“Remember when we first met?”

Your head lifted from its laying position on Baekhyun’s chest, raising a brow to him at his sudden question.

Tonight was one of the nights where you and Baekhyun shared your exciting endeavors. And now tangled up in skin and a thin blanket, you were really hoping to just fall asleep while he rubbed your back soothingly. But it looked like he had a different idea about after care.

As much as you love Baekhyun, there are times after that you just really wished he wouldn’t have the energy to have a full on conversation while you lay together. Sometimes, you just wanted him to pat your softly while humming to your favorite lullaby and fall asleep like the big baby you are on his chest. And being the that he is, would occasionally sneak his hand between your thighs and tease you once he notices you dozing off.

Your neck was tired from being held up for so long, so you rested your chin on your hands which were propped up by Baekhyun’s (he calls them ies because he’d hit the gym twice last month and believes they’re comparable to yours now. “Don’t hit my babies!” He had shrieked when you retorted by smacking them). You cleared your throat, feeling like it was dry from your previous activity before answering, “Of course I do. Why?”

“No reason. It’s just, I think about it once in a while, and we’ve come a long way.” Despite his casual words, he looked, you dare say, slightly nervous and it confused you.

Maybe he was getting uncomfortable from you laying on his arm. Did you gain weight? Maybe you did because you do recall eating a lot more than usual a couple weeks ago. Your face unknowingly contorted into a scowl because if your sudden weight gain was the reason, he had no right to complain since you were bored. Baekhyun knows well that you tend to eat out of boredom a lot because your mouth gets lonely, and he had been too busy for you to occupy it with him.

You even remember him coming back from his one week trip with his friends with an evident pout on his lips. You had an earful that day about how he was regretful about leaving if only he knew he’d be getting unlimited s. Of course you gave him one to make up for his loss only after refusing to for a whole day. He had looked so cute with his bottom lip jutted out that you just couldn’t help but a little longer until you gave in.

Baekhyun noticed your lack of response and gazed down at you, and even with a now double chin you still found him so attractive, “Sweetheart, are you listening to me?”

“Did I get fat?” You question in a small voice, completely ignoring his question. Your brows were furrowed in concern.

Baekhyun tilted his head to get a better view of you now, and he looked almost offended before breaking into a small chuckle. “Well, you could be pregnant. You have been eating a lot,” he says jokingly which earns him a jab to his .

“I hate you.”

“I love you too.” He coos softly, lips in a pout now. “Anyway, going back to what I was talking about—“

You cut him off, feeling a small temper building up already, “We met at my grandma’s funeral.”

“I know.” With his hand waving dismissively, he sits up on his elbow, making you whine from not being able to lay down anymore. Instead, you roll onto your back and he wordlessly leans forward to block the ceiling light from your view with his head, knowing that you’re sensitive to light. You notice his eyes going down to catch a glimpse of your s, so you poke his arm to get his attention again, “Could you believe we’d be here now?” He continues.

You swat his hand away when he brings it to press a thumb in the middle of your forehead, rubbing your frown away. “No, I seriously thought you were an —“

“But you love my .” He states proudly.

You scowl, “And you talked too much for my liking—“

“But now you won’t shut up.” He points out matter of fact.

“And—“ You raise a finger, about to go on your long list of things you had hated about him at first glance.

“That’s a lot you have to say about me from just one encounter, sweetheart.” Baekhyun chastised softly and leans down to press his nose against yours, stealing a playful kiss from your lips. “Should I be worried?”

This time, it was your turn to pout and you even slap his , “That’s because I did have a lot to say about you back then.”

“And what about now?” It was impossible for a person to be so handsome, yet here he was in front of you with a waiting look.

“I’ve come to terms with who you are.” You concluded, looking away when he smiles down at you because you’ve just lost.

As much as you loved picking small fights with him even though you never won, he knew it was your small way of showing your love for him. So he always played along. However, that wasn’t the case at first. Within your first year of dating and getting to know each other, both of you had gotten into a big fight over your constant need to stir up some drama. But you had cried so hard afterward into his chest and apologized so many times, maybe even mumbled some other words, that your insecurities came out.

You didn’t even tell him. But Baekhyun knew in that moment that you were scared of becoming boring to him. And you had taken up the idea that small knit picks were your way of establishing that you had more to offer. He pulled you closer on that cold night, and whispered that he’d still love you even if you were just a plain white wall. Which elicited a small giggle out of you and wiped your snot on his shirt.

