Taeyeon wasn't thrilled with the way her body kept acting, but a part of her admitted it was nice being a little laid-back for a change. She kept smiling in response whenever Baekhyun smiled at her, only realizing she must look like an idiot later. She even laughed when he cracked a little too many jokes at breakfast, getting suggestive eyebrow wiggles from Soojung in return. The latter had found out about her going with Baekhyun into the city that afternoon, and the teasing hadn't stopped since.

Their first activity for the day was visiting 4^th Tunnel. Chanyeol and Jongdae naturally got beyond excited at the thought of being 'close to the line' and Taeyeon could swear the soldiers were talking between themselves eyeing the two suspiciously when they had entered the tunnel after getting a tour around the security clearance hall.

Jongdae, Chanyeol and later Baekhyun’s loud howls, made for a good background noise for some reason, especially as they rode the electrically powered carts to the southern limit line. The wind brushing past her face and the scenery all around her put Taeyeon in a good mood, and she was about willing to face the day with Baekhyun.They walked back happily from their activities, Taeyeon talking animatedly with Krsytal and Miyoung and Baekhyun following closely behind.

"Watch out!" Taeyeon looked up from her mobile when she heard the shout and the next thing she knew, she was lifted from around the waist and twisted in a circle, the breath knocked out of her. She had barely registered Baekhyun's face after opening her eyes, before a knack sounded and she saw him wince as a stone hit the side of his head.

"What – “, Her heart throbbed in her ears as she realized she had had diverted a little away from the others and she and Baekhyun were the only ones there this far behind. Something constricted inside her as a blood began to seep from the gash on the side of his face.

"What were you thinking?", Baekhyun hollered, gasping for air as he glared at her, concern dripping from his stance. He pointed towards the large rock, next to the path she had been walking on a while ago and that's when she it all dawned on her. She had absent-mindedly been walking too close to the area where stones were slipping down from an elevated rocky area, a sign cautioning about the construction going, that she had clearly missed in her reverie. "I - " She just breathed for a minute trying to make sense of everything.

As her gaze fell on the painful cut on his face, irritation and worry boiled up inside her, thinking he had taken an injury intended for her. "And what were you trying to do? Get killed? Who asked you to come play hero?"

"Oh, it's my fault now, is it?", Baekhyun retorted, feeling more annoyed than he ought to.

"Yes! Who asked you to save me? I'm not some damsel in distress, I could've managed on my own!" God, look at that gash.....!

"Well clearly you couldn't, seeing as you practically walked under it! Would you have preferred if I had left you and a larger rock had fallen on you?"

"Yes! Why can't you just mind your own business?", Taeyeon was vexed beyond measure. And feeling guiltier by the second.

"Fine, do whatever you want! You can jump off that cliff for all I care!", Baekhyun was about ready to pull his hair in frustration. Here he was, risking his own health to ensure her's, and all she was doing in return was yell at him. He started to stomp-off, only to be stopped mid-step as Taeyeon caught him by the wrist.

"What?", He snapped, but she didn't think it important to answer him as she dragged him off, uncaring of his protests.

They found a small bench in the direction the rest of their group had walked off and Taeyeon made Baekhyun sit there before starting to search through her bag.

"What are you doing?", Baekhyun asked after a minute, at the verge of losing his patience.

Taeyeon gave him a cursory glance before going back to search through her bag, and a look of relief passed on her face once she found the anti-septic cream and bandaids she was looking for.

He had barely opened his mouth to protest when she cut him off. "Stay still" She gave him a look before leaning over him and gently applying the cream on the wound with a tissue (because she couldn't find anything better and dirty hands weren't really the best option), and Baekhyun could only hold his breath, the sting from the anti-septic barely registering as his eyes lingered over her face that was scrunched in concentration.

"I'm sorry", The words left his mouth in the spur of the moment, his heart beat racing in the background, as his warm gaze remained on her face. "For yelling earlier"

Taeyeon's heart fluttered when she made the mistake of glancing at him for a second, but she hurriedly averted it back to the gash on his face and cleared awkwardly. "Y-yeah, me too" She really was, having screamed at him for no good reason, when she should have been grateful.

A few moments passed before she said something again. "Thanks....for earlier"

Baekhyun smiled, warmly at first and then mischievously. "What did you say?"

Taeyeon frowned for only a second before saying it again. "I said thanks, for saving me"

"Sorry something must be wrong with my ear -", Baekhyun started, straining his ear but broke into laughter a second later as she threatened to slap him, and then she smiled too.

