012 ♚

The Perfect Ten
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Mina sighed in pleasure as she slipped in her woolly bed, the cold that had once been her greatest threat (if Baekhyun is out of the equation) slowly being replaced by the heat the sheets had to offer. She picked up her favorite book, taking a few seconds to search for the page where she stopped reading, and smiled lightly. Her mother was not yet home, which meant Mina had to ditch her earphones since the woman forgot her keys. The novel had almost a complete grip on her mind, and Mina couldn’t comprehend how two hours could feel this short; time indeed runs fast, too fast. She decided to put the book down for now, but that came with consequences. Her brain, when not distracted by something really interesting, chooses to knock on the door of worries, unanswered questions, and unwanted feelings.

The picture of Park Chanyeol appeared first, and that was enough for the young girl to bite her fingernails; he has been acting weird lately. In school, his usually running tongue remained still and only a few words came out of his lips. Outside, when Mina suggested going to Yangsuk’s snack stand, he declined although he adored eating the old man’s handmade sandwiches. Maybe it was because he didn’t take his medications and that his insomnia is getting worse. With that last thought in mind, Mina hurried and grabbed her phone, typing a quick message to her best friend: Can we meet tomorrow? I need to talk to you. Starry Café, as usual.

By the time she laid her head on her pillow, she heard a buzz. Mina almost knocked her head on her lamp stand when she jumped, bolting to the other side of the room. Chanyeol had replied with a simple ‘okay’ but that was enough to get Mina giggling, as her shoulders loosened.

Now that the Chanyeol problem is (almost) fixed, the face of a pretty girl came into mind: Bae Irene. She wasn’t sure about what to do, that girl was unpredictable. The fact that she changed completely didn’t help either, but Mina was certain the scenario from last year was repeating itself. She wondered how many more boys are going to come and ruin her relationship with Irene in the future if Baekhyun and she broke up, but that’s a question for another day. To be honest, Mina still felt hurt when Irene ignored her but it wasn’t her problem. It was Irene’s and she needs to deal with it, not her. Someday, the purple-haired girl will come back to her. That, she was sure of.

Irene’s face soon disappeared and was soon replaced by Baekhyun’s. Mina could feel the uneasiness wear over her expression as his name resonated in her mind and was about to push the subject for later when she remembered today’s bizarre events. Slowly, her frown morphed into something much expressive: a wince. Her eyes were also open wide, and that only made her look like she was in the middle of a ting session. Mina wasn’t sure if Baekhyun would hate it or not if he knew she seemed like a constipated mess the moment she thought of him, but she didn’t care. No, not when the awkwardness of today’s interaction with him finally sunk in. Mina didn’t know what possessed her to act so casual in front of him when weeks before, he saw her during one of her panic attacks. He also hugged her and tried to calm her down, as if they were longtime friends. No wonder he was so silent.

Mina squirmed; her cheeks flushed and slapped her face multiple times. When that didn’t work, she proceeded to let out an exasperated cry and grabbed onto her pillow so hard her knuckles went white. Just how embarrassing could she even get?

It was only then that Mina heard the hard knocks on the door, and dashed downstairs where an angry mother was waiting. The woman was visibly upset, and it took her daughter a few apologies and an explanation to reduce the narrowness of her eyes. Still, Mrs. Kang is not easily deceived.

The next day, Mina strolled with her hands in pockets, her music player long forgotten at home. Scratch that, it was probably hidden in the depths of hell; her mother hid things well, and Mina, no matter how much she tried, could never find them nor even guess where they were. One time, when little Mina refused to take out the trash, Mrs. Kang took her laptop from her. It was a hard week for the small girl, living without spending hours and hours watching Sherlock Holmes. When it finally ended, Mina followed the older woman to figure out where she had hidden the laptop. Mina wondered why her mother pulled out a ladder, but then it hit her: her laptop was on top of the house’s roof. On top of that, it was their neighbor’s.

Mina snickered to herself at the memory as she pushed the door open, overwhelmed with the scent of hot chocolate cupcakes and sweet coffee.

Starry Café was the place where Chanyeol and she first met: A spilled Macchiato, apologies and a free drink in return. Unlike the outside, the interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright and colorful walls. The customers (mostly Kyungbock students since the buildings were pretty close) were chatting heavily, leaving no room for silence, and Mina liked it that way.

She strutted to a table in the corner, right beside the big glass window and sat. It was pretty difficult for the music-crazed girl to even function without her earphones, so she picked up a book instead, her other obsession. Mina couldn’t concentrate when she neared the third page, her thoughts clouded because of Chanyeol. What if he cancels on her and doesn’t come at all?

In the end, she decided to put the novel down, and well…do nothing other than waiting for her best friend to arrive. Her eyes scrutinized the room, a few twos, and ones sprawled here and there, belonging to people she recognized from her school. Two threes and one zero could be seen, but that was fairly it. Throughout the few years, Mina had her sixth sense, she noticed that the people measuring a zero were extremely rare, so she felt intrigued by the tall waiter taking orders at the other side of the café. He turned around, and Mina felt a little taken aback because she could never guess he was that young. His hair was jet black, combed neatly and parted to the side. His features were soft, from his long sculpted nose to his small pink lips. The most noticeable thing about him was the permanent scowl plastered on his mouth, yet it didn’t look hostile to Mina. If anything, it looked natural and almost welcoming. Mina slightly shook her head; the shining number above his head might’ve been playing tricks with her mind. Mina took another look at his face, now blocking the number with her hand, and the scowl seemed more threatening.

