“Bagels,” Sora repeats, eyeing me with a look that clearly asks: are you sure you’re okay?

“We went through all the trouble to bring you here to witness this moment and all you have to say is bagels,” she continues, looking at me in disbelief. I shrug in reply.

“I’m just going to assume you’re hungry and you misheard what they said,” Jiyoung says, giving me a puzzled yet amused look.

I sheepishly grin in reply and nod my head. I mean, I didn’t mishear it, but that truly was the first thing that popped into my head. That, and the fact that Baekhyun’s here. Singing. With Jongdae and Chanyeol. Here.

I force my eyes to look away from him because this is not the time to stare at him and think, why the hell have I not seen you around before? And thankfully, they follow my command and rest on Jongdae.

I always knew that Jongdae was talented or at the very least, musically-inclined. Back in high school, I’d see him with his friends playing the guitar in their classroom, jamming to the latest songs on the radio. He’d belt out the notes and everyone would sit there amazed at his vocal range and the fact that he’s one hell of a singer. Knowing this, it didn’t come as a surprise to me that he’s now performing on stage, singing his heart out. However, I notice that he’s only singing a few lines. Furrowing my brows, I look at Baekhyun. He looks as if he’s singing with everything he’s got. That’s when I realize that Jongdae’s not the lead singer—Baekhyun is.

And I can see the reason why.

Despite the fact that the two of them can be considered amazing singers, there’s something about Baekhyun that attracts the crowd. He emits this certain charisma that makes almost everyone fall for him. Almost.

I stare at him with my mouth open, silently gaping because damn, this boy can sing. His voice is filled with so much emotion that my skin starts to crawl because of it. He holds the microphone gently—tenderly even—as he sings the notes. I blink and remind myself to close my mouth before flies start entering.

“I’m guessing you like the song?”

I turn to Jiyoung who’s looking at me with an unreadable expression on her face. I simply nod my head, unable to find the words to fully express what I’m feeling.

They’re doing a cover of Code Kunst’s “Parachute” and honestly, they don’t sound as if they’re just a bunch of college students performing for the heck of it. They sound like artists. Well at least to me they do.

“Or do you like a certain person instead?” My face scrunches up at that and when I turn I see Sora giving me another one of her signature smirks. I roll my eyes and shake my head.

“Sure I do,” I say sarcastically. I don’t know who Sora’s referring to but either way, I definitely don’t like any of them. Not in that way.

Sora brings up her hands in defense and grins.

“Just asking!” But the smile on her face gives me reason to think that it’s not just her curiosity getting the best of her.

I look back at the three of them performing on stage and let the sounds take me away once again. I glance at Jongdae and he gives me another grin. I wave at him and he only smiles even wider. I’m about to look away when I hear Baekhyun belt out the notes and for some reason, my eyes stay locked on him as he does this. He looks so focused on the task at hand that I somewhat admire him for it. He closes his eyes and lets himself be one with the song. I bite my lip and let out a breath. I envy him. I want to be focused too but lately everything’s been all over the place. I must have been staring at him for too long because the next thing I know, his eyes meet mine. They show a mixture of surprise and amusement and I can’t help but feel flustered over the way his dark brown eyes hold my own. He keeps his gaze on me and I gulp. His stare coupled by that voice he has is making my cheeks grow warmer and warmer and that’s definitely not a sight I’d want him to see.

I abruptly look away and let out a breath. I’m pretty sure he already saw me openly gawking at him so I guess the next step is to run away and evade him. Oh, if only I could do that.

I settle back into my seat and happily jump in my friends’ conversation. They’re talking about the upcoming midterms and I can feel my stomach slowly sink at the idea that once again, I have to bury myself in books. Sora glances at me and her face lights up, as if remembering something.

“Oh, right,” she starts, eyeing me with a skeptical look. “Baekhyun. How did you know him?”

I blink and chuckle nervously. The look she’s giving me feels as if I’m in an interrogation room and she’s just waiting for me to confess a crime. And knowing Baekhyun isn’t a crime, right? I mean she basically knew him before me but I guess this and that are different. I bite my lip and shrug.

