Track 164 | WHO HURT YOU? by Daniel Caesar

“Oh, Rara didn’t tell you?” Doyoung chuckled. “We figured that you already knew because you guys are best friends and all. Thought you knew who you’re competing with.” He added. With a scrunched-up expression, he said, “But yeah, there is someone.”

Baekhyun sat grumpily at the end of the table. Before Doyoung could tell him who his competition was, one of Rara’s classmates called his attention. “Baekhyun, do you want me to get you something?” In a simple yet evidently bitter tone, Baekhyun just replied no—so there was Rara, standing over the long buffet table on one side of the room. She was wearing this long black bodycon dress with long embroidered lace sleeves. It seemed pretty normal in front but nothing was covering her back; just a couple of root-like designs that crept up in random places of her back that represented the twigs of a tree. Persephone was still the spring goddess, apart from being the queen of the underworld. Rara couldn’t complain; this was a last-minute kind of thing. To Baekhyun’s devastation, he couldn’t complain either. It was stunning and perfect for Rara’s body type but he didn’t like the other eyes, feasting on her. Though they may not have the same level of possessiveness, Baekhyun was also impossible to ignore for Rara; he was wearing an all-black outfit, a slick suit with a couple of silver accessories. Rara could tell that some of her female classmates wanted to approach him, but to her advantage, they didn’t or maybe they were afraid to, because Baekhyun wasn’t in the mood to interact with anyone, and that’s all thanks to her.

And as if he wasn’t in enough bad mood, he got the shock of his life last night when Rara told him about being in love with someone else; she built this ‘strong independent woman’ image inside his head while she worked for him these past few months and he let her, not anticipating that she could very well be building a false reputation before his eyes. None of her friends even tipped him that he had competition, but he couldn’t bring himself to get mad at them for it. He should have asked, or even considered the possibility that in his six-year absence in Rara’s life, there might be someone trying to take his spot.

And last night, before he could retort, Rara immediately said, ‘I remember your words clearly before I regained my memories: that you’ll let me go. We can talk about this after the party. You promised to sweep the past under the rug in the meantime.’

And like a soldier to his lieutenant, Baekhyun obliged.

But that didn’t stop him from being disturbed, and it also didn’t stop him from making it obvious to Rara that he was annoyed. But then again, this was her forte—being a pain in his .

They were in talking terms, though. Despite having zero appetite for anything else but blood, Rara was never absent when it came to the food. While watching Rara, some other guy came up to her and casually put his arm around her, talking to her with so much lightness and ease. Baekhyun’s jaw clenched at the sight of their interaction because Rara seemed to be riding along—and he thought that she was indifferent towards boys.

“Easy, Lord of Hellfire.” Baekhyun turned to the direction of the voice, and he found himself looking at Aejung, who had a plate of appetizers in front of her. “That’s Chanhee. He’s just really a touchy-feely guy; Chanhee already has a girlfriend and you know Rara so yeah,” Aejung took a bite in one of the red velvet pops. “You need not to worry. They’re good friends.”

“Okay.” But Baekhyun wasn’t assured with Aejung’s words, not one bit.

Speaking of classmates, there were only quite a few of them who attended, about twenty or so. Even Kyung Mi and Shinae didn’t come; Shinae had to study for her exams and Kyung Mi decided to spend the weekend with Suho. So at the very least, he had Rara one-on-one, because no doubt, her two best friends will side with her at all costs. Only one of Rara’s research groupmates came, it was Micha. Dasom couldn’t come for some reason and that was convenient; she might recognize Baekhyun because she saw him back in the research forum that they had attended months ago. And that would complicate things.

While his eyes roamed around the room, he caught one guy constantly stealing glances at Rara. He’d blankly stare at her then look away, or turn back to the person he was talking to.

Aejung peeked at Baekhyun and turned to where he was looking, and when she laid her eyes on the same subject as Baekhyun’s, she forcibly swallowed the piece of brownie she was munching. “That’s one of your opponents.”

“That’s the person Rara’s in love with?” Baekhyun asked quickly.

“No, silly. That’s Junho; he grew feelings for Rara just because she treated him well and handled him with care.” Aejung laughed mockingly. “Some people be so goddamn flimsy that a little bit of comfort goes a long ing way.” She said. “Anyway, your best friend did her best to encourage him to work on his personal growth, but it seems that he kept on relying on Rara instead—hungry for more attention. Toxic, right?” Aejung looked down on her plate, trying to figure out which next dessert she shall devour. “Well, most broken people are, until they fix themselves.” She took the cupcake in between her fingers. “Rara’s clean reputation got a little bit stained with rumors that her empathy and sympathy were more than meets the eye, so she decided to cut off the root of the problem. But as you can see, Junho misses the solace that Rara provided.” She explained. “But you know Rara, once she stops caring, it’s over. She was gaslit; she won’t go back to the same bull. And I’m sure she didn’t want to be linked with somebody else other than the person she’s in love with.”

“Who is she in love with any—”

“Oh , Woohyuk is approaching.” Aejung immediately stood up and carried her small plate of desserts and shuffled towards the long table of desserts. Woohyuk walked towards Baekhyun, ignoring Aejung as she dashed away from the scene.

“Baekhyun, right? Rara’s Hades?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Baekhyun said with a smile. “What’s up?”

“The rest of the guys are playing a game of arm wrestling. Wanna join?”

A little game didn’t hurt anybody, now, did it?

