The sky is dark and the orange streetlamps and car lights started to illuminate the evening that have already approached; sound of heels stomping against the shiny cement flooring could be heard across the whole basement as everyone flock on the underground area one by one, marking an end on their long week at work. Baekhyun clicked on the remote key of his car and went inside, placing his belongings on the backseat after. As he pulled out from the parking space, he dialed Taeyeon up and made his way out of the company.

          “Hello?” Her soft voice rang from the other line as she answered the call after five rings.

          Unconscious of the small smile that formed on his lips, Baekhyun answered. “Hey, are you busy?”

          “Hmm, not really. We’re just at the studio doing stuff for the new collection.” Yup, definitely busy. He thought and couldn’t help but to grin at it. It was probably one of the many things that he learned about Taeyeon throughout the entire time that they’ve been together; she’s always busy.

          “Ooh, would I be able to get a glimpse of your new collection?”

          Her soft chuckle filled his ears. “You bet. I haven’t even finished doing my campaign for it.”

          Baekhyun laughed. “I’m on the road already, I’ll call you again in a bit.”

          “Oh, you got out of work already?” She asked, and he responded with a short hum. “Alright, drive safely! I’ll see you.” And the call ended.

          The roads are started get filled by rushing vehicles, and it’s the end of the week which explains the early traffic; and Baekhyun drove his way through the thickening traffic jam of the evening. The couple agreed to meet and do their monthly grocery shopping as they started to run out of supplies at home. Initially, Taeyeon planned to go to the grocery alone before proceeding to work on the day, but as soon as she mentioned it to Baekhyun while they were having their breakfast, he told her to just wait for him after work so they can go do it together. And he was persistent that Taeyeon couldn’t do anything but to just obey and let him in the end.

          Finally arriving at the familiar place after the hectic rush hour traffic, Baekhyun dialed Taeyeon up once more as he made his way to her boutique. But as he neared the place and the ringing continued, he figured out that she is probably occupied with something. Parking in front of the boutique, he removed his coat and hopped out of the vehicle.

          Pushing the door slowly, the bell attached on top of it rang across the room, catching Mrs. Yoo’s attention who was standing behind the tall cashier table on the far end of the store.

          “Good evening welcome to—oh Sir Byun! It’s nice to see you again!” The old lady greeted him with a wide smile.

          Baekhyun gladly returned the smile and slightly bowed his head to her as a greeting. “It’s good to see you again Mrs. Yoo. It’s been a while.” The last time Baekhyun was in the boutique was before they went to London and that was almost two months ago. It just was earlier on that day again, when Baekhyun dropped Taeyeon off to work that he got to briefly visit the place after so long.

          “It really is! Oh, and she’s back at the studio by the way if you’re wondering.” Mrs. Yoo right away uttered fully aware of the man’s reason of being on the place.

          He turned to look at the passageway from the store to the studio at the back and turned to Mrs. Yoo after. “Still working?” He asked, raising both of his brows.

          “As usual.” The lady answered, letting out a sigh after. “I think you should get her out of here already before she goes nonstop.”

          Baekhyun chuckled at the lady’s comment before he politely told her that he’ll be taking his way to see Taeyeon at the studio. And as he made his way, the few staff left, upon recognizing him greeted him and he courteously greeted them back until he arrived in front of the studio.

          Slowly opening the door, he peeked inside and saw Taeyeon busily going through the rolls of cloths with her back facing him. This woman just won’t stop working. Fully opening the door now, Baekhyun walked inside and slightly cleared his throat. “Knock, knock.”

          Taeyeon halted on what she was doing and turned to him with her brows raised, probably in shock. “Oh hey! I didn’t notice you I’m sorry.” She let out a short and shy chuckle as she fixed herself and move away from the table full of rolls of cloths.

          “It’s okay.” He uttered as he slowly walked to her place, with his sleeves now both rolled up and his hands placed on both of his pockets. Now standing in front of her, with Taeyeon apologetically smiling at him after, Baekhyun pulled his hand out from his pocket and run it through her hair softly. “You’re tired already, aren’t you?” She really doesn’t have to tell him the answer any longer. By now, Baekhyun has already full knowledge of her different looks, and this one in particular screams “tired” to him.

          She smiled at him. “I’m fine, don’t worry.” She muttered, giving his arm a slight squeeze to assure him.

