[CONTENTID1] 015. [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] Disgustingly Sweet [/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

She couldn’t believe it. She confessed.

Although Eunseo didn’t expect to confess her love to an unconscious Baekhyun, somehow it felt wonderful. Maybe because she didn’t have to fear being rejected or being heavily judged by him while letting her heart be known, somewhat. Yet while she was happy he didn’t hear it, a small part of her did want him to hear it. She wanted him to know just how much she cared for him and cherished him. 

It all felt so quick. It only seemed like yesterday, they had fought in Baekhyun’s car and now she had just confessed to him. Was it even normal for things to move this quickly?

“Thank you for shopping with us today!”

As the customer then thanked Eunseo after receiving their bouquet, their exit out of the shop led to her attention to be diverted back to the show that was starting to play by the counter. It was a rerun of one of those popular dramas, the dramas that she found herself to enjoy.

“That drama again? I just watched the same episode last night,” Eunseo’s mother sighed as she was busily cleaning up the area around her after the customer’s bouquet was done.

“I guess they needed to appeal to the viewers in the daytime as well,” Eunseo replied as she turned back toward the television. “Or just make people happy with their favorite episode playing again.”

“Speaking of being happy,” her mother began. “You’re acting a little weird. Did something happen to you at Baekhyun’s party last night?”

Eunseo turned to her mother and blinked to the woman whose eyes pierced into her. Letting out a sheepish chuckle and waved her hand off, she simply said, “It’s nothing…”

It was everything.

“You know better than hide stuff from your mother, Eunseo.” She then stepped closer and enveloped Eunseo into her arms. “Tell me,” she said in a low tone. “What’s making you so bright and cheerful now, huh?”

“Well,” she began, biting her lip to stifle a smile. “Remember when I told you that I liked Baekhyun?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I confessed to him last night.” A smile formed as she recalled the moment.

“Are you serious?” Her mother let her go and gaped at her with widened eyes. “What did he say?!”

Scratching the back of her neck, she then said, “He was drunk and unconscious, so he didn’t say anything.”

Her mother’s smile dropped from her answer. “You fool,” her mother scolded as she lightly smacked her arm, causing Eunseo to pout and wince in pain. 

“What was that for?” Eunseo whined as she gently soothed her arm exaggeratedly.

“For confessing towards nothing, that’s what.”

“But I don’t think I’ll even handle it if he wasn’t drunk or conscious at all. Besides, I’m happy that he didn’t hear it,” Eunseo whined before continuing. “At least I got my feelings out.”

That was all it mattered for now. 

“I expected you to be more bold in these situations.”

“Oh come on, I may be straightforward in most situations, but this time it’s different,” Eunseo leaned back onto the counter before sighing dreamily, “It’s different with Baekhyun.”

Her mother shook her head as an amused smile grew. “I don’t know how much of an impact that boy has on you since you were little up to now.”

“I don’t know either. He has this charm I guess that’s invisible, you don’t know exactly what it is… But he still grabs onto you anyway.” Eunseo threw away some of the scraps that were on the counter. “I’ll say that he’s everything I would want in a partner.”

“I thought it was Gong Yoo.”

“Well, he’s an alternate, but better version of Gong Yoo.” She then shook her head. “No, he’s no version of anyone. He’s just Byun Baekhyun.”

No one could be Baekhyun and Baekhyun could be no one.

-

The following day, Eunseo made her way to the bookstore. It had been a while since she had gone, most likely because of time and of that argument she had with Baekhyun. However, even with that memory ingrained into her mind, she missed going to the store. She missed how she could endlessly browse through numerous books in such a quiet and peaceful environment. Needless to say, she was excited to finally come back.

Leafing through a book that first caught her attention as she entered the building, it was a thriller as she noticed some of the words. Then closing the book, she read the summary that was on the back cover. It was in fact the first non-romantic book she had picked up that was interesting. The book remained in her hand as she continued to browse through the shelves for other books.

“Here are your books.”

“Thank you,” Eunseo said as she stuffed her change into her pockets. She then grabbed the bag out of the clerk’s hand before thanking them again and walking away toward the cafe within the same area. It wouldn’t hurt to get something to drink and sit down to read for a bit.

As she stepped closer to the area that had the coffee-filled aroma, Eunseo noticed a familiar figure sitting in one of the tables in the resting area of the cafe; the updo, the dark clothing, that side profile. It didn’t take long for her to realize it was Baekhyun. 

“What’s he doing here?”

