TRACK 128 | DON'T by Ed Sheeran

“Oh, Baekhyun and Rara didn’t go home last night.” Shinae announced, without looking up from her phone. “They stayed at Rara’s place. Should we invite them over here?” Her eyes lit up, looking at D.O and Suho back and forth.

The squad, minus Rara, continued with their Saturday routine, which was to spend the whole day and afternoon cooped up at a coffee shop, finishing their assignments and tasks, so that on Sunday, they get to enjoy the entire day without cramming all the homework.

“Or maybe we should just let them be. We had Rara all week, so it’s only right to let her spend time with Baekhyun.” Shinae said. For about 3 minutes, they sat quietly, until D.O closed his book and shifted his attention to Suho.

“Speaking of Rara,” Both Shinae and Suho looked at him with wonder. “I’m going to ask you a stupid question, hyung. But you better give me a sensible answer. And don’t lie. We got chemosignals.”

Suho nodded at him firmly, while the only vampire in the trio just stared at them curiously, gradually sipping her chocolate chip frappuccino.

“Are you having feelings for Baekhyun’s mate?”

The sound of chocolate chip frappuccino being pushed back to its container filled the dead air for a while. “That’s a stupid question.” Shinae remarked with a nervous laugh.

“Like I said, it is.” D.O pressed. He was serious. Of course, matters like this were not to be taken as a joke. Rara belongs to someone else. Baekhyun being in the same pack as Suho made it worse. “I just hope Suho hyung doesn’t give us a stupid answer.”

Suho sighed. “I don’t know, Kyungsoo.” He gave D.O a condoling smile. “I honestly don’t know.”

“I get it, Rara is actually easy to like once you get to know her.” Shinae said. “I’ll put some money on the table and tell you it’s normal. Most people who get close to her are bound to adore her in the long run.”

Exhaling deeply, D.O shifted his attention to Shinae. “Yeah, you could say that, I mean, I enjoy Rara’s company,” He said. “but I can tell hyung’s feelings are different. They resemble the intense feelings that reside in your body before you realize you’re about to imprint on someone sooner or later.”

Shinae raised an eyebrow. “How would you know? You’ve never even imprinted on anyone.”

“That’s true.” D.O replied. “But Baekhyun has. The entire pack picks up a fragment of everyone’s emotions. So we all know what it feels like. Of course, it’s just secondhand, but we, more or less, get the experience.”

Shinae swallowed. If they were talking about imprinting, then it must have been really serious. It was the equivalent of blood moons, and those events aren’t taken lightly. She turned to Suho. “Hey, do you think it’s because you’ve been hanging out with Rara too much?” She asked. “Why don’t you try avoiding her?”

“Avoiding her seems a little harsh,” D.O said. “why not do something else with the time you spend with her. Rara’s known to be very understanding.”

Shinae cackled. “Yeah, well, if you got Baekhyun as your partner, best believe you have to be understanding.”

Suho laughed a little at Shinae’s comment but then put a thoughtful face on. “The truth is I have tried avoiding Rara but I seem really drawn to her. When I’m not around her, I do my best to do other things, reading mostly, but in her absence do I feel most distracted. It’s complicated and really frustrating.” There was a flicker of sadness that flashed on his face. “Sometimes I wonder if...”

“If what?”

“If imprinting had holes in it. Blind spots. If there was one in a million chance that a glitch in a matrix would appear.”

D.O’s expression hardened. “Are you trying to say that the universe allowed Baekhyun to imprint on the person that was not meant for him?” He shook his head disapprovingly. “C’mon, hyung. Baekhyun waited for a solid year to tell Rara he imprinted on her. You’ve seen the lengths he went to exhaust himself physically just to avoid going to Rara’s during full moons.” He added. “You might look at it from a biased angle because Baekhyun already had a crush on her long before he knew she was the one, but you’re aware that you can’t imprint on anyone just because you like them in some kind of way.”

“I think all the teasing and applaud you and Rara receive from the people around you is starting to affect you.” Shinae suggested. “Maybe, now is the time you have to step up and tell them she’s in a relationship. Although it might be good if it came out of Rara’s own mouth.”

“No, there really aren’t factors influencing the way I feel. It’s just her.”

“See? You talk about her the way Baekhyun would.” D.O pointed out. “If I’m noticing this, I’m sure as hell Baekhyun does too. You have to stop this, hyung.”

“Oh, Baekhyun notices, alright.” Shinae flipped the pages of her laboratory manual, appearing to look for a certain page. “It’s stressing Rara out.” She took her pen and started writing. “She tells me that a jealous Baekhyun has a lot to say, and he wasn’t always one to talk. He was the type to ‘show’, not ‘say’.”

“I’ll try—”

“On the other hand, Rara is pretty dense.” Shinae chuckled, cutting him off. “I’m pretty sure she believes you don’t like her in that kind of way. Let me rephrase that—there’s a small part of her that knows you like her but since she knows it’s wrong, she convinced herself that you don’t like her until it’s cemented at the back of her mind. But I know she’s got it figured out. She knows about the chemosignals, so if it irritates Baekhyun to the past of no return, then that means she knows that Baekhyun’s picking up something. Even if she feels what Baekhyun feels, she still won’t pick it up anyway, because she’ll want to believe that you’re a good, wise leader and that you aren’t going to do something as absurd as falling for someone else’s mate—one of s’ mates.” She said nonchalantly. “Which you’re not.” She and D.O chorused. They both looked at each other and snickered. “At least, for now.” Shinae added. “You got a good heart and proper thinking, Suho. But you need to tone it down until it’s not there anymore.”

True to his reputation, Suho tried his hardest to build a dam between his clear judgment and his feelings. He was pretty proud of this dam because it was capable enough to keep out currents, even when they came in strong and simultaneously. As much as possible, he kept at a distance from Rara that didn’t make her think she was avoiding her. And it worked efficiently.