Eunbin stirred in her sleep. The soft cotton fabric under her cheek felt comfortable and it smelt good. But, she kept hearing someone calling her name, making her brows furrowed at the noise. Slowly, she started to regain her senses and thought this voice sounded scarily familiar and way too close.

“Park, we’re here. Wake up.”

Eunbin couldn’t be any faster opening her eyes and turned her head to meet Baekhyun’s face so close in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock, finally realizing that she had been leaning on his shoulder as her personal pillow. She took a sharp intake of breath and lifted up her head, which a bad idea because her sudden move accidentally knocked Baekhyun’s nose with her head in the process.

Lord, just buried her somewhere, please.

“Baekhyun!” she shrieked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Baekhyun groaned quietly as his hand reached up to cover his throbbing nose and upper lip and his eyes shut close in pain. He heard a string of sorry from Eunbin next to him. The girl was clearly panicking and feeling guilty for the pain she caused at him. He knew Eunbin didn’t do it on purpose, but still, it hurt like a .

Slowly, he uncovered his nose and turned to Eunbin. He slowly asked, “I’m not bleeding, am I?”

She hastily shook her head, “Thank God, no.” Or she could never ever lift up her head again.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but chuckled, “What do you eat to make that head of yours so hard?” He was trying to lighten up the mood a little because Eunbin looked like a scared kitten before him, but he guessed he had chosen the wrong words as it made her dip her chin lower.

She played with her own fingers and muttered, “I’m sorry…”

Baekhyun sniffed, reaching out to touch the spot that hit his face. “What about you? Are you hurt?”

Unconsciously, he took her head in his hands and examined it carefully. He rubbed at the spot with his thumb and mumbled something, but Eunbin couldn’t hear him. Her face was right in front of his chest and she realized that Baekhyun had started to use cologne. The scent invaded her nose, this was what she smelled when she was asleep on his shoulder. What was scary that she was tempted to lean in.

The moment she felt a skin against her cheek, Eunbin snapped out of it and pushed Baekhyun away with both of her palms against his chest. She didn’t need a mirror to know how red her face must be. She hid it behind her arms, diverting her gaze and starting to stutter.

Baekhyun was surprised by the sudden force of being pushed away, but he immediately realized his mistake. He stared at his hand that touched her cheek for a second and quickly put it away. He started to cough behind his knuckle and was about to say, “So—“

“M-my head i-is f-f-fine,” Eunbin beat him to it. Realizing she was shaking, she cleared loudly, taking the time to calm her heartbeat down. She apologized again, “Sorry, umm, about your nose. Sorry.”

Baekhyun burst into laughter for some reason. Ever since they met again, he always felt how much the little girl he knew since they were young had changed. He had a guess that maybe she became like this because of him, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t even ask because Eunbin was trying hard to keep distance from him. But looking at her being flustered and cute, his heart felt relief and warm. He felt like he knew this Eunbin more.

All passengers almost left the train, so Baekhyun stood up from his seat, taking his duffel bag and Eunbin’s. “Let’s go,” he said and tilted his head to the door.

The night before they went to their hometown, Baekhyun’s mother had told both of them that she would come to pick them up together because Eunbin’s parents still had to go to work even though it should be holiday already.

When he saw his mother, he grinned and put down the bags before engulfing his old woman into a big bear hug. Two years he hadn’t seen his mother and he never knew how much he missed her until he really saw her.

On the way home, Baekhyun was driving instead his mother. In the car, his mother talked with Eunbin more than with him. If he thought carefully, his mother hadn’t even asked him anything.

“Hey, hey. Which one is your real child? Me or Park?” Baekhyun frowned and glared at the older woman.

His mother waved her hand like swatting off a fly, “I’ve said it before. I don’t need a son who doesn’t know to come home for two years. Since you two are just children, Eunbin had always been the good one,” she beamed at the girl who sat at the back.

He gaped at her, “Oh, come on. I finally come home, right? And this is how you treat me?”

Baekhyun shouted when he received a slap on the shoulder from his mother. It had been so long since he got beaten and his mother still had a strong hand.

“Do you know how to drive properly?! Eyes on the road!” she scolded.

He stared at his mother in disbelief and mumbled to himself, “Man, I shouldn’t have come home.”

Unfortunately, it went into his mother’s sharp ears and he got hit again. “If you’re not coming home now, then when? You ungrateful son, we pay for your tuition and this is how you repay us?” she nagged.

He chuckled at her, “That’s why, if you’ve told me you missed me earlier, I would have come home sooner!”

“You!” Hit. “Cheeky!” Hit. “Brat!” Hit!

“Mom!” Baekhyun whined and rubbed his burning skin from his mother’s abuse. He turned to the rearview mirror and looked at Eunbin, “Park, help me!”

Eunbin could only shot him a helpless smile as his mother grumbled more. It was a noisy ride home, but the two youngsters didn’t mind it at all because it felt like home.

When they arrived their places, Baekhyun’s mother insisted Eunbin to just come to their home because their families would have dinner together at his place anyway. Eunbin didn’t know how to reject the older woman and was about to nod, but Baekhyun stepped in.

“Mom, Park is tired. Let her go back to her room and get a rest first.”

After arguing with his mother for a solid 3 minutes, he finally won and walked to her house with her bag still in his hand. Several times Eunbin had tried to take it from him, but he wouldn’t let her. When he was inside her place, he offered to bring it straight to her room, but Eunbin wouldn’t let him.

“You look tired. What did you do last night?”

She was pulling all-nighter to finish all her assignments before she went back to her hometown. She didn’t want to bring any of them home and even thought about it when she should be resting and on a holiday.

