[Year 23]

“Why did I even agree to this…”

I glanced up from the leaflet in my hands, to find her sighing as her face disappeared into her hands. Suppressing a grin, I lightly whacked the flimsy piece of badly printed paper onto her head and swung an arm around her shoulders.

“Because, sweetheart,” I began, pulling her ever so closer to me as we entered an unnecessarily brightly lit area and the roar of human traffic hit our ears. The odour of perspiration washed over us and I flinched when a burly man grazed my exposed bicep, an unmistakable stickiness and wetness forming at that particular spot. Mentally willing myself to not have my expression in a permanent wince, I turned to her and almost instantly, a small smile crept onto my face as her deep scowl greeted me.

“It’s my birthday.”

She groaned loudly, arms folding across her chest, the scowl deepening even further. I never knew that one could frown so… much.

“Even so, you could have gotten Jongdae or Zitao to come along with you,” She glanced at me briefly, eyes in a mock glare. “They love carnivals.”

“I know, but they wouldn’t do.”

“Do what?” Her body pressed into mine as she nimbly avoided a line of running children whose hands held the candy apples she detested so much (because she had the misfortune of needing to wash off a stain on Jongdae’s shirt made by a small and ‘harmless’, in the boy’s words, candy apple; the stain never did go away and that was two years ago). A low growl escaped as her eyes narrowed into slits while she glared after that horde of cackling kids.

“Nothing.” I replied brusquely, hoping that she wouldn’t catch on to the fact that I was becoming slightly restless. We had walked right into the heart of the carnival, flashing strobe lights occasionally landing on us while disco music blared from the large speakers that hung overhead. It would be hard for her to realise that something was wrong with me with all these distractions, right?

“Baek, what’s wrong?”

Guess not.

“Nothing’s wrong.” I felt her gaze on me, an arm circling my waist as she pressed herself even closer to me. Heat surged to my face and I had to look away before my cheeks coloured themselves.

Her fingers brought my face back, gently gripping my jaw as we stopped walking altogether. Thankfully, our feet (or the jostling crowd) had somehow gotten us to the side where a flimsy raffia string separated the carnival from the outside world. Beyond the raffia string was the familiar sight of the series after series of residences, street lamps lighting up the tar roads and for a moment, I contemplated escaping.

With or without her.

“Byun Baekhyun,” The gaze was becoming heated, as my eyes continued to evade her pursuits of contact. “You’re keeping something from me.”

I stayed silent, my mind supposed to be whirring, to be coming up with a plan to counter her but it was blank.

I was blank.     

“It’s not that I wanted to…” A barely audible mumble slipped its way out of my mouth before I could stop it and damn, she had heard it. If I hadn’t known that her abilities were weather control and power amplification, I would have thought that she had insane hearing.

“Did something happen at work?” Her tone softened, the heated gaze easing up but I could still feel her searching eyes on me, as though the answer was on my face.  

I bit on my lower lip thoughtfully, eyes still looking everywhere but at her.

“Something happened.” She concluded, her tone turning dark and I couldn’t resist but flit my eyes towards her just in time to catch her glaring at nothing in particular. Her fingers grasped my wrist and I found myself being pulled towards a wooden bench.

She sat down, fingers still curled around my wrist and she tugged at it. “Sit.”

I sat down next to her, placing my free hand on my thigh as I watched, breathlessly, her fingers released themselves from my wrist to find their places between my fingers. She laced our hands together and brought it over to her lap, the hem of her shorts riding dangerously above mid-thigh and I considered buying a blanket from one of the stalls here just to cover those gorgeous legs.

I’ve seen one too many instances over the years where lecherous eyes darted her way whenever she dons short bottoms despite all of us vehemently objecting. Jen’s stubborn, so how on earth could we ever win against her?

“Tell me what’s wrong. There’s no way you’d invite me to a carnival when you know you’d rather have Jongdae or Kai accompany you since it’s a known fact that I hate such events.”

She tried to coax me, shifting her whole body to face me as a long leg forced my thighs to open, propping itself on my lap as it dangled freely between my legs. I had to muster up all my concentration to not let my thoughts wander.

“So why did you get me to come, Baek?”

“Is it wrong to want to spend time with you?” I finally let my eyes meet hers, not at all surprised to find concern and worry swimming in them. “Is it?”

We stared at each other for a few moments, before she smiled and shook her head gently. “No, it’s not. Thanks for the thought sweetheart, but I know there’s something bothering you so won’t you just confide in me?”

Seeing how she continued to prod me with a finger, I relented.

“Jen, I need your help.”

“Are you certain that she’s here?”

I pulled Jen to me, casually wrapping an arm around her waist, fingers hooking themselves onto her short’s belt loops while I edged my face close to hers.

“Of course she would be. She’s a stalker.”

And with my free hand, I turned her face towards mine and captured her lips.

Her eyes dilated, and I could feel a shriek rising in . From the corners of my eyes, I could see numerous passers-by