It’s nightfall when Hei finally returns to the inn.

She’s hungry and tired and the soles of her feet ache from walking all day. Although her hands have long recovered from the ice Baekhyun had encased them in, Hei swears that she can still feel the phantom chills travelling up her spine as she’d walked down the street, keeping a close eye for him in the crowd.

He’d been nowhere to be seen, but Hei had a nagging feeling that the whole morning of him tailing her had been intentional—Baekhyun had made sure she would see him.

But that doesn’t matter. As long as he didn’t directly interfere with the rest of the mission, Hei tells herself she couldn’t care less what he did.

The sun has long disappeared below the horizon when she drags herself into the small tavern that the first floor of the inn sports. The innkeeper, recognizing her as a family member, dips his head in acknowledgement as Hei seats herself down in a corner, stretching her sore legs and relishing the feeling of being able to finally sit. A waitress, waved over by the innkeeper, approaches Hei with a menu.

“Anything to drink, miss?” she asks.

“Water, please.” 

A nod and a bow, and Hei is alone again.

The tavern isn’t as loud as most Hei has been to, but the noise levels are still too high above comfort, even in the corner she’s sitting in. At the bar area, a group of men, rowdily drunk, are singing in an off-key pitch. There’s a table set for ten people in the center of the tavern, where it looks as if the men are having a drinking game.

Paired with the otherwise unsuccessful day, her irritation rises significantly. If it weren’t for the fact that she’d missed lunch and felt painfully hungry, Hei would’ve gone straight to her room to sleep.

The waitress comes back with a glass of water. Hei hands her back the menu. “I’ll have the special.”

A couple of minutes later, a plate of rice and overcooked meat and vegetables is placed in front of Hei. “Enjoy,” the waitress tells her in a droning monotone, and Hei has to bite back the remark of I probably won’t.

It’s all in all unappetizing, and even the hunger gnawing in her stomach doesn’t change that fact. Hei pokes at the lump of meat with her chopsticks—is it pork or beef? Or either? Chicken shouldn’t be that sort of colour, but maybe…

“You know,” someone says. “You didn’t peg me to be the sort of person who’s picky about their food.”

Hei jolts so hard that she stabs her chopstick clean through the slice of meat.

She recognizes his voice without having to see his face, but she still looks up to double-check. Sure enough, with his arms folded loosely over his chest, stands Byun Baekhyun. He’s grinning in that easy, infuriating way, careless and wild. Before she can form words through her shock, Baekhyun pulls out the empty chair across from her and slides into his seat. “The trick is to never order the specials,” he tells her. “Amateur mistake.”

Hei’s certain she’ll put her remaining chopstick through his eye if the word amateur so much as leaves his lips again. “Why are you following me?” she asks, hoping her voice doesn’t shake as much as her hands.

He laughs. “I’m not following you, sweetheart.”

“Then why are you here?”

Instead of replying to her, Baekhyun waves a hand at the waitress, who immediately gravitates towards their table. Then, with much more enthusiasm than she had previously directed to Hei, she smiles at Baekhyun. “What can I get for you?”

Hei fights the urge to roll her eyes at him, instead watching as he gestures towards her food, at the menu, and says something that’s indiscernible over the buzz of the tavern. He flashes her a quick smile, lazily charming, practiced and calculated at the same time.

The girl practically preens under his attention. With one exaggerated gesture, she sweeps away Hei’s untouched meal and disappears into the kitchen.

Hei glares at Baekhyun. “That was my dinner,” she snaps.

“I’m getting you a better dinner, and this one’s completely on me. You’re welcome.”

Hei thinks back to the undercooked rice and the brown pile of vegetables messily slapped onto the plate—a better dinner does sound… well, better. But it’s different coming from Baekhyun, and she turns towards him to frown. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Which one?”

“Why. Are. You. Following. Me.”

“Ah, that.” Baekhyun leans back on his chair. “I do recall that I did answer that one. I said I wasn’t following you.”

“Then why else would you be here?”

“I’m rooming here. Same as you, I’d suppose, or else you wouldn’t pick a place like this to eat your meals. You do know that this inn is funded by the families, right? It’s why most of us live here during our stay when we’re sent on missions.”

Hei swears her heart drops. It’s just her luck—awful, awful luck that has been on a steady downhill incline—to end up at the same inn as Byun Baekhyun. Granted, she has her own room and has spent most of her days outside, tracking down the thief, but the thought of possibly bumping into him for days—and, if she’s even more unlucky, weeks—is a headache in itself.

“I hope I’m at least not on the same floor as you,” she sniffs.

Baekhyun feigns hurt, pressing a hand to his chest. “You wound me. I’m trying to help you, Song Hei. Most people would be dying to have a meal with me right now. The least you could do right now is loosen up and appreciate it.”

As if on cue, the same waitress approaches their table again, this time with two plates balanced on her palms. She nods to Hei in acknowledgement, shoots Baekhyun a dazzling smile, before setting their new meal in front of them. “Enjoy,” she tells them (much more to Baekhyun) before heading off to serve another table.

Although Hei would never admit it, the replaced meal in front of her is an improvement by leaps and bounds; the roast chicken, while nowhere near perfect, at least isn’t burnt. The rice still looks as if it’s come from the same batch as the last—undercooked—but the vegetables look slightly more edible. Her stomach growls in response.

Baekhyun doesn’t wait for her to make her move before digging into his meal. Hei watches him for a couple of moments, contemplating picking up her plate and walking right out, but then decides against it.

One meal, she tells herself, still eying the man across from her. That’s it. I just need to get through one meal.

Slowly, Hei begins to eat as well. To her relief, Baekhyun remains relatively quiet for a couple of minutes. If she tries hard enough, she can pretend he’s not even there.