One hour and three bottles of beer later, I had started to regret knowing Sehun in the first place. That boy was dragging me down. How easy it would've been without his stupid drinking ideas, not to mention my liver would've looked less like a sponge eaten by bunch of hungry rats. How many times had I drunk this week? Definitely too much, since my alcohol tolerance had got better, as if my body was used to the toxic liquid I'd served myself for the past few days. I could literally see myself filling in the registration form of some anonymous alcoholic club. I wonder if my father would be proud of me, knowing I could drink five bottles of beer now and still walk down the stairs without falling down face-first.

Probably not.

Well, that didn't really matter now. With the fourth bottle already half empty, I was about to reach that drunken state in which your body felt light and your eyelids heavy, and you laughed at the broom left in the corner of the room just because you had more alcohol than blood cells in your blood and everything looked funnier than it actually was. But, although I was sure the alcohol level in my veins was higher than that, I didn't feel the need to giggle at anything and everything. There was a particular reason for that. Because Sehun had ditched me to buy more alcohol, and because I was left alone with Baekhyun. Instead of feeling happily drunk, I was paranoid.

Plucking at the label on the bottle, I stole a quick glance at Baekhyun, who was sitting across the table from me. He was playing on his phone, the effects of shooting guns and explosions cutting through the loud music from the radio we had at the beginning of our drinking marathon. His phone lit up his face in the dark café, and my eyes lingered on his long eyelashes almost brushing his cheeks as he looked down at his phone through half-lidded eyes. This guy was handsome, and the buzzing alcohol in my veins made sure I wouldn't be able to ignore it. Not like I wanted to, but still – it would be better if I could actually talk to Baekhyun rather than simply bore a hole in his pretty face.

But uttering even a single word seemed extremely difficult at the moment, and not just because of the alcohol in my blood.

The events happening in my life, in both the present and future, were pushing me to get to know Baekhyun more; but whenever I was around him, I felt strange and uneasy. Maybe it was the pressure to befriend him as soon as possible that made it impossible for me to strike up a casual conversation without feeling self-conscious. Being in a hurry to get to know him better, before it was too late to fix everything, wasn't making it any easier for me to relax around him. No matter what I did, I just couldn't talk to Baekhyun like I normally did with other people. I needed Sehun to help me; otherwise, I was in big trouble.

I looked at my watch for the hundredth time and sighed with frustration. Where the hell was he?

"He just left five minutes ago," Baekhyun muttered under his nose, furiously pressing buttons on his phone, and I stiffened at hearing his voice. I looked up at him and was surprised to find him still focused on the game. It didn't look like he was paying attention, yet he seemed to have noticed me checking my watch every two seconds.

The music on the radio changed to some Rihanna song, and Baekhyun threw the phone onto the table with an irritated huff, probably having lost the game again. I watched as he blew air into his cheeks, resembling a hamster now, and it took herculean effort not to chuckle at the sight. Despite the strong and unapproachable image he tried to create, Baekhyun was actually cute.

Looking around the cafe in an attempt to find something interesting, he let the air out of his cheeks slowly, his foot tapping the floor to the beat of the song. I reached for my beer, hoping to distract my thoughts from him, and accidently pushed the bottle forward, making it knock into Baekhyun's bottle. His eyes flew to mine as the noise echoed throughout the room, and we both froze - I, leaning forward with my hands on the two bottles of beer, keeping them in place, and he with his back resting against the chair and both hands in his pockets. He bit his bottom lip, and I swallowed hard with my heart almost in my throat.

"Sorry," I hurriedly said, putting the bottles back in place, and Baekhyun went back to tapping his foot on the floor, ignoring my presence.

Or at least that's what I thought.

"You know," he suddenly spoke, startling me out of my seat, "if I wanted to do something to you, I would've done it a long time ago. No need to be so stiff and scared."

Although he was probably right and had definitely seen the panic in my eyes, I felt the need to defend myself. He wasn't scary. Annoying and frustrating, definitely, but I'd never been afraid of him. I just wasn't ready to have the conversation I couldn't avoid with him. I was running away from the responsibility that awaited me, although I knew that time was ticking. On the other hand, I didn't want him to get the wrong impression and distance himself from me.

Trying to put the most confident look possible on my face, I stared at Baekhyun. "I'm not scared."

"Mhmm," he hummed suspiciously, his eyes never leaving mine. He leaned forward and propped his chin on his hand, his elbow resting on the table top. I saw that faint smile back on his lips, and my stomach curled up in unexpected excitement. "So this is what your 'fun side' looks like? I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. It's not fun at all."

Now I felt offended. Crossing my arms over my chest in a defensive manner, I shot him a look. "It depends what you consider fun. If you wanted to see me stripping while dancing on the table, then I'll have to disappoint you again."

I wasn't sure if I heard right, but it sounded like Baekhyun snorted at me.

"Just a small conversation would be nice." He grabbed his bottle and, after shaking it a little and looking for a moment at the liquid inside, he took a sip from it. I opened my mouth to respond, but closed it a moment later, realizing that I had nothing to say. I was astonished. After preparing myself to hear some nasty comment from him about me, he had surprised me with his words once again. Judging from his behavior, his way of speaking, and his unpredictable character, the 'small conversation' he’d mentioned was the last thing I would've expected to hear from him.

But I wasn't going to complain about it.

"So let's talk," I proposed, placing my arms flat on the table top and leaning forward, ready to confront Baekhyun. He tilted his head to the side, looking in my direction, his brows raised in question at my investigative pose. I barely stopped myself from smiling, realizing he had actually opened the door for me to go inside his world with my dirty shoes. I wasn't going to give up on that, not when I needed to know every detail of his life.

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at me, sounding skeptical. "I don't know if I want to. You're kinda scary with that look on your face."

"Come on," I persisted, holding onto the sudden courage I’d found inside of me, and mimicking Sehun's excited voice as I used the motto of the day, drawing out every word: "Let's have fun."

Baekhyun held my gaze for a moment, knowing I was about to ask him something personal, and then leaned back, propping his left ankle on his right knee, one of his arms hanging freely by his chair. He didn't seem convinced, not to mention I was sure he would rather keep his personal information to himself. And I knew well how hard it was going to be to get him spill all his secrets, yet I couldn't stop myself from feeling disappointed when he suddenly changed the topic.

"Would you like some coffee?" he asked, pointing at the big coffee machine behind him. "I can make you some."

It was obvious he didn't want me to cross the line and investigate his life, so I chose not to push him any further. Even if I was in a hurry, I had to wait till he was ready to open up to me.

"We don't use it for our personal needs," I stated calmly, leaning back in my chair with a dissatisfied sigh. "And you can't even make a good one."

"Ouch." He placed a hand over his heart, as if heartbroken, and I rolled my eyes at him. Who would've thought princess Baekhyun was so sensitive? "You know what?" he suddenly said, pointing at me with the bottle he had in hand before taking another sip from it. "That's your problem. You think too much about rules and what would make you look good instead of what would make you feel good. Besides, it's just one coffee, no one would even realize."

"I would, and that's enough of a reason not to do it," I spat at him. "I d