Why is he here so early? Oh god, I’m still wearing last night’s clothes and I’m wrapped in a blanket. I look horrible. Why is he here?

“Staring is rude,” he comments. His hands are placed inside the pockets of his jeans, making him look easygoing and relaxed—the complete opposite of what I’m feeling right now.

I was staring?

“Yeah, you were.” His brown eyes are fixed on me and I can’t help but feel like a deer in the headlights. I grit my teeth and shake my head. Why do I keep thinking out loud? Slowly, I bend down to retrieve the phone. I can feel Baekhyun staring me as I do so but I ignore him.

Once I have the phone back in my hands, I can practically hear Jiyoung’s concerned voice screaming from the other side. Too bad I can’t stay long to answer her questions.

“Hey Jiyoung? I, um, I’ll have to call you back.”

“Why? Did something happen? Ya, Dohyun—“

I end the call and turn back to Baekhyun who has an amused expression written all over his face. I wrap the blanket tighter around my shoulders and narrow my eyes at him.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. I know that Baekhyun’s supposed to come over but I didn’t expect for him to come over in a matter of minutes. I mean, he did say in about an hour right?

He shrugs. “I told you I’d come over.”

“Yeah but you said in an hour.”

He shrugs again. “Things change.” Then, he eyes what I’m wearing and chuckles. “Well, except for a few things.”

I look down and frown. I’m still wearing last night’s clothes. I look up and notice that his eyes are filled with mirth and I’m not sure if I should think that he’s making fun of me or the situation. Either way, I feel conscious. I wrap the blanket some more to my body and scowl.

“None of your business,” I retort, trying to sound cool and collected when I’m, in fact, not.

 “So,” he starts. He peers over my shoulders and flashes me a grin—a grin that makes me feel even more flustered. “Will you invite me in or not? It’s pretty cold out here, you know?”

Again, he’s right. It is cold outside. I purse my lips and shrug. It’s not like I can keep him outside forever. Besides, if I let him in right away, that means I can get my phone faster.

“Sure,” I mutter, stepping aside so that he can enter. He gives me another smile—one that’s small and almost invisible if not for the fact that I may or may not have been staring at his face. He struts inside as if he owns the place and looks around the room, nodding every now and then. I give him a weird look as I close the front door.

“Find anything interesting?” I ask. It’s supposed to sound sarcastic and rude but to me, it actually sounded like I was curious as to what he has to say. I bite my lip and watch him look around my house. He’s wearing a red hoodie paired with jeans that, once again, look good on him. He has glasses now and thank god he wiped that eyeliner he had on last night.

He shrugs again. “No comment.”

I snort. It’s not like I wanted his opinion anyway. We stand in the living room, looking anywhere except at each other because honestly I’m sick of doing that. With a sigh, I walk towards him and his eyes focus on me. I gulp and suddenly I remember what Jiyoung said.

“You threw up on him.”

My cheeks grow warm and Baekhyun takes notice of this. His eyes widen and I can already tell a hint of a smirk forming on his face.

“Are you—“

“Kitchen,” I blurt, cutting him off before he makes another flirtatious remark. “There’s food.”

He arches an eyebrow. “Okay?”

I nod my head. My cheeks are still warm and I will them to stop because this gives the wrong impression.

“Follow me,” I say and I immediately make my way to the kitchen. I’m still holding the telephone but I figure that putting it back in the office can wait.

I hear his soft footsteps pad across the floor as we walk towards the kitchen. I’m not exactly sure what food we have there that’ll be ‘appropriate’ for this type of meeting. I’m not even that close with him that I’ll be able to serve him a home cooked meal. But serving him biscuits while I eat something heavy is kind of rude…

“What’s that?”

I snap out of my thoughts and turn to Baekhyun and almost jump a foot away. How the hell did he manage to be five inches away from me? I scoot away from him and he notices this. Then a subtle smirk comes on his lips.

“Am I getting too close?”

