“Oh god, is it just me or did death come in and decided to stay at your house because damn, you look terrible.”

I glower at Sora before taking a sip from my cup of coffee. It’s Friday and I’m spending the first half of my day treating her for that ice cream I owed her. Three days have passed since the unfortunate news of Ms. Byun having a business trip that will throw me off-track. I have no experience with planning a wedding without the bride ready to tell me what she wants and what she doesn’t want. I also have no experience of having the bride’s brother as her replacement in the meetings. It’s the first time I’ve heard of it and I’m pretty sure it’s the first as well for Baekhyun.

From my first conversation with Baekhyun, I thought that he’d take it lightly with that teasing manner of his but apparently not. After the initial shock, he demanded as to why he has to be her replacement when she can just ask their other sister to do that. Of course, I was surprised because one, they have another sister and two, I didn’t know that the person who teased me in the kitchen would be capable of this kind of reaction. Looks like first impressions aren’t always right because his expression was nowhere near playful or teasing.

I clearly remember how frustrated he was that his sister decided to drop that bomb on him. I was too because, as I said, this was unheard of.

“You can’t just decide things on your own, noona,” he said, glaring at her with those eyes. I tensed up. I looked at the two of them staring at each other with grave expressions on their faces and gulped. I was still aware that I was standing up so I quickly sat down and closed the notepad in my hands.

“Baek—“

“Can’t you ask Hyunmi-noona instead?” He asked, gesturing wildly for effect. His face looked confused at the same time annoyed. I could tell that he didn’t want to do this—I didn’t too—but one look at Ms. Byun’s face already told me that she wasn’t backing down. Not without a fight.

“Unnie has lots of patients to attend to and I’m positive that she won’t have any time for this.”

He squeezed his eyes shut before standing up abruptly, shocking me and his sister. He glared at her with all his might before walking out of the room leaving loud footsteps in his wake. I stared at his back, wondering why he made such a big deal out of this. It’s clear that I probably won’t see him ever again because from that reaction, there’s no way he’d just agree and show up whenever I need something to clarify about the wedding. I heard Ms. Byun sigh and I focused my attention back to her.

“I’m sorry about the sudden news.”

“Oh? Oh.” I shook my head and offered her a comforting smile. “It’s fine. I was hoping that we’d be able to discuss some more things today though.” I paused and bit my lip, wondering if I should ask about her brother. She noticed this and nodded her head.

“It’s okay. Go ahead.”

I huffed and clutched my notepad tighter. “Will Baekhyun be okay? He seemed really,” I stopped short and thought of the perfect word to describe him.

“Upset?” Ms. Byun finished, looking at me with solemn eyes.

I nodded. “Yes.” Upset wasn’t the exact word I was looking for but I guessed it was a more mellow way of saying angry or something else.

She sighed and shook her head. “Baekhyun’s quite stubborn at times but he’ll eventually cave in. Hopefully.” I could see her biting her lip, hands trembling slightly. To me, she looked as if she was panicking like if her brother didn’t agree, she wouldn’t know what to do.

“But enough of that,” she said, waving the topic dismissively. “I want to continue our meeting. Now, where were we?”

After that, I started browsing through my mom’s list. It was clear that she wanted business so I immediately started with the first thing on my mom’s list. Decorations for the venue. I asked Ms. Byun about it and she said that she’s fine with anything just as long as we’ll do it outdoors and that the color scheme will be green and gold. It’s not that difficult but the last thing she said was like a load of bricks dropped on my shoulders.

“And if it’ll be possible, I’d like Marco to style the venue.”

And that’s when all the late night stress began. I didn’t really think about the possibility of Baekhyun becoming my partner in crime or whatever. I didn’t even bother to think about our first impressions and how it’ll affect our professional relationship later on. I was thinking about how the hell I’ll mange to convince Marco to style The Hanging Gardens when he said that he’s, and I quote, “officially done” with this kind of business. For three straight days, the so called Marco problem took up half of my thinking time and so far, it only brought me a lot of headaches as well as sleepless nights.

I sigh at the memory and stir my cup of coffee using the little teaspoon the shop gave me earlier. Sora grimaces before shoving a spoonful of ice cream in .

