Of course, the party had already started. Starved for months, the students — at least the ones who made out alive — were all dying to get back to being their trashy, regrettable selves. 

Bunch of people were on the front lawn. Most of them stoners. Someone was trying to grill something; it just had way too much fire going on. A girl came over to him, smacked him on the head and started to yell at him for burning her meat. 

A couple had made a comfortable space for themselves with a big sheet and pillows, they were gazing at the sky, arms around each other and goofy smiles on their faces. 

Baekhyun spotted Bora standing in one of the balconies, eating ice cream and talking to a pale tall girl whose name was probably Dasom. She waved at him happily, bouncing on her feet. He waved back.

The music (some club banger that probably had a name, no that anyone cared) that was already so loud to his ears when he was outside, assaulted him heavily when Baekhyun walked into the house. The floor was shaking, the ceiling was shaking, there were sweaty and loud people everywhere. Thank goodness Junmyeon had a strict ‘no smoking inside’ rule. 

“Baekhyun is HERE! BAEKHYUN! BAEKHYUN! BAEKHYUN!” 

Baekhyun looked around and spotted Chanyeol, in room no:1, beckoning at him madly, a homicidal grin on his face. Everyone around him was waving at him too. How were they drunk already? 

“BAEKHYUN! BAEKHYUN! BAEKHYUN! —” 

The chant wouldn’t stop, so Baekhyun dropped his present on a table with the rest of the presents (mostly wrapped boxes and bags, but there was also a small pot of cactus, a desk lamp, an old copy of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, a box of cereal, and other random stuff a college student had lying around) and made his way to the crowd. 

“HERE, TAKE THIS!” Chanyeol ed a shot at him. Baekhyun took it, sniffed at it and grimaced. He felt himself getting drunk just by the sharp, intruding smell of it.

“What’s in it?” 

“I DON’T KNOW. BUNCH OF STUFF! IT’S GOOD!”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!” Baekhyun demanded, frowning.

“Taeyeon made it — SHE’S YOUR EX!!”

Baekhyun deflated in relief. He looked around and saw Taeyeon (she was just visible through the open kitchen doors) sitting on a counter, bunch of bottles around her. She looked like a cute witch experimenting. 

“NOONA MADE THIS!” Chanyeol yelled again.

“WHY ARE YOU SO LOUD?” Baekhyun yelled back at him, and some girls on his immediate vision started giggling. 

Chanyeol paused, thinking. “I DON’T KNOW!” he boomed and started laughing, his whole body seemed to be vibrating. 

Baekhyun got rid of the shot in one go, refused the next one Chanyeol immediately brought it out of nowhere. “That’s revolting, you dip. Obviously she hates you. How was your exam?”

“Probably passed it.” He yelled, and then held his glass high. “TO PROBABLY PASSING!” 

“TO PROBABLY PASSING!” the people around him cheered and took their shots too. Chanyeol put down his glass really hard on the table, seemed to get startled, but then started to smack the table. Everyone joined right away. 

“TO PROBABLY PASSING! TO PROBABLY PASSING!” They chanted and banged the table together, like they were doing some sort of weird ritual to call the devil for their aid once again. Baekhyun left them to it.

In room no:2, which was stuffed with couches and chairs, Hyuna and Dawn were participating in a Nerf championship game. There was a jar full of money that the winner would get. All one needed to do was hit as many targets as possible out of twelve, which were mostly small toys placed in random places. Baekhyun put 20,000 won into the jar and waited for his turn.

He hit the minion on the table easily, then the ghost plushie, the nose spray bottle, and the screaming purple alien on top of a rocking chair fell down one after another. But a Deadpool lego figure standing on top of the calendar on the wall, the absolute er, marked his fall. Screaming in agony, Baekhyun passed the gun to the next contender; Hyuna had already hit the Deadpool so his hope for victory was already gone. 

There were a bunch of cupcakes in all the colors of the world on a table in the corner, so Baekhyun picked up a few and settled down on a couch. Dawn came to sit next to him, watching the rest of the contestants try to beat Hyuna’s record (17 toys). 

“Hello, boys,” Hwasa purred. She never just seemed to talk like a human being. She was like this cheetah goddess having fun amongst the (lucky) mortals. Always smiling and smirking and swaying and waving … and she had arms full of Cheetos.

Dawn took two packages with a grateful moan, threw one to Hyuna before opening up his own. 

