Byun Baekhyun's slightly shaking hand hung in the air, waiting for Sehun to reach out and shake it even more, but all Sehun could look at was Baekhyun's eyes, trying his hardest to figure out whatever was behind them.

Sehun was confused, he didn't know why Baekhyun would lie about having met him. He was even more confused that Baekhyun, as smart as he may possibly be, lied in front of people that knew different.

Ignoring the camp that they had somehow, both, coincidently attended, they had met each other at a charity event before that. And the ice rink. A few of the people in the group surrounding them looked almost as confused as Sehun felt; they had attended the charity event and knew Baekhyun was lying.

Sehun didn't know why he lied, or why he decided to go along with it, but he decided that Baekhyun must have a good reason for lying.

"Actually", Sehun began. He watched as Baekhyun's eyes turned from to friendly to panicked.

"We have met before, briefly, at a charity event a little while ago".

Baekhyun looked almost noticeably relieved.

"Ah, yes! My mistake", Baekhyun's gentle laughter livened up the group once more and they soon began to talk amongst themselves.

"It's understandable, I do have quite a forgettable face", Sehun grinned, rather charmingly if he did say so himself. Baekhyun understood the message behind it, Sehun had, on more than one occasion, spoke proudly of his appearance without an inch of doubt. But his claims weren't groundless, Baekhyun had to admit. Nevertheless, that charming smile of Sehun's was clearly questioning his behaviour.

"Not at all, I must have a poor memory", Baekhyun returned his grin, as hard as it was for him.

Baekhyun's father laughed and patted his son on the back, "I do have to apologise for my son, he's often studying and sometimes I worry that his brain is just full of business studies".

Studying, huh? Baekhyun's smile told Sehun not to question it.

Instead, Sehun smiled good naturedly, "Perhaps he and I could get better acquainted with a walk around the room. Baekhyun, would you accompany me?".

If Sehun's father was impressed by his son's social skills, he didn't show it. Rather, he was observing the conversation politely along with Baekhyun's father.

Baekhyun couldn't refuse, and Sehun knew it. That good natured smile appeared sly to Baekhyun, and that twinkle in his eye was anything less than friendly. More mischievous than anything.

"Of course, father if you'll excuse us, it appears I have to refresh my memory", Baekhyun laughed once more, this time sheepishly.

As Sehun and Baekhyun began to walk around the room, they could both feel the eyes of their parents upon them.

"So", Sehun murmured, "Are you going to explain what the hell that was?".

Baekhyun's footsteps almost faltered but the watchful eye of his father kept him pressing on. He didn't expect to see Sehun here, of all places. He didn't expect that he'd have to lie so blatantly like that, nor see the disappointment in Sehun's eyes as he confirmed that he didn't contact him on purpose. It wasn't that he didn't want to, he was curious about Sehun and that was for sure, but he wasn't sure how to explain to Sehun that he wasn't sure how he felt.

"I don't know what you're talking about".

Sehun took a long drink from the glass in his hands and fixed Baekhyun with a level gaze, "If you're going to continue lying for some unknown reason, then I'm going to walk out of here and you can lie once more to our parents about why I left".

After a long moment of silence between them, during which Baekhyun spent his time thinking and Sehun finishing off his drink, Baekhyun spoke up. "Fine. You heard my father, I spend most of my time studying. Studying to follow in his footsteps".

"Is that what you want to do?".

"Is following your father's footsteps what you want to do?".

Sehun quieted and continued listening to Baekhyun.

"Well, I guess you could call me a quietly rebellious child. I don't actually spend all of my time studying. If you could have guessed it".

Sehun snorted quietly and Baekhyun sent him a look of disapproval.

"When we... bumped into each other ice skating, I was supposedly taking a class in finance. During the time at the camp, I was in America, you guessed it, studying".

"So what you're saying is you're not allowed to have fun?".

Baekhyun winced delicately, "That sounds a lot more constricting than it is. I'm not kept locked in a room with nothing but textbooks and tutors. I just-", his sentence died out and he looked as though he wasn't sure how to continue.

