Daeon walks towards the business department with nimble footsteps, nervousness very clearly coating the edges of her being. It isn’t like she hadn’t been coming and going for a bunch of days to meet up with Baekhyun and dragging him to spontaneous dates to get to know him better, and it isn’t like he refused her or told her a blatant no, too. However, her nervousness never ceased up, and every time she’d take her first steps towards the department; she’d be devoured by her consistent anxiety that’s wrapping her soul and turning her into actual liquid mush.

She stares around her and doesn’t dare take a further step inside. Soulmates or not, dating a professor is a big no-no, and she doesn’t want the wandering teachers to catch them as they hang out, so she makes sure she doesn’t pass the line in front of so many viewers, and pretends to be just a student that wants an innocent help from her professor. Thankfully, she’s not from any of the sister departments around the business department, so not a lot of students recognize her as a student herself, which also helps ease some of Baekhyun’s own anxiousness as well. He’s a whole body full of anxiety himself; and her existence shouldn’t cause him more uproar.

While she stands there in a better choice of clothes than usual; she takes her vision over different people, trying to detect Baekhyun’s existence knowing that he gets off at this time of day, which coincidentally matches the time she finishes her own classes. The universe seems to really be on her side this time. 

Quickly, she catches sight of him with other teachers, talking to them with a polite smile full of indigenous expressions. Ever since she knew he was teaching in her university, and she’s been visiting him so that she’d slowly make him learn about her permanent existence and accept it, and that she works to remind him he’s not going to get rid of her so easily. This meant she’d sometimes drag him into dates that he never agreed to, forcing him to talk under cones of ice cream which she discovered he really loved and usually coaxed him to speak. These spontaneous trips of hers helped her get to know him more, and she came to know some of his quirks. Such as the polite smile he has on as he speaks to the other professors surrounding him; knowing that the real emotion that he truly feels within is irritation to be interrupted from going home so easily like that and being unable to say anything about it to anyone.

She almost giggles at how hard he’s trying to prevent his eyebrows from twisting into annoyance and clearly show his emotions; but she holds herself and gives herself a quick once over to check if anything in her clothes is out of place. Then, she turns to stare at him again, praying to whatever deity out there that she doesn’t look starstruck. 

She’s just about to take the first footsteps to reach him when her shoulder is slapped by an excited hand from the back, and Jieun appears next to her with a profound smile of happiness upon her catlike face.

“Hey bestie,” she exclaims, catching her attention with her chirpy personality and making Daeon feels even more nervous. “I almost thought my eyes were deceiving me when I saw you standing. It’s a little odd seeing you here. What brought you all the way to the business department?”

“I—uh— well..” Daeon nervously twiddles with her fingers, her eyes going from her friend’s naturally excited face to Baekhyun’s face, who now has noticed her and raised a hand up for a wave, only for him to dip it down at the last minute upon noticing Jieun, his eyes going wide when he remembered exactly who she is. 

Jieun follows the line of Daeon’s frequent stares and how apprehensive her friend looks, and then gasps, her eyes meeting with Baekhyun’s wide eyes. Right away, Jieun turns to Daeon and smacks her on the shoulder repeatedly. 

“Oh my God. Don’t tell me it’s that jerkface from the club!” Jieun blinks and blinks, her surprise very easily showing on the sharp crannies of her face. She snaps her head back towards Baekhyun again and releasing another dramatic gasp. “What the heck is he doing here?”

“He—well.. you see..—“ Daeon once again sounds nervous and overbearingly overwhelmed, which should have alarmed Jieun, but instead the girl was brewing with curiosity more than anything. 

“Spit it out!” She slaps Daeon’s shoulder one more time, her expression now narrowed and suspicious. 

