The sun was agonizingly relentless as it beat down on the back of Kyungsoo’s unprotected neck. The straps of his backpack dug unforgivingly into his shoulders, and he could already feel a headache coming on even though he’d only been waiting there three and a half minutes.

The campus quad was, as usual around lunchtime, super crowded. People were taking advantage of the beautiful summer day – people who didn’t wilt like flowers in the heat, like Kyungsoo – by lounging on blankets or tossing a Frisbee back and forth or studying in small groups.

The low stone wall where Kyungsoo had chosen to wait for Baekhyun was hot, hard, and unforgiving on his . He could feel it burning through his khaki shorts, but the only shade to be found had already been claimed by other students. So Kyungsoo checked his watch grumpily for what seemed like the billionth time and wiped sweat from the back of his neck.

“Man, you look hot.”

Baekhyun’s voice was a welcome sound.

“That’s because it’s a billion degrees out today,” Kyungsoo pointed out, accepting the bottle of ice cold water Baekhyun offered him. “Couldn’t we have met inside the student union building? You know, where my skin isn’t melting off.”

“It’s even worse in there,” Baekhyun admitted. “Though it’s pretty deserted. The air con is out, so it’s about ten degrees hotter inside and it’s stuffy. Trust me, it’s much better out here than in there.”

Kyungsoo groaned. “Is there nowhere we can go to get away from this infernal heat? Remind me again why summer is a necessity?”

“You weren’t complaining about it when we went to Jongin’s beach house senior year of high school,” Baekhyun teased, sitting down on the wall beside Kyungsoo. “If I recall, you had the time of your life then, and it was just as hot as it is now.”

Kyungsoo groaned. “Don’t remind me of the beach house,” he insisted. “I’d give anything to be back there right now.”

Baekhyun sighed. “You know, that was the place where Chanyeol and I slept together for the first time,” he said.

“I know,” Kyungsoo agreed dryly. He didn’t mention that it was also the place where he and Jongin had slept together for the first time. That house held special memories for all of them, it seemed.

Baekhyun gave himself a shake. “Anyway, no point in living in the past. We can’t go to the beach house because we have class.” He didn’t mention that Jongin’s parents wouldn’t let them use the house even if they’d had the free time to go.

Kyungsoo wiped more sweat from the back of his neck and looked around at the over-crowded quad. “Can’t we find someplace inside to eat lunch?” he demanded. “I’m really melting out here, Baek.”

“Most of the buildings with air conditioning are probably going to be super crowded,” Baekhyun admitted. “Although, there is that extra classroom in the computer art building… It always looks like there’s a class, but there never is, so it should be okay. But…”

“But what?” Kyungsoo was already on his feet, eager to get out of the relentless sun. “No buts, Baekhyun. Let’s go!”

“Well, okay,” Baekhyun agreed uncertainly. “But I have to warn you. This girl named Bora will probably be there.”

“Bora?” Kyungsoo repeated, following Baekhyun towards the computer art building on the opposite side of the quad. “Who’s Bora?”

“She’s this girl I know from a couple of my classes; we have the same major,” Baekhyun admitted, a bit reluctantly. “She’s…kind of annoying.”

“Kind of annoying?” Kyungsoo repeated. “We have a ton of friends who are kind of annoying.”

“Okay, she’s really annoying,” Baekhyun amended with a groan. “And if she’s there, you can’t tell Chanyeol.”

They entered the computer art building and blessed air conditioning washed over them, so Kyungsoo took a moment to answer. “Why can’t I tell Chanyeol?”

“He sort of hates Bora,” Baekhyun admitted. “He doesn’t want me hanging out anywhere near her.”

“Why?” Kyungsoo demanded.

But Baekhyun just shrugged. “No idea. This is the classroom here.”

It did indeed look like there was a class going on inside, Kyungsoo thought. There were students sitting at about half of the desks, but instead of studying or doing homework, they were eating lunch and chatting with each other. They all seemed to be graphic design majors, so they knew Baekhyun and called hellos to him when he and Kyungsoo came in.

“Baek!” a shrill female voice called, and the next thing Kyungsoo knew, a petite brunette wearing a short skirt had practically thrown herself at Baekhyun.

He caught her out of politeness’ sake, but quickly righted her and stepped away. “Uh, hi,” he muttered, turning a bright shade of red. “Uh, Kyunggie, this is Bora. We have a few classes together. Bora, this is my friend Kyungsoo.”

The girl beamed at him; she was really very pretty. “Hi, nice to meet you,” she chirped. “Any friend of Baek’s is a friend of mine! Why don’t you guys pull up some chairs and eat lunch with us?”

Before either of them could decline, she had pulled two desks up to a little circle of her and her friends. Too polite to refuse, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun sat down in the desks and took out their lunches.

It was an unusual lunchtime, Kyungsoo thought as he watched the group interact. They were mostly graphic design majors, so the conversations revolved primarily around their classes and shared professors. Bora seemed infinitely interested whenever Baekhyun had something to say, and she even offered him her desert – which he politely declined.

