

 

Lu Han, Cara thought horrifyingly in her mind. He knows about Lu Han.

 

“Aah~” Woo Bin sang song, intentionally exaggerating his pout. “I’m so sad. You see, I gave back your phone because you were being so nice a few days ago. I wanted you to be happy, but then I found that picture of you with another guy. I’m so sad~”

 

“Don’t—” was covered with his palm before she could finish her words.

 

“He’s so ugly,” he commented, caressing her cheek with his other hand. “And you’re so beautiful. Why did you hang out with a guy like him?”

 

I should’ve deleted that photo, she shrieked in her head, now he’s going to be hurt too.

 

“Were you in love with him?” he asked, eyes glinting in jealousy. The worst side of him always appeared when he was being possessive. “You were, weren’t you?”

 

Another slap and this time she had to bite her tongue to keep her from groaning out loud.

 

“Tell me his name.”

 

“He’s nobody,” Cara immediately said, lips trembling. “He was… I don’t know who he is.”

 

“And yet you took a picture with him,” Woo Bin replied, “And yet, he had his hand around your shoulder. You’re not lying to me, are you?”

 

It was no use. She couldn’t lie.

 

“Please,” she cried, begging softly. She would’ve tried to look strong as what she’d been doing for the past few minutes, but she was so worried about Lu Han’s well being that she threw all her dignity away and begged him for the first time in her life. “Please just leave him alone. He doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

 

“Hmm, let me think about it first,” he hummed, dramatically acting like a child who was lost in his own imagination. When he finally looked at her, he smiled maniacally. “Well, you’ve been good today, haven’t you?” he asked, gripping her chin and tilted her face closer to his. “I guess I could pretend that I didn’t see it for a while.”

 

Cara’s closed her eyes and breathed in relief. The tears slipped away from her eyes. “Thank you,” she murmured and Woo Bin giggled like a little boy above her.

 

“Aaw, you love me so much, don’t you?” he asked, wiping her tears away with his thumb. “I love you too. Don’t cry, I’ll take care of you.” He started fumbling around the back pocket of his pants and Cara didn’t need to look down to see that he was now carrying his small knife. It was gold and thin, with blade so sharp, it takes no effort for him to dip it into her skin. Cara remembered well how much it hurt when the tip had made contact with her body on the first time. But she didn’t have a choice. She just had to go through it once again.

 

“Let me take care of you,” Woo Bin said, grinning widely with wicked eyes. “Let me make you more beautiful than you already are. Let me remind you about how much I love you.”

 

Woo Bin didn’t do it gently—he was never gentle with her. He cut a line along the skin on the inside of her thighs and dragged the knife down, making a curve to draw the first letter.

 

Cara yelped in pain, wanting him to stop. But whenever she made a sound, Woo Bin laughed and only said, “It hurts, doesn’t it? Of course it does. But this is necessary. So you won’t forget who owns you.” And then he cut deeper.

 

Cara’s head fell to the side, staring at the door with eyes filled with angry tears. She could see how the gate to her freedom was just a few steps away from her, but she could never reach it.

 

Pointless. Everything was pointless at this point. She was trapped with him forever.

 

“Why are you being so quiet?” Woo Bin asked before he stabbed his knife harder into the skin and Cara screamed until felt like burning when the pain surged into every corner of her body. He had never cut her this deep and the pain was unfamiliar to her. “That’s more like it,” he said, giggling. “Oh how I love your voice. Scream for me, darling. Scream for me.” Another stab of his knife and Cara almost felt like she was being ripped out by a scythe and getting a small taste of death. “Yes, that’s right. I love you. I love you so much it hurts, you know?” He started carving the next letter on her skin. “This—what I’m doing to you right now—is nothing compared to how much it hurts me when I see you. I just want you to love me back, but you never do.”

 

Cara was crying and tried to struggle away from his hold by kicking him but he pinned her legs down by straddling her. “Tell me you love me,” he said, leaning up until he was face to face with her. He pinned her hands down to the bed and he laughed everytime Cara tried to break free. “Tell me you love me and maybe I’ll let you go.”

 

But Cara never answered back. She wanted to be brave and spit back “Never” to his face, but she couldn’t. She was afraid he would hurt Lu Han, now that Woo Bin knew about him.

 

Her husband almost lost it then. He cut the ropes easily with the knife and set her loose, but not for long. Staring at her with so much fury in his eyes, he broke away from her only to grab her by the neck and threw her down the bed. She fell face first on the marble floor and it hurt when the skin on her elbows grazed the hard surface.

 

“You !” he screamed, standing in front of her and grabbed her hair until she was facing him right on the eyes. “I own you, so you better do as I say!”

 

She was deeply frightened. Of course, she was. She never saw him this angry with her before and she didn’t know what was the next worst thing he would do to her after this.

 

“SAY IT!” Woo Bin screamed, making her ears ring. He pushed her against the wall and she knocked her head against the hard surface, making her vision blurred for a second there. “I SAID SAY IT! Or else I’ll ruin your family. I’ll ruin everything you own. I’ll destroy everything you love.”

 

Cara was choking, but this time, it wasn’t because of his hold around ; it was because of her own tears and the terror she felt behind her chest.

 

“Please,” she said between her sobs. “Just leave them alone. You already have everything you want.”

 

“Then say that you’re mine,” he replied, no longer screaming but the deadly threat was still vivid in his voice. When she hesitated, he added, “Say it or I’ll kill him. I swear to God, I’ll kill him.”

 

She didn’t need to be told whom Woo Bin was talking about. She was used to hear threats concerning her family, but never about him. Lu Han was practically a stranger. They weren’t even friends. He did not need to be spoken about. It was all her fault. If only she didn’t have that picture of him.

 

So with the last memory of Lu Han’s smile, she finally breathed out, “I’m yours.”

 

Woo Bin’s lips curved up into a smile, baring his teeth as he snickered and whispered in her ears.

 

“I own you.”

 

***

 

 

“Are you… disgusted with me…?” she slowly asks, gazing at him with half lidded eyes. Her fingers are still laced with his as she lies back on her hospital bed.

 

“Are you seriously going to ask me that?” Lu Han asks, playing with her hand as he props his elbows on the side of the bed. “Of course I’m not disgusted with you, Cara. How can I ever?”

 

He notices how his words don’t really make her feel any less ashamed of herself, but he won’t give up. He’ll say this over and over again until she knows that it’s not just a white lie.

 

The cold stool is still a bit uncomfortable to sit on, but Lu Han is not complaining. Sending out a teasing smile, he says, “The only thing I’m currently disgusted with is the soup they served this morning. Why do hospital foods always taste so bad?”

 

She softly laughs—very, very faint, but it’s enough for now. She always looks so much more relaxed whenever he jokes around and he relishes being the one who gives her the reason to smile. Cara brings her eyes down to their intertwined hands and smiles at the sight. But the smile never stays on for too long. When it falters away from her face, she weakly calls out his name, “Lu Han?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I’m sorry for… that night,” she says, her hand stills as she speaks. Lu Han can immediately tell that she’s currently referring to her suicide attempt she did a few nights back. “I wasn’t going to do it. I—I was only trying to cut my skin a little bit. I needed a distraction. Most of the times, drugs do it for me. But you had none so I tried to find another way. I can’t handle them.”

 

Lu Han breathes a little heavily. “Handle what?” he questions.

 

“The memories,” she whispers. “The voices. His voice.”

 

Lu Han really doesn’t know how to react, so he just listens.

