"Wake up, Sehun!!!"

The boy groans and flips onto his back groggily, his topless body peeking out from his blanket. I slap his shoulder and bounce on his body as I sit on his stomach.

"Sehuuuun!" I shout again. He only swats at me, nearly slapping my face if not for my quick reflexes. "I was beaten up last night—"

"What?!"

I squeal when Sehun shoots up awake from his bed, almost knocking me off his body. Luckily, he grabs my shoulders tightly and stares at me, eyes running up and down my body.

"Oh, finally—"

"You were beaten?!" Sehun screeches, his voice even lower than normal. My head pounds and my heart flutters. Sehun in the mornings should be banned, really.

"No, I lied," I reassure him, laughing at his reaction though I am touched to see how worried he is for me. He groans loudly and falls back onto the bed. "Wait, don't go back to sleep," I shake his arm. "We're meant to go to the Cherry Blossom festival, remember?"

"It's only nine, nut job," he grumbles, looking at me lazily.

"Yes but it's an hour's drive there and I'm sure there'll be many people." I whine and shake his chest, "Please, oppa. Get up."

Sehun finally sighs, letting my aegyo get the best of him. He sits up and flicks his wrist, trying to tell me to move. I scramble off his lap and he grunts in thanks. I sit on his bed and watch as he swings his legs to the edge of the bed, getting up to get ready for the day. I lay in his bed, eyes on his back as he stands before his closet with a hand on his hip, the other in his hair in contemplation on what to wear today.

A soft smile is playing on my lips without me knowing. I like observing people, but the person I love to watch the most is Sehun. He always does things so confidently, like he already has the whole world in his hands. But I know, as his best friend, that when he comes home, he leaves the world at his feet and becomes the humble boy I have always known and love. He knows what he is doing, but at the same time, he doesn't either.

The way Sehun talks and acts, everything about him is endearing to me. It's so easy to watch him and just fall in love with him, especially when he accidentally bites into a garlic piece and his face screws up and his nostrils flare. I'm really not surprised that he has so many girls chasing after him, neither am I surprised at the number of ex-girlfriends he has had. However, I am surprised that only after so many years, I finally came to realise that I love Sehun, not just as a friend, but as a lover.

All of a sudden, Sehun turns around, as if he can hear my thoughts about him. He scratches his bare chest lazily, as if he can feel the itch of my pounding heart against his rib cage.

"Is it cold outside?" he finally asks, voice deep and coarse with sleep. He sounds so clueless, so sleepy that it makes me smile.

"It's cold for me," I tell him. "Don't think it'll be that cold for you."

He nods and turns back to his wardrobe, pulling out a white dress shirt and a pair of black jeans. I wait for him listlessly while he showers. He normally takes a very long time to get ready and this morning is no exception. After 15 minutes of waiting, I know that he isn't going to be ready even after he leaves the bathroom. I eventually fall asleep on his bed as neatly as possible so as not to mess up my make-up or crumple my clothes.

As expected, it is only almost 45 minutes later that Sehun wakes me up, shaking my shoulder while sitting on he bed next to me. When I open my eyes, Sehun is staring down at me, his hair already blown dried and a pair of dummy glasses perched on his nose. I swallow the butterflies threatening to be released, so that they're forever in my stomach.

"I'm done," he whispers. "Do you wanna sleep longer?"

"No," I shake my head, stretching and yawning like a cat. Sehun clucks his tongue. "You took so long, the flowers would have shed by now," I complain.

"Well, if you don't get up right now, we'd have to wait for next year to see them," he counters instead, standing from the bed.

We finally leave his room, bickering over nothing as usual. We get into his car and I take my spot at the front with him. Sehun drives while I'm in charge of giving him directions on where to go. Since none of us have had our breakfast yet, we go to our favourite bakery and get some food for the road, just in case we get hungry. We only leave Seoul half an hour later.

"Let me try yours."

Sehun passes me his bagel without hesitation, partly also because he doesn't want to drive with his hand full. He glances at me, hands filled with two bagels.

"Let me try yours too," he mutters, eyeing my food.

"Oh, it's really bad," I tell him with a full mouth, trying not to spit anywhere. "Don't eat it."

"No, it's nice that's why you don't wanna share it," he accuses, giving me a stink eye. He stretches out his hand. "Give me some!"

"But your bites are always big," I whine.

Sehun laughs. "Okay, I promise to just eat a little."

"I don't trust you."

"You're really stingy, you know," he glances at me, clucking his tongue. "Not to mention how I bought you food. And this is how you repay—"

"Here," I grunt, shoving the bagel into his mouth to stop him from talking.

He chuckles, holding onto my wrist to stabilise my hand. He takes a bite of the bagel (a big one too, might I add) and lets go of my hand.

"No wonder you don't wanna share it," he teases, looking at me. "The bacon is crispy."

