It has only been a one or two weeks after you met Baekhyun and Kai. You're closer to them now, closer than you thought you would be.

Despite the fact that you don't make friends with your neighbours, it seems like Kai is an exception. Sometimes, you find yourself cooking for him in your apartment with him watching you from a stool he placed next to you. Other times, you find yourself sitting on the ground with him in his apartment, eating his microwaved food or having takeaway. He has opened up to you considerably, although you admit he is still mysterious.

Baekhyun is as charming, or maybe even more so. He keeps his word, always looking for you everyday to have a meal together. Sometimes, he invites Sehun along too (although Sehun self-invites himself most of the time anyway). Sehun is still wary of him, of course. But you know he is more accepting of Baekhyun now. Especially when he sees Baekhyun always picking you up from a class, or when Baekhyun tucks a stray hair behind your ear when you eat.

The other time, while you were walking past a café as you made your way to your next class, you saw Baekhyun and Sehun sitting at a table, conversing. You thought you saw wrong, but it was certain that it was them. One of them had fluffy black hair and droopy eyes. The other had styled brown hair and fierce eyes. It was undoubtedly Baekhyun and Sehun, holding a normal conversation. You wanted to go in and ask them why they hadn't invited you along to this meet-up. But instead, you groaned, pushed it out of your mind, and continued on to your next class.

Today, when you are done with your classes, you see Sehun and Baekhyun walking towards the car park. You shout out to them and Baekhyun turns around first. You actually don't know why you had called out to them because even though you want to be hanging out with them, there has to be a reason why they hadn't called you.

You snap out of it when you hear your name being called by Sehun. You focus on them again, and you see Baekhyun beckoning you over with his hand. He is beaming at you, welcoming you. You grin, forgetting about your insecurities of them not wanting you there. Striding over to them, Baekhyun places his hand on your back.

"What are you guys doing together?" You gesture to the air between the two males.

Sehun shrugs, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "Hyung said he'd drive me home."

"Guess I'll drive the both you home," Baekhyun chuckles, putting more pressure on the hand behind your back. You turn to him and he winks at you, "And we can have dinner together."

You nod, smiling. The three of you walk towards Baekhyun's car. Baekhyun unlocks the vehicle and you enter the shotgun seat. Baekhyun's car smells like new leather and citrus from the air purifier. It's familiar. The both of them slide into the car too. Baekhyun starts the car and places his hands on his thighs in a relaxed fashion.

He turns to you, smiling with his eyes crinkled at the ends. He reaches out to curl your hair behind your ear. But then his hand is slapped away by Sehun.

"Drive, hyung," your over-protective best friend commands.

Baekhyun clucks his tongue, crinkling his nose in distaste playfully at you. You chuckle as he starts to drive out of the parking lot. Sehun flicks your ear from behind. Your hand flies out to grab his hand. He yelps when you pull it towards you. You bite on his wrist, making Sehun hit the back of your seat.

"Yah, yah!!!" Sehun shouts.

You're laughing when you release his red hand. Sehun is whining in pain and Baekhyun is chuckling slightly. He drives the younger male home first and Sehun leaves, not before he shoves your head lightly. He thanks Baekhyun for the ride and Baekhyun starts the car. He glances at you.

"Where do you wanna eat?"

You look at him, "Actually..." Baekhyun looks at you in curiousity. You look sheepish as you ask, "Are you free for the rest of the night? I wanna watch a movie..."

Baekhyun nods, "Yeah, let's eat first, okay? Oppa hasn't eaten since lunch and I'm hungry."

You giggle, "Okay."

He grins when he hears your laughter, reaching over to curl your hair behind your ear. This time, no one stops him so he successfully does it. From the corner of your eye, you see a cut on his hand. So you cover your hand with his and bring it down to your eye level. Baekhyun seems surprised that you're touching him like this, because you hardly reciprocate the skinship he displays.

