The next morning, Minji couldn’t believe her eyes when she entered the kitchen. She found Baëkhyun preparing breakfast—an unexpected sight. The smell of fresh pancakes reached her nose and made water. She loved pancakes, and he must have known about that.

“Good morning,” he said, throwing her a look over his shoulder. He was standing in front of the stove, holding a pancake turner in his hand. “Did you sleep well, Minji?”

“Yes, I did,” she answered, smiling at him. “Have you been up long?”

“A while,” he said. “Sit down, the food’s almost done.”

She took a seat at the table, looking at the steaming coffee cups he had already placed on it. “Are you always doing this?” she asked curiously, staring at his back. She wouldn’t have thought him to be the attentive type of boyfriend, but it seemed like she had been wrong about that. It didn’t happen often that someone made breakfast for her—actually, that never happened, so she was all the happier now.

“No, but I wanted to leave a good impression today,” he replied cheekily and smirked at her.

“Weirdo,” she said, chuckling. “You could have just said yes.”

He put the pancakes he made on two plates and carried them to the table where he set them down. “Why would I lie to you, sugar?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She felt heat shooting to her face and shyly dropped her gaze at her plate. “Don’t call me that.”

His chuckle reverberated through the kitchen. “You like it.”

“Do I?” she mumbled.

“It makes you happy. You can’t deny it,” he smirked confidently.

“How would you know?” she sulked, busying herself with eating breakfast. And damn, the pancakes were heavenly. Where had this guy learned how to cook?

“I just have a feeling,” he replied ambiguously, giving her no answers at all.

She sighed, cracking a smile. “That sounds very convincing, Baëkhyun.”

Instead of answering her, he grinned, showing his pearly white teeth. The blue of his eyes was dazzling when it was illuminated by the soft sun rays falling in through the window. It was a vivid color, almost too vivid to still be considered natural.

“So, about my memories,” she began, picking up her coffee cup and watching him over its rim. “I want to regain them quickly, but I don’t know how. Do you have any idea what I could do to trigger them?”

Baëkhyun leaned back in his seat and glanced at the ceiling while he thought. He scrunched his forehead. “That’s a good question. We should revisit a place where we’ve been before.”

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she sat up in her chair. “I know!” she gasped. “What about the place where we first met? That surely would trigger happy memories.”

He coughed awkwardly, his face looking like he had taken a bite from a sour lemon. It wasn’t the reaction she had expected. “That’s not a good idea,” he muttered.

Her excitement dimmed. “Why not? Did something happen?” she asked concernedly. “Where was it?”

“In your… flat,” he said reluctantly, not looking her in the eyes. His behavior weirded her out.

“Huh? Were you a burglar?” she joked, but he didn’t react to it and continued to look at the tabletop with a frown.

“No, I wasn’t. You invited me, sort of,” he muttered. “That’s how we met.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. I would never let a stranger into my home. Why did I do that?” she said suspiciously. Since she had finished her food, she now focused all of her attention on him which he didn’t like.

“Minji, don’t ask so many questions, okay? We will try something else to get your memories back,” he continued, hoping to divert her attention from this topic. “We visited an amusement park a while ago… and we could also return to the arcade where we had a date.”

Sighing, she decided to let the problem go for now. “Both sounds good to me, but I think I would prefer the amusement park.”

“Good. We could leave right away,” he said but interrupted himself when he remembered something. “That is if you’re feeling well enough for that. Wouldn’t want to aggravate your injuries.”

“I’m fine. A bit of fresh air won’t do no harm,” she smiled. She stretched her arms and got up to gather the dishes. He helped her and filled the dishwasher.

“Then it’s a plan. This time, we won’t ride any rollercoasters though.”

“Why not? They’re the most fun!” Minji pouted. She looked at him in confusion, noting his grumpy expression.

“I don’t like them,” he grumbled.

“That’s strange,” she hummed, putting her hand on her chin.

“Why?”

“Oh, I’m just surprised that you’re scared of rollercoasters. I thought you were braver than this?”

“Huh? I am brave!” he countered offendedly. “And I never said I was scared!”

She smiled sheepishly, not sure why he made such a fuss over her remark. Maybe he had a big ego. Everything she had learned of him so far certainly pointed that way.

“Baëkhyun is the bravest, got it,” she teased and put another plate in the dishwasher.

She missed his surprised expression. He was astonished at how easy it was to get along with her even though she hardly remembered him. They were in tune with each other despite her amnesia, and their bickering was just the same as usual—almost as if nothing had happened at all.

Before she could pick up another dirty plate, he stopped her. “Let me do the dishes alone. It’s better if you take it easy. Sit down, sugar,” he said and ushered her back to the table.

She glanced at him and sat in one of the chairs. “You said it again,” she mumbled.

“Huh?”

“You always call me sugar. Since you seem to like pet names, I’m wondering whether I gave you one as well,” she said and watched him in anticipation, curiosity swirling through her brown eyes. “I think I would do that…”

He cleared his throat, annoyance crossing his face. “No, you never did.”

“What? That can’t be true!” she insisted, increasing his annoyance.  “I sure did!”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“What kind of argument is that? You’re a child,” he said exasperatedly and shook his head.

“If you don’t tell me, I will guess,” she decided stubbornly. Baëkhyun leaned his hips against the counter, crossing his arms. His blue eyes flitted from her pouty lips to her determined gaze. A small smirk settled on his face. In a way, she was cute when she sulked, but he would keep that observation to himself.

“Then guess all you want,” he snickered. “You will never find out.”

She thought for a moment, looking at him. What kind of pet name would make sense for someone like him? Maybe it had something to do with his appearance? She studied him for a moment, her gaze moving back to his dazzling eyes.

