Baekhyun was confused like he had never been before. He was confused about what shirt to wear to the university, what clothes and gifts to buy for Christmas, what food he should eat for dinner and the list went on.

But most of all, he was confused about what he was feeling. His head had been a jumbled mess ever since the Winter Dance and it was starting to show in everything he did or tried to do. He hadn't been able to get the image of Taeyeon out of his head, and he seriously started questioning his mental health when he started having flashbacks like people had in the movies, Taeyeon descending down the spiral stairs in slow motion, her red dress flowing beautifully and the smile on her face.....Snap out of it! Even more alarming, were the strange butterflies he felt in his stomach every time her face appeared in his mind.

He had spent the weekend lazing around, not feeling like going out for anything (which was a first) like he was sick. The rest of his friends most certainly thought he was, because the mischievous beagle hadn't tried to push anyone's buttons or made hilarious jokes out of anything that went by for the whole weekend, keeping to himself.

"If that isn't a cause for alarm, I don't know what is", Jongdae had given his opinion when he, Chanyeol and Junmyeon had visited the said guy's apartment on Sunday to see if he was still alive. "I can practically hear the owl's hooting here"

"I am fine, you dummies, stop making a big deal out of everything", Baekhyun had snapped, not looking up from the game he was playing on his smartphone, still in bed.

On Monday, he had woken up with a start to realize he was late for his class and reached the university in a rush only to run headfirst into Taeyeon as he entered the Humanities building.

"Oops sorry!", He said instinctively not realizing who he had run into, as he reached down to pick up the papers and book that had fallen out of her hands at the impact.

Taeyeon rubbed her head, mildly cursing herself for not seeing where she was going. Her eyes widened in surprise on spotting Baekhyun, but she maintained a stoic expression as she carefully reached down to help him with gathering the things.

"Hello Baekhyun", She greeted in a cool voice and Baekhyun heart lurched in his chest. He looked up, only to find the cause of his 'sickness' hunching too close to him and for a minute everything around him froze along with his mind.

Her eyelashes, when did they get so long? He wondered, taking in the whole of her face as she picked up her things. His gaze travelled from her eyes to her lips and his breath hitched, diverting Taeyeon's attention to him as she got done gathering her stationary.

"Baekhyun? Are you Okay?", She asked, concern lacing her voice as she took in how pale he looked. He kept looking at her, a deep frown etched on his face, not replying to her questions.

"Baekhyun?", She shook his shoulder lightly.

"Huh-?", Baekhyun released a breath he didn't know he had been holding, as he realized he was gaping at her. Yet again. "I-I was j-just...."

"Are you Okay?"

Not really.....

"Y-yes I'm fine", He smiled at her nervously, his heart beating a million times per second as he got up from crouching position.

"You sure?" Taeyeon looked at him skeptically.

"Y-yeah, I am actually a little late for class, sorry for bumping into you!", He took a few steps backwards and then ran off without looking back.

"It's...okay. Be careful", Taeyeon clearly felt the jitteriness in his demeanor but she didn't ask as she turned around to go as well.

Taeyeon had thought about it a lot over the weekend and realized that the whole butterflies thing that happened every time she saw him was natural because he was being nice to her, and it would be best to ignore it until it went away. It wasn't like she was a teenager going through puberty, she was an adult and fully capable of dealing with this maturely and calmly. Patience was her forte and she was going to bear through this phase too and come out a better person, and not act upon her feelings or shut Baekhyun out like any other immature person would. That would only make matters worse.

Just thinking over it, she was starting to feel better about herself.

_

"What is going on with you two?", Chanyeol demanded in exasperation from his two shorter friends, as they sat in the cafeteria that Wednesday afternoon. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had been sitting there in silence for the past half hour, turning spoons in their coffees and looking like they were at a funeral.

They both sighed, not bothering to reply.