“Parents,” I say softly. It was part of the truth though I mean, if it weren’t for my parents, I wouldn’t have met Mrs. Byun who is the sister of Baekhyun.

“Sorry, what?”

The music’s too loud, I realize. I squirm in my seat, ready to tell her my answer when a waiter approaches us with a bunch of food on a wooden tray. I gulp and feel my stomach growl. Unconsciously, I rest a hand over it in hopes that it’ll quiet down. Of course, it does the opposite. It growls even louder.

“Here’s your order,” the waiter says as he places each plate in front of us. I take a deep breath and instantly melt at the delicious aroma. Okay, so maybe it really was a good idea to come here. It takes everything in me not to my lips and instantly devour the food in front of me because one, the waiter is still serving the other food and two, I don’t like eating by myself. I want to eat at the same time with the people around me.

After all the food has been placed, I scan the table and realize that majority of the food here was chicken.

“Chicken?”

Jiyoung nods her head. “The guys were craving it and seeing how they’ll pay for more than half, we can’t really say no.”

I wrinkle my nose. I have nothing against chicken but it’s good to have a little diversity, right?

“Okay,” I say, still eyeing the trays of chicken in front of me. There’s one platter of spaghetti and instantly, my goal is get one serving of it because I’m pretty sure that will disappear later on.

“What time will their set finish?” Sora asks, eyeing the three on stage. I turn to Jiyoung who looks as if she knows the answer. She looks at her watch and shrug.

“They’ll finish in about five to ten minutes.”

“Great! Plenty of time for us to interrogate Dohyun!” Sora gives me a look and I sink a little bit in my seat.

“So the answer to my previous question?” She presses.

I run a hand through my hair and bite my lip. “I kind of know him through my parents.” It sounded more of a question instead of an answer but I didn’t bother to correct my tone. Sora only raises an eyebrow at this while Jiyoung nods her head.

“What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

I sigh. “Remember when I told you that I’d be planning a wedding between Yong Kijoon and Byun Miran?”

Sora nods her head and from the corner of my eye, I see Jiyoung looking at me inquisitively.

“Well, he’s the um, brother of—“

“Oh my god.”

“—the bride,” I finish. Sora looks as if she’s ready to jump out of her seat and rattle my insides while Jiyoung looks calm and collected, as if she knew what was coming all along.

“No wonder her name sounded so familiar!” Sora exclaims, tapping her chin while recalling our conversation in Cello’s.

“So, yeah, the cat’s out of the bag. That’s how I know Byun Baekhyun.”

“Wait, is this also related to the reason why he came over to your house last time?”  I glance at Jiyoung who’s staring at me with curious eyes. I really can’t evade the topic now since both my friends are putting me on the hot seat. I can feel Sora’s heated gaze on me due to Jiyoung’s question and I squirm.

“Um, yeah, because of planning matters,” I mutter, looking down at my hands. A part of me doesn’t want to tell them how we accidentally switched phones since one, I’m embarrassed that that actually happened and two, it’ll just make me remember all the other things that happened during that day.

“Only planning matters? Because something tells me that’s not the only thing that happened,” Sora muses, leaning back on her seat and giving me a smug look. I narrow my eyes at her and lightly scoff.

“What makes you say that?”

She pretends to ponder over this before sighing and shaking her head. “Your face.”

“My face?”

“What she means to say is…” Jiyoung starts, placing a hand on my shoulder, “…that you’re turning red.”

I blink and place my hands on my cheeks. They’re warm. Well, crap.

“God, just…nothing happened, okay? Just,” I squirm some more and groan. “We kind of switched phones during the party so he came over and gave it back then we talked about planning.”

I’m met with silence from the two of them. They look at each other and I feel as if they’re having a conversation without me. I roll my eyes and play with the frayed edges of my sweater. The band continues to play and I can’t help but hum along to the song. I realize that they’re only doing covers of various artists and I can’t help but notice as to how Baekhyun’s voice fit each and every song they play. Note to self: don’t fall in love with Baekhyun’s singing voice because it will only head to a potential disaster. But despite this little warning in my head, I close my eyes and sway a bit to the music, letting myself get lost. Since my two friends are too busy having a silent talk without me, I might as well enjoy myself a little bit.

