The next morning, Byul woke up in a room that was definitely not hers. She was facing an unfamiliar white wall, not the comforting pale blue walls that she was used to. Remaining frozen, she wondered what she was doing there and then recalled the night before. Everything hit her like a punch to the gut.

The party.

She got drunk.

She was with Sehun and then—

Oh no. Sehun.

Where was she then? Sehun would worry. He would be upset with her for being reckless. Once Byul noticed how much of the blankets she could feel against her skin because, well, she wasn’t wearing any clothes, her head started to spin. She wanted to puke—not sure if it was because of the alcohol she consumed the night before or because her brain was refusing to believe everything she was realizing.

Byul felt the bed shift followed by a deep, husky groan.

There was someone beside her and it was definitely a man. She was with Sehun, wasn’t she? She was safe. There was nothing to worry about.

She turned to her other side slowly to confirm her thoughts, the pounding in her head becoming worse with every slight movement. The man had covered his head with a pillow, clearly unamused that bright lights from the sun were pouring in from the wide window.

Byul realized she had to muster all of her courage to find out where she was and who she was with because she couldn’t exactly pretend to be asleep forever to avoid the situation. After counting to three in her head slowly, Byul pulled the pillow out of the way to have a good look at the man.

And what she saw was a familiar head of hair.

She sighed in relief. It was Sehun.

He groggily looked up at her with a sleepy smile. “Hey,” Sehun grumbled, voice still raspy from sleep. He sat up from the bed and rubbed his eyes with his palms.

Sehun’s chest and back were exposed as the white sheets fell around his waist. Byul looked away shyly and out of respect. Glancing around the room, she realized she’s never actually been in his bedroom despite all her visits. The room had high ceilings. Despite the rest of his house being so modernly elegant, his room felt a little more like him. There was a bookshelf of CDs or DVDs or video games (she wasn’t sure), a few art pieces, a ukelele sitting on a shelf. There was another big work area with two computer screens on a desk.

When she tried to recall the night before, something in her head pounded. It was like there was a giant wall in her head that kept her out of her own memories.

“Are you okay?”

Byul hadn’t noticed Sehun was looking at her in worry. “I don’t remember a lot of things,” Byul told him. Not even how she got to his house.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

She tried again to piece together the events of the night before. After a moment of thought, Byul last remembered speaking to him on the dance floor after sharing a passionate kiss.

“You’re hiding something from me.”

Sehun had gotten uncomfortable with her statement, so she didn’t want to bring it up again. Instead, she said, “Um, you kissed me.”

Sehun snickered. “Which time?”

“Wait.” Byul embraced the pillow she had in her grasp closer to her chest out of embarrassment. “Sehun did we…?”

Things in her head were slowly shifting, like gears finally turning—when one turned, the others would too and create a chain reaction. Byul remembered practically attacking Sehun’s lips when she saw that girl Minah trying to catch Sehun’s attention by the bar. Did she really shove a stranger like that out of jealousy? Byul was drowning in embarrassment.

And then heated kissing. Giggling while Sehun pulled them into a dark hallway. More kissing. The ride home that tested their patience while Sehun sped to his place. Stumbling into his house. Her back being slammed against his bedroom door with his lips at . Being thrown on his bed and Sehun crawling on top of her, his shirt already on the floor—

Byul gasped. Her hand flew to cover . She didn’t know why it only took her until then to realize what exactly transpired the night before. Their lack of clothing was the first clue for god’s sake.

There was a frown on Sehun’s face. “Don’t tell me you forgot that.”

“Actually, I remember,” she said in a small voice.

“Good.” Sehun leaned toward her slowly, reaching for a small kiss. Byul closed her eyes at the touch, feeling her body sink into the sheets like she was on a blissful cloud. He moved his head to speak quietly near her ear. His voice was husky and deep. “Because you’re quite something when you’re drunk and want me that badly.”

“Wait, what?” Her eyes practically doubled in size.

“You don’t remember everything, do you?” He burst out in laughter at the absolute embarrassment all over her features.

Byul frowned, feeling her cheeks heat up. “Don’t tease me!”