“I had a lot to say about you too when we first met.” Baekhyun sighs softly as he enjoys the way your hand reaches up to play with his silver locks, tossing them between your digits.

He had a tendency to dye his hair, and this time, it was a silver color, almost white. When he told you he was going to go with such a bold color, you were scared at first that he’d look like a ghost. But now, you can proudly say that it was one of the very beautiful colors that you absolutely loved on him. Besides black. He always look good in black. (“I thought you said I’d look washed out?” He teased when you couldn’t stop tousling his freshly dyed hair. He was playing candy crush on his phone while his head laid on your lap, and the smirk on his face wouldn’t leave his lips when he noticed your taken liking to his white hair. You scoffed and immediately stopped your actions, retorting that true love is when you still love him even after his haircut. He only laughed and took your wrist, gently placed your hand back on his head and said, “I love you too.”)

Humming softly, your demonstrations stop and instead, you press the shell of his ear between your forefinger and thumb, rubbing it soothingly. Peering up at him under your lashes, you offer a small smile, “What did you have to say about me when we first met?”

“Nothing that you had to say about me, that’s for sure.” He wrinkled his nose and looked down at you expectantly.

“I love you?” You whisper softly, flashing an innocent smile.

He snickers and pulls away to lean on his back, and you take it as your opportunity to climb back and lay on top of him again. Once your face comes into his view, he brings his arm to lay it over his eyes, “Too late for that. My feelings are hurt now.”

Baekhyun was the more mature one out of you two but he could also be the babiest as well, “Aww you want me to give you kissies baekkie?” You coo teasingly.

“Don’t call me that.”

“But I like calling you that, Baekkie.”

There’s a small pause, as if he were really thinking about whether he should let you call him by the cute nickname for a kiss or not. You knew that even after so many years of being together, Baekhyun loved getting kisses. It made him happy. “.. When I first saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Soft, his words came out soft and you would’ve missed it if he weren’t all that occupied your mind.

Wanting his attention again, you lift his arm from his face, and let it drop to your pillow next to him, “You didn’t think I was y?”

Playfully growling, he lifted his head to bump his forehead with yours softly, “When I got you in bed, you were the iest.” His face was wrinkled from squinting once the light was back on his face, and you chuckle softly at the lines forming around his small eyes. “But when I first saw you, you were beautiful in my eyes.” And just like that, you were dazed by his words.

—

Your eyes were burning like tears were threatening to fall, but you knew that couldn’t be true since you had already spent the last week crying. Your body couldn’t possibly have any more fluid in itself to produce more tears.

Standing in a row with your older sister and her husband in front, your feet were aching to rest as you greeted guests after guests. Everyone who came to mourn over the death of your grandmother, you knew some and the unknown faces you reckoned your mother knew. With fidgeting fingers and sweaty palms, you could only force a small smile while the bodies continued to flow into the building.

The last week had been a train wreck for you emotionally and physically with the preparation of the funeral and your own feelings. You were close with your grandma and her death really took a tow on you. Even though the signs had been obvious for almost a year prior, one couldn’t possibly prepare for the time it’s knocking at your door. And certainly, you weren’t prepared to say goodbye just yet. Not that you even had the chance.

A week ago, you were off in the woods with your friends on a camping trip. No bars and reception, your friends had called it a healing time. You agreed since a trip out in nature and away from the buzzing city really was peaceful, and you’ve always had a soft spot for greenery scenes. Little did you know that you’d come back with a heavy heart and disappointing news though.

“Did you want to go rest?” The soft whisper of your older sister barely reached your ears. Your head was pounding from the lack of sleep and rest was everything that you needed in the moment. But you only shook your head and readjusted your posture, standing taller compared to your earlier slouching figure.

This was your last memory that you can have of your grandma and you didn’t want to miss a second of it. Sending her off well to wherever she would go was the least you can do.

You couldn’t help but to feel guilty, especially after knowing that everyone knew your grandma was going to pass while you were away but had refused to tell you because she didn’t want you to miss out on your trip. Of course you were angry at first, but came to understand where they were coming from. It was your grandma once again being the selfless person she was.

Your sister looked worried for you, knowing that you hadn’t had a proper meal in two days because you were too sad. And though she wanted to urge you more to at least have a seat, she knew you wouldn’t budge. Growing up, you were always the more stubborn one when it came to thinking about others.

