Throughout the dinner, Eunbin was mostly silent. And it was only Irene had taken notice. Secretly, she sent Baekhyun a questioning look and glanced at the girl next to him. The boy simply shot her a smile, as if signaling his friend there was no need for her to worry.

Baekhyun took a bite of his beef to suppress the incoming sigh. At this moment, he was already used to Eunbin’s sudden sulk behavior because of her jealousy. Sometimes, he wouldn’t address it on purpose. He would just treat her better and babied her until she forgot about it which made iciness between them thawed, making them back to normal.

When he sent Eunbin home and they were in front of her door, Baekhyun leaned in to kiss her on the lips. But at last minute before he could, she angled her head to the side that his kiss had landed on the side of her lips instead. Not wanting to give up, he pulled back just a little, his other hand came up to touch the other side of her face, turning so their lips would meet.

“I ate a lot of garlic just now,” she mumbled with her hand on his chest, giving a little push, to make him could come any closer.

Baekhyun ignored the annoyance bubbling up in the center of his heart. He forced a chuckle and shrugged, “That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

But Eunbin was determined, shaking her head.

He exhaled and straightened up his back. He stared straight at her eyes but the girl couldn’t even hold more than three seconds eye contact. He tugged at her hand and his other hand raised to ruffle her hair. Usually, he would receive a whine of protest from her, but Eunbin just stared at some spot on the ground blankly.

“Don’t sleep late,” Baekhyun stated.

She hummed back, turning back to enter her place and leaving him there without saying a proper goodbye or even looking back at him.

On the next day, there wasn’t much improvement too. Eubin was still being cold and distant from him. Baekhyun even focused more on his phone rather than the material before him which he should be studying.

Irene approached him when he was having a little break outside the library. She could see that he looked distress with the frowning he kept making. At this point, he would have wrinkles all over his face in a young age if he kept that up.

“Cola or strawberry?”

Baekhyun looked up from his phone to find Irene was beside him and had offered a lollipop.

The corner of his lips curled up only a slight. He eyed the strawberry one before he took it. “Thanks.” Then he proceed to open the wrap. He popped the lollipop inside his mouth before crumbling the wrap and put it into his pocket. He watched Irene still hadn’t got to open hers, so he took it without saying a word and helped her.

Irene patiently waiting next to him. After he finally got the plastic wrap off the sweet thing, he placed it a couple of centimeters away from . She was a bit taken aback, then smiled and took it from his hand, putting it in while twirling it.

“This is why Eunbin is easily mad. You are way too kind,” she suddenly said while looking at the other side.

If Baekhyun was surprised that she hit the spot, he didn’t show it. Instead, he breathed out loud and asked, “You notice?”

Irene nodded to answer him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ears as wind started to pick up and messed her hair.

“I’ve been noticing that our little sister has acted a little distant from us too,” she continued.

Baehyun pressed his lips into a thin line with his hands in his pockets, seemingly to be deep in thought. He contemplated for a while, before he finally spoke up, “Please don’t tell anyone this, but I—“ he cleared his throat then said, “She’s getting under my skin a little now—sometimes—I don’t know. She isn’t like this before, I don’t know what changes. And it’s not like me being kind to you guys are new, right?”

“Girls are like that, Baekhyun. It’s our nature to feel jealous easily,” Irene replied absentmindedly. “And your relationship with Eunbin is still pretty new actually, so it’s common for her to still feel insecure and unsafe. Give it some time, as long as you don’t stop trying, things will be fine soon.”

Baekhyun frowned and talked to himself under his breath, “What’s there for her to be insecure of?”

But Irene’s ears caught it and couldn’t help but rolled her eyes. “Boys,” she whispered.

He turned to Irene and sounded a little accusing, “What’s wrong with me treat others, especially girls, nice? My parents has taught me since young I need to be a gentleman. Just because I already have a girlfriend, does that mean I need to treat other girls and you like ?”

Irene shook her head. “No.”

Baekhyun threw his head back and his palms came up to cover his face. His sound was a little muffled but she heard him, “I don’t know what I should do with Park.”

“You guys have been fighting a lot?”

“You can say that.”

In the end, his arm dropped back to his sides. He stared at nothing particular in front of him while he was at the sweet and sour flavor of candy. His fingers held on the stick and pulled the lollipop out his mouth. He silently said, “We don’t have a lot of times anymore, Irene. We’re—I’m leaving for university soon. If this goes on…” Baekhyun trailed off and never finished his sentence.

Irene stared at him in alert, her eyes moving up and down at the boy. She offered a words of comfort, “Eunbin is still young and this is her first relationship. Be patient.”

“This is my first real relationship too,” he scoffed and looked away, putting the lollipop back into his tongue.

Irene nudged him at the shoulder. She stated, “And you’re older than her. So you should act more mature, naturally.” When the boy turned, he showed an exasperated expression, her heart softened and she bent a little to swing an arm around his shoulders, showing support. “Baekhyun-ah, I know you care about her a lot. Try to act as the bigger person, hm? You both are still learning, so it’s okay,” she said in a motherly voice, warm and soothing.

Just a little, the stress in Baekhyun’s shoulders eased a little. He glanced at the feminine hand then turned to Irene, he grinned a bit before politely un-circling her arm around him. “Thanks, Irene. But if Park sees this, all hell will break loose.”

Irene wasn’t offended at all and simply broke into laughter. “Sorry.”

“Hey, have your parents given you the green light to go to Boston?”

“Not yet.”

“Why are you so adamant to go there anyway?”

Irene took her time to answer the question, then before she could, she heard a particular voice that reminded her of something.

“Bae Irene! Byun Baekhyun! What are you guys doing?!”

Baekhyun clicked his tongue but she knew he wasn’t annoyed, just amused. He said, “Noisy kid.”

It was a while but Irene finally answered, “Just want a change of environment.”

They all returned back inside the library and continued with their studies. After a little chat with Irene, Baekhyun felt himself more relax that he was able to focus more than earlier. When he parted ways with his friends in the evening, he said it first that he wouldn’t join them for tomorrow. Then, all of sudden, they all decided that they would take a real break for the next three days as school was going to start soon too.

Monday morning, Baekhyun went straight to Eunbin’s place