“Hey, come sit down,” Baekhyun invited.

“Nah, I’m gonna go dance. Just came here to share these goodies with you, they’re running out real fast you know?” she said, dumping the rest of the packages on Baekhyun’s lap. She ruffled Baekhyun’s hair and went off. Dawn thanked her.

Right after, looking pale and scared-to-death, Mino came over and sat down opposite Baekhyun and Dawn. His eyes were open but they didn’t seem to be seeing. Baekhyun eyed Mino’s new tattoo on his chest peeking out (his shirt was quite low-cut) and his jacket was two sizes too big for him, as usual. 

“Here, drink this,” said Jihoon, shuffling over. He looked flushed and nervous. 

Mino took the bottle of water without really looking and drank the whole thing down. 

“What’s wrong?” Dawn asked.

Jihoon laughed nervously, and he cast a fearful look at Mino, who was still just staring dead ahead. “He … eh … took a dare — I dared him so it was my fault — basically he failed to submit his paper …” he trailed off and took some hasty steps back because Mino jumped up. 

“I’m gonna go to his house and apologize. There’s no other — you think I can find a boombox? — Do you have a big old boombox?” he asked Baekhyun, like he just saw him.

“Eh … no, sorry,” Baekhyun answered. “Where do you want to go?” 

There was absolutely no way in hell he was letting Mino go out in his current state.

“No, you can’t go!” Jihoon cut in. “You can hit me — fine, I deserve it — but you can’t go to Professor’s house — two Professors’ house, may I remind you?”

“Wait, wait. What did you do?” Baekhyun asked. “Maybe I can help.”

“I dared him to submit his papers when there was one second left till the deadline,” Jihoon said, looking down at his feat. Mino threw his empty bottle of water at him, which hit Jihoon squarely on his head. Jihoon, probably feeling he deserved it, only pouted and didn’t make a sound. 

Dawn choked on his beer that he had just opened up to wash down the cheetos. 

Baekhyun willed himself to keep a straight face. “Let me guess … eh… it didn’t submit in one second?”

Mino nodded, looking so thoroughly miserable that Baekhyun decided not to spread the story around tonight. There was always tomorrow. 

“And why do you need a boombox?” Dawn asked, coughing loudly and also determinedly keeping a straight face. 

“To woo him?” Mino said weakly. “He’s old, and there’s always those guys asking for another chance with a boombox over their head in old movies.”

“Who’s the Professor?”

“Tablo — the coolest one in the whole school!” Jihoon answered. “He’ll understand.” he was obviously desperately wishing for it to be true, out of guilt. 

“You may have a chance if it’s Professor Tablo,” Baekhyun said, nodding slowly. “He’s extremely understanding because he himself needs a lot of understanding from others. I’ve no idea what he would do if his wife also wasn’t at the campus. A wild card in human flesh. Extremely chaotic — chaotic good, though,”

Dawn laughed. “Yeah, he once shoved everyone close for a test, put a camera in front of us and threatened to fail anyone who moved out of the frame. He slept during the whole thing. Said his daughter would watch the video later on for cheaters, apparently that’s how she earns her pocket money,”

“See?” Jihoon said, pulling Mino into a hug, who was looking a little bit hopeful. “The man’s a legend.”

“Then why hasn’t he answered any of my emails? He didn’t pick up his phone once! ONCE, JIHOON! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD I WORKED THIS YEAR? — YOU GO!” Mino roared, suddenly very angry. “YOU GO AND BRING HIM TO ME, YOU 3G! OR TAKE ME TO HIS HOME!” he had Jihoon grabbed by the collar and was shaking him back and forth. Poor Jihoon’s head was uselessly dangling. 

Dawn started choking again and people around them were laughing their wasted asses off. Baekhyun, on the other hand, cleared his throat, switched his legs for his cross-legged position — a power move, demonstrated marvelously by a baby-legged Deadpool in Deadpool 2 — and said, “I think he got how very sorry you are, Mino,”

Mino turned around so fast to where Baekhyun was looking and winced like a kicked puppy, clutching his head. 

Professor Tablo was standing by the room’s entrance, wearing a knitted sweater over a button-up. His hair was a spectacular example of a cow-, and he barely had time to open his mouth when Mino screamed and flung himself fully on him. Jihoon, horrified, quickly wrapped his arms around Mino’s stomach and pulled him away. 

