**

“Call him. I need to talk to him.”

At her mother’s words, Hayoung whined like a kicked puppy. Getting up from where she was seated to knock on the opened bathroom window to find Baekhyun brushing his teeth. If she was not afraid and guilty, she would laugh at how Baekhyun choked. He hurriedly finished his night routine to follow Hayoung, and for the first time they are together, this was the first time she saw him nervous.

Hayoung was told to not listen to their conversations, sulkily, she was waiting for them in the kitchen where their voices are hushed and she could barely understand what they were talking about. She was respectful enough to not try to listen to their conversation, distracting herself by watching Instagram videos of a dog―mainly corgis because it reminded her of Baekhyun.

She doesn’t know how much time has passed since her mother converse with Baekhyun, it would be a lie if she said she was not a tad bit nervous about their conversation. After all, her mother had to find out about her living arrangement with a man by accident. Regret filled her when she remembered how vague the information she gave her mom when she told her she was going to live with a friend, leaving out a major detail that the friend is the opposite gender.

It wasn’t until Baekhyun came up behind her, his arms wrapped around her shoulders a little bit too tightly with his face buried on her nape. She basked in their closeness; her nervousness forgotten as his scent filled her nostrils. Baekhyun smelled like freshly washed laundry, a smell Hayoung came to admit as the smell of home.

Her peace was disturbed when she received a text from her mother that made her choked by her own spit.

From: Mom

> I approve of your boyfriend.

Boy.. what? Boyfriend? Without a space? Was her mom too lazy to put a space between the word boy and friend? Hayoung wondered. It shouldn’t be weird for her, she should be used to the fact that Baekhyun is addressed as her boyfriend after all the time he called her my girlfriend when someone asked about their closeness status. She didn't wonder for too long as Baekhyun softly spoke right to her ear, his lips brushing so gently against the shell of it.

(Of course, Baekhyun would notice how she froze in his hold that he decided to check what caused it.)

“I’m sorry if I,” he was hesitating, she knew he was trying to form a coherent sentence in his mind, “lied about our relationship status to her.”

The way Baekhyun had said it felt like he doesn’t want to lie―as if he wanted more. Hayoung didn’t respond to him, placing her phone down as she bit her lower lip; her thoughts are now a jumbled mess of what if(s).

They fell into a silent―a new kind of silent where it was awkward. And Hayoung hates it. The more reason for her to hate it was when Baekhyun straightened his body, no longer hugging her. It was as if he was about to leave her and their happiness was about to end.

“Sweetheart,” he starts, gently moving her body so she is now standing up in front of him. He cupped her cheeks with his palms, and it was a perfect fit; the way his palms framed her face like it belonged there. It made her cry, and Baekhyun softly cooed at her, running his thumb below her eyes to catch her tears.

“I love you.”

I love you. He said. He really did say it. Even though it was ever so softly, but he did. He confessed to her first; and Hayoung couldn’t help but to cry even more.

He loves her. He does.

“I don’t want to lie more, I love you, Hayoung. It makes me feel empty to lie to everyone about our relationship, because I genuinely love you. There are days where I hope what we have is not fake, where I want to be able to call you as my girlfriend.”

Hayoung didn’t answer him, opting to bury her face on his chest as she hugged him close to her. Baekhyun did the same, his arms wrapped around her small frame with his face buried on the crown of her head. They were in each other’s embrace for a good while before Baekhyun lifted her up to carry her to his bed to show her just how much he loved her.

**

Hayoung could feel Baekhyun’s breath hitting the skin of her nape―it was calming, the close proximity they shared together. Everything that happened earlier feels like a flash of random colors in her eyes. With the way Baekhyun touched her, loving her, and his declaration of her. It was everything she wanted, she dreamed of.

But something didn’t feel right.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter