Double update: make sure to read the previous chapter

After getting bored all by herself – she loved romantic dramas but right now, with her situation, she wasn’t in the mood for romance – Mei decided to take a walk. Baekhyun would come home in the evening; maybe she could while that time away and think about ways to breach the topic of their soulmate-ness with Baekhyun.

For fun, she took her Soulmate 101 book with her. It was silly but it had also been surprisingly helpful and really, she could use all the help she got. She spent most of her time sitting in the coffee shop down the street, slowly browsing through it. But the book was about finding your soulmate and it said nothing about what to do when that was done.

Dejected, she went to the local book shop and spend a lot of time browsing through the manga section, hoping she could get her advice from the shoujo heroines. It was useless; those heroines were just as clueless as her.

She did end up buying a number of cute post-its because Baekhyun’s note had been so nice to look at. She’d also left him a note, just in case he came back before she returned and after deliberating a lot over the simple note, she’d ended it with a heart. If nothing happened, she’d pretend it was just how she usually wrote. Baekhyun was used to such antics from her.

The water was running when she got home, the sound of Baekhyun’s usual bathroom singing floating out. She smiled to herself, putting her things away. She went back out to see if Baekhyun had brought the pizza he’d promised when the door to the bathroom opened up.

She turned, a greeting on her lips that faded along with her voice as Baekhyun emerged, steam silhouetting his broad shoulders, a towel resting around his neck, another wrapped around his waist. With nothing covering his chest, water droplets still glistening on the steam-pinkened skin.

She felt heat rising to her face as Baekhyun casually stepped out, humming to himself, one hand holding the towel while the other fluffed his hair. He blinked, meeting her eyes, coming to a halt. ‘Oh hey, Mei. When did you get home?’ he asked, not at all bothered by his state of undress.

Mei warbled in response. He blinked, stepping closer and bringing the warm, masculine scent of his aftershave with him. A single drop of water fell from the tips of his hair, down the slope of his stupidly long neck and onto his chest. Mei, entranced, followed it right until it landed over a dusky , yanking her gaze away, her cheeks flushing.

‘Mei?’ he asked again, sounding almost like he was smirking. The nerve of him, attacking her like this out of nowhere!

She threw her book at his chest, which was still glinting invitingly in front of her. ‘Cover yourself!’ she shrilled, turning back around and running into her room, slamming the door behind her.

‘Ow!’ his dramatic yell followed her but her heart was thundering too fast and too hard for her to care about it.

She did not come home to get attacked like this. She had a sanity that needed to be kept intact if she were to function like a normal human being. And Baekhyun stepping half- in front of her definitely did not help her. In fact, it was offensive and she was offended because it was rude. Baekhyun was rude. Extremely, extremely rude…

The image of the droplet falling over his chest flashed through her head again.

And he had no sense of propriety, obviously. Who stepped out like that out of the shower, with no shirt on? Seemed like she needed to implement some house rules in addition the BFF code.

‘Mei?’ His voice sounded right behind her and Mei yelped, pushing away from the door. Baekhyun called again, sounding worried. ‘Mei, you okay?’

‘Go away!’ she yelled at the door, afraid of opening it. ‘And put some clothes on. It’s far too cold for you to walk around like this!’

‘Ah…’ He let out a laugh, sounding sheepish. ‘Sorry, I thought you’d be out for a while, so I didn’t… I’ll go change now. You should get dressed too. We’re going out!’

‘What?’

Mei made the mistake of opening the door in her curiosity, only to find him leaning far too close, one arm resting on the doorframe, the other casually resting against the dangerously low towel. She flushed again but determinedly pulled her eyes up to his face and tried to ignore the whiff of aftershave assaulting her. Dammit, she loved that scent!

‘I’m taking you out,’ he said, smiling down at her, ‘so get ready.’

‘But…’ Mei dithered. Normally she wouldn’t object but with her heart doing cartwheels, she wasn’t sure if she could take it. And did he have to phrase it like that? Taking her out, indeed. He wasn’t just rude, he was offense incarnate.

‘But?’ He smiled, arching an eyebrow. Mei swallowed, wanting to cry at the unfairness of it all. Baekhyun was playing dirty, smiling at her like that when she was already under attack from his stupid broad shoulders and chest with water droplets all over it, and her favorite perfume wafting from him like some siren beckoning her to lose reason.

‘I didn’t think so,’ he answered for her because obviously she’d dithered too long. ‘Get ready, look pretty. I’m gonna show you a good time.’ He winked at her flirtatiously, possibly to dissipate the obvious innuendo but it had the opposite affect and she blushed full on. He smirked, obviously pleased, and sauntered away.