“So,” she starts, ice cream dripping from her spoon. “You’re not going to tell me about what happened? Like why you look like the living dead?”

I give her a tight-lipped smile. “Haha, very funny.”

“I know I am.”

I roll my eyes and shrug. “Things happened and it’s stressing me out.”

“When did things not stress us out?”

She digs in once again in her ice cream—strawberry supreme, her favorite—before smiling contentedly to herself. I stare at her eating her ice cream happily before looking down at my cup of coffee. She’s eating something sweet while I’m drinking something bitter. Usually I’ll order my favorite drink but since I’ve been losing sleep, I need caffeine in order to bring me back to life.

I wrinkle my nose as I continue to stare at her. “Aren’t you feeling cold?” She’s eating ice cream when winter’s approaching. I know that some people are fine with it but I can’t help but wonder if they ever get so cold. Also, the Air-conditioned shop isn’t exactly giving us the much needed warmth we deserve.

Cello’s is a small ice cream shop slash coffee shop located inside our campus. It’s usually packed but since it’s getting colder and colder, the students opt to go to other shops such as Sokyo, another coffee serving place. I’ve been there a few times but I still find Cello’s to be one of my favorite go-to places in the campus. I find its interior—its peach colored walls and wooden flooring—to be quite calming and the staff here are quite friendly. A few times I came here looking like I have no home because of the workload college had dumped on me and the staff—with their concerned faces—asked me how I was. I didn’t even think if that was part of their job or if they really cared but the thought of them asking was really nice.

I watch as Sora balances the spoon in before shrugging. She takes it out and points it at me. “Aren’t you feeling hot?” I look down on my clothes and frown slightly. I don’t understand why she asked that question. From my skinny jeans to the white button down shirt I have paired with my mint green sweater, I don’t think I look or feel hot at all. I feel warm and there’s a difference. I unconsciously pat my clothes and scowl at her.

“Um, no.”

She narrows her eyes at me before shrugging again. “So what happened the last few days?”

“Stuff.”

She glares at me, before taking another bite of her ice cream.

“Like?”

I wrinkle my nose again. “Wedding planning.”

She groans. “Knew it. What happened this time?”

In the past three days, I’ve managed to sneak in the fact that I was going to plan one last wedding due to my parents’ wishes. Of course, I was met with different reactions. Sora thought that the idea was weird and out of hand because it’ll only add unwanted stress on my plate—which is true, by the way. Jiyoung thought of it as a smart move that will determine whether or not I’ll enjoy wedding planning but judging from how things are going, I doubt that. Despite the different reactions, they both agreed that I was a bad friend because I shared this important information with Jongdae first which is against the rules. I don’t know what ‘rules’ Sora was talking about but I’m guessing it’s got something to do with the fact that he’s a guy and I’m supposed to tell my girl friends first. Weird.

I drink my coffee and relish the warmth it emits. Now that it’s getting colder and colder, my love for all things warm are increasing. I drum my fingers against the porcelain cup and shrug.

“I don’t know where to begin.”

“Start with the least stressful one to the most stressful one. That’s how I deal with homework.”

“Did you just compare my problems with homework?”

She pauses and the spoon hangs midway to . She blinks and chuckles slowly. “No?”

I roll my eyes. “Right.”

“Just tell me.”

I sigh. I take a look out the shop’s windows and see the trees with their leafless branches. Winter’s fast approaching. I think of how the hell am I going to plan this wedding during winter and how I’m 100% sure that I’m going to die halfway. I have to go around in this cold and if there are blizzards and storms, I’d have to postpone some meetings. My head starts to hurt a bit and I place a hand on it. Great, another headache. Sora notices this and sighs. She offers me her ice cream—something she rarely does—but I reject it.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“You don’t look fine, though.”

I scowl. “I blame my parents and bad timing. I swear,” I start, glaring at the cup of coffee in front of me. “It’s so difficult and not to mention stressful that I have to plan a freaking wedding during winter and that I have to balance all of this while surviving college. I just,” I huff and shake my head. “This is really ed up you know that?”

“Oooh, ‘f’ word.”

“And the fact that I still have to convince Marco, you know him right? The hot guy who used to come over at my house countless times because of my parents? Yeah, he pulled himself out of the business because it was too much and this couple wants him to style the venue. I don’t even know how I’ll get him to work on this project, my God.”

