By the time her classes finished, Seungwan had convinced herself that she couldn't afford to act like a weakling and that she had to face what was in front of her sooner or later. She waited near the fountain for Kyungsoo after lectures ended, as she knew he would pass by there on his way out.

……………………………………………..

Kyungsoo had spent the whole day beating himself about what he had done. He didn't know what else to do, and was determined to find Seungwan and apologize to her as soon as possible.

His heart lurched painfully, every time the thought of how stricken she’d looked upon meeting his gaze that morning, flashed through his mind. Why had she run away? He’d run after her but had stopped on his way seeing Taeyeon.

“Just…give her some time”, The older girl had told him with a tight lipped understanding and he’d turned back dejected.

She’d been hurt enough to not want to see him. God, how had he not realized what a douche he was being that day? Or had he chosen to ignore it? Soon as his last class ended he went around looking for her, but had only gotten around a single floor when Baekhyun called him and told him of Seungwan’s whereabouts. And though he didn’t say it, Kyungsoo was grateful for his friends. Times like these made him understand that more than anything else. Despite being the idiotic jokers that they were, none of them had about Seungwan even once since Taeyeon’s outburst.

There weren't many people around the fountain at that time, but the area wasn't exactly a private place to talk. Baekhyun was there though, a few metres away from where Seungwan was standing, and gave him a look that said 'I'll take care of it' as soon as Kyungsoo reached, gesturing for him to proceed.

Kyungsoo slowly approached Seungwan who had her back to him as she stood against the fountain. "Hi"

Seungwan spun around and looked at him. "Hi", she replied, looking at him with a solemn expression. He hated that he was the cause of it. He wondered if she would ever smile that sunshine smile of her at him ever again.

It was followed by an awkward silence in which they both gathered their thoughts as to what to say next.

"Seung-wan shii-"

"Sun-bae-", they both started at once and then stopped.

"I wanted to-", they both spoke together again. "Let me say something first", Kyungsoo declared.

"No I'll go first" Seungwan interjected.

"But-"

"Please sun-bae", she requested, looking down.

Kyungsoo waited with bated breath.

"I understand, what you said on our date that day – “, Seungwan started her words measured. "No please-", Kyungsoo began but Seungwan interrupted him again.

"No, you know what? You're right", She continued, her gaze still on the ground. "And keeping that in mind, I have decided to change my presentation group. That's mainly what I came to tell you today", She swallowed, still not meeting his gaze.

"What? Why?", Kyungsoo's felt like somebody had slapped him across the face.

"Why not? Everybody's doing it, one of my friends asked me and so I agreed to change places with her. I think it's for the best", Seungwan explained, scrunching her nose as if to sniff. And he realized –

Is she crying?!

"I'll leave now. Have a good day", Seungwan started to leave.

"No, wait!", Kyungsoo caught her wrist just in time. But she didn’t turn towards him. “Seungwan look at me”, He asked softly.

She turned and he wished she hadn’t. There were big fat tears rolling down her rosy cheeks, and each one of them felt like a drop of acid on his heart. She wasn’t making a sound, biting down on her lip.

"What happened? Why are you crying?!”

"No its nothing! I just....I'm really stressed....and also I’m sick so it's...it’s taking a toll on me I think!", She airily laughed, the sound artificial.

Kyungsoo felt a pang of guilt again. She's crying because of me.....

"Come sit here please", he guided her to the bench nearby, her hand in his and took a handerkerchief out of his pocket, "Its clean-", he added, but Seungwan had already snatched it from his hands not hearing him complete, and buried her face in it.

"Seung-wan shii….", Kyungsoo said after a while.

"Hmm?", Seungwan mumbled but still didn't look up at him.

"Look at me, Seung-wan shii", he urged her gently and she slowly met his eyes. Her eyes were swollen and Kyungsoo sighed, wondering how much she’d cried before this.

"I'm really sorry", He apologized, looking at her deeply.

……………………………………………………………………….

"No, actually I should apologize for being such a cry-baby-", Seungwan started to say.

"No – “, Kyungsoo interrupted her. "Please don't make me feel anymore guilty than I already am. I am truly very sorry"

Seungwan wasn't expecting him to apologize, she'd thought it was going to be a painful goodbye with her doing all the talk but she felt surprisingly better after hearing it.