Mei watched until he disappeared into his room, staring at his back resolutely before marching decisively towards her closet, yanking it open and letting out a frustrated scream.

She was so screwed.

…………………………………

Well, it seemed like those articles and Chanyeol were onto something. And if Mei’s reactions were anything to go by… maybe he stood a chance with her after all.

He whistled as he styled his hair.  When he’d come home and seen Mei’s note signed with a heart, it had cheered him up and he’d decided to get ready, so that they could go out the moment she returned.

He really hadn’t planned on walking out to her but he had to admit, her reaction was priceless. And a real ego boost.

He smiled at his reflection, fixing his collar. Mei’s flushed cheeks were a dead giveaway. She only blushed like that when… well, honestly when she was hardcore ogling Luhan. And he’d seen her blushing when Kyungsoo had complimented her.

And apparently when he was shirtless. He’d have to test it more before he could say it with surety – for science, of course. He grinned at the thought of teasing Mei some more. It was his favorite past time.

Stepping back, he gave himself a critical overview.

Nothing flashy, just a simple white button down and black pants, smartly casual. It was cold so he’d take his coat. He loosened the top button, adjusted his cuffs and stepped out, immediately coming to a halt.

Mei was standing in the middle of the living room, hair thrown over one shoulder while her fingers tackled a delicate chain around her neck, trying to close it. Unlike her usual winter attire which consisted of bulky sweaters and made her look like a cute burrito, she was wearing this sleek cashmere top he’d never seen before, paired with jeans and boots, the epitome of winter city fashion.

He swallowed, throat suddenly dry. She looked gorgeous.

‘Mei…’ He didn’t know what to say when she turned to look at him. Her eyes widened but he was too preoccupied to notice, frankly overwhelmed.

‘Baekhyun…’

He didn’t know when his feet took him over to her but he found himself extending his hands towards her in a silent demand. She blinked once before realizing what he was asking and let go of the chain. He caught it before it could fall down, and met her eyes in the mirror in front of her.

‘Let me,’ he whispered, voice coming out huskier without conscious effort.

She swallowed and nodded, holding his gaze. He didn’t break it or look away, fingers following the routine naturally. He’d clasped and unclasped her necklaces plenty of times but somehow, the intimacy of the act had never registered. They were so close that her shoulders brushed against him when she breathed.

He didn’t back away, gently tucking her tousled hair back in place, and running his fingers through the strands. Mei inhaled sharply at that but didn’t stop him and he smiled at her reflection, dropping his hand to grab hold of hers. ‘Let’s go,’ he murmured. She nodded mutely and he used his grip to pull her along.

…………………………………

This was nothing like her date with Kyungsoo and that had been everything she could’ve dreamed of and more. Probably because with Kyungsoo, she’d been the one doing everything, telling him what she liked so they could fulfill her bucket list before calling it quits.

Perhaps it was because Baekhyun already knew her so well that he didn’t have to think about what she liked. And maybe she’d shared her list with him…

No, that wasn’t true. Given that she’d made that list when she’d been high-key crushing on him and he’d been the obvious subject of her list, she’d hidden it away in the most secret place where Baekhyun would never dare to look: her underwear drawer.

No, this was all him and she was internally swooning at every carefully thought out gesture. She wasn’t entirely sure why he was doing it but it was working and she was falling in deeper, too fast to stop. She would crash and burn and there’d be no one but Baekhyun to blame.

For starters, he was dressed like a dream. Her dream. White shirt, loose collar, casual yet smart and his hair styled just how she lov- er, liked it. Then, he’d done that thing he always did, putting on her necklace and tucking her hair back in place. It wasn’t the first time he was doing it and she doubted it would be the last. But she could swear it was the most intense experience she’d ever had; his gaze had been electric and his touch had sizzled when he brushed his fingers through her hair before taking her hand and gently leading her to the car.

She’d always felt that hand-holding and this gentle leading thing was super-adorable. It gave off as sense of protectiveness and as she’d always told Baekhyun, protectiveness was attractive. Unbearably so.  

He drove them to the pizza place for her promised pizza. And even though she saw him driving all the time… and even though she knew she was lame for being like this. But… he was so dreamy when he drove. One hand resting on the steering wheel, the other casually on the gearstick, with the relaxed, easy confidence of someone who knew what he was doing. And he reversed without even turning, just glancing in the rearview mirror.

Yeah, confidence was attractive too, especially when it suited Baekhyun so well.

