“It’s quite rare for us to get some alone time huh?” Yugyeom quipped, sipping on his iced tea. “Youngjae always third wheels, or he hogs you all to himself. Sneaky person.”

“You don’t usually reach out to me,” Baram replied, twirling the straw in her lemonade.

“Why are you making it sound like I’m the one who doesn’t want to hang out with you?” Yugyeom pouted softly.

“Are you insinuating that it’s my fault then?”

Baram raised a brow, staring at the tall male sitting across from her. Despite towering over the girl in height, Yugyeom still did not dare challenge Baram. He had seen Youngjae’s failed attempts at arguing with the girl and he was not foolish enough to expose himself to such mental torture.

“Let’s just blame it on Youngjae,” Yugyeom finally suggested just as the waiter brought their pizza to the table.

“Youngjae’s fault it is then.” Baram nodded in agreement, her lips curling upwards in amusement.

Yugyeom eagerly reached for the pizza, placing a slice in Baram’s plate first before grabbing one for himself. Biting into it, the cheese stretched out causing the male to struggle. Baram let out a soft chuckle while she handed Yugyeom a napkin to wipe the mess he was creating.

It was rather uncommon for it to be just the two of them hanging out. Youngjae was the proactive one who reached out to Baram, and Yugyeom would naturally tag along every time. It would be no exaggeration to say that Youngjae was the glue that kept the three of them together. Whether he wanted to or not, he had unknowingly become the older brother figure for both Baram and Yugyeom, and thus he was stuck dealing with Yugyeom’s clumsiness and Baram’s aloofness. It was a miracle really that he had not gone ballistic on the two of them just yet.

Then again, his weirdly blossoming friendship — if it can be called that just yet — with Jaebum might do him good in the end. Though Baram also suspected that it might just increase the frequency of his headaches because Bambam and Jackson were not easy to deal with either and Baram was certain that Jaebum went through plenty of headaches on a daily basis because of their foolish antics.

“Where is he anyway?” Yugyeom wondered, munching on his slice of pizza. “I tried to get it out of him, but he just refused to tell me.”

“He’s probably too embarrassed to say,” Baram snorted. “His mum set him up on a blind date and he wasn’t allowed to refuse.”

“He wha—”

Shocked by the revelation, Yugyeom choked on the food and got caught in a coughing fit, his face turning red. Chuckling, Baram silently chewed on her pizza, patiently waiting for Yugyeom to regain his composure.

“Why did he not tell me?” Yugyeom exclaimed in offence. “And why do you know?”

“His mum called me recently asking if he was seeing anyone,” Baram replied, the corner of her lip lifting into a lop-sided grin.

“Do you have a photo of the girl?”

Yugyeom leaned over the table, excitement oozing off of him at the mere thought of Youngjae being on a blind date. His grin wavered however when he saw Baram shook her head in response, a wave of disappointment hitting him as he sat back and pouted. Seeing how disappointed the younger male looked, Baram tapped on her chin thoughtfully before nudging him with her foot.

“But I’m sure Youngjae’s mum will send me a photo if I ask.”

Eyes brightening up instantaneously, Yugyeom batted his eyelashes at Baram as she took out her phone and sent a quick message to Youngjae’s mum. Within minutes, she received a reply. Opening the attached image, Baram arched a brow, her expression blank.

“Why that face?” Yugyeom asked impatiently. “Show me show me show me.”

Baram wordlessly handed her phone to Yugyeom, waiting to see his reaction.

“Holy, she looks way out of his league!”

“I’m so going to tell him that,” Baram hummed, taking a sip of her lemonade.

“You look like you don’t approve,” Yugyeom commented, taking in the contemplative look on Baram’s face.

Fiddling with the straw of her drink, Baram’s eyes shifted around as she formed her thoughts into concrete sentences.

“It’s not that I don’t approve. But I don’t think it will work out. She’s a regular at Eclipse.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yeah…” Baram nodded. “She’s always lingering around the bar area with her friends, flirting with Jackson or Bambam whenever she gets the chance. I see her every time I go to the speakeasy. That type of girl is not exactly Youngjae’s type is it?”

And her friend was all over Mark last night. Baram added to herself mentally, but she decided against sharing this part of the conversation. Also it reminded her of the less than friendly conversation she had with Jaebum and she was in no mood to dwell over it just yet.

“Most definitely not.” Yugyeom agreed.

The two friends fell into silence, each focusing on the food in front of them before Yugyeom tapped Baram’s fingers, catching her attention.

“Should we warn him?”

Baram bit her lower lip as she stared at Yugyeom. Eventually a mischievous glint crossed her eyes. Smirking at her expression, Yugyeom’s eyes reflected the same glint.

“Nah,” the two said in unison.

“He’s smarter than that,” Yugyeom concluded. “At the very least he knows how to judge people.”

“You say that with so much certainty.”

“He is a good judge of character though,” Yugyeom insisted. “Which is why if Youngjae approves of Jaebum, then he is for sure a decent guy.”

“Careful there,” Baram chortled. “You’re staring to sound like a diehard fanboy.”

・・・

“I wish I could enjoy days like this more often,” Yugyeom exhaled while stretching hi