"What happened?" You murmur, your finger tracing the long cut on his palm that is slowly scabbing. It looks like it is going to form a scar.

"Huh?" He glances down at his hand that is cradled by your smaller ones. "Oh, that... I... I got hurt while at work."

You look at him, feeling your heart clench. You don't want Baekhyun to be hurt. Your thumb is smoothing the cut absentmindedly while a sigh escaped your lips.

"What's with that sigh, kitten?" Baekhyun chuckles, flipping your hands so that his is over yours. He interlaces your fingers with yours, squeezing your hand. "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself."

You shake your head, "I do, but I wanna worry about you too."

He chuckles, bringing your clasped hands up to brush your cheek with his knuckles. He sighs contentedly, "You're so sweet."

You blush slightly, "I'm just worried for you."

Baekhyun doesn't say anything because he already knows how stubborn you are when it comes to accepting compliments. For the rest of the ride, he keeps holding onto your hand, his thumb rubbing against your skin while you talk to him about your classes today. You are comfortable with him so quickly now and even though it should scare you, you're not a bit terrified.

Baekhyun makes you comfortable and his presence actually makes you feel at ease. It is only his actions that make your heart thump like a little rabbit's. Like now, as he holds your hand, or the previous time, when he held your waist to keep you close in a sea of people.

The both of you get to a mall shortly after. You walk close to Baekhyun as the both of you make your way to a Japanese restaurant. Once you have filled your stomachs, Baekhyun pays as always. You have tried insisting to pay but he doesn't want any of it. He is always paying every time he eats with you. It makes you wonder what he really works as and why he actually seems to have so much money.

Baekhyun brings you to the ticketing box when you leave the restaurant. While in line, he watches you contemplate what movie to watch. He doesn't care which movie he's going to watch, so you choose something that you really want to catch. You end up choosing a fairytale movie, saying sorry to Baekhyun in advance.

"Consider this your date," Baekhyun smiles, brushing your hair off your shoulder. He jokes, "I'm going to bring you to a shooting range on my date."

Even as you're laughing, you are flushed as well. He had just named this a date. What was just a dinner and a movie, it is now a date. You suddenly feel aware of your appearance and how you are acting. You find that your heart is beating faster than before. Baekhyun seems to realise this, so he caresses your head like he always does when he is adoring you.

Once the ticket is bought by Baekhyun, the both of you go to get popcorn from the snack bar. Baekhyun pays again and this time, you fight over it.

"Stop paying for me," you grumble while walking next to him to the cinema theatre. "You've been paying for everything when we go out and it makes me feel like I'm freeloading off of you."

"Don't feel that way," Baekhyun pleads. "I do it only because you're worth spending on."

"I'm not worth spending on," you mumble, looking down with red ears.

Baekhyun chuckles, lifting your head with a finger. "If I could, I want to buy you everything else you want and need. I'd spend all my money on you."

"But it's my date," you sigh, looking up at him with apologetic eyes.

Baekhyun looks at you for a little longer. Then he chuckles, pulling you by the waist. Your hip bumps against his. As he hands your tickets over to the boy working there, he keeps a firm hand on your hip. You try to breathe properly with him so close to you.

Baekhyun thanks the boy who point you guys to the direction of the theatre. "Let me spoil you, will you?" He murmurs softly into your ear when you walk into the theatre.

"But—"

"No, actually... You don't get to choose," Baekhyun interrupts you. You scowl at him as you guys walk up the steps of the rows of seats. He sees your frown and he laughs quietly, squeezing your waist.

The two of you separate to get to your seats. He lets you in first before lifting the hand rest between the two seats while he sits. You cross your legs on the chair and set the popcorn in the well of your limbs. Baekhyun reaches over to grab some to pop them into his mouth. You watch the advertisements before the actual movie starts. The cinema is black, safe for the illuminated wide screen.

