Iseul walks to the high school area while greeting a couple of people she knows already when someone pats her shoulder. She looks to her right and she sees Baekhyun smiling, “Morning,” he greets and she greets him back.

“Thanks for the answers, I swear you’re the only one who’s good with chemistry between the seven of us.” Baekhyun says as they walk to their locker,  “I think that’s the only subject that I know what I’m doing besides sport, the others are such a blur.” Iseul shakes her head. Baekhyun laughs as he opens his locker and put his bag while picking up some stuff for the class. His locker is just five lockers away from Iseul. The hallway is still crowded because classes haven’t started yet. He locks his locker and waits for Iseul to finish up when Jiyoung suddenly appears in front of him. The girl smiles brightly at him, “Morning!” she chirps. Baekhyun greets her back albeit highly uncomfortable with the suddenness. “I learned to bake this yesterday, here you go!” she shoves the orange tupperware, Baekhyun politely nods along as he looks at the food inside. “Thanks,” he says as he realizes Iseul is holding her laughter as she closes her locker, ‘Well, I’ll go first….” he leaves Jiyoung who can’t stop smiling at him, hoping he’d say something else.

“What is it this time?” Iseul asks as they walk to the class together, “I’m glad that she never failed to amuse you, you seem to enjoy that.” Baekhyun hints that he knows she’s holding her laughter earlier. “I’m so sorry, I thought she only did it once a week. I think the frequency is increasing, huh?” Baekhyun just shakes his head. Jiyoung used to do her antics every Friday but somehow she evolves and keeps giving Baekhyun cookies or pastries every day now. They didn’t realize that the subject they were talking is staring at them as they walk away.

“Oh my god, what is it this time?”

Eunji groans as soon as Baekhyun puts the tupperware on his desk, Kai looks in his direction and laughs. As usual, Baekhun opens anything that Jiyoung gives him in front of his friend because somehow they always manage to identify where the food came from.

“Ew, why do we have the same cake?”

Soyeon irks as soon as she looks at the cake inside, Iseul and Baekhyun both wait for Soyeon to show the food she usually eats before the class starts. Soyeon opens the lid of her box and Iseul is amused at how the cake looks the same.

“Where did you get it?” Baekhyun shakes his head as he looks at their cakes, “A Japanese cheesecake place in Songdo, you know the one that originates from Kyoto.” Soyeon answers in a tone as if she’s confused why he doesn’t know.

“What were you doing in Songdo?”

Chanyeol is confused, “He picked up his favourite nephew from the airport, his brother’s in town and I simply tag along.” Soyeon nods in Sehun’s direction. The boy simply nods along as he keeps playing with his phone.

“Did she say she baked it for you?” Soyeon guesses and Baekhyun just nods, “How do you manage to identify them all? You are amazing,” Iseul says to Soyeon who’s cutting the cake into smaller pieces and starts to eat it.

“These big eaters know everything about food, trust them on that,” Baekhyun says to Soyeon and Sehun as he passes his cake around.

“But her intensity is increasing, what does she want?”

Soyeon notes as she remembers Jiyoung has been giving things and foods to Baekhyun every single day, “Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe she’s feeling generous?” Baekhyun simply shrugs it off. Soyeon shakes her head in disapproval but then continues to eat.

“I think I’ve had better,” Baekhyun murmurs as he finishes his first slice, “Really? Where?” Sehun raises his brows, doubting the other guy’s taste. “Yeah, that one bakery around Yeongdeungpo. I think that tastes better, you haven't been there?” Baekhyun asks both Soyeon and Sehun who shakes their head in response. “You guys should try that, it tastes really good,” Baekhyun suggests while looking at Iseul who simply nods along.

“There’s a bakery they haven’t been to? That’s new,” Chanyeol looks surprised, Sehun doesn’t say anything but hit the taller boy with his left hand before focusing back on his game.

