Dasom learned how to effectively suppress her emotions when she was young.

Back then, it was a very trying time for her. She wasn't as bright as her older sister was; hence, everyone's expectations of her entering the same science high school brought her spirits down. 

It was not that she has no damn care about what happens in her future. Despite being born with a silver spoon in , Dasom still wanted to make something of her own—to achieve something in her own name, without her family name being attached to everything she does. She has always wanted to hit it big, just like her parents, her grandparents, and most of all, as her older sister did.

Even though her sister has been nothing but a very loving, considerate sibling to her, Dasom could not deny that she had always felt the unspoken rivalry between them. And no matter how much effort she gave, she always ended up losing to the one and only stellar Hyunseo.

Maybe she had been cursed to remain in her sister's shadow just because she had been born second. Maybe that's just the way life is indeed for her. Being the second daughter meant that she will always be second in her parents' eyes as well as in the eyes of random strangers or anyone who'd take time to pry into their lives. Dasom had learned to effectively ignore the negative emotions that had always crept into her chest whenever she got compared to her sister. There was no use in being envious or angry at the endless comparison between her and her sister.

She had learned to simply live with it.

Dasom was not certain if that ability of hers is a blessing or a curse. Or perhaps it could be both, depending on how she viewed it. 

But of course, she was bound to break at some point in her life. 

There is no one hundred percent effectiveness when it comes to inventions created by humans. Why do imperfect beings even strive to create a perfect invention? Why even try to uphold perfection when the very concept is simply impossible from the very start? Questions that have no answer and will only lead to more questions if asked.

And when Dasom's calm and nonchalant façade broke down, she immediately regretted it, most especially because of the very reason why she lost her composure. 

Byun Baekhyun.

It had been three days since Baekhyun drove Dasom home after bumping into each other at the supermarket. It has also been three days since Baekhyun's question lingered in Dasom's mind, especially since he admitted it to be a slip-up and that she should go directly to her mom to get to the bottom of it.

But even though her mind's telling her to storm into her parents'  house to seek the truth, Dasom's uncertain if her heart can take it. 

They say that the truth will set you free... but what if this truth she's looking for will only trap her into something she will forever detest?

No matter how much she tried to distract herself with work, her mind goes back to Baekhyun's question and the way he tried hard to deflect her curiosity away from him. Even re-watching her favorite show doesn't work and it's frustrating the hell out of Dasom.

What is it that Baekhyun—and my own mother—is hiding from me? 

One thing Dasom hates is when a secret being kept from her tends to mess with her mind, big time. Just like what was happening to her right now. The more she tries to ignore it, the more her mind will do its best for her to never forget it. 

A sigh escaped her lips.

Turning off the television, Dasom picked up her phone on the coffee table and decided to call her mom, not minding how it was already eleven in the evening and that she must have been sleeping now. 

When her mom didn't answer the first time, Dasom bit her lips to prevent herself from screaming out of frustration. 

The second time she rings, her mom picks up.

"Dasom?" The voice on the other line sounds groggy, probably because she was awoken by the ringing of her phone. "What happened, dear? Is everything alright?" 

This is it.

This is her chance to find out what Baekhyun had been implying days ago.

All she had to do is to ask her mom.

"I just wanted to check on you," were the words that came out of .

Dasom facepalmed herself, groaning silently at how stupid she was for wasting this chance. 

"Oh. Are you sure nothing's the matter?" 

it.

"Sorry, mom. You can go back to sleep now."

Dasom heard an affectionate chuckle, "If you miss me that much, feel free to spend the night here anytime. Good night, Som. Have a good night's sleep." 

When the phone call ended, Dasom threw her phone on the cushion of her sofa and buried herself in her hands, screaming silently to release her pent-up frustration. 

Why didn't she say anything? 

How could she let herself down that easily? 

Wiping her face with a disappointed sigh, Dasom can't help but sulk at her helplessness.

This was all Baekhyun's fault.

If he didn't ask that question, Dasom would probably be enjoying the last episode of the series she's been binge-watching over the weekend while helping herself to a whole box of pizza and soju. 

This made her realize something—ever since Hyunseo introduced them to each other, Baekhyun had never been that helpful to her under normal circumstances. If anything, he gets happy whenever he encounters her during a moment of misfortune. Instead of acting as a big brother, since he's dating her older sister, his actions were the total opposite. It's as if he gets off by giving the universe a hand at making her daily life more difficult than it already was. 

She rolled her eyes. What if Baekhyun was indeed just messing with her? 

The mere thought of it made her blood boil. 

How could she let herself get played by Baekhyun just like old times? Just because she was distracted with his daughter did not mean that he gets to play stupid games with her. Dasom will never allow herself to get played by anyone, more so by her very own brother-in-law.

Gosh, she can't believe that she almost confronted her mom about a non-existent truth that was being kept from her. 

Dasom vowed to get back at Baekhyun because of this. 

But for now, she needed to relax first.

"Why are you here?" 

"I want to visit my niece. Can't I?" 

"But why?" Baekhyun pressed for more answers. He wasn't satisfied with Dasom's simple reason. His intuition was telling him that his sister-in-law went to his condominium unit for an entirely different reason that was clearly not about his daughter. 

Dasom didn't wait for Baekhyun to invite her inside. Besides, she did live here for a year so technically, this place became sort of a second house for her. 

