It was turning out to be one hell of a day for Taeyeon. Firstly, they had to change the catering company at the last moment, because the professors who were in charge came to review the preparations for the dance and the previous catering company and menu didn't quite suit their taste.

Secondly, Miyoung caught a bad cold, leaving them to decorate on the hall on their own. The theme that had finally been decided for the dance was Fire and Ice and though Taeyeon was pretty creative in the arts department herself, she was still finding it hard to be satisfied with what they were preparing without Tiffany’s expertise. The rest of them had to reassure her repeatedly that it was good enough.

And for the first time in a week, Taeyeon had managed to forget all the awkwardness she had been feeling with Baekhyun and they worked in perfect harmony together, going over things quickly and efficiently. They made a good team.

It was after sunset when they all finally found time to breathe in satisfaction looking at the decorations, most of the work done. Taeyeon was quick to tell them all to go home and get some rest, as most of them had been working since morning. She especially felt guilty about the huge help Junmyeon, Yixing, Seungwan, Soojung and Jongdae had been, even though they weren't even executive members of the Media Society anymore. They had insisted on helping and she hadn't been able to refuse.

"Long day, huh?", Baekhyun asked as he sat down on the floor beside Taeyeon. After sending the last of them away, she had turned to Baekhyun and insisted on giving the final touches herself. Only the quote of the event (which had been decided by Seungwan) was left to be decorated and put up at the back of the stage, and Baekhyun had refused to go home. He had been a little too cheery all day, which might have had something to do with the fact that Taeyeon had been interacting like usual with him.

"Yeah", Taeyeon sighed, sitting crossed legged to stretch her stiff muscles a little.

"You sure you don't want to go home?", Baekhyun turned to ask her again. It would be a lie if he said he wasn't concerned that the girl was over-working herself, despite her repeated reassurance that her foot was now perfectly healed and she could hike up a mountain with it. He had tried to lessen her physical burdens as much as he could, but he could only do so much of her work without her noticing, because he knew how she hated being a burden.

"No. You should though", She said without looking up from the cardboard she was working on, her attention focused on it completely.

Baekhyun chose not to reply to her insistence. Being the co-president, he had enough dignity not to leave her there working alone. It wasn't like the Winter Dance was her solo project.

"Fire and Ice, Heaven and Hell, Beginnings and Endings. And the love between a man and a woman"*, He read the quote out loud in his best presenter-like voice, his gaze lingering on the girl bent over the cardboard sheet for a little too long as he said the last few words.

(*This quote is from an American TV Show called ‘Revenge’)

"Right. You're hosting tomorrow too", Taeyeon sighed, reminding herself more than him. "How's that going?"

"Perfectly fine. You know how good I am at these kinds of things", Baekhyun boasted, hoping to earn a glare from or snap from Taeyeon but she only hummed in response, too pre-occupied to notice, which made him smile.

A tendril of chestnut hair fell across her face, partly blocking his view of her sharp jaw-line and he instinctively reached out to tuck it behind her ear.

The gentle brush of his hand against her cheek, diverted Taeyeon's attention and once she looked up at him, it was as if someone had jolted her awake from a stupor. All the awkwardness and the butterflies she felt every time he smiled at her came crashing back as her heart started thudding loudly against her chest.

Seeing her frozen expression, Baekhyun quickly pulled back his hand. "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to startle you", the last thing he wanted was her to go berserk on him again, a day before such an important event just because he didn't know how to control his hands.

Taeyeon swallowed hard, suddenly feeling a little too dry as she looked at him and then towards his hands. Those perfect, slim fingers she had almost had a for a few years back, the porcelein skin on them soft as silk –

What? She almost jumped up into standing position, looking away. What is wrong with me?!

Baekhyun followed, mentally cursing himself as he saw the agitation in her movements, almost scared that she was going to get angry at him again.

"Y-you know what? I think I'm going to go! You can complete the rest here, right?", She said quickly, not meeting his eyes as she reached out to pick up her back-pack, shoving the few of her belongings that were scattered around into it. She had to get out of here, out of his suffocating presence, immediately.

"Y-yeah Ok! But how are you going to go, let me drop you off!"

Oh, for the love of God! That was the last thing she wanted right then. "No need! I'm staying with Tiff and Yuri at the dorm today, it's only a few minutes' walk. Goodbye!" She walked briskly towards the exit of the hall, before she could get more nervous and embarrass herself.

Baekhyun frowned, having reservations about her walking the length of the campus alone at night. The dorms were located at the other end of the campus. "You sure? I could still – “

"I'm sure, Baekhyun! Bye!" Taeyeon replied loudly without looking back.

"Okay", Baekhyun sighed after she had left the door, resisting the urge to run after her. But she was clearly uncomfortable after his little reflex action and he didn't want to put her on the edge anymore than she already clearly was. After a few minutes of contemplating how to go about everything, he sat down a little dejectedly, the hall suddenly feeling a little too cold as he put the glittery decorative pieces together.

….......................................

