"Stop following me," Sehun said, mildly irritated when he realized that she was tailing him all along. Irene was dressed in an emerald green which highlighted her eyes beautifully; the dress flowed down to a beautiful skirt. The dress showed off her curves in all the right places, her hair was curled and pinned to her side her makeup was simple but highlighted her best features perfectly.

"Can you slow down a bit? I know you have long legs but don't- Ouch" she squeaked when she hit her head on his back. He stopped abruptly, his nostrils flaring with anger. He then turned to meet her, his jaw clenching hard. "What do you want?"

A smile crossed her lips when she lifted her head to meet him. "A decent conversation with you," she said warmly. "It's bad manners to just storm out like that," she crouched her nose slightly in disapproval. "First impressions are really important. What will my father think of you when you leave just like that?" She asked him, her voice filled with concern.

Sehun looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "What do I care of what your father thinks of me?" He snapped condescendingly.

"You're right. It doesn't matter what he thinks of you," she giggled shyly, not noticing the anger in his tone. "What are you doing for dinner tomorrow night?" She asked, taking her phone out from her small pouch. "Maybe we can have dinner together?"

Sehun furrowed his brows together when she started tapping on her hand phone screen, looking for a reservation in a restaurant. He snorted before turning away from her. Despite her high pitched voice calling out his name, Sehun continued to walk, ignoring all the stares that he's receiving from the bystanders.

//

The early morning sun shone through the thick mist, and in through the uncovered window of the bedroom. It was a cold morning. Baekhyun tapped his foot on the cold marble floor, his hands stretched out far as a yawn escapes from his mouth.

He walked towards the bathroom seconds later, sleepily rubbing his face. He turned the knob and droplets of warm water hit his head. He exhaled when the warm water ran down his scalp and dripped down his arms. He stood under the shower motionless, contemplating on his life and what he's become into.

He thought he buried his feelings so deep in him, that he couldn't find them anymore. But it was always been there. He thought his heart is too cold to break but it was never cold to begin with.

He's not sure when he began to notice but he never grew tired of listening to Haru when she told him how disappointed she was about most people's indifference toward others, their selfishness and lack of compassion, or how surprised she occasionally was when she found kindness in those from whom she'd never expected it. And it made him genuinely happy to know that she thought about him the same way; that she saw something good in him. He didn't even know why. He had never cared about others' opinions, especially not what a girl thought of him. Yet he wanted her to believe in him, despite all that he had been and done. He couldn't change his past, and he wasn't really sure he would if he'd had the choice. But he like the person he is when he's with her.

Foolish, he snarls. She's made you too damned soft.

It shouldn't bother him too much. Byun Baekhyun being a righteous person is downright laughable. Yet, as he meticulously scrubs his skin, he finds himself wondering what it would have been like being a person that she'd prefer. Would he be more compassionate? More kind? More Sehun like?

He digs his blunt nails into his bicep to force himself away from those thoughts. He could never be such a person and he didn’t want to be. He stood in that cubicle, washing away the last thought remains of the whole situation, and he wanted to step out of the shower. There should be a reminder, something in the tangible world which reminded him of him.

He steps away from the cubicle and walked towards the pedestal sink. Steam made the mirror look like a splotched children's painting. He stared at the foggy reflection of him, before extending his finger towards it.

'Happiness', he scribbled on the foggy mirror, his face unconsciously forming a gentle smile.

//

He pushed the oak door and entered the room, eyes automatically drawn to the bed. He could see black tufts of hair sticking out from under the blankets. She usually wakes up at first, but she didn't today, for some reason.

He sat down at the empty space on her bed, looking at her. His mouth turned slightly upwards when he realized she was saying something adorably incoherent in her sleep.

"What are you saying?" He cooed to her. His smile wavers and later turned into a frown when the space between her eyebrows creases, as if she's having a bad dream. Haru shifted, eyes moving behind her lids and face contorting. She whinged softly in her sleep and Baekhyun brought his hands up to erase the crease. She relaxed nearly instantly at his touch, easing into a more peaceful slumber.