I love crispy bacon over anything and Sehun knows that. I laugh and nod in agreement.

"Cheeky."

We continue talking while I feed him as he drives. It is times like this that I feel like I shouldn't ask for anything more from Sehun. We're already so close, we already act like a married couple even though we're not anything close to being in a romantic relationship. I shouldn't ask for more from Sehun, I shouldn't need any more than what he is giving me.

But I can only think, I'm a selfish person.

 

 

"Let's get someone to take a picture for us," Sehun suggests, already looking around for help.

"It's fine," I shake my head. "We can take a selfie."

"No, you dressed up for this, we can't just take a picture of our faces." He spots someone and goes to her, asking politely, "Sorry to bother you, but do you think you could take a picture for us?"

"Sure!" she nods, taking my Polaroid camera and phone from Sehun's hands.

I sigh when he returns next to me, his arm naturally coming to rest around my shoulders, pulling me close. I smile for the camera, my head tilted towards Sehun, bumping into his jaw lightly. The lady takes a few pictures with my phone before taking a Polaroid picture for us. The lady is about to leave and return my devices to me after the picture is printed, when Sehun stops her.

"I'm sorry, but could you take one more?" He explains, looking a bit embarrassed, "I'd like to keep a copy too."

"Oh, of course!" the woman chuckles, quickly going back to her previous spot.

My heart is thundering in my chest and I might be thinking too much when Sehun slips his hand down to my waist. My entire body feels warm. He rests his cheek on my head (because damned boy is tall) and the woman clicks the shutter. I can only hope I don't look too pink and nervous in the picture.

Sehun quickly takes the phone and camera from the lady. I go over to him when she leaves, the both of us looking through the pictures she took. They are pretty well taken, you can see the pretty pink blossoms in the background, but what I like most about the photos is how close Sehun and I are, and how our smiles are the widest I have ever seen.

"I'm keeping this."

I look up and see him holding onto the Polaroid picture, the one with Sehun's cheek on my head. It's cute and honestly, I want to keep it for myself.

"I'm putting it in my wallet," he murmurs, already fishing out his wallet.

"But what if your future girlfriend sees it and gets jealous?" I wonder, watching him slip the picture into the transparent slot, showing off our trip to the cherry blossom field.

Sehun shuts his wallet and stuffs it back into his back pocket, shrugging and staring me. "They should," he smiles, eyes soft and roaming about my features. "You're pretty."

I blush like I always do these days when he compliments me. "Better not put it in your wallet," I advise, voice soft. "It won't look too nice when you're trying to impress girls and buy them meals."

He laughs, shaking his head. "I don't think I wanna impress any other girls now."

We continue walking, taking in the fresh air in the country and just enjoying our time together. Sehun stops all of a sudden and I halt only after a few steps ahead, noticing his absence next to me. I turn around and see him stretching out for a branch on a cherry blossom tree. My eyes enlarge.

"Sehun!" I hiss, rushing over to him. "You can't pick the—"

He turns to me, his hand already holding onto a fresh bunch of cherry blossoms. "Already did," he grins.

"It's one of the rules, Sehun!" I hit his arm. "We can't—"

"Hey!"

"Oh no," I whisper, grabbing onto his arm. "Sehun, we need to run."

I pull him until the both of us are running away from the caller. I turn my head just for a second, only to see that no one is following us. I stop.

"He was just trying to ask us to help with taking a picture," Sehun pants, walking back to me.

"Then why didn't you tell me?" I frown, still taking in huge breaths of air.

"Because I didn't want to help him."

"So you chose to run instead?" I give him a weird look.

Sehun chuckles, pulling on my wrist so that we start walking again. "I needed to get you to exercise somehow," he jokes.

"You're terrible," I grumble and smack his arm.

He only laughs and brings me to the car as we banter all the way back. The moment we're in the vehicle, Sehun turns up the heater just for me, because he knows how afraid of the cold I am.

"Look here."

I turn to him with my hands stretched out in front of the heater, totally unsuspecting. Sehun curls my hair behind my ear gently, intent eyes on me. I stare with a thumping heart as he perches a cherry blossom flower on my ear. His hand comes up to the side of my face, cupping my jaw, as he brings my head closer to him. He tilts my head until he sees the French braid that I made while on the ride here.

Sehun starts plucking the flowers from the bunch as he dots them all over my braid, making me look like I was painted with cherry blossom flowers. The heater is loud in the quiet car with neither of us talking. Only when he is done, he pulls my head back and stares at me, evaluating his masterpiece. He smiles.

"You're so pretty," he flicks my chin in adoration.

I smack his chest lightly and he chuckles, grabbing my wrist. He brings down my hand to his lap, still holding onto me and not letting go yet, while he gets out his phone. 

"Where to now, my queen?" Sehun teases, his other hand holding onto his phone to film me. I cover the camera and he laughs, dodging my hand. "Oh come on, you look pretty."

