A/N: Sorry I've been gone for so long. I HAD to finish my other story, Moon of Seoul, but once that was out of the way I went right back to this. 

Day 6 is pretty tame, I'm leaving it all for day 7!!! 

~

Nothing was mentioned about the kiss the next morning. Nothing had been mentioned about it the night before either. After the moment their lips had met, multiple times, they had gone back to the hotel both pretty tipsy and tired, and once they had gotten to their room both Dae and Baekhyun had crawled into their own respective bed and promptly fallen asleep.

She had been thankful for it too, because it was already clear to her that it hadn’t meant as much to Baekhyun as it had done to her, and to get her heart broken on this trip, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to bear that. Once they’d return home where she could lock herself in her room, sure, but not here. Not with the foresight of spending many more hours in a car with Baekhyun.

The past three hours she had survived quite alright, although the drive had been pretty quiet. It had been silent most of that time, and in an uncomfortable way as well, but Dae felt too tired and restless to try and change it.

And so she would spend the long drive to Jeonju the way she had done so far: half asleep against the window, catching Baekhyun humming along to music whenever she pretended to be far gone, off to dreamland.

Most of the time, though, she was lost in her own mind, thinking back to the kiss, to how a little bit of alcohol had made her so much bolder than she had ever been before. Not even back home, during one of their party nights where she had been pretty much even more drunk than she had been last night, she hadn’t ever dared to pull such a move.

It was probably due to the fact that they had been alone, having spent more than half a week together already, and in that half a week their relationship had changed at least somewhat. There had been flirtatious moments, handholding and sleeping together in the same bed, maybe that had made her more courageous.

Ultimately, however, I had been Baekhyun who had made the first move. Dae couldn’t deny that he had been the one that had initiated the idea of them sharing a kiss. Without that it would have probably never happened at all, with Dae being too shy and nervous, but he had hinted at it, and that had been enough.

Baekhyun had started this, she found no arguments to prove otherwise, yet he was the one who refused to acknowledge it now that the night was over. Dae really wasn’t desperate enough to beg for him to mention it, which was why she kept quiet too, but on the inside it was tearing her apart bit by bit.

With her mind looking for distraction outside her window, she watched the world passed them by rapidly, the sun chasing them as its first rays had lit up the sky some time before they had taken off. It was still early, but they had dealt with rush hour by now, and they were off to another few long hours before they’d arrive to Jeonju in the early hours of the afternoon.

They didn’t have many plans for when they’d arrive there, it would be quite a lazy day as most of it was spent travelling. They’d visit the famous Hanok village, which was a must-see according to all the websites, would find themselves a great place to score some bibimbap for dinner, and then they’d spend their night at the well-known International Film Festival that was held in Jeonju every year. It wasn’t much, but Dae still worried it was a lot more than she’d be able to take.

Were they not going to talk at all? Would this strange atmosphere remain hanging in the air between them at all times? Because if it would, they’d be facing a long two final days together. Dae didn’t want to end their trip on such a sour note and she couldn’t imagine Baekhyun did either.

As she played with that thought for a while, she grew more anxious and anxious, thinking of how much of a mistake it had been to kiss him, worried this would drive them apart. She wasn’t ready to give up her friendship for a simple kiss, it couldn’t be that big a deal, right?

When Baekhyun started singing along to Twice’s ‘Likey’, almost as if to mock her for liking him, she all but exploded with it, feeling her tenseness reach a boiling point. Leaning in to press the button that would get them to the next song, she cut off Baekhyun’s aegyo fest, leaving him to finish the lyrics by himself without Twice’s backup.

It didn’t last long, but long enough for Baekhyun to sing, “Me likey, likey, likey, dugeundugeundugeun,” along to the first notes of super Junior’s ‘One More Chance’.

It was a weird mix-up of songs, the two of them like night and day, and funnily enough it was exactly how Dae felt inside. Happy like Twice, with her heart fluttering at the thought of that kiss, and sad like Super Junior, because all it would end up being was a sweet memory that didn’t mean anything.

It was frustratingly fitting, and Dae sat back with her arms crossed in front of her chest, pointedly ignoring the way Baekhyun had gone quiet. He was no longer singing, and Super Junior kept playing this sad song about a lost love, begging for that lover to stay. Dae wondered if Baekhyun was listening to the lyrics at all, or if he was simply focused on driving.

It was only towards the end of the song that Baekhyun sighed loudly, his hands curling tighter around the steering wheel, and Dae could tell he briefly glanced at her before he looked back at the road. “What’s wrong?” he asked then, “You’ve been so quiet all morning. Did you not sleep well? You’ve been dozing off at times too, that’s why I didn’t want to ask sooner.”

Dae couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was Baekhyun really that dense? She knew he was an idiot, he could be the biggest in her life at times, but one thing she had always liked about him was how whenever things got serious, he seemed to understand when there was no need for jokes.

A while ago, he had sensed her sadness caused by the loss of her grandma way before anyone else had picked up on it, which was a good example of how he could be really attentive. Now, though, he was either acting as if he had a plate in his head, or he was too dim to get it. Either way, Dae didn’t think it was funny at all.