“Stuffs,” she answered instead.

Seeing that she still closed herself up from him, Baekhyun sighed and didn’t want to push her anymore. He nodded and smiled at her, “I’ll see you tonight at my house.”

Eunbin dropped her whole body on the bed and grunted delightfully. She had missed her bed so much. Then, turning over so that she was lying on her back, she stared blankly at the ceiling. A lot going through her head and she sighed heavily.

She felt like her life hadn’t been peaceful ever since she met Baekhyun again. They seldom saw each other, but when they did, Eunbin felt like it was the most stressful moment of her life. She closed her eyes. It bothered her that Baekhyun acted nonchalant with her, as if their break up already meant nothing to him.

While for her…

She wished she could act like him, but she knew deep inside her heart, she still cared and was bitter with it. Not just that, she was afraid too. If she kept letting whatever this was going on, would she hurt herself again in the end?

Eunbin grumbled to no one in particular, “I shouldn’t have gone to Seoul.”

The dinner was heartwarming. Their mothers were extremely happy to know their children become friends again and started to talk with each other. Although Eunbin badly wanted to say something, seeing their wide grins made her didn’t have the heart to say or do anything. She sat in defeat and tried to act normal with Baekhyun.

Though, she wanted to hug the hell out of her father because he was still a bit upset for Baekhyun breaking his daughter’s heart, so he took a revenge by asking the younger man to do a lot of things. Like taking a water for him or a new chopsticks when he ‘accidentally’ dropped his. He even asked Baekhyun to go to their house to take his phone because he forgot to take it with him.

Baekhyun complied with his requests without any complains. His parents didn’t even try to save him, they just happily talked with Eunbin’s parents and ignored him. But when he noticed an amused smile playing on Eunbin’s face, the bit of annoyance in his chest faded. No father would like to see his daughter cry or get her heart break, he understood this.

When they were gathering on living room watching a movie, Eunbin sat close with her father and had her arms wrap around his arm. Baekhyun heard her sweetly said to the old man, “Dad, I’ll give you a massage when we get home.”

When Baekhyun arrived at Jongin’s parents’ restaurant, the two elders hugged him and they exchanged words for a few minutes before they let him to directly go upstairs. Jongin’s mother had told him first that Jongin had a friend in his room too. And Baekhyun saw a woman’s Nike sneakers on the stairs that he was sure didn’t belong to neither his mother nor sister. He made a mental note to knock first rather than barging in, just in case.

To be honest, Baekhyun couldn’t control his excitement to finally meet his old buddy who he hadn’t seen since he left the town. If he didn’t have guest, he would directly barge in and tackle Jongin. Standing before his door, he knocked against the wooden surface a few times. Then, he carefully stuck his ear on it and listened. Baekhyun smiled knowingly as he heard whispers and rustles behind the door. He stood up straight after he heard an upcoming footsteps.

“Yeah!” Jongin hollered.

Baekhyun grinned wickedly at the sight of the tanned man. He took a glimpse behind his shoulder and found a woman sitting way too straight on the floor not far from him. Dragging his eyes back on his friend, Jongin had a full-blown handsome smile on with all teeth showing.

He pulled the door wider and opened his arms, “Byun Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun shook his head and chuckled, opening his arms too to welcome Jongin. They pat each other on the backs before letting go the hug.

“Kim Jongin!” he shouted back.

“I thought you’re not coming home too this year!” Jongin said, clearly surprised from his tone, and dragged Baekhyun to his room with arm around the shorter man’s shoulders.

He nodded at the girl and smirked, “You’re not going to introduce us?”

The girl’s name was Yoo Jimin, a junior from the college Jongin was studying at and she was just a friend. Which the information made Baekhyun go huh? at his friend. But the moment he arrived, Jimin wanted to excuse herself. So, Jongin sent her away before returning to his room.

“Friend, huh?”

Jongin was welcomed by a teasing smirk from Baekhyun. He even had the audacity to wiggle his eyebrows at him. Jongin took a pillow and threw it to Baekhyun’s face but he failed as his friend managed to catch before it landed.

“She’s playing a little hard to get.”

Baekhyun squinted his eyes at him and asked, “You guys were doing something before I knocked, right?”

Jongin faked a cough and rubbed his thighs, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Not bad, Kim Jongin. You got balls when your mom and dad are just downstairs,” he teased, but then received a hit again with a pillow, so he decided to drop it.

“Jimin is the same age as Eunbin,” Jongin suddenly said.

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, “With Park? Really? Did she go to our high school too?”

Jongin shot him a weird look and answered, “Yeah. But, look at you. You’re not avoiding any topics about our little sister now.”

His friend glared at him before he waved his hand, “Not anymore. It’s been 2 years anyway. I even came home with her this time.”

“Wait, what?!” Jongin gawked at him, shocked by the new information he just heard. “Y-you mean, you came home with Park Eunbin, the girl you broke up with back then?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun deadpanned.

He almost thought he wouldn’t come home on this Golden Week. Because the first time Baekhyun asked Eunbin, it looked like she almost wanted to hit him with the menu in his hand if it wasn’t for the fact she was working and the risk to be fired. He came to the restaurant almost every day ever since to get her to let him know the date and time she would go back, but she wouldn’t budge.

In the end, it was so embarrassing to say that his mother had to in so that her son could come home after for so long. The day before the train, he got a call from Eunbin, who got his number from her mother who got it from his mother, saying that she had bought his ticket and told him not to be late because she purchased a morning tickets.

Their mothers saved his and made this possbile.

“I thought you two stop talking?”

“That’s why I’m trying to mend our friendship bac