I woke up from the sound of the bed moving. I didn’t open my eyes, but instead I dug my face deeper into the pillow in hopes that I could go back to sleep. The sounds continued and eventually I picked up my head to look up at Baro.Baro was already sitting up, his hand ruffling his already messy hair, and his eyes were squinting as he looked around the room. He must have just woken up.

Baro looked towards my direction once he noticed I was awake as well. “Morning,” he said with a small smile.

I tried to say something in return, but I was barely awake and my vocal cords wouldn’t cooperate with me despite me opening my mouth. So instead, I just rested my head back on the pillow and tried to ignore the tightening feeling in my chest after hearing Baro’s raspy voice first thing in the morning.

"We have to be ready by 9," Baro said, still with that stupid voice.

"What time is it now?" I managed to mumble through the pillow.

"8:15."

"Wake me up at 8:50.

I heard Baro chuckle and then felt a warm hand on my head. ‘Whatever you say, princess.” He ruffled my hair for a bit and then got up, and my head suddenly felt cold once his hand disappeared.

I couldn’t go back to sleep after that so instead I just laid in bed and listened to the background noise Baro was making from getting ready himself.

"What about breakfast?" He suddenly asked.

I still didn’t pick up my head. “Save me a piece of toast.”

"This is Gongchan’s place. Odds are, there’s going to be a lot of toast left over, even if I don’t save you any."

He left the room and at that time, I decided I might as well get up too. I normally can dress pretty quick so it wasn’t like I really needed too much time to get ready. But I couldn’t go back to sleep and it would be pointless to stay in be and no doing, no matter how comfortable it might feel.

The room was nice and warm, but I knew that outside it wouldn’t be. It’s been getting colder and colder by the day now that winter was here. And I was never one to deal with the cold.

So I made extra sure to bundle up. That included a large heavy sweater that reached up to my knees, the fuzziest scarf I owned, a pair of handmade mittens (because handmade are always the warmest), a comfortable hat with the little furry ball at the end, and even a pair of earmuffs.

Now, originally I hadn’t plan on bringing all of this stuff with me. I didn’t think it was necessary. But my mother wouldn’t allow me out of the house unless she was positive I had all this stuff packed. And you can never argue with mother.

I was dressed in 15 minutes and so I spent some time staring at this painting of a flower pot that was hung in the hallway. There was nothing special to it and frankly, a five-year could draw something better than that. But at the bottom of the frame was a price tag of $5k and I spent almost half an hour trying to figure out why anyone would spend that kind of money on a stupid painting like this.

I’m never going to understand rich people.

It seems like they just throw their money away on useless junk instead of spending it on something thats actually worth spending on.

Eventually I gave up trying to figure out the 5th wonder of the world and headed downstairs 10 minutes till 9.

I could hear the other guys at the front door already and it seemed like I was the only one left to come downstairs.

“Whoa,” Namsoo said once he noticed my presence at the foot of the stairs. “Look at you. You sure know how to keep yourself warm.”

The rest of the guys turned to look at me. The only thing I noticed, though, was the way Baro’s eyes suddenly seemed to be in a trance and they were now completely locked on me and only me. It was a little weird.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I subconsciously asked before frowning. “Not that your opinions even matter.”

It was then that I noticed how light everyone else was dressed. While I ready for a winter storm to hit, the other guys were dressed as if there was only a small breeze outside. And I wanted to laugh at them. Watch when these idiots get cold later on in the day. And they better not complain about it either. Unlike them, I was smart enough to dress right. I came prepared, thanks to mother.

“You look adorable,” Jinyoung said as if it was a fact, rather than an opinion. “I think this is the cutest you’ve ever looked.”

“You’ve looked cute before. You just look more cuter, especially with those earmuffs on,” Gongchan added with that stupid grin of his that I’ve always hated.

My hands moved on their own as I reached up to adjust my hat and pouted. “Don’t call me cute.”

“That pout just makes you look even cuter,” Jaehyun teased. He reached up and pinched my cheek before I swatted it away and practically growled at him. I don’t like being touched.

“Stop. You guys are freaking me out.” I know they were only saying these things to annoy me. And for some reason, annoying me has become something that everybody enjoys doing recently.