Kyungsoo had been going over the same thing in his mind over the past three days, trying to think of a solution. He had visited the office with Mrs. Do after she had told him about the whole loan fiasco, and the paperwork had only managed to add to Kyungsoo's worry. He had decided he was going to visit the loan shark with his mother this Saturday (which happened to be the deadline) to talk to him about the appalling interest he had added, if they weren't able to arrange the money by then.

"Oh he's just love sick", Jongdae had remarked pointing to Baekhyun as he sat down at the table with his eatables, to which Baekhyun didn't bother responding. He was starting to become immune to their comments.

 "And he – “, Jongdae pointed at Kyungsoo, "has mono"

Minseok snorted and Junmyeon gave him a wary look. Yixing looked absolutely horrified, "He does?!"

Kyungsoo turned to glare at Jongdae, and the latter just chuckled in return. "No, I don't hyung"

Yixing still wore a worried expression on his face. "But you do look a bit feverish....why don't we get it checked?"

"No hyung, I – “, Kyungsoo bent his head in exasperation. "I'm fine, really"

"You sure? We could always also ask Seungwan maybe she-"

"No hyung it's nothing like that!", Kyungsoo responded in frustration. I've barely held her hand, let alone kiss, Kyungsoo thought sadly to himself. Now that he realized, he had been so lost in his own thoughts, he hadn't met Seungwan for the past two days. They had met on Monday to finalize their presentation and get it approved by their supervisor before they went for vacations next week, but that had been brief and Kyungsoo had been too distracted to even ask her how her weekend had been after the dance.

He checked his cell phone and realized he had a few missed calls and messages from her, which he hadn't been able to open because his cell had run out of battery while he was in the office yesterday and he hadn't realized it until this morning when he left for uni. He unplugged it from the power bank and sighed internally opening the texts from her to see that she had been concerned about him. And he wanted to slap himself for being so pre-occupied. He immediately called her, and she picked up just after one ring.

……………………………………………………………………….

"Hello?", Seungwan breathed in relief seeing the caller ID. She hadn't realized she had been that desperate to hear his voice, just after not hearing it for one day. Her second class of the day had just ended and she was on her way to find him and see if he was okay as he hadn't responded to any of her calls or texts since yesterday.

"Hi, I'm sorry for not calling you earlier –“

"How are you?", She cut him off as she picked up pace heading out of the BM building.

"Uhh...fine. Fine really", Kyungsoo was surprised at the concern in her tone.

"Where are you now?"

Kyungsoo told her, and she had reached the cafeteria in no time. As soon as her gaze fell on him, relief washed over her she felt like somebody had given her water after a famine. She smiled at him as she moved towards their table which he returned a little weakly. She could physically feel herself yearning for the warmth of his strong arms, his scent that had so completely enveloped her a few nights ago.

"Hi", She barely squeaked as she reached the table.

"Hi, how are you?", Kyungsoo got up from his chair to greet her.

"Fine", Now I guess....

Chanyeol cleared his throat awkwardly, which made Seungwan realize how rude she was being. Her gaze had been fixated on Kyungsoo and she had barely noticed that his friends – one of them being her own cousin –  were also there with him.

"H-hello", Seungwan bowed to them all, blushing to the roots of her hair for having been caught staring at Kyungsoo.

"Why don't we go somewhere else to talk?", Kyungsoo piped up, not too pleased with his friend's rude interruption. Half of them were stifling knowing smirks, seeing the exchange between them (apart from Baekhyun whose attention was wholly fixated on his coffee).

"W-would that be okay?", Seungwan actually did have something very important to ask him in private but she didn't want to keep him from spending time with his friends either.

"Yes, that would be great actually", Kyungsoo responded before any of his friends could, and then hurriedly grabbed her hand- much to her surprise- and started walking towards the café exit.

"Bye love birdies!"

Seungwan could feel her cheeks burning up, hearing the snickers from his friends behind, but she couldn't help but feel strangely happy at the physical contact as well, her confidence in what she was going to ask him increasing with each step.