“Hmm… angel eyes?” was her first guess, but he didn’t like it at all. If anything, he seemed to be offended as if she had insulted him.

“No,” he grumbled instantly. “Never compare me to an angel. They are the worst.”

She didn’t understand what kind of problem he had with angels. Weren’t they viewed as kind and pretty? Not in his opinion, apparently. “Whoa, okay. I just thought it would sound nice because your eyes are really beautiful.”

“Yeah, I know that,” he answered smugly, smirking at her.

“Uh… okay. That’s a very arrogant attitude,” she couldn’t help but remark. Secretly, she kept wondering how someone like him had become her boyfriend since they were an unlikely couple. It was questions like this one that spurred her to regain her memories as soon as possible.

On top of that, whenever she asked him about something specific, he became strangely evasive and she had a good hunch that he was omitting certain details about her life. She wasn’t sure why, but she hoped he wasn’t trying to hide something bad from her. Minji couldn’t take another disappointing relationship.

“So?” he asked, arching his eyebrow. “You are definitely in love with me, and it’s not like my attitude really bothers you.”

Minji blushed, glancing down at her lap. He was so straightforward and full of himself, she couldn’t believe it. “W-Well, I’m not sure about that at the moment. I kind of forgot…” she stuttered nervously. Nonetheless, she couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him. More than just a little bit.

He sighed. “Right, you forgot,” he said disappointedly. “But you are not opposed to our relationship. You’re blushing all the time around me. Think I wouldn’t notice?” He switched from disappointed to cocky within a few seconds, prompting her to raise her head and look at him. A grin curled his lips.

“H-Hey, don’t change the topic! I still want to find out the pet name I gave you,” she said, flustered. “My next guess is… cutie pie?”

She blinked, thinking that his eyes had looked red for the fraction of a second. “Stop fooling around, Minji,” he complained. “That’s even worse than the actual thing.”

“Then maybe it’s Baëkkie?” she asked. That sounded simple enough. It was basically a cuter version of his name.

“No,” he hissed like a bristling cat. He acted like she had attacked his pride and dignity with this, and she found it somewhat amusing.

“Aww, then what about tiger?”

His jaw dropped. “What? What kind of name is that? We’re not in the zoo.”

“Baëk? Or just Hyun?” she asked, leaning forward in her chair. This had to be it… it had to be! Sadly, she was disappointed.

“No, that’s so boring you wouldn’t actually use it.”

“You’re right,” she mumbled, staring at the ceiling as she pondered over it. “Oh, I know! It must be Hyunnie.”

“No!” he said much too quickly, his surprised gaze giving him away.

“Yes, your expression said it all,” she chirped. “I got it! Hyunnie it is!” As soon as those words left , she was overwhelmed by another memory.

“I can’t believe this is the same person who blushed over cotton candy,” Minji mumbled. She was curled up in bed, laying in his arms.

“Huh, what did you just say?!”

“Nothing,” she giggled and playfully tugged at his braid. “I think it’s time to get up now. We can’t stay in bed all day, Hyunnie.”

“Is that your favorite new nickname now?” he grumbled, not looking too happy about it.

“Yes, or do you prefer Baëkkie?”

“No!”

“Hyunnie it is,” she smiled. He already opened his mouth to throw a fit, but seeing how happy she was, he closed it and swallowed his complaints.

When she returned to the present, she felt a bit dizzy, and she saw that he no longer stood at the counter, but next to her chair. Concern brimmed in his eyes, but it melted away when she glanced at him.

“You spaced out suddenly. Did you remember something?”

She mulled over what she had learned, and there was one thing that stood out to her. With her lips forming a smirk, she giggled. “Yes, I did! Apparently, cotton candy makes you blush?”

The change of emotions on his features was entertaining to watch. At first, he was appalled, then in denial, and at last, he looked annoyed. “It does not!” he growled. “I have no idea why you would believe something so atrocious!”

“I’m sure that it happened!” she persisted, and he got very upset about it.

“Listen, I am a powerful demo—” he began but cut himself off.

She laughed, hiding her lips behind her hand. “What was that? Were you about to tell me that you are a powerful demon?” she said sarcastically, lowering her tone to imitate his voice. “That’s ridiculous, Hyunnie. It’s even more ridiculous than the cotton candy thing. Men are so strange.”

He opened his mouth to counter, but then closed it and changed his mind. “Yeah, I was just joking around,” he said with a sigh. “Why don’t we leave soon? The amusement park won’t stay open forever.”

She agreed with that and left the kitchen to get ready, putting on warm clothes since it was a cold November day. The sky was cloudy, and perhaps it would rain later on.

While she was busy, Baëkhyun tried to find out where Mochi had scurried off to. It was important that Minji didn’t see the small demon since she likely wouldn’t take it well. A glowing translucent cat wasn’t exactly normal. When he didn’t find it in the entire flat, he assumed that it was somewhere outside.

The only thing that slightly worried him now was that Minji might see certain supernatural beings when they left the house. So far, nothing of the sort had happened, and he would make sure it stayed that way. He would need to steer her away from them—and scare the smaller demons off with his magic. It was risky, but sooner or later they would have to leave the house, there was no way around it.

He didn’t want to break the fragile trust he had managed to build between them. Her finding out about demons and the like wouldn’t bode well for either of them.

The amusement park wasn’t as crowded as last time which was probably due to the cool weather. It was only the start of November, but the Halloween decoration had already been replaced by Christmas decoration. Since Minji liked this season, she was excited to see it.

Baëkhyun on the other hand was unimpressed and didn’t grace the plastic snowmen with his attention. Minji noticed that he was distracted and looked around a lot as if he was searching for something. He had been doing it ever since they had left her flat, but she didn’t know why. Maybe he always acted like this? I