Baekhyun, on the other hand, was frozen in shock at Dasom's display of nonchalance as she just sashayed her way inside his place. It's not that he did not want Dasom to be under the same roof as him—okay, maybe he did not want her to be there—but he finds it outrightly rude for her to just walk inside without being invited first by him.

"You're trespassing, you know?" 

But Baekhyun's indirect threat did not work. Dasom sat down on the couch, extending her legs and then placing them on top of the coffee table. 

It's a good thing there wasn't any item on top of it or else Baekhyun would have gone berserk since he hates messy and disorganized things. 

"So what if I'm trespassing?" Dasom shrugged, "Will you turn me into the police?"

Baekhyun tried to search Dasom's face to figure out her true agenda for her surprise visit. However, his search ended in vain. The woman's facial expression was curated so well that he finds it hard to penetrate into the depths of her soul. There goes his mission down the drain. 

Seeing that Dasom was resolved to lounging in his living room no matter how many ways he tries to drive her away, Baekhyun sat down on the floor dejectedly. 

Dasom giggled at the way Baekhyun was sulking, "What's with you, mister? You look so childish, sulking on the floor. There's another couch, in case you didn't notice."

"Just get straight to the point," Baekhyun's aura became serious, alerting Dasom that he was not playing around anymore. If anything, it was getting as clear as the day that Baekhyun was growing annoyed at her antics. 

This was not the first time that Baekhyun got angry with Dasom. It's been four years since it happened and it did not occur again. And Dasom was actually thankful that Baekhyun never got completely angry at her again since he turned into another person whenever he lets his emotions get the best of him. It's a trait that he admitted he wasn't entirely proud of, but it's difficult for Baekhyun to disassociate from since it's an integral part of him. 

Dasom swallowed down her fake courage. 

She thought about this confrontation countless times. In fact, she already has a speech prepared in her mind. She just needs to speak the exact words while Baekhyun's shows his willingness to listen to whatever she was about to tell him. However, her nerves always get the best of her. Now that she's in front of Baekhyun, for some reason all the words she prepared had evacuated her mind.

"Yoon Dasom." 

. Dasom unconsciously bit her lower lip. 

She knows that tone. It's the tone that warns her to not do anything stupid to refrain Baekhyun from bursting at her. It was also the same tone that her late sister used on her whenever she did something she disapproved of. Aside from that, it also reminds her of the way her parents would call out her full name whenever she was not paying attention to whatever they were saying or if she went against their orders since she had always been the rebellious daughter. 

"If you're not going to speak, then you're leaving me with no choice." 

Baekhyun's warning made Dasom more nervous. "W-what?" 

Without a word, Baekhyun effortlessly hurled her over his right shoulder like she was a sack of rice. "Put me down, yah!" Not heeding Dasom's complaints, Baekhyun carried her out of the living room up to the hallway outside his unit. "Yah, Byun Baekhyun!"

"Don't you yah, Byun Baekhyun me," Baekhyun's eyes were dark when he lets go of Dasom until her two feet touched the cold ground. "I'm a busy man, Yoon Dasom. If you don't have anything important to say, then don't simply waste my time just like that. Do that again and I won't let you see my daughter again." 

Just like that, Baekhyun brazenly closed the door in Dasom's face, leaving no room for any counterarguments. 

Dasom actually had no idea why she just thoughtlessly barged into Baekhyun's place without his permission. 

The scene played perfectly inside her mind. All she had to do was to flawlessly play her role wherein she would confront him and push him into the corner to force the truth to spill from his pretty lips. Not minding the fact that she was five years younger than Baekhyun, Dasom was certain that she would not waver in his presence since they always fight so she should be immune to him by now. However, when she recalled what happened that afternoon, it was proving to be quite difficult for her to not think about the way his aura got too intimidating for her sanity.

After being tossed out of his unit like a ragged doll, Dasom crashed her friend's house. 

Kim Yerim has been her ride-or-die since they both first met in the opening convocation program at University. As an introvert, Dasom has always found it difficult to initiate a conversation with a stranger. She finds it even more challenging to present herself as an interesting individual just to make a lovely acquaintance. That was why when Yerim approached her even though she clearly looked like a weird loner that day, Dasom immediately knew that they were going to stick around in each other's lives for a long time. 

"Will you stop breathing out loud?"

Like instinct, Dasom loudly sighed again.

"Yoon Dasom!" 

Dasom lets out a groan as she pulled her hair out of frustration. Since it was obvious that Yerim would not be able to understand the drama she was watching, she paused it first before turning the television off to give her full attention to her best friend who clearly needs help. 

"Okay, spill," Yerim turned towards Dasom, "What's happening with you?"

Dasom only shrugged but that did not deter Yerim from continuing with her interrogation.

"You barged into my place looking like you just stepped your newly washed white sneakers on a puddle of ." The two of them grimaced as their minds painted a very clear picture of what Yerim just mentioned. However, the latter still went on, "If you have a problem that you can solve on your own, you wouldn't bother going out of your way to pay me a visit on the other side of the city. So, pray tell, what the hell is your problem, Dasom?"

That's the problem with getting too close to someone. 

You become too familiar with them that they're able to read your actions from the littlest to the grandest ones, and it's a million times harder to put up a mask in front of them. In Dasom's case, she feels like an open book when it comes to her best friend. Like magic, Yerim can easily read her thoughts with just one look on her face. 

Dasom