 

“I can hear him saying those things, Lu Han,” she says, staring blankly at one spot on the ceiling as she talks. “I can hear his voice. You’re mine, you’re mine, he says…”

 

“You’re all right,” Lu Han whispers, pressing his lips gently to her fingertips. “You’re all right. You’re safe with me.”

 

But Cara can’t hear him. She can’t feel his touch. She’s drowning too deep into the scars of her own memories.

 

“Sometimes…” She continues, her breathing stutters. “I can even feel like he’s beside me, whispering how I belong to him as he presses his fingers against my throat. I can feel his knife piercing my skin. I can hear his laughter… How he keeps on telling them to go on whenever I beg them to stop.”

 

It’s painful. It’s really painful to hear her say those words. Eventually, it all gets too much and Lu Han gently squeezes her hand so she’ll stop mumbling to herself. “He’s not here anymore. You’re with me now.”

 

“I know,” she breathes out. “But I can’t seem to separate my reality with my imagination. It just feels… so real. I used to scream to overcome the voices in my head… But they won’t go away, no matter how much I scream until I feel like I’m bleeding through my throat… He’s gone but he keeps on haunting me… That night, I only want a little pain to distract me from him. But then…” Her body goes stiff and Lu Han kisses her fingers again to calm her down. “Everything started to come down on me. Every time I looked at myself, I wanted to rip myself apart… I was so ashamed of my body—of the scars he left me. Of my life. Of being too weak and let them used me like that. It became too much. I wanted it to be over.”

 

Lu Han wants her to stop speaking because it does no good for both of them. But he needs to know. He has to know if he intents to replace all of those wounds with better memories.

 

Lu Han grows tired putting his mask on, and once it falters away, Cara looks up at him and whispers, “Please don’t cry.”

 

“I’m not crying,” he firmly replies, and he’s sure that he’s not. But Cara shakes her head in disagreement.

 

“You always look like you want to cry every time you look at me,” she says. Her hazel eyes glinting beautifully under the evening glow of the sun. “Like being with me pains you so much.”

 

Every time you see her, Hyung, there’s this pain in your eyes that is so obvious it makes people want to cry over it. Maybe she sees that too. Maybe she knows that opening herself to you will only hurt you more.

 

Lu Han freezes. Is that how you see me too, Cara? “It’s not like that,” he tries to assure her, “I don’t—”

 

“You used to look so happy,” she deftly cuts him off, parting her hand from his so she can caress his cheek. Lu Han swallows hard when she deliberately touches the corner of his mouth. “It’s your smile that I grew to love and I miss seeing it on your face.”

 

Lu Han’s heart flutters but the happiness doesn’t stay for long. “I still smile too, Cara.”

 

“Yes, but it’s not the same,” she says, taking her hand back but he catches it and tangles her fingers with his again. “You’ve changed, Lu Han. Ever since our first meeting at the pastry shop, you always look at me like you’re suffering through something. Like seeing me is painful.”

 

“I’m just worried about you,” Lu Han replies. “You used to flinch away from me. How do you expect me to smile like the old days when I couldn’t even be near you without having you pushed me away?”

 

She’s lost in his eyes for a moment there, before she brings her head down and whispers, “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to get close to me. I don’t want you to get hurt. You kept telling me you loved me, and maybe, if I weren’t this…gross—”

 

“Don’t say that—”

 

“I would’ve said the same thing back to you,” she finishes and the only thing Lu Han can do now is staring at her with wide eyes and parted lips.

 

“You what?” he asks, and although her cheeks start to bathe in the fresh color of red, she doesn’t take her words back.

 

“Lu Han, you’re a truly amazing guy,” she says, letting out this soft voice that sounds so endearing in his ears. “You’re charming. You’re sweet. You’re thoughtful and caring. Any girl would be lucky to have you.”

 

Lu Han waits for the word ‘but’ to appear. He can sense it coming.

 

She locks her gaze with his and she notices what he’s thinking too. They can never lie to each other. After being so quiet all the time, Cara doesn’t need words to understand what he’s feeling. And for her, Lu Han is always as easy to read as an open book, just like what she stated to him on their last night together before everything got ruined.

 

Lu Han is the same. He can see the apologetic look she displays on her eyes without having to hear what she draws with her voice. “You deserve the best kind, Lu Han,” she says, “And that’s not going to be me. You won’t be happy with me.”

 

Lu Han inhales sharply. “Cara—”

 

“I broke you apart,” she adds, “I’m making your life a living hell—”

 

“No, no,” Lu Han says, taking her hand harder in his and kneels beside her bed. “You make me so happy—”

 

“When?” She asks, a tear slips down from the corner of her eye. “When did I ever make you happy?”

 

“Right here,” Lu Han says, and his vision starts to blur with something he doesn’t want to admit as tears. “Right now, Cara. You make me so happy—”

 

He stops talking because his voice breaks and then he hears himself whimpering. He brings his head down, hiding his face and tries to muffle his cry.

 

Cara moves her hand to wipe away the tears that are threatening to fall from his right eye but he already does that himself before she can touch him. “I’m not—” Lu Han closes his eyes and tries to breathe properly. “I’m not crying, I’m just…” But his line just ends there because he doesn’t know what else to say.

 

“Lu Han,” she begins to say when Lu Han places her palm on his cheek and tries to put a strong smile in front of her. “I’m not asking you to do anything… You don’t have to do anything for me.”

 

“No, I want to,” Lu Han firmly says, like a promise. “I want to help you—I want to be with you.”

 

“We can’t do this.” She shakes her head, tugging her hand away but Lu Han won’t let her. “I can’t do this.”

 

“No.” Lu Han’s eyes are moving back and forth on her face, trying to find something that can convince him that she’s lying. “You can’t say that—”

 

“I’m still scared of everything. And you don’t know me.” She starts to cry harder, but he knows it’s not because of sadness. It’s because of fear. “I—I think I’m going crazy, Lu Han. Sometimes, I don’t know what I’m doing. They say I scream in my sleep. They say—”

 

“I don’t care,” Lu Han holds her hand tighter, bringing it in front of his face and kisses the back of her hand. He lets his lips linger on the soft skin as he keeps his eyes shut and whispers repeatedly, “I don’t care. I don’t care. I want to be with you. I love you.”

 

She gives out a shuddering breath as she lets the last three words sink in. “Even after you saw…” it’s hard for her to say what she wants to say without bringing the pain in her memories to the surface. “Even after you knew what he did to me? Even after you saw those scars he drew on my body?”

 

Lu Han sobs a little because he can sense how ashamed she is of herself and she really shouldn’t be. This is not her fault. “Even after everything that happened,” he says, voice murmuring softly. “Even when you weren’t there for me to touch and see, I still love you. Even with my eyes closed, I still love you. It’s always been like that for me. I don’t care about the scars, I’m not scared of them nor am I ashamed. And you shouldn’t be too. I love you. I always have, and I always will.”

 

She slowly sits up on her bed and reaches out to him with her other hand. Cara gently places her palm on each side of his face until Lu Han opens his eyes again and gazes back at her with misty eyes. The tears are still prickling on the corners of his eyes but he always try to blink them away before they could fall.

 

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she murmurs heartbrokenly. “I’ve hurt you enough along the way and I want to stop.”

 

Lu Han lifts himself up and slips his fingers between the silky strands of her brown hair. “You won’t hurt me,” he says as he closes his eyes again and presses his temple against hers. “You won’t hurt me, so please...” he begs, parting away just so he can embrace her properly. “Stay with me. Please.”

