Nayeon stared at Baekhyun as both of them remained seated on the ground. He seemed to be considering his options as he sighed multiple times and finally reached over and pulled his briefcase besides him. He crossed his legs and waited. Nayeon watched him, somehow surprised that his mannerisms could be so unchanged. Nights spent sitting beside each other and talking flashed back in her memory, only this time his backpack was replaced by the dull brown briefcase he liked to carry around.  

“Your mother called me” He said, not knowing where else to begin.

Nayeon made a face, “She must’ve been worried. I usually text, but my phone ran out of battery so I couldn’t hear anything” She explained, reaching behind her and pulling out her phone as evidence.

She pressed buttons and the screen remained dark, “I’m not lying” She promised.

Baekhyun watched her and nodded, “I know you’re not, I believe that you’re not lying to me, but you are lying to your mom, you’re not staying after school to help, you’re… well, it seems to me like you’re hiding here and if that’s the case I want to know what you’re hiding from”

She looked up and blinked, “I’m not hiding from anything. I just wanted to take a nap before going home” She said more firmly.

She had considered telling him about Chanyeol and how she really just wanted to avoid him. She had seen him when people got on his bad side and knew that avoidance was the safest course of action. Besides, how do you even begin to tell someone like that, that you just aren’t interested? She was going to share all this with him, but at the same time had come to two separate realizations. The first was that she really didn’t want to put Baekhyun in Chanyeol’s crossfire, the thought itself was enough to keep her quiet. The other was much more benign and petty, Baekhyun had spent this whole time drawing boundaries and if he wanted them so badly, he could keep them she thought stubbornly as she pushed herself up and stood before him.

‘People don’t say goodbye to their random neighbors’

As much as she hated to admit it, that sentence had cut deep and it continued to bother her even now. Regardless, she hid her hurt carefully and instead put out a hand to help him up.

Baekhyun held her gaze for a second, reading the hurt in her eyes so clearly. The fact that he had to wonder if he wasn’t the cause bothered him. He was letting her down, he realized before finally deciding to take her outstretched hand to help himself up. She pulled him up with perhaps more force than was necessary, pulling him a few more steps forward than necessary, close enough so that they stood flush against each other. Danger bells rang off in his mind as he quickly stepped back and she said nothing, once again just staring at him with those brown eyes of hers.

“I’ll take you home” He blurted out, despite telling himself that it was a bad idea, but it was late and he just didn’t feel comfortable sending her home alone.

He was surprised by the big smile on her face, “That’d be great” She said gladly taking the offer before he could overthink it and take it back.

He fished his phone from his pocket and handed it to her, “Text your mom and tell her you’re on your way home” He advised.

Nayeon sighed, “She’s going to kill me”

Baekhyun fought to keep the serious look on his face as she carefully peered at him while she typed out a quick message to her mom. Her hands lingered on his cellphone a moment too long, recalling what, or rather who, she had seen on it before. She wanted to ask so badly who the woman had been, a girlfriend?

“Done?” He asked impatiently.

Nayeon nodded and handed the phone back quickly.

She walked by his side on their way out, a smile on her face. He wanted to broach the hiding topic once again but didn’t know how to bring it up so instead he fell quiet, placated by the knowledge that at least she hadn’t been missing. His train of thought was ever so slightly interrupted by the brushing of her hand against his. It was happening almost a little too often he thought suspiciously, watching her from the corner of his eye as he tried to put more distance between them and she responded by walking a little bit closer.

It was almost as if she was tethered to him, every time he would move, she would move accordingly.

They arrived at his car and she climbed in excitedly, her eyes taking in everything in the interior. He had a gym bag thrown in the back and a jacket thrown in the backseat too. She buckled in and had to fight to keep herself from opening and asking the one question that had been on her mind.

“Is you family doing alright?” He finally asked, needing something to fill the deafening silence.

“Yeah, my mom remembered you”

He smiled lightly then, recalling the kinder neighbor, “Did she now?”

“Yeah she said that she hoped you weren’t showing me favoritism because you were so nice to me before. I told her that she did not have to worry about that at all” Nayeon said and cataloged his laughter as he laughed at her comment.

It had changed so much. It was a lot deeper than before and it made her insides flip upside down as she heard it.

“I can be a bit of a jerk I guess” He commented, unaware of how his professional atmosphere was falling around him.

It must’ve been the fact that they weren’t in that building. She mirrored his laughter until the car screeched to a halt at the stop light right before her house. A bright red car sped right past the stop light, cutting them off suddenly as Baekhyun slammed on the breaks.

“He could have killed us” Baekhyun hissed as they both jerked forward, struggling to catch the nerves that were going haywire inside of him. That hit way too close to home and he was once again reminded of how much he hated to drive.

He turned to check on Nayeon, pulling his arm back quickly as he saw it protectively over her chest.

“What the hell was that?” She asked angrily, turning in her seat and trying to catch a better look at the offending car.

“Language” He muttered.

She made a face and pointedly looked at him, “He could have hurt us! Also, you had the foulest language I’d ever heard and now you’re telling me to be proper?”

“I was a teenager, I’m an adult now” He corrected as he gathered himself once again and pulled alongside the house that she lived in now. It was different from the apartment they had both grown up in and he was happy for her.

“I wish you’d stop acting as if everything is different just because time has passed… things don’t magically change completely just because time goes by”

Baekhyun seemed to think on this, “You’re right, sort of. Everything doesn’t suddenly change, but situations do change and right now, I’m in a situation where we can’t be the same people we were back then and I wish… I wish you’d understand that, but also I need to know if you’re feeling scared or worried. As my student I have a duty to protect you… Protecting you, that doesn’t have to change”

He didn’t know why he said all that he thought as he met her gaze. Maybe it was just to get her to open up, but he couldn’t read the look in her eyes right now and therefore didn’t know if it was working at all.

“Just because you’re my teacher?”

“Right” He confirmed.

“And if I asked you to drive me home every day would that be within the realms of your duty too?”

He hesitated, “I don’t know if that would be appropriate”

“What if nobody had to know?”

The red alarms were out all over the place now, keeping secrets was a slippery road. Keeping secrets quickly multiplied.

“Nayeon…”

She laughed, though it sounded a bit too forced.

“Don’t worry about me I was just being dramatic. As for Chanyeol, he would never really hurt me, not on purpose, he’s all bark and no bite. Don’t bother with him” She added.

A warning in truth, because she didn’t want him to bother him. Chanyeol wasn’t just an average student and she was worried for Baekhyun because if it came down to the two of them, she knew that Chanyeol would win based on power alone.

“Anyways I should head in now” She explained.

He simply nodded as she climbed out. He should have stayed quiet, he had already fulfilled his duty, but he couldn’t let her walk away like that. He just couldn’t let her think that he had abandoned her completely. Even if it was what he had been trying to do since he saw her, he needed to make sure she knew that if push came to shove, he would always be in her corner. He rolled down his window and his head out,

“For what it’s worth, some things don’t have to completely change so if you do need a ride or anything, whenever, I’m here, always” He said.

Nayeon smiled as her heart skipped a beat, she nodded quickly and ran inside.

Baekhyun waited until he saw her disappear in her door and when she disappeared from view hit his forehead on the steering wheel in frustration. What the hell was he trying to do? I’m here, always? He knew how she would interpret his words, knew that she would read into them way more than she should and it concerned him. He wasn’t stupid, he could see it in her eyes, the small crush from long ago was still there and he was giving her false hopes because he could never, ever be that person for her.

He took a deep breath to shake away the feeling of bad decisions, but instead caught the scent of her perfume. He shook his head, brought down all his windows and drove off.