          “Do you still want to go to the grocery? We can do that tomorrow morning instead if you want.” He suggested as he took his hand away from her and leaned against the table after, still facing her direction. He now realized that maybe it was the reason why she wanted to do the grocery before work, because she knew she will be tired already by the evening. The feeling of guilt suddenly came out of him and he thought it would have been better if he didn’t insist earlier. The urge of being with her was too strong for me to handle I guess…?

          Taeyeon chuckled at him. “I told you I’m fine, really. I may just look like I’m worn out but I can still manage.” And here she goes again. Baekhyun just looked at her but she was getting good at ignoring and dodging his gaze lately. I’ve noticed that. “And besides, we’re really running out of things at home. If we don’t go tonight we’re going to eat dust tomorrow instead.”

          Well that was a good save for her. He let out a laugh at her response and slowly nodded his head. “I’m afraid you’re right about that one.”

          She grinned widely and giggled. “Told yah. I’ll just gather my things and let’s go after.” She told him, picking up some stuff on the table and heading out of the studio and to her office after with Baekhyun following behind. She arranged some of the things on top of her desk and picked up her stuff and bag after.

          “I’m heading out already. If ever Luna comes back kindly tell her that I’m done sorting things out at the studio.” She reminded Mrs. Yoo as they walked out of her office.

          “Oh, will surely do no worries!” The lady answered.

          “Okay, if that so then, we’ll be leaving now!”

          “Take care you two! And see you tomorrow! Or on the next day!” Mrs. Yoo uttered which made the couple laugh in return.

          “Have a great evening Mrs. Yoo!” Baekhyun greeted before they headed out of the boutique and hopped on his car after. They settled themselves, strapped their bodies with seatbelts and moved on the road towards their destination.

Silence surrounded them as their vehicle moved along with the other ones on the road, letting the soft sound of the music playing on the radio enveloped inside as they both sat in a comfortable peace and silence. Baekhyun had his eyes fixated on the road, casually and from time to time tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove, and Taeyeon stared at nowhere out of the window, her mind suddenly going elsewhere. --

          “There shouldn’t be any paparazzi out there in the market, right?” She couldn’t help but asked as anxiousness suddenly crept in through her, breaking the silence out around them and making Baekhyun laugh in return. “What? Stop laughing, I’m dead serious with my question!” She complained but she too was laughing already with Baekhyun.

          “I know, it’s just that the question was too sudden and you were so adorable asking it.”

          “I’m not adorable.” Taeyeon mumbled in return.

          “Well you are, whether you like it or not.” Baekhyun responded, chuckling at her after. “That’s a supermarket and I bet they wouldn’t want to hang out there and wait for celebrities or other people that they want to disturb.” But instead of getting a response from Taeyeon, he was greeted by silence.

          As they make a full stop on the red light, he turned to look at her and saw her looking out of nowhere with her lips completely pouted out. He quietly chuckled at her. “Why, are you worried?” Taeyeon looked at him and nodded her head at the question.

          A smile immediately formed on his lips after. And she’s telling me she’s not adorable? Goodness.

          He reached out to take hold of her hand placed on the seat, squeezing it lightly to comfort her. “It’ll be fine. I’m with you, don’t fret about it.” He offered her one last smile again before the traffic light turned green, signaling them to move ahead.

          Finally arriving at the supermarket, the first thing Taeyeon did as soon as she got out of the car was to cautiously scan their surroundings. Her eyes darted from every corners and every sides and all she saw were parked vehicles and the few people getting out of the market or walking their way towards the establishment. Seeing that everyone’s seemed to be minding their own business, she felt herself getting calm slowly. I’m probably just… paranoid. And she couldn’t entirely blame herself for feeling that way. It’s the first time after so long that they are actually out together and everyone could just attack out of the blue. We’ll never know. I’ll never know. 

          Turning around towards Baekhyun, she caught him looking at her with a rather amused look painted on his face. “What?” She asked, walking towards him.

          He smiled at her. “Is it clear?” He asked and with that, she was certain that he saw her madly scanning the place earlier. And she wasn’t sure if she should feel embarrass of it or what.

          “I think so.” Was all she answered, looking away from him after.

          She heard him chuckle before he felt his hand grabbing hers and tightly holding it after. “Let’s go get inside.” He uttered before pulling her with him and making their way towards the market.