 

“How can you be so sure?” she whimpers, and buries her face in her hands when he breaks off their embrace. “I don’t even have a reason to live anymore.”

 

“Live for me,” Lu Han says and she stares at him with her eyes fully opened. “Whenever you feel like that, think of me. If you don’t want to live for yourself, then live for me.”

 

She can’t form a decent reply. She wants to say that they shouldn’t even be having this kind of conversation because like she said, she’s not good enough for him. The more he involves himself in her life, the more he’ll get hurt and she won’t want that to happen.

 

But Lu Han never gives her the chance to speak. His eyes are determined when he said he’d stay with her, and she knows that she’s not strong enough to change his mind.

 

The pain at the back of her head starts shouting for attention and she winces a little.

 

“Are you all right?” Lu Han asks, already looking alert and ready to call a doctor to check up on her if she needs him to.

 

“I’m fine…” she weakly says, bringing herself down to bed and lays her head on the pillow. “I just need to lie down.”

 

“Is there anything I can do?” he asks, eyes moving back and forth on her face, waiting for a signal.

 

“No…” she sighs, trying to not be obvious about the pain. Sometimes when she takes a breath, she still stutters because she was crying just a few minutes ago. Lu Han only waits and waits in silence until they both become calm and normal.

 

“Will you tell me a story…?” Cara suddenly questions and Lu Han has to convince himself that he actually heard her talking.

 

Lu Han’s eyebrows are furrowed a little. “A story?”

 

“You… used to tell me stories,” she says, unconsciously reaching out to find his hand again and Lu Han laces their fingers together before she even makes an obvious move. “I’ve always loved your stories…”

 

“This is funny,” he says, trying to ease the tension with a smile even though he’s still on the edge of breaking down to tears. He sniffles lightly as he sits beside her on the bed, but he tries to mask it up with a small chuckle. “I used to listen to you telling stories to little kids, and now you’re asking me to do it to you.”

 

Lu Han doesn’t realize that he just spilled his own secret about how he used to stalk Cara to the foster home back then, but she does notice it. Cara doesn’t comment on it though. It’s enough for her to feel so weirdly warm behind her chest.

 

“Am I allowed to choose what story I want to tell?” Lu Han asks, absentmindedly moving his thumb in comforting circles at the back of her hand. She gives a light nod in return.

 

“All right then,” he says, “But before we get to the story, let me ask you something first. You’ve watched that Disney movie called The Little Mermaid, haven’t you? Because if you haven’t, then that’s just sad.”

 

Cara frowns upon his words and she unconsciously wrinkles her nose when Lu Han tries to emphasize the word ‘sad’ by acting dramatic about it. “I have,” she says, but the tone is clear from annoyance.

 

“Well, I’m just checking.” Lu Han chuckles and he’s surprised himself from how good he’s acting right now because his heart is still pretty much shattered to pieces inside. “You’ve never heard the real story of that mermaid though, right?”

 

She shakes her head, leaning it to her pillow again and looking tired. When Lu Han stands up to check up on her, she stops him by saying, “It’s okay. Just a headache.” She closes her eyes and squeezes his hand, making his heart leap to his throat. “Continue,” she says. “I’m listening.”

 

Lu Han smiles and tries to order his heart to calm the hell down because how can he tell a story when it keeps doing somersaults like that?

 

“Well,” Lu Han starts, clearing his throat. “This story is a bit different that the one Disney visualized. In this story, the mermaid doesn’t get to be with the one she loves. But it’s still a happy ending—or at least I think so. Most people would say otherwise, though, but I don’t care.”

 

She breathes softly, maybe the drug she took a few hours ago is finally taking an effect. Lu Han leisurely starts to play with her fingers, and she doesn’t flinch away from him. This is basically everything he ever wished for.

 

“Once upon a time,” Lu Han says, rubbing comforting circles at the back of her hand with his thumb. “There was a mermaid. She was very beautiful, with long auburn hair that shone so bright, it made the sun jealous. She was the youngest daughter of the Sea King. She was spoiled by her father and her sisters, and yet, she still wanted more. She wanted to become a human; to have two beautiful legs to dance instead of a fin; to feel the sand underneath her feet as she bathes under the smile of the sun. One day, she saved a handsome young man from drowning, but he didn’t get the chance to look at her face. She fell in love with him, but he didn’t know she ever existed. But the little mermaid knew no boundaries. She went to the sea witch, and begged her to give her a potion that could make her seem more human. The witch told her that the prince had to marry her, and if he ended up marrying someone else, she would be turned into foam. She agreed and sold her beautiful voice in exchange for two human legs, and she rose up from the water, appeared as normal as any young girls could be.”

 

Cara’s breathing gets steadier and Lu Han smiles fondly at the sight. “Still there, Cara?”

 

She moves a bit as she murmurs, “Mm-hmm.”

 

“Okay then,” he says, chuckling softly. “Well, to make the story short, the little mermaid met the handsome young prince again, and she tried to convince him that she was the one who saved her from drowning, but he couldn’t understand because she couldn’t form a single word. The kind prince was gentle enough to take care of her and befriended her, and as she grew to be more and more in love with him, he grew further apart because he was in love with someone else. He was marrying a girl that he thought was the one who saved him from drowning. The little mermaid tried to tell the truth, speaking the words through her eyes but the man was blinded by his love for the other woman. Eventually, the prince married his bride.”

 

Cara’s hold around his hand grows tighter and Lu Han lightly laughs. “It’s okay, Cara. Didn’t I tell you that this one was going to have a happy ending as well?”

 

“The little mermaid was heartbroken and scared to death,” Lu Han continues. “She knew her ending was close. She was sure that she had no other choice but to die and be turned into foam, but then the witch came and told her that she could still be alive, but there was a price to pay. The witch said if she wanted to be able to live and touch the seawater again, she must kill the one she loved before sunrise. The witch said that when she bathed herself with his blood, she would be turned into the mermaid she once was. If she couldn’t, then she would be turned into foam. She had no other choice. It was either his life or hers. So later that night, she sneaked in into the prince’s room with a sharp knife on her hands, glinting like the ray of the moon. She saw a couple lying on the bed, asleep and breathing. The prince held his wife in his arms, and they looked so happy together. The little mermaid didn’t have the heart to plunge her knife into his chest, so she ran away to the beach and cried out to the sea. And she knew that when the sun came up, she would be gone from the world. But little did she know, The Prince followed her steps and met her before the sun replaced the moon for its throne. They talked about the situation and The Prince frowned as she cried.”

Lu Han stays quiet after that and Cara moves in her half-asleep state. “Why did you stop?” she asks, opening her eyes a little. “What did The Prince say?”

“This,” Lu Han says, standing up from his seat and leans closer to her. He sits on the edge of the bed and slowly bends his head down. Cara flinches hard, trying to shift her body away from him, but Lu Han takes her hand and places it on his chest.

“Don’t hesitate any longer,” Lu Han whispers, staring at her with soft eyes as he recites The Prince’s words. “Just please take out my heart. I’ll exchange your love with pain. That’s why you don’t need to cry. You will never turn into sea foam because my love will protect you. Forever.”

He lets go of her hand, but she keeps it still on his chest, feeling the thump of his racing heart. “I think I love you more than lovers do,” Lu Han continues, carefully swatting her bangs out of her eyes and lets his fingers linger on the side of her face.

“Because when you smile, it’s even brighter than the sun.” He gently traces the soft surface of her lower lip and Lu Han sighs, longing for a kiss that will probably never come.

