4p.m.

You lay in your unmade bed, your open laptop resting on a pillow in your lap. You flipped through videos and scrolled through articles mindlessly, looking at the time once every five minutes. Baekhyun was coming to pick you up for a dinner date at 6p.m. and you wished time passed faster. You’d turned your room upside down last night, trying to pick out an outfit, and after consulting your best friend, settled for a white shirt and ripped skinny jeans. It was the look Baekhyun liked.

It had been two months since Baekhyun confessed his love to you, and till this day the memory never fails to make your heart race and your cheeks flush. Although it had been less than ideal, him having to travel all over the world for performances, he made it up to you whenever he was at your side. Dates were a rare luxury, and you treasured every one of them as much as you could.

You checked your phone again. One more hour – was this ever going to end? Pushing the laptop off, you rolled to one side and buried your face into the pillow, your legs kicking the air as your face broke into an uncontrollable smile. It had been a week since you last saw him and you missed him dearly. You got up to take a quick shower, then sit in front of the mirror to put on a light makeup. Baekhyun insisted he loved your face bare, but you were still insecure.

When you were almost done with the lip-gloss, your phone vibrated from somewhere among the sheets where you left it before jumping into the shower, and you dived in to search for it. Baekhyun’s grinning face was lit on the screen and for a moment all you could feel was your hot face and pounding heart.

 

5.45p.m.

Today had been a tough day for Baekhyun. He’d landed early in the morning and headed straight for practice. Gradually throughout the day the sore in his lower back developed into a stabbing pain, and when they finally ended practice at 5.30p.m. to rest he couldn’t even stand straight. He laid on his tummy on the hard wooden floor, panting hard, his features scrunched up in pain. He had about 30 minutes to shower, change and pick his girlfriend up for dinner. He tried propping himself up with his hands, but his waist had lost all its strength and he collapsed back onto the floor.

Lay came over and pressed him back down to lie flat on the floor, massaging his lower back with experienced . Baekhyun looked at his phone. 20 more minutes. Again, he tried to get up, but the mere action of arching his back sent such a great jolt of pain up his spine that he yelped and hissed through clenched teeth.

There was no way he was going to be able to take his girlfriend on a date. Heck, he couldn’t even stand up without help. Feeling utterly terrible, he dialed the number memorized by heart and waited for you to pick up.

“Hello? Baby are you downstairs because I’m ready to go!” Your excitement sent another pang through his heart.

“Listen, babe, I’m really sorry, but I have to cancel… There’s an, uhm, important performance coming up and there’s a lot I need to catch up. “ His voice sounded pinched and forced. Your heart sank.

“Baekhyun oppa, are you okay? Don’t overwork yourself, you’re already the best to me. It’s okay we can go out another day. Don’t worry.” You forced a smile even though you knew he wouldn’t be able to see it.

“Thank you, jagiya. I… I need to fly off again tomorrow morning. I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise!”

Your heart dropped even further. It was your only chance to see him amidst his crazy schedule. You spent the next few minutes hating his company for stretching them so tight. Then a crazy idea came to you, one that Baekhyun had never permitted you to do because it was dangerous if the fans saw. A smile crept onto your face as you replaced the makeup remover on the shelf. If Baekhyun couldn’t come to you, why couldn’t you go to him?

You thought about the unhealthy takeout meals they always ordered, and jumped into action. You tossed together a large salad, leaving out the cucumber because you knew Baekhyun hated it. Then you opened your fridge and took out the two boxes of strawberries you bought in the morning. Baekhyun’s favourite. You carefully washed them and picked the leaves off, enclosing them in a container and stacking it on top of the salad box.

 

7p.m.

Before you left the house you snatched up a couple of his favourite chocolate bars from the cupboard. Armed with your load, you headed towards the parking lot and drove carefully to his company’s building. You parked and got out, calling Chanyeol because you wanted it to be a surprise for Baekhyun. At first Chanyeol was against you coming, for some reason, but when you told him you were already below the building he sighed and agreed to come down and let you in.

Chanyeol met you with his usual childish grin and offered to carry your bags for you. You handed him your handbag gratefully, but held the food in your hand. You wanted to pass them to Baekhyun personally. Making small talk on the way, Chanyeol let you through the familiar corridors and up multiple lifts, passing by guards smoothly with his presence by your side.

When you opened the door, expecting to find Baekhyun fooling around as usual, you were shocked to see him lying, face down, across the couch, his head buried in the cushions, Lay pressing around on his back, the other members crowded around him.

You left the bags on the floor beside the door, running towards them with such urgency that you almost tripped over your own feet. The members obediently pulled each other away and smiled at you in greeting before saying they would just be next door. You were grateful for their thoughtfulness.

When everyone emptied out of the room you knelt down on the floor beside Baekhyun, worriedly peaking through the cushions to look at his face. It was flushed bloodless, his lips a pale purple. You gently smoothed the hair away from his forehead, and your hands came away covered in cold sweat. You called his name softly and his eyelids fluttered open in surprise.

He took a moment, registering your presence, and tried to turn his body to sit up. His face immediately seized in pain and you begged him to stop, pressing him back down into the couch, gently turning him over so he was lying on his back now.

“I’m sorry, jagiya, I didn’t want you to worry…”

His sentence trailed off as you pressed a finger to his lips. Your heart hurt seeing him in pain. You ran your hands down his cheeks, across his forehead, nose, chin, and through his wet hair.

“You must be hurting,” you murmured softly, as if talking to a small puppy. You took out the chocolate bars, smiling at the way his eyes lit up. You unwrapped it for him and fed it into his waiting mouth. His lips playfully closed around your fingers before you would take them out of his mouth, and you laughed.

 

8.p.m.

It turned out he had been hurting too much to eat with the others a while ago, but now that you were here he seemed to be much happier. Although he still couldn’t get up from the couch, he ate every mouthful of food you fed him, his droopy eyes crinkling in a genuine smile that lit up his entire face. When he’d eaten enough, he suggested going back to your place to spend the night before he had to fly off the next morning.

You were worried if he could walk, but he brushed it off, insisting he was okay. He obviously wasn’t. He clutched the couch so tightly when he stood up that his fingers turned a deathly white, but he arranged his features into a smile when he saw the worried expression on your face and pulled you in to kiss the furrow between your brows.

You wrapped your arm around his slim waist and let him shift to lean his weight on you before you picked up your bags and got ready to go. You walked past the adjacent room and said goodbye to the other members. Junmyeon offered to give you a lift but you assured him you would be okay driving back.

As you slowly made your way to the parking lot, the weight of Baekhyun on your side gradually got heavier and heavier. His head was starting to bend over with the pain, to hide his strained features from you with his long fringe. His footsteps were getting unstable and you were all but dragging him along.

When he finally fell into the passenger seat he looked at you with an apologetic smile. You took his face in your warm hands and kissed his cold lips before he could apologize again.

“Let me take care of you, oppa. I know it hurts. I’m here, baby.”

And the warmth and love that shone in his eyes at your words were worth more than all the riches in the world.