          As they entered, they went through the things that they needed to get and managed to finish and get everything on a reasonable amount of time as they didn’t want to be out so late since they both came from work and still wanted to be careful at the same time. So as soon as they finished and double checked all that they got, they headed back to the car with their hands full of bags of groceries and immediately drove out of the area after.

          On their way home through the now traffic free roads, they made a short stop on one of the restaurants that they passed to take home some meals for themselves to have at home since they both haven’t eaten anything yet. Though it would be nice to dine outside, the evening was approaching rather too quickly. So instead, they decided to get some food and dine at home comfortably in their own space.

          It was already past ten when they got home; they unloaded the groceries and brought all of it to the kitchen to fix and tidy everything.

          “Hey Tae,” Baekhyun suddenly called out as they busily move around the kitchen, fixing things around with Ginger casually walking between their legs and feet.

          “Yeah?” She responded without tearing her attention away from what she was doing.

          “Um, there’s this event tomorrow which our company is invited, it’s not actually compulsory, but we are allowed to bring one guest with us if ever we’ll attend. I was wondering, maybe you’d like to go to it.” By the time he finished, Taeyeon’s attention was away from the task at hand already.

          Wait, is that some sort of… asking me out or… She felt ridiculous thinking that way but it was too late for her to even stop her thoughts.

          “So wait, you’re asking me to come with you. Right?” She stupidly asked, as if what he said wasn’t clear enough for her to understand.

          “That is if you want to come and attend.” He answered, his lips turning into a small grin afterwards.

           Feeling slightly confused, she looked at him while letting a breathy laugh. “But do you want to go?” 

          “Well, if you want to go then of course, I’ll go with you.” He answered with a smile on his lips which just made Taeyeon a lot more confused.

          “You’re confusing me.” She let out a slight groan after which made Baekhyun chuckle. “What is this event anyway?” She asked, going back to what she was doing.

          “It’s an art exhibition opening. Wait, let me show you the poster.” He uttered, dropping the pack of fruits that he was holding on the counter and fishing his hand on his pocket to get his phone. “Here.” He turned his phone towards Taeyeon who was on the opposite side of the counter in front of him and showed the poster of the event.

          Dropping what she has on her hands as well, Taeyeon leaned on the counter, grabbing his phone from him to look closely at the poster. “Oh!” She exclaimed as soon as the familiarity dawned to her. “I know this. I’m also invited in this.” She uttered, handing his phone back to him immediately.

          “Really?” He asked with his brows lifted in surprise.

          She nodded. “In fact, the girls are also invited actually.”

          His brows lifted more as soon as he heard her. “Some of guys are invited also, through their companies like me.”

          Taeyeon titled her head and raised her brows out of surprise. “Wow. That’s… amazingly odd, I guess? So that means this event is kind of big if there’s a lot of people invited.”

          “I think so. They have a conference for all the press prior to the actual opening of the exhibition that’s why we’re invited.”

          Taeyeon slowly nodded her head at his answer. “So you’ll be there for both the press con and the actual opening, right?”

          “Well,” he started before taking a seat on one of the counter stools. “I’m not actually the one who’s going to cover the event, so I can either go to both or just the exhibition since I have an actual invitation given to me. And I can just also ditch it.” Mouthing a silent “oh”, Taeyeon nodded her head at him.

          “So, do you want to go?” Baekhyun asked moments after.

          Taeyeon diligently took her time to answer the question. “Well to be honest,” she paused on what she’s doing and looked up to him. “I actually don’t want to attend the event. Because for some odd reason, I just feel weird about it.”

          “Weird? Why?” He curiously asked, his brows creasing slightly together in the middle.

          She hesitated for a moment whether to tell him her thoughts about it or not, afraid that she might just make him confuse because of it. “I just find it weird that many of us are invited. I don’t know, but that’s strange for me.” She uttered, giving out a small smile to him after before dropping her gaze back to the counter.

          “To be fair, I was surprised to learn that many of our friends are also invited.” Baekhyun uttered after a while with both of his elbows placed on top of the counter and his hands balled together under his chin.

          She looked up at him and nodded. “Exactly. But since you said that this is probably a big event, I guess it explains why.”

          “So, do you still want to go?” He asked minutes later, his eyes expectantly looking at her as he waited for her answer.

          She sighed. “The girls who will attend are forcing me to and Luna told me it’s going to be a good way for an official public appearance.” Clearly, she doesn’t know what to answer. It’s a public event and not to mention, probably a big one, and medias are going to be all over the place. She couldn’t recall a moment when she and Baekhyun made a public appearance and it was all peaceful. They were a hot issue, and most likely, they still are; and that was enough to make her anxious all over again.