Mina lowered her hand, and it was only then that she noticed the boy walking towards her. The feeling of unpleasantness crept onto her cheeks and tainted them red because he was staring at her like he was reading her soul. The closer he got, Mina found herself squinting at him; she has seen that face before. No way, the boy looked exactly like Oh S- no, the boy was Oh Sehun, the reserved freshman who sat in Baekhyun’s table. Since when did he start working here?

“Welcome to Starry Café, what can I get you?” Mina stopped the laughter bubbling in her because of his adorable lisp, and she wished hers was as cute as his. He looked royally bored, if that was even possible, as he clicked the pen waiting for her answer.

“One Espresso and one Macchiato, two strawberry cupcakes, please.” Mina smiled at Sehun, but he was too busy noting her order to notice it. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, eyeing him from up-close.

Sehun’s eyes moved from corner to corner as he wrote on his notepad, and then slowly upwards when he asked, “You’re Kang Mina, right?” Mina nodded, and felt even more surprised when his lips twisted into a smirk, “The school talks about you a lot.”

“I can’t believe a building breaks nature's rules and talks just for my sake.” Mina glared at nothing in particular until she heard Sehun’s (even more adorable) giggle.

“I shouldn’t have laughed at that.” The younger boy pressed his lips into a thin line, and Mina sent him a questioning look, “That was lame.”

Mina was in the midst of thinking of a reply when Sehun turned around and left. Mina could’ve felt offended at what he said, but she was flattered he was willing to erase his scowl just for her (and her lame dad joke). Mina turned her head to the window, looking for Chanyeol and then at her wristwatch; he was late. Mina lifted her eyes, only to see Byun Baekhyun and his group laughing like maniacs. Mina twisted her body to the left as soon as she saw them, muttering curses under her breath. Couldn’t they have chosen to hang out in another café?

From her peripheral vision, she could see Baekhyun shoving the doors wide open with Bae Irene on his arm. Kim Minseok, Jongdae, Jongin (usually referred to as the 3 Ks, but Mina deemed the name weird) and another unknown girl trod on his heels. The customers fell into silence for a fraction of a second, casting their eyes on the popular kids of Kyungbock and the Byun Baekhyun, and then returned to their conversations like nothing ever happened. As expected, the crew sat at the center table. That way, Mina could clearly see Irene, Jongin and Baekhyun’s back. They didn’t notice her presence and continued the ruckus from before. Only now, it was louder and much noisier. The comfortable air Mina was once enjoying quickly turned into something she would run away from. When Mina th

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Luhan-Girl
The Perfect Ten's chapter 25 is posted! It feels great to be back and see all of your reactions.

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noonimm
#1
Chapter 28: Baekhyun is so wicked and damn smart. I love his character soooo damn much. At first, I though Seho was a ‘he’ and his ‘father’. But now i think it seems like Seho is the father not a ‘he’!? ‘Cause Baekhyun might feel scare instead of angry?
noonimm
#2
Chapter 26: My another theory that always hanging in my mind if the number is showing the level of danger to the person themselves? Like the level of danger the owner in? I thought about this since that phone call tho … and plus what Seulgi said 🤔 Baekhyun is in super danger, that why he is red ten, as well as Mina. She knew about Illhoon before Baekhyun’s first day tho? So he also see her as the red ten too from the day 1 too.

Seho is still the number one sus for me, with illhoon working formhim? I think maybe this Seho is also the on after Baekhyun and who captured his mom too?
noonimm
#3
Chapter 24: OMIGODDDD I KNEW ITTTTTT!
noonimm
#4
Chapter 20: *me pulling my hair and mess up with my own theory*
noonimm
#5
Chapter 16: Was it .. the agony? The distress? The pain inside someone that what’s exactly the number show? And the color represent its level? Not the danger?
noonimm
#6
Chapter 14: Sehun was 0, then after he said that it’s now green 2?
Seulgi was orange 2, now it’s 0?

Baekhyun is always red 10.. flickering somehow but..? And the connection ??!?

14 chaps and I still could not figure out how ‘actually’ the number and color work? God, how could you even came up with this system? (Or am I just a dumb one here lol)
noonimm
#7
Chapter 7: Baekhyun’s character is so interesting. He seems to put up the facade to hide what he actually is .. but so far he doesn’t seem like to be one who is the ‘red ten’ !? Our Mina too, cause of her father’s dead and her eyes, makes she sees only black and white for people who is below and above 5. Damn, if it doesn’t that makes the story so damn interesting!? I wonder and curious what’s going to happen next and if the color and the number are really what Mina understand.
noonimm
#8
Chapter 5: *me trying to catch the hints but to no a avail*
noonimm
#9
Chapter 3: !? Maybe it wasn’t him? Maybe it was that Seho who killed her father— ?

Re: Baek, i’m so thrilled to know how the number is actually work and why he got ten. Maybe he see it too? And she probably has the red ten above her head too?! 👀🔥
wolfie503
#10
Chapter 28: God the last time i read this fanfiction was a long time ago (like 3 or 4 years ago??). I just decided to reread this fanfiction back last week and GOD, i forgot how much i love this fanfiction and how this is still one of the best fanfiction i've ever read.

I was shock that this fanfiction haven't finished yet though even after 3 years (?) lol. Anyway, Kang Mina and Byun Baekhyun WILL be a power couple. I can see it already. Baekhyun is so freakin smart in this chapter. I love his character so much here. Keep up the good work!