My cheeks warm up again for all the wrong reasons. I shake my head and turn away from him. “Yes, so please, personal space,” I say as I mentally pat myself on the back for being able to spit out those words without stuttering.

He shrugs again and I can feel my eye twitch.

“Stop doing that,” I say, as I make my way to where the pasta dish sits.

“Stop doing what?”

“Shrugging.” I frown and shake my head. “It’s distracting.”

He smirks. “So you think I’m distracting.”

I groan. I pry the lid off the container and scowl. “That is not what I said.”

“But there was an implication.”

I roll my eyes. I ignore his comment and place the container in the microwave to heat it up. I punch a couple of numbers before leaning on the counter. I cross my arms and look up—which is a bad move on my part. Bad because the moment I look up, I see him looking at me with those brown eyes with such intensity that I feel like I’m going to melt. I clear my throat and look away.

“Well,” I start, looking at anything but him. “I guess this is the part where in we exchange phones?”

I take a peek at him to see his reaction. He nods his head and takes out a small device from his pocket and it looks so familiar that a part of me wants to cry out in joy because it’s my phone. I’m about to take it from him when he retracts his hand, a sly grin forming on his face. Oh how I wish to wipe it off and burn it in an incinerator.

I raise an eyebrow, wondering why he’s not giving the phone.

“Um, that’s my phone,” I say with a puzzled expression on my face. I mean this is the part where in exchange phones, right?

“Yeah, but where’s mine?”

He has this playful look on his face but somehow my gut tells me that there is more to this playfulness of his. I bite my lip and slowly shake my head.

“It’s um, upstairs.”

He raises an eyebrow. I gulp. Maybe I shouldn’t have tossed his phone earlier.

“I’ll go get it.”

I dash out of the kitchen and run up the stairs, my blanket trailing after me like a superhero cape. I only had three encounters with Baekhyun, including this one, and so far I can tell that he’s this playful person who likes to mess with people. At least, that’s how he appears to me.

He’s a person who likes to flirt, who likes to stare, and who likes to make witty comebacks that more or less get on my nerves. He’s that kind of person and I already feel like dying because how will I ever get along with him when we’re doing the actual planning?

I open my bedroom door and immediately take off the blanket. I spot the phone on my bed and reach for it. I’m about to go down the stairs when I realize that, damn, I should really change because letting him see myself still in last night’s get up reminds me of how I threw up at him. Frowning, I change into a fresh new set of clothes. I also take a quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up. I know that I look like a mess right now and that I should fix myself up a bit but Baekhyun’s downstairs and I know that making people wait is a little rude. Sighing, I take his phone with me and go down the stairs.

I already braced myself for the next round of witty comments and playful banter but I didn’t brace myself to walk in on him talking to someone on my phone while taking out my pasta dish. For some reason, my brain told me that it was a good idea to hide by the doorway, eavesdropping on the conversation. So that’s where I am now, hiding near the doorway, eavesdropping. I place a hand on my head and feel it throb. Right, I haven’t taken my medicine yet.

I slowly poke my head into the doorway and watch Baekhyun place the pasta dish back on the table. He lets out an audible sigh before shaking his head.

“I’m not going to do anything to her so calm down.”

Her? Does ‘her’ refer to me? I furrow my brows and inch closer.

“Yes I’m here and I’m only here for business. Solely business. Hm? Yeah. Good luck with that. Bye.”

The call ends and he heaves another sigh. I debate on whether I should waltz in without a care in the world or wait for a minute or so. I decide on the latter so I back away from the doorway quiet as a mouse. I’m already in the clear when my left foot steps on a loose floorboard. I wince at the sound.

“Dohyun?”

I silently groan and trudge back to the kitchen. My head is down and I grip his phone tightly in my hand. I feel a bit bad that I eavesdropped on his conversation even though he used my phone. Did he talk to someone I know or did he dial someone? Biting my lip, I shake those thoughts away and approach him slowly. I look up and catch him giving me a weird look.