“Stop calling me, you plugged nose,” Professor Tablo said, fixing up his outfit. “What’s the matter with you? Why did you call me 36 times? Are we going through a divorce?” 

“I’m so sorry!” Mino wailed, still trying to get to him. “Can you please please accept my papers? Jihoon here!” he turned around and the said sad boy to Professor Tablo, and smacked his head, ‘’he — ing idiot — no, wait, sorry I said that, Professor — he dared me … we were kinda drunk and I always lose my brain cells twice as fast when I’m with him and —”

“’s sake, man, calm down,” Professor Tablo said, rubbing his eyes. “I get it — I’ll accept your submission. Go get a drink or something. Now my brain cells are dying. Actually,” he added, as Mino and Jihoon hugged each other and started jumping up and down gleefully, “go eat something, you lost weight again, holy …”

“But why didn’t you answer my emails?” Mino asked, looking hurt. 

“Because my daughter finally leaves me and my wife alone for a few hours a day, and we don’t intend to waste it by doing our jobs,” 

Mino made an understanding nose and then flushed in embarrassment. 

“We were napping, you sad blister. Do you know how tired we are to get you all dips to graduate and go away?”

He smoothly avoided Mino and Jihoon’s attempt to pull him into a hug, swatted a threatening fist in the air and spotted Baekhyun. 

“Good evening, Professor, want a cupcake?”

Professor Tablo eyed it suspiciously. “What’s in it? If I come home high, you know my wife won’t speak to me until I cry,”

“Eh … they’re just cupcakes, Professor,” Dawn said. “Hyuna placed an order for tonight.”

“Ah, but I really should be watching what I’m eating these days,” Professor Tablo said, sitting down and accepting the cupcake Baekhyun held out to him. “Have to pay attention to like my cholesterol level,” 

He took a bite and moaned in delight, looking down at it like he was holding his baby. “I forgot how good these tasted! You know there was a time I went without eating a single slice of cake for years?” He finished off his cupcake, frowned when Baekhyun didn’t present another one right away and motioned with his hand impatiently. 

“Will you stay, Professor?” Dawn asked Professor Tablo as he gobbled down the second cupcake. 

He shook his head. “Nah, gotta go home now. Just dropped in to make sure my favorite still had a pulse. Not that I do favorites with students, but he’s my favorite.” He shot a dirty look at Mino, who was sitting beside him, looking at him with all the love in the world. At least, that’s how he must be looking Baekhyun guessed, from behind his heart-shaped sunglasses with a pink frame that he had whipped out. Along with his sunflower patterned bandana wrapped around his head, he looked like the prettiest, most out-going Russian grandma.

“I’ll never forget this, Professor. I really appreciate it.”

“You sober now?”

“Yeah, I sobered up pretty much right away when I realized what I did — what he made me do,” Mino turned around, presumably to shoot a dirty look of his to Jihoon, who was … not there. 

“Yeaaaah, he walked away as soon as you guys stopped hugging,” Dawn supplied helpfully. 

Mino groaned. “He promised to be my for the night — sorry, Professor. I was gonna make him bring me all of my drinks, wipe my nose and stuff.”

Professor Tablo merely chuckled. He heaved up himself with a deep sigh. “I’ll let you kids party now for real, then. OLD MAN GOING! I REPEAT, OLD MAN GOING!” he yelled around. Some students cheered. “I HEARD THAT AND I’M SALTY ENOUGH TO FAIL YOU!” 

“HANG ON, PROFESSOR! DON’T GO — HERE!” Chanyeol came running into the room, spilling half the contents of the shot glasses he was holding. Baekhyun saw he had forced a bottle of some liquor into his back pocket.

“I’m not drinking —”

“BUT IT’S SO GOOD!”

“Really — you drink it. I’m leaving —”

“BUT I RAN HERE FOR YOU!”

“That’s sweet of you, Chanyeol —”

“WHAT IF I NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN?”

‘I don’t plan to die so soon, you little —”

“ARE YOU DRIVING TONIGHT?”

Professor Tablo didn’t say anything for a moment, but then, ‘NO!” he shouted, more like roared, and Chanyeol jumped in fright. His eyes were huge and were bulging out ominously. “MY FRIEND DROVE ME HERE! I JUST DON’T WANT TO DRINK YOUR PISS!” he yelled into Chanyeol’s face.

