Haru remained sitting on the edge of the bed, long after she’d struggled from beneath the covers; she was reluctant to leave the warmth behind, yet an urgent need to pee had pulled her from her sleep. She yawned, and scrubbed her hand sleepily over her eyes to encourage a little more wakefulness into her still sleep fogged brain; Haru made short work of her morning relief, before she went to the basin and washed her hands; she was wakeful enough then to attempt to clean her teeth for the day ahead. She squirted some of toothpaste onto her brush, before she began cleaning her teeth. Haru sighed as she stared tiredly at the mirror in front of her before with a toothbrush between her teeth. 

Suddenly memories of the previous night invaded her mind, and she stared in disbelief at her own reflection. The scenes were replayed unconsciously and her face turned bright red, cheeks flushed in heat. 

She lifted her hands to touch her lips where his kiss still burned. 

She chewed her bottom lip nervously. Her first kiss was different from what she expected; it's was slow and tender, and his lips were soft against hers. He tastes sweet, she remembered, like powdered sugar. Something about Sehun is aggressive, but there was a restraining sense to it, like he was holding himself back in fear of spooking her. She grinned shyly at her reflection before shaking her head to brush the thoughts off. 

//

Sehun's room was no longer the grim, dark space it had been. It is now offered a little of natural light, and somehow it looked more cozy and bright. He was on his bed, as many days he lay, paralyzed, with his eyes staring blankly into the dark grey curtain draped atop his bed. He is much calmer than he was before, which was such a drastic change compared to his usual scowl of disapproval and general unhappiness that he wore every day.

Just a day ago, he kissed the love of his life for the first time and he couldn't help but to feel his heart fluttering to the memory of his first kiss. Clutching his throbbing chest tightly, he realized this is what love feels like. He knew that his entire being hummed with a feeling of rightness, and he knew that he could no longer deny his growing need to be with her.

“Haru," he mumbled softly, smilling as he hugged the pillow harder. 

His room's curtain were pulled suddenly, allowing a vast amount of sun into the room. Sehun's eyes were scrunched immediately in reaction and he struggled to open them slowly to see a tall man in his room. 

Mr Han's lips twitched, and he just barely managed to turn his laugh into a cough and a clearing of his throat, "Good morning,"

Sehun bunched his eyebrows as he nodded, partially embarrassed and partially annoyed, "What is it?" 

“Your schedule for today,” he answered. “There is a board meeting at 12.” 

Sehun nodded wordlessly, as he sat up from his bed. 

“Then you'll join the shareholders for lunch.” 

Again Sehun nodded, not complaining. Mr Han raised his eyebrows at him, not getting the reason for his sudden obedience. Sehun let out a deep breath as if he understood the gesture. 

“What? Just because I do not enjoy such things doesn't mean I find it gratifying to deprive my father."

Mr Han stood quietly, assessing him. “I assume things are going well for you,” he said ambiguously. 

Sehun’ s eyes twitched at the sound of concern from the secretary’s voice. He outwardly smiled at Mr Han though and nodded, “Too well, it almost scares me.”

Several lines formed on the secretary's forehead, “What scares you?” 

Sehun swallowed, looking extremely shaken, “If I had a bad day, I used to come back home and deal the rest of the day alone. But now, I want to talk to her about it. What happened and why it was bad. Its terrifying, you know, for someone who doesn’t like talking about themselves. Finding someone you want to talk to, like really talk to.”

Sehun falls silent for a moment, but Mr Han can hear him breathe down. Slowly, he spoke to him, “And you’re afraid what your father might do next,” he said. 

Flushing a bit, Sehun struggled. “I do,” he admitted. “For the first time, I found someone I hate leaving. Whenever I'm with her, I act differently,” he smiled. “And my body feels strange and I don't know what it is or how to figure it out,”

“Well, as far as I know, no one ever has,” Mr Han smiled serenely at the warm sight. He hasn't seen Sehun truly smile since he was young.

“I just- I want this to last,” Sehun said a little too sadly, his heart constricted knowing how badly it'll hurt him if it didn't. 

//

Sehun was outside her house, waiting for her after he rang the bell. He always does that, for some reason, waiting for her to open instead of just keying in the pass code and entering himself.  

Haru adjusted her hair briefly and took a deep breath before opening the door. She was feeling strangely shy. Sehun smiled at her, and Haru realized that he looked entirely different from his usual self. 

