Part 7

“you could be the reason i can't sleep at night”

_______

“You’re telling me,” Yerim says, “Byun Baekhyun? Like, model Byun Baekhyun? Like—wait, isn’t there an ad of him outside the bakery on the bus stop?”

Seri knows that ad embarrassingly well. Not because she stares at it too much. (Okay, partially because she stares at it too much.) It’s also the fact that it’s odd seeing Baekhyun dressed as—well, a model—when he normally seems to wear the least flashiest clothes ever. Decked in a trench coat, hair styled back, face set in an aloof expression… it seems odd. Every interaction with Baekhyun has her gradually forgetting that he’s a model in the first place.

“Yeah,” she finally concedes. “He’s on the ad in front of my house. And yeah, um, we’re friends.”

Yerim remains dead silent for a few moments. She’s so still that Seri is half convinced that her friend has stopped breathing.

Finally, she says, “Does Park Jimin know?”

Seri gapes at her. “What does he have to do with anything?”

Yerim sticks her face right in Seri’s. “You’re practically dating a model, you have to flaunt that in Jimin’s face! Make him regret dumping you! Make him suffer!”

Disgruntled, Seri pushes Yerim’s head away from her own. Not that the idea of making Jimin suffer sounds particularly bad—it’s just that even if she wanted to, Baekhyun isn’t her boyfriend, and she also doesn’t think she can face Park Jimin without feeling like she’s very, very small.

“Wait,” Yerim says slowly. She reaches for the package of chips between them and takes a loud, obnoxious crunch. “Don’t tell me you still like him?”

Seri blinks. To her surprise, it hasn’t even been a thought to cross her mind. Jimin. Does she still like him? She thinks back to the last time she’d seen him at the convenience store—two weeks ago? Three? Her stomach had dropped out underneath her and she felt like someone had punched her in the gut. She hadn’t liked the prospect of still being hung up over him, but she’d accepted it. After all, she’d been struggling for months.

Now, the thought makes her uneasy. Do I still like Park Jimin? Park Jimin, with his perfectly styled hair and polished shoes and well-practiced smile.

Seri blinks again.

“No,” she says slowly, a bit uncertain. “I don’t… I don’t think I do.”

Yerim’s eyebrows rise. “Seriously?”

Baekhyun’s hair, sometimes messy and ruffled from his hats, looks better anyway. He doesn’t have to polish his shoes into a mirror to be well dressed. He has a nicer smile, too.

“Seriously,” Seri affirms, this time with more confidence.

***

[8:37pm] seri
sketch2_8:35_PM
since youre the only person i’ve yet to tell about my sketching, please give me feedback

[8:40pm] short king
will you change my name to archery king if i do

[8:41pm] seri
:/

[8:41pm] short king
FINE IM KIDDING, name me whatever you want as long as im #1 in ur heart

[8:42pm] seri
i might have another disappointment for u

[8:42pm] short king
k im just gonna. look at the sketch
please stop hurting my feelings

[8:42pm] seri
crybaby

[8:45pm] short king
again, i have absolutely no art training but i’d like to say that the lighting looks so nice and u clearly did the colouring and shading and all and i would love to live there
also, i spot the same cat as last time and i feel obligated to name him

Seri snorts slightly. The cat’s based on Mischief, the green-eyed black cat she’d spotted Baekhyun petting a while ago.

[8:45pm] seri
you’re really naming an imaginary cat that has appeared on two sketches????

[8:46pm] short king
i’m clinging onto the hope that you’ll draw a lot more and all of those drawings will include cats, so…. i think it should be named although i’m not sure what
draw another one and i’ll decide :D

Seri snorts. As if, she wants to retort, but one glance at her tablet still lying at the side makes her want to.

Maybe, she corrects herself. It’s a little while later that Seri realizes that maybe has always been something associated with a future no, yet this time it’s a bit like a will do.

***

Baekhyun comes by again at 5:30am. This time, he enters the store like he’s about to fall asleep on his feet, but he’s apparently very dedicated and determined to the art of learning how to bake and doesn’t seem to mind his own exhaustion. Seri wonders if it’s something he’s just had to learn as a model, constantly adjusting one’s schedule. She almost asks him, but then swallows it down. It feels like a pointless question.

She can’t actually tell if Baekhyun’s improved. Then again, given his performance the day prior, anything is an improvement. She hadn’t said it aloud, but he’s genuinely awful in the kitchen—everything she warns him against doing he accidentally somehow does. It’s a miracle the bakery is in one piece.

Still, he’d looked so excited about it all that Seri hadn’t found it in herself to tell him just how horrid he is at cooking. And then from that hopeful expression on his face at the prospect of coming again…

It’s all Sehun’s fault, that’s what. But even as Byun Baekhyun fumbles in the kitchen, apologizing profusely after each mistake, Seri’s glad he’s here.