Requested by: Kairi_Rose

​Characters: Baekhyun [EXO] & Kim Hyun-Ae [OC]

Premise: Proposal that incorporates EXO's "Into Your World"

Author: Admin K, DivinestSense

Paper Trails

Hyun-Ae groaned at the sound of alarm clock—was there truly no sound other than a buzzer that this old thing could make?  Blinding reaching out her hand, she fumbled as she pressed all the buttons her fingers could find before the blaring ceased.  The devil on her shoulder whispered for her to go back to her dream.  She could get ready quickly if she needed to (though, admittedly, she would prefer to take an hour), but before she could close her eyes and fall back asleep, her alarmed roared to life once again.

Screaming into her pillow, Hyun-Ae sat up in bed, grabbing the small, beeping object from her desk.  Now that she thought about it, she never bothered to figure out how to actually turn the alarm off—she just hoped that by abusing it, something would happen.  

Attached to the face of the clock was a tiny slip of paper, neatly folded but once.  Ripping the paper off (it was impossible for her to be delicate upon waking up), she unfolded it only to be met by the neat handwriting of her boyfriend.

“I ride the soft wind into your world." Hyun-Ae read aloud.  Flipping the paper over, she was surprised to find nothing else on it.  What did that mean?

Byu the artistic type of guy—not the tortured, fine arts kind—the hipster let’s-go-to-a-poetry-slam kind of guy.  She considered herself to be an intelligent person, but sometimes, his thoughts were too abstract for her (or just downright stupid).  He knew her like the back of his hand and her vice versa, but what possessed him to make him think that she was in the mood for riddles at nine in the morning, she did not know.

 She could only hope it was not going to be a hobby of his.

He had done cute things like this before—he set up a huge scavenger hunt on their first date—but there was no occasion.  It was definitely in his nature to do this simply to annoy her, but she liked to believe that he valued his life enough to not do that.  But back on her previous thoughts, he had gathered the help of everyone he knew for the scavenger hunt—how did that note get there.  It unnerved her to think that he snuck in her house in the middle of the night to plant a piece of paper.  

They practically lived together, always spending time at one another’s house, but the actual distance between the two houses was an hour’s drive.  She had to consider the mental health of her boyfriend if he drove all the way over to put a small piece of paper with a line of poetry (at least, that’s what she assumed it was at this point) on her alarm.

Luckily, all of his friends would attest to the fact that he was a fool, so his brain was fine.  

Getting up and making her way to the bathroom, Hyun-Ae mentally prepared herself to look into the mirror (falling asleep with mascara on was only good if she was cosplaying as a raccoon the next day, which she would admit never happens), only to be met with a second piece of paper, folded in the same fashion as the first.

Now curious, she snatched the paper and eager read it.  “I go right next to you..”

Looking around her bathroom, she half expected Baekhyun to pop up randomly next to her.  He was really not making her morning an easy one.

Moving to the toilet, Hyun-Ae was, at this point, not surprised to find another piece taped to the lid.  

“…and you ask where I came from.”

Sighing, she closed the door.

“Thank you, come again!” 

Hyun-Ae had managed to finish getting ready without random pieces of paper surprising her.  She would not lie—she loved when Baekhyun did this kind of stuff for her, it reminded her of how amazing he was and how special he thought she was—but she was not a morning person.  Hell, her favorite idols could have appeared shirtless in her room and she would only cuss and mumble incoherent things before returning to the land of her dreams.

But that was only in the morning—she was showered and dressed for the day, working her job at the local coffee shop.  That always put her in a much better mood.

“I’m going to take my break!” she announced to her fellow barista.  After receiving a smile and nod from Se-Na, she sat down at her favorite seat—the one neatly tucked away in the corner.  Is was crammed, yet cozy and there was only room for one person.  It was her way of making it clear she wanted alone time.  

Thinking back to the morning, Hyun-Ae had to wonder if she missed any more papers.  It seemed strange that she would go this far in her day without having seen another one—maybe the first few were a mistake?  She found it hard to believe that she would have completely missed any other notes when the first three were so obvious (and in order).  It would only serve to make it really awkward if she did not find all of them when she met him in the end—as his appearance was what all the hunts normally lead to.  Smiling to herself, she remembered the time when they were exchanging gifts with their friends for Christmas for Secret Santa.  He had picked Jongdae’s name out of the hat, bought this huge box, only to fill it with one polaroid of himself smiling with a v-pose.  

He was conceited in the most charming way possible.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Se-Na placed a cup of coffee in front of her.  Thanking her, Hyun-Ae inhaled the warm and comforting aroma.  Whenever one of them went on break, the other would serve them coffee—it was their way of caring for each other and acknowledging that the other was resting.

Gently picking up the mug, Hyun-Ae was met by a folded note sitting on top of the saucer.  Looking over at her coworker, she found Se-Na attending to customers, not once sparing her a glance.  Who else was in on this?  Excitement fluttered in her stomach as she looked at the paper—this little game was becoming fun.  Placing the mug back on the table, she read the next note, “You asked so innocently…”

Playing with the piece of paper mindlessly, Hyun-Ae closed her eyes and listened to the ambience of the coffee shop.  Couples were laughing and joking around, business men were rambling on their cell phones, the espresso machine was releasing it’s typical soft hiss—she truly loved working here.  

She and Baekhyun both graduated last year, but she had decided to take a leap year before medical school while he was working with some small, upstarting record label as their first potential artist.  He told her that when he was younger he dreamed of being an idol, but as he got older, he realized that he was not willing to sacrifice some things to reach that goal (he then continued on to say that she was worth more to him than it, to which she slapped him lightheartedly and told him to take his pick up lines somewhere else).  His friend, Henry, was creating a label that would stay away from the typical scene, and focus more on ballads and indie—she could not picture him anywhere else (though she did amuse the thoughts of him in eyeliner and sparkly jackets).  

They met in high school (well, the formally met junior year, but she had always known who he was) and began dating their senior year.  Unlike other couples, they did not go through any awkward phases or a honeymoon phase—their love was simple and easy.  He was one of the popular guys, not because he was athletic or anything, but because he was handsome.  In fact, during those years, nothing really made him that much more special than anyone else besides his appearance.  She, on the other hand, was the book worm.  Determined to graduate at the top of the class, she studied harder than anyone else.  She did not dress like a nerd or anything (in fact, she liked to think she blended in), but for some reason, some girls just didn’t like her.  They didn’t shove her into a locker, but sometimes they would make comments that she could not help but be hurt by.

Then Baekhyun came along one day and told her they were meant to be together.  After she clar