“But I’m serious!” He moved to lie beside her sideways with his head propped up with an arm. There was a stupid smirk on his face that she wanted to wipe off. “You really don’t remember everything?”

She hesitated in answering. “...No.”

He mimicked her words with a high-pitched voice that was supposed to sound like her. “Oh god. Sehun this. Sehun that. Sehun, you’re so hot. I want you so bad. Take me home so I can—”

She smacked him with a pillow before he could continue. “I did not say that! Quit it!”

He only laughed at her attack. “Believe it or not, it happened. It’s okay. I thought it was cute.” Sehun pinched her nose before rising from the mattress and getting to his feet. “I’ll get you some clothes.”

She didn’t know what to be more embarrassed about—the fact that she tried to “seduce” him or that he only thought it was cute. Her worries were interrupted at the sight of Sehun clad in only black boxers as he stood from the bed and stepped into a walk-in closet. She cursed herself for not remembering every detail of their night before.

When her head was starting to pound again, she rolled to her other side.

“Hey, sit up,” Sehun said when he returned to the bed to see that she looked like she had completely given up on life. “Don’t be whiny. It’s your fault for drinking so much before I got there.” He tossed her a grey t-shirt.

She sat up slowly and slipped on the shirt that he handed to her. “That drink you got me was really strong, you know. I don’t usually get drunk like that.”

“What drink?” Sehun sat at her side, unconsciously reaching out to smooth her hair.

“I told you while we were dancing. The one you got the bartender to give to me.”

Sehun paused. For a moment, the room was completely silent. Byul was immediately sensing something really wrong. “You weren’t kidding about that? Byul, I never told the bartender anything.”

She was confused but was sure that the bartender had been calling her name to give her a fruity alcoholic drink. Byul might not have remembered most of the night after that, but she was sure. “He was calling for my name specifically and said that a Sehun bought me the drink. The drink had this fizzy thing— Holy , it was a drug!”

Sehun’s jaw clenched. He looked like he was ready to storm out of the house and beat the first person he saw on the sidewalk senseless. Sehun thought that it was odd that Byul wasn’t sobering up quickly enough even after two hours of her last drink. He had been giving her water to help, but nothing seemed to work. He swore quietly at himself for not already knowing that she had taken something other than alcohol.

“I didn’t drink all of it though,” she assured him calmly. Which was how she was still breathing at that moment. The cup had disappeared from under her nose when she set it aside for a moment.

“Did the bartender just call your name out of nowhere?”

“He called me Eunbyul. I really thought it was you who bought the drink.”

Sehun thought about who could have done that. Would Chanyeol play a sick prank on her by drugging her? Who else could have known that Eunbyul was her full first name? Sehun groaned at the thought of Baekhyun. “ing Baekhyun…” he grumbled under his breath.

“What?”

He shook his head at her. If Baekhyun did it, then that meant he was at the party. Or he sent someone to spy on them. If that was the case, Baekhyun would know for certain that they were together—romantically together. It was strange how Baekhyun hadn’t been contacting Sehun about Byul for a few days anymore either. It was all adding up. He didn’t need to call Sehun for updates anymore because someone else was giving them.

She drew her knees together to her chest. “Did someone actually try to drug me? Urgh.”

“Yeah, I’m…” Sehun closed his eyes and sighed in frustration, unable to look at her. “Listen, I’m sorry. I should have been paying more attention,” he said brokenly.

He was more than relieved to have shown up to the party. If he hadn’t been with her for the rest of the night… If he had left her alone… She wouldn’t have woken up next to him safe and sound. Sehun couldn’t dare to imagine what would have happened. He was disappointed in himself to know that it got as far as someone slipping her a drug.

Byul looked at him in worry. “Why are you sorry? It’s not your fault at all. I’m okay. I’m not dead or anything.”

He released his grip on the bed sheets that he wasn’t even aware of until then. “But still.”

“Sehun, I’m fine,” she assured him, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed in a motion to stand. Sehun’s shirt was covering her up to her mid-thighs like a short dress. “Let’s get breakfast and… Uh oh.”

He glanced at her in concern. “What’s wrong?”