He wasn't in his usual black attire, instead he was wearing a bright cream coloured shirt.  His hair looked windswept; as if it was styled at least 10 times before he messed it up on purpose. 

One hand was behind his back, and he held it out, presenting a bouquet of red roses. She laughed, flushing a bit when she took it from him. 

“What's this?” she asked teasingly. 

Sehun gave her a questionable look. A look that was completely adorable on his face. “For you,” he smiled, as he randomly pecked her on her cheek. 

//

Sehun’s expression morphed into something resembling disgust as he put the pamphlet firmly back in her hand, “Are you sure on joining this charity event?” He asked for confirmation casually. She nodded and smiled at him, “Its for a good cause,”

“Honestly what difference does it make?” he asked curiously. “You're going to help the poor kids for a week, and then who’s going to take care of them?”

“Like I said, it's a hard problem to rectify. It would probably take years upon years to see the kind of change necessary to ensure every child had enough food or water to survive. And I just want to play my part,”

“Do you not occasionally think that it would be best to allow those impoverished and disadvantaged to die from starvation or thirst?” he wondered. “If the population receded, feeding everyone might be a more attainable goal.”

 “No!” she said, making a face. “Good God, Sehun, they're kids! Who am I to say that someone else ought to die for the greater good? What makes me so special?”

 He watched her for a moment. “It must be difficult to want things for the world that are impossible.”

 She inhaled, slowly. “Well, one step at a time. I can't fix all the world's problems, but I aim to fix some of them,”

“What are your other resolutions?” he asked, with wry amusement. 

“Do you really want to know?”

“No. I just want to hear your voice,” he admitted absurdly and she laughed. 

His hand reached her face, his thumb brushing across her cheek fondly. Before he could stop himself, he whispered, “You have a lovely laugh.” Her laughter stopped dead in its tracks. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Haru felt her face growing hot when she realizes the lack of distance between them. 

Sehun was gazing her at a intensity that made her feel vaguely unsettled. She grit her teeth a bit as the silence stretched again, becoming awkward. “I should probably kiss you again, so that we can move past this awkwardness,” he suggested, as a slow smirk appeared on his face. 

Haru looked at him, wide eyed and swallowed. He pulled her toward him and gathered her in his arms as his hand lovingly cradled the back of her neck. She stopped breathing as he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers.

//

She decided to go to Minzy’s flat that night, knowing that her best friend would have some better wardrobe choices than she does. 

After washing her face, she put some hideous smelling mask on her hair and wrap it with a plastic food wrapper and slouched lazily on the bed. Since he was halfway already there, she put on pore mask on her face. A light blue affair – that supposedly help to slough off the dead skins and to make her pore appear smaller. 

Dressing for job interviews was, at least, a good deal easier than dressing to meet Sehun on a date. Minzy had to let Haru borrow her clothes, as Haru owned frightfully little that was considered "trendy” these days. She'd ended up putting aside those clothes over a year prior, upon realizing she never wore them anymore.

Fortunately, Minzy found it a lot harder to let go, and had plenty of them in her already overstuffed closet.

"Here, try this on," Minzy suggested, holding up a cropped top covered in sequins. Haru grimaced. "No. No bare tummies, no plunging necklines, no barely-there skirts," she repeated for the fiftieth time. "You know what I’m comfortable wearing. If you don't provide me with an actual option, I'm going to go in my jeans and a t-shirt."

"I forbid you from going in a t-shirt, “ Minzy huffed, outraged. "Alright, give me a second. You should really consider wearing a dress, Haru. You’re going on a date with Sehun,”

Haru wrinkled her nose, and her mask seems to crackle and starts to peel there at the mention of Sehun’s name. 

As if reading her mind, Minzy said, “You know, you haven't mentioned your little dates with Sehun in a while. Is that a sign they're going well?”

“Yes, they are going on well,” Haru said, tersely.

“Are you hiding something from me, Kim Haru?” Minzy asked suspiciously. She slowly lowered her hand, making a face, forcing Haru to look at her. 

“Nothing really. Just the usual-“

“Did he kiss you?” Minzy asked directly, catching Haru off guard. “He did. Didn’t he?” 

