Warning(s): cursing
Length: 4.6k words

“I didn’t think you were serious,” Ange says to Baekhyun when she steps into his choice car of the night. It’s another sleek and shiny vehicle—a black Range Rover—that matches Baekhyun’s attire. Like usual, he’s dressed in so much black that he embodies the night. “Why are you dressed like you’re going to a funeral?” Ange teases. “And why does your car look like a hearse?”

“I only take car opinions from people who have their driver’s license,” Baekhyun expertly retorts. He grins as he eyes Ange and raises his brow when he realizes that she has dressed herself in all-black too. “You don’t look so bad yourself, Angel,” he quips. “We going to the same funeral or what?”

Ange giggles and shakes her head. “You know, I don’t have a lot of black clothing. It took me an hour to come up with this.” She lifts her leg to show the black pair of Doc Martens that she dug out from the back of her closet. “And I haven’t even broken these shoes in yet,” she adds. “I’m choosing style over comfort for tonight.”

“That’s a nice way of saying that you dressed up for me.”

“That is not true at all,” Ange says too quickly. Baekhyun notices her haste and grins handsomely at her abruptness, and she struggles to justify herself. “I’m just saying that I wanted to dress in all-black, but it was hard finding the right clothes.”

“Well if you wanted to dress like me,” Baekhyun teases, “you could have just…” He pauses, seems to consider his words, and ultimately decides not to continue. Instead, he shakes his head and drapes his hand over the steering wheel. “Never mind. You ready?”

Ange is about to answer that she is when Baekhyun’s phone makes a sound indicating a notification. She tries not to look down at where his phone lies on the center console, but it’s too distracting, and you steal a glance. Her heart promptly breaks when she realizes that it’s Mimi texting Baekhyun.

Thank you, the text reads with a multitude of hearts.

“Why’s she using so many hearts?” Ange queries despite knowing it’s a strange question that she has no grounds to ask.

“You know how it is,” Baekhyun answers regardless. “Girls will tell you ‘no’ and attach a heart at the end.” He clears away the notifications and inadvertently disallows Ange to read the other text message that Mimi sends. To ensure that Ange can’t get distracted anymore, he also places his phone on the Do Not Disturb setting. “What was I saying?” Baekhyun muses to himself. “You ready?” he asks again. “We’re going to Busan.”

“Busan? Isn’t that like an hour away?”

“Not when I’m driving.”

- - - - -

Before Baekhyun can actually fulfill his promise of taking Ange to Busan, he makes a stop at his workshop to switch cars. Why he needs to do that, Ange doesn’t know, but nevertheless, she takes great amusement in seeing Baekhyun get flustered over what Ange sees as machines used to get a person from Point A to Point B. He glares at Ange when the zipper of her jacket accidentally touches the door of his precious Jaguar. With that in mind, you’re also surprised when he chooses to uncover his Supra.

“Isn’t this your race car?” Ange asks in awe of the sports car. Although she has seen it a handful of times at this point, this moment is still as jaw dropping as the first. “Why this one?”

“I have to practice.”

“You mean for the race next week?”

Baekhyun huffs as he opens the door for her. “What else, Angel? Do you think winning is all about luck? Get in.”

When Baekhyun rounds the front of the car to get into the driver’s seat, Ange immediately starts voicing her concerns.

“I thought we were going on a night drive,” Ange whines. “One without punching or car chasing involved. You said it yourself—a drive with some good music and good company. Why are you practicing for a street race?”

“I’ll slow down for you, don’t worry.”

“Baekhyun!”

“Do you trust me?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Do you trust me?” Baekhyun repeats, arching a brow.

Ange is hesitant to say yes since she knows so little about him and what brews beneath his cool exterior, but she’s also excited that she doesn’t know; she steps into an almost completely unknown world whenever she’s with him, and she likes that about their times together. However, before she does gets the chance to say that she does trust him, Baekhyun starts the engine and shakes his head.

“Too late, Angel,” he says. “Guess you’ll have to trust me anyways.”

With that, they’re on their way to wherever Baekhyun truly intends for them to go.

At first, the drive is silent—apart from the car’s strong engine and passing wind—and Ange wants to shatter that eeriness with a question, but she’s rendered speechless and embarrassed in the presence of the ever icy Baekhyun. She hasn’t been able to stop thinking about how he surely saw Mark kiss her. Why else would he tell her to wipe the hood of his car? Better yet, she wants to ask why he purposely decided to make the poor Mark busy on the night they were supposed to hang out?

I should have said no, Ange thinks to herself. Although she doesn’t think that Baekhyun has a massive ego, he sure makes himself so emotionally distant that it seems like he’s interested in no one but himself. Saying no to him might have triggered something unpleasant. But it’s too late now, Ange thinks. I’m sitting in a car with…this guy.