Daeon sighs and simply moves her hair aside so Jieun could see her soulmate mark. Jieun gasps for the third time; her eyes going over the large sun over her friend’s neck; and looks back at Baekhyun with narrowed eyes, seeing the same mark there on his neck as clear as the sun. At first, Jieun’s a little suspicious, having not guessed something like that to end happening at all. But the mark on Baekhyun’s face, although smaller, but still so prominent; and it makes her anger shifts into woe-induced cry.

“He’s your soulmate?” Jieun shrieks. Daeon smacks her palm instantly up her friend’s loud mouth, shushing her.

“Shush! What the heck— lower your damn voice!”

Daeon mostly shushed her friend as if not to startle every single student that’s walking beside and between them, and to the fact Baekhyun’s cheeks are already lighting up in embarrassed redness. His glasses fall down his nose like those anime scenes that are ludicrous; and Jieun instantly glares at him while Daeon flashes a sheepish, flustered smile. 

Jieun turns back to her, mostly to ignore Baekhyun’s flooded stares than anything; her eyes narrowed. “How come I didn’t notice? He’s flashing his sign to the whole world and I know you have a soulmark exactly the same on your neck, yet I didn’t notice!” Her expression of suspicion and apprehensiveness shifts into a panicked expression. “And I even cursed at him! Called him bad names behind his back! Wished he’d get all types of STDs! , , . I’m sorry, Daeon.”

“You don’t have to apologize. You didn’t know who he was,” Daeon says in shock at Jieun’s instant shift in mood. First she was out of her mind with rattled annoyance and now she’s forgiving? It seems oddly misplaced but knowing Jieun’s enormously easily shift in moods, Daeon didn’t question it; she merely patted her friend’s woefully lathered back. “And you didn’t notice because you only saw my mark one time. I bet you already forgot how it looks like. You also never thought he’d end up being my soulmate.”

Jieun still looks guilty. “Yeah, you’re right.” She then sighs. “I didn’t even notice he’s in my own campus. Damn, I’m stupid sometimes.”

“You don’t remember the names of your classmates, Jieun, let along faces. I don’t hold it against you.” Daeon smiles teasingly, now ruffling her friend’s hair affectionately. 

Jieun stays silent for a bit, staring at a very awkward Baekhyun who doesn’t know whether to approach him or flee, before asking curiously. “So why are you just standing there staring at him?” She turns to her friend in worry. “Did something... happen?”

Daeon sighs, and she hopes that her sigh doesn’t sound so steeped in misery and despair. “Lots happened. I’m here to prevent more from happening.”

“What does that mean?” Jieun’s suspicion rockets back to her. 

“I’ll tell you later.” 

“Daeon—“

“Jieun, I promise,” Daeon holds Jieun’s hand and squeezes her in reassurance, her eyes kind. “I’ll tell you later. Now’s really the worst time ever.”

“Fine,” Jieun breaks their interlaced hands in childish tantrum, pouting. “I’ll drop this because of the numerous cuss words I had in store for him in my mind and never said. I’ll just decide to be the better person, for now.”

“I never heard any of them.” Daeon says curiously, wondering what type of colorful words her friend has in store. 

Jieun just pats her head in sympathy. “My head’s a very ugly place. You should thank God that you can’t hear most of what I want to say.”

Daeon pretends to kick her. “Get the hell out of here, you loon.”

Jieun walks away sniggering.

When she does finally go away, Baekhyun takes the courage to take the remaining steps between them to close the distance. His hair’s flopped cutely over his forehead and his glasses look too huge for his round, delicate face. His cheeks are still littered with blooming redness of his previous embarrassment and Daeon actually sees a flicker of fear in regards to her friend Jieun. 

Once in front of her, he clears his throat. “Your friend?”

She smiles softly at him. “Yeah. She’s in the business department. Didn’t you notice her before?”

“Sweetheart,” his lips unconsciously of him curls into a small smile; his eyes releasing abright twinkle behind those large glasses of his. “I’m only a sub here.”

Daeon’s heart practically soars at the pet name that he regarded her with, and although she’s used to such babyish names from Chan