“If anybody should be freaking out, it should be Baro.” Now everybody had their eyes on Baro, but his eyes were still locked on me. They haven’t gotten off of me since I came downstairs.

“I’m surprised you’re so calm,” Gongchan said.

“Especially with Sandeul looking all cute right in front of you.”

There was an obvious blush now on his face as Baro tried to look away. “W-What are you talking a-about?” He stuttered. His face was getting redder by the second.

“What,” I tilted my head to the side and kept the pout on my face. “Am I not cute to you?”

I knew what was going to come from doing that and I was completely prepared for it. Baro’s face was beginning to get more red and it was completely amusing to watch.

“I-it’s not th-that…” Baro said followed by a nervous chuckle. He was now trying to avoid eye contact but his eyes would quickly glance over me every other second.

I wanted to roll my eyes as Baro fidgeted with his hands and continued to nervously chuckle.

Baro was completely lying right now. I know I looked damn cute.

“We should get going,” Jinyoung said after he couldn’t stand watching any of this anymore. He obviously was the only one who actually understood what was going on. The other guys were as clueless as always.

But Jaehyun must have noticed something as well because he was glaring at Baro, who was completely oblivious to it.

“This is going to be fun!” Gongchan said as he grabbed Jinyoung and dragged him outside with him, where the van was waiting for us to hop in. Namsoo followed behind them.

“So I guess I’m not cute,” I mumbled to Baro as I passed him and out the front door.

Baro tried to say something but all that came out was a bunch of gibberish and an even more red face. Eventually, he got embarrassed to the point that he ran to the car without me.

As I was walking, I suddenly felt someone grab me by the arm. I turned and Jaehyun stood there, giving me a look I couldn’t read. I was beginning to get annoyed at how unreadable Jaehyun has become lately. He used to be the easiest person to understand just by looking at them.

“What’s up?” I asked him. The rest of the guys were already in the van, including the driver, and it was only the two of us still standing outside.

“You really do look cute,” Jaehyun said. He reached up to pat the top of my head before suddenly began fixing the hat I was wearing.

“Don’t make me throw up.”

Jaehyun laugh. “What? Can’t I call my favorite Deul cute?”

“I’m your only Deul.”

“At least you admit you’re mine.”

I stayed speechless as Jaehyun winked at me and then trotted over to the van.

I cringed my face before following.

--

It didn’t take us long to get downtown. It was barely a 10 minute ride. The place was practically a shopping center. There were shops and stores everywhere and people were already out. Some were window shopping, others were just walking by, and some were doing some actual shopping.
It was way too early for any of this.

While Gongchan began telling everybody the schedule he had plan for the day (the plan was very detailed and I’m still wondering why Gongchan is putting so much effort in this vacation), Baro managed to take me to the side while nobody was aware. I could notice the guys shaking a little from the cold and I smirked to myself. At least I dressed right.

“So how do we do this?” he asked once we were far enough from listening distance.

“Do what?”

“You know. How do we get Gongchan to let us go off on our own?”

I glanced at Gongchan, who was still happily rambling on, and then back at Baro. “You didn’t think of that ahead of time?”

“I had my thoughts on other things.” Baro’s eyes wandered and gave me a one over and he then blushed.

I didn’t ask what he meant by that and frankly, from the look he was giving me, I didn’t want to know either.

I adjusted my earmuffs and frowned. “We can’t sneak away together. They’ll get suspicious.”

Except for Jinyoung, since he already knew the whole situation. But Baro was still unaware that Jinyoung is now in on the whole thing. I’m not sure how he’ll react if he found out either.

“And we can’t just ask either,” Baro mumbled, now in deep thought.

“Why not? It won’t kill us to ask.”

I didn’t wait for a response. I turned around and headed back to the gang, where Gongchan was still rambling on and the guys were listening intensely. Why are they even going along with him? Why am I surrounded by idiots?

“Hey,” I said, cutting Gongchan off. “Can Baro and I go check some stuff out on our own?”

Asking straight out was better than sneaking off. Sneaking off would make the guys think we had something to hide, which is true but it’s not like they needed to know that. At least asking didn’t make us too suspicious and they could just assume that we wanted to be alone since we were “best friends” and all.