"It’s okay", she said after a while, meaning it. God knew she’d embarrassed herself enough without him having to apologize again and again. Besides, she hadn’t been angry with him, only a little hurt and his apology more than made up for it. It was just her weak little pathetic mind making a big deal out of nothing. She still couldn’t believe she’d cried like that, in front of him. What was wrong with her?

"Then please don't leave the group", she looked up to find him giving her a look.

"What?"

"I mean, do you really have to?", He looked like he was pleading. He reached for her hand again, and Seungwan's mind went a bit hay-wire. "Please don't" he requested, looking into her eyes.

"Right, o-okay", It's not like she could say no when he had requested her like that. Also she had only thought of leaving the group because it would’ve been difficult and awkward to work with him. But they’d already cleared things up so….

Blood rushed to her face as she become acutely aware of his hand on hers.

……………………………………………………………………

"That's great. So we're good then right?", Kyungsoo asked, trying to smile.

"Yeah, I-I guess" Seungwan stammered, her eyes averted. Kyungsoo followed her gaze and upon realizing how tightly he was holding her hand, he let it go.

"Right sorry!", He looked away, mind-slapping himself. Way to go dude! He was never this impulsive, not even with his dear and near ones, when it came to physical contact. And to hold her hand when having such a sensitive discussion……what is wrong with me?

"So I guess...I-uh, should go, Taeyeon must be looking for me", Seungwan said as she got up.

"Right, Okay! See you...See you tomorrow then?", Kyungsoo asked as he stood up to face her, wanting to hear a confirmatory answer.

"Yeah, see you", Seungwan gave him a small smile. And he felt like a huge burden had been lifted off his chest.

_

After he’d told Kyungsoo about Seungwan’s whereabouts and seen the former arrive, Baekhyun moved further away from the fountain, not wanting to infringe on their privacy. He stood idly against the wall of the building, waiting while keeping guard so that no one disturbed his friend. The place was pretty deserted at that time, so after a while he got bored and reverted to playing games on his phone.

Since he was fixated on the game, he didn’t register it when Taeyeon appeared from the other side of the building and walked into the forbidden territory. Baekhyun only realized it when she’d already crossed ahead from where he was standing, and he rushed after her in horror, grabbing her wrist roughly and covering to stifle the startled cries while dragging her towards the building. In his nervous frenzy, he pushed her against the wall of the building where he’d been earlier.

She winced and cursed as her back hit the wall, the sound muffled by his palm and then looked up at him, shooting daggers. His heartbeat quickened as he looked into her eyes up close but the moment was short-lived as he realized her eyes were slightly teared up, probably because he’d been a little harsher than necessary pushing her against the wall. His grip on her loosened and she roughly brushed his hand away from .

_

“What the hell do you think – “, Taeyeon was cut-off as Baekhyun, the jerk he was, covered with his hand again, hushing her. “Quiet down will you?!”

She opened and bit his hand, and he pulled back immediately, flinching and holding his hand to his chest, while trying not to cry out in pain. “What the hell?!”

“Exactly! What the hell?”, She snarled.

“Please lower your voice, they are having a peaceful talk there!”, Baekhyun whisper-yelled and she looked to where he was pointing to Seungwan and Kyungsoo. Her eyes widened.

"Do you really have no shame? Why are you spying on them talking?!"

Baekhyun looked incredulous. "I am not spying on them! I’m just here to prevent people like you from disturbing them!"

"And who asked you to play guard?!", She asked, gritting her teeth as pain shot through her back again. The guy was seriously going to paralyze her at this rate if he didn’t stop jumping on her out of nowhere. She’d barely recovered from the stunt he’d pulled with the skates and now he was shoving her against concrete walls.

"My friends don't have to say everything for me to know when they need me", He stated airily.

She sighed. There was no point in wasting her breath on the idiot, it would only cause her to develop a headache on top of her aching back. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, hoping for patience before walking ahead, her shoulder connecting with his roughly.

“Hey! Wait!”, He called behind her and she spun on her heels to glare at him “Don’t you dare try to follow me or I swear – “

“Are you okay?”, His question caught her a bit off guard.