"I get it", Sehun saved him the trouble, "Honestly you made it seem like even more drama than it is. I was expecting some big plot twist that changed my opinion of you forever".

For the first time since seeing him that night, Baekhyun genuinely laughed.

"I'm sorry to disappoint, Oh Sehun".

"So, let's talk a little about my forgettable face", Sehun glanced towards their parents and was pleased to see they were talking amongst themselves. They had walked halfway around the room already and Sehun wasn't ready for their conversation to end.

"It's a very forgettable face. Very average. Standard features, you know how it is".

"Oh?", Sehun leant a little closer to Baekhyun and smiled, "Perhaps you just need a closer look".

He had the satisfaction of seeing Baekhyun's cheeks redden and the smaller one looked away.

Sehun chucked to himself and rose back up to his full height.

"I can see perfectly, thank you", Baekhyun mumbled once he'd recovered.

"Then why haven't you called?".

Baekhyun looked up at Sehun, only to be met with his side-profile. Sehun was purposely not looking at him, and Baekhyun decided to lie once more that night.

"I wasn't interested".

Sehun's lips twitched in what Baekhyun assumed was a smile, but he wasn't sure why he'd be smiling.

"I see. Thank you for being honest with me".

Hearing that only made Baekhyun feel guilty and he opened his mouth to apologise. It was then that Sehun looked down at him and the lip twitch developed into a smile.

"You don't have to apologise. You're not obligated to like me back just because I like you".

The blush on Baekhyun's cheeks returned, how is he so blasé about telling me he likes me?

"I-I see".

They had nearly made a full circle and returned to their parents, but neither of them, whether admittedly or not, wanted to end their conversation.

"You know, in the whole prank war thing, I totally won", Sehun had so many things that he wanted to say, but now wasn't the time or place to say them.

Baekhyun snorted, loud enough to draw attention from a couple next to them.

"Who says it's over?"

Sehun didn't have a chance to respond before they met back up with their parents. The night went rather quickly after that.

* * *

Baekhyun  removed his tie and suit jacket before sitting down. His room was bland, as black and white as his outfit. There was nothing in here that hinted to his personality, and he wasn't sure whether he was glad or slightly sad about that.

"Aaaaaa", Baekhyun hands flew to cover his face in embarrassment. No amount of frustrated or embarrassed sounds could help him recover from meeting Sehun today.

"Why did I say that?", Baekhyun's hands slowly uncovered his face and he sighed. He knew he should have cut off all ties with Sehun, that's what he had planned to do after leaving the camp... but seeing him brought back all those feelings of joy he had experienced. A sense of fun. Something entertaining. It was hard for Baekhyun to give it all up.

The piece of paper with Sehun's number on it lay crumpled in a draw. Baekhyun would like to imagine it as forgotten, but when he was in the room with it, it was all he could think about. He wasn't sure if his feelings for Sehun were the same as Sehun's were for him, but he couldn't deny he smiled a lot more around him. Jongdae had encouraged him to call Sehun as soon as he returned, 'What have you got to lose?'. But Baekhyun was a coward.

Things seemed a lot less complicated in movies and books. The characters could meet and fall in love despite their circumstances, but the confusion Baekhyun felt prevented him from getting any closer to Sehun. He needed to sort out his feelings before doing anything.

Of course, he wasn't given much time to consider how he felt before there was a knock at his door.

"Come in". Baekhyun quickly wiped the look of frustrated confusion from his face and greeted his father with a smile.

"I'm glad to see you were getting along with Mr Oh's son earlier. It's almost strange that you two haven't met before, considering how closely I regard his father".

Baekhyun nodded, agreeing that it was strange he and Sehun hadn't met prior to the ice rink incident.

"I've invited Mr Oh round next week to discuss a business arrangement. He'll be bringing his son along for dinner too. If you two were to become friends, that'd be quite convenient for the both of us".

Baekhyun could have laughed. There truly was no escaping Sehun. It seemed like since the day he and Sehun met, the universe was hell bent on entwining their lives.

"I see. Thank you for letting me know".

His father smiled and left the room, leaving Baekhyun alone with his thoughts once more.