Disappointed, embarrassed, and truthfully bored, Ange leans her head against the car window and sighs.

“Why’re you sighing like that?”

Ange doesn’t even glance towards Baekhyun. “This isn’t fun,” she confesses. “I don’t know where you’re taking me. You’re not even playing music—and you’re not talking either.”

“So you’re saying that I’m boring and I’m boring you in the process.”

“That is not at all what I said,” Ange answers defensively. “I’m saying that this isn’t fun. I’m saying that looking out the window and staring at trees would be better than just sitting here with you.” She finally turns to look at him, but his eyes are on the road. “Baekhyun,” she says in a softer tone, “why does it always feel like you’re never here even though you’re sitting right next to me? Hm?” He doesn’t answer, increasing her belief that she’s right. “It’s okay, you know,” she adds. “I’m not gonna judge you or anything.”

“I’m not worried about that, Angel.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just…stuff.” Baekhyun lets out his own sigh and take his eyes off the road to fiddle with the radio. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?” Ange perks up at the change of his demeanor. “I haven’t done this in a while,” Baekhyun murmurs as he switches radio channels. “I’m a little rusty.”

“What do you mean you haven’t done this in a while?” Ange asks, now extremely curious. It’s rare for him to reveal anything about himself—much less anything that makes him look vulnerable. “You mean like…” Ange frowns as she tries to think of a logical explanation, but the only thing that she can come up with is that he hasn’t experienced interacting with new people in a while—which makes no sense since he was charming enough on their first meeting. The only other explanation is… “You mean like gone on a date?” Ange wonders out loud.

“This is not a date,” Baekhyun says as he continues trying to find a channel playing music. “See, this is why I don’t talk,” he grumbles. “You take what I say and misunderstand it completely.”

“Well, that wouldn’t happen if you’d just let me know what was going on in your head,” Ange mutters. She stares at Baekhyun’s futile attempts to find a channel and rolls her eyes when she’s had enough. “Pull over,” she tells him. “I can connect my phone to your car, and we can listen to my playlist.”

Ange doesn’t think that Baekhyun will actually do it, but he listens to her and pulls over to the side of the road where Ange connects her phone to SupraLux—the apparent name of Baekhyun’s car. She snickers under her breath at the silly name but finds it amusing that Baekhyun is the type of guy to rename his car from the default serial number.

“This is my night drive playlist,” Ange says when the music starts playing. “It’s all old, nostalgic, slow stuff, but I hope you like it.” She tries to turn down the song, but Baekhyun halts her by raising a hand.

“Don’t,” he murmurs. “I like it.”

Pleasantly surprised, Ange lowers her hand away from the volume button and sits back, more relaxed than how she felt a few minutes earlier. Now she knows that he likes Frank Ocean, and she smiles because she does too.

- - - - -

Baekhyun reaches Busan in less than the hour that Ange thinks it would take to get there; he only takes 25 minutes. Granted, traveling more than a few kilometers in a car during the night is something that the government openly advises against given the nature of unscrupulous individuals that patrol the streets when the sun goes down. As a result, most people prefer to travel during the day. However, like most things, everything’s different with Baekhyun; it seems as if these roads are akin to the veins on the back of his hand, and he drives on them without hesitation.

“Do they know you in Busan too?” Ange asks when they pass the city’s limits. “As Lux?”

“Yeah, I come here for some races too.”

As they drive slowly through the city, Ange’s mind begins to wonder what Baekhyun’s plans could be. Her hopes start high when she takes notices of urban centers still filled with modest groups of people. She thinks about going into one of the malls and taking pictures in one of those stupid-cheesy photobooths, but those thoughts get cut short when she notices Baekhyun slowing his car upon approaching an alleyway.

The alleyway, as well-lit and unimposing as it is, has three cars parked by its mouth. A large group of men—probably about a dozen, all dressed in black dress pants and white dress shirts—congregate there, and one of them immediately spots Baekhyun. Ange recognizes the man that sees them as the same one who cornered Yuqi and her at the street race because of his dark-rimmed glasses, but she’s still not sure if he’s friendly.

“What are you doing?” Ange asks Baekhyun, suddenly worried. “Why’d we stop and who are they?”

“That’s Yonny,” Baekhyun answers casually. “He’s one of my biggest fans and…” Baekhyun takes a breath as he unbuckles his seatbelt. “He’s a fixer, so he unofficially has the keys to any major city.”

“Fixer?” Ange glances towards Yonny who stands at the front of Baekhyun’s car with his hands placed