He opens his mouth but I beat him to it and hold out his phone.

“Here,” I say, reaching for his hand and placing the phone inside it. His hand feels warm and I can’t say that I don’t like the feeling of it in mine. The weather’s cold and the warmth of human beings or inanimate objects is always a good thing. I see his eyes widen at my gesture but I think nothing of it.  I let go of his hand and cross my arms.

“Can I have my phone back now?”

He narrows his eyes on me and this action makes my palms sweat. Did I do something wrong? He blinks and shakes his head. He tucks his phone away in the pocket of his jeans before handing me mine.

Our hands brush each other and I have to say, I think I did a pretty good job being cool about this whole ‘we just exchanged’ phones dilemma. Once the phone is back in my hands, I see that I have a ton of missed calls as well as messages. Majority of them are from Sora while a couple are from Jiyoung. Jongdae called as well and I guess it’s to check up on me.

“Guess you’re feeling better now?” I snap my attention away from my phone and back to Baekhyun who’s looking at me with this concerned look on his face and I have to do a double take to make sure that I’m actually seeing it and not making it up. Now that he mentioned it, I feel a bit better knowing that my phone is back in my possession. But, it doesn’t change the fact that I still have a killer headache and a killer appetite.

“A bit,” I reply.

He places his hand inside his pockets and nods his head.

“That’s good. I figured last night would have this kind of effect on you.”

Last night. Again, Jiyoung’s words fill my head and it takes everything in me to fight the urge to go on my knees and apologize for being a wreck and for being so irresponsible. My cheeks start to get warmer and again, Baekhyun notices this. He quirks an eyebrow and a slow smile creeps its way on his lips.

“Don’t tell me—“

I shake my head and walk over to the pasta dish he took out earlier. I get two plates and expertly divide the dish so that we’ll have equal portions.

“—you remember what happened last night?”

I scoff and take out two glasses. “No,” is my snarky comeback. I turn to look at him and he has this amused expression that clearly says he doesn’t believe me. I place the glasses on the table and shake my head.

“I don’t remember anything.”

He rolls his eyes. “Your face gives it away.”

My jaw drops but I quickly pick it up and bluff some more. “Please, I—“

“So how much do you remember?” He sees the plate full of pasta and points at it. “Is that for me?”

Unconsciously, I nod. He smiles and for some reason, this smile gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s different from those smirks of his that taunts me or those lopsided grins that teases me. And I can already tell that this smile of his is infinitely better than all his other smiles.

He takes a fork and twirls some pasta around it. He inhales deeply and the smile on his face grows deeper. Unconsciously, I smile as well. He looks up and his brown eyes meet mine.

“You really do look nice when you smile.”

I blink. I know that he told me this the first time we met but hearing him say it again with those eyes and that smile, it feels different somehow. I feel my cheeks grow warm and I immediately cover them.

“Is this your way of flirting with people?” Because I think it’s working.

He twirls some pasta around some more and shrugs. He eyes me and the smile on his faces morphs into his usual teasing grin. “Maybe.”

I blink and in a flash, the moment breaks and I’m once again faced with a boy whose main goal in life is to annoy the hell out of me. I sigh and go the fridge to get the pitcher of water.

“As I was saying, how much do you remember?”

I almost drop the pitcher and laugh awkwardly. “What do you mean? I don’t remember anything.”

He eats the pasta, chews it slowly, before swallowing it. “As I said, your face gives you away. And,” he gestures to the plate he has and raises an eyebrow. “I believe this is the first time you’re being nice to me. Or, at very least, not hostile.”

I slam the fridge door and narrow my eyes at him. “I’m not hostile.”

He shakes his head and mimics what I did to the fridge door, adding sound effects for measure. I scowl as he does this and he catches this sour expression of mine. He rolls his eyes and twirls the pasta.

“Right.”

I groan. I place the pitcher on the table and sit across from him. It’s a little awkward since I barely know the guy and I’m basically having a meal with him. My head is still pounding but I tell myself that I’ll drink the medicine after I eat.

