The first thing Baekhyun did was to raise a teasing brow at me and ask if my date at least had the decency to bring me to a fancy restaurant so that I could have steak for dinner. I snorted loudly and told him that whoever decided it would be a good idea to treat me to an expensive meal on our first date probably did not know me at all. He hummed an agreement, and when I did share snippets of what I did with Taeyong (the claw machines, dessert and restaurant), he gave a wolf whistle and looked thoroughly impressed by whoever my date was. 

I wanted to steer the conversation to us instead, so for the night I decided to maintain Taeyong's anonymity throughout the conversation, although from the mischievous looks in Baekhyun's eyes, he might have guessed that much. 

The next thing he commented on was the fact that I went on my first date with someone in my working attire, and he disapproved of that greatly. 

"He must like you a lot to accept that," he said. I shrugged and told him it was spontaneous, because my date literally just asked me for half a day off from the office and whisked me off. 

When Baekhyun was biting back a smile, I knew what I confessed merely confirmed his suspicion about who my date was. 

I hate him for getting me every single time.

"So he just confessed on the spot and asked you for the first date straightaway? During working hours?" 

I shook my head. Taeyong did not actually confess; he just made it so painfully obvious that he might as well have. Also, I think asking me out on a date was as good as that right? I swallowed the words about me rejecting him at the end of the day though. It wasn't something that I would immediately want to relive, especially since Taeyong's expression was still lingering in my mind. 

Almost on cue, our kettle sounded and Baekhyun made a move towards the kitchen. "Ramen for supper?" He asked. 

I gladly nodded, and as my gaze followed my housemate into the kitchen, that was when I noticed the glorious display of our free lunchboxes on the kitchen rack. Strangely conspicuous, no longer hiding in their humble corner in the refridgerator. All six of them still looked shiny from the wetness, suggesting that Baekhyun had washed them not long ago. 

There was something gnawing at the back of my mind, something about this scene, but I decided to brush it aside for now so that the courage I had mustered on my way home would not subside. I've rehearsed this script over a hundred times over the past few days, and if the opportunity had so readily presented itself to me, it would be ridiculous that I did not take it. I needed to face the music, with Byun Baekhyun. 

"Baekhyun, have you been using those lunchboxes regularly or something?" I asked. I thought I noticed a small sigh leaving him because his shoulders moved ever so slightly, but with his back to me facing the stove, I could not be sure. 

"Ya. Just thought I should make use of the free gift. So I've been bringing lunch to work."

Alright, so far so good. 

"Nice. Have you been using all six of them though? Or you trying to put on weight or something? You could have spared me some. You have no idea, but I think the food places around my area have been lowering their standards lately." That was not true. Taeyong the food-radar had been bringing me to fairly affordable and good lunches lately. I needed to get forward in this conversation though, and I supposed a little lie wouldn't hurt. 

Baekhyun mumbled something I couldn't catch, but eventually he came out with two bowls of steaming ramen for the both of us and settled down to dig in. For a moment I thought he didn't hear my question, but when I was about to ask again he finally piped up.

"I got a request to share with someone at work. So I've been cooking double the portion. If you want one, I could pack you one too. It's going to be pasta for tomorrow. But I thought the restaurants in your area were decent so I didn't ask. I thought, well, you wouldn't run into lunch option troubles in your area. So-"

"-okay."

There was a pregnant pause, and then Baekhyun realised what I had noticed too. 

He had been rambling. 

Byun Baekhyun only rambles when he's nervous. 

A part of me felt that his subtle hint of anxiety was getting to me, because all of a sudden I was faltering and did not want to continue the conversation about the lunchboxes at all. I wasn't upset he hadn't thought about asking; he was perfectly reasonable about the lunch places around my office. It's just that the question was getting him flustered, more than it was for me, and I did not like that. 

It just felt like I threaded on an unsafe territory that I was not yet ready to explore. 

So instead, I asked about the fridge. Then maybe, we might be able to detour back to safer and more familiar waters. The encouragement that Taeyong left with during our parting seemed slightly far away now, and I barely had anything to hold onto as I tried to steer this conversation back to its rightful course. 

I started with a lame topic of how the landlady liked the fridge, and whether she would be able to reimburse the rent for it any time soon. 

At this point, maybe I should point out how cognisant I was of the way Baekhyun had been eating his supper. Perhaps I was too distracted, but I had barely had two mouthfuls of mine when Baekhyun was already slurping on the last strand and finishing up the soup like he had not eaten all day. All the while he kept his eyes fixed on his noodles, and I felt like there was something strange about him that I couldn't pin down today. 

It was as if during my weekend trip, someone had swapped out the Baekhyun from a week ago, and the current one was a highly successful doppelganger with such a minute difference I could barely tell. 

"Baekhyun, are you that hungry? Did you skip dinner?" I asked without thinking. Maybe I just hadn't seen a hungry Baekhyun in too long and I was just not used to it. What was this sense of trepidation though that was playing at the back of my head? This sense that something was subtly off about this man before me?

Was it my own thoughts and own conclusions that was clouding the way I saw this man now? Did the realisation of my own feelings change the way I saw him? That I started observing more closely how he was blabbering tonight? His shoulders appeared stiffened when I walked through the door? That his posture barely seemed relaxed when we chatted and his attempts to tease were more lackluster than usual? That he kept his head down for most of the meal such that I noticed how a few times, he smooth fringe was almost touching his bowl of food? 

Was everything about him suddenly magnifying before me, and setting off alarms in my senses? How was I so dull to them before?

The words of Chanyeol and Chen over the weekend resurfaced in my mind, and I had a momentary panic of how I would have failed to notice my feelings for him all this time. I've always known him better than anyone else, paid more attention to him and hung out with him more. 

All that I didn't know, was what was in his mind. 

Maybe that was what scared me the most. Baekhyun's thoughts. 

For someone who was very noisy and between us, shared too much information, Baekhyun would seem like an open book. 

Yet throughout this conversation, every turn seemed as predictable as it was unpredictable to me. That was what truly scared me. 

"Actually, I was meaning to tell you this after you came home and the worries with your aunt are over," he started in reply to my question, "but I signed a rather good business deal over the