Baekhyun whipped me around without any warning as the chorus began, and I yelped in surprise, grabbing his shoulders tightly. He chuckled, holding me steady as I tried my best not to butcher his feet. 

"I at dancing," he said, and I felt his voice vibrating against my chest. 

"You don't say." 

His body shook again in a short laugh, and I smiled to myself, enjoying the moment. Surprisingly, I immediately forgot about the audience surrounding us – about the consequences of breaking the rules Luhan had set up. Everything just seemed right, and I wasn't about to question the rightness of our actions; not now. As Baekhyun had said, it was about time to sweeten up my life, and I was glad to do so in this moment. 

"So the challenges," I began, swaying from left to right in sync with Baekhyun. "You made them to make my life miserable, didn't you?" 

"The opposite," he said honestly, and I felt disappointed that I couldn't really see his face, having my own almost buried in his shoulder. "I just wanted to have fun with you." 

His boldness made me pull away a little to look him directly in the eye. He raised his brows in question, and I bit my lip, not sure what to think. 

"Why?" I finally asked, and he shrugged. 

"You remind me of someone." 

"Who?" I pushed him more, hungry for any new information. 

Baekhyun pulled me back to his chest, blocking his face from my view. "My brother." 

I couldn't help but chuckle at his response. "Do I look like a guy then?" 

"I meant your character," he corrected me, but I could hear the glee in his voice. "The same stubbornness, professionalism, lack of ability to have fun and chill out." 

Wow, that sounded more like an insult than a compliment. I stayed quiet for a minute, thinking back to our last conversation, when Baekhyun had mentioned his family problems. He definitely hated those characteristics he’d just pointed out, and it left me wondering if he and his brother weren't on good terms, just like Baekhyun and I had been at the beginning. 

"Do you guys get along with each other?" I asked, just as the music stopped. Baekhyun spun me around for the last time, and when we turned to face each other again, he was smiling at me. But it wasn't the friendly grin he had worn before; this one seemed troubled and forced. He studied my face for a long moment, as though unsure whether or not to answer. 

"I think he hates me," he said after a minute of silence, letting go of my hands. 

I wetted my lips with my tongue, feeling my throat grow dry as the cheerful atmosphere around us faded. Excitement burst through my veins when I realized that I had just received a piece of Baekhyun's life to work with.  

Finally, I had found a foothold.

* * * * * 

"You, Sehun and Ji are going with me. The rest will go with Jae," Luhan said, his eyes still on his phone. He scrolled through the messages he'd been reading and then looked at me, jerking his head in the direction of the car. "Get in." 

Rude. 

l looked over my shoulder at Sehun, who was sitting half asleep on his luggage, before my eyes drifted to the sight of Baekhyun talking to Jae. I bit my lip in frustration, wanting so much to have a seat in their car far away from Luhan, who kept confusing me, and Sehun, who I couldn't even trust anymore. Ji was okay, but I didn't even know her well enough to talk with her throughout the five-hour trip.

I glanced back at Luhan, who was leaning against his car with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at me with an unreadable expression. For a mere second his eyes flickered to Baekhyun and then back at me, making me in my breath at his cold stare. His jaw clenched, and I recognized the look on his face immediately. He was displeased, but why? 

It felt as though whenever Luhan saw me near Baekhyun, his reactions bordered on jealousy. But he shouldn't feel that way; he’d been the one to end our relationship. What right did he have now to treat me like a girlfriend who was cheating on him, staring me down on every possible occasion and making me feel even worse? Why should he care now, when it was too late? 

I hated it. I hated him for being so irresolute. 

But I wasn't going to let him and his twisted attitude get to me. 

"Come on, sleepyhead." I patted Sehun’s arm, ignoring Luhan's presence completely. "We have to go now." 

Sehun opened one of his eyes and looked at me, still half asleep. He looked tired, as if he hadn't been able to rest during the night and was far from okay with the early meeting. I felt exhausted myself, though probably for different reasons – the fear of falling asleep and confronting my future self had made me wake up every fifteen minutes.  

Without saying a word, Sehun stood and took his suitcase in hands, marching over to Luhan's car and tossing his baggage into the trunk before sliding into the passenger's seat. I smiled to myself, knowing he would prefer to die rather than sit next to Luhan, but he had done so anyway, just for my sake. 

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