I hear someone clear their throat and I take a peek at my friends. They’re both looking at me and instantly, I sit up and stop swaying. Jiyoung’s giving me an amused smile while Sora’s smirking ever so subtly at me.

“It’s not what you think!” I immediately say. I’m sure that listening to music shouldn’t have any malice but the fact that Jongdae’s there as well as Baekhyun, Sora’s going to assume a few things here and there. Also, the fact that Jiyoung’s finding my relation to Baekhyun intriguing is not something to take light of.

“Mhm,” Sora hums, still smirking at me. “Well anyway, your relationship with him is deeper than I thought.”

I wrinkle my nose. “How can it be considered ‘deep’ when I only talk to him because of planning matters?” Also, I don’t think he can be called a friend of mine considering that I barely know him. Our relationship isn’t deep at all.

“Deeper than mine at least,” she adds, pursing her lips at the thought. “I mean, so far our only relationship is ‘schoolmates.’”

“Same here,” Jiyoung pipes before taking a sip from her glass of water. I roll my eyes and shrug. I guess there’s no point in arguing if they’re just going to restate their points until I finally relent.

“Can we just end it at he’s my partner for this project? That’s it and that’s all it will ever be.”

I thought that was enough to close the topic between us friends but Jiyoung drops a three word question that made me think for a bit. Just a little bit.

“Are you sure?”

I blink, confused as to why she asked a question like that. Of course I’m sure. I can’t see myself befriending the guy much less hanging around him without having the urge to tape his mouth shut and cover his whole face.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Jiyoung looks thoughtfully at me before nodding her head. “Okay.”

“But seriously,” Sora starts again, eyes bright and shining. “I didn’t expect that you two would meet under these circumstances.”

I groan. “Trust me, I didn’t expect it either and I can’t wait for things to get back to normal and for my parents to lay off my back.”

“Don’t we all,” Sora mumbles, eyeing the three on-stage. Her mind is already elsewhere and I’m kind of glad for it. With this, our conversation with Baekhyun as the topic will officially be over.

“Hey,” I turn to Jiyoung and see that she’s looking at Sora carefully, as if solving a puzzle. My brows furrow at the scene. I poke her arm a bit and she redirects her attention to me. “What—“ I stop and bite my lip. I was going to ask her why the three of them will eat lunch with us but the look on Jiyoung’s face tells me that that’s the least of her worries. I glance at Sora and then at her. “What’s wrong with Sora?”

Jiyoung purses her lips and shakes her head. “I don’t know. I just have this feeling that there’s something bothering her.”

I turn to look at Sora who’s singing along to the song. Her hair’s pulled back into a sleek ponytail and her outfit is all green, gray and black. Green coat, gray undershirt, black bottoms, black boots. To other people she looks completely fine but to Jiyoung and me, we can clearly see her tense shoulders and the quivering of her hands. One can blame it on stress school brings but the two of us know Sora to the point that we can tell if it’s something to do with school or not and this, this is definitely not school-related.

The two of us continue to stare at Sora like she’s a mystery that needs to be solved when she turns to look at us with raised eyebrows and a look that clearly asks what are you two doing?

I’m already thinking of an excuse as to why we’re staring when Jiyoung beats me to it.

“You’re hair isn’t dry.”

Sora scoffs. “Thanks?”

“You’re also very green,” I add, just to make sure she doesn’t become suspicious. Of course my comment also has the power to worsen the situation but I don’t think Sora realizes that. Instead, she rolls her eyes and nods her head.

“Yes, Dohyun, thanks for noticing the color of my outfit today.”

I shrug. “You’re welcome.”