Byul clamped a hand over . “Where’s your bathroom?”

“Out the hall to your right.”

She raced out of Sehun’s bedroom like her life depended on it and made a straight beeline for the bathroom. Collapsing to her knees beside the toilet, Byul let out everything that was sitting in her stomach into the bowl. She heaved until her chest hurt. Even when there was nothing left to empty into the bowl anymore, her body seemed to want to get rid of whatever toxins was slipped into her drink the night before.

Byul felt Sehun’s presence enter the bathroom. He quietly knelt beside her and collected her hair into a ponytail with one hand while the other rubbed soothing circles on her back.

“No!” She attempted to shoo him away. “I don’t want you to see me like this. Please.”

He sighed. “Just let me hold your hair up at least.”

Once she settled down, Sehun passed her some tissue while she flushed the toilet. He proceeded to kindly help her up to her feet despite all her protesting. Byul’s body was very weak from expelling everything in her stomach and she was secretly thankful that Sehun was fretting over her so much. He slid mouthwash into her direction and she took it gratefully to rinse over the sink.

“How are you feeling?” Sehun was hovering behind her like a shadow, as if ready to pounce into action if her body decided to torture her more.

Byul noted the sad tone in his voice and knew exactly what was running through his mind. She turned to look at him directly in the eyes to mean all seriousness. “I’m better, thanks to you,” she calmly reassured. “Now stop blaming yourself for that. It wasn’t your fault.”

Sehun dropped his head in silence and his hair curtained over his eyes. He nodded slowly after a moment’s thought. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

Surprising her, Sehun reached for a tender kiss that no one would have expected to come from someone like him. Byul had a goofy smile on her face when he pulled away and looked down out of embarrassment for being caught off guard. He chuckled at her reaction.

Maybe looking away from his face wasn’t any better because she was confronted with Sehun’s chest. He had pale, smooth skin and broad shoulders. Her eyes landed particularly on a small, almost circular scar near his shoulder. It was pink in color compared to the rest of his skin. She wondered what would've happened for him to get a scar like that. It didn’t look like a typical surgical scar or a burn wound.

Sehun snickered. “Take a picture. It’ll last longer.”

For the hundredth time that morning, her face flared up in a bright shade of red. “I wasn’t—”

He placed his hands on either side of her on the counter. Unknowingly, she had accidentally cornered herself against him. Not that she minded too much. As Sehun stared her down, she noticed his eyes had a hint of mischievousness.

“Why are you so shy? Don’t act like you haven’t seen everything,” Sehun said quietly in a low voice.

The surprised sound that left Byul’s mouth was barely a word. She was so taken aback and tongue-tied that she was sure she forgot how to speak proper sentences. “S-S-Sehun…”

Without another word, Sehun scooped her up over his shoulder and carried her out of the bathroom while she erupted in a fit of giggles.

“So what’s the news?” Baekhyun eyed the person in front of him. He awaited their answer, leaning forward on his desk.

“I tried to subdue her by slipping the pill into her cup and bribing the bartender to give it to her.”

Baekhyun did not look amused. “Tried?”

“She didn’t drink the whole thing.”

“Why not?”

“I would have gotten to her, but Sehun arrived.”

That name struck a nerve and Baekhyun felt his eyebrow twitch. “Sehun? You mean the Oh Sehun that I hired to kill her in the first place?” Baekhyun’s hands were tight fists on his lap.

“They’ve gotten really close, you know.”

A folder was tossed on his desk. Baekhyun flipped it open to review its contents. His eyes scanned through the several photographs that were taken, all of which were Byul and Sehun being a little too close to each other—dancing, hugging, laughing… The last photo was of them kissing under the dim lighting. There were dozens of people around them, but Baekhyun could spot the two in a heartbeat.

“She stuck to him the whole night,” he was told. “It was hard to get to her without having to remove Sehun from the scene.”

“I hired him to kill her! Not to…! To—!” Baekhyun couldn’t even complete his sentences anymore in frustration. He waved the photo around as evidence of what he was trying to say. “I should just fire him!” He picked up his phone, ready to dial Sehun’s number and give the younger boy a piece of his mind.

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