It wasn’t just another college party.

Of course, there was a lot of people, even more booze and dark as hell. But it was something else, a little more special, because today, it was Halloween. Favourite event of the campus. Everyone had a great time roaming about in customs and there were countless opportunities for roleplay. Your friends had already been kidnaped by a vampire and a pirate and they were mindlessly dancing in the huge living room of Park Chanyeol’s mansion.

Well, technically it was his parents’ but they were out and he and his friends decided last minute to throw a big party. The response was immediate: everyone dropped everything they were doing – no matter whose party they were at – and came here. The football team’s golden trio was still pretty popular. They got into college with sport scholarships and they made girls scream their names during games and outside of field too.

Kim Jongdae, the center, seemed like the type to fool around but actually he was the most modest of the three. Maybe because he adored his girlfriend a little too much. Park Chanyeol, the host and quarterback, was an absolutely carefree person. You had never seen him looking down or upset. He was always smiling and flirting shamelessly with several girls. And yet the worst was about to come: Byun Baekhyun. Being the talented line-backer he was, he never missed to show-off and a bunch of girls loved that. He liked girls a lot in general so he quite enjoyed the attenton but Baekhyun wasn’t the kind to take anything seriously. You had burnt yourself once because you’d thought otherwise. You won’t make that mistake again.

“Meow. You look really appealing tonight. Are you trying to impress someone?”

Speaking of Devil, he appeared. You your heels to face him, fixing your cat ears headband and you snorted.

“Definitely not you.”

Baekhyun laughed it off and leaned against the wall casually in his ripped white shirts, black leather jacket and skinny jeans. He was dressed to kill and get laid.

“I’m hurt.” he pouted at you but you knew he just put it on the show. He was a good actor – rumours had it that he even got a role in some play back in high school – but you didn’t fall for his act. Being group partners with him for Business Studies during the whole first semester meant you knew him very well.

“Then I achieved my goal.” you smiled proudly and earned another grimace from the football player.

“Yah, don’t be like this. Nobody likes grumpy cats. You are dressed fluffy and cute. Act like one. Come on, purr for me.” he lifted an eyebrow at you challengingly. His voice was deeper and more seductive than usual.

You wondered whether this pick-up line works on others while you rolled your eyes.

“In your dreams.” you answered but immediately regretted it because you knew he would make some ert comeback about ual fantasies so you quickly added:

“And who are you trying to be? Little Mermaid? Or Sunny from Girls’ Generation?” you with a smirk. The whole campus knew that Byun Baekhyun had a thing for that certain girl group.

“Ha-ha, very original of you.” he snapped at you but then took a step closer. You didn’t want to seem weak, so you didn’t move an inch. Therefore you could even hear his low voice because of this short distance. “Although I wonder: are you blinded by my iness? Just because my hair isn’t red anymore.”

He was right. Right now, it was bright velvet pink with a feather touch of silver and black at the roots – not like you looked into the matter thoroughly. It was a total coincidence that you spotted him right after you arrived at the party. You hated to admit it but it looked cool on him.

“Yeah, it’s even worse.” you said it confidently but you couldn’t deceive the guy.

“I know you like it.” he smirked at you with a playful wink.

You didn’t exactly deny it, just rolled your eyes. “You’re such an attention-seeker.”

It was true, Baekhyun liked to be in the spotlight but lately, he seemed like trying too hard to gain attention. Especially yours, because you tend to not notice him. So he started to follow you around like a puppy and constantly teasing you until you gave him what he wanted.

“Why don’t you search for someone who’s interested? I am certainly not so why don’t you give up trying?” you complained because even if you tried to fight it, he obviously had an effect on you. You suddenly wanted to be lost in his sparkling dark eyes but it was wrong, like really wrong. So you had to make him stop.

Only it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Especially not when he leaned closer.

“Because you are you. You are different.”

Whenever you asked the reason, he answered that you was different. He would never admit that he had seen you with your little sister and he had found you cute. Normally he didn’t fall for cute girls – y was more of his type – but after he got to know you, your similar sense of humour and confident attitude, he didn’t care about it anymore.

“You’re honest but you lie a little too much to me. You’re sweet but you act like you’re a tough girl with harsh words. You like me but you pretend not to.” he continued whispering words that made you forget about everything else. Almost. “Why?”

He murmured the question so close to you that you felt his breath on your lips and you felt dizzy. The shaky sensation, this painful tenderness, the slight brushing of lips was too much. Also, you weren’t a light woman so you did what you do the best: you ran. Firstly, you came back to you senses, faintly pushed him away and gave him a cold shoulder. You left him there all alone.

