Hei changes back to her old clothing the moment Han leads Baekhyun up to the front to pay. She takes in the dress for a couple moments more—it’s pretty, but it’s so vibrant and eye-catching in a way that’s not her, and it feels strange. When she exits the change room with the dress hanging from her arm, Baekhyun is once again being scolded by Han at the front of the store.

The old lady smiles at her when she steps into their line of vision hesitantly. She begins to prattle on as she takes the dress from Hei, packing it into a box and then into a bag.

“You should come by if you can,” she’s saying. “You’re a lovely girl, darling, and I’m sure I’ll be able to find many more dresses to compliment you. You have such a great figure as well.”

Very much unused to the compliments, Hei somehow manages a smile. “Thank you,” she replies, then glances at Baekhyun, who’s lounging on one of the chairs as he waits, apparently having already paid for the dress. She bows at Han. “I’ll see if I can visit.”

She receives a pat on her hand before she’s ushered over to Baekhyun again. To both Hei’s chagrin and amusement, Han gets in one last word to him about treating her better before Baekhyun’s promptly had enough of the nagging and makes some excuse about being on a time crunch.

A minute later, they’re once more out on the busy streets, with Baekhyun mumbling under his breath about how overbearing Han was. He notices her eyeing him dubiously a moment later, because he raises an eyebrow. “What? Old ladies scare me. They never let me talk. It’s just nag, nag, nag.”

“You clearly haven’t been put in your place often enough,” Hei shoots back.

“Touche, sweetheart. Let me carry that.”

Hei veers away from him, holding her bag away from him. “I can carry it myself.”

“I bought it,” he points out. Deciding it would be in her best interest to ignore him, Hei doesn’t reply, instead making sure to speed up her steps. Baekhyun catches up easily.

“So,” he says when it’s clear the last topic has met a stalemate, “ever dressed up and roleplayed as an before?”

Hei glares at Baekhyun. She wants to walk even faster, but at that point it’d be jogging and that would be awkward. “No.”

“You’re going to need to act a little bit more friendly with me if you want to look convincing,” he points out.

Hei spares a glance at him, which he catches immediately. She fixes her gaze ahead, trying to ignore the fact that she can still see him looking at her in her periphery. His gaze doesn’t shift elsewhere, to both her irritation and embarrassment. “I’ll act friendly with you when the time comes, but I don’t see any need for that now.”

“Have you ever heard about how practice makes perfect? Well, I’d argue that perfection takes a lot more to achieve, but the point is: if you don’t practice now, you won’t be able to get it later. And we don’t want to be slipping up tonight, sweetheart.”

Hei grits her teeth. She wants to tell him that he’s made a point of being absolutely obnoxious and it’s hardly easy to be friendly with someone that’s been pissing her off with their presence alone, but Baekhyun also has a point. And Hei knows that she’s not good enough an actor to even outwardly change her attitude towards him for an entire night without slipping up at all.

So she grits her teeth and turns slightly so she can meet Baekhyun’s eyes again. “Fine,” she replies shortly.

For a good few minutes, Baekhyun, miraculously, does not attempt to strike up a conversation. They’re not extremely far from the inn, where Hei assumes he’ll be bringing her up to date on whatever plan he’s carrying out tonight.

Perhaps it’s because she’s been walking so fast that Baekhyun decides not to chatter incessantly, but the moment Hei slows ever slightly, he wonders aloud, “Why did the Song family end up sending you for this mission?”

Hei almost halts her step, but forces herself to keep her pace steady. “Why wouldn’t they?”

Baekhyun raises his hands. “Not doubting your capabilities, sweetheart, because I’m sure you’re more than capable. But for something as big as this, why didn’t they send someone with more experience? It’s your first mission, after all.”

In full honesty, Hei doesn’t know. The Song family had sprung it on her with no warning whatsoever, and she’d been sent to Castra with the promise that her training was more than enough, all the while operating on theoretical what-ifs that she’d learned but never put into practice. Her family had sent her in blind, and she knew from the very beginning. If she was pessimistic, it was a set-up for an obvious failure. But Hei’s determined not to fail, even if it looks impossible.

“Well?” Baekhyun prompts when she doesn't answer, too lost in her thoughts.

Hei only shrugs. The inn has come into view. She’s tired and spent already and it’s only early into the afternoon. It feels like it’s already been a painfully long day, from her early start to the thief to Jin and finally to bumping into Baekhyun and the information he’d dumped on her. She doubts she’ll be able to catch a wink of sleep tonight with the whole operation in San Yuan. A nap—a nap sounded good. After Baekhyun debriefs her on his plan, which Hei isn’t sure her frazzled brain can handle.

Yawning, she trudges through the door. It’s emptier at this time of day, to her relief, because some peace and quiet before having to inevitably face the crowds at San Yuan seems nice.

“Tired?” Baekhyun asks, much closer than Hei’d expected, and she jumps at the proximity. He’s leaning down slightly, head tilted.

Hei glares at him. “I’m fine.”

He pushes open the door that leads up the stairs. “Whatever you say. Ladies first.”

Hei makes sure to bump his shoulder when she brushes past and heads up the stairs. She’s hit with a dilemma as she passes the second floor: they clearly need to discuss the plan somewhere, and the most private place would be a room. That leaves the question of which room—the two options being hers and Baekhyun’s—and she can’t decide which one is better. Or worse. She isn’t sure she wants Baekhyun in her room because she doesn’t trust him enough for that, but she’s equally unsure if she wants to be in Baekhyun’s, where he’d be more familiar and therefore at ease, with even more of an upper hand. She also doesn’t know how to phrase the question of who’s room they’re going into without it making it look like she’s inviting him into hers or asking to enter his, both of which Hei knows would probably invite unwelcome comments.

Baekhyun solves the problem when they’re mounting the steps to the third lev