Dae turned her head in slow-mo, noticing how the heavy feeling in her heart got replaced by something more along the lines of anger and frustration. It bubbled in her veins, slow but scorching, and her eyes were spitting fire.

How could he not get it? How did he dare ask so slyly, leaving it up to her to be the first to mention what had happened? Did he really think he was being comical? But Dae refused to play along.

“Do you really not get why?” she asked incredulously, “are you just ing with me right now? Because if you are, it isn’t funny.” She tried to take in his face, see if there was anything in his expression that could tell her whether he was playing with her. There wasn’t really anything there, which only made it worse.

“Are you talking about last night?” Baekhyun asked, sounding confused, as if that was something that she shouldn’t be making a big deal of. It made it sound as if he had lived a whole different night than Dae had, which she was pretty sure was not the case. Even if it didn’t mean the same to him, it had still happened, and it wasn’t something to act this light about. It had to mean he was only playing her.

“Of course I’m talking about last night!” Dae burst out, sharing her annoyance now. How could she be in love with a fool? God, his innocent looking face was almost enough to make her punch him and fall out of love with him right there and then. It would serve him right as well.

Baekhyun’s lips parted in shock, not used to this kind of outburst from her, because Dae would usually be very polite in her retort, especially with Baekhyun, considering he was her crush. But now, she was a raging storm, her heart feeling attacked by the harmless look on the idiot’s face as he pretended not to know what she was talking about.

“You haven’t said a word to me since we left the beach. Only the basics like an impassive ‘good morning’ and ‘get in the car’. As if it is any other day. And then you ask me what’s wrong? Stop playing stupid, Baek,” Dae ranted at him, absolutely livid by now even though her voice didn’t carry even half the irritation she was feeling inside.

Looking away again, Baekhyun’s mouth snapped shut, and his hold on the steering wheel tightened even further. His jaw looked sharp with his teeth clenched together, and the way he was staring ahead of himself was almost kind of y, except Dae couldn’t let herself think that way right now.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Baekhyun replied then, his tone hard and dark, “I’m not playing stupid, I just…” he sighed again, losing some of that uneasiness, and he brought a hand up through his hair, “you know I don’t take my liquor well and I…”

He seemed to be thinking about whether to continue with that sentence or to let it slip, but it was too big of a question mark for Dae to allow it to pass by without getting finished. “You what?” she demanded, feeling this unsettling emotion simmering in her gut as Baekhyun’s expression turned into one of guilt.

The words he spoke were mumbled, so soft they almost couldn’t be heard over the volume of the music that was still playing around them. Yet Dae was straining to catch them, even inclining a bit closer in order to do so, and she heard him loud and clear as he spoke, “I don’t really remember.”

At that, Dae felt all the blood drain from her face. Her hearing stopped working, her body froze, and her gaze turned into a stare as all she could think now was how Baekhyun didn’t remember. He didn’t remember, he had forgotten the kiss like it was nothing, really?

Was he honest to god unable to recall that they had shared their first kiss the night before? Really?

“You…” she stuttered, not having moved an inch yet, “you don’t… remember?” It was somehow worse than him pointedly ignoring it, because then at least it would have truly happened. In that case they would both know it, even if they had chosen not to mention it, but now it was as if it hadn’t been real. It would be as if Dae had made it up all by herself.

“I- I remember us playing that stupid game, Never Have I Ever, and I remember us drinking, but halfway into that memory it starts getting vague. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, you know I never mean to-“ Baekhyun started apologising, his face looking slightly panicked now he knew he had upset her, but it didn’t change anything.

“You don’t remember,” Dae laughed, this time saying it as a confirmation rather than a question, and it almost felt as if she was losing it completely. She dropped her head into her hands and breathed out loudly, taking a moment to bite back the tears that were demanding to be released. She couldn’t, at least not with Baekhyun there, that would be pathetic.

“Did I- did I do something, then?” Baekhyun, the biggest idiot on the face of the planet, asked. He sounded genuinely worried, even turning the music off completely to fill the car with a silence that pressed on Dae harder than the music had done. “I didn’t hurt you or anything, did I?”

It was as if Dae’s body had turned as heavy as lead, her limbs wanted to get as close to the ground as possible as gravity tugged her down, but she could only get that far with the seatbelt around her shoulder.

Had he hurt her? What kind of question was that? Baekhyun knew he wasn’t violent, he was a giggly and blushy drunk that flirted too much and would get a little too touchy. It would have been the perfect excuse he could have used to ask for a kiss, but the thing was that Dae hadn’t felt like Baekhyun had been that far gone when it had happened. She knew drunk Baekhyun, and last night he had seemed just fine.

Maybe she hadn’t been straight-headed herself, the alcohol having messed with her perception of the events. Had they actually kissed then? Maybe she had simply fallen asleep and dreamt the whole thing. But that didn’t make sense, because she had thought about it ever since the moment. That would only be plausible if she was still dreaming, and she was pretty sure she wasn’t.