“Holy , Dohyun, slow down.”

I stop and take a deep breath. The words felt as if they were a mess. I’m not even sure if what I said made any sense. I can feel myself get hot just thinking about these things. I grip my cup tighter and frown. I shift in my seat before mumbling an apology. Sora blinks at me and purses her lips.

“I’ll go over what you just said. This hot Marco guy—send me a picture of him later—why can’t you convince him?”

I give her a dumbfounded look. “Because,” I start, my voice shaking slightly. “He’s off somewhere in Busan and he’s been laying low ever since,” I trail off and shut myself up. He quitted because the last project he did wasn’t up to par and everyone made a big deal out of it. Usually, he’d take it well but he got fed up with it and that’s when he decided that he was done with everything.

“Ever since?” Sora looks at me expectantly while I gulp. I take a swig of my coffee and sigh.

“That thing that happened two years ago,” I say, waving the topic off. “Anyway it’s hard to get in contact with him.”

She crosses her arms and leans back on the chair. “Then drive to Busan. Or commute. Either way it works right? Problem solved.”

I gape at her. It sounds so easy coming off her lips but I know, deep down, that it is anything but.

“But there’s still the part of convincing him.  This couple wants him and I don’t think I have the heart to deny this request.”

Sora snorts. “Deny. Funny choice of word.”

“Sora,” I whine. She raises her palms in defense.

“Alright, alright. Who is this couple anyway? I get that you’re supposed to plan another wedding but you left out a very important detail and that is—who the hell are they?”

I wince at her tone. She collects another spoonful of ice cream into while staring at me with those inquisitive eyes of hers. I squirm in my seat, feeling a bit guilty that I didn’t tell her about the couple. I told Jiyoung about it—right after Sora left to go to her Chemistry class—because I knew that she wouldn’t overreact about it. Jiyoung was shocked and amazed, that’s for sure, but she handled it pretty well. She wasn’t that much of a fan of Kijoon anyway. Sora, on the other hand, was a different story. Sora’s the girl who’s more or less updated with what’s ‘in’ and what’s ‘out’. She shares these findings of hers to me most of the time and in the past few months I’ve known her, the name ‘Yong Kijoon’ came out of several times.  I’m sure that if I tell her about my clients, she’ll flip. Not literally but then, that’s still a possibility.

“The way I see it,” she continues, twirling the spoon around on her bowl. “You can just mess up this wedding and then, poof, you’re free from your parents’ wishes of becoming a wedding planner. Of course, you might feel bad about it later on but if that’s the way of getting out of the business, then that’s the way. But,” she pauses and eyes me.

“Something tells me that there’s more to the story so spill.”

I play with loose threads of my sweater and bite my lip. She fixes her gaze on me and it feels as if she’s pinning me down on my seat. I play with my cup of coffee for a bit before heaving a sigh.

“It’s between,”

“Yeah?”

I choke on my words. It’s not like I’m afraid to tell her who the couple is. Okay, maybe a little bit because Mr. Yong is famous and she might freak out a little too much. I don’t doubt her that she’ll spill the secret anytime soon. I’m just concerned that she’ll view this issue differently and be another factor that’ll pressure me in making this wedding the best—which is something I’m not 100% sure if I can do.

I already know that she’s going to freak out if I say Mr. Yong’s name first so I say the bride’s name.

“Byun Miran and—“

“Why does her name sound so familiar?”

“—and Yong Kijoon.”

Her spoon slips from her fingers and clatters on the table. My eyes widen. Her jaw drops as she stares blankly at me. She blinks and raises and shaky finger.

“Did I hear you say it right? You mean Y-yong,” she coughs and clears . “Yong Kijoon is your client?”

“Um,” I fumble with my fingers before smiling awkwardly. “Yes.” It comes out more as a question than an answer to my ears but Sora doesn’t notice this. Or more specifically, she doesn’t care.

She jumps up, obviously surprised that I affirmed her, and grabs my two hands, grasping them with all her might. She holds them tightly and looks deep into my eyes. I lean back and look away from her. I know this may seem normal to others but this is what I call overreacting.