And he started humming when he drove because of course, just driving hotly wasn’t enough. He had to sound amazing as well. Of course.

Normally she’d join in and sing along but right now, she was feeling a little – okay, a lot overwhelmed and super-duper shy. Baekhyun was amazing and hot and he had great shoulders and a great voice and he drove like he sang, flawlessly. And most importantly, he was her soulmate. They hadn’t even started yet and it was already game over for her.

She just thanked the heavens she’d called it off with Kyungsoo before this because her heart so obviously belonged to Baekhyun. Was it bad that she didn’t really feel sad about it? She had felt sad last night but hugging Baekhyun had cured most of it. And this… this was exterminating the rest.

Picking up on her uncharacteristic shyness, Baekhyun chattered and joked around until she forgot to be self-conscious and relaxed.

And then, he brought up Kyungsoo.

‘So…’ He leaned back, feet prodding against hers; she pushed back, refusing to budge from her place and Baekhyun pouted at her, grinning immediately afterwards. ‘What happened between you and Kyungsoo?’

Mei choked on the bite she’d just taken. Baekhyun waited for her to stop coughing, passing her water and patting her back until she settled down. ‘Kyungsoo looked like today,’ he informed her, eyeing her with concern. ‘And you were all torn up last night.’

Mei stared at him. Had he done all of this in some misguided attempt to cheer her up? He read the question on her face. ‘This has nothing to do with it,’ he reassured her. ‘I felt like we could both use some time out, so that’s why I brought you here. But I was wondering… did you guys break up?’

Mei sighed but nodded. ‘I… actually, that’s why I called him yesterday. I wanted to talk to him about… stuff and after talking it through, we decided it would be best if we called it off.’

Baekhyun eyed her closely, seemingly searching for something. ‘Wasn’t he your… you know, soulmate?’

Mei shook her head. ‘I thought it could be him but turns out, he’s not the one.’

Baekhyun’s gaze sharpened. ‘I see.’ There was momentary silence. ‘And do you know who your soulmate is?’ he asked, voice low.

Mei stared at the pizza in front of her as if it held all the answers. ‘I do,’ she replied eventually. Silence followed her statement but she didn’t dare look up, not sure how to deal with this situation. She hadn’t planned on… or well, she had no idea how to proceed with Kyungsoo out of the picture. So there had been no plan whatsoever.

But Baekhyun was her soulmate and she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

When the silence go unbearable, she finally chanced a glance up. Baekhyun was looking at her with so much fondness in his eyes, it made her blush and look down again. She looked up again when the heat in her cheeks settled down, meeting his eyes.

He didn’t say anything but she waited, willing him to read the answer in her gaze.

Finally, he sighed, leaning back with a smile. ‘Okay then.’ And then he picked up his pizza and started eating. Mei stared at him in disbelief. That was it?

‘You’re not going to ask who it is?’ she demanded.

Baekhyun shook his head, not even looking at her. He glanced around the place instead. ‘We should come here more often.’

‘You’re not answering my question!’ Mei protested. He smiled and shrugged, making a show of taking a bite. Mei bit her lip and leaned back, at a loss. What was this supposed to mean? Did he know? Wasn’t he curious to know who it could be?

‘Aren’t you even a little bit curious?’ she asked again, reluctantly picking her pizza slice. He hummed noncommittally and batted his eyes at her instead. Mei sat back in a huff. This was preposterous. What the hell was it supposed to mean?

When they finished their food, he paid like he always did, the perfect gentleman, as he led her out. And for the rest of their time together, he didn’t bring up Kyungsoo or soulmates and it left Mei feeling out of her depth.

Mei was exhausted and confused by the time they finally returned and not because she’d spent the past hour karaoke-ing hard. After Baekhyun stringent refusal to ask or talk about anything soulmate related, she’d resigned herself to having a good time and she’d enjoyed herself. But the perpetual confusion was draining because she didn’t know what to make of his actions. He could totally be acting in the capacity of her BFF or he could be wooing her as her soulmate and here she was, a jumble of confused emotions.

She collapsed on the bed face first, screaming out all her frustration because dammit, she had no idea what to think or do anymore. She was confusion.

‘Goodnight soulmate ~’ Baekhyun yelled from his room. Mei grunted in response, whining into the pillow. There he went again with the mixed signals. Was he being cheesy or was he teasing her because of their running joke about being soulmates?

She didn’t know when she fell asleep but her dreams were as chaotic as her thoughts.

………………………………

A/N

Here, have Baekhyun attack you out of nowhere as well ;) 

You're welcome <3