Baekhyun didn't quite know what to do with himself in that moment. He sat face to face with the woman who had been tangled in his mind ever since he first noticed her. Everything seemed to go silent and slow as the moment lasted, no crickets chirping, no voices floating in, and the blink from behind Taeyeon's long lashes was as graceful as a dance. The young man felt his chest tighten, the suit surrounding his body suddenly transforming into materials of suffocation. He could already smell her perfume wafting through the air, little wisps of cherry blossom and lavender dancing around Baekhyun's nostrils. He didn't even adjust his tie with a gulp, something he had been known to do in situations too extreme for his liking.

"My goodness, Baekhyun-kun, I apologize for keeping you here for so long!" Taeyeon exclaimed, her legs stretching upwards to stand and close the door before taking a seat opposite of Baekhyun at the small table. If the perfume had been teasing softly before, a wave of the aroma hit Baekhyun then, and he bathed in it.

"Oh, it's really not a problem," Baekhyun coolly said, his shoulders relaxing despite his lungs feeling as if they were about to explode.

"How long have you been waiting?" Taeyeon asked, sincerity and concern in her voice.

A fraction of a second was devoted to Baekhyun being startled and flattered at the kind tone. "I... I think it's been three hours," and just as Taeyeon's jaw fell to the floor, her head crooking forward in disbelief, Baekhyun frantically waved his hands back and forth, a petrified smile on his face. "Really though, please do not worry! I've been keeping myself occupied quite well, and in fact, it's only felt like ten minutes." Baekhyun was lying, but the relieved look upon Taeyeon's face told him it was worth it.

"I cannot express my gratitude enough for such a humble person like you," Taeyeon smiled warmly, her fingers in a neat criss-cross on the table's surface. As if she had completely forgotten, a kind of shocked look took over her eyes once more. "I seem to have neglected telling you why you're here in the first place though, haven't I?"

Baekhyun shrugged lightly. "I suppose I am curious."

"Well, I'm actually here as a messenger of sorts. Do you remember seeing my younger sister, Suzume, at a hotel with a boy?"

The young man squinted his eyes for a moment, his head tilted in confusion, before his memory kicked in at something he hadn't even given too much thought to. "Yes, I do remember that."

"Suzume actually requested for you to come here so she could clear up any questions surrounding the incident." Taeyeon sighed with a grim grin. "Baekhyun-kun, you're smart, and I know that you know about the importance of a celebrity's image. Well, the same goes for a geisha. I just want you to know that nothing is going on between that servant and Suzume, they're only friends."

Taeyeon proceeded to go on into a speech about how a small misunderstanding could not only devastate Suzume, but it could also damage the okiya's and it's geisha's reputation. However, Baekhyun tuned out after he had learned that Taeyeon wasn't even supposed to be there originally. His hopes had soared through the sky when he saw her at that door, but now knowing that her only reason for being there was business partially frustrated Baekhyun. What could he expect though when the two barely knew each other? He waved a hand lazily after Taeyeon finished speaking, his head nodding sleepily.

"I would never think too much upon a thing like what I saw. Trust me, nothing was assumed, and nothing has been spread," Baekhyun's words, to his happiness and satisfaction, instantly brightened Taeyeon's wide smile. "While we're both here though... would it be too much to ask if you were to have a drink with me?"

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows in surprise, her lips open ever so slightly at the request. Even if he didn't intend on paying her for her company, the prospect of a free drink sounded nice. She accepted, he ordered a bottle of sake and two cups, and two hours went by sooner then Baekhyun would've liked. Eventually, things he said mere seconds before faded from his mind, and to his dismay, Baekhyun knew that almost the entire span of his evening with Taeyeon would be lost tomorrow in a hung over stupor.

"You know... I still haven't heard you sing," Baekhyun slurred, his eyes blinking rapidly as Taeyeon giggled. While sake made Baekhyun plain silly, it made Taeyeon ditzy.

"Wh... what?" She mumbled, little drops of alcohol spilling onto the table as she struggled to pour another glass for Baekhyun and herself.

"Taeyeon-chan!" Baekhyun burst, a high pitch taking over his voice. "Please sing for me!"

"Since when am I Taeyeon-chan?" Taeyeon guffawed.

"Taeyeon-san, please sing for me!" The business man tried again.

The young woman hiccuped behind the back of her hand, her eyes a little large at the unladylike sound that shocked her. "Ok ok, give me a second," she took a minute to comically clear , much to a drunken Baekhyun's amusement. "I will not sing for you."

And even though it was sarcasm, and her body was probably more sake than blood by this point, the phrase still came out as a perfectly pitched sound of beauty. Baekhyun couldn't believe it, his infatuation with this woman growing infinitely. He gazed at her with nothing but sheer amazement and awe, something she gently hit his arm for as she chuckled airily. The sound was like a flower, he would later describe, and it was the color of coral, so calming and controlled and filled with nothing but passion, professionalism, and pure breathtaking wonder. The lips that framed the notes were stunning themselves, soft and thin, baby pink with hints of orange sherbert. Her eyes were sparkling as she sang, bright cocoa with little gleams in the pupils, as if singing was the thing that gave her life purpose. The young man leaned on the palm of his hand as he begged her to sing more with pleading and vast eyes, her smile tiny and embarrassed as he did so. Her kimono rippled like the midnight ocean as she tipsily swayed, the leaves seeming to dance to her snickering.

If there was one thing of that night that Baekhyun would remember, it would be that little teaser of song. He stumbled back to the hotel at the break of dawn, his body collapsing onto his bed with a heavy thud as he instantly was swept off into a dream. That dream was nothing but Taeyeon, arms held out to him, her hand in an inviting pose, as she lead him away to a place filled only of her melodic voice. He dreamed of dancing with her, singing beside her, spending days upon days with her and only her. It was a shame that he didn't even remember the kiss they shared after Baekhyun was too drunk to keep his eyes open. Taeyeon remembered, and she later soaked in a tub of steaming hot water while trying to fully comprehend what she had just done.