Chanyeol looked really confused for a second, his lips trembled, but then, “IT’S NOT MY PISS, IT’S TAEYEON’S! — NOT HER PISS — SHE DIDN’T PEE IN THIS!” and he took a shot, as if to prove it.

Mino fell on the floor laughing. Poor Dawn was choking again. Baekhyun’s stomach was starting to hurt from laughing, he fanned his face with his hands, wheezing. 

To get rid of Chanyeol, who was now clutching his legs, Professor Tablo poured the remaining glass of shot into his throat, grimaced, kicked Chanyeol aside and left, muttering to himself.

Jihoon was seen briefly, waving Professor Tablo goodbye, but he saw Mino, who was looking up from the floor, and ran. Mino ran after him, cursing. 

“Baby, look what I got!” Hyuna jumped over the couch and landed on Dawn’s lap, who made a wincing face but didn’t make a sound. She was holding a jar full of money.

“That’s amazing, baby. You’re amazing,” Dawn whispered, brushing her hair away from her face. Smiling sweetly, Hyuna pulled him into a kiss. 

With no wish to take Hui’s place as the campus’ national third-wheeler, Baekhyun got up from the couch, stepped on Chanyeol deliberately, who was still on the floor and made his way to the kitchen. He was craving something warm and fried. Actual food, not junk. Actual food and then junk, he thought, nodding to himself seriously. 

All the guys who were standing around in the kitchen, obviously hoping to get Taeyeon’s attention, glared at him the moment he entered. Baekhyun, simply unconcerned, let Taeyeon pull him into a hug. He noticed one of the guys make a jerky movement. 

“Hi, did Chanyeol finally die?” Taeyeon asked, looking very pretty with her platinum blonde hair braided into two.

“Sadly, no. But don’t lose hope yet; the night has just begun.” Baekhyun said to Taeyeon, and then, “What’s that you’re pounding?” he asked a blond guy, who was sneaking looks at them.

“Mashed potato?” the guy answered, offering him some.

Baekhyun tasted it. It melted inside his mouth. “Dude!” he shoved the guy on the shoulder. “This is so good — Taeyeon come, taste this.”

The guy swallowed nervously and offered Taeyeon a spoonful of his mashed potato, his hands were trembling terribly. Taeyeon just smiled at him sweetly and took the spoon. 

“This really is good. Why’re you making this?” she asked.

Blushing furiously — even his ears were red — the Mashed Potato dude answered, “My friend is grilling some meat outside. He said — I thought rice and mashed potato would — would go well. Maybe … um … maybe you want to eat with us? There is plenty! We have a bunch of kimchi — so many types — and ummm my classmate is making salad, too ...”

He stood there, hopeful. 

“Korean beef!” A guy by the sink shouted out of nowhere. Everyone jumped. “My friends are on their way. You’re welcome to eat with us!” 

“We have beef and pork and chicken and fish! My best bud is an amazing cook, Taeyeon!” the only girl in the room said, entering the competition. She smiled smugly. “All kinds of drinks and games and those of us who don’t drink will drive us home,” 

“We can do other stuff too if you want!” the sink guy added right away. 

“Anything you want,” said the Mashed Potato Dude.

Then everyone was shouting out offers, promises of a sweet night well spent, all getting louder and louder in an attempt to drown the others. 

The story of Taeyeon’s life. 

Taeyeon’s hand brushed by Baekhyun’s, it was only for a moment but Baekhyun understood her plea for help. He took her hand firmly. “Why don’t we go dance? I think you played your part well enough for the party.”

She nodded. 

The jerky-movement guy opened up his mouth to say something but didn’t, looking like Baekhyun did him a great injustice. Baekhyun flipped him off. He kept his middle finger in the air until they were in room no:3. 

The room was on the other side of the entrance door. It was almost as big as the previous two rooms combined. It had no furniture (so that’s why room no:2 had a bunch of stuff stuffed in it), just a small stage for the DJ and Junmyeon had someone install three poles in the middle of the room. It was quite dark and the lights were turning and changing colors randomly. 

The DJ — it was Mino — was swaying emotionally to the slow y music he had going on. 

Hwasa was using one of the poles with a pretty blonde girl. Her friend was wearing a delicate looking white bralette and skinny jeans, and Hwasa had her signature cropped green and white t-shirt on, along with white shorts and a garter stockings.

There was a petite girl dancing alone near them and she was looking at them with wistful eyes, biting her lips. 