Sora narrows her eyes at both of us before returning her attention to the platform. I peek at Jiyoung and we both look into each other’s eyes and silently agreed that next time, we shouldn’t stare at her so openly because one it’s rude and two we don’t want Sora to be suspicious of her own friends. I lean back on my seat and play with the table’s white napkin, tracing random patterns on it as the three of us wait for the band’s set to finish. Sora stopped watching them and checked her phone while Jiyoung’s staring at the platters of food in front of us. My stomach growls and I groan because seriously, when will the song end?

“Jiyoung,” I start. I’m pretty sure I’m already whining to her when the music comes to a slow stop.

“Again we’re The Beagles and I hope you enjoyed our set!”

My ears perk up at those words. Looks like I don’t need to complain about my hunger to Jiyoung anymore. The people in the veranda clap their hands for the band and I can’t help but smile as they do so. I’m not going to beat around the bush because they’re actually pretty good. Well, I expect no less from my friend of course but Chanyeol being a drummer and Baekhyun being a singer (a good one at that) was definitely a surprise.

The three step down from the platform and make their way towards our table. Chanyeol’s the first to go down and he’s practically running towards us. I can just imagine him as a puppy with his tongue hanging out from the sides of his mouth. Well, someone’s eager. Jongdae follows next and when he sees me staring at him a small grin escapes his lips. I smile back at him and wave. It’s been so long since I last saw him and actually had a conversation with him. The last few days have been busy with me studying and him being somewhere. I never really bothered to ask because, well, I’ve been busy. Also, I don’t count our conversation during the party—we did have one, right?—because I was too drunk to remember and honestly, I don’t think I was even in my right mind that time.

I watch the two of them stride over to our table when my eyes fall on the person behind Jongdae. But of course he’d still be here. In the veranda. With his band-mates. Here. With us.

Damn this.

As if on cue, I start fidgeting in my seat because clearly I’m still not ready to face the guy who self-invited himself to my house and made me a bumbling mess over what happened during the weekend. His hair is once again hidden in a cap—black this time—and it reminds me of my first meeting with him. The glasses are gone though and my brain starts to wonder if he really needs them or if they’re just for style. His hands are tucked in the pockets of his jeans making him look relaxed and calm. For some reason, this mere fact makes me want to throw a brick at him because am I the only one who feels anxious and out of wits with the fact that he’s here andhe’s my freaking schoolmate? His eyes meet mine and I gulp. This eye-contact is ridiculous and has to stop.

I turn away from him and focus my attention on the other two who are happily making their way to our table.

Chanyeol practically skips towards us with a smile as big as his ears. A few patrons turn to look at him but he pays them no mind. He gazes at the food hungrily and his lips.

“God bless this place,” he murmurs, still eyeing the food like a ravage wolf.

“Yes, and while you’re at it, maybe you should sit down,” Jiyoung comments. She nods at one of the seats and he immediately plops down on the seat in front of the platter of spaghetti. I glare at him openly, making sure that he gets the sign that if he dare finishes the food, I’m going to end up as the Grinch right before Christmas and that’s not going to be a pretty sight.

He’s all ready to place some of the spaghetti on his plate before Jongdae speaks up, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

“Careful with that platter though. Eat too much and Dohyun’s going to kill you.”

I look up at Jongdae and he gives me a knowing smirk and I roll my eyes because for once, he’s actually right about this. Chanyeol’s looks up and I do my best to look threatening but Jongdae chokes up a chuckle and Chanyeol just shrugs.

“Who’s going to kill who?”

I freeze in my seat and do my best to avoid the owner of that voice because really, I’m not prepared. I shift in my seat and turn to Sora. Her eyes are glistening with amazement and are currently fixed on something—rather, someone—at the end of the table. I am definitely not going to turn around and face him again.

“Dohyun, supposedly,” Chanyeol replies, still placing food on his plate. I eye the spaghetti platter and frown instantaneously at the sight. By the time he’s done there won’t be enough pasta left for the rest of us.

“Dohyun?” I can practically feel his gaze crawling on my skin. In a way it’s like the sun. It burns. I fidget some more in my seat, not giving him the satisfaction of looking back at him and maybe even glare. “I see.”