          “But, do you want to go?” He asked once again, keeping his gaze on her. He noticed how she momentarily stared into the air after she spoke and he was certain enough that there were things going around her head already. He didn’t want to make her feel pressured about it, especially knowing that she already got enough pressure from her friends and her secretary alone. He didn’t want to go come there with her when clearly she wasn’t completely down for it.

          Do I want to go? She thought over and over again and she was thankful that Baekhyun didn’t seem to be bothered by her silence as she fell into deep thinking. If she would be there all alone, she would have surely ditched it already as she wasn’t feeling that right either about the event itself, but Baekhyun would be there, and so are their friends. People that she knows. And though she would probably not admit it ever, she knew that having Baekhyun with her was enough reason not be scared of anything.

          “Well, if you are also invited then I guess it’s fine to go?” She murmured after her silence, pulling the ends of her lips into a small smile after.

          Baekhyun quirked his brows in surprise, mirroring the smile Taeyeon had on her lips on his. “Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want you to come just because I am asking.”

          She chuckled. “I’m definitely sure that I want to go. And,” she trailed off. “I was serious about what I said.” Her voice went much lower when she spoke the last couple of words, bringing her gaze anywhere but Baekhyun which he in return, found it endearing.

           The smile on his face looked like it will rip his skin and face off with how wide it was. He stood up on the stool and reached out to slight pinch her nose. “Alright then.”

          Taeyeon backed her head after he pinched her nose and rolled her eyes at him after who just chuckled at her in return. “And also, maybe we could finish this mess already because I can’t wait to dig into that food we bought.”

          And Baekhyun found himself amusingly laughing at her in return.

***

It was the day of the event and both Taeyeon and Baekhyun were getting ready to head out soon. Baekhyun was clad with a white button down tucked inside of his jeans, partnered with a black blazer and a pair of beige colored boat shoes while Taeyeon was dressed into a black halter top, an A-line knee length skirt with white floral patterns, and a pair of simple white open t bar line heels. Baekhyun just finished up fixing his hair, turning around to the closet where Taeyeon was still doing her thing in her vanity place.

          “Hey Tae, are you done there?” He asked, slowly walking his way towards the now opened closet.

          “Almost!” She answered, and Baekhyun who now reached the front of the closet, caught her wearing her necklace and she seemed like she was having a little hard time hooking the ends of the lace. “Oh dammit!” He heard her muttered which instantly made him chuckle silently. He went inside and walked towards her direction and stood behind her, who seemed like she was still struggling. “What the heck is wrong with this?!” She asked no one in particular.

          He chuckled behind her before placing a hand on one of hers. “Let me do it.” He murmured lowly, swiftly moving her hair on her shoulder before grabbing the both ends of the lace from her hands.

          Taeyeon felt her blood rushing to her face and her ears getting hot as soon as Baekhyun uttered those words—and more so, when he took the necklace from her. Oh here we go again. She felt the familiar and odd feeling inside her stomach which made her want to flip and jump around for some unknown reason.

          “There you go.” He murmured behind her, which cut her train of thoughts. The fact alone that he is standing right there behind, oh goodness.

          She slowly turned around to face him, glancing down on the pendant of the necklace and touching it before bringing her head up to look at him. She saw him eyeing the pendant with his eyes flowing with curiosity and fondness. “It’s a present from my dad. He gave it on my sixteenth birthday.” She said, placing a hand again on the silver letter T pendant.

          Baekhyun glanced up to her before bringing his gaze back down on the necklace after she spoke and smiled. “It’s beautiful.”

          Taeyeon smiled. “It’s simple. But I love it.”

          He looked up at her. “Believe me when I say it’s beautiful.”

          She chuckled and slightly rolled her eyes. “Alright, you win.”

          There was a brief moment of silence as they both just stood there standing rather close to each other, with Baekhyun continued to gaze down at her and Taeyeon looking elsewhere and anywhere but him.

          “You look beautiful.” Baekhyun muttered, and he had been intending to do so as soon as he saw her all ready. She was wearing a light make up like she had always been which was enough to make her look vibrant and more beautiful; and her hair was slightly curled into waves.

          Taeyeon felt her brows raising as she looked up back at him. She felt herself smiling at the unexpected compliment and she wished she