Baekhyun’s eating silently, looking at me every now and then before resuming his lunch. He pours himself a glass of water and I’m a little bit amazed as to how he acts so cool and collected when I—the girl who threw up on him last night and the girl who isn’t even bearable company—am sitting right in front of him, watching his every move.

“Haven’t I told you staring is rude?”

I break out of my reverie to see him looking at me with that same amused expression on his face. I shake my head and scoff. I fork my pasta and shove a whole lot of it in my face, refusing to answer him.

“So,” he starts again, clearly not sensing that I don’t want to talk to him. “How much do you remember?”

I groan and sink deeper in my seat. I was so close to forgetting about it, so close.

“This is the third time you’ve asked me this.”

“I know.”

My head throbs and I sigh. “If I answer your question, will you stop asking me about it?”

He’s about to shrug but stops himself. “Sure. Just tell me what you remember and we can forget all about it.”

I purse my lips at his proposition. A part of me wants to keep quiet about because I know that after this, he’ll probably use this vital information as a way to blackmail me. I already feel sorry for ruining his shoes and I guess a part of me is using this pasta dish as a way of making amends. I just hope that food will be enough for him to forgive and forget.

I take a deep breath and think over his words. If I tell him about it, the sooner he’ll shut up about it and leave the topic alone. If I don’t tell him about it, he’ll continue to pester me about it and he might not leave sooner than expected unless he forces it out of me.

I take a deep breath.

“Jiyoung told me I threw up on you,” I blurt, the words spilling out of me before my brain even had time to process it and alter it so that it’ll sound a little better. I vaguely recall doing it though but from the few scenes that flashed through my eyes a while ago, I’m sure that it happened.

His fork clatters on the plate and I wince. I regret telling him this rather, reminding him about this. He blinks and chuckles awkwardly, rubbing his neck.

“So you remember that.”

“I’m sorry,” I mumble, letting the sincerity seep into those two words. “And for everything else that followed after oh god, I just, I’m so, so sorry. Are your shoes okay?”

He stares at me for a little while and I resist the urge to tell him that staring is rude. He cranes his neck to one side and shakes his head. His face clearly shows that he wasn’t expecting me to remember this. His cheeks are slightly tinged red and his eyes are avoiding mine.

“They’re,” he coughs and starts again. “They’re getting cleaned.”

I bite my lip and start playing with my food. “Guess you were right, huh?”

He snaps his head back to me and furrows his brows. “About what?”

I squirm in my seat. “It’s different when you actually remember it.”

He eyes me with what I think is new found respect. “So you were listening to me a while ago.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not deaf, Baekhyun.”

He picks up his fork. “I never said you were.”

I don’t have a comeback to that so I let it slide. Silence hangs over us like a heavy cloud but it looks like I’m the only one bothered by it. I eat some more, pausing to take a peek at Baekhyun. He looks calm, collected even, as if telling him that I just threw up on him doesn’t faze him at all. I squirm in my seat some more.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble again, twirling the pasta around.

“I know.”

I roll my eyes but continue to stare down at my plate. “If anything, I can clean your shoes for you?” It comes off as a question because a part of me doesn’t want to clean it. I look up to see his reply even though I don’t want to.

He shakes his head. A small smile appears on his face and somehow, it makes me feel a little better—better in the sense that he’s not mad. “I already told you that it’s getting cleaned.”

“Oh.”

He chuckles. “It’s okay. I think it’s best to say that we forget all about it.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

He knits his brows together. “And why not?”

I open my mouth but no words come out. Well, it is best that we both forget about it but I thought that he’d be the kind of person who’ll use this to his advantage. For example, blackmail.

“Nothing,” I finally say. He arches an eyebrow and leans back on the chair.

“You were thinking that I’d blackmail you.”

My eyes widen. “Um, no I wasn’t.”