“You’re so dazzling; you make me unable to speak. You make it harder for me to breathe.” When they lock gazes, Cara seems to be hypnotized with how deep and gentle Lu Han’s eyes are, and she thinks that any girl would kill to have someone looking at them like this. With so much love and passion in the same gaze. It’s something she’s unfamiliar with.

“But I will be okay,” Lu Han speaks with a smile, “because you are also my remedy.”

Loving her isn’t easy, but being away from her is worst. Being with her is like having an uncomfortable fever, but being separated from her is like having cancer and you only have a few more days to live.

“I never want you to get hurt. I never want to see your tears.” Lu Han wipes the tears away before they fall down her cheeks and she produces this little gasp that makes his heart goes fonder. “So please allow me to keep this last bit of dignity, or please just destroy me directly.”

Lu Han leans close enough to let his breath fall on her lips as he speaks, but he never let their lips meet. “So let me seal your lips with a kiss…” he whispers and the few millimeters distance between them is both too tempting and too frightening to react upon. “…as I fade away to let you live.”

When Lu Han backs away, the tension between them is just as thick as the wall. Cara looks lost and breathless as she blushes and turns her face away from him. Lu Han, on the other hand, wants to smack himself on the face because what the hell did he just do? He was too overwhelmed with the need to be close to her, to touch her, to breathe in her scent, and to convince her how much he longs for her. How much he wants her. How much he loves her. And he didn’t have the time to think about his action. He just kind of did everything without putting his mind on it.

That was so ing lame, Lu Han, dear God. Go burn yourself to death or something. If Sehun were here, he would have laughed at you.

Thinking about Sehun pained him a little for certain reasons, and Lu Han shakes the thought away from his mind. Not right now. He can’t think about him right now.

“Anyway, umm,” he says, rubbing his nape awkwardly as his face heats up with this flame he can’t avoid. “So if you didn’t get, err, all of those things I said, I was trying to act as the prince. He—he found out about her situation and so he told her to kill him before she got turned into foam. He was, umm—The Prince was so kind that he’d rather have himself killed by her than to live without her.”

The silence that comes after that is freezing enough for them to be in the same room, so Lu Han was feeling extra grateful when she broke it down with a small voice.

“Did the prince die?” she quietly asks.

Lu Han sits on his stool again, trying to smile to erase all the awkward tension away. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

She nibbles on her lower lip, staring at the ceiling as she thinks about her answer. “I don’t think so. I think they both lived.”

“How so?” Lu Han asks, genuinely curious.

“Umm…” she stutters, but looking more comfortable by every passing second. “Maybe the witch felt sorry for both of them, so she helped them?”

“But still, someone had to die,” he asked with a tone too playful to be serious. “If they didn’t have any other choice, do you think she would’ve killed him?”

“No,” she says. “I think they’d be like Romeo and Juliet. If they can’t live together, than at least they can die together.”

“Well, that’s cruel,” Lu Han comments. A smile never leaves his face. “But weirdly enough, I think I have to agree with you.”

“You do?”

“Mm-hmm.” Lu Han nods. “And with that thought in mind, let’s go back to us. You say you don’t have anything else to live for. Not even yourself. Then let’s pretend.” He throws her a boyish grin, making him seem a lot younger than his real age. “I’ll be the prince and you’ll be the little mermaid. You have a knife on your hand, but instead of stabbing my heart with it like you’re ordered to, you choose to end your life instead. And I, The Prince, won’t let that happen because I love you too much. I want you to live even if it means I have to sacrifice my life. Now you said before that the prince and the mermaid would live in the end. Can I expect the same thing to happen to us too?”

Cara just stares deep into his eyes, seems lost for a couple of seconds there in Lu Han’s swirling dark orbs. “But you’re not the prince, Lu Han.”

“And you’re not the mermaid either,” Lu Han says, chuckling.

“No, I mean…” she hesitates, “You’re not going to risk your life for me. Not like what the prince did.”

“And you’re not supposed to end your life as well,” Lu Han replies casually. “Not like how the little mermaid was supposed to. You, Cara, have a choice. I don’t understand why you want to pick the let’s-kill-myself option over I-will-have-my-happy-ending. It’s a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?”

She maybe becomes a bit annoyed by his words. “We don’t live in fairy tales, Lu Han.”

“But we can create one,” he says, taking her hand in his as he smiles fondly at her. “Let me live for you, and in return, you have to live for me. Our souls are connected and if you break yours, I won’t be able to live anymore. That’s our fairy tale. It’s our turn to decide our own happy ending. I’m saying I want to live, and I want to love you with all my heart. Will you do me the honor of doing the same thing for me in return?”

Cara stays quiet, just loses herself in the gleam of his smile. But she doesn’t shake her head no. And she doesn’t retract her hand back.

And Cara shyly smiles when she feels Lu Han’s lips grazing the skin of her fingers.

“I don’t believe in fairy tales,” she says, “But you make me believe there’s a happy ending for everyone.”

Lu Han’s heart has never been this warm and he intends to keep the heat.

Perhaps, the snow begins to melt.

***

“Hyung!” Sehun jumped off his seat when he saw his brown-haired best friend entering Oh’s bubble tea shop. “Xiao Lu, you’re late! I’ve—”

 

His line ended shortly when he noticed that Lu Han wasn’t alone. The Chinese guy raised his hand, waving at him with a naughty smile on his lips that could only be interpreted as trouble.

 

“Yo, Sehunnie!” Lu Han said, grinning widely as he took a seat in front of the younger one. “Sorry I’m late. This guy right here took forever just to apply his eyeliner.”

 

The guy Lu Han brought with him was indeed, wearing heavy eyeliners on his face that made his eyes look stronger and fiercer. Sehun thought he looked a bit girly, but whatever. If the dude wanted to dress like a mediocre high school , then let him do just that. It wasn’t his problem.

 

“Hey, off,” the eyeliner guy retorted with a smack on Lu Han’ shoulder and Sehun looked pleased when the oldest one winced in pain. That was for making me wait for almost an hour, Sehun grumbled in his mind.

 

“Yah, don’t swear in front of the kid,” Lu Han said, scowling at his friend. “I need you to be on your best behavior today, Baekhyun-ah.”

 

“And I need to be with my girlfriend today,” the eyeliner boy—Baekhyun—retorted with a frown. “And what the hell am I doing here, anyway? You still haven’t given me any explanation about—”

 

“Shush!” Lu Han earned another smack for that but this time he managed to dodge it halfway. “Just sit your down, Byun Baekhyun. I will tell you as soon as you do as I say.”

 

“Ugh, fine,” Baekhyun grumbled as he sat next to him, just right opposite where Sehun was sitting. He folded his arms on his chest and unconsciously puffing his cheeks, and Sehun thought, wow, Baekhyun’s attitude was indeed very feminine. No, not feminine. Sassy. Yeah, Baekhyun was the sassiest guy he’d ever met.

 

“So, Sehun-ah,” Lu Han said, grinning cheekily at him and Sehun prepared himself for the worst kind of news because nothing good would come out whenever Lu Han had that smile on his face.

 

“What, Hyung?” Sehun asked, already glowering at the other man. “I thought we were going to play soccer together today. Just the two of us.”

 

“Yeah, about that,” Lu Han started, chuckling a little bit awkwardly. “Sorry, but I have to cancel our date.”