Standing felt like hours on end but every time your eyes went up to look at the digital clock, only two minutes would pass since the last you checked. And that was how it was for the next couple of hours until you finally dispersed into a small corner of the funeral home, sitting alone at a bench.

Being the only close relatives of the deceased, your family and you were floating around the building passing out drinks and snacks every hour to guests and having small talks with distant relatives about what’s going on in their life. Of course they did the talking and you did the listening and only mumbled “okay” and “yeah” when appropriate. You never found it interesting to talk about yourself since you weren’t exactly going places anyway.

Finally sitting alone, you cursed at your decision to wear heels. Even though they were only 1 inch heels, you definitely started feeling the pain after a long day of walking around. You debated if you should take them off but decided against it since you didn’t bring any back up shoes and walking with no shoes at a funeral would just be disrespectful.

Speaking of your grandma’s funeral, you sigh softly. Realizing that, in the midst of everything going on, you never got to accomplish your last wish to your grandma.

“You want to switch with me?” A male voice laced in amusement suddenly asked, as if mocking your pain. It was smooth and sounded like it could belong to someone who recites poems.

You look up towards the sound, and nearly lost your breath at the stranger. You’ve seen quite a handful of attractive men but he wasn’t just good looking, he was handsome and maybe even a little beautiful. Definitely very easy on the eyes. His hair could be mistaken for black at first glance, but you could faintly tell that he was sporting some brown if the light hit him from a certain angle. He wore a black dress shirt with the ends tucked neatly into some matching black dress pants. And your favorite part was that his sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. You loved that certain style on a male. But the smirk on his face as he watched you suffer was enough for you to roll your eyes at him. His question even found its way under your skin and you snapped.

Normally you wouldn’t lose your temper too easily, but it must’ve been the build up from the stress of the day and he was the cherry on top.

“Do you want to die?”

Playfully, he fakes a wince which causes you to roll your eyes once again. He even goes as far as placing his hand on his chest, “That’s not very appropriate for a funeral.”

His fingers were pretty. You noticed them immediately when he pressed them against his black shirt. Long and slender with curves at every knuckle.

“If I said yes, would you give them to me?” You mumble after some seconds of silence, taking your time to take in the man’s appearance.

He cranks his neck to face you, hand quickly coming to brush the loose strand of hair that fell over his forehead from the sudden movement, “Give you what?”

You blinked and slowly pointed down to his black shiny shoes that looked like they’ve never been worn before until tonight. As innocently as you could muster, you cocked your head to the side and pointed out, “You asked if I wanted to switch shoes.”

He blinked back, half shocked that you actually took his words seriously. It was just his way of approaching you, someone who he felt instantly attracted to upon arriving, and now he was possibly going to leave the funeral with heels on.

His silence made you crack a smile, but you quickly bit it back, wanting to see how far he’d go to impressing you like how he had wanted to, “Well, would you?” You softly pressed on.

“Probably not.” After much debating on his end, he finally mumbles his answer. His shocked stare is now focused on you and instantly, it morphs into a teasing grin, “I have a small shoe size.”

You wanted to smack him, “Are you saying I have big feet?”

“Does it look like I like to look at your feet?” He retorted back, one knee coming to rest on the bench as he shifts himself to finally face you completely with his body, his neck getting tired from staying in it’s cranked position for too long. And it felt like you guys would be bickering back and forth with no end, so it was the better alternative anyway. Unknowingly, you do the same with your body, completely forgetting the fact that you’re in a black skirt. The only realization of it is when his eyes unconsciously shift downward towards your legs, getting a peak of your white thigh due to the position having shuffled your dress higher up.

The small revealing of your skin went straight to his . If he looked longer, he’d be able to make out the small veins on your thigh as well but you had chucked a displayed pillow next to you to his face.

“Well, you’d look really good underneath my shoe right now.” Sneering, you quickly reach for the pillow, the one you sent hurtling his way, and placed it on your lap. You were leaving his imagination high and dry and his uncomfortably solid.

God, you would think a man like him got laid more often.

“That’s , and we just met.”

“You’re unbelievable.” You wanted to roll your eyes but you didn’t, and it was taking every nerve in you to not roll them so far back that you’d see your own brain. He didn’t look embarrassed at all for getting caught checking you out. “What next? You’re going to say how y it’d be for me to beg you for the shoes?”

