Chapter 12- How We Fell In Love

[The flashback continues]

For the next few days, Baekhyun and Mina were meeting up for the tutoring session in order to study for an exam that was slowly creeping up. They met everyday at the same spot in the cafe and at the same time that it was becoming a daily routine. And with everyday spent with one another for an hour or perhaps even more, they slowly began to open up to each other and become close. 

It was their 9th day of tutoring together, and they were meeting up at the cafe like usual. The big exam was the next day, and they were planning to study harder together in order to be fully prepared for the test. However, when they arrived inside, they saw that the cafe was busier than usual with no seats open. 

"What should we do?" Mina asked.

"Let's go to the library. There should be some open seats there," Baekhyun suggested. 

But when they arrived at the library, it was no different than the cafe. All of the tables were filled up and taken by students who were also preparing and studying for the same exam. Baekhyun and Mina looked at each other because they were unsure about what to do. They realized that they should have met up right away after school since it was obvious that people were going to be crowding places to study. 

"What... Should we do?" Mina slowly asked. 

"I don't know. We already checked everywhere else too," Baekhyun replied. 

"Perhaps...," Mina slowly said with uncertainty. "Do you want to study at my house?"

Baekhyun was silent for a moment as he thought about what Mina said. He even began to hesistate because he didn't expect Mina to suggest such a thing. 

"A-are you sure?" Baekhyun stuttered.

"Of course. I don't see anything wrong with it. We're just going to study, right?" Mina asked as she looked at Baekhyun with an innocent expression.

Baekhyun looked away and swallowed nervously while fixing the collar of his shirt. 

"Are you okay? You're sweating pretty bad. Should we get something cold to drink first?" Mina asked, not realizing that Baekhyun was sweating because of something else. 

"N-no it's fine. We should get going right away," Baekhyun stated before he quickly walked off without Mina. 

When they finally arrived at Mina's house, Baekhyun couldn't help but look around because it was his first time there. Her house was small, but it was clean and neat. He never thought the day would come where he would actually be in Mina's house for anything. 

"I know it's kind of small, but I hope you don't mind," Mina said.

"No, it's okay. It's actually pretty nice," Baekhyun said as he continued to look around. 

"Well, you could take a seat while I grab something for us to snack on," Mina said as she fixed things around.

Baekhyun sat down on the ground in front of a small table in the livingroom. As he was waiting for Mina, he kept himself busy by looking at pictures on the wall of Mina and her family. He couldn't help but smile as he looked as these pictures because of how happy they looked. 

Just then, Mina came back with a large tray of frozen fruits and forks for the two of them.

"Are you the only child?" Baekhyun asked.

"Oh, yes I am," Mina said with a shy smile as she placed the plates of frozen fruits on the table. 

"Same here," Baekhyun replied.

"Oh really? That's cool!" she said as she sat down next to Baekhyun.

"Where are your parents?" Baekhyun asked as he began to eat a slice of a watermelon.

"My dad's at work right now and won't be coming home until another hour or so,"

"What about your mom?" 

Instead of replying, Mina stayed silent for a moment as she looked down and began to play with her nails. Baekhyun stopped eating, and turned to look at Mina and saw how she was acting. He then realized that he said something wrong.

"My mom... Passed away when I was young," Mina said with a small smile in order to not create an awkward situation. 

"Oh... Sorry Mina. I didn't know that-"

"No! It's fine! It's not your fault or anything. I should have just said it cooly," Mina said with a smile as she looked at Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun stared at Mina and was unable to look away for some reason. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked when she smiled. She was always smiling, but for some reason, he couldn't stop staring at her at this exact moment. Was she... Always this beautiful?

"So, let's get started," Mina said as she grabbed her backpack and began to take materials out. 

"Oh. Y-yeah," Baekhyun stuttered as he placed his fork down and grabbed his backpack. 

An hour passed, and the two of them were silently studying by themselves. Mina was highlighting important information in her textbook and writing down notes in her notebook. Meanwhile, Baekhyun was leaning his head on his hands that were supporting it. He was starting to become slightly frustrated because he didn't understand something that he was studying so far. Mina stopped what she was doing, and saw how frustrated he looked.

"Do you need help?" Mina asked. 

Baekhyun raised his head to look at Mina because he didn't expect her to notice his frustration. 

"O-oh yeah. I'm having trouble understanding this part," Baekhyun said as he scooted his textbook closer to Mina. 

Mina at the same time scooted herself closer to Baekhyun in order to get a better look at his textbook and see what he was referring to. Just then, Baekhyun began to sweat as he swallowed nervously. This was the first time being so close to Mina, or anyone in general. 

"Ah, this. Let me see. How should I explain this to you," Mina started.

Instead of keeping his focus on Mina who was explaining the things he didn't understand to him, he had his focus on something else. He couldn't stop staring at her because of how beautiful she looked as her bangs fell down on to her face and she had to keep moving it. Oh, and her eyes! He never noticed her beautiful light brown eyes and her long eye lashes. 

"Baekhyun. Are you listening?" Mina asked, interrupting Baekhyun's train of thoughts.

Baekhyun quickly shifted his eyes to look elsewhere when he realized that he was staring at her longer than he was supposed to. 

"Aish. So you weren't even listening. Why am I helping you?" Mina groaned playfully. 

"Sorry! Please explain again," Baekhyun pleaded childishly. 

Mina smiled and began to laugh because it was her first time seeing Baekhyun act like that towards her, or at all. He wasn't the type to act like a child since he was serious all the time. But when he acted like that towards her just now, she thought it was kind of cute. 

Just then, someone opened the front door and entered the house.

"Hi dad!" Mina said as she stood up with excitement and ran to hug him. 

Her dad hugged her with a bright smile on his face because he was happy to see her after a long day of work. Meanwhile, Baekhyun was staring at them, and realized why Mina was smiling all the time and who she got it from. Just then, Mina's dad looked over at Baekhyun and wondered who he was. 

"Hello," Baekhyun greeted politely as he stood up and bowed to him.

"Who... is that? Your boyfriend?" Mina's dad said with an excited smile. 

"No dad! He's just a friend! We're studying together for a test tomorrow," Mina quickly said. 

"Awh, that's too bad. You're pretty good looking," her dad joked causing Baekhyun to laugh in embarrassment at his compliment. "Well, you two go on ahead and study,"

"Yes sir," Baekhyun said with a smile as he bowed to him once again.

Meanwhile, Mina was embarrassed because of what her father said. 

They decided to study in Mina's room for now since her dad was home from work. Like before, they were sitting on the ground in front of a small table, but this time, they were sitting closer than usual. 

"Do you sort of understand it now?" Mina asked after explaining the materials to Baekhyun. 

"No, not really," Baekhyun replied. 

"Aigoo Byun Baekhyun. The test is already tomorrow,"

"I know," Baekhyun said as he rubbed his face and hair in frustration. 

"But don't worry. I'll help you study all night," Mina said with a bright smile.

Baekhyun stayed silent as he stared at Mina smiling at him. It was happening again. He couldn't look away. He thought that she looked beautiful with the way she smiled and stared at the him.

Before he knew it, he leaned in and locked lips with her. 

~End of Chapter 12~