_

"Is everything Ok, sunbae? You look a little....distracted?", Seungwan asked as they walked into the ground behind the cafeteria, which was secluded at that time. Kyungsoo still hadn't let go of her hand, but it wasn't like Seungwan was complaining. If anything it felt good, the warmth from the skin contact making the nerves on the skin of her hand tingle. Disappointingly, he wasn't still holding on it of his own accord but had been too distracted, as Seungwan noticed, to let go of it once they were out of sight of his friends.

"Hmm?", Kyungsoo turned towards her upon the inquiry. "No, I just....I'm a little tired, I guess"

Seungwan creased her brows, realizing there was something on his mind that was weighing down on him. She didn't mean to be nosy but seeing the bags under his eyes and tiredness in his demeanor, she couldn't help but feel concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes..."

"Really?", Seungwan wasn't convinced. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

A small smile broke out on Kyungsoo's face, as they sat down on one of the benches under the trees. He was suddenly hit with a flashback of their dance the previous Friday night, and resisted the urge to hug her with how adorable she looked even then.

 "I know", He responded. And he would have told her, but he didn't want her to be worried for him, when there was still a chance that the whole matter would be resolved in no time. "It's just some office related work that I'm helping Mom with that's been on my mind too much lately. I'm sorry for not responding to your calls and texts"

"It's okay", Seungwan's gaze faltered slightly under his warm one, and she looked towards her lap, fiddling with the hem of her white blouse shirt.

Not wanting the atmosphere to get awkward, Kyungsoo tried to change the topic. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Huh-?" Seungwan looked up, her heart rate doubling. Don't be a wuss, Seungwan! Ask him! She encouraged herself. After thinking a lot over the weekend, she had decided she didn't want their fake relationship to continue anymore. She loved him with all her heart, and since their slow dance under the starry skies, she had started to seriously consider that maybe, maybe he had some feelings for her too. The way he had looked at her, the almost tangible intensity of emotion in his eyes, it couldn't have been fake right? Not to mention the burden of guilt she had been carrying with herself for lying to her mother, who was over the moon that her daughter was finally in a serious relationship. She didn't want to continue lying to herself or to him or her mother anymore.

"I was wondering....", She started, thoughtfully. " – If you would like to accompany me to the Christmas party as-as a date?"

Kyungsoo was mildly surprised at her proposal (it was the first time she was the one asking) but then thoughtfully scratched the side of his head. He remembered his mother mentioning something about the joint Christmas party she was organizing with Mrs. Son for her close friends, and naturally that meant he and Seungwan were expected to come together. "Okay, Sure. Did Aunty say something again?"

Seungwan's initial excitement at his acceptance fell, as she realized what was at the back of his mind. "No, it's not Mom this time. I actually want you to really go out with me..."

"Really, as in – “

"Really as in like an official date......with me. Not because we are faking it", Seungwan stuttered, not meeting his eyes. There! You did it!

Kyungsoo's eyes widened, as he realized the meaning behind her words. Is this a dream? Though it had escaped his mind, he had been prepared to confess to her today and ask her out. She had beat him to it though. A smile spread on his heart-shaped lips, but he hid it, wanting to get a little more info out of her.

"Not fake? I don't really get what you're trying to say?", He played dumb, inching a little closer towards her on the bench.

Seungwan's face flared up more, feeling a little dry as she tried to form proper words to explain. "What I mean is that...." She swallowed again. God, this was turning out to be harder than she had thought. "That we should start officially dating. Like in r-real"

"Why?"

Seungwan looked up, suddenly overcome with fear of rejection again. "I know sunbae, that you don't want to date right now but I would really appreciate it if you would give this a chance because......"

"Because?", A part of Kyungsoo was scolding him for putting her up on the spot like that when she was clearly so nervous, but another part was enjoying it.

"Because I like you", Seungwan felt a sudden light-heartedness even as she said it. She would have told him that she loved him, that she had loved him for as long as she could remember, but it wasn't right to go all out at once. It wasn't like she had the courage for that either.