I don’t know what I was expecting after that. Maybe I wanted him to leave and say he has some business to do. Or maybe have the three of them leave instead but knowing that there’s a whole lot of food and Chanyeol practically dumped the whole platter on his plate, I’m bound to have lunch with all three of them.

Jongdae settles down on the seat next to me which only meant one thing. There’s only one vacant seat left at the table and that seat was the seat in front of me. I blink and mentally groan. Fate: 1, Dohyun: 0.

“And here I thought you wouldn’t appear,” Jongdae says, eyeing me with mild surprise.

I shrug and purse my lips. “I didn’t either but here I am. You’re welcome.”

Jongdae scoffs but nonetheless smiles. I’m about to ask him since when the hell was he in a band but the sound of a chair scraping against the cold, stone floor jolts me from my seat therefore making me lose my train of thought.

“Sorry,” the person mutters.

“It’s okay,” I say, looking away from Jongdae only to meet the same pair of eyes that I’ve been trying to avoid ever since I saw him walking towards our table. I let out an unwanted gasp and I pray that it was soft enough that the others won’t hear it but too bad Baekhyun heard it loud and clear because the next thing I know a small smirk comes across his lips. My cheeks redden in response and I turn away because he does not need another reminder of how successful he is in making me a flustered fool.

“Now that everybody’s here, I think it’s safe to say that we can all eat yes?” Sora asks, sweeping the table with her eyes. Everyone nods in agreement and before I can even comprehend what’s happening, food is being passed on and I’m lost in a sea of ‘can you hand me the chicken?’ and ‘pass me the gravy.’ The spaghetti platter reaches my hands and before anyone can ask, I dump down what’s left of it on my plate.

“You finished the spaghetti,” Jiyoung states, gaping at the now empty platter.

“Oh god, um, did you want some?” I ask, pushing my plate towards her a bit. She shakes her head and gives me a comforting smile.

“It’s fine, there’s some chicken anyway.” She then proceeds by getting chicken and putting it on her plate. She turns to Sora and starts talking about one of her classes. I take a good look around me and notice how everyone’s struggling to get enough food on their plate.

For a moment, everyone’s too busy with the food to notice my fleeting glances at Baekhyun who’s currently having the time of his life pouring gravy over his piece of chicken. I have a million things I want to ask him like what is his relationship with Jongdae? Since when were we schoolmates? Is he really going to help me out this weekend with the venue?

I end up staring at him like he’s one of those math equations I have yet to solve when his face turns to me. His brow furrows but there’s mischief in his eyes and I know, I know he’s going to say something about how staring is rude so I say the first thing on my mind that can get me out of this situation.

“Gravy,” I blurt out, pointing at the small pot he was holding. He looks at it then back to me and I widen my eyes to further emphasize my need for the gravy. He rolls his eyes and hands me the pot. I take it and mutter a ‘thanks’ before slowly reminding myself that staring at him is a big no-no and the questions I need to ask can come later in form of actual words and not mere thoughts.

“So, how was our set?” Jongdae asks and my grip on the pot loosens a bit, making the amount of gravy on my plate double. I frown at the sauce before placing the pot on the table.

“It was good,” I mumble, a bit distracted since I’m too preoccupied with ‘making sure the gravy doesn’t reach the spaghetti side’ of my plate.

“Yeah, I need something better than just ‘good.’” He nudges me and I sigh in exasperation.

“Great, amazing, spectacular!”

Jongdae grins. “Thanks.”

I roll my eyes and scowl at my plate because the sauces are already mixing. All efforts are now futile.

“Oh right, forgot,” Jongdae mutters, more to himself than to me. “This is Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun perks up at the sound of his name and looks at the two of us. He’s holding a chicken leg and I’m pretty sure that he’s about to devour it when Jongdae decided to call his attention and introduce him to me.

“He’s part of the music org I’m in and if it isn’t too obvious, the lead singer of our band.”

“Huh,” is all I can say at this revelation. “Makes sense.”

Okay, so that’s one question down.