Gongchan looked taken back a bit and I don’t blame him. I did ask a bit too bluntly, especially since he had this whole day planned out.

“I guess,” Gongchan said, his eyes downcasting. “If that’s what you want to do.”

He was clearly upset but I didn’t want to do. I had agreed to going off alone with Baro and it wasn’t like I wanted to do this thing Gongchan had planned in the first place. But before I could thank Gongchan, Jinyoung stepped in.

“You don’t mean that, right Sandeul.” Jinyoung had shot me a hard look that left me a little speechless. I didn’t know Jinyoung could look so scary so easily. No one else noticed the look except for me and I wasn’t sure how to respond. So Jinyoung continued.

“You wouldn’t just ditch Gongchan after he spent all this time planning this vacation out for the 6 of us to hang out together. That’ll just be completely rude.” Jinyoung tried to sound as normal as possible.

He leaned in closer and muttered, “Also, going off alone with Baro might cause a misunderstanding on a certain someone who’s gaining possible false hope. Now that wouldn’t be right, would it?”

Now I see what he was going at.

“I mean,” I said with a sigh. I turned to Gongchan and waited for him to look back up at me. “I mean, we wanted to use the bathroom. Do you know where it is?"

“Oh!” Gongchan immediately lit up and pointed towards a nearby coffee shop. “I think there should be one in there.”

I thanked Gongchan, shot a quick glare to Jinyoung, before walking back to Baro.

“We have to go to the bathroom.”

“But I don’t have to pee.”

“Then try.”

I grabbed Baro by the wrist and lead him to the coffee shop Gongchan had pointed. Inside, I made sure we were away from the windows incase any of the guys tried to look in, and I turned to Baro.

“Change of plans. We can’t be alone today.”

Baro looked devastated at that news and I wondered how much he looked forward to being alone.

“Why not?”

I wasn’t sure how to tell him that Jinyoung isn’t going to allow us to spend as much time together as before. Not until I figure out my own feelings because the last thing that Jinyoung wants his to have Baro’s hope get crushed if it turns out that I don’t like him as much as he likes me. To Jinyoung, Baro was like a little brother.

“Gongchan has today planned out,” I answered. “There’s no way he’s going to let us go off on our own.”

Baro looked like a kicked puppy. I wanted to punch him just so I wouldn’t have to see that face.

“We’ll just have to find another day,” I mumbled while avoiding eye contact. I couldn’t even look at him.

But I knew it wasn’t going to be for another two weeks that we could hang out. And Baro really wanted this. It was obvious that he did and I felt a little bad that he wasn’t going to get it. And maybe I wanted this a little too.

I could see Baro shivering a little, still not over the cold from outside and I sighed. “Why did you dress so light?”

“I didn’t think it was going to be that cold out.”
It’s winter. What did he expect? Of course it was going to be cold out.

I sighed again as I reached up to take off my scarf. Throwing it around his neck, I pulled him in closer so I could properly wrap it around him. There was hardly any space in between us and maybe we didn’t really need to stand this close but it wasn’t like I had a problem with it. And I knew Baro didn’t mind either.

“This is all I’m giving you,” I said as I made sure it was wrapped tightly around his neck. “Keep it on too. You’ll get sick otherwise.”

Baro suddenly leaned in so that his forehead was pressed against mine and my eyes went up to make eye contact with him.

“Why are you always so good to me?” he mumbled softly.

“What the hell are you talking?” I mumbled back. Taking a look at the scarf, I noticed it didn’t come out right and so I went back to readjusting it.

“I don’t know why I didn’t confess to you earlier. Being able to do this without being terrified that you’d be weirded out is really great to be honest.”

“Who said I wasn’t weirded out? Maybe right now I’m having a mental breakdown and you just can’t tell.”

“I know you, Deullie.”

I didn’t respond because Baro was right. He did know me. He knew me more than I ever wanted anybody to know about me. And I hated that.

When did I become too open to others? What happened to the old me that no one would pay any mind to. A year ago I wouldn’t have ever agreed to going on a trip with 5 other guys. And yet, here I am now.