You turn to glance at Baekhyun, seeing how his countenance is being lit up brightly by the light. Sensing your gaze on him, he looks at you. He raises his eyebrow at you and you shake your head, giving an embarrassed smile. You cover up by eating a popcorn, but then you let out a gasp when you feel Baekhyun's arm around your waist. His arm is wound around your stomach from the front.

He pulls you towards him so that you're sitting in the middle of the two seats now. Baekhyun drops his hand, resting it on your lap. For the rest of the movie, you feel like the princess in the story just with Baekhyun's presence and constant touches.

Baekhyun dumps the bucket of half-eaten popcorn into the bin on the way out. It is already late into the night and you're leaving the mall. But just a couple of steps out of the shopping centre, the male halts mid step. His ears are perked and his eyes are alert. You touch his forearm but he turns to you, grabbing your hand instead.

He holds your hand in his tightly as he drags you towards a direction opposite the car park. You frown at his back, "Where are we going?"

"For a walk," Baekhyun answers, turning around to flash a smile at you.

He stops pulling you once a park is in sight. He slows down so that he walks next to you. You let out a big breath and he hears it. The male chuckles, bringing your clasped hands up to wipe the sweat forming on your forehead and your neck. The both of you are walking in the darkness of the park, making you stay close to Baekhyun. He clenches your hand to reassure you.

"How did you like the movie?" You finally ask when your pace slows to a stroll. You look at Baekhyun who is staring straight ahead into nothingness.

He shrugs, "I wasn't really watching it." He then turns to you with a sheepish expression.

You laugh, shaking your head. "Then what were you doing?"

"Watching you," he says so naturally that it sounds like he doesn't understand why you would ask such an obvious question.

You don't reply, but instead you blush. Baekhyun smiles at that, untangling your fingers to smooth his thumb on your rosy cheek. He feels the heat of your face and he chuckles breathlessly. You feel yourself go even redder. You realise that you're now walking slower and slower, until you stop completely. You are facing Baekhyun as he examines your entire face in the moonlight.

His thumb hovers over every feature he draws with his eyes. The last part of your face he stares at is your lips. You hitch a breath when he runs his thumb over your bottom lip lightly like a feather tracing it. His eyes dart between your lips and your eyes. You see how much they shine and you're enchanted.

Baekhyun pulls your face closer to his gently. First, you feel his breath on your lips. Then, you sense the ticklish feeling of his lips grazing yours. Finally, the both of you close your eyes before Baekhyun presses his lips on yours, firm and sweet. He pulls back a few seconds later, his eyes fluttering open slowly.

"I don't know what to do," Baekhyun admits, his voice soft.

You don't say anything because you don't know how to react. What is he talking about, anyway? You don't understand why he said that. Is it because he didn't know what to do before, so he kissed me? Or is it because he doesn't know what to do now, so he's admitting it to me?

He smiles wryly before dropping his hand. He slips his hand into yours and says quietly, "Let's go home."

The walk back to the car is a quiet one. It isn't awkward, but the both of you are highly aware of each other's movements. The air around the both of you is buzzing. Everything feels more tangible to you; the pad of his palm against yours, the breaths you take, the cool night air. Just when you are nearing the car park, Baekhyun moves closer to you when a crowd is in view.

Being the curious girl you are, you tiptoe to see what is going on. You see an ambulance and a few police cars. A part of the pavement is barricaded. As you get closer, you hear people whispering about the crime scene. It seems like someone had gotten into a car accident and the victim died. You shudder at that information, finally not so interested in the gossip anymore.

"Lucky for us that we weren't here when it happened," you murmur, squeezing Baekhyun's hand as you look up at him.

"Yeah, lucky," he repeats, smiling absently as he brings you back to his car.

Sehun is now over at your place, another mandatory sleepover of the week in order. You are both settling on who is doing dinner tonight by playing a game of thumb wrestling. Someone rings the doorbell and you pause, staring up at Sehun questionably. He shrugs before squashing your thumb with his, playing the cheater again.