“Yeah, I much prefer the one in Busan too. I don’t know why though, the size and everything pretty much the same though,”

Iseul agrees with Baekhyun, they’re standing in line for the break in the cafeteria. “I know right, probably because it’s far from home. I mean, a road trip could be fun sometimes.” Baekhyun thinks about it. “Well, not really if you have a toddler tagging along. Road trips can be painful at times,” Iseul remembers the time when her family goes to Busan for one of her swimming competitions and Yiseo wouldn’t cry non-stop in the KTX.

“Does she cry a lot? Thank you,” Baekhyun asks before thanking the cafeteria employee, “When she was a baby? Yeah, but ever since she’s able to talk, she doesn’t cry that much. Thank God for that, otherwise I would just shave my head,” both of them laugh and then walk to when the others are sitting.

“Hi Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun spontaneously smiles in response to Jiyoung’s chirpy greeting, he’s used to that and even Iseul is used to that chirpy greeting of Jiyoung’s. She also notices how Jiyoung throws her weird looks or even glares across the room, but she shrugs it off because Jiyoung surely only throws regular tantrums like what Soyeon told her.

“Is there anyone who understands stoichiometry-ish? My dumb brain stopped working five minutes into the lecture,” Chanyeol groans, Soyeon rolls her eyes at the mention of chemistry.

“Oh yeah, tomorrow’s the test,” Iseul remembers what the teacher says to them earlier, “So, who can teach chemistry?” Sehun looks around the table and their gaze falls upon Eunji. “Are you ready to study with me?” Eunji raises her brows at them, some chuckles. Eunji always manages to understand everything but she’s the worst at teaching others and speaks as fast as Eminem when explaining things. So in the end, none of them understands anything and Eunji’s too impatient to repeat the same thing over and over again. Definitely, not the best tutor you could have.

Then they turn to Iseul who’s cutting her chicken to pieces, she feels fazes fall upon her and then chuckles. “Fine, I’ll try but don’t hate me if you ended up understanding nothing. I’m not a good teacher either,” Iseul warns them.

“We can understand your notes very well so I don’t think you need to be concerned about that, all good,” Soyeon assures her, Iseul just chuckles at them.

After it has been decided, they go to the den after school to study together because they’ll be having a chemistry test the next day. As usual, Soyeon and Sehun would lag because they want to buy some food from some other place before going to the den and, as Soyeon said, ‘burn their brain off’ by studying. Everyone sits on the carpet while Eunji laying down on the couch, occasionally answering some questions or playing with Kai’s hair. The others are pretty much invested in studying, especially Baekhyun who’d silently read the questions and tried it by himself before giving up and turning to Iseul who just chuckles before helping him out. Soyeon sits right beside Iseul and constantly points out Iseul’s note, asking her how she got the answers. Sehun would look over Soyeon’s note and then get smacked by the owner of the note. Chanyeol and Kai are pretty much serious about studying and trying new ways to solve a question, going it over with Iseul.

Iseul never thought they’d seriously study, they thought they’d be the typical kids who’d use their advantages to get their scores. She really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Although Eunji pretty much laying down on the couch all the time, she’s actually studying and answering chemistry problems through her iPad. Soyeon did say that Eunji’s the smartest one out of them but has a hard time teaching them even though she tried her best to be patient and speaks slower.

“She only at Physics,”

Soyeon whispers when Eunji was pointed out by their math teacher to solve the problem on the whiteboard during the first week of school. Eunji lazily walks to the front and writes down everything even though she looks like she doesn’t pay attention to the class. But then again, who doesn’t at Physics. Eunji puts down the marker and then looks at the teacher who’s scanning her answer, the teacher nods and lets her go back to her seat.

Their studying session lasts until half-past six, that’s when most of their stomachs grumble for some real dinner instead of light snacks. “All right, anyone fancies some Subway?” Sehun asks as they pack up, “Nah, I’m not passing on her cook today.” Kai points at Eunji who’s taking a drink out of their refrigerator. “What happens to have dinner at home?” Iseul asks Soyeon who raises her hands earlier at the question by her cousin, “Well, no one waiting for us in the dining room. So, we prefer to eat together.” Soyeon nods towards Sehun who raises his thumbs.

