“You what?”

 

I shushed her, and glanced around the cafeteria. When I was sure nobody had heard, I redirected my attention to a perturbed Hana.

 

“He pulled me close and...I thought we were gonna kiss.”

 

Hana’s eyes nearly flew from their sockets.

 

“What the , Myunghee?”

 

“But get this,” I said, “you know what he said after that? He just straight up told me to leave! What type of person has the audacity to say that? Like, seriously!”

  

Hana rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.

 

“You great idiot! He probably likes you!”

 

“What? No! No way. Baekhyun? And me?”

 

“Okay, that’s a little bit weird, I have to admit, but why else would he do that?”

 

“I dunno, to irk me?”

 

“I’m just saying. Don’t give up, honey. You can still get to his heart.”

 

“You’re talking as if I actually like him.”

 

“Don’t you?”

 

“No! I hate him!”

 

An amused smile played upon Hana’s lips. She leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table.

 

“Weren’t you the one who accidentally blurted that you wanted to kiss him, and then covered it up with ‘kill’ instead?”

 

“That was a slip of the tongue! I really did mean kill!”

 

“Oh sure you did, honey. Sure, sure. Do you not find Baekhyun attractive at all?”

 

I regarded the fabric of my skirt like it was the most fascinating thing in the universe.

 

“Um...maybe a little bit?”

 

Hana leaned in closer, until our noses were touching.

 

“A little, Myunghee? We’re talking Byun Baekhyun, the most sought-after hottie at this academy.”

 

Reluctantly, I met her eyes.

 

“Okay, then, yeah, I guess.”

 

“Yeah, what?”

 

“Yeah, he’s physically attractive.”

 

“You mean hot.”

 

“Ugh, fine! I admit! Baekhyun is hot!”

 

“Lord, Myunghee! You don’t have to be that excited.”

 

This garnered more than just a few glances and whispers. It was no secret that Baekhyun and I were bitter rivals, and it was also no secret that I had spent the night in his hospital room. Now it seemed that everyone knew that I thought Baekhyun was hot.

 

“His personality is so it’s not like it means anything.”

 

Hana chuckled.

 

“This means you have a crush on him right?”

 

I was about to smack Hana before she raised her arms in self defense and claimed she was ‘only kidding, but seriously, answer the question’.

 

I ran my fingers over my face and let out an unceremonious groan. Baekhyun was an enigma to me. Despite having such a traumatic past, he put up this almost flawless facade.

 

But I, stupid inquisitive Moon Myunghee stole files from his goddamn psychiatrist and learned information that I never thought I’d ever learn. I was too far into his world to back out.

 

I hated him, I had always been sure that I hated him. He was my rival, he called me names and he didn’t care about me at all. But as Hana’s words about the incident actually amounting to something resonated through my mind, I began to have doubts.

 

I had seen the part of him that he had always hidden so well: broken and anguished and robbed of light. It was like he was somebody else.

 

“I don’t know,” I muttered, “I don’t know.”

 

I had always hated mysteries, mostly because they completely occupied my thoughts and prevented me from doing anything else until I solved them.

 

Baekhyun was a mystery, and I couldn’t keep him off my mind. Not until I unraveled his enigma.

 

//

 

I was lying in bed leafing through a trashy paperback romance when I received a call from Baekhyun.

 

I subconsciously felt my heartbeat speed up as I tapped ‘accept’.

 

“What do you want?” I asked in irritation.

 

“Woah. Nice to speak to you too.”

 

His voice was raspy and low.

 

“You sound like you’ve been frolickling in a desert. Go drink some water.”

 

“It hurts when I swallow.”

 

My heart thumped even louder. If it hurt when he swallowed, then it must’ve hurt when he sat up to kiss me, right?

 

“Okay, that’s beside the point. What do you want?”

 

“I want to...apologize. For, um, that thing I did. It was something I regret.”

 

Reality hit me like a ten-foot wave. Of course he regretted it. I was a fool to think that it meant something.

 

“That’s okay,” I said smoothly, “it didn’t mean much to me.”

 

“That’s good. I didn’t intend for it to.”

 

There was a brief pause.

 

“Is that all?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Okay. Bye.”

 

“Wait, Myunghee?”

 

“What?”

 

Another pause.

 

“Nevermind.”

 

“Uh, okay. Bye.”

 

“Bye.”

I hit end call. The more we interacted, the more confused I became. Instead of solving the mystery that was Byun Baekhyun, I was just becoming more and more confused.

 

a/n: i know its getting hella confusing rn but baekhyun's got a motive for the way hes acting ALSO THIS CHAPTER IS SO BAD WHAT WAS MY WRITING