Chapter 21

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Baekhyun’s new daily routine consists of waking up before the sun rises, showering as quickly as he can, and shoving a bagel into his mouth as he races to his car to head to school. When he gets to school, he reviews his class material for the day while he walks to his locker, throwing an occasional wave at people he recognizes. When he sits down, his notebooks and pen on his desk, he’ll reply to a few messages from his father and Mr. Kim before the boys enter. Then, he’ll listen in to the conversation and add in a few remarks as he reviews his meeting schedule after school. If he’s lucky, he’ll even be able to shoot Hana a small text before the class begins. His daily life has become so jam-packed that he barely has time to think about if he’s enjoying what he’s doing. Before he could have a moment of realization, another beep on his phone from a business partner will remind him that this is his duty as heir of Byun Technologies and Software, and he doesn’t have time to ponder such a distant thought.

Every morning, Hana checks her phone and scrolls through her social media, savoring the time in her warm comforter before she gets ready for the day. When she first started dating Baekhyun, she would smile from ear to ear at the sweet morning messages he would send her. Now, they have become less frequent, but Hana wasn’t one to mope around about something so mundane. She knew he was busy and fully supported him. That’s why she always made sure to ask how he was doing before bed, and he would normally reply with how he was feeling quickly before he was off attending to more business again. There was a pit in her stomach every time, though, that he would end the conversation but not return the question for her.

Honestly, she has been getting increasingly busy too. Since the project with Baekhyun turned out so successfully, her father had put her in charge of other projects with other companies. She spends most of her nights writing proposals or calling with international clients. She often finds herself getting, at most, three hours of sleep before she has to get up and go to school. It was exhausting, and she had no one to share her burdens with, because Baekhyun was always busy with his own share. Hana reassures herself that she’s strong enough to handle it, like she has for her entire life, but she can’t help but feel more drained hearing Baekhyun’s struggles. 

When Hana arrives at school, she receives a text message from Baekhyun. She opens it happily and her shoulders drop a little at the message.

Baekhyun [7:07 AM]: Morning baby! I have a busy day again today, so I won’t be able to talk to you much. 

She plops down into her seat and smiles at her classmates who begin to swarm her with greetings. She decides that Baekhyun must be too busy to read her response anyway, so she leaves the message on read. Take that. She triumphantly lifts her head and stores her phone away into her blazer when a classmate comes up to her and asks for her help with a chemistry problem on the worksheet from the day before.

//

At lunch time, Hana heads to the cafeteria and stands in line to get her lunch. As the younger girls around her enthusiastically engage in conversation with her, she finds her eyes wandering around the room until they land on a familiar tuffle of silver hair. Baekhyun is eating his lunch, laughing at the jokes that his friends are making, the spot next to him empty and reserved for her presence.

She hurries over to the table after getting her lunch and sits down, “Hi everyone!”

“What’s up, Hana?” Suho smiles. Kyungsoo shoves a spoonful of soup into his mouth with a friendly wave of his hand. 

As she begins to pick up her utensils, Baekhyun stands up and grabs his tray. She blinks at him in surprise and grabs his forearm, “Are you leaving?”

Baekhyun nods with an apologetic smile, “Yeah, I have to go make some calls before class.” Hana’s shoulders noticeably drop, “Oh.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” Baekhyun hurriedly says, planting a rushed kiss on the top of her head before leaving the lunch room. Hana suddenly doesn’t have an appetite for the meal in front of her, even though it was her favorite dish.

Chanyeol notices her change in attitude and nudges her with his arm, “You good?”

“Is it because of Baekhyun? He eats so sloppily and makes so much noise. I’d lose my appetite too,” Kyungsoo notes, making Hana chuckle a bit.

“That is so rude,” Sehun gasps, eating a bit more consciously now. Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow, “Don’t act like I haven’t noticed your spills either.” Sehun pouts as he wipes the spots of soup that he spilled on the table.

Suho worriedly puts his hands on the table, “But seriously. Are you okay, Hana?”

“You look like you’re exhausted,” Kai remarks, earning a slap in the back of the head from Chanyeol. 

Hana meekly rubs the back of her neck, “I’m alright, I’ve just been busy with work and stuff so I haven’t gotten much sleep.” Sehun clicks his tongue, “You and Baekhyun hyung are always so busy now.” 

At the mention of his name, Chanyeol just knows that Hana’s shoulders are gonna drop again and that her eyes are gonna divert to the floor as she plays with her fingers. He decides that he’ll stop it from happening this time. He flicks a piece of kimchi at Sehun, who gasps in shock as it lands right next to his arm resting on the table. “Why would you do that, hyung?”

“Make yourself busy and eat your lunch.” Chanyeol says, clearing his throat as he avoids Hana’s questioning gaze. He places an extra piece of meat onto her tray and meets her eyes, “And if you’re gonna keep overworking yourself, you might as well make sure you’re well-nourished for it.” 

Hana decides to take a few bites of her food after that. Not because she’s feeling hungry or appreciative of Chanyeol’s actions, but rather, she’s a bit afraid that he’ll flick some kimchi at her as well. She knows that he would never do such a thing to her. But after observing Sehun, she’ll stay on his good side just to be sure. 

//

Right when the hand on the clock strikes 3 PM, Hana is the first person to bolt out of the classroom. She doesn’t even stop by her locker. The girl immediately stands at the front gate entrance of the school, waiting for a familiar face to stride out. Am I being too clingy? 

Before she could convince herself that she is, in fact, being too clingy and acting like a fangirl, she hears familiar laughter heading her way. As she looks up, she sees Baekhyun walking down the path with the other boys. His phone is in his hands, like always, waiting for an important message or call regarding the company. Kai notices the girl standing at the gate and blinks, “Oh, it’s Hana.”

Baekhyun finally looks up and meets eyes with her, casting a warm smile in her direction. Her heart flutters and she forgets the negative emotions she felt towards him this morning. As he stands in front of her, she shyly asks, “Are you busy? I was hoping we could go try out the new cafe that opened down the street today.”

The boys glance at each other behind Baekhyun, curiously wondering why he isn’t grabbing her hand and leading the way as usual. Baekhyun’s face falls a bit as he replies, “I’m busy today, baby. I texted you earlier.”

Hana tries not to get disappointed as h