"Omo so cute....", Hearing a few giggles, Taeyeon and Baekhyun turned to find a few teenage girls not far from them, cooing while eyeing them. "They look so cute together, omo"

Taeyeon tried to pretend that she couldn't hear their undisguised remarks, but her face heated up and she quickly finished applying the cream before moving on to paste the band aids. Why had she decided to do this in a public place?

"Oww! Easy", Baekhyun groaned when she pressed a little too hard on the wound, and she apologized in a hushed tone before quickly finishing up. "Let's go", she gathered her things and started to make her way down the trail towards where she remembered the rest of their group having gone. One of them would have spotted they were missing by now and were probably worried.

Baekhyun had realized why she was feeling uncomfortable and an idea had popped into his head almost immediately. Smiling at the girls still swooning over them, he straightened up and then called with his best sweet voice. "Jagiya! Jagiya, wait for me!"

Taeyeon, scandalized, turned to glare at him.

"Jagiya! Wait up!", Baekhyun was enjoying a lot, seeing the confused, horrified look on her face.

Seething, she was about to retort icily when her phone rang with Yixing's call. Picking up as she started to walk away, she prayed to the Lord to give her patience.

_

It's not a date, Taeyeon reminded herself as she stood in front of the mirror, all ready, her hair flowing down her white turtleneck.

Baekhyun had texted her to remind her of their 'date' that evening, soon as they had returned from their trip and despite the fluttering of her heart, she'd managed to convince herself she was just doing him a favor and it was most certainly not of the romantic sort.

Putting on new clothes, jeans and a white turtleneck matched with a grey muffler and sky-blue navy coat, because she couldn't possibly go out "wearing the dirty clothes" from their visit earlier, she had decided to let her hair down, because "it's way too cold outside" to tie them up.

"Keep telling yourself that", Soojung had said to her with a smirk and she'd rolled her eyes in response.

Finishing it up with a layer of lip gloss, because apparently her lips were chapped (they looked perfectly fine to Soojung), she was out the door of their hotel room after scowling in Soojung's direction one last time when she winked "Have fun!" at her.

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

Baeklight: Shall we meet out in the lobby? It'll take me a couple of minutes more.

Baekhyun quickly texted Taeyeon.

"Quick hyung!", Baekhyun was sprawled on the bed with four pillows underneath his head, as Yixing loomed over him.

"Would you stop moving? I can't get the angle right!", Yixing was trying to work his way properly, but Baekhyun was getting way too jittery and kept moving his face every three seconds, making it difficult for him to put the concealer on the wound in right proportion.

Baekhyun had asked him a favor soon as they had gotten back to help him hide the ugly-looking gash on his face before he went out with Taeyeon, and Yixing had obliged, even though the said friend had refused to take him along to see his grandmother's house. He understood, it was supposed to be their private time and all.

"Xing, are you ready -? Oh!", Junmyeon walked into their room, which was otherwise bare of any other people except Yixing and Baekhyun (the rest of them had gone out to the city to enjoy the New Year's activities).

"Just a second more", Yixing responded without turning his head, finishing up the blending. He and Junmyeon had made their own plans to go out, after his plan with Baekhyun had gotten cancelled.

"Are you sure, you can't take me?", Yixing pouted as they both got up from the bed, Baekhyun setting his messed up hair in the room mirror.

"Yeah, sorry hyung", Baekhyun pouted in the older's direction, feeling guilty again. So maybe it hadn't been the truth when he had asked Taeyeon to come with him as Yixing was busy, because he was the one who had asked his friend to pretend he was and let him take Taeyeon, even though Yixing had actually really wanted to go.

"Come on, Xing! Let's go! Stop making him feel bad", Junmyeon asked Yixing, beckoning him to leave. "And besides, when else would we get to celebrate New Year's at a DMZ?"

"Yeah, Ok. Have fun!", Yixing called out smilingly, as he went out, being half-dragged by Junmyeon as he grabbed his trench coat.

Baekhyun took a deep breath as he looked at himself in the mirror and then grabbed the daisies (that he'd ordered especially) to go out. Show time!

_

Where is he? Taeyeon wondered eyeing her watch. It had been a good twenty minutes since she had arrived in the lobby and she didn't want to sound impatient or eager, but she had been waiting for quite a while now.

Her call to him went unanswered so she decided to just go to his room. She had a rough idea that it was in the lobby adjacent to the one where her's was located, though she didn't know the exact number. Moving from the lobby to the room hallways, her calls to him went unanswered again and she wondered if something was wrong. He wasn't usually the kind to not attend to calls or messages.