Perhaps you just gave him an idea. He was back to smirking out you, face a little taunting, teasing, and y. He didn’t even have to say anything because you already knew what he was thinking about at that moment.

Immediately, you shrieked, almost too loudly for your own good in this funeral home, “I’m not going to do that!”

“I wasn’t saying you were going to.” He simply raised his hands up, but you knew better that that was exactly what he was going to say.

“But you want me to.”

“I was raised with manners.” This caused you to frown. If he truly had manners then he’d know better than to openly check you out. “If you want something, a simple please will suffice.” He was grinning from ear to ear now, this was exactly his way of getting you to beg.

“I don’t want your shoes.” You whisper shout.

You watch as he just shrug his shoulders, “I wasn’t going to give you them anyway.”

“So, why’d you ask?”

“So that I could talk to a beautiful girl.”

This time, you don’t hold yourself back from rolling your eyes, despite his words causing a tug at your heart. That was actually kinda cute.

“You could’ve said hi instead of giving her false hopes.” You wave your hand around, ushering between you and him as you suggested.

He wrinkles his nose, the very action making him look very cute compared to looking handsome like he has been the whole time you’ve stared at him, “But that’s a bit overdone.”

“Saying hi?” You question, confused.

“Hi.”

That was all he said with the cutest and most innocent smile on his face. He looked hopeful.

Clearing your throat, you look away awkwardly, hand coming to scratch at your neck even though you weren’t even itchy. It’s just always been a habit of yours to do when you don’t know what to say. You rake your head to find a way to continue the conversation because as much as you didn’t want to admit it, you quite liked talking to the stranger. In the midst of debating if you should ask him what kind of bread he liked, you realized that you didn’t know him. And you doubted your mother knew him. You don’t even remember greeting him this morning so he must’ve came later. Perhaps just now.

You looked around and saw that you and him were the only ones sitting away from everybody else.

With a raised brow in question, you couldn’t help but ask, “Did you know the deceased?”

A little part of you wanted to know what his business was here. If he was related to you or not and if so then why haven’t you noticed that you had such a good looking relative. But also a little part of you wished he had no relations to your grandma because well, he was good looking.

He leaned back on the bench and seemed to be contemplating the question. What if you were related? He could be your grandma’s father’s uncle’s nephew’s cousin’s uncle’s niece’s daughter’s son. And even that small slither of blood relation has you feeling sick because you just about ogled the man’s face.

“How about we go somewhere else to get to know each other?”

You blinked.

This unreasonably attractive man just suggested going somewhere else to talk as if he was asking to borrow a pencil. For all you knew, he could be a murderer, one that would lure its victims into the dark and kill them from behind before disfiguring their bodies. Or worst, a . And if it were any better, you were at a funeral. As if this place weren’t the most ominous.

You your lips, which were becoming dry, “Try again.”

And you couldn’t believe you were giving this man another chance to convince you to go with him. To your own ears, you sounded like you were asking to die tonight. It’d be ironic, that’s for sure. You blamed it on his looks. It was always the good looking ones that you had to watch out for. Not often does a murderer look ugly.

You hated the way he looked so amused. You weren’t a comedian so nothing that you said was funny, but he seemed intrigued and you were already on your tiptoes about to follow him to wherever he would take you, if he would just ask again. But maybe a little slower, his lips a little while he’s at it too, and perhaps even shoot you another one of his annoying smirks.

He was definitely happy that you didn’t outright reject him, and it showed when he leaned closer, “This funeral is looking a little boring. Why don’t we leave to do something fun?”

Try again, my .

As quickly as your interest peaked, it deflated. And you didn’t know if you were now offended or just irritated again. Looking straight ahead now, you stand, face void of emotions as you mumble, “Sorry, I have to go back to passing out snacks for my grandma’s funeral.”

You could see the shock on his face from your peripherals. He definitely wasn’t expecting you to be so close to the deceased but you didn’t care anymore. You were busy running this “boring” funeral after all.

“Wait, I didn’t-“ he exclaimed.

But you didn’t wait long enough to hear him. Walking away, you left him alone on the bench with wide eyes and mumbling about how he ed up. All he could do was watch your retrieving back, your figure disappearing into the kitchen.

That moment, he decided that your looked good in black.

Grumbling, you push the kitchen doors open, them swinging violently forward and then backwards after you enter. This caught the attention of your sister since she had stopped placing cans of sodas onto the