 

“What?” Sehun asked, sounding more like a whine. But then he cleared his throat, because Baekhyun was watching him and Sehun tried to keep himself reserved and quiet in front of anyone that wasn’t Lu Han. “But Hyung, you promised—”

 

“Yes, yes, I know,” Lu Han immediately added, raising his hands to calm him down. “That’s why I’m bringing Baekhyun with me. He’s going to teach you soccer.”

 

“He—what?!” Sehun demanded, just in the same time as Baekhyun’s sudden protest, “I—WHAT?!”

 

Lu Han laughed at their reactions. “Aaw, look at you two. Already looking like best friends.”

 

Sehun was too busy thinking over Lu Han’s offer because damn, he didn’t even know the dude. How could he be playing soccer with someone he barely knew? Sehun already hated soccer too much before he even found out that he was going to play with a guy who probably cared more about cosmetic product for his fingers—because hell, those are such beautiful fingers—than about soccer. Though Sehun didn’t know much about the latter too.

 

“Yes, yes,” Lu Han continued, climbing down from his chair. “You two are going to become best buddies and spend the day together with happy idiotic smiles on your face.” He moved to place his hands on Baekhyun’s shoulders and squeezed them comfortably. “And I will go some girl who, by the way, looks like Yoon Eun Hye. HA IT YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND, BAEK! I get to anyone but you’re sticking to one person because you’re in love~ What a !” He slapped Baekhyun’s head and the other male almost stood up from his chair to reply him with a painful head .

 

“I’m not in love!” Baekhyun said, face reddening within seconds and even Sehun who just met him today could see through his lies.

 

“Whatever~” Lu Han cooed, making a kissy face. “Well, today will be a good day for all of us, am I right, mates?”

 

Sehun exhaled loudly. “Hyung, do you really have to go—”

 

“YEP! CIAO, YOU RETARD!”

 

And just like that, Lu Han was gone. He ran like hell toward the exit door, and he was like lightning-fast that neither of Sehun or Baekhyun got the chance to even finish calling his name.

 

“That bastard!” Baekhyun shouted, watching Lu Han’s running form with a glare from behind the café’s window. “See?! This is exactly why we can’t trust Chinese people!”

 

Sehun didn’t think that being Chinese was the very basic reason why Lu Han was a complete obnoxious , but he wasn’t going to correct him.

 

Instead, Sehun said, “You’re welcome to leave too, if you want.”

 

“What, are you ditching me too?” Baekhyun said, sending him another mean glare. “Listen to me here, Kid. No one can ditch Mr. Byun Baekhyun, do you hear me? No one.”

 

Sehun was distracted with the way Baekhyun was wiggling his finger sassily at him, but he heard him well enough. “But I think Lu Han-Hyung just did,” he said, “Ditching you, I mean.”

 

Baekhyun scoffed loudly as he threw himself back on his seat. “Well, like I said, he’s Chinese.”

 

And again, Sehun still couldn’t understand why this had anything to do with being Chinese but hell, he got a better thing he wanted to say. “Baekhyun… sshi?”

 

“’Hyung’ is fine, Guppy,” Baekhyun simply replied, not caring about the nickname he just gave to the younger boy. “Just call me Hyung.”

 

Sehun knitted his eyebrows. “What’s ‘Guppy’?”

 

“A small fish that everyone likes to keep around in their aquarium just because they think it’s cute,” Baekhyun’s respond nonchalantly. “But really, it’s an ugly, annoying little crap I’d like to get rid of as soon as possible.”

 

Ouch.

 

“Err… okay.” Sehun was a little awkward (and deeply insulted, but he wouldn’t let Baekhyun know that). There was a reason why he couldn’t easily make friends. Why Sehun only had one friend, and that said person just abandoned him here in his own shop. “Baekhyun-Hyung? It’s really okay if you don’t want to accompany me. You don’t need to do as he says.”

 

“Well, of course,” Baekhyun said, scoffing as he snatched his phone from his pocket. “I do whatever the hell I want. No one can order me around, so calm your balls, Blondie.”

 

“It’s Sehun,” the boy said, correcting him. “My name is Oh Sehun.”

 

“Yeah, whatever,” Baekhyun said and he focused his eyes to his phone’s screen. “Wait a minute, will you? I got to text someone.”

 

Sehun sighed, but he was a bit curious. “Who are you texting to?”

 

“None of your business, dork.”

 

“I said my name is Sehun.”

 

“Yeah that’s what I said,” Baekhyun said nonchalantly. “Hey, Kid, you own this place, right?”

 

“Well, technically, my dad owns this place—”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Just go get me something to drink. I’m thirsty.”

 

Oh man, he’s an , Sehun thought in his head, but he complied with his words just to be polite. And well, because buying something means money, and Sehun approves of money.

 

A moment later, Sehun came back with a large cup of choco bubble tea—Sehun’s most recommended drink, if anyone asked him. “Here you go, Hyung,” the boy said as he slid the drink to the table.

 

“Thanks,” Baekhyun said without looking at him or the drink because he was still too busy texting to someone. When he did look at the drink, though, Baekhyun frowned, looking utterly displeased. “Chocolate bubble tea? Really? What, do I look like I’m seven to you? Why don’t you just put some socks on my feet and tuck me to bed instead?”

 

Sehun’s lips parted, a bit shocked at his rude comment. “B-but that’s…” Sehun cowered a little in his seat. “That one’s really yummy.”

 

When Baekhyun saw the pout on the other boy, he got reminded on how Chanyeol used to look when Baekhyun said he couldn’t wear a Super Junior’s hat to prom. Chanyeol had looked like a poor, lost puppy and even if he claimed to be heartless and mean, Baekhyun still couldn’t say no to that.

 

“Ugh, fine, I’ll take the damn drink so stop looking at me like that!” Baekhyun said, taking a sip of the bubble tea Sehun gave him. When the flavor touched the tip of his tongue, Baekhyun blinked twice.

 

Holy if that wasn’t the greatest drink he’d ever had, Baekhyun didn’t know what. He wasn’t a big fan of chocolate, but man, this bubble tea made him want to marry the hell out of it. That sweet, sweet taste of choco-freaking-laté, mixed with milk and yummy pearls. Goddamn it all to hell.

 

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Sehun asked, and for the first time in his life, Baekhyun saw the smug smile appearing on the boy’s face.

 

“Shut up, it’s not that great,” Baekhyun said, but deep inside he was crying because holy mother of God, this was the best bubble tea ever made by human in the history of mankind. The one who made this must be a goddess.

 

“I made that myself,” Sehun said and Baekhyun swallowed hard because maybe he just said his thought out loud.

 

“You know what, I like you better when you’re being so emo,” Baekhyun commented and moaned softly when he took a gulp of that drink again. He heard Sehun laugh but it wasn’t mockingly, so he let him be.

 

“So, Guppy, I tell you what,” Baekhyun said, clearing his throat and put on his smug smirk back on. “I’ll let you hang out with me for today if you give me another cup of this drink.”

 

“But…” I don’t want to hang out with you, Sehun thought but he was afraid for being too rude, so he tried to rephrase his words which ended up as, “I don’t want to hang-out with you.”

 

Yeah, Sehun was never really good with words. He didn’t have the creativity to paraphrase s.

 

“You don’t want—” Baekhyun gasped dramatically. “Hey, . People are dying to spend a day with me, and you’re telling me you don’t want to hang out with me? Are you ing crazy?”

 

Sehun almost laughed. Baekhyun was almost like Lu Han’s doppelganger. Both of them were two selfish with high self esteems bastards and Sehun liked the similarities between them. It made him feel less nervous.