“Makes sense that we know each other or that I’m the lead singer?” Baekhyun pipes, my comment earning his interest. His lips curl up into a smile as if he already knows the answer and it takes everything in me not to smack him in order to wipe that grin off his face.

“Know each other,” I answer as calmly as I can while narrowing my eyes at him.

“And Baekhyun,” Jongdae starts again, looking at the other male with unreadable eyes. “This is Dohyun. Best friend and confidante.”

“Huh,” Baekhyun’s eyes twinkle at Jongdae’s introduction and for some odd reason I’m scared to know the reason why they’re even twinkling. “Makes sense.”

“What do you mean—“

“And I’m Chanyeol!” Said boy joins in on the introduction with his mouth looking like a chipmunk. He swallows down his food before chuckling. “But I’m guessing you already knew that thanks to the party.”

“Right,” I say. Big ears, awkward meeting.

“Anyway,” Jongdae butts in, throwing Chanyeol a pointed look, probably to tell him to shut up for a moment because he has something to say.

“I wanted to reintroduce you to them since the last time you saw them was during a party and I think everyone knows what happened that time.”

My mouth drops. So this is how I’ll be remembered.

“Ah.”

“Come on guys, the past is the past,” Baekhyun says before popping another piece of chicken in his mouth.  “Let’s all forget about it.”

I turn to look at him and raise an eyebrow. For once, are we actually agreeing on the same thing? His eyes meet mine and we share this look, one that says ‘we do not, under any circumstance, bring up what happened during the party’. He chews slowly and tilts his head to the side as if asking me if I agree. I nod my head before taking a sip from my glass of water.

“Yeah but,” Chanyeol starts again, looking at Baekhyun and me wistfully. “When Dohyun threw up—“

“Hey Sora!” I call out. She whips her head in my direction, eyebrows raised. I look at her and she looks at me and then I realize, I have no idea as to what I want from her. I just called her out so Park Chanyeol would stop talking.

“Um—“

“She’s asking if you have any tissue,” Baekhyun comes in, saving me from my obvious lack of thought at the issue at hand. Sora blinks, a little taken aback by his sudden comment but nonetheless she hands some tissue over to me. I mutter a ‘thanks’ and start wiping my mouth with it. I don’t know who that ‘thanks’ was directed to but either way, I’m glad that Chanyeol stopped talking.

“And here I was thinking that everyone will forget about it,” I mumble, more to myself than to anyone on the table. Unfortunately for me, two people heard it loud and clear.

“Well, you were kind of drunk,” Baekhyun says, pouring more gravy on his plate.

“And you were a little bit more embarrassing than you usually are,” Jongdae adds which earns a glare and a slap from me.

“I hate you both,” I grumble, stabbing my spaghetti as if my life depended on it. Sora catches my eye as I say this and the little smile on her face throws me off the edge a bit.

No, I mouth and wave her away. She rolls her eyes and resumes her conversation with Jiyoung. Jongdae doesn’t see this interaction of mine with Sora but Baekhyun does and he gives me an inquisitive look but I ignore it.

The topic of the party and my, apparently, unforgettable scene, became long forgotten as everyone started eating to their heart’s content. Jiyoung and Sora are still talking to each other, leaving me out of their conversation while Chanyeol and Jongdae are discussing something about football. I’m practically useless when it comes to sports so I’m not even going to bother joining that conversation.

I eat my food slowly, chewing softly before swallowing, and then taking a sip of water before repeating the same steps as I look around the table. I twirl my fork around the pasta and vaguely feel a pair of eyes staring me down as I do this. I groan.

“What now?” I ask, not even looking up from my plate. I already know who it is so why bother?

“I didn’t know you studied here.”

At that, I look up and widen my eyes at him. “I didn’t know you studied here either!”

If not for the stunned look on his face, I would have thought he was lying and that he already knew about my whereabouts in this school. He leans a little bit forward and I find myself leaning towards him as well.

“Don’t you think this is fate?”

At those words, I scoff and move away. “Please stop with the cheesy words,” I say in a monotone voice. He chuckles and crosses his arms.

