Mina stared at her steering wheel in silence. Her cellphone was turned off to prevent any GPS tracking and she had somehow ended up 40 minutes away, in a small town where she knew no one and no one knew her. There was a small festival that went on for a few weeks, Sehun had brought her here once for a date long ago. It was stupid to come to this place when she wanted to get away, but somehow she had found herself here. She had sat in her car trying to fight back the empty feeling in her chest from spreading all over. What did people do in these situations? Search out family members? Her mom had been long dead. Friends? None that she could talk to about what was happening. None that wouldn’t take information and spread it all throughout the company.

If Sehun had left her he had friends to go to. He had his parents. She had no one.

Once, he had been the only person she could go to. Once, he had been the only one she could trust. The wave of sadness washed over her once again and before it could take over she double checked that the cash that she had pulled from her bank account was safely hidden before she stepped out of the car and locked it behind her.

No credit cards, those were far too easy to track.

She walked alone, it was late and couples were coming out along with the few stray families who were enjoying the night out. She bought an ice cream cone and took a seat on a bench. She focused on the coldness of it on her tongue, on how biting too much at once burned in the way only ice could, she focused on anything that she could so long as it meant not thinking about Sehun.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t working.

The ice cream was gone before she had a chance to try to relax. She hated it, feeling like she was on the edge of breaking down. She hadn’t truly cried yet. She knew it was coming, but she was hell bent on postponing it for as long as she possibly could. So she sat on the bench, leaned back, and looked up at the darkening sky above her. She tried to make her mind blank, tried counting to ten over and over in her head and tried to only focus on the ever changing hues of blue in the sky above.

“People are looking for you” He said, taking a seat besides her.

Mina didn’t move, she kept counting in her head. She had to finish three more sets of 10. Reluctantly, she tore her eyes from the sky and turned to face Baekhyun.

“I didn’t think you’d come”

“Well, when I get a strange text message from a number I don’t recognize with a random address I’m the type of person who wouldn’t be able to sleep right without checking it out” He said lightly, making himself more comfortable, watching her carefully.

“I had to borrow someone’s phone” She said.

“What was wrong with yours?” Baekhyun asked.

“I lost it”

“Hm… and you knew my number by memory?” He asked, with a small grin.

Mina blinked, even in the depths of sadness she felt, there was a spark of annoyance that pushed a tiny little bit of it away.

“Forget it, this was a bad idea. Go home” She said, not meaning it at all when she stood up and walked back to her car.

“Hey, Mina wait!” He called, running past her and blocking her path, “I’m sorry, ok? But honestly… I’m a little confused as to why you called me?”

She made a face as she ran a hand through her hair, a habit that was becoming more and more common.

“Why did you say people were looking for me?” She asked.

“There’s a lot of information to be gained if you know the right people” He said simply, she watched him for a minute.

“Pathetically enough, I had no one else to call. No one that knows anything real about me anyways” She admitted, “No one that knows that there’s trouble in paradise”

Baekhyun observed her carefully, she was being abrasive, but it was a show. He could see the vulnerabilities in her all too well. He had always been good at reading people, at catching subtle body language. With her, it was no different, he read her like a book. Although with her, it felt more intuitive, more personal.

“So I’m your stand in best friend?” At the look of confusion on her face he laughed, “You know how girls are, they have that one friend that when hits the fan they call”

Baekhyun would have never admitted the pleasure he took at the look of horror that crossed her face at how true his words were.

“I only barely consider you a friend” She argued.

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