 

And that was the very reason why he said, “Okay, sure, Baekhyunnie-Hyung.”

 

“No, not Baekhyunnie.” The man corrected him, wiggling his finger in disapproval. “You don’t get to call me anything but Baekhyun-Hyung, do you understand me? Not Baekhyunnie. Not Baekkie. And certainly not Squishy Baekbunny—”

 

“Who calls you Squishy Baekbunny?”

 

“That crazy Lu Han, of course,” Baekhyun replies with a scornful glare. “God, I hate him when he calls me that. So you can’t call me with those nicknames, okay, Guppy? Do I make myself clear?”

 

Or maybe Baekhyun was just a little bit sassier than his Xiao Lu, but it only made Sehun happier. The kid had always had a personal interest toward people with y attitudes. Sehun found it to be a challenge. The meaner the person was to him, the more he wanted to have them wrapped around his fingers. Sehun was a cute, little devil that could turn someone as arrogant as Lu Han into a caring person and tucked him to bed when Sehun asked him to. Surely Baekhyun wasn’t any different.

 

“Okay, Hyung,” Sehun said, his posture was getting more relaxed and Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at that.

 

The eyeliner boy snorted, leaning back to his chair. “Good,” he said, starting to push buttons on his phone again. “Now go get me another cup of this drink. Make it fast. I don’t do waiting.”

 

Sehun wanted to roll his eyes but he didn’t. Instead, he smiled because he felt more like it.

 

After another glass of chocolate bubble tea, Baekhyun took Sehun out like he promised to—although he was grumbling every now and then, muttering, “Why do I have to bring such smug little like him with me? Stupid Lu Han, I will kill him.” And Sehun just sighed when he heard Baekhyun repeating his last four words over and over again.

 

The two of them were walking toward someplace Sehun didn’t know about, but he kept his mouth shut (because Baekhyun threatened him not to speak or he would get jabbed on the eyes by his eyeliner stick). The younger one just followed his Hyung with his shoulders slumped forward and his hands in his jeans pockets. The sun was blazing hot above his head, and Sehun did not like to have a sweaty forehead because it made his bangs stick to the skin and it made him feel itchy. If he were going with Lu Han, Sehun would’ve whined and put on some aegyo to cut this trip short, but he couldn’t do that to Baekhyun. Somehow, Sehun could tell that when Baekhyun threatened him with his eyeliner stick, he actually meant it.

 

Baekhyun kept his promise by taking Sehun outside, but all he did was just taking Sehun through almost every shop in town looking for something. Baekhyun took him to stores that were selling nothing but girls’ clothes, lingerie, shoes, and accessories. Sehun tried not to judge—because really, the dude was wearing thick eyeliners around his eyes. Why would Sehun be surprised if Baekhyun were also wearing thongs under his pants?

 

“Baekhyun-Hyung,” Sehun called, speaking for the first time after a long while. Baekhyun grunted in displease but he let the kid continue. “Hyung, I think that’s too small for you.”

 

Baekhyun who had been checking the price tag of a black, satin trim thong on his hand, blushed madly and flipped his head to send a dangerous glare toward the other boy. “It’s not for me, you idiot,” Baekhyun hissed, the tips of his ears turning red as well. “This is for my girlfriend!”

 

“Oh…” Somehow, Sehun was relieved. “But isn’t that too… revealing?” The underwear would barely cover anything, really, and it made him blush just to think about it.

 

Baekhyun sighed impatiently and Sehun noticed how his nostrils flared a little whenever he got pissed-off. “Let me ask you something, Guppy—”

 

“It’s Sehun—”

 

“It’s either ‘Guppy’ or ‘skinny motherer’, choose one.”

 

Sehun pouted hard and although Baekhyun looked a bit sorry for him, he didn’t take his words back. “Fine, I’ll have ‘Guppy’,” he muttered lowly.

 

“Have you ever had before?” Baekhyun asked, folding his arms on his chest. Sehun shyly shook his head. “Well, Guppy, when you do, you’ll know the reason why I want my girlfriend to wear revealing clothes and naughty lingerie in bed. So shut up and leave me alone.”

 

Baekhyun strolled toward the other end of the store, now looking at different types of more revealing lingerie. Sehun huffed and he unconsciously started to play with the end of a yellow lace bikini out of boredom. He only noticed it when someone tugged the fabric from his hands. When he raised his eyes to see who did it, he was faced by a girl—who looked around his age, or maybe slightly older—with round face and cherry pink lips. Her eyes were the most beautiful pair of crystal blue eyes Sehun had ever seen.

 

She looked passive and stared back at him with bored eyes. “Sorry,” she said, “I just think that yellow isn’t really your color.”

 

Sehun should’ve come up with a smart remark because hell, what the F did she just say? She didn’t actually think Sehun was buying a bright yellow bikini for himself, right? Why did she suddenly talk to him anyway?

 

And Sehun should’ve said some excuses like ‘this is for my girlfriend’ or even ‘it’s for my mom’ would do, but noooooo, he just had to say, “Your eyes are blue.”

 

She blinked, slightly looking like she was surprised but Sehun wasn’t sure. “Yes,” she responded flatly, “I’m aware of that.”

 

“But…” Sehun stared, lips parting. “You’re Korean.”

 

She started frowning. “Yes. And?”

 

“You can’t be Korean and have blue eyes,” he muttered dumbly and when he finally caught to his senses, he realized just how dumb he was being. “I… I mean—”

 

“It’s genetic mutation,” she coolly said although if he wasn’t mistaken, Sehun witnessed a bit spark of sadness in those blue orbs. But maybe he was wrong, because she certainly didn’t put on such expression on her face.

 

“Oh…” Sehun was lost for words. Those blue eyes were too captivating. “So you’re like… abnormal.”

 

Slowly, her previous blank stare slowly turned into a glare. “Yes, I am. Usually I wear contacts to look normal,” she emphasized the word and Sehun flinched at it. “Someone stole them from me today so I didn’t get to wear any. But thanks for reminding me how abnormal I look,” she said back with more ice in her tone. When she started to walk away, Sehun took her wrist, shouting, “W-wait!”

 

She didn’t say anything back, just staring deep into his soul and Sehun had to gulp to calm his nerves. ‘But your blue eyes are very pretty’, Sehun wanted to say, but he was interrupted by a smack on the back of his skull.

 

“Aish, this kid!” Baekhyun groaned loudly, pinching one of Sehun’s ears and dragged him away with him. “I let you out of my sight for one second and you’re already hitting on girls. This is why people shouldn’t hang out with Lu Han, that crazy bastard.”

 

“Let me go!” Sehun struggled but he only managed to break free completely when they were already out of the store. Baekhyun was carrying a paper bag with the store’s brand marked all over it. Seemed like he got his girlfriend naughty lingerie for a present.

 

“I was still talking to that girl!” Sehun protested, slapping Baekhyun’s hand away. “Now she’s going to hate me because I said she was abnormal!”

 

“What?” Baekhyun asked, an angry frown appearing on his forehead. “Yeah, whatever, bro. It’s not like she’s going to fall for your tricks anyway.”

 

“I wasn’t doing any tricks—” Sehun was so angry and frustrated that he wanted to shove Baekhyun by the shoulders. “Hyung, I was just trying to fix our misunderstandings, but then you showed up and—”

 

Baekhyun let out a heavy breath. “Look Guppy—”

 

“Sehun!”