You groan, hitting him with your leg when he lets go of you, pumping his hands in the air and shouting, "Victory to Oh Sehun!!! I have scored a maid!"

"Jerk," you spit at him bumping your hip against his as you walk past him. He loses his balance and stumbles before catching himself again.

You go to open the door. A smile creeps on your lips immediately when you see Kai looking at you. He smiles back.

"What's up?" You ask casually, leaning against the door.

"Who are you talking to?" Sehun calls, striding over to you. He peers at the male before you, hovering over you protectively. "Is this your neighbour?"

You nod enthusiastically, "This is Kai! And this is Sehun!" You introduce them to each other and they shake hands. You have talked to them both about the other, but they have never met each other before. Today is the first time.

"So, what's up?" You ask again.

Kai shakes his head, looking sheepish when he says, "Just thought we could have dinner together. My job was well done today and I wanted to share it with you."

"Oh!" You beam, straightening immediately. "That's great news, Kai!!! We can have dinner—"

He shakes his head vehemently, "No, no, no. I don't wanna intrude."

"It's fine," you wave his worry aside.

Sehun nods from behind you, "Yeah, it's fine. I'd like to see who my best friend has been hanging around lately."

"Come in," you open the door wider, stepping back and colliding your back into Sehun's chest. His hands fly to your waist to steady you and Kai glances at the interaction.

"She's cooking dinner," Sehun explains when Kai is slipping his shoes off his feet. "We can have a chat while she cooks."

You're already in the kitchen, preparing all the ingredients you need for dinner. Kai watches you from where he is and Sehun in turn observes him watching you. Kai shakes his head, smiling apologetically.

"I'd like to help her," he murmurs, staring straight into Sehun's eyes. Sehun looks on a little longer than necessary, trying to frighten Kai. But when he sees that Kai isn't going to budge, he nods curtly in permission.

Kai stalks towards you, standing next to you cutting some vegetables. You glance up at him and notice that he is near. He goes to wash his hands and comes back, getting a chopping board and a knife in all the right places. Sehun looks amazed that Kai seems to be well familiar with your apartment.

"So, Kai, are you close to her?" Sehun questions, standing at the opposite side of the counter.

You look up at Sehun, who is staring at the other male. Kai glances at him and then at you. He his head as he fixes a thoughtful gaze on you. A boyish grin makes its way to his lips, making you grin as well. You bump your hip with his.

Kai chuckles, shaking his head at you before turning to Sehun, "To be honest? No."

You feel a pang in your heart, like your organ had cracked a little. Sehun shoots his eyes over to you, his eyes full of worry as though he had heard that small crack. 

"I want to, though," Kai murmurs, looking down at his chopping board.

"Then what's hindering you?" Sehun presses. His eyes are on you most of the time, only ocassionally glancing at Kai. It looks like all he wants to do now is gather you in his arms.

Kai sighs forlornly, shrugging as though it isn't a big deal. But you know it is. To you and to him. He answers, "I just can't..." He looks up suddenly, trapping Sehun's gaze with his. Sehun can't seem to look away. Kai asks rhetorically, "You know when you want to do something so bad, but you can't? Not because you don't want to, not because your conscience says no, but because you just... you just can't."

The way Kai speaks sounds so heartbreaking, so upset that Sehun is stunned for words. You have stopped cutting too, staring at Kai. Sehun finds his voice again.

"Be a man and try," he gives a man-to-man advice.

Kai continues cutting, looking down at his board. You start to cut the ingredients slowly as well. He murmurs, "I can't hurt her... I don't want to hurt her."

"You won't know if you don't try," Sehun pressurises.

"We're both going to be miserable either way," Kai's voice is low, almost painful. Even to your ears and to your heart, the sorrowful words are too difficult bear.

This boy is speaking in riddles. He isn't answering Sehun directly, he isn't even looking at you. You don't know what he is referring to. He doesn't elaborate.

And it scares you.