“Dae,” Baekhyun said, demanding her attention because she had been quiet so far, and Dae could hear the desperation in his voice. “Tell me what I missed out on,” he begged, showing how was truly worried about what he had forgotten about. He had to be reacting this way because of how Dae was taking the news of him not remembering, and so there was only one thing left to do: fake it.

She couldn’t let him know what had happened, she couldn’t find the words to explain anyway. The embarrassment, the disappointment and the way Baekhyun would apologise and let her down, she didn’t want any of it. And so she raised her head and faked a small smile, trying not to overdo it.

“Nothing, it’s really nothing,” she waved it off, “I thought you would be mad at me for some of the answers we gave each other last night,” she lied. Then she shrugged her shoulders, heaving a sigh of relief this time, or so she made it seem, “but I’m glad you don’t remember, it means I can stop worrying. Can we please act normal again now?”

Baekhyun said nothing for a little while, and because Dae didn’t dare look at him she had no idea what was going through his head or whether she had been convincing enough. However, she wouldn’t be the first to break or show any weakness.

Rather than wait for Baekhyun to say anything she turned the music back on, leaning in her seat and humming along to the next song. All as if nothing was wrong, while actually she was still close to tears.

That was it then, her chance for more, gone before it had led anywhere at all. Maybe it was for the better, it was sure easier than getting her heart broken, but it was hard to shake off the pain when it was still so fresh. There was no way to escape from it either, with the both of them in this confined space.

“Oh, I’m sorry then,” Baekhyun finally brought out, once the song had reached a lull that made it easier to be heard, but Dae didn’t look up at him at all. “If you don’t want to talk about it more that’s okay, but if you do, I’ll promise not to hate you for whatever it is you think would make me. I couldn’t ever hate you.”

Dae hummed, nodding as she picked up the phone Baekhyun was playing his songs from, and she scrolled through the playlist some until she found a song she hoped would cheer her up. Turning the volume up, she prevented Baekhyun from saying any more at this point, and then she went back to staring outside the window, feeling only slightly more composed.

Time passed by that way, and Dae managed to doze off for real. It was a dreamless sleep, one she wasn’t aware of either. It felt more like the blink of an eye, where one moment she was in one place and the second she was somewhere else and time had passed. She woke up hours later, her neck stiff and some drool having dripped down her chin, thanks to the way had been hanging open. It was the most uncomfortable way to find she had fallen asleep.

When she realised she was just waking up in the most embarrassing position possible, right next to her crush, she straightened herself immediately and wiped at her chin. She turned her head away from Baekhyun until she was sure she looked more decent, and then she turned to check up on him.

The car had actually been parked, god knows how long ago, and Baekhyun sat furiously typing away on his phone. Dae watched him for a few seconds, still trying to get herself to wake up properly, but Baekhyun either hadn’t noticed she had woken up or had found no reason to break off whatever conversation he was having.

Dae tried to get her thoughts in line so she could pick up a normal conversation with him, but it proved harder than expected. She would have to all but forget the events of the previous night, just like Baekhyun, or at least try really hard to pretend to have forgotten, in order to make that work.

It sure would be an interesting day, with the lie Dae had made up floating between them like a fragile soap bubble that could pop at any given time, but she couldn’t let that stop her. There was no way to make time pass faster, nor was there anyway she could go back and undo what had happened. She had to live with this situation as it was now and she had to make the best of it.

“’S something wrong?” she asked eventually, still blinking herself awake as a yawn escaped her lips. It gave her an excuse to close her eyes and not meet Baekhyun’s gaze, which he had directed at her once he had heard her speak.

It didn’t last long. He turned it back to his phone a second later, apparently, because when Dae opened her eyes again he was no longer watching her. His fingers had gone back to typing, the phone even closer to his face this time around, but he did mumble a reply to her, “no, not really. Talking to Chanyeol about his love issues.”

Dae hummed, feeling slightly disappointed with his answer, but she let it slip. Hopefully Chanyeol would have more luck getting himself a relationship than she had.

“Where are we then?” she asked as she stretched her arms out in front of her, taking in the parking lot where they were now. There were no signs or anything telling her where they were or whether they had arrived, but she guessed they were in Jeonju now.

Baekhyun took a few seconds to reply, lost in his texting, and then he mumbled, “we’re close to Hanok Village. It’s about a ten minute walk from here.” He didn’t move, didn’t put his phone away now that Dae had woken up, and she sighed at him and unbuckled herself.

It was only when she opened the door and climbed out of the car that Baekhyun really looked up from the tiny screen. “Where are you going?” he asked, sounding slightly panicked by her sudden leaving, as if it was his doing.

Dae watched him unbuckle his own belt and drop his phone on the dashboard, but she was quick to wave him off. “Just getting our stuff ready, don’t worry,” she said from her spot next to the car. She tried to smile for him too, to show him he really didn’t have to get out as well.

Baekhyun paused for a second as he considered this, and then he retrieved his phone, although a little hesitantly. Dae shrugged at him and assured him once more, “finish that talk with Chanyeol, can’t have him make a big fool of himself now, can we? We both know he’ll it up without any advice.”