"Sehun," I whine, staring at the camera with a pouty look. "Can't we just take a drive?"

"Of course we can," he grins, still filming me. "But first..." I raise an eyebrow at him and he chuckles. "Could you turn your head for a moment so we can see your beautiful hair?"

I do as he wants and he does a video tour of the flower path on my head. When he is done, he comes back to film my face.

"Say bye and give me a flying kiss."

I sigh and wave lifelessly to the camera but ignore his request for a flying kiss. He sniggers and ends the video.

"Don't post that anywhere," I warn him.

"Only for my eyes to see," he promises.

So we end up doing what I wished; taking a drive together, with no exact destination in mind. When we are driving down a long highway, Sehun turns to me, observing how comfortable I am with my legs propped up on my seat, arms hugging them as I use my phone, humming song to the song playing through the speakers.

"Hey, beautiful," Sehun calls.

I roll my eyes, knowing that he is only mocking me when he calls me that, despite how hard my heart is pounding in my chest. He laughs softly.

"The boys are asking me to join them at a club tonight. Do you wanna go?" he invites, constantly glancing at me and the road.

"You know I don't like that kind of places," I murmur, locking my phone to look up at him.

"I know," he sighs. "But we'll all be there to take care of you."

"I don't doubt that you will," I nod my head, resting my chin on my forearm as I look at him. "I just don't like noisy places. You know me."

"I won't go if you won't, then."

I frown. Normally, people say this as a threat, just to make the other party feel guilty. But with Sehun, I know that he is for real and will do what he says. And I don't like being in the way of his plans or making him hang out with me more than he hangs out with the boys.

"I'll go," I finally murmur.

"Really?" I nod and he looks at me worriedly. "You don't have to if you're uncomfortable."

"You'll take care of me, won't you?"

"Of course," Sehun smiles, reaching over to squeeze my hand.

 

 

"No, no, no, change out."

I groan loudly, stomping my foot like a spoiled brat. In my defense, I have an entirely good reason as to why I am acting like that.

"I've changed out five times already, Sehun," I whine.

"That's because your cleavage is either always showing," he holds up a finger. "Or too much of your skin is showing." He holds up another finger. "And as long as I live, no one's looking at any of that."

"Why don't you pick something for me to wear then," I grumble, dumping myself on the bed.

Sehun gets and goes to my closet without a complaint. I lay on my stomach as I play a game on my phone to pass time. Fifteen minutes later, I feel Sehun's fingers on my .

"See, this is why I don't want you wearing this," he glares at me half-heartedly, pulling on my dress that has ridden up to expose my . I blush terribly and he throws me a clothing article. "Wear this and let's go. The rest are coming to get us in 10."

So I change out into an black off-shoulder jumpsuit that I thought was to formal for a club. Nonetheless, we get ready and we leave the house once Sehun has gotten a call from Baekhyun. Once bitten, twice shy; we all pile into Baekhyun's brother's car, this time no one of us would be driving lest another accident happens. It's a good thing that Junmyeon and Kyungsoo decided to get there on their own, declining a lift from Baekhyun's brother.

Because I end up sitting on Sehun's lap, having not enough space in the car. His arms are around me, his hands resting on my lap, as he chats with his friends. He rests his cheek on the side of my arm when Baekhyun talks to him, just so he can hear better. About 20 minutes later, Baekhyun's brother stops the car before a busy club where Junmyeon and Kyungsoo are already queueing up for us.

"Remember to take care of the girl," Baekbeom reminds the guys when we get out of his car.

Chanyeol throws an arm around my shoulders and promises they will. I chuckle and wave goodbye to Baekhyun's brother.

"Watch your hand," Sehun growls, slapping Chanyeol's hand that is coincidentally brushing my . The older guy makes a face while Sehun takes my hand and pulls me towards him, warning me like a protective older brother. "Stick with me, okay? For the entire time."

"What if you meet a cute girl?" I murmur, walking closer to him.

"You're my priority tonight," he mutters, following the boys as the line moves. "I don't care how cute that girl is, I only have eyes for you tonight."

I could be floating and my heart could be the pounding music we hear. But I joke anyway, "Even Miranda Kerr?"

"If it's Miranda Kerr then I'm afraid, sweetheart, that I'll get Jongin to bring you home." I laugh and smack his chest, to which he sniggers. "I'm joking. You're still my number one girl."

I shouldn't have bothered to blush my cheeks tonight when I could have Sehun help me with it naturally. We enter the club in a bit, my best friend holding onto my hand tightly so I don't get in lost in the crowd of sweaty people. The other boys are flanking me in a protective circle as well.