 

“Whatever,” Baekhyun retorted as he tiredly rubbed his temple. “Look, the sun’s already setting. We’ve spent the day together and I know you don’t want this to end because I’m so awesome—”

 

“You ! You’re the worst! This day because of you!” Sehun didn’t know why he suddenly had the nerve to snap back at Baekhyun but he was so pissed because he didn’t get to say the things he wanted to say to that girl. He knew that he shouldn’t get this worked up about it, but he just couldn’t help it. “Just go! I don’t need you! You ruin everything—I hate you!”

 

Baekhyun’s glare somewhat softened a little, being replaced with the look of concern. “Hey, Guppy? Are you okay?”

 

“My name is SEHUN!” He said and then he realized why Baekhyun was suddenly being sympathetic toward him. He was crying. “Stop calling me Guppy,” he sobbed like a child and people that were walking on the sidewalks started to look at the two of them with weird looks and curiosity in their eyes. “You’re mean. I hate you. I want my Xiao Lu back!”

 

“Whoa, whoa—” Baekhyun said with a little bit panic in his voice, raising his hands to calm Sehun down when his cry got louder. “Jesus Christ, Gup—Sehun. Stop crying. You’re already so old—”

 

“I’m only sixteen!” Sehun roared before he was back to sobbing with his face hidden behind his hands.

 

Baekhyun was lost, completely not knowing what to do. He wanted to yank his hair out of frustration but he settled with scratching his scalp instead. “Aah! Fine! I’ll make it up to you!” He shouted, taking Sehun by the hand and pulled him forward. Sehun was too busy wailing and hiccupping to ask where they were going but he followed nonetheless.

 

Though Baekhyun kept muttering, “ my life, this is torture,” under his breath, he brought Sehun into a tiny ice dessert café and ordered three big scoops of chocolate chip cookie ice cream for the whiny brat. With a loud scoff, Baekhyun shoved the bowl of ice cream to the boy’s face. “Now stop crying and eat this or I swear to God I’ll shove it down your throat myself.”

 

That threat shouldn’t have succeeded in making him stop crying, but Sehun eventually did. He was still sniveling a little when he took the spoon and slowly took a bite of the dessert. It was really tasty.

 

“So let me get one thing clear here,” Baekhyun said, leaning against his chair as he sat face to face with Sehun. “You’re eighteen—”

 

“Sixteen—”

 

“And you still cry like a baby when things don’t go your way?” the eyeliner guy continued harshly. “Dude, I freaking socked my dad on the face and ran away from home when I was your age. You should man up a little, Guppy.”

 

Sehun scowled hard at that nickname he loathed but his voice was still sounding too childish when he growled. “I said my name is Sehun!”

 

“And what are you gonna do about it, huh?” Baekhyun snapped back, tilting his chin up. “Cry on me and drown me in your tears again? What a wimp.”

 

“I’m not a wimp!” Sehun said, unconsciously slamming the spoon he’d been using to the table. “I just… It’s just a habit. I tend to cry when I’m upset.”

 

Baekhyun broke out laughing, a bit too mockingly. “Oh Jesus, you’re such a joke. I can’t believe Lu Han said you were cute and bubbly.”

 

I am cute and bubbly, Sehun grumbled in his mind, jabbing his spoon back to his triple scoops of ice cream. Just not around you, you eyeliner jerk.

 

Baekhyun snorted at the sight of Sehun puffing his cheek and gnawed at his ice cream like a five year old. He thought Chanyeol was ridiculous when he was upset, but surely, this Oh Sehun guy took it on another level.

 

“Ah, I’m done with this,” Baekhyun sighed to the air as he picked up his phone and dialed Lu Han’s number. When the line was connected, he was speaking in the sweetest voice he could produce from his lips. “Good evening, Sir. I believe you have forgotten to pick up your son this evening. Please do, otherwise I will not be responsible if Guppy—”

 

“SEHUN!”

 

“—Sehun ends up in a brothel, getting paid by a fifty year old man to accompany him for the night.” Baekhyun’s voice changed abruptly when he heard Lu Han panting on the other line. “Dude! For God’s sake, will you stop ing around for a second and go pick up your kid—no, you do it now—and don’t you dare hang up on me, you—LU HAN!” Baekhyun screamed and cursed under his breath when the line got disconnected. He called again and Lu Han picked up on the second ring. “Lu Han, I will kill you if you drop the phone again I swear to—No, shut up! I don’t care! I won’t call you Hyung, not when you’re picking up my phone in the middle of —” Baekhyun gasped, mouth hanging open. “This is MY FAULT?! You freaking left me here with your retarded—of course, he’s fine! Why wouldn’t he be?” Baekhyun threw a glance at Sehun’s direction and the boy stared back with cold eyes. “Well, he’s been crying for a while but now he’s stopped—I don’t know why he cried—no, don’t you blame this on me, you little ! It wasn’t my fault he suddenly hit on a girl and—”

 

Sehun clanked his spoon against the table again. “I DIDN’T hit on her—”

 

“ONE AT A TIME, PLEASE!” Baekhyun yelled, face already red with fury. With a heavy grunt, he returned back to his phone. “Listen here you Chinese bastard, I have to go—I don’t care if I’m being racist, you—SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!”

 

Baekhyun was being really loud, so Sehun wasn’t surprised when one of the waitresses came around and told him to lower his voice but before she could even say anything more, Baekhyun already cut her off with a deadly glare and she backed away with a whimper.

 

“Listen, Lu Han, I gotta go,” Baekhyun said with his voice being toned down a little. “I gotta go meet up with my girlfriend. Just go pick him at Beans Bins Café. I’ll tell him not to go anywhere. Yeah. Fine, not more than 20 minutes, okay? Yeah, you do owe me for this, you manwhore. Eww, stop. Stop saying you love me, it’s gross. Jesus Christ, I’m gonna hang up.”

 

The phone conversation ended at that and Sehun waited for Baekhyun to say something.

 

“So, Guppy,” Baekhyun said, suddenly a smile framing his lips. “Your precious Hyung is going to pick you up in 20 minutes. I’d stay with you, but see my girlfriend is less than a block away from here, so I better wait for her outside.”

 

“You’re gonna leave me here?” Sehun asked, biting his lower lip. “Alone?”

 

Baekhyun wanted to roll his eyes. “No, the girl with the blue eyes will keep you company.”

 

Anyone would know that Baekhyun was just being sarcastic, but Sehun’s eyes lit up at the mention of her presence. He noticed that Baekhyun was just joking around with him a little too late because the eyeliner guy was already smirking mischievously at him.

 

“You like her, don’t you?” Baekhyun asked in a singsong voice. “Guppy has found his little mermaid~”

 

“S-shut up,” Sehun muttered, looking away to hide his red cheeks. “I don’t like her. I just thought she was…” pretty, cute, fascinating “—weird. Her eyes are weird. She’s weird.”

 

“Yeah, whatever you say,” the other boy responded with a yawn. After he stretched his arms, Baekhyun took his leather jacket from hanging around his chair and put his phone back to his pocket. “See you later, Guppy. Or never, I hope.” He chuckled to himself but Sehun only sent a glower in return. “Well, have fun waiting. Is there anything else you want to say before I leave?”

 

“You’re a jerk.”

 

Baekhyun playfully hissed, “Oooh~ Not very friendly. And for that, you get to pay for that ice cream on your own.”

 

Sehun’s eyes widen a little. “I thought you’ve paid for this—I thought you said you wanted to make it up to me!”