“Oh my god,” she says, holding onto my hands as if her life’s depending on it. I try to pull away from her but damn, she’s strong.

“Please, please, please, get me an autograph. Oh my god.”

I gulp. I take one look at her and see her pleading eyes reaching into my soul and telling me that, yeah, I should get her that autograph. I blink and open my mouth.

“If I do, does that mean you’ll let go of my hands?”

She rolls her eyes before giving me a look that says ‘duh, of course I will.’

“Oh okay, great because just so you know, the staff’s giving us weird looks.”

She narrows her eyes before turning around and seeing the three employees staring at us with wide eyes. The three of them immediately scurry away once Sora glares at them. After that, she turns back to look at me and scoff.

“They should really mind their own business. Staring is rude.”

I force a laugh and nod my head—a little to eagerly for my taste or anyone’s for the matter. When Sora said that, my mind goes back to that bus stop and the embarrassing moment I shared with him. Then, my mind reels back to three days ago, where stood in the room and found someone staring at me. I feel my cheeks get hot and once again, I’m reminded that there’s still him to add to the things I’m stressing over. I groan and pull my hands away from her grasp.

Sora frowns at this and sits down. “So we have an agreement that I’ll have his autograph?”

I rub my temples and nod. “Yes.”

“And I’ll get a picture of him?”

I glare at her. “What?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Sora, oh my god, I can’t do that. No.”

That’s going to be so embarrassing. I can’t imagine myself asking him out of the blue for a picture during one of our meetings. That’s not professional at all.

She crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. “You always say ‘no’ or ‘I can’t.’ How about saying ‘yes’ for once? “

I bite my lip and shake my head. Lately people have been saying things that are more or less throwing me off-guard. They’re saying things that jumble up my head and making me rethink almost everything I’ve laid down for myself. Sora’s still looking at me, waiting for a snarky comeback so I give her one.

“How philosophical of you.”

She grins.

“That’s a yes, then.”

I groan again. “Another thing to add to my list of things I’m stressing about.”

She raises an eyebrow at this. She picks up the spoon that she dropped earlier and scoops some ice cream in . “Oh, there’s more? Do tell.”

I contemplate on whether or not I should tell her about Baekhyun but decide not to. Instead, I tell her about the fact that Ms. Byun’s leaving and that she’ll be gone for three months straight. Sora takes all of this in and I watch as her face morphs into something of shock and then, concern.

“Now I see why you’re this stressed,” she murmurs, her ice cream now forgotten. I shrug in reply before taking another sip from my drink. The warmth that comforted me earlier is now gone. The taste still remains bitter but its bitterness makes me frown. It’s weird how if a drink is lukewarm, it immediately tastes bland.

“So what now? How are you going to coordinate with the bride? Isn’t it the bride who’s the boss and not the husband?”

“I know,” I grumble, now playing with my cup of coffee. “She said that she’ll leave some sort of contact between us but I’m not sure if it’ll go well.”

“What? Did she leave you a number or something?”

I snort.

“Or something.”

She arches and eyebrow and places a hand under her chin. “Keeping a secret are we?”

I roll my eyes. “It’s nothing really.”

She narrows her eyes at me before leaning back. “And this ‘nothing’ is stressing you out.”

I my lips and nod. “Pretty much, yeah.”

 She rolls her eyes. “Okay, Dohyun. I’ll let you off the hook this time but I’ll find out. I promise you, I will find out.”

“Why does it sound like you’re threatening me?”

She laughs. It’s a shrill kind of laugh, a laugh that tells you that she’s finding this a little too funny for her own good.

“You know,” she starts, ignoring my question. “Since you’re all stressed out and everything, we should do something to relieve it.”

I feel my stomach drop. At the mere mention of the words ‘stress reliever,’ my gut is already telling to me run away and never look back. I usually follow my gut instinct but today, I’m not too keen on running out into the cold open.

“Like?”

She wrings her fingers together, leans forward, and grins.

“Let’s party.”

A/N:

Deepest apologies because I updated this a month late and it's only a filler chapter but I promise you guys the next ones will be better!! 

p.s. I HAVE REALLY BAD BAEKHYUN FEELS RN SOMEONE SAVE ME

baekhyun u little .

hope you all enjoy xo