Baekhyun falls in love a lot. He knows it.

But he can‘t exactly help it. He sees a guy, he thinks he‘s handsome and then his mind strongly decides he likes him. Baekhyun daydreams about that guy, draws hearts in the corner of his notebook, and his eyes turn all sparkly and happy for a day or two. And then if, but mostly when the guy ends up expressing interest in him as well, Baekhyun's heart trembles in fear, he turns around and disappears. He doesn‘t glance in the guy‘s direction ever again. The feelings disappear as if they were never there, Baekhyun moves on, and someone else quickly steps into the place of his former crush.

The way it all happens makes no sense and he knows it. But it most definitely isn‘t intentional.

“Baekhyun, don’t do this.”

“But Soo, he’s so cute!”

His best friend heaved a tired sigh. The strict look in his eyes was a good hint that he's not letting Baekhyun do this again.

“Baekhyun, you know what’s going to happen, and neither you or that guy need that. Leave him alone.”

When Kyungsoo was being serious, he was being serious. It was better not to make him mad. Baekhyun pouted and turned away from the cute guy obediently.

Kyungsoo and him were sitting at the library, books opened all over the table in front of them, pens scribbling diligently as they were making notes for the upcoming midterms. It was a tough time, all professors were making them work their asses off, and any distraction felt like a breath of fresh air. So that's why Baekhyun had only raised his eyes from the notebook briefly, and then his eyes were instantly caught by the guy at the corner table. That nerdy looking (but cute) guy, who had just taken off his glasses and ruffled his hair, making Baekhyun all giddy instead of feeling like at the brink of death.

He was so cute. And his hair looked fluffy and soft.

“Byun Baekhyun, stop smiling in that direction, I ing see you,” Kyungsoo mumbled, not taking off his eyes from the leaf he was writing on. “I don’t want to deal with that guy following after you like those countless other douchebags who already do. If you’re not going to date him – don’t even start this.”

Baekhyun leaned back, turning to look at Kyungsoo with a frown on his face.

“You know I can’t date anyone, Soo. Being responsible for other person’s feelings….” he shuddered. "I wish I could fall in love with one guy and date like other people do, but it's just not working for me."

Kyungsoo looked up from his notebook, his big eyes looking at Baekhyun seriously.

“It’s just a mental problem, Baekhyun. It’s nothing but your mind, holding you from it, no serious condition or disease. And nobody but you can control the way you think and what you let yourself feel.”

Baekhyun nodded and sighed. Yeah, he knew it was a mental barrier and nothing else. But he still couldn’t make himself get over it no matter how hard he tried. The reasons behind his fear were deep, hurtful, and the solution to this problem must have been buried deep somewhere within him. Baekhyun felt like he'd never reach that spot even if he brings the biggest emotional shovel in the world.

“But you know, Jongdae said something borderline reasonable the other day,” Kyungsoo said all of a sudden, putting down his pen and looking at Baekhyun. “Never expected that to happen but yeah. He got sick of your admirers coming after him to ask where you at, he called me and said you should get a fake boyfriend.”

“He said what?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. "Was he drinking at the moment or what?"

“Nah, he wasn’t. I was about to flip him off and hang up, but when he explained, it actually made sense. You see, if you ‘dated’ somebody, Baekhyun, the guys that are following after you now might actually leave you, me and Jongdae alone, which is always useful. For us all.”

“That’s all great, but there’s one problem – I don’t want to fake date. I can’t date in the first place!”

“Well, Baek, Jongdae also said that maybe if you tried to actually feel like you’re in a relationship, knowing that it’s all pretend, you might end up getting over your fear. Think about it – no feelings involved nor from your side, nor from the guy’s you date. Nobody gets hurt. But you get to try being in a relationship and understand that there’s nothing scary about it.”

Baekhyun leaned back, scoffing.

“It sounds stupid. You yourself can hear it.”

“Think about this too then,” Kyungsoo leaned in and lowered his voice. “I know you may think otherwise, but I believe you get these fifty crushes a day for a reason, Baek. I think, and it’s just my opinion, but maybe you just really yearn to be in a relationship? You’re twenty one years old, a college student, and you’ve never dated before. It’s natural for you to convince yourself you have feelings for every other guy just because you simply want to finally fall in love”

Baekhyun rubbed his eyes with his fingers. Convincing himself of having feelings? That sounded so stupid and pathetic, as if he was some desperate dude who couldn't live without somebody to date. How could Kyungsoo even say that?

And when Baekhyun feels attraction towards a guy, he really feels it. It’s all heart flutters, excitement and flushing cheeks, and it's a real, legit crush everytime. So no, Kyungsoo’s words are wrong, not to mention kind of insulting.

It's his fear of commitment that stands in the way. It's not that he's dying to date, but doesn't everybody want to get over their fears? He didn't know if fake dating somebody could actually help him to do that, or would it end up making a huge mess out of his life. 

“Who would I fake date, then?” he asked defensively, hoping that Kyungsoo and Jongdae hadn’t thought this through that far. If they didn’t, they could drop the subject, hopefully forget it and never mention it again.

Kyungsoo smiled with his weird smile, and Baekhyun knew he saw right through him.

“Oh don’t you worry about that, Baek,” his best friend picked up the pen again and continued scribbling, his signature evil grin still on his lips. “Jongdae has a list.”

“Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it.” 

C.Joybell C.

Author's note

Hello~ New story! I don't even know what to say... 
So hi to everyone who wondered into this page,  I'm kkeumgi and I'm glad you're here ^^ I've written and just finished my first story called 'Locked', and now it's time for the second one, which is 'They never know'! Hugs to everyone who came here from Locked, too - welcome back, guys~

So, if the prologue and foreword weren't enough to get a grasp of what this story is about, I'll try to explain it a little without giving out major details. It's a fake dating au with Baekyeol as main couple. Kyungsoo, Jongdae and Jongin play quite important parts as well. This story takes place in a university, where Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Jongdae are vocal performance majors and Chanyeol and Jongin are sports majors. Chanyeol and Jongin play basketball in the university's team, which's members are really popular and famous over all the university. The two of them, however, are not like the other players as far as their personalities and social skills are concerned :D

As it's clear from the prologue, Baekhyun has a fear of commitment and being in a relationship. He shows interest in guys he finds attractive, but if they show signs of wanting to get into a relationship with him, or do anything romantic, he bails because of his fear. Nobody except for Kyungsoo and Jongdae knows this though, and the reasons behind that will be revealed later.
Chanyeol and other characters will appear in the upcoming chapters. I don't want to give away too much to maybe have the element of surprise working in my favor :D I hope I got you interested enough to continue reading~

Thank you for reading this, and I'll hopefully see you in the next update~ Lots of love! <333