Kyungsoo felt like jumping up and down in happiness, hearing those words from her. Why had he even thought she might not be ready?

"Seungwan I....", he was so surprised and over-joyed that he couldn't form words right. "I don't know what to say....."

"I would love to go out with you"

Seungwan looked up, her heart skipping a beat. "Really?"

"Really", He told her and the way her eyes lit up, made Kyungsoo forget where he was for a moment.

_

"Stop worrying, Mom. He's going to agree to it", Kyungsoo consoled his mother with more confidence than he was feeling.

They were sitting in the waiting room outside the CEO's office in one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city. Despite the strong facade Mrs. Do had been keeping up for the past few days, Kyungsoo could tell how nervous she was about this meeting, what if the guy didn't agree to give them more time since Mrs. Do misreading the contract wasn't his company's fault? The guy’s links (which had involved the word ‘mafia’) didn’t make him out to be a rainbows and butterflies guy.

"I know, hopefully", Mrs. Do gave him a tight-lipped smile.

As if on cue, the receptionist called them for their turn. "He's only going to meet with the company head, I'm sorry but you are not allowed accompany her", She informed Kyungsoo after stopping them as they walked up to the metallic doors of the office.

Kyungsoo was ready to protest, but he was stopped by his mother. "It's okay, I'll handle it", Mrs. Do responded with her stoic bussiness face, which she seemed to have adopted as soon they had gotten up.

Kyungsoo sighed, not wanting to add to her stress by stubbornly insisting, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew she was a force to reckon with when she got into business-mode and could handle herself well. "Good Luck!" He flashed her his best smile, before she went off and opened the door to the office, the CEO's secretary following closely behind.

The next thirty mnutes were the longest Kyungsoo had spent all his life. He paced around, hoping with all his might that everything was going well inside those formidable-looking doors. The receptionist shot him disapproving looks several times, because his jittery walk was distracting, but he couldn't care less at that time.

In his reverie, Kyungsoo failed to notice the female teenager who had sauntered into the room chewing a bubble-gum with a devil-may-care attitude (that she had specially embraced for meeting her father today), typing on her cell-phone with mechanical speed. That was until she cast a cursory glance across the room and her gaze landed on Kyungsoo.

When there was still no sign of his mother after 35 minutes, Kyungsoo sat down with a thud on his chair. His eyes found a girl sitting in the row of seats across from him, staring at him open-mouthed. He didn't pay much attention to it then, but when he found her still gaping at him even after five minutes, he started feeling uncomfortable.

Dressed in the same High School's uniform he used to study in, she looked to be in her late teens, probably about to graduate. He squinted at her, wondering why she looked so strangely familiar but he couldn't remember where he had seen or met her. He smiled at her awkwardly, hoping at least now she would have enough decency to look away or at least acknowledge him, but the girl kept blatantly staring at him as if she had seen a ghost.

Thankfully, before Kyungsoo could walk up to her and have a little chit-chat, the doors to the CEO office opened and his mother came out looking much better than he had expected.

"What did he say?", He asked as he met her half-way from the door.

Mrs. Do smiled at him, an unrestrained genuine smile that he hadn't seen for days now. "He agreed"

Relief washed over him and he lightly hugged his mother. They started walking out, Mrs. Do relaying the details of the meeting to him, about how he had welcomed her much more nicely than she had expected, and agreed without much qualms to extending the deadline two months further. Kyungsoo glanced shortly at the girl who he had found staring at him a little while ago as they walked out into the lobby. She was now looking at the floor, her eyes downcast, her expression that of someone recovering from shock.

He had no idea then, that the said girl was about to change his life.

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A/N: Ooooff, how y'all doing? Here's another update to keep you guys busy. I hope you like it.

Lots of BaekYeon stuff is coming, just wait! Also what do you guys make of the whole loan shark situation? And who might be that teenager? Do leave comments!

Thankyou for reading.