Then she closed her door and made her way over to the trunk so she could get both of their bags ready for the day, thankful for the distraction.

She packed Baekhyun’s camera, inserting an extra battery into the bag in case the current one would run low, and then she went on to her own bag. Most of it had been packed the night before, but she wanted to bring the umbrella that lay in the trunk, knowing that some rain had been forecast for the day.

As she stood cleaning up their mess of stuff, she realised it felt good to be out of the car and have a moment to herself. As if breathing was suddenly easier now, her thoughts less threatening too, and she smiled at herself as she folded her hoodie and stuck it in her backpack as well, just in case it would get cold.

After another minute or two, in which Dae leaned against the car already having finished getting ready, Baekhyun finally joined her there. He chuckled as he lifted his bag, flinging it over one shoulder, “it’s out of my hands now. Only time will tell if he’ll succeed at wooing Kyungsoo.”

Dae crossed her arms in front of her chest as she leaned back comfortably, glad that Baekhyun wasn’t behaving weirdly around her after the whole incident in the car. She could tell he was trying very hard to act this lightly, which was the only way she knew he hadn’t forgotten about it having happened, but apart from that things felt considerably more relaxed.

“Please tell me you didn’t advise him to flirt the same way you do, he will be doomed for certain,” Dae joked, tipping her head back in a smile before she pushed herself off and turned around. She could hear Baekhyun whining next to her, obviously not enjoying her joke as he was already retorting with questions.

“What is that supposed to mean? Why do you have to underestimate my flirting skills so much?” he asked, a pout audible in his voice, and Dae could see that face in front of her without having to actually look at him. It was cute, the way he would turn into a two-year old at times, not caring about being anything other than himself.

It was one of the sides to him that Dae usually loved, but today it just turned her sour. She huffed, managing to sound joking even though she wasn’t really, “why? You’re asking me why? I’ve never seen you successfully flirt with someone in my life. And you’re still single so clearly you haven’t exactly managed to win over that person you’ve got your eye on.” ‘Instead you ended up kissing me’ she didn’t say.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes at her and gave a weak punch to her upper arm, “aish, you worry for nothing. I’ve been flirting, alright? It’s a slow process, but I hope she’s started picking up on some of my hints by now. I can never be sure, though, you know, considering she’s kind of an idiot bad at flirting herself?”

“Yah,” Dae scoffed, flapping both hands in Baekhyun’s direction to get him to stop his assault on her arm, “really? How rude of you, you must not really like her if you call her an idiot.” It made her a little sad, thinking about Baekhyun’s crush, but at the same time it was exactly what she needed to get her mind away from that kiss. It helped her realise how he hadn’t meant to kiss her, of how maybe he had been thinking of someone else in the first place. It was probably best he had forgotten all about it.

Baekhyun smiled at that, and he shook his head as he tucked his hands into his pockets, “no, it’s not. I do really like her, I like her a lot,” his gaze seemed focus on nothing in particular, as if he had drifted off somewhere else, his smile loving and eyes dreamy. In Dae’s dreams, Baekhyun looked at her that way. “She’s an idiot, but that’s one of the things I like most about her.”

Dae finally lifted her bag and turned back so she could get it on her shoulder. She had gone through enough torture for the past few hours, it was best to try and change the subject to something else, before she’d end up saying more than she should and ruining even more than she had already done so far.

Clearing and bouncing up and down on her toes, she showed how ready she was to leave. Her finger curled around the straps of her backpack and she smiled, a closed-mouthed smile this time. “Anyway,” she concluded, “let’s get going, before we’ve talked the day away about things we can discuss back in Seoul too.”

Baekhyun looked at her funnily then, as if he couldn’t understand her at all, but then he gave a nod and stepped aside so he could take out his camera last and then lock the car. “Alright,” he said when he turned back to Dae, smiling like the good old Baekhyun she knew so well, “Hanok Village it is!”

~

God, Dae was happy to have food in front of her. It meant that she could stuff her face while Baekhyun did the same, which gave them a reason not talk for a bit. She wouldn’t have to look at Baekhyun’s idiot face and wouldn’t have to listen to him crack the most awful jokes, and all would be good just for a little while.

Since they had left the parking lot behind them, things had both been better, but also pretty much the same. Baekhyun had been talking, a stark contrast to what their drive earlier that day had been like, but there had always been some awkwardness in the air around them. As if he had been scared to say the wrong things, or maybe it was Dae who was behaving weirdly still.

From time to time she would catch Baekhyun pulling out his phone to send another message or two while smiling dumbly at his screen, and at a certain point it had become hard for her to believe it was Chanyeol he was talking to. Especially because he never shared any parts of their conversation, the way he usually would. Clearly Chanyeol’s idiocy with Kyungsoo wasn’t meant for her ears. It was either that or Baekhyun was talking about something else, or with someone else.

So yeah, food was good. They didn’t have to force themselves to make small talk that way, as there had been plenty of that already. The weather, the beautiful scenery, how friendly everyone was, all those things had been mentioned already.