Reaching the rows of room on each side of the carpeted walkway, she wondered which room it was. She remembered he was sharing with Yixing and Hyuk, but she couldn't think of the number.

Just as she was about to knock on one she had a hunch was his and Yixing's, the door of the adjacent room opened, revealing a very disheveled looking Suzy.

Taeyeon came up short at the sudden encounter, and fell seeing her appearance. The girl had streaks of mascara running down her cheeks, her short black dress crooked in weird places, and her red lipstick smudged all around her lips.

"Suzy, what – “, Filled with concern at her condition, Taeyeon took tentative steps towards the sniffing girl, and the strong odor of alcohol coming off her made her want to hold her breath.

"Oh, you!", Suzy laughed sardonically, wiping back the fresh tears with the back of her hand. "Is it your turn now?"

"What?"

"Oh, don't try to act so innocent!", Suzy took a few wobbly steps towards Taeyeon coming up way too close, barely supporting herself on her pencil heels. "Everybody knows about you and Baekhyun"

Taeyeon's heart sank as it dawned on her: Suzy had just come out of Baekhyun's room. Something constricted inside her and she gulped to take away the sudden ill feeling rising up .

"Wh – What do you mean?", Taeyeon didn't know whether it was the stench of alcohol or just her rising panic that made her want to run away from there, right there and then.

"Well, he's all yours to have now. Go on in", Suzy laughed in scorn again, before walking on. Taeyeon wanted to stop her, to ask her what she meant, just what the hell was going on, but she couldn't move. Like she was paralyzed.

As if on cue, the door of the same room opened, and the man in question came out.

"Taeyeon, Oh – I'm so sorry, I was just coming....", Baekhyun apologized awkwardly – a glint of guilt in his eyes that Taeyeon wished was only her imagination –  while fixing the collar of his shirt, a clear red mark (lipstick?) on his neck and Taeyeon felt somebody had punched her in the guts.

Seeing the glazed, stunned expression on her face, Baekhyun frowned and moved towards her. "Are you okay?"

Taeyeon instinctively took a few steps back, her eyes stinging. The urge to turn and run away from him, from what she had just seen, from what clearly had just happened, was so great that Taeyeon barely restrained herself. Willing herself to keep it together for a few more minutes, she spoke. "Uhh, I-I was just here to tell you that I ca-can't go...I'm not feeling well", she looked away, her breathing uneven.

Baekhyun felt something was monumentally wrong seeing how estranged she looked. She wasn't even meeting his eyes. She couldn't have met Suzy....had she? Concern filled him to the core and he moved further towards her. "What happened, Taeyeon?"

Clenching her teeth, she bit the inside of her cheek, not looking at him. "I just told you....I'm sorry, I can't go"

"Well, okay....Should we go to the hospital? You don't look so good?"

"No, I'm fine, I just need a little rest", With that she turned around and hurriedly walked away, not looking back even once.

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

Why are you so stupid?

Tears running down her cheeks, Taeyeon slapped a hand over to muffle the sobs that were escaping her lips as she slid down the only opaque wall in the garden. After walking away, she'd just walked wherever had feet had taken her and had ended up coming to the indoor garden, which was thankfully vacant at the time.

She didn't know why she was feeling like this, this gnawing feeling inside her, like she'd been betrayed. Everything felt wrong, just wrong and she couldn't do anything about it.

So, what if he and Suzy were together? Why do you care?

But she cared. She cared alright and it hurt. Had she seriously expected that he had changed? That maybe all the butterflies she was feeling were not one-sided? That maybe the twinkling of his eyes and his perfect smiles meant something, and that it all wasn't just a figment of her imagination?

But it clearly was. Because he was still the same. The same old playboy she'd fallen for like an idiot and who hadn't even batted an eyelash before rejecting her. You're pathetic. Pathetic and pitiful.

She had no one else but herself to blame. For playing with fire again, after having been burnt before. And she cried. Cried for her stupidity. And once she had shed enough tears, she got up and wiped them away.

This is the last time you've cried for him.

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

A/N: Why, Baekhyun? Why? :((((

More angst is coming. You've been warned.

On a serious note, what did you guys think of the chapter? BaekYeon's history revelation is just around the corner. 

Also, I already had an ending in mind when I started this fic, so I think we are coming around to the of both the couple's stories. Hope you guys will anticipate it!