It was all so sudden when he found him and Haru to be on each other’s edge as they butted heads nearly every single day and God, he was about ready to separate himself by leaving her alone in this foreign country because they just wouldn’t stop. It was exhausting. They argued over the tiniest things that could have you in a fit of laughter when you realized what their heated yells and shoves were about. Baekhyun’s quick temper and Haru’s stubbornness wasn’t a great combination considering they clashed in the most irritating ways possible.

But those were the moments. Most days, Baekhyun was content to stay at home with Haru, enjoying the quiet, easy silence that often stretched between them but sometimes, he needed more.

He had unintentionally felt like she is quite important to him, though he couldn't help but follow each almost with a comment that reminded him exactly why anything more between them was probably a bad idea. Betrayal. It felt like betrayal and even though Baekhyun knew he wasn't entitled to that feeling, he couldn't help it.

Haru stirred in her sleep, her hands stretching out. She felt an odd weight on her bed. She props herself up on her elbows, disoriented from the sleep, and rubs her eyes with her forearm. Baekhyun freezes, silence suddenly filling the room as he thought he'd woken her.

After a moment, Haru begins to blink into consciousness and Baekhyun watches her intently. She finally notices him staring at her. She creases her eyebrows in confusion as to why is he there in her room.

“Are you okay?” He asks, and Haru tilts her head. “You- you were making noises in your sleep.”

"I'm fine. It's nothing," she replied gently. She rolls over to her side, her hands still rubbing her eyes sleepily.

'Okay,' he stutters, examining her back intently since she had completely turned away from him. A moment of silence lingers in the air and Baekhyun swallows the lump in his throat. She must been dreaming about Sehun, he assumed.

“What he'd do,” he says in a low voice, figuring he should at least say something. Slowly a smug smile creeps into his face, "Does he make you coffee? Or does he watch the morning sun with you?" His tone was obviously mocking her. "I can do that,"

She sat straight up, looking clearly stung by his words, "You're not Sehun," she snapped.

Baekhyun looked a little shocked, like a deer caught in headlights.

I'm not Sehun, he once reminded her. Funny, this time he's the one who seems to forget that. "That's right. There's no way I can be him," he said condescendingly, his lips thinking as he looked away from her.

//

Barely a day passes before Haru feels the same stillness run through her veins. It is a longing she will never grow accustomed to, the anticipation before she bursts into view and destroys what little she has left. Sehun disappears, and she pretends not to miss the time they spend together. She fills her days with talking to Baekhyun but the quiet hours in bed are an entirely different matter.

She braces herself with a sigh before forcing herself to look at her face in the mirror. The circles under her eyes are darker than she remembered.

Baekhyun brings her coffee, handing her a cup with another filled in his other hand. He sits beside her, quiet and frowning with what happened earlier.

The coffee cools enough for her to drink it and Haru lets it warm and stomach. He’s already added cream and sugar just as she likes it and his heart aches in the fondest way for something so small as the cup cradled in her hands as she smiles and thanked him for it.

Baekhyun swallowed, and distracted himself by taking a sip of his coffee. When he set his mug down, he looked at her, plaintive. "Do you want to go outside?"

"Can I?" She asked him, just as quietly. "I'm tired of being here,"

He inhaled deeply, and let it all out in a sigh. “I'll take you out,” he said, tapping the round table. “There' s a park nearby.”

She could see how much it pained him to make that offer, and she couldn't help but to grin excitedly at him. He started to smile after realizing how giddy she looked when he made that offer.

**

Walking around the park was honestly exhausting. Haru had her share of enjoyment when she sat and played with a few kids. As for Baekhyun, he looked like he'd dragged her out of it since he hated crowds and children.

"Let's go," he grumbled, feeling a little uncomfortable with all the attention and stares he received from the middle aged women there. "I'm hungry,"

"Can we eat outside?" She asked, sounding hopeful. He felt that twinge, and pressed his teeth together, grinding them, but finally nodded in agreement.

Haru decided to pick, since she wasn't sure that Baekhyun knew of many restaurants that weren't at least on a five-star level. She took her phone out and googled. "There's a place, 15 minutes from here," she said, casting him a sidelong glance, wondering how vehemently he'd protest.

He just nodded again.

