Maybe it wasn't a good idea to leave Baekhyun out in all my heartbreak stories to Taeyong, because then I found myself in the awkward situation of serving Taeyong and my parents water in our dining room. Baekhyun and I exchanged silent looks of resignation. All signs of my tipsiness were gone. 

"So you are my daughter's subordinate?" My mother was chatting with Taeyong jovially, and as I wondered how she got the energy to pester the poor boy at 1am in the morning, Baekhyun mouthed a "jet lag" to me. Oh how I dreaded that. This was going to be a long night. Now I just have to pray to the heavens that Taeyong is smart enough to escape from this, and that Baekhyun would help him. I'm weak against my parents. 

Taeyong quickly came to the realisation that Baekhyun and I were not siblings because my father had taken it upon himself to introduce our longstanding friendship to the boy, to the extent that he was almost insinuating that we were getting married pretty soon. Fortunately, Taeyong barely flinched at the new knowledge, and merely turned to Baekhyun and I with a smiley "congratulations, that's lovely". We both hid our embarrassment with extremely tense smiles. 

"Please tell me you got your Friday date out of the house before my parents arrived," I whispered to Baekhyun urgently when we pretended to head into the kitchen to find snack for everyone. It became apparent that Taeyong was handling the situation much better than I did, so when my parents shared the story of how I lost my way to work on the first day and Baekhyun had to be my remote GPS on the other end of a line, I whisked my friend away into the kitchen for some urgent discussions. 

"Thankfully," he said, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I don't want to face the wrath of my parents when they find out I was staying with my best friend who brings home a lady every other night. 

"Taeyong seems like a very smart kid," Baekhyun said as we waited for the snacks in the microwave, "a very good catch. Obviously younger, so you just have to up the fate of having to look like an older sibling when you guys go out." 

I rolled my eyes, "Baekhyun, not now." 

"What?" He shot me a knowing smirk, "I've not seen you allow a male send you home for two who years now. At least he has the manners and guts to!" 

"Shut up, I have enough to deal with," I flicked his forehead, "we're going to have to strategise something tonight, so brace yourself for another hour worth of talks. Now if you excuse me, I have a subordinate to save."

"Mum, Dad, you guys should let Taeyong rest tonight. He started work early today," I said eventually when I emerged from the kitchen. I think I needed him out of the house to calm my own nerves, more than he actually needed to rest for the night. The boy looked absolutely fine despite the party and the late hours. How nice to be young. 

"Oh my, it's already this late. We just came back from Spain so it's easy to forget the time. It's lovely to talk to you Taeyong, you're such a wonderful young man." 

More friendly exchange ensues, and finally I could breathe again when I walked Taeyong out of the apartment. 

"Hmm, interesting definition when you say you're single," Taeyong mused on our way to the main road, but I thought I didn't detect any humour in that statement. I guessed my parents tired him out tremendously with their incessant talking. 

"Trust me, if my parents know that Baekhyun and I are not a thing, I will have to pay twice the amount of rent because I'll be living on my own," I grumbled, and the younger male looked at me with rekindled curiosity in his face, "there is nothing going on between us and for the entire hour just now, I was more worried that my parents had bumped into his date instead." 

The boy looked puzzled. 

"He's dating and he's staying with you? Still?" 

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him, hoping that he could get me telepathically without me having to explain further. That's a bit of a tall order though, since Baekhyun's and my situation was not exactly the most intuitive. 

"He has dates on certain days of the week."

Something seemed to click in his mind, and at long last the genuine grin that had appeared in the earlier parts of the evening found its way back to his face again. 

"So that's why you go home late on some days!" He exclaimed, and I led out a disgruntled groan before nodding in acknowledgement. "Shame, your parents were jus