Stars scattered above the night sky were not dazzling as it ever seemed to Irene. She was in that state of mind where you don’t hear or see anything. Don’t sense anything else other than your heartbeat, your breathing and swirl of emotions in your chest.

Here she was. Standing near the edge of the same rooftop, with the same person that she met a year ago, at the same season. However, her reactions were not the same. Her pounding heart giving her almost physical heartaches. Beating hardly enough for her to hear. But, of course, her face having a peaceful expression.

She was unsure of the reason why did she even go up here. The girl started to think that maybe she was a psychic. Her sixth sense never made mistakes when it came to solve a problem or find a way when it was nearly impossible. So maybe her intuition told her to be here. With Baekhyun. With a deathly silent boy who rarely shuts his mouth. For whom she, unfortunately, seems to develop unexpected, strange feelings. Luckily, she was a master at covering everything up.

Irene saw from her peripheral vision that he moved his head to look at her. She stiffened and moved her orbs away, at the city. Even if she wasn’t directly looking at him, she felt ashamed like a girl who was caught in peeking. Her never ending anxieties holding her breathe. She did not know where that came from. When she noticed that Baekhyun was still looking at her, she timidly gave a glance to his direction.

His hair seemed to have a reddish tone that it kind of looked like a beet. He was wearing a grey hoodie and what seemed like black pants. She did not dare to look down to observe, so she didn’t know exactly. There was a backpack on his shoulder and Irene concluded that he too was coming from a practice. When she finally reached his face awkwardly, the shine in his eyes made her feel envious of its owner. She wanted to shine brightly like him too.

Baekhyun’s eyes traveled through her face. He opened his mouth to say something but shut it afterwards, turning to face his front. Ears red. Irene thought he was cold but wasn’t so sure. She noticed the subtle change of his expressions. With more bravery this time the girl asked him what he wanted to say.

“Just something silly came to my mind. It’s nothing,” he looked at his front, smiling innocently with his white teeth.

“What is it?” her curiosity took over.

The boy glanced at her and found her looking at him, silently asking for reply.

“I just thought that it’s ridiculous how you and Taeyeon sunbae… look alike,” his answer took her by surprise. Irene never in her life thought or found herself near any of the SNSD seniors in terms of visuals. Though she never drooled upon their flawless faces and figures, she did think that they are pretty. And to know the fact that Baekhyun found them looking quite similar flattered her.

“… and it just got to me like, only now!” she heard Baekhyun laugh at himself, “that’s unbelievable.”

“What is?” Irene was ashamed that she drowned in herself for a second to miss out his words, “could you repeat? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch.”

Baekhyun stopped his smiling and cleared his throat. “I said that I’m a fool to not notice it until now, even though we are friends,” he rubbed his neck looking like a red beet indeed now. He was thankful it was night time now.

“Friends?” Irene couldn’t believe her ears.

“Yeah. Aren’t we friends?” he was scared now. ‘Do I look like a dumb now?’

“Uh… yeah,” she nodded absentmindedly more to herself than to him. “Friends,” curling up a bit at the ends, eyes wide.

‘Cute.’ Baekhyun concluded in his head sighing in relief.

Not being able to control his mouth he said: “Since we are friends, shouldn’t we exchange contacts?”

“What?” Irene saw him raising an eyebrow at her playfully asking. Her racing heart making a comeback with flaming cheeks in addition. ‘Is that a crush? What I am feeling? Oh God…’ her eyebrows frowning at confusion.

“Well, you know… like KakaoTalk. It’s free and is really comfortable to chat there. Do you have an ID?”

“Uh… no. I don’t have any SNS accounts yet.”

“Well then,” Baekhyun got his phone out from his back pocket, “your number.” He looked so cute she wanted to punch herself for thinking like that. His playful aura looked so attractive on him. She did not want to think about anything else.

Irene then took his phone with trembling hands and typed down numbers that she remembered for a few years now. ‘Why am I shaking? I’m acting like a teen!’

Nervous, she handed back his phone and averted her gaze at the view in front of them. She felt cold wind playing in her hair cooling her off. She was grateful to the dim lighting or else there would be no place she can hide.

 A sound of camera clicking made her snap out of her state and look at the boy. He smiled to himself saving her contact with a photo of her peaceful face. Looking up at her his grin widened, “what? I always save contacts with photos. It’s easier for me to know who’s calling without looking for a name.”

“Why?” she looked amused with an evident smile on her face.

He became red. He never saved contacts with photos. ‘Guess I’ll start doing it now.’  He just felt like doing it. He cleared his throat and furrowed his eyebrows.

“How ‘why?’ Because I’m lazy,” he deadpanned, clicking on his phone. ‘Nice save.’

Joohyun giggled to herself, before she sensed her phone beeped in the pocket of her jacket. She took it out looking at the notification of the missed call.

“That’s me,” Baekhyun nodded at her phone. The idea of him having a photo of her made her want to do the same. Although, it was better for her inner condition not to do it. ‘Who cares? I want to be bold too.’

She opened her camera, directing it at his face and snapped a quick shot of his smiling face with his cheeks protruding out. Not wanting to look at it long, she gazed at his suspicious eyes. His smile didn’t disappear though. Instead flowing into his full boyish smirk.

“Copying me?”

“No.” she answered dryly. His cheeks coming down, eyes turning into rejected ones.

“I’m lazy too.” She did not want him to know the real reason.

There was a silence for a sec, before she heard him chuckle.

“Are you free for now?” he asked out of nowhere.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Do you want to hang out? Boys made a promise to go out today for a good late night meal. But these fools just left me after the practice, saying that they were dead tired. As if!” he whined.

She never knew that tiredness could be washed away that fast. Almost half an hour ago she was sleepy, wishing for a good night sleep. ‘Tomorrow is my day off. Why not go out and have fun. We are friends, so I can trust him, right?’ She smiled at her spontaneous decision. So before the boy could get his whining the next level, she stopped him, agreeing to his request.

“Okay?” he was confused.

“Okay.”

“Really?” his eyes becoming bigger, his orbs shining hope.

“Yes, really.” She was patient with his questions when something came to her mind. “But… is it okay for you to go out? You are an idol now.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not famous enough for people to recognize me,” his posture and everything looked so sure, that Irene did not have a heart to say no.

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