He was quiet as he followed her. He continued to wear an arrogant expression on his face – he was, after all, in public – but she noticed the odd hunch to his shoulders and the way he'd put his hands in his pockets, like he was anxious.

She saw the restaurant faintly from a distance and pointed at it. "That's the one!"

He looked at the restaurant as they approached closer, his shoulders hunching harder. "This is the place?"

She nodded her head at the door and led him in. Baekhyun instantly looked alarmed. "This place looks cheap and dirty. I'm not eating here.” he said, balking right in the middle of the open door and refusing to come in all the way.

“Will you just--” she hissed, grabbing his arm and yanking him in.

He glared daggers at the hostess as she timidly asked how many their party would be, and then glared more daggers around the restaurant in general as they were brought to their table. Baekhyun scowled, but sat down and stared at the menu. "Order whatever you want," he said bitterly, putting the card down. Nodding, she scanned the menu. When the waitress arrived, she listed off about ten things that she wrote down, while Baekhyun stared at her. Catching his gaze, she defended, “Listen, they're not going to taste that bad.”

He didn't look convinced, but after a tense moment, he shrugged, still frowning. The bell hanging at the door rang, and an elderly couple walked in. Baekhyun set his eyes on them, observing every movements of theirs. He set his elbows on the table, his fingers lacing together.

"Every relationship will get boring after you’ve been together for years." He said, his lips thinning as he recalled. "Love isn’t just a feeling. It’s a commitment. Its not always going to be smiles, laugh and fun. And people will quit when it stopped being fun and they'll look for someone else."

Haru looked at him confusingly before turning her head to see the couple. She smiled warmly at their gesture before turning her head back to face Baekhyun.

"The spark you once felt will be lost and long gone." He finished his sentence, gazing at her with an intensity that made her feel vaguely unsettled.

"I don't understand why you don't believe in love."

"Oh no. I do believe in love. They exist," he said, his eyes looking at the elderly couple. "I just don' t think it will ever exist for me," he said, his voice sounding strangely raw. "It's scary. Love is scary. Forever is a scary word. Marriage is scary. I'm not afraid of that person boring me. I'm more afraid of boring that person. If I am being told that I'm not enough by the person I love the most, how can I live?"

A pained expression crossed his face. He hadn't meant to say that.

Haru leaned back on her chair, momentarily speechless. "Is that why you date different girls? Because you’re afraid they’ll get bored of you?"

He hesitated. His mind was running a million miles a minute, and his churning emotions were not helping any. He didn't know what to say to her. He said nothing but his face had closed again and he was looking at something far away. Slomething terrible and heart breaking at the same time. She could see a tortured look of loneliness. A look that was so lost that it certainly doesn’t belong to Baekhyun's face.

"I figured you out." She said earnestly. "But that's not how it works. You’ll meet someone who’ll fight for you and love you unconditionally. Maybe that’s what you're looking for. Someone to stand when everyone else falls.”

For a moment, a certain pall hung over the both of them. The air between them felt heavy, and tense, riddled with more emotions than Baekhyun knew how to sort through properly. His lips crack into a smile, emotion fluttering in his chest. 

He stares at her and he sees a new chance. A new life. A chance to start over and be a better man than he has been.

The server arrived with their sushi, and Baekhyun stared at it as the server set it down and then left the table. Silence reigned for a few minutes before he thinned his lips and said, “I'm not eating that.”

She burst out laughing, covering her face with her hands. The tension she'd felt seemed to melt out of her as she laughed.

“Try it. You have to at least try it before you decide you hate it,” she insisted. She grabbed one of the little dishes and poured some soy sauce into it. She debated mixing some wasabi paste in, but wasn't sure if he liked spicy dishes. In the end, she left it out. Grabbing her chopsticks, she picked up a piece and dipped it in the soy sauce, putting it on his plate.

He eyed her, and then slouched forward to pick up his chopsticks. He opened his mouth, pushing the piece of sushi she gave him. Haru watched as he put down his chopsticks, his expression slowly neutralize as he continued to chew and then swallow.

“There. Not so bad, was it?”

He sneered a bit, but picked up his chopsticks. “Certainly not the best."