You continued your trip in the mansion manoeuvring between sweaty and drunk students. You accepted whatever drink Chanyeol offered you while you were wandering around his place to find your friends to tell them you’re going back to the dorm. Unfortunately, you were out of luck and what’s made it even worse, you felt unpleasant hands on your .

“Hey, do you wanna find a quieter place?” a stranger asked you in a hoarse voice, his breath smelling like cheap beer. You pulled away and shoved away his hands.

“How about a no?” you replied not bothering about being nice.

You had known it would be a mistake to come. You had no tolerance towards these jerks. The ones that didn’t understand nice words.

“You would love it.”

“I’m sure I wouldn’t. Leave me alone.” you hoped being harsh will work and you tried to leave but that drunk dressing like a superhero grabbed your wrist.

“Come on…”

Before you could tell him to go to warmer places, a strict, restrained voice stopped you.

“She said no. Do I need to spell it for you?” Baekhyun questioned with a superiority of a Highness and removed the guy’s hands off you. The other seemed to be intimidated by the fact that the Byun Baekhyun talked to him and he immediately withdrew with mumbled sorrys.

You were also quite shocked by the footballer’s sudden appearance and didn’t know how to react. You didn’t count on this as an option at all. In your opinion, Baekhyun was playing games but nothing serious, nothing that would affect his reputation. Maybe it was one of his games’ part, too.

“I didn’t need your help.” you stated coldly, because there was no way in hell for you to thank him anything.

“Clearly.” he left off this topic and surprisingly didn’t argue with you. Then he startled you once again with his following declaration. “I will take you home.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. Did he drink too much or was he high or something? Normally, he didn’t act like this. As a considerate human being. Only if he had a hidden intention.

“Who are you? My father?” you snapped at him although a tiny part of you appreciate his caring. There was nothing that you wanted more than ditching this party as soon as possible.

Baekhyun didn’t come back at you. He added calmly. “You wanted to go home, didn’t you?”

You couldn’t argue with that.

“Whatever.” you snorted and turned around. Pushing past people and searching for an exit seemed like an absurd type of escaping games. You ignored some comments about being lame for already leaving, you put away your headband into you bag and marked this party officially as your least favourite one.

After what seemed like centuries, you finally managed to get out of that noisy and stuffy place. The windy October weather sent chills thought your spine but you were grateful for the fresh air. A few seconds later, you heard footsteps behind you and noticed the line-backer’s unmistakeable figure.

“Stop stalking me.” you groaned highly doubting that the guy only followed you because he wanted to smell the lovely aroma of trash bins next to the mansion.

“Then stop running away. It’s me being a gentleman. Be grateful that I don’t let you get harassed by drunken idiots.” Baekhyun shoot back with a grimace and stood right beside you. Thanks to the party’s colourful lights and the pale moon, you could see his features almost clearly. He wasn’t smug, his eyes were sincere but you knew this was the most dangerous part of him. That part that makes you believe he’s different.

“Maybe I’m a magnet for those.”

Your words slipped off your tongue before you could stop them. Your hint was obvious enough to make Baekhyun frown. It wasn’t your first time calling him idiot but comparing with that jerk was a little too much.

“That was mean.” was all he said. His tone was indifferent but you saw the change on his face. He seemed mad or more of disappointed. Without a second word he walked off the pavement leaving you behind. Guilt creeped up in your veins and shame washed over you. It wasn’t right, punishing him again and again for something he did a long time ago. Maybe it was time to forgive – but not to forget.

“Sorry–“ you whispered and you were almost sure he didn’t hear you but he stopped on his track. He was still with his back to you – Thank God! – but it was well-seen that he listened so you continued. “And thank you for what you did.”

A short silence occurred but he laughed it off. “Was it hard?”

Eventually, you let him to walk you to your bus stop. Luckily, you didn’t have to wait long for your ride because you caught bus no.107 in time.

“It’s my bus. Now you can go back to the part– Hey, what are you doing?”

You were in the middle of saying goodbye when Baekhyun gracefully hopped on the bus and swayed to a love-seat.

Really? you rolled your eyes but quickly followed him. You sat down beside him cautiously, fearing he would do something to ruin your peaceful truce but he didn’t. The bus ride was calm and quiet. Well, the only time when you could have this atmosphere around Baekhyun was the one when he had his mouth shut.

“You still haven’t figured out who I’m trying to be?” he broke the silence and looked at you curiously. Trustfully, you didn’t think he dressed up as anybody. His clothes were casual – a little too ripped but still – and he was wearing eye-liner but make-up was a common thing at Halloween.

