dedicated to madhura

"Since the both of you have already made it up," Mr. Park eyed both Ji Eun and Baek Hyun, fiddling at the doorstep, nervous from the stare they got from the elder. "I presume this kind of thing won't happen again, right?"

"Right?" Her father emphasized again.

"Yes," they both stuttered out almost immediately, Baek Hyun's eye flitting towards Ji Eun after answering her father.

What? Ji Eun mouthed at Baek Hyun, then turned to smile shamefully at her father. "Uh, dad?" Gaining an approval look from her father to go on, "we're going to be late for school if you um, continue with your lecture- ouch!"

Ji Eun quickly eyed Baek Hyun as the latter abruptly smacked her back. What was that for? She gave her so-called fiancé an irritated look that clearly stated she'll kill him later when no one's looking. 

Baek Hyun chortled softly as he saw Ji Eun rub her back to calm the pain. How cute. "Um, Mr. Park-"

"Abeonim."

Huh? He stopped when Mr. Park cut in. "Ah yes, abeonim, um, not trying to be rude or anything but, like Ji Eun said, we're actually late for school so if you don't mind-"

Mr. Park took a brief look at his watch and face-palm in embarrassment. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll trust her in your care, alright? Don't disappoint me, son."

"Ew, son?" Ji Eun was sure that last night's food wasn't digested yet. "Dad, you can't trust-"

"Thanks, Mr. Park- Abeonim," Baek Hyun slightly nudged Ji Eun's shoulder. "We'll get going then."

"What was that for?" Ji Eun squinted a little after feeling the slight numb from her back. She may be exaggerating it a little, but something tells her that her shoulder and back is forming bruises. And Baek Hyun was the one behind the abuse.

"What?" Baek Hyun started the car's engine, ignoring the cross-faced Ji Eun.

Ji Eun couldn't believe what she just heard. With a sarcastic ha-ha, "Fantastic Mr. Byun, what a short-term memory you have there. Hello, remember this?" She pointed at her back with her forefinger.

"Hmm, your back isn't that pretty but, I guess I could try remembering it?"

Her jaw-dropping, Ji Eun wasn't sure if she really knew this brainless idiot. "Are you a dimwit? You hit me!" 

This time, he could no longer suppress his laughter and instead, burst out in a fit of boisterous laughs. "Yah, I'm not stupid, alright?" He halted the car to finish off his laughter. "And hey, just to make things clear, I did not hit you."

"Oh," Ji Eun replied with a straight face. "I guess you find this situation rather amusing, I see."

In an instant, Baek Hyun stopped laughing, a panicked expression dawning on his face. "Hey, I'm just joking. You mad?"

"I guess you could say that I'm mad."

"Okay, I definitely don't like it when you reply me with that face."

"What face?"

"That," he stuck out his forefinger and slightly poke her forehead. "That face."

"That's my forehead, stupid." Ji Eun shoved his hand away while he just gave her a satisfied smile. What's he smiling for?

Unbuckling his seat belt, Baek Hyun shifted his body a little and moved closer to Ji Eun. "This may seem a little cliché," Ji Eun raised her eyebrow questioningly, feeling her cheeks flushed. "But I'm not going to be responsible for your death," he then buckled her seat belt properly.

"Thanks," Ji Eun cleared , avoid making eye contact with the Byun. Why do I feel a little disappointed?

Changing his gear to the drive mode, Baek Hyun continued driving to Woolim High direction. The drive to school was silence and he finally took the initiative to speak, "Do you have plans after school?"

"Why?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe," Baek Hyun tried to word his sentence carefully. One wrong word and, ta-dah there's no going back. He nodded to his thoughts, admitting that girls are sensitive creatures. "We could like, go for movies?"

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Ji Eun finally had the courage to face Baek Hyun.

"Pfft, no?" Baek Hyun put on an unbelievable look and realized he's in deep trouble. Way to go Byun, way to go. Guess you blew your first date away.

"Oh," Ji Eun shifted her gaze and continue to look out the window. "I have to go for club activities after school."

As they reached the school gate, Baek Hyun decided to muster up his guts and cover up with something cooler than the s just now. "I can wait. At the theatre." Oh, this is what you mean by cool, eh?

"Nah, it's fine." Ji Eun hopped off the car, picking up her blue backpack. "I'll be busy anyway."

Suzy could feel her shoulder aching in pain but that's not the priority now. She ran as fast as her legs could carry, chasing after the vice-president of the photography club and her best friend, Park Ji Eun. 

"Oh my god, Ji Eun-ah!" Suzy shouted at the top of her lungs at Ji Eun, who was at the other far end of the corridor. "Slow down, will ya?"

"Hurry up before oppa's practices ends!" Ji Eun screamed from the other end, gesturing for her friend to hurry the hell up. "We need really good shots for the senior yearbook or else, that demon would nag us till dawn!"

"Demon?" Suzy panted behind her best friend, trying her hardest to breathe. "Oh, you mean Yoon Jeong Han-sunbaenim?"

"Yeah, our club president," Ji Eun rolled her eyes, thinking about the guy who had the face of an angel but the mentality of a devil. "That ." Pushing the entrance of the gym door roughly, "Oppa!"