“No!”, She responded with less agitation than before. “So leave me alone!” She turned too quickly and then flinched, bending over to lessen the pain in her back.

“Does it hurt a lot?”, She heard his guarded voice behind her, and there was a strange gentleness in the way he said it, that had her deflating.

"I'm fine" She responded defeatedly. "I just tend to meet the wrong people at the wrong time!"

"Come sit here", Baekhyun took her by the arm, and she was too tired to protest. He led her to the steps leading up to the building and they sat down.

Baekhyun inched his hands towards her back guardedly, and touched her slightly to see if she recoiled. When she didn’t, he simply started rubbing soothing circles onto it.

"Feeling better?", he asked softly after a while, still rubbing her back. She just nodded, eyes still closed.

"I am sorry about.....this", He said awkwardly. Though he didn’t show it, he felt guilty for physically hurting her even though it had been unintentional.

"You should be!", Taeyeon snapped, but the bite from earlier was missing.

"I am okay now, thanks", she said awkwardly after a minute, pulling his hand away gently. An awkward silence followed, with both of them looking anywhere but at each other.

"So when will the whole process of application submission and interviews for the elections start?", Baekhyun asked.

"Next week, most probably. Why? Are you interested?"

"Yeah, I think I might apply for a post in the Media Society"

"Really? I am thinking of doing so myself", She informed in a casual tone, looking ahead at Kyungsoo and Seungwan who seemed to be enveloped in an awkward silence themselves. She then saw Seungwan get up and start to go towards the gate, so she got up too.

"Bye Taeyeon-ah", Baekhyun’s voice rang in her ears, and it was like somebody had unlocked and pulled open a drawer in her mind. The memory of him calling her like that for the first time, like it wasn’t a name but an endearment, came rushing back.

"I am done with this sun-bae, can I go?", Baekhyun asked as they were sat in the library for his weekly tutoring lesson.

"Show me", she took a look at his copy and frowned. "This is not how you write a formal speech Baekhyun, it's supposed to start with 'Good Evening or Morning' not 'Hello guys'" She pointed out.

"But sun-bae, I'm really tired…", He yawned to prove his point. "Can't we continue with this tomorrow?", he gave her one of those smiles, those lazy ones that she was sure he used on all the other girls too. Her traitor heart fluttered nevertheless, but she made a show of rolling her eyes at his request. He probably had a date that evening, which was why he was so impatient to leave.

Taeyeon sighed. "Fine"

"Thankyou, sunbae!", Baekhyun said as he got up, gathering his things and stuffing them into his satchel. "You're the best, sun-bae!", he remarked with thumbs up, a little too loudly for her comfort.

She gestured with her finger on her lips for him to quiet down. "Stop with the sun-bae rant will you?" She complained. He had been calling her that too much lately, and she was sick of hearing it.

"You're tired of it too right?", he whispered conspiratorially, bending down to her level . "I am going to call you by your name from now"

"No that's not what I-", Taeyeon started but he interrupted her with “Bye, Taeyeon-ah!” and was already running away.

She smiled and shook her head thinking about his childish behavior. And from that day onwards, he never called her sun-bae again.

"Taeyeon!", Seungwan shook her friend who was so deep in thought staring at the ground, that she hadn't noticed Seungwan coming or calling her for the past few minutes.

"Huh?", Taeyeon looked up, startled. "What happened?", Baekhyun watched solemnly as her gaze flitted and settled on him, growing dim. He felt a pang to his heart.

"Let's go shall we?", Seungwan pointed to her watch.

"Y-Yeah, okay", Taeyeon shook her head, an almost unreadable expression on her face, and then started walking towards the gate, her head bent in thought.

Seungwan followed her, but turned around to glare at Baekhyun once.

Baekhyun made a face. She and D.O. really do suit each other a lot! He thought to himself, thinking how scary his friend could be at times too. And then his thoughts reverted back to Taeyeon, and the good times they had enjoyed back in High School.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: I'm sorry for updating late this time, been busy. Hope it was worth the wait though. We have some fluffy fluff with WenSoo and a sneak peak into Baekhyun and Taeyeon's past. Do comment and tell me what you guys think of it. There's lots of more fun, angst and fluff coming!