Even so, Baekhyun had been more quiet than usual, even once Dae finally got the hang of playing it cool around him, and his smile hadn’t reached his eyes the way it normally did either. Just as his camera had been mostly left untouched, as if his mind had been somewhere else completely.

It was why she should have seen it coming that even dinner would be strange, but she had held hope that some good food would bring out the Baekhyun she knew so well. Back home, you could put anything in front of him and he would get these heart eyes and devour it within minutes, making the most obnoxious sounds as he did so.

But hope was futile, for now he just sat there poking his food around his dish, taking the occasional bite because he was kind of hungry, but that was all. It felt a little like someone had found the switch inside Baekhyun’s head that determined the amount of Baekhyun-ness he’d display and they had turned it down, so far down that at times he didn’t even feel like her Baekhyun anymore.

Dae sat, watching him with hooded eyes while her crush stared down at his food with this sort of pout, shoving his rice left and right, as if he was creating a path in the middle. He didn’t notice her watching him, because he would have put on that fake smile he had grown accustomed to during the day if he had, but Dae could only watch him silently for so long before she started feeling guilty and unsure again.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, keeping her eyes on him so that when he looked up in surprise, she could show him how she wasn’t going to accept any lies as an answer. With her eyes she tried to show him that she knew there was something, and he better tell her right that second instead of keep it bottled up.

As expected, Baekhyun averted his eyes and mumbled something to himself, voice way too low for Dae to make sense of it. His chopsticks, which had started playing with the rice again, were put aside with a sigh, one that told Dae that her crush knew he shouldn’t lie. And so she braced herself, expecting to hear the real reason behind Baekhyun’s mood.

Putting his hands in his lap and swaying his barstool left and right, Baekhyun took a moment to clear his throat before he mumbled his words again, this time a little louder and more pronounced, “I just can’t shake how upset you were with me not remembering last night. It’s making me think something happened, something you should be telling me about, but for some reason you don’t want to. I can’t figure out what that means.”

Dae wasn’t sure whether she felt surprised or not. Part of her hadn’t expected him to mention it again, even though it was pretty clear that things really weren’t the same after last night’s events. But he had, and now Dae felt herself grow anxious, her mind running a mile a minute to try and come up with another good lie or excuse not to have to talk about it. All the while it felt like her heart was going to jump out of .

“Oh,” she said, buying herself more time, but in the end all she could do was utter more weak excuses, “really, don’t bother. I’m not upset anymore, I’m actually relieved. It was really stupid to drink and play games, we should have known that beforehand, right?”

She laughed, lifting her glass to her lips and drinking a bit to make it seem more natural, but this time Baekhyun saw right through her bull. There was no longer a road to pay attention to, he had his eyes on her and could identify every little thing she did when she got uncomfortable.

“Stop lying to me, Dae,” he demanded, his uncertain look gone now he knew he was right. “Tell me what it is,” he continued, leaning over the table slightly to get up in her space, “did I- did I hurt you? Did I make you feel uncomfortable? Do you regret anything we- talked about? Please Dae, tell me what I did wrong.”

The demanding tone had changed into one full of desperation, with Baekhyun all but begging her to tell him what had happened, and Dae was starting to lose it. Her mind was a total mess, panic making her unable to think of words to say, but she had to stay focused and make sure she wouldn’t tell him too much. Yet, even with how much thought she tried to put in, she still rambled, making everything worse.

“The only thing you did wrong was forget, alright!?” she brought out a little too loudly, drawing the attention of others around her. “I was so scared I had made a mistake and that you hated me because you weren’t saying anything, and then I find out you don’t remember. We-“ she caught herself just in time, “you could have at least had the decency to remember!”

Her chest was heaving, her fingers trembling slightly as she realised she was only digging her own grave this way. She had already said too much, leaving so much room for her crush to start asking new questions about why he should remember, about what was supposed to be so memorable, and she couldn’t deal with it.

Baekhyun looked at her in sympathy, the corners of his mouth coming up in this sort of smile, and he started saying, “Dae… I-“ but she cut him off. “I need to use the restroom,” she in, sliding herself off her barstool.

As she did, her foot landed on the slippery part of the foot of the stool, making her lose her balance, and before she knew it she was falling backwards. She yelped as she went down, her arms flailing and trying to hold on to something, but she couldn’t save herself. Right after her hit the floor, which was the first part of her to reach the ground, it was her elbow that followed.

It made a loud cracking sound, which was followed by an excruciating pain that made her scream out in agony. In a reflex she reached out her other hand to touch it, bring her elbow towards her, which was the wrong thing to do. She yelled even louder, the sound piercingly loud, but the pain was overbearing.

Her breathing went rigid, her vision swimming as nothing but pain, pain, pain was a thought on her mind. She gasped, whining distressingly, and a second later everything went black as she passed out.

~

Seeing the inside of a hospital hadn’t exactly been part of their roadtrip plans, but it ended up being the place where they spent the night rather than where they had actually planned to be: at the International Film Festival.