Two Bacardi shots and a Jägerbomb later on my part, I'm already this close to sleeping even as I dance. The boys drank more than I did and they're a lot more heated. They're touchier and they're dancing pretty flashy moves. The entire time, Sehun kept true to his words. While the boys were out to scope for girls who craved for their attention, he stayed right next to me, taking care of me like he promised he would.

My mind is pretty hazy by now but I can still make out Jongin grinding against me, his fluid motion so taunting and alluring that I just want to lean against him and let his roaming hands move about my body. Sehun can only watch us, not really wanting to intervene anymore, not ever since the Baekhyun incident. However, it seems like his conscience has come out of his head just to nag at him.

"Aren't you going to do something about this?" Sehun hears someone shout out to him. He frowns and turns to the smaller guy next to him. Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow in my direction. "Are you just going to let him touch her like that?" 

"He won't do anything to her," Sehun believes. 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "Of course he won't. But are you comfortable letting her get that intimate with another guy?" 

"She..." The younger boy stalls for a while. He doesn't like what he's seeing, but he doesn't want to make the same mistake again. "I don't run her life... She can do anything—"

"Oh, bull, Sehun!" Kyungsoo shouts, elbowing his ribs heatedly. "You always say you don't care about her, but then you always end up ditching us to watch over her. She means something to you, alright?" When he sees Sehun opening his mouth, probably about to counter with a smart remark, he continues, "And not as your best friend." 

Sehun stares at how close his best friend is getting to Jongin, how my hips are moving in sync and how Jongin has his nose in Sehun's favourite spot on my neck. He feels something bubbling within him, something that isn't just his protective side. He knows this shouldn't be what best friends feel for each other. He has known this a long time ago. So in one rash move, he has already stomped over, grabbing onto my arm. I stumble into his chest and clutch onto the sides of his shirt like he's my lifeline. His other arm comes around my body to hug me to him.

"We're going back, love," Sehun says as he tries to soothe me by rubbing my back. He is glaring at Jongin, who winks back just to annoy him.

I nod and look up at him, resting my chin on his chest. He bends so that my lips are next to his ear. "Are the rest coming?"

"No," he shakes his head. "Just us."

We wave to the remaining boys like Jongin and Kyungsoo, while the others have already spread themselves out amongst the pretty girls on the dance floor. Sehun and I stumble out of the place with him holding me securely. The moment we're outside, I slump against Sehun's body, my body and alcohol tolerance already exhausted.

"I'll bring you back to my home, okay?" he murmurs, half-carrying my dead weight.

I hum in reply, not exactly processing his words. We take a cab back to his place where everyone is already sleeping. He sits me on the bed and I end up falling back to lie down, too drunk to stay upright. Sehun sighs and climbs over me carefully, looking for the zip on the side of my jumpsuit. He finds it, undoes it and then undresses me, leaving me only in my underwear.

He doesn't touch me nor does he do anything afterwards but I am cold and I turn to my side, curled up in a ball. I knock out then, entirely unaware of anything going on anything in my drunken state. Another reason why I don't like clubbing, is because I am a terrible drinker and I always turn out to be a party pooper. Only Sehun will take the responsible to look after me.

The next morning, I wake up with a cotton ball as a tongue and a headache that almost knocks me back unconscious. I groan from the heat. Cracking an eye open, I take in my whereabouts and come to a conclusion that I am in my best friend's house and not some random stranger's place. I am greatly relieved. Sehun breathes against my cheek, shifting a little, and that's when I realise that we're in that position again. His arm is around my waist, spooning me so comfortably that I really don't want to move away from him. But he has dressed me in a huge hoodie and I am sweating a little from the body contact.

I try to shift away from Sehun and as the big sweatshirt rides up, I am shocked to find that I'm actually wearing nothing but my underwear underneath. Sehun has seen me in nothing before, but he is still a man with a ual drive. I just hope I don't make things hard for us (if you get what I mean).

"Are you hot?" I hear Sehun whisper so suddenly in my ear that I almost jump when I try to cover myself as much as I can.

My body heats up even more when he tightens his hold, bringing me closer to him because I was trying to move away. I can only nod my head to his question.

"Do you want me to turn up the air-con?"

"If you could, please," I croak, my voice hoarse from the fiery drinks and shouting from last night.

Sehun lets go of me and I listen to him turn the temperature of the A/C down, making the room colder. He returns to his spot and I expect him to sleep in a position that isn't anywhere close to me or anything as intimate as our previous situation. He doesn't.

Sehun actually circles his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him as he buries his face in my shoulder. He uses me as his bolster, resting his long leg onto my body. Nervously, I turn back slowly to look at him. As if he knows that I am looking at him, he peeks an eye open. We stare at each other for a moment until he speaks.

"Go to sleep," he mutters quietly, hooking our legs together.

I probably could have done as he asked me to, since I am pretty tired still. But when Sehun sighs and kisses the back of my ear, I feel like won't even need coffee for the entire day anymore.