 

“Aaw, Guppy,” Baekhyun leaned in and ruffled Sehun’s hair before the boy could duck away. “Maybe next time you’ll learn not to judge and trust people so easily.”

 

“!” Sehun shouted but Baekhyun was already twirling—literally twirling—his way out of the store. The sixteen year old slumped back to his seat with a pout and a deep frown on his forehead. It really pissed him off that Baekhyun wasn’t as easy to be controlled like Lu Han. Sehun’s aegyo wouldn’t work on him and for the first time in his life, Sehun was angry toward himself for always being so spoiled before. Baekhyun was right. He should learn not to judge and trust people so easily.

 

at the last drip of his ice cream from his spoon, Sehun took a glance at the store’s front window and saw Baekhyun’s figure standing beside the street light with his hands in his jeans’ pockets. Every now and then, Sehun could see him checking on his watch around his wrist and to his surprise, he saw a different look on Baekhyun’s face. He looked concerned, as in worrying about other people’s well being. Sehun thought Baekhyun was a spawn of Satan who was incapable of being sympathetic to other people’s presence, but well, look at him now. Baekhyun was tapping his foot against the cold ground, nibbling on his lower lip as he checked on his clock over and over again. A few seconds later, he resorted to taking out his phone from his pocket and pressed buttons on it before he brought it up against his ear. It seemed like no one was answering his call because he looked frustrated and jumpy. Sehun was sure that Baekhyun was about to leave when the guy suddenly turned around and got attacked—no, not attacked—hugged by a girl.

 

Sehun couldn’t hear them, but he somehow could tell that Baekhyun was yelling something like “Where have you been?” and the old, sassy version of him was back for a few moments there until the girl laughed and stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss on his lips. Sehun unconsciously shut his eyes because it looked too intimate to be watched, but he gave up after two seconds. He took another focused stare at the couple and felt something swirling in his chest when he witnessed Baekhyun kissing her back and wrapped his arms around her waist. When they broke apart, Baekhyun was smiling at her in the way Sehun had never seen before. His smile was so gentle and genuine and his eyes spoke so many words with so many feelings for the girl in his arms. That unfamiliar feeling Sehun felt on his heart became heavier when he saw them smiling lovingly at each other.

 

Sehun couldn’t tear his eyes away from the couple and he felt jealous when the girl giggled as Baekhyun pressed a kiss on her temple. He wanted that. Sehun wanted to experience that kind of thing. Sehun never felt envious when Lu Han talked about how he was sleeping with many girls from day to day, but one look at Baekhyun and his girlfriend, he felt like it was a little bit hard to breathe. And Sehun didn’t dare to ask himself why did the girl with the blue eyes popped up in his mind.

 

Four years later, Sehun entered the same university Lu Han once did. And on his first day, right on his first class, someone tapped his shoulder, and Sehun turned his body around to look at the girl who sat one seat behind him. She looked so familiar—well of course she did. She was the only girl he secretly thought on before he went to bed every night for the last four years.

 

“Sorry,” she said, smiling a little bit mischievously at him which was the first time Sehun had ever witness this look on her, and he loved it as well. “I just think that yellow isn’t really your color.” She pointed her head to his banana colored sweater.

 

Sehun broke out into a soft laugh, although he was nervous as hell and so embarrassed over everything. “Nice contacts,” he said, staring at her brown orbs instead of blue.

 

“Thanks,” she said. “They make me seem normal.”

 

He was so glad that she still remembered him even after four years had passed by. “But I like abnormal,” Sehun said, biting his bottom lip so he wouldn’t smile creepily. She showed a timid smile in return. “Do…” he tried to speak without stuttering, but it was too hard. “D-do you want to get out of here with me? W-we can have some bubble tea—coffee,” he immediately corrected himself because he didn’t want to sound too childish for wanting bubble tea.

 

“And ditch your first day in college?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t think so, Oh Sehun.”

 

She knew his name. There was nothing happier to be called by your name by your crush. But Sehun was a bit concerned over other things to actually feel too happy. “Is it because what I said back then?” Sehun asked, forehead creasing in concern. “I love your blue eyes. They’re very pretty. I’m sorry I didn’t get to explain—”

 

She pressed a finger on her lips, telling him to be quiet as she stood up from her seat and carried some books in her arms. “Trust me, Oh Sehun,” she said, “You don’t want to hit on your professor’s assistant on your first day in college.”

 

And before he could process what she was saying, an old man with beard all over his face but no hair on his head, came into the classroom and waved at her. “Come and help me with my presentation, my dear.”

 

“Yes, Professor Woo,” she said and left Sehun’s side to move toward the lecturer’s seat. Sehun had his lips parted and his eyes wide for a few moments until she began presenting the first topic of the day.

 

“You have a lot of guts,” a male student next to him said. “A freshman hitting on a senior blatantly like that? And to be targeting the Ice Princess out of all the girls here? Dude, I gotta give it to you, you’re the man.” He wanted to do a fist bump but Sehun ignored him, looking at him with a judging look before he asked, “Ice Princess?”

 

“Yeah, she’s a genius and very beautiful, I’m sure you have noticed. But no one dares to come close to her.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because she’s cold and mean toward guys like us, of course!” he said it as if it was a common knowledge Sehun should’ve known about. “Well not actually mean, because she barely says anything, but that’s the problem, right? Girls are usually cute and bubbly, but she’s like so expressionless and mature and stiff. But she’s really hot. God I hate her. No, I want her, but I can’t have her so I hate her. She never notices me, dude. But she’s cute without trying and I want her to notice me, you know? But who am I kidding, I should look at other girls. But she’s so adorable in her own way, it actually pains me a little, you get what I’m saying?”

 

Sehun had his eyebrows knitted the whole time as he listened to the other guy’s rambling words. The dude seemed to have a problem in figuring out his priority list.

 

“This was actually the first time she ever smiled to any guy, really,” he stated again, “And to you, nonetheless! I mean, no offense, dude, but you’re like so skinny and pale. I guess she just has weird types when it comes to men.”

 

Sehun should’ve been offended by that, because how did that not sound offensive? But he really wasn’t. He only sighed, a smile glued tightly to his lips as he unconsciously mumbled, “So she’s a noona~”

 

“Oh Sehun,” the said girl called his name from in front of the class and Sehun jumped out of his imagination—he was fantasizing how it would be like to spend a day with her, sipping from the same bubble tea together. “Would you please come up here and explain why vectors are very important in physics?”

 

Sehun froze, blinking his eyes rapidly. What did she just ask him?

 

“Uhh…” Sehun gulped and whispered to the guy who sat beside him. “Isn’t this a Modern Dance class?”

 

“No, dude,” the guy shook his head, “This is the Basic Experimental Physic class.”

 

Oh well, .

 

***

SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! And I know I've promised you another Baekhyun's chapter, but I'm having a hard time writing it, so it's still in the process. I'm planning to finish it by the end of next week, or if it's possible, maybe I'll even post it by the next few days, but I will make no such promises. I'm sorry, things are getting too much for me these days and it's already exam week all over again :'(

anyway, to make it up to you, I've written a short side story for Sehun (and his first meeting with baekhyun and his 'noona'). I hope you like it :)

AND YES PEOPLE THOSE LINES LU HAN SAID TO CARA ARE THE LYRICS OF BABY DON'T CRY I'M SORRY I COULDN'T HELP IT THAT SONG JUST GIVES ME TOO MANY FEEEEEEELLLSSSSSS