Beaming at the sight of him, her smile then faded when someone else came into her view, sitting across from him, a young woman. Turning back to Baekhyun, his face was twisted into a cold, distant, and somewhat uncomfortable look. She had yet to see him in that way, even though she had made him angry before.

The plan of sitting down and reading was completely gone. Quickly, she shuffled away to the nearest bookshelf and hid there, eyeing the two of them from the open gaps between the bottom of the shelves and books. 

Though his conversation wasn’t audible, she could tell he was upset with the woman sitting in front of him. His stiff posture in the chair as he sat back told everything. Angling herself to see the face of the woman, it was a lie if Eunseo said she wasn’t pretty. But even the woman’s beauty couldn’t hide the sour look that was on her face as Baekhyun was conversing with her. She seemed upset with him too.

Was she an old friend of Baekhyun from Seoul? One of the people in charge of his music? Questions about the woman’s identity formed endlessly in her head.

Baekhyun then leaned in closer to the table, his hands started to move as he talked to the woman who sat back in her seat, palpably offended at what he had said. Eunseo could scratch off the idea that they were friends. 

Suddenly, Baekhyun’s words from before entered her mind.

“I saw her.”

“Soobin, my ex.”

“Could it be…? Soobin?” Eunseo’s eyes remained on the pair as she tried figuring out why Soobin would be here in Tongyeong. No one would travel for over four hours to see their ex for nothing, certainly not a cheater.

Before she could think of any reason as to why Soobin was in Tongyeong, Baekhyun abruptly stood up from his seat and said something that left Soobin taken aback before exiting out of the bookstore. After his figure disappeared from the glass doors, Eunseo turned back to Soobin, who silently sat in disbelief. Biting her lip, Eunseo slowly walked out from the bookshelf and exited out the building. She wasn’t the type of person to think of such things but if that woman was Soobin, she deserved whatever Baekhyun had said to her. 

Outside in the streets, Baekhyun quickly walked down the sidewalk, seemingly uncomfortable from his interaction. Eunseo knew to leave him be but her feet said otherwise as she was trailing him behind, her pace quickening every second. The sound of her footsteps were probably loud, as Baekhyun stopped in his tracks and turned around.

“Hey,” Baekhyun said. All traces of uncomfortableness and disgust were erased from his expression as if he hadn't just talked with the person who had cheated on him. Instead there was only a smile present on his face.

“Hi,” Eunseo smiled back. “I, uh, saw you leaving the bookstore and went to surprise you but I guess you heard my loud feet,” she said.

“You did?” His eyebrows raised. “Did you happen to see me inside?”

“I did,” she answered, “You were… um, talking to someone in the cafe.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nodded, his smile slowly fading away. “I ran into Soobin and she insisted we needed to talk.”

That confirmed one thing. 

“I guess you didn’t want to, right?”

“Of course not,” Baekhyun scoffed as he looked down to the concrete beneath his feet. 

“So what did you guys talk about?”

Baekhyun glanced up toward the bookstore and looked back at her. “I don’t really want to talk about it here. Is it possible we can go somewhere else, where she won’t see us if she walks out?”

Eunseo turned around to see if Soobin was there. Then releasing a sigh of relief when she wasn’t present, she turned back to Baekhyun and nodded. “We can go to the beach from before, you know when you and the fisherman-”

Memories of Baekhyun dropping the fish and them falling into the waters played in her mind. She bit her lip to stifle her laughter. 

“Yeah, that’ll work,” Baekhyun agreed before pouting adorably. “I still can’t believe you remember that.”

Shrugging her shoulders with a smile, Eunseo teased, “It’s just what I think of when I hear the word “beach” now.”

-

The pair sat themselves down onto the warm sand illuminated by the golden sun that was beginning its descent. To their satisfaction, no one was around, it was just the two of them and the waves crashing onto the shore. Sitting beside each other, Eunseo couldn’t help but marvel at Baekhyun who was glowing under the rays of soft, golden sunlight.

“So, what did you guys talk about,” Eunseo asked as she continued to look at him.

“In the beginning, we caught up with each other,” Baekhyun replied. He then grabbed a handful of sand and let the grains slip through his hand. “Then she asked why I moved here.”

“And what did you say?”

“I just said I wanted to live with my grandmother,” Baekhyun replied. “But then she got upset for some reason and said I was being selfish, that I was ruining my own career and being inconsiderate of people’s time. Too bad she didn’t know I was thinking and planning the entire thing for over