“Exactly.”

Aya could no longer feel the tips of her fingers. She was numb, and the cold wasn’t helping. Her eyes were pinned on the entryway to their kitchen, as if expecting her doom to exit the jamb at any moment.

She tried to process Sehun’s response. He looked oddly relaxed, unaffected. Or was it his default face simply surfacing after the initial shock to Baekhyun’s news? Still, Aya judged him too composed in the face of such revelation.

She was sure of it. Her mother had heard. She had to assume the worst. No, she wasn’t going to drag Sehun with her if it went down to an argument. She was going to take all the blame, leave Sehun’s slate clean in her parents’ eyes. If it meant breaking up with him just to steer him away from the inevitable fight in the family, she would do so.

“What do you mean, ‘exactly’?” Baekhyun raised his brow.

Sehun sighed in exasperation—still too lax, Aya observed. “You said I had no plans of telling her, right? Well, that’s the whole point. But congratulations anyway, bonehead, you just practically ruined the biggest surprise I had in store for her.”

Biggest what?

Aya caught the split-second waver in Sehun’s demeanor. He wasn’t just too calm, he was also too talkative. She couldn’t remember him having sputtered more words than he did at the moment. She saw his jaws flex. Her gaze moved to his hands; they were pale and fisted.

He can’t be—

“Wait, what?” Baekhyun’s face was now dark with confusion. “What d’ya mean biggest surprise? You— She— Are you saying—“

“Aya doesn’t dance, Baekhyun.” Sehun was beginning to sound tired. Or was trying to act it at least. “She wants to but she can’t. She’s… how do I say it… a hopeless stick figure—sorry, Aya.”

“Excuse me?” For a fleeting moment, Aya forgot her dilemma. Consumed in agitation, she nearly challenged the boy to a freestyle showdown. And then she bit her tongue, just as her mother finally emerged from the kitchen.

“Oh, did I hear that right?” Aunt Shai’s melodious voice filled the room. She was gleaming at both Baekhyun and Sehun, but she avoided eye contact with Aya. “I never would have thought you the dancing type, Sehun, dear.”

“No, Aunt Shai, I’m not.” Sehun rubbed his nape, a blush tinting his cheeks. “But the crew seems to think I can gather a lot of girls so…” His admission sent Aunt Shai laughing. “Yes, it’s ridiculous. That’s why I was planning to dedicate the dance number to Aya just so they understand I’m not for auction.” This only made Aunt Shai laugh all the more.

Aya was no longer following Sehun’s train of thought, but whatever it was he was doing, it seemed to veer her mother away from associating the dancing with her, which was the most important thing at the moment.

Meanwhile, Baekhyun had completely caught on what Sehun was doing. He wasn’t particularly good at acting—unless it involved flirting—but he strived to keep his objections at bay and stay on Sehun’s course as much as he could.

“Oh, god, I am so terribly sorry, Sehun.” Baekhyun put on a guilty expression. “I had no idea, I swear. I was just… I was intrigued why they wanted to talk to Aya so badly, I completely mistook it as them wanting to recruit her.” He looked at Aya this time. “I’m so sorry, Aya. I don’t know how I can ever make it up to you—“

“Oh,” Aya waved her hands, “no, please. Don’t sweat over it. I’m good. I was beginning to suspect him anyway.” She couldn’t stop the nervous chuckle escaping .

Sehun grunted. “No, you weren’t.”

“Trust me,” Aya insisted, more convincingly this time, “I did.”

“You’re as dense as a brick, Aya.”

“And you’re as cold as ice.”

“Your heater’s just not working.”

“The heater’s got nothing to do with—”

“All right, love birds.” Aunt Shai placed a hand on Aya’s shoulder and another across Sehun’s chest. “Enough with the bantering. Why don’t you go check your quarter results?”

“Right.” Aya nodded. “Quarter results. I’ll just go get my coat.”

Aunt Shai retreated once again to the kitchen when Aya went up, leaving Baekhyun and Sehun alone. This time, Sehun’s face was finally unmasked. He wasn’t trying to hide his irritation anymore. He was muttering a string of curses as he wrapped the scarf more securely around his neck. And Baekhyun had a feeling they were all directed at him.

Aya led the way out. Three blocks later, Sehun leapt beside Aya and both of them turned right, down a narrow walkway and inside a wooden house. It took another minute for Baekhyun to digest everything before following suit.

Sehun slowly closed the door as soon as the three of them were inside. The interior of his house was so much warmer. But he knew better.

The bubble of tranquility the three of them—Aya and Sehun especially—were trying so hard to shield earlier finally burst. It dropped the atmosphere a few degrees colder. And heavier.

“I am so dead!” Aya pressed both palms to her forehead, hissing. And then she turned for Sehun, eyes pleading and nearly in tears. “What were you thinking? Lying to my Mom’s face!”

“I did what I had to.” Sehun was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and eyes droopy. Still, he couldn’t overlook the wild clobbering in his ribcage.

“I didn’t ask you to.” Aya sank in the divan. “Now what are we going to do?”

Sehun shrugged. “Do what your Mom expects us to?”

“It’s not that easy, Sehun.”

“I don’t see how it’s not. We’ll simply carry on as usual.”

Feeling completely ignored, Baekhyun tried to piece the puzzle together through their conversations. Sehun could dance. Aya could dance. Sehun was trying to hide the fact that Aya could dance from her mother. But he had no problem admitting to Aunt Shai’s face that he, too, could dance. The dance crew he had met in his neighborhood knew of Aya’s talent and wanted her to join them as well. Sehun, on the contrary, didn’t want Aya to join the crew which he himself had joined. And now Sehun had made sure Aya couldn’t join them by telling Aunt Shai how terrible a dancer Aya was; and that the performance number the crew was rehearsing was supposed to be his biggest surprise to Aya.

Instead of solving the puzzle, B