“I’m assuming you’re alone in this flight” Sehun clarifies. “Yup, I was supposed to come back along with my colleagues but I had to fill in for our department chairman’s  lecture classes because he fell ill”

“You’re filling in for your chairman? Wow. You must have been doing real great for your chairman to choose you” Sehun praises. I rolled my eyes but smiled nonetheless, “nah. It’s more like because I’m the easiest to deal with among the rest”

“Shesh. You’re too humble”

“Well, how about you? Alone in this trip?” I asked steering the focus away from me. Sehun nods with a smile, “it would’ve been nice if this was a vacation but I have been working the whole time. I actually arrived yesterday morning. And now I’m flying back”

“Seems like you’re the one who’s been doing real great” I remarked.

“Nah, it’s more like because I’m the easiest one to deal with among the rest” Sehun sassily repeats my reply to him awhile ago making me laugh.  “Oh stop” I said as I landed a light slap on his shoulder while we both laughed.

“So you’re still with that dude, huh?” he asked as our laughter died down.  I nodded knowing fully whom he meant. “He better be treating you right or I’d regret not snatching you away from him” he adds.

I raised an eyebrow, “what did you just say? You planned to snatch me away from him?”

He nods. And I was more than surprised to hear what he just said after finding out what each of us has been up to, me finishing my surgical residency and him finally deciding on becoming a lawyer and passing his qualifying exam in one go.

“And why would you think of that?” I asked.

“I’ve had a crush on you before” he answers nonchalantly giving me a wink.

I gave him a questioning look.

“What? You don’t believe me?” he asked and I shook my head. “Oh come on. Why do you think would I answer your 2am, 3am messages back then? Why do you think would I even bake a cake for you if I felt nothing back then?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, “you really baked a cake for me?”

“Of course I did”

“But weren’t you crushing on my sister then?”

He rolls his eyes as if it was the most ridiculous thing he heard. “Okay, let’s get this thing straight, once and for all. I never had a crush on your sister. All I had for your sister was admiration from one gamer to another, that’s all” he denies. “I was trying hard to perfect that chocolate mousse for you but I found out about your crush on that guy named Siwon in your department so I ate it” he shares partly chuckling too.

“So you lied to me about your brothers eating the cake?” I accused and he nodded proudly.

I smacked his arm, “but my crush that time was you”

“You’ve got to be kidding me” this time Sehun was the one who was surprised.

“I’m serious! I even posted in my social media account about the colors of the jackets you wore on class” I explained.

“Those were about me?”

“Yes!”

We both laughed at our silliness.

“But your friends were teasing you to him”

“Because they didn’t know about you then”

“Wow. All these while our feelings were mutual after all. I thought it was an unrequited one” Sehun concludes chuckling. I laughed along, nodding as I agree with him.

Me: hey! You’re my classmate in Political Science under Lawyer Jung, right?

Sehun: yes, why?

Me: he won’t be holding class on Thursday

Sehun: oh, okay. How about today? Did he lecture?

Me: No

Sehun: Thought so. I was there

Me: Ow. Sorry, I didn’t know your name

Sehun: How come you were able to message me now then?

Me: Skills

Me: Kidding. Lawyer Jung is our mutual friend on Facebook .

Sehun: Ow, I see. That’s some skill you got there.

Sehun wasn’t from my department in College. But since he shifted course he had to cross-enroll to our department which at that time offered one of his required subject. I was a graduating student then and he was basically a first year.

I’ve always thought he was cute. He was tall, slender, neat, good-looking and had mysterious aura surrounding him. He always sat in the back along with the other students that weren’t from my department. He always wore hoodies despite being Spring which made him even more noticeable

The lecturer happened to be a family friend of mine and contacted me when necessary.

Sehun: here’s my number xxx-xxx-xxxxx

Me: Why are you giving this to me?

Sehun: It’d be easier for you to text me through my mobile phone regarding the announcements, don’t you think?

“So when you gave me your number…” I prodded

“I was trying to get your number” Sehun finishes. “You’re so sly, you know that?” I remarked. “Yeah, pretty much” he confirms shamelessly.

Truth be told, aside from the time that we crossed paths and called me by my nickname, this was the first time Sehun and I spoke to each other personally. Our conversations have always been through a medium, through chat, through texts. So, I am quite surprised that he could be this cheeky when talking. He always had a cloud of mystery and maturity surrounding him.

 “Who are you texting with?” Tiffany, my bestfriend asked noticing that my attention which was fully in class before has been divided. I immediately hid my phone from her but she was quick to grab my phone.

“Oh Sehun?” she whispers. “Who’s this?”

“No one that you know” I lied.

But luck wasn’t on my side, because at that moment, Atty. Jung started calling out names for oral recitation and out of the 50 students in class he called Oh Sehun.

Tiffany  immediately looked at me wide-eyed. I couldn’t lie any longer as I was pretty much red from embarrassment as my bestfriend caught me.

“You’re flirting with that guy? How did this even happened?” she asks. “I’ve always been with you but I’ve never seen you talk to him in class nor outside, so how?”

“It just happened that way, Fany ah. Please keep this from Sunkyu, Sooyeon and Hyoyeon”

“And the reason why I texted you was because I had a crush on you, no longer on Siwon”

“I achieved my goal eventually, huh?”

“you did, pretty impressive” I praised leaning back on my seat giving him a slow clap making him snicker some more which I eventually joined in.

“But you denied flirting with me back then. You told that very bubbly  friend of yours that you were just helping me out” Sehun interjects.