On the second pole, Nana was dancing alone. She had her back to it, her legs spread wide and hips swaying sinfully. Her long blond hair was moving along with her, and her arrogant, y smirk was visible. 

Some people around the door, who weren’t dancing were just staring at her, transfixed. 

“Oh my,” Taeyeon whispered, as she had just noticed who was on the last pole.

Kim Junmyeon, the birthday boy himself, the man of the night, the president of this cursed frat was humming along to the music with an emotional expression on his face, he looked almost nostalgic. , he looked old. One hand on the pole, he was just going round and round. His other hand was holding a bottle of a drink that Baekhyun didn’t know, half of it was gone. 

Taeyeon pulled Baekhyun a little bit more into the room and started to dance slowly, her eyes on him. Baekhyun winked at her and started to dance too. 

“Nobody you liked back in the kitchen?” Baekhyun said.

“Hmm no,” Taeyeon answered. She closed her eyes and really started to get into the music, bringing her hands around his head and then down down down. 

After a minute she asked, “You busy tonight?”

Any other night, Baekhyun would have said no. He would have stayed the night with Taeyeon, like they did many times after they broke up. Whether they slept together or not didn’t really matter. Taeyeon trusted Baekhyun and Baekhyun was determined not to let her down. She was his first love, after all; he would always love her. 

But tonight, Baekhyun realized, something was different. Maybe because it’s been a long time since they stayed together for the night, or maybe (and this was most likely) it was because Baekhyun’s heart leaped again today after so long. 

He didn’t know whether he would see Jongin. He just knew he really wanted to. And it would be unfair for Taeyeon to have Baekhyun when he had someone else in his mind. She wouldn’t like it if she knew anyway. 

“Someone on your mind?” Taeyeon said, guessing his thoughts as usual.

“I think so,” Baekhyun said. “Sorry, but I might be busy from now on.”

Taeyeon’s smile was sad but it was a smile nonetheless. “Ah, I had hoped for one last night, but I’m really glad we had this, you know?” she said, coming close to him and wrapping her hands around his neck delicately. Baekhyun took her waist and she leaned her head on his chest. 

“Me, too” Baekhyun whispered. “Thank you — and I know this is really greasy and cliché but thank you, thank you for the memories.” 

“You have to be happy, okay?” Taeyeon said. “Thank you for the memories too. It was really fun and I think it really helped me understand just how good relationships could be,”

Not for the first time, Baekhyun realized just how tiny Taeyeon was. He kissed her head and hugged her tighter. “I’ll be happy,” he promised. “And I know when I see you again one day in the street, you’ll be laughing and cooing at your baby that you dream about.” 

Taeyeon giggled into his chest and then sniffled. “Will you say hi to me?”

“Nah, I don’t think I will,” Baekhyun said. “I think I’ll smile and nod to myself, and know that at last the world did you right.”

“You’re so mean,” she said, but with no bite in it. “Our promise still stands, right? You might have to marry me in 20 years, you know?”

Baekhyun chuckled. “Yeah, it still stands. Come and find me if we’re both single at over 45. We’ll marry, adopt three adorable kids, a cat and a dog, and we’ll do such good jobs in raising them that they’ll go to sleep every night excited for tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,”

Tears were forming in his eyes so Baekhyun blinked them away. 

Taeyeon looked up at him and said, “I love you,”

“I love you too,” Baekhyun said. He kissed her cheek and she kissed his. And somehow, deep down in him somewhere, Baekhyun knew that their promise was not to be fulfilled. 

“Hey, Mino!” Baekhyun shouted, as Taeyeon pulled back. “Shoot me a Macarena, will ya?”

With an automatic reflex to obey a direct order from a senior student, Mino gave him a thumbs up and played the song right away. 

“Aww — hey!” Junmyeon protested but everyone was shouting. Those few who weren’t dancing joined into the circle. Baekhyun and Taeyeon happily shouted and started doing the iconic dance that shaped a generation. Their eyes never left each other and they kept making their moves goofier and goofier to make the other one laugh. Then they pulled out their 70’s disco moves and moved their hips and chest exaggeratedly. 

“ afoiejrkljfaljkdlaowolkajflkjwe … Heeeeeey Macarena! AIGHT!” they sang together, laughing their asses off.

Taeyeon’s eyes were tearing, but from laughter, her cheeks were all flushed, and Baekhyun thought she never looked prettier. And he was grateful, for this memory too.