Finally Haru’s lips twitched and she just barely managed to turn her smile into a cough and a clearing of . Minzy shrieked happily, “You are going to tell me every second of every moment,”

**

Haru groaned but she repeated what she remembered of the incident as she stubbornly speak to  her friend’s delight squealing. And she suppose, after telling it after 3 separate times upon Minzy’s request,  Haru was blushing frantically at the end of it. 

“I can't believe all of this has been going on and you haven't even tell to me!” Minzy yelled, outraged. “I am your best and only girl-friend, and you have just broken the Sacred Girl Code of sharing.” 

“There's no such code.”

“There is, and you can ask any girl in the whole world and they'll know exactly what I'm talking about,” Minzy insisted. “Sehun kissed you. That is humongous news that I had a right to the second it happened. And you failed me.”

Haru rolled her eyes upon the dramatic act Minzy put on. 

 “You know. It’s really sweet,” Minzy said thoughtfully seconds later. 

Haru blinked, looking at her. “What is?”

“Him, reacting like that to you. Oh Sehun.” She looked at her. “He didn’t strike me as a very patient man. I mean you have been dating for a few months and you just had your kiss. Guys usually rush into these sort of things. And he looks like a love sick mess. It all seems just very…sweet,” she settled, giving up finding the perfect word to describe it. “To see the softer side of a person that wasn’t shown to anyone,”

Not being sure on how to react to that, Haru thanked her lucky stars as Minzy stopped probing further and resumed her search for the dress. 

//

Baekhyun hugged the toilet bowl, his forehead pressed against the cool porcelain as his stomach rumbled and rolled; he held his breath, desperately trying to push back the waves of nausea as he honestly didn’t think he had anything left in his system to purge. And he was so not a fan of dry heaving.

Damn, he thought he was over this part of alcohol leaving his system. 

Rubbing his face against his arm, he took a deep breath, hoping the neutral air was working its magic against the foul scent coming from downstairs. And when all he could detect was the faint smell of coffee, he sighed with relief and slowly lifted his head. He was so going to kill whoever was down in the kitchen.

his lips, he stood, his legs still shaky due to his earlier vomiting, and walked slowly over to the sink. He quickly rinsed his mouth out and brushed his teeth before taking a long drink of water. Setting the glass aside, he walked out of the bathroom, stumbled over to his bed and flopped onto it. Taeyeon walked into the room, and let out a gusty sigh at the sight as she places the coffee cup beside the nightstand, “Never in a million years I thought I’ll witness the downfall of an infamous play boy,”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Baekhyun growled. “Get out,”

Taeyeon sat down on the bed beside his figure, ignoring his glares, “Lets go out.” She said, “You can’t stay in here forever. You need to get out. Let's do something,” she suggested enthusiastically. “Nightclubs. Discos. Live rock. Like you used to do, before this boring version of you came along and shriveled up your own sense of fun and spirit."

Baekhyun waved his hand dismissively. “I’m not coming anywhere.” He declared. “You don’t have to be here all the time. I do just fine myself,”

Taeyeon shakes her head, humming noncommittally as she runs in her fingers through his hair, “I don’t mind being here.” 

She was smiling, a hint of genuineness on her face. He watched her, dropping into his own thoughts a bit. Baekhyun noticed that she was always willing to devote her attention to him should he wish to talk about his thoughts and interests, never criticizing, but simply lending her ear. “Why are you doing this?” he asked softly, his eyes betray a sense of guilt. 

“Because I want to,” she put it simply. She then reach the coffee cup and hand it towards him, “Drink,” 

He took the cup from her and sipped on it nonchalantly. The bitter warm liquid tastes different. He slowly lifts his eyelids and sighed out a small laugh, “Even the coffee she makes tastes different,” he said, slightly annoyed to know even the smallest of things reminded him of her.  “I thought going out, meeting girls, having fun will keep me distracted from thinking about her. But I can’t,” he paused, his chest felt heavy as lead, “I’m miserable. Life without her feels unbearable. It’s painful,” he released a shuddering breath, lips thinning as he looked away from her.

Taeyeon’s lungs burned, and she in a breath after realizing she hadn't done so in almost a minute. She wanted to say something else but it seemed like she stopped herself from doing so. Finally, giving up, she straightened her back and look him in the eyes. “Suppressing your emotions makes you a lethal ticking time bomb. Rather from causing damage from doing nothing, at least do something,”

He looked at her confusingly. She stared back at him, and she swallowed, as if she's telling herself this is the right to do,

“Steal her from him,”