Baekhyun followed Woohyuk to where everyone was crowding over the two contenders. It was Doyoung and another one of Rara’s male classmates, someone named Chinhwa.

“Chinhwa, give it your all, man!” someone howled.

“Fight like you’re saving our Genetics grade, Doyoung!” Vee roared.

“Let’s go Chinhwa!”

“Knock his flat on the ground, Doyoung!”

The cheers erupted as the arm wrestling became increasingly heated by the second. Doyoung’s coat was hanging on the back of his chair, his sleeves rolled up; Chinhwa was the same. The veins in their hands bulged as the beads of sweat dropped from their foreheads.

Rara was drowned by the small crowd and its cheers. Her arms were crossed, and there was a constant entertained smile on her face. In the middle of the excruciating fight, Chinhwa was gaining the upper hand. And in the end, Doyoung lost.

Doyoung let his upper body collapse on the table and let out an exhausted sigh. He collected himself quickly and gave Chinhwa a fist bump as a sign of sportsmanship.

“Well, thank God we already graduated because if our Genetics grade depended on your arm wrestling skills, we would have failed.” Vee said flatly, but she grinned at him as he stood up. “And to that, I say, amen, and thank you God for giving us our bachelor’s degrees early.” He replied.

“Can’t believe a loser raised our group.” Rara said, but she was smiling at Doyoung. Doyoung was their group leader back in the day. “I’m disheartened.” She remarked with fake hurt.

“The fruit shouldn’t fall far from the tree, don’t you think?”

This statement earned a vicious glare from Rara, and when she looked at the person who said it, it didn’t surprise her. Baekhyun flashed her a half-grin; that infamous, ‘Oh, really?’ smile.

“No, I think some of us have control over their fate.” Rara said, mirroring the same arrogant expression he has. “Would you like to test the theory?” She challenged.

The eyes of the people switched between Rara and Baekhyun back and forth with curiosity and anticipation.

“Uh, Rara, I think there’s a difference between your strengths.” Chinhwa said, looking at them back and forth, cracking his knuckles and twisting his wrists, trying to get back some strength after his round with Doyoung.

“A huge difference, if I may add.” Micha added, her voice a bit shaky.

“I know.” Rara replied simply. “But everyone’s got a weak point, right?” She looked at Baekhyun straight in the eye. “Who else knows your weaknesses best, other than your best friend, eh?”

Best friend. The word left a bad taste in Baekhyun’s mouth. Best friend? You and me? Tell that to the towers of books who kept us company that one night at the library. He proceeded to remove his tuxedo, but not leaving Rara’s eyes. “Speak for yourself, Rara.” He said in an amused tone, folding the sleeves of his dress shirt. “The worst type of people to have as your enemies is the ones who’re closest to you—because they know exactly where to stick the knife.”

Rara chuckled darkly, as she tied her hair into a ponytail. “Indeed.” Both of them pulled the chair at the same time and sat swiftly. Chanhee, who was the referee, looked at both of them unsurely, but deep in his gut, he felt excitement. Rara and Baekhyun held hands and positioned themselves, ready to start the war. Chanhee held their hands, keeping them from starting.

“I think you might end up like the very entities you rule over, God of the Underworld.” Rara warned in a sing-song voice. “Dead.” She flashed him an evil smile.

Baekhyun scoffed at her words with a haughty smile. “Ah, but, don’t forget that you go where I go, my love.”

Chanhee chuckled and gave their holding hands a tight squeeze before announcing, “Okay, Baekhyun versus Rara, in three, two, one...Go!”

And right away, there was a huge force that exploded and contained inside their hands as soon as each one of them exerted strength to take down the other. Rara’s classmates weren’t aware that the people they allowed to battle were superhuman. No one was cheering because everyone seemed immersed in the fight.

“That’s a tight grip, Baekhyun.” Rara complimented, her smile unwavering. To the audience’s surprise, their hands showed no sign of anyone winning or losing.

“You know me, Rara.” He replied, copying her smile. “I hold onto things firmly.”

She raised an eyebrow at him and snickered. “Sure. Things like defeat.”

“Victory, you mean?” Baekhyun huffed. “Not only things, too, but people as well. Like right now—I’m holding onto a loser.” He added. “I’m referring to you, by the way, if it isn’t obvious.”

“Don’t hurt yourself now, Baekhyun.”

“Are you even trying?”

There was something about the way they held each other’s gazes that urged everyone to remain silent. Nobody made even the slightest sound—the ambiance in the crowd was likely for an arm wrestling fight, but rather, it was as if they were watching a chess match. It was as if Baekhyun and Rara’s eyes spoke in soft tones that required each and everyone in the vicinity to refrain from making noise, otherwise whatever their eyes were conversing about won’t be heard.

Aejung appeared beside Vee, who was a bit far from the main attraction. She leaned close to Vee’s ear and whispered, “How is Rara able to do this?” She questioned in utter disbelief. “She’s got the laziest bones out of the four of us.”

“I know.” Vee agreed. “And the way they glare at each other—”

“—it’s like they’re telling each other ‘fight me’ and ‘ me’ at the same time.” Doyoung added, snickering subtly.

Vee laughed lightly, watching Baekhyun and Rara jab each other with taunt after taunt from a distance. “Their chemistry is something else, huh?”

“Well, imagine if Rara was facing that G-Dragon idol she’s so in love with.” Aejung pointed out jokingly. “I don’t think she’s going to l