Dae had lost most memories of the way there, having faded in and out of conscious from time to time due to the pain in her arm, but by the time she woke up properly again she found herself on a hospital bed, dressed in a hospital gown.

Baekhyun was by her side, sitting on her right and holding the hand of her uninjured arm in both of his while his head had dropped forward, his eyes closed. Even in his sleep he looked worried, eyebrows furrowed as if they had grown together, and Dae almost laughed at how adorable it looked, hadn’t it been for the pain even a simple thing such as inhaling brought on.

Her attempt to hide the pain alerted the sleepy puppy next to her, who stirred in his seat and raised his head to blink his eyes open confusedly. He looked soft like that, only half awake and with hair that looked like a fluffed up mess, and Dae melted a little when it was followed by a grumpy groaning.

“You’re awake,” Baekhyun stated sleepily, sounding groggy, and one hand let go of Dae’s in favour of rubbing his face and brushing a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath, stretching his upper body as he stifled a yawn, and Dae focused on her own breathing as she nodded in reply to his words.

“I am, what time is it?” she asked, really wishing she could sit herself up, but as soon as she looked at her hurt arm she realised that she wouldn’t be able to do so even if it wouldn’t bring her any pain. Her left lower arm was now hidden from sight by a plaster cast that ran from her hand up to her elbow, and it lay limply beside her.

“I don’t know, I guess I fell asleep, but it was about nine o’clock when you returned from the O.K,” Baekhyun explained lazily as he got his phone out of his pocket, “it’s almost ten now.” He placed the phone next to her leg on the bed and turned his gaze to her face again, “how are you feeling?”

Dae blinked slowly, noticing how she was still tired, having droopy eyes that must be a result of the sedatives. “I had surgery?” she asked, “I don’t even remember that, my god.” She groaned as she tried to move the casted arm, giving up again just as easily because of course she couldn’t, “yeah, nope. It still hurts, a lot. What happened?”

Baekhyun couldn’t hold back a tiny smile at her sarcasm, but then he turned serious again, his thumb rubbing across her hand almost soothingly, “you fell down at the restaurant,” he started, mentioning the one thing Dae still remembered, “it turned out the hit your elbow took managed to fracture both bones in your lower arm, and one of them was dislocated. You needed surgery so they could put the bones back together. They told me they used some plates and screws to hold it in place or something, and then they gave you that cast.”

Dae nodded slowly, actually kind of glad that she hadn’t been awake before surgery, because then she would have memories of needles and her arm hanging limply at her side with the dislocation noticeable. Now she had pain, but the worst of it was over, and she smiled in relief while she snorted, “wow, I’m so metal.”

How she managed to joke she didn’t know, but it made Baekhyun laugh, full on laugh, and the sound of it made her feel a little better. It lasted for a while too, longer than it had done earlier that day, and Dae smiled along with it. It made her want to try and get him to laugh more.

“I mean, this could have only happened to me, right?,” she continued, “it’s so stupid, to fall down in a restaurant while everyone is watching and to break my arm while doing so,” she said, finding Baekhyun in a laughing fit by now.

It was nice to just hear him chuckle for a bit, snickering as he tried to keep quiet, and she watched him with butterflies in her stomach, completely head-over-heels in love again. She couldn’t ever stop that if she tried, she knew that now, and she wanted to hate Baekhyun for it but even that was impossible. He would always be the sun in her life.

“Honestly, when I called Chanyeol to say we were at the hospital he asked me ‘what did Dae do now?’ without me having told him we were here because of you,” he snorted, his laughter slowly dying down, and he wiped at his eyes, “then he laughed so hard that Kyungsoo started hitting him for it. He didn’t tell me anything but I guess the date went well, considering how they were still together after dinner.”

Dae clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes at him fondly, “best not to disturb them any longer then, maybe it will lead to more. We won’t hear the end of it if we end up -blocking him.” She felt Baekhyun squeeze her hand in his as he leaned forward, getting his elbow on the bed next to her so he could look at her more comfortably.

“That’s true,” he hummed, his eyes trailing to her arm where his gaze came to rest, and then he sighed. There was a short silence after the release of breath, one in which Baekhyun’s smile slowly died down bit by bit. He lost his focus again, ended up staring ahead of himself with his eyes on Dae’s arm, lost in thought.

She let her thumb graze Baekhyun’s skin to catch his attention, making him blink and open his mouth in answer to her silent question. “I’m feeling guilty,” he blurted out, eyes full of shame, “I feel like this is partly my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed you and I- I’m sorry.”

Dae started shaking her head, banging their clasped hands on the bed once, “no, no, no, don’t say that.” She sounded disapproving, a tad annoyed too maybe, but she wouldn’t let Baekhyun blame himself for this, “it isn’t your fault. I freaked out and made the wrong move, that’s all.”

“Yeah, but without me asking so demandingly you wouldn’t have felt the need to escape and you would have stayed seated. It’s my fault,” Baekhyun stated, calling Dae out on the fact that she had tried to run from him. He was still wrong though, it wasn’t his fault at all, he had only been asking her about it because he had felt bad about it. It was her that had freaked out and it was most definitely her fault she had stepped off the stool without looking properly, causing her to fall.