“Oh, there’s this big party this weekend,” Bora said in an offhand sort of manner as the boys finished up their lunches. “A bunch of people from the graphic design department should be there, so it’ll be fun. You’ll come, right Baekhyun? Oh, and you’re more than welcome to come too, Kyungsoo. The more the merrier.”

“I’ll ask Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said, still blushing crimson.

Bora’s face fell just a little, but it was only for a second and then she was smiling again. “Of course. I don’t know that he’d have much fun, but of course he’s welcome to come too.”

It wasn’t until they had said their goodbyes and left the computer art building that Kyungsoo broached the subject.

“So…” he drawled. “What was that all about?”

Baekhyun’s face was bright red. “Shut up,” he mumbled. “I told you she’s really annoying.”

“She wasn’t so much annoying,” Kyungsoo admitted. “In fact, she seemed really nice. She really seems to like you.”

Baekhyun groaned. “She’s a bit of a stalker,” he admitted. “She pops up everywhere, which is one of the reasons I didn’t particularly want to go to the computer art building. I knew she’d be there, and the last thing I want is to encourage her.”

“So you’re not into her at all?” Kyungsoo pressed.

Baekhyun scoffed. “Please. You know as well as I do that I only like . Only one in particular, actually. I mean she’s pretty and she’s smart and she’s pretty nice when she’s not being creepy, but I don’t think she’d be my type even if I was straight.”

“But you’re not tempted?” Kyungsoo asked curiously. “I mean, not to bring up bad memories or anything, but Chanyeol went back to Jina after you and he hooked up. Don’t tell me you haven’t been thinking about making him squirm because of that?”

Baekhyun shook his head. “As much as I hate thinking about what happened with Jina, I’m over it, Kyunggie. I would never do anything to hurt Chanyeol. That’s why I try to stay away from her as much as possible. He hates that I have to be around her for classes, so I’ve been trying to keep my distance.”

“Good luck with that,” Kyungsoo muttered. “Here she comes.”

Sure enough, Bora was running down the path after them, her backpack bouncing. She was rosy-cheeked and out of breath when she caught up with them.

“Hi, sorry to interrupt,” she gushed, sounding not at all sorry. “I forgot to ask you, Baek. Do you already have a partner?”

Baekhyun shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I’m dating Park Chanyeol, remember?”

Her face clouded over, but then she laughed. “I didn’t mean a romantic partner, silly! I meant a partner for Professor Lee’s project! It seems that everyone else has already paired up, but I still don’t have a partner.”

“O-oh.” Baekhyun turned even redder. “No, I don’t have a partner yet.”

“That’s great!” Bora cheered. “We can work together then! I’ve got some great ideas already! Don’t worry, Professor Lee loves me, so I’m sure we’ll get a good grade! I’ll call you later so we can arrange a time to meet up! Bye!” And she was gone again.

Baekhyun looked dazed. “I-I don’t know what just happened…”

“Looks like you’re going to be spending quite a lot of time with Bora the stalker,” Kyungsoo teased, clapping his friend on the back.

Baekhyun groaned. “Chanyeol is gonna be pissed.”

Kyungsoo pursed his lips thoughtfully. “You know, this doesn’t have to be the disaster that you think it will be.”

Baekhyun fixed him with a flat, skeptical look. “Oh yeah? And how is that?”

“Use it as an excuse to show Bora just how happy you are with Chanyeol,” he said. “I mean, you mostly see her in class, right? When you’re alone? So let her see the two of you together. And don’t hold back on the PDA, either. Invite her to your place to work on your project. That way Chanyeol can keep an eye on you, and you can snuggle and kiss and be gross to your heart’s content.”

Baekhyun thought about it for a moment. “That’s not a bad idea,” he admitted. “But I’m not sure I can do it alone. Think you and Jongin would be up for helping out?”

Kyungsoo grinned. “If it means I can make out with Jongin, you know I’m in.” 

Okay, so it took me longer to update this than I would have liked, but I'm going to use being pregnant as an excuse lol (also, I'm really looking forward to the next chapter >.<)

And Bora isn't an idol, before anyone asks. I sort of had this image of Sistar's Bora in my mind while writing it, but it's just a random character :)

So let me just tell you, being pregnant is way harder than I ever would have expected. I guess when they say no two pregnancies are alike, they weren't kidding. My sister's baby is less than a year old and I heard about her pregnancy A LOT, so I tend to compare mine to hers quite a bit which is ridiculous because they are NOTHING ALIKE. My sister didn't get sick once. I have been sick pretty much since the second I got the positive pregnancy test. In fact, I threw up so much that I lost 8kg in my first trimester. I'm halfway through now and I'm still not up to the same weight I was at when I got pregnant. It's been crazy. 

But it's all worth it. My little baozi kicks like crazy (pretty sure she's going to be a kickboxer when she comes out) and I get to see her again in two weeks at our next appointment :)

Here are some belly pictures:

The first picture is at 4 weeks pregnant (when we found out) and the second one is now (20 weeks pregnant and halfway there).