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Taeyeon ruffled her wet hair in frustration, a few droplets of water falling over her face as she lay under covers on the single bed in between Miyoung's and Yuri's. Yuri had gone on an impromtu shopping trip for the dance along with Seungwan and Soojung. They had asked Taeyeon to accompany them but she already had the themed dress decided and ready, and she wasn't going to waste money just to get something new. Miyoung, despite the sore throat and fever had wanted to go with them too, but had been strictly forbidden to do so by her friends and was now sound asleep on the bed beside Taeyeon's, leaving the said girl to wallow in her misery.

What was she doing? Getting affected by Baekhyun like that? She had long moved on from being the jittery teenager she once was, and there was no way in hell she was going back to being like that. What had he even done to get her so worked up? And why the hell was she getting worked up about anything he did? Okay, maybe he had been acting a little differently since that day at the library but that did not warrant the kind of responses she was showing. He was clearly only trying to be polite to get in her good graces and that should make her happy and more satisfied and not how she was being right now.

Enough, get a grip! She chided herself. Deciding she wasn't going to demean herself any more than she already had, she went to sleep with the determination of going back to being normal the next day and showing him, he didn't – couldn't – have any effect on her.

Not anymore.

_

Kyungsoo: Jongin and I will be there in a few minutes.

Seungwan: Okay. I'm ready.

Seungwan checked herself in the mirror for the n^th time in the last 30 minutes to see if everything was okay. She never did care much about how she looked, but today she especially wanted to look good. She kept telling herself and others that it was because she was going to be playing piano in front of a big audience, but a part of her clearly knew it wasn't just because of that.

It was her first official event out as Kyungsoo's date, as far as their social circle was concerned. And that made her feel strangely warm and mushy inside, not wanting to wait even a second more. It's going to be perfect, she thought happily.

"I will not in a million years wear those monstrosities!", Taeyeon's wail broke Seungwan out of her haze, and she turned to see her cousin and friend fighting over a pair of heels.

"And I will not in a million years let you murder that dress's appeal by wearing those godforsaken flats!", Soojung, looking as amazing as ever in her long white silk, off-shoulder dress, responded in the same tone.

"Don't you have any mercy? My foot has barely healed and you want me to walk on these sticks?" It wasn’t that Taeyeon was against heels, she wasn’t. On the contrary she loved wearing heels when the time and occasion called for it, but these things, they were from another planet where women did not have backs.

Soojung opened to retort and then narrowed her eyes accusingly at Taeyeon. "Oh really? Why do I remember you telling uhm uhm someone yesterday that you could 'hike up a mountain' with your foot now?"

Taeyeon closed her eyes in exasperation. "That was just for....". Her foot was indeed very much so healed, but that did not mean she couldn't use it as an excuse to save herself from wearing those lethal weapons.

"Fine", She gave up making Soojung smirk triumphantly. I'll just change them once I reach there...how hard can it be to bear with them for a short while?

_

"Hello Sehun!", Kyungsoo greeted the younger guy brightly, as soon as he opened the door and then creased his forehead seeing that he was in casual clothes. "You haven't changed yet?"

"Hi", Sehun responded. "Mom is saying I should study for the Mid-Terms with Yeri, so" he shrugged. The guy looked almost melancholic.

"Oh", Kyungsoo turned towards the guy standing next to him, scowling. "Why didn’t you tell us that you had Mid-Terms coming up?" Kyungsoo regretted not checking his brother's online academic schedule. Had he known he wouldn't have allowed him to buy a pass either, with how studious he knew his brother was.

Jongin shrugged non-chalantly. "They’re next week, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it"

Kyungsoo was about to chide him for his non-challance, when his attention got called towards the stairs. His heart stopped upon spotting the person descending.

Clad in a white long dress, Seungwan looked like a character out of a fairytale. Her hair, normally tied up in a pony or bun, were softly curled at the ends and flowing freely down her shoulders. She looked like an angel. All Kyungsoo could do was stare at her in awe, utterly mesmerized by how beautiful she looked.

..................................................

Seungwan’s heart started thudding loudly in her chest, as soon as Kyungsoo came into her view standing below the stairs, looking like he had jumped straight out of a magazine photo shoot.

Kyungsoo was a very good-looking guy, Seungwan admitted, even when he wasn't all suited up but right now the man standing before her was the prince every girl dreamed of. The red suit jacket and the black collared t-shirt he was wearing highlighted his fit torso and arm muscles, and Seungwan tried hard not to ogle at him like the sappy idiot she was becoming for him.

Jongin cleared his throat, breaking them out of their daze and they both turned to look at him. "Shall we leave? It's getting late", He smiled sweetly at them.

"Y-yes we should", Seungwan swallowed, and then looked towards Kyungsoo, a light blush coloring her cheeks, making her look even more enchanted. "Hi"

"H-hello", Kyungsoo had to physically restrain himself from gaping at her as he gave her a small awkward smile, not really meeting her eyes.

Soojung and Taeyeon chose to make their entrance then, Taeyeon still whining over her heels, and they quickly decided the car seating arrangement, making Kyungsoo and Seungwan go off first. Jongin wasn't keen on being the third wheel (after Sehun so subtly pointed it out to him) and Soojung reluctantly agreed to bear with him for the sake of Kyungsoo and Seungwan's privacy.

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A/N: Hope you guys liked this chapter! Love is in the air (while corona virus is in the air in our version of earth, be safe everyone!) Happy New Lunar Year to those of you who celebrate it! 

Thankyou for reading!