I scrunched up my face as I try to recall something and remembered what happened.

Tiffany  managed to keep my secret for awhile until Sunkyu who was really sharp caught me looking back at Sehun laughing at some joke he sent me. Sehun at that time winked at me which immediately triggered Sunkyu’s detective-like instincts.

“Are you flirting with that hoodie guy from Political Science class?” Sunkyu instigated which almost made me choke on the water that I was drinking. “Oh don’t you dare deny, missy. I saw you awhile ago in class. You were on your phone smiling and eventually looked towards the back of the class chuckling, looking at hoodie guy who was smiling and was on his phone also that time” Sunkyu added.

I tried to find the right words to say. Should I tell them truth which immediately would make them start teasing me to Sehun which could make things awkward and stop what I thought we had or should I not tell them the truth because I might be mistaken that we are flirting and get disappointed in the end?

Ultimately, I decided to choose the latter.

“What flirting are you talking about? I won’t deny that I was texting him but we weren’t flirting, okay? I was just helping him out since he didn’t have friends in class” I reasoned.

Sunkyu looked at me closely waiting for my composure to lose.

“Sunkyu, that guy’s probably so much younger than we are. I don’t want to date anyone younger than my sister. And besides there’s Siwon, you know?”

“Oh my gosh. You heard us?”

“Yes, I did”

“We’ll I was trying to protect our blossoming friendship then. I didn’t want to assume” I reasoned. Sehun raises his eyebrow, not believing me. “Believe me, okay? I didn’t want things to be awkward between us. I was actually hoping we’d be closer” I added.

“I guess we were both playing safe, huh?”

“I guess so” I affirmed. “And we were both unsure if we were to some degree blood related. It was the best choice for us, keeping that distance”

“I was sure we weren’t in any way related though” Sehun counters. I raised my eyebrow, “really now? How can you be so sure?” I asked.

Sehun gave a shy smile before answering, “well for one, your aunt was the one who wanted to introduce you to me, because I might be interested saying that she has this niece who was nice and was making her parents worried she might become an old maiden”

Hearing what Sehun said made me so embarrassed that I literally face-palmed. “Gosh! My aunt said that? That was so embarrassing”

Sehun chuckles seeing my reaction. “Oh yes, she did say that. I wasn’t sure if she meant the same Taeyeon who was in my political science class in the university. When I saw you, I concluded she meant the same person.”

“But she was too busy to even remember she promised me so. I wasn’t disappointed when I saw her niece though.” Sehun smoothly added.

“Even if we weren’t formally introduced to each other it made me look forward to Na Eun’s birthday party”

For some reasons, Sehun and I had some weird connections. Not only did we attend the same class, but we also attended the same parties.

Sehun was present during my younger cousin’s first birthday and that was when I found out that he and my younger sister knew each other – yet again another weird connection. The following year Sehun was still present, and in the following year, and the year after, even until the time I stopped attending because I couldn’t find the time to attend.

Although we met a couple of times, we haven’t really spoke to each other. We would glance at each other, nod, smile and wave. That was all the interaction we had face to face. But over the internet we were pretty good friends and chatted well with each other.

“I never thought you’d end up becoming a surgeon” Sehun remarks. “Huh? Why? Is it because of how I dressed up?”

“A bit? Well, looking at you now, you look like a high schooler – denim shorts and snickers isn’t something you’d usually see a doctor would wear” Sehun comments.

“If that is your way of telling me I look young, I’d accept the compliment happily. And yes, it’s not something you’d usually see. But hey, no one knows I’m a doctor here except you. And besides, comfort is my top priority.”

“I should question you back too, you know? You don’t look much like a lawyer yourself. Don’t lawyers usually wear suits?” I questioned back.

“Like you, comfort is my top priority. And only you know I’m a lawyer here” Sehun answers defeatedly.

“You oddly won’t judge my life decisions but you’d judge my clothing”

“My bad” Sehun laughs.

“I did tell you I wanted to specialize in surgery, didn’t I?”

Sehun nods his head, “yeah, but wasn’t surgery tough. I mean it’s a testosterone filled department. And you seem so fragile to be perfectly honest. Didn’t you find it hard to manage?”

“It was tough. Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m a woman anymore, I feel like I’m a man too. But you are one of the reasons I became a surgeon, Hun”

“What do you mean?”

“Your life is your life. If you’re happy, then you’re happy” I recited.

Sehun’s face was painted with a smile. “Oh, so my words of wisdom became your words to live by, huh?” He says proudly. “But wasn’t I giving you that advise when you were having problems with your boyfriend?”

“You were. But somehow, I remembered that when I was choosing my specialization and everyone was telling me I’d better go for pediatrics, including the boyfriend” I recalled, a bitter taste leaving my tongue.

“Oh, so even the boyfriend was against it?”

“Yeah, pretty much. But, we managed to somehow reach a compromise. And here I am now, a full pledged cardio-thoracic surgeon” I proudly said.

“Sehun. Can I talk to you?”

It was 2am when I sent a message to Sehun. It has been a year and half since we last talked to each other. And for some reason he was the only one I could think of at that dark moment of my life.

“I’m all ears, Taeyeon” was Sehun’s quick reply.

“I feel so lonely, Sehun. I need to talk to someone. I’m so sorry for disturbing you.”

“Hey, I’m always here for you. There’s no need to apologize”

“What happened, Taeyeon? Tell me”

“All my relationships are becoming toxic” I confessed. “I don’t think my