“Oh please, if I could just stop making a big deal of everything I wouldn’t have tried to run in the first place. That misstep was my own dumb idiocy, Baekhyun, stop beating yourself up over it,” she spoke a bit more sternly, showing him that she wouldn’t take his apology no matter how he would try.

And it shut him up, for a little bit, although that whole time he sat there with this small, smug grin on his face, which was just as bad. She wanted to hit him for it, but luckily remembered she couldn’t right before she had planned to do so. Instead she just hissed at him in annoyance, which only made him purse his lips more, trying not to burst into laughter again.

“Aish, you really are the biggest idiot I know,” he huffed then, blowing air into his cheeks as he jokingly let out the most frustrated sigh she had ever heard him heave, “why did I think it was smart to take you on this trip?”

“Because you’re an idiot too,” Dae replied as easily, “oh and, just so you know, I’m counting how often you piss me off in my head right now and I will take revenge that amount of times when I feel less drugged up and more pain-free than I do right now.”

Baekhyun gasped as he looked at her with wide eyes, but before he could say more they were interrupted by a nurse, who had slowly shuffled closer, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but visiting hours are over now.” She was looking at Baekhyun, who now turned his attention to her when he realised he was being addressed.

The nurse’s smile was kind, but showed a certain dominance that told Dae she wasn’t playing around when she said that. She probably had to deal with plenty of people trying to break those rules every day, and it must be what had made her this bitter.

“We will have to keep her here tonight,” she went on, walking over to where apparently a bag of fluids was attached to Dae’s bed, the tubes running all the way to her hand, “she will be able to leave tomorrow morning, if all goes as expected, so you can come back then to pick her up.”

“What?” Baekhyun replied, sounding stupefied at that, “but I’m the only one she has here in Jeonju! I- I can’t just leave her here?!” He huffed, not caring how that would come across to the nurse. He was being impolite and a bit like an , but Dae felt kind of touched from how big of a fuss he was making of this, just because of her. It was kind of y too, but Dae wasn’t going to let herself think about that.

The nurse stuck to her words, however, shrugging her shoulders like she didn’t give a rat’s about it, and told him, “Sorry, kid, I didn’t make up the rules. Staying over is only for family members or partners.” She walked to the end of the bed where she pulled out Dae’s patient information, “you can come back tomorrow at eight o’clock.”

By then Dae knew it was a losing battle that Baekhyun was fighting, but yet the idiot wouldn’t shut up, he had to continue arguing.

“And what makes you assume I am not her partner?” Baekhyun asked, sounding almost angry now. His tone of voicee made Dae want to hush him and tell him she’d be alright on her own for the night, because it was kind of rude to speak to her nurse that way, even if Dae was on his side when it came to this argument.

But then Baekhyun went ahead and said, “for your information, I am her boyfriend and I refuse to leave her alone here,” shutting her right the hell up.

She had wanted to speak, she really had, but she lost the ability to do so as she heard Baekhyun lie to the nurse, and making it sound believable too. He had no trouble saying this, none at all, and the nurse seemed taken aback by his straightforwardness the same way Dae was taken aback by the words he had chosen to use.

Then she smiled, a soft and pitiful smile that showed them there was some genuine kindness in her, “that’s really sweet of you, but that’s not what I meant with ‘partner’. If you are not married, I can’t do anything for you.” Then, just as easily, she went back to scribbling something on her paper, and Baekhyun went quiet.

To anyone else it would seem like he had given up, but Dae could tell that he was coming up with something else to say in order to sway her, and eventually he got out of his seat for it. He let go of Dae’s hand so he could walk away, joining the nurse’s side while smiling slyly. He whispered something to her, something which sparked her interest, and she gave a nod before the two of them walked off a bit together.

It was then that Dae realised that all that time, since she had woken up, Baekhyun had been holding her hand. Even though it hadn’t been necessary, even when they had started joking around, he had held on to her. She hadn’t really been aware of it that much, of the gravity of it, but now that the touch was gone it left her feeling bare and lonely.

Baekhyun talked to the nurse on the other side of the room, far away enough for her not to hear them. Dae could see the two of them standing together, discussing things, and Baekhyun was using both hands to passionately describe something that she couldn’t make sense of. It was cute, though, the way he was trying to stay with her. She’d almost think he really cared, which of course he did, he was her friend, but like… in a different way.

She watched him turn his puppy eyes on the nurse, his lower lip slightly pouted, and it got her to smile in a way that made Dae certain that Baekhyun would win. He would win without a doubt, and it was proven only seconds later as the nurse said something and Baekhyun pumped his fist in the air victoriously.

Then he thanked her, bowing politely the way he should have done from the start, and he bounced back towards Dae’s bed while he left the nurse behind, who was now shaking her head at him in laughter.

Baekhyun looked mighty proud when he flopped back in the seat he had occupied before and told her, “so, I get to stay. She’s going to get me a foldable bed.”