He scoffs. “I’m not that kind of person, just so you know.” This sudden change of attitude throws me off. I cross my arms and narrow my eyes at him.

“Well, we don’t exactly know each other.”

He crosses his arms as well and raises an eyebrow. He leans forward and I lean back, surprised at his action.  His eyes remain fixed on mine and I feel my breath hitch in my throat.

“Then let me change that.”

In a flash, he takes out his phone and snaps a picture of me—wide eyed and utterly surprised. My mouth drops open and I scramble in my seat to compose myself.

“What just happened?”

“I took a picture of you.”

I stare at him wide eyed and shake my head. “Why?”

“To make it your picture in my contacts.”

I blink. “But, why?”

He looks up from his phone with brows knitted. “You don’t want me to remember your face?”

I don’t know why but my cheeks decide to blush a little—just a little—when he said that. I clear my throat and shake my head.

“I’m not used to people taking pictures of me,” I say, fumbling with the fork in my hand. Just a second ago, I was quite peeved at him and now, I’m as flustered as a school girl looking at her crush only difference is that he’s not my crush. Not by a long shot.

His face scrunches up and leans back. “But you’re beautiful.”

He says this as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world and apparently, I didn’t get the memo. I stare at him, bewildered that he can toss around words like that but the look in his eyes told me that he’s serious. I gulp and chuckle awkwardly.

“Um, thank you.”

I twirl my pasta around my plate feeling a little overwhelmed with his sudden exclamation that, yes, I’m beautiful. I don’t have the guts to face him now because of what he said because if I do, I might end up flat out blushing which will only boost his ego and we can’t have that.

A few moments of silence pass before I hear Baekhyun clear his throat. He must have realized how awkward it was for him to say that I’m beautiful when we aren’t even close.

“By the way,”

 I look up and see him looking at our kitchen’s small window. “There’s another reason why I came here.” He turns to look at me and offers me a small smile—probably to break the ice. “My sister, she—“

“Oh. I get it.”

He tilts his head and his lip. “You do?”

I cross my legs. “Your sister mentioned the two of us working together right? I’m just assuming that your sister sent you here so we could get started.”

He opens his mouth to say something but no words come out. Instead, he shakes his head and looks at me in amazement. “That’s, that’s actually right. How—“

“I figured it’ll happen sooner or later,” I mutter. “When is she leaving?”

He wrings his hands together. “Tomorrow.”

I nearly choke. “What?”

“That’s why she’s been telling me to contact you ever since so that I can ask you about the plan.”

Ah, yes. The plan. I squirm in my seat and play with my food.

“Well, I have to scout the venue soon and reserve it on the said date. It’ll be difficult if we won’t be able to do that.”

He listens to every word and nods his head. It’s weird as to how days ago; I saw him fighting with his sister because he didn’t want to do this and now he’s here, seemingly ‘ready’ to help out. I don’t expect him to help me with this. I only expect his opinions and what his sister might think. However, he expects otherwise.

“So when do you want to scout the venue? I’ll have to check my schedule if I’m free and—“

“Wait,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him. “You’re coming with me?”

He looks at me bemused before rolling his eyes. “Yes, Dohyun, I’m coming with you.”

“But I thought—“

“I am supposed to help you, right?”

I bite my lip. “Yeah but—“

“Then I’m coming with you.”

I feel my eye twitch and my stomach churn. “But you don’t have to.” It sounds as if it’s a question and from the way his eyes brighten and the way his lips curve tell me that I’ve already lost this war.

“Oh, but I will.” He raises his glass of water and gives me a toast, eyes glowing with mischief. “I look forward to working with you Dohyun-ah.”

Then he winks.

A/N:

Hello new subscribers! (omg i'm very giddy rn hihi) Hope all of you enjoy reading this story so far and thanks for stopping by! Next chapter/s might take a while but thank you guys for sticking around.

And to all the baekhyun x dohyun shippers (a.k.a. hyun2/hyun squared HAHA puns) hope this chapter satisfies your feels <3