"You scared me!" Chan Yeol fell to the ground immediately, earning waves of laughter from his team. Frowning, he was sure he heard a click sound right when he fell.

Click! Click! Ji Eun jumped happily around the court, "Assa! Nice shot, thanks, brother!"

"Why are you here?" Chan Yeol got up from the ground, eyes widened. "Weren't you supposed to not be here? In school?"

"What do you mean?"

Chan Yeol rolled his eyes in disbelieve, "Baek Hyun told me he's skipping practice to go on a date with you. And that's like-" He checked the clock hanging on the wall, "2 hours ago."

It was Ji Eun's turn to look stunned. Is he seriously waiting for me? "Ah, OPPA!"

"What?" Chan Yeol nearly tripped. "Can you stop shouting? You scared me!"

Ji Eun quickly unhooked the camera strap from her neck and pushed the camera onto Suzy. "Why didn't you tell me earlier that he's being serious, oh my god!" She briefly brushed her messy hair and straighten her necktie. "You're hopeless," she eyed her brother.

With that, she dashed out from the gym, leaving both Chan Yeol and Suzy dumbfounded. "Suzy-ah, I guess she means I'm stupid, right?"

Suzy glanced at her best friend's brother with a tight smile and a sorry-look. "From what I heard, yes."

Running footsteps could be heard from the end of the court and it was none other than the clumsy and bubbly Luhan. "Hey stupid, how's it going?" He clung onto Chan Yeol's neck with his goofy smile.

Hearing the word stupid, again, Chan Yeol couldn't help himself in slapping Luhan's head repeatedly. "Stupid, stupid! You're stupid, not me. Since when are you smarter than me, huh? Stupid!"

"Hyung, I'm sorry but it's a figure of speech- ouch!" Luhan cried while getting hit by Chan Yeol.

As a familiar petite figure stood before him, he smiled assuringly. "I knew you'll come."

"What if I didn't?" Ji Eun studied his face, waiting for his reply.

"Well," Baek Hyun stood up from the lounge seat, stretching himself first. "My loss, not yours." He picked up the beverages he bought and found the paper soaking wet. "I'm sorry but yeah, the ice had all melted after the long hours of waiting, ha-ha." He sheepishly smiled after that.

Ji Eun was sure she was tearing up at his action. How could a guy be so stupid in waiting for someone for two whole hours when that someone wasn't even planning to come in the first place? "We could get a new one then."

"Okay," Baek Hyun's eyes lit up instantly. "We need to get a new ticket too, it's long past the screening."

Ji Eun felt a warm presence on her shoulder as she was focusing on the movie she and Baek Hyun had decided on. She glanced to her right and found Baek Hyun sound asleep on her shoulder. She knew it was all her fault that this man here had to wait two hours for her and that he was too tired to watch the show.

She tilted her head a little above Baek Hyun's head and smiled, "sorry."

"Yah, yah, yah," Baek Hyun hold on to Ji Eun's wrist that was holding the fork. "Slow down or you'll choke." 

Ji Eun shrugged and pushed Baek Hyun's hand away from hers. She was overjoyed when he brought her to this buffet restaurant for dinner and yes, food is heaven for her. Unaware of her own action, she scooped up five plates of food and proceeded with the feast.

"My goodness," Baek Hyun wasn't sure he was supposed to felt awed or horrified when Ji Eun stuffed five plates of food into her tiny stomach. "I pity your future husband, seriously."

Taking a sip of her orange juice, Ji Eun gave a 'what do you mean' expression to Baek Hyun.

As if reality struck on him, Baek Hyun replied Ji Eun with a worrisome-look. "Oh wait, it's me."

"Thought you said I didn't qualify."

"Well," he sat up straight after recovering from the thoughts of needing to survive another century with this big-eater. "That depends if you can cut down from five plates to one."

"Hey-"

"Yeah, mom?" Baek Hyun quickly answered the call when his phone rang. "Bring Ji Eun over for dinner-?" He caught a glance at Ji Eun who immediately shook her head repeatedly. Oh no, she's not going to get another nagging from her future mother-in-law! 

"Uh, we already had our dinner, like right now." He nodded a few times to the caller then ended the call. "Mom insists."

"No, I'm gonna get killed by your mom!" Ji Eun reflected back on the fight they had yesterday, thinking that Mrs. Park had already built a bad first impression on her. "Well, it is common sense that a guy should protect their fiancée, right?"

Baek Hyun couldn't help but chuckle at the now anxious Ji Eun. He stood up and stretched out his hand for his fiancée to hold, "like I said, that depends." Eyeing at the five empty plates, he gave another chuckle.

AUTHOR'S NOTE +

Hope my dear readers liked this chapter and so so sorry for not updating this for more than a year! *dodging tomatoes and eggs* I'm not gonna make any excuses for my irresponsibility and yeah, all the bad things you can think of.

This chapter is dedicated to my best friend aka my editor for editing all my cringey-previous chapters that I wrote 4 years back! Do re-read the previous chapters as they are now more readable and mature-ish.

By the way, MBB has its new look (I mean, cover)! I've spent hours editing Baek Hyun's face over Lee Hyun Woo's HAHA. What'd you guys think?