“Uhh… no. Should I?”

He made an annoyed noise.

“It’s your precious favourite character from that book with fallen angels and you don’t know? Duh.”

His answer caught you off guard. Did he remember your favourite novel? You mentioned it once during one of your Business assignment when he teased you until you gave in. Only to tease you even more because of your liking for romantic fantasy stories. Being astonished by his costume choice was an understatement. You were totally dumbfounded; you couldn’t even form a full sentence.

“You– That’s– Uhm, his hair is black.”

It was the only thing you could think of in that state, an awful lot of whys echoing in your mind.

“Black is too mainstream.” he replied and ran his fingers through his colourful locks. He was staring out the unwashed window and avoiding looking at you while you couldn’t take your eyes off of him.

Both of you remained silent for a while.

Even your custom choice was his fault. You just wanted to clarify that you wouldn’t be the mouse in this cat-mouse game. But right now, he confused you more than ever.

After you got off the bus, you couldn’t hold in the question anymore.

 “Why?” you asked fearing the answer which came almost immediately.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

You were standing face to face and staring at each other wordlessly under the lights in the middle of the street. You knew you had to say something, anything to get rid of this warm, itchy feeling in your chest.

“You’d played me once, Baekhyun.” The words rolled off your tongue mindlessly again but you were serious this time. You’d been beating about the bush but it had to stop. You can’t play this game forever. “I won’t fall for the same trick twice. One day you’re caring and charming, next time a womanizer and a douchebag.”

You had to get it right, to say it out loud, to tell him what he had made you feel.

He just didn’t get it.

“Am I?” he snorted at you a little mad. Of course, he had an image to keep and you were calling him names. He stepped closer and his eyes were glowing with threats. This time, you took a step back. Something about that wicked smile, pretty face and hurt in the eyes scared you more than ever. “What about you, Miss Little-Know-It-All? You made a fool out of me when you didn’t turn up at our date. You agreed but you never came then you started avoiding me. That was a really ty move.”

“Oh really?” you shoot back a question because you became angry. How did he dare judging you? “Are you mad at me because I didn’t go and fake smiles after seeing you kissing a blondie? Did I hurt your pride or what? Aw, sorry but you have no idea how useless I felt that moment.”

The truth was finally out. You couldn’t deny there was a period in your life when you actually liked Baekhyun and yes, you were happy when he asked you out. And it made you even more miserable. He basically cheated on you minutes before your date. So yeah, God forgive you but you didn’t show up. But what’s the worst of all? Even though a part of you hated him, another part of you still liked him because his jokes were funny, he was talented – not to mention good-looking – and he looked at you like he cared.

“I– You saw–” he stammered but you had enough. You had too much of your daily dose of Byun Baekhyun.

“Yes, so leave me alone, okay?” you interrupted him and was about to run home but his words stopped you.

“That was a mistake. She– She was my ex-girlfriend and she wanted to make her boyfriend jealous so she kinda attacked me.” he said and his voice was almost pleading. It was like the worst drama-like explanation but sadly you wanted it to be true.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“No but it’s true. My intentions were genuine.”

At first, it seemed impossible. When he’d first asked you, no had been an evident answer but it hadn’t scared him off. He’d been persistent and always around, moreover he’d made you laugh. You had forgotten about his reputation and you had paid for it.

“Baekhyun, you’re almost a star at the campus. Everyone knows your name; dozens of girls would die just to date you. Why me?” you looked deeply in his eyes. You wanted to know whether you had high hopes or not.

“I don't know, okay? And it's crazy. I don't know why my heart-beat quickens every time I see you, why I look for you at every Business class or why I find your jokes funny even when others tell me they're terrible. I don't know what to do with the urge to talk to you and touch you. And I just can't stop smiling when you're around.”

His confession was quick and he was clearly nervous. You had never seen him like this. He was vulnerable, hesitating and honest. Suddenly, you only wanted to kiss his insecurities away and tell him something, anything. But your mind was blank because the guy you liked, the one whom you believed to be a heart-breaker just confessed to you. What is more, he was looking at you waiting for an answer with those beautiful eyes full of stars and hope.

“Good.” you said coldly and then slowly, little by little your lips curled into a smile. “Because you were right. I do like your hair.”

Baekhyun laughed and the tension in the air was gone. His laugh was wonderful and it made your heart race.

“I know and I like you.” he smiled back at you and took a step closer while he grabbed your hand. Intertwining your fingers with tender touches seemed like the most natural thing to do.

“I like you, too.” you admitted boldly not caring about the consequences.

Maybe this party wasn’t so bad after all.

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author's note