“I would love to but my sister is coming to town so, I’ll pass.” Chanyeol says as he put his backpack on his shoulder, “Family dinner, sorry.” Baekhyun also shakes his head. “Yeah, me too,” Iseul says after she zips her backpack. “Can I sleep over?” Soyeon asks Sehun who casually nods.

Iseul’s washing the dishes while her father and Yiseo are watching the tv in the living room. They just had their dinner and are waiting for Yiseo to be sleepy before they can put her to bed.

“Midterms coming up, right?”

Her father says after she rinses her hands, “Yeah, it’s in two weeks. The exams are getting pretty difficult now, I feel like I don’t even learn anything in class. Everything went so fast, whooosh……” her father laughs at her reply.

“Yeah, they don’t go easy on the exam. Hang in there,” her father playfully punches Iseul’s arm while keep caressing Yiseo’s head. Iseul nods along before joining her father in lulling Yiseo to sleep while watching some show. As soon as the younger girl battling to keep her eyes open, the father announces it’s bedtime and carries her to her bedroom. Iseul says good night to both of them but still watches the tv, staying a little more because she’s not sleepy yet.

She reaches out to her phone on the coffee table, checking some messages she might miss. She reads the message on the swimming team group chat, the coach said after school, they’ll have regular sparring with the neighbouring school and the first years are welcome to watch along.  As she’s reading the details of the team from the other school, she sees a message from Baekhyun.

‘Are you going to watch tomorrow?’

‘Yeah, are you?’

‘Yeah, Sehun has things to do with Chanyeol so at least I’m not going alone then….’

‘All right, see you’

‘Good night,’

“Why are you smiling to yourself, young girl?”

Her father is back from putting Yiseo to bed, Iseo shakes her head. “Coach said there’s going to be regular sparring with neighbouring school, we’re welcome to watch so I might stay a little late after school, dad.” Iseul informs him. Mr. Jung nods along, “I’ll pick Yiseo up from school, you can stay lurking the swimming team.” he nudges his daughter’s arm but Iseul just laughs.

“Wow, she’s good…. Like, really good….”

Iseul mutters after a junior from the other high school did her turn, Baekhyun looks at the swimmer and recognizes the person. “Yeah, she’s fast but one of our seniors is faster than her. That one,” Iseul looks at where Baekhyun’s nodding, a senior swimmer from their school looks at the pool intensely.

“Wait, isn’t she the last season’s winner for the regional individual medley?” Baekhyun nods to the question.

The sparring lasts for almost two hours, a couple of ten graders watch the sparring just like Baekhyun and Iseul. Baekhyun also tells her about some people he knows because apparently, Hansaem has been having frequent sparring like this with that other school even for their junior high school. Iseul also sees a couple of familiar faces from some competitions she has been to so she’s not really out of the loop. It’s just friendly sparring while giving a chance for the new students to take a look. Baekhyun greets some students from the other school and also introduces Iseul to them, somehow some of them also recognize Iseul from other competitions. Her previous school doesn’t accommodate the swimming team this hard so it was pretty hard for her and some of her friends to practice by themselves, even going to the training centre in Jamsil.

“It’s really nice to see you,”

“You too, hyung. See you!”

“See you, bye Iseul,”

Iseul waves back at the senior swimmer from the other high school. some of them already washing and getting ready to leave. Coach Im then greets them after talking to another coach, “So, what do you think?” he asks them. “They’re good, wow. Also, our upper graders are really good,” Iseul comments, “Yeah, I didn’t notice that Jehan-hyung is injured.” Baekhyun asserts. Coach Im lightly laughs and tells them about some new addition to the other high school’s team that he hears and finds out from some people. They talk for a while before the coach excuse himself to talk to another coach.

“Exciting, huh?” Baekhyun nudges Iseul as they leave the swimming pool area, “Yeah, I mean, new year’s always exciting.” she beams while shaking her head lightly because she doesn’t know how to explain that. He agrees with her because he feels the same thing every time the new year come. Looking forward to new events or meeting new people in between always feels exciting for them.