“How the hell did you manage to get her to agree?” Dae asked in surprise, her eyebrows raised and hanging open, “she sounded like there was no discussion possible, that you would have to it up and leave, how did you…”

Baekhyun grinned, shrugging his shoulders before he leaned back with his hands behind his head, “now now, that’s none of your business, alright?” he looked real smug with himself, his tongue poking out between his teeth as he laughed, “let’s just say she’ll kill me tomorrow morning when she finds out I lied about a ring, but we’ll deal with that later.”

“You lied and told her you’d propose to me?” Dae brought out in astonishment, her hand coming up to press to as she realised how loud she had been. Baekhyun hushed her quickly, looking towards the door, which opened right at that moment. God, another great idiot action her side…

Baekhyun jumped up when he saw it was the nurse who had returned to roll in the foldable bed, and once he had spotted it, he grabbed his chair and moved it out of the way to create space for the bed.

The nurse rolled it all the way to the side of Dae’s bed and then told Baekhyun, “I assume I don’t need to help you get it ready. There’s extra pillows and blankets in the cupboard, you can do with those.”

Knowing he had already gotten much more than he should have, Baekhyun nodded and sent her another dazzling smile to show his appreciation. “Thank you, I won’t be a bother to you at all. I’ll even try to help my girlfriend wherever I can so you don’t have to come running so often,” he assured her, being so much of a -up now that the nurse waved him off with a small huff.

She turned away from them and threw over her shoulder a soft, “I’ll be back in an hour to give you your medication for the night. Try not to fall asleep before then, alright?” Dae didn’t have to answer and so she didn’t, instead she watched the nurse’s retreating back before turning to Baekhyun, who was already getting the bed set.

He looked uncomfortable, as if he didn’t know how to unfold it properly, but Dae wasn’t going to give him instructions as to how to do it. She enjoyed watching him fumble with it, it was a good bit of revenge for the fact that he wasn’t the one in the hospital bed, lying there in pain. Sometimes some malicious pleasure was all one needed to feel better.

It took a good minute or two befor he got it, but when Baekhyun managed to finally get it done, he yelped in victory as he jumped on top of the flimsy mattress. “I did it! Now all I need to do is get myself a pillow,” he said while bouncing up and down on his knees, managing to almost fall off in the process.

“You know that bed is going to kill your back right?” Dae raised an eyebrow at Baekhyun as he fell back down, his feet in the air as he stretched his legs on the bed, “and that you are the one that has to drive tomorrow, seen as I’m injured.”

Baekhyun hummed, “uhu!” and rolled off the mattress, standing inside the small gap between their beds, “it’ll be fine. The car is so comfortable I won’t feel a thing. If I didn’t feel anything after sleeping on Jongin’s couch, I sure as hell won’t feel it after this crappy bed.”

Dae chuckled, remembering the way she had seen Baekhyun curled up on Jongin’s couch, and well, he was right. “Alright, just checking,” she replied while she made herself comfortable, her head turned so her cheek could rest against her own mattress.

Baekhyun started moving around, rushing to the cupboard to get the pillows and blanket that he’d need for the night. He was singing as he did, softly humming underneath his breath, and Dae almost felt as if she was home instead of at a hospital.

She wanted to thank him for it, for those little things he did to make her feel more at ease, but it felt kind of stupid to do so, and so she didn’t.

Rather than that, she waited for Baekhyun to return to her. Waited for him to flop down on the bed with his head next to hers, and when he did, she smiled and reached out her good arm, trying to touch his upper arm despite the pain the movement caused.

She managed to graze Baekhyun’s elbow, making him turn his head and look at her in question. ‘what’s wrong?’ his eyes asked, making Dae shyly look away from her again, but she didn’t back down with her answer. “I’m glad you’re here,” she admitted, voicing her thoughts on him sleeping next to her for the first time since he had made it his goal to achieve it, “I didn’t want to be alone, so.”

Without as much of a beat, Baekhyun had hit back with a sassy sounding, “and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna let you be alone. If she wouldn’t have let me I would just have hid in the closet or something.” He chuckled as he moved until he could take a hold of the hand that Dae had outstretched towards him, taking it gently into his own.

It startled her, the way he shamelessly took a hold of it, as if this wasn’t a strange progression in their relationship. As if joking about dating and engagements were normal things, when in reality they were strange and new. It was especially weird considering Baekhyun so clearly stated he didn’t remember a thing from their night at the beach, while if he had known it would have made these changes more understandable.

It was giving Dae pointless hope, bringing her emotions that she knew she shouldn’t be having, but she couldn’t pull back. Her heart wouldn’t allow her to. She let Baekhyun hold on playfully, their fingers knocking into each other constantly, and her crush started his joking again quickly after.

Until the nurse returned to give her the needed medication, until Dae’s medicines started to kick in and until her eyelids grew heavy and she fell asleep, Baekhyun kept her hand in his, fingers entwined and heartbeats aligned. They were beating in sync.

She fell asleep with their kiss on her mind while she listened to Baekhyun talk quietly, and for a moment she thought of how their issues had yet to be fixed, but then sleep really took her, before she could say or think anything more. It would have to wait till morning.