“Okay, okay, but this is really unexpected.”

I bite my lip and nod. “I know.”

“But somehow I’m glad we’re schoolmates.”

“You are?”

“It makes things easier for us to plan right? Instead of—“ His voice drops to a whisper and I have to lean in closer to hear him. “—me going to your house and talk.”

I feel my cheeks blush but I shake it off with a scowl. “Who says I was going to let you in the house?”

He blinks and grins. “Who says that I have to be inside so we can talk?”

As much as I wanted to disagree with him, he does have a point so I let it slide with a huff. “Fine,” I mumble, dropping my gaze to my plate. I stab the spaghetti again, now aware of Baekhyun’s gaze on me.

“So,” he starts. “When will you go and reserve the venue.”

I shrug. “This weekend, I suppose.” I look up and see his face all scrunched up. “What are you doing?”

His eyes meet mine and he slowly relaxes his face. Or at the very least attempt to relax it.

“Figuring out if I’m free this weekend so I can go with you.”

I choke. “Um, what?”

Yes, Dohyun. Clever choice of words.

He an eyebrow. “Didn’t we agree that I’d help you?”

“I didn’t—“

“Are you going Saturday or Sunday?”

I purse my lips. “Saturday but—“

“Okay, then I’ll pick you up from your house then let’s go there together. It’s my responsibility to help out my sister and you as well so nothing will change my mind.” He crosses his arms while I slump in my seat, sighing in defeat. As much as I fear having to spend time with him, he’s right and for Pete’s sake, he’s the bride’s brother. I can’t exactly escape him.

“Wait, who’s going to whose house and when?” I jolt from my seat and place a hand over my heart. Jongdae’s looking at me funnily before turning to look at Baekhyun with curiosity.

“What’s this for?”

“Um,” I start and immediately I want to smack myself. Since when did I limit my vocabulary to ‘um’?

“My sister’s wedding,” Baekhyun answers.

“Oh?” I can see the gears in Jongdae’s head turn but I don’t say anything. He’s smart. If he can figure out the plant parts during a Biology lecture, I’m pretty sure he can piece together what’s happening right now.

“Your sister’s boyfriend is that Broadway actor right?”

Baekhyun nods.

“Ah. Funny thing is, Dohyun here is the daughter of two famous wedding planners and—“ He stops short and looks at me thenBaekhyun. And back again. He blinks and takes a deep breath.

“Jeez,” he mutters. He glares at me and frowns. “You could have told me this!”

I cringe and shake my head.  “How was I supposed to know you knew the bride’s brother? And I didn’t think it’d matter anyways,” I mutter the last part and look away. I don’t want to feel guilty but it slowly creeps up my skin, making me want to scrub it off with what I call an apology.

Jongdae looks as if he’s about to say something more but instead, he shakes his head and talks to Baekhyun. “You’re going to her house?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Because?”

“Venue,” I chime in. “He wants to help me with reserving the venue.”

He hums in response. “This Saturday?”

I nod.

“Hm, I don’t think I have any plans on Saturday.”

I gasp. “Don’t tell me—“

“Can I join this escapade of yours?” It seems as if Jongdae’s only talking to Baekhyun, leaving me out of the conversation. Since when did I not have a say in these things?

The two have a mini staring contest before Baekhyun shrugs and smiles. I don’t know if it’s forced or what but the way the corners of his lips pull up doesn’t seem right with me.

“Sure.”

“Great,” he says, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I’ll be waiting with Dohyun in her house for you to pick us up.” He then wraps his arms around my shoulders and squeezes it.

“This is going to be fun!”

 

 

 

 

 

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A/N:

YAY AN UPDATE WOO!! Sorry for not being able to update during the holiday season. A lot of things happened but I'm still here! :) So sorry if this chapter is long and not up to your expectations. I had a hard time writing this down simply because I thought things were going stale. Hopefully I'll get back on track and make better chapters.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you readers out there! Thanks for supporting this story and for reading it hehe means so much. (Long note but oh well)

Happy reading!