“Hi Baek,”

Baekhyun turns to his left and sees Jiyoung with one of her friends, he politely smiles at her. “Oh, you’re here too….” Jiyoung mutters as she sees Iseul standing right beside the boy, “So, do you think you’ll win another competition this year after watching them?” Jiyoung ignores Iseul. Baekhyun just chuckles, “I don’t know, we’ll just have to see, right?” he tilts his head, not really answering the weird question. “Oh, you’ll win! I’m sure, you’re really good!” Baekhyun just nods along.

“Do you have anything to do—”

“Sorry, we have to go. See you tomorrow,” Baekhyun quickly pushes Iseul with him, not giving Jiyoung any chance to ask him anything. Leaving Jiyoung and her friend dumbfounded.

“Wow,” Iseul teases him but he just sighs, “Do you have to go straight home?” Baekhyun asks and she shakes her head. “Why? What do you have in mind?” she teases him and he laughs.

“Do you want to eat some cheesecake?” he asks her and she just laughs.

“Come on, it’s a date. Well, half-date,” he offers and she just nods to his request, “Why is it a half-date?” she muses. “Because a date is supposed to be a full-day thing, no?” he shrugs. She just laughs at his antics as they walk to the bus stop.

Baekhyun takes her to the cheesecake shop he talked about, it’s a new shop with a few seats. She ordered the oreo cheesecake she reccomended and a peach ice tea.

“So, this is the shop that Soyeon and Sehun haven’t been to?”

Baekhyun nods, “Yup, I found it out from my brother who heard about this from his girlfriend.” he explains. Iseul looks around, the café is cute and it’s actually quite close to her home.

“Wait, isn’t it going to be farther for you to go home, then?” she quips as she stirs her straw, she looks up because he’s not answering but  Baekhyun only laughs as if he’s been caught doing something.

“What do you think?”

He doesn’t answer her question but asks her after she takes a bite of her cake, she nods along as she chews the cake.

“It is better than the one Jiyoung gave you,” she agrees with his judgement and thinks about buying another one for her father and sister, “I know right?” he raises his spoon to prove he’s right.

They keep eating while Baekhyun tells her about some other café or shop he recently found out on his own. He also says that his mom loves cakes so he knows a couple of hidden gem bakeries thanks to his mom. He tells her how his mom loves cheesecake but never really find out how to make a soft cheesecake like the one they eat in cafés or shops so she gave up. Iseul laughs at some of his silly stories. She tells him how inseparable Yiseo is with ice creams and cakes, how she would try to make up for her sister’s sulkiness by bribing her with ice cream or cakes. He listens to her contently and sometimes laughs along to some stories.

Baekhyun still listens to her story even after they finish their cakes and drink. The conversation between them flows easily and Iseul feels comfortable talking to him even when it’s just the two of them. they didn’t realize it was almost dinner time if it’s not because of Mrs. Byun’s text, asking where the hell is her son.

“Well, this is fun.” Iseul quips as they leave the shop, “Yeah, so can I take you on a date sometime?” he casually asks her as it’s something normal for him to say.

Iseul looks at him with disbelief, “So this is some kind of a trial? A trial for a date with Baekhyun?” she snickers at his statement. “How is it? Not bad, right?” he raises his brows, asking her back for feedback. She lets out a frown but he simply nudges her with a soft yah and she laughs.

“So, next time, it’s a date?”

“It better be,”

A/N

HAPPY BELATED 10TH ANNIV EXOO!!!!!

I watched their fan meet and damn, peter pan always manages to make me teary..... we got a debut stage of paradise too ahahahaah and ending it with lucky is just a chef's kiss.

Baekhyun tweeted that he's also there in the backstage omoooo 

anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter ahahaha, I think I drag this for toooooo long so I'm sorry if this chapter kind of or rushed. stay tune for more date for baek and iseul xixixixi

don't forget to leave some comments, share your thoughts bellow!!! Thank you, see in the next chapter!