“What the hell are you guys doing?”

I hadn’t realize at that moment, Baro’s face was only inches away from mine. The coffee shop was practically empty, nobody else had noticed us. And while I was too busy in my thoughts while my hands were too busy fumbling with the scarf, Baro was leaning in for a kiss.

And Jaehyun had walked in just before he could.
I didn’t notice Jaehyun was there, but I really wish I had. Baro and I had jumped away from each other the moment we heard his voice and if that didn’t make anything obvious, I don’t know what does. Jaehyun was giving us this look, with his eyes narrowed and his face slightly scrunched up, and I knew he was having a suspicious feelings

“What are you guys doing?”

I didn’t answer. I knew Jaehyun well enough. If I answered too quick, he’ll completely become suspicious. And I couldn’t let Baro talk either. That bastard couldn’t lie even if his life depended on it.

But Baro was smart enough not to answer either.

“I gave him my scarf. It was too cold for him outside,” I finally said after a few seconds of complete silence. I reached over to Baro and tugged on the scarf one last time.

“But you were leaning in and-”

"I can’t really fix his scarf if he was standing so far, right? This idiot doesn’t even know how to put it on properly.”

Jaehyun just stared at the two of us, his eyes still narrowed. I knew he didn’t buy it. But it was enough for him not to ask anything else. He had some thoughts running in his hand, I could tell, but nothing that he would call us out for. Like possibly almost kissing.

“Okay then,” Jaehyun said slowly, in that ‘I don’t believe you but I’ll let you go this time’ tone. “Gongchan is waiting outside.”

The three of us began to walk out of the shop, but Jaehyun made sure he was in the middle and that Baro and I weren’t anywhere near each other.

He didn’t leave my side for the rest of the afternoon.

--
“Look at this,” Jaehyun said as he placed a Santa hat on top of his head. He turned to me and grinned. “Aren’t I cute?”

“Don’t make me throw up.”

After spending almost three hours of just blatantly walking around, we decided to enter a nearby thrift shop. It was getting too cold outside for the guys (idiots should’ve dressed more properly) and so they wanted to warm up a bit. It was large enough for us to finally split up for once and wander around on our own (being around those guys for so long was seriously draining my battery). But before I had the chance to get away from them, Jaehyun had grabbed me and dragged me off with him.

The sad part was that he was just quicker than Baro by a split second. I knew Baro was waiting for this alone time moment all morning and the look on his face as he watched me being dragged away was pretty devastating.

“I bet if it was Baro wearing it, you would’ve said it was cute.” I heard Jaehyun mutter those words as he took the hat off and placed it back on the rack it was on.

I felt a nerve hit me when he said that, but I knew better than to say anything. I didn’t need to deal with Jaehyun and whatever was up his at the moment. Of course, a reason for him to be annoyed would probably be because of the way Baro had snapped at him in the car yesterday. I don’t blame him for still being bitter for that. But if he was going to be a brat to me because of it, I wasn’t having it.

“If you’re done being a spoiled kid, let’s go back.”

I walked away without waiting for him and I heard hear a slight groan from behind me. “Deul, wait.”
I didn’t wait, but instead kept walking.

“Deul, can you stop? I need to tell you something.”

I finally did stop and turned back to Jaehyun. “What?”

“Why are you so mad? It’s true isn’t it. You always give Baro special treatment.”

I tried not to say anything, but I still cracked. “We’re not doing this again. I’m so tired talking about this. How many times do I have to tell you, you need to stop being such a little brat when it comes to Baro,” I snapped.

“Then tell me what the hell were you guys doing at the coffee shop.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and frowned. I had thought that by now Jaehyun had given up on figuring that out. The whole morning he didn’t mention it, but I should have figured from the looks he would send Baro every now and then.

“I told you. I was fixing his scarf.”

“That’s a damn lie.”

“I don’t lie.” The fact that I was lying about lying surely proves that I have a problem.

Jaehyun didn’t say anything. We stood there standing in the middle of the isle, practically having a staring contest and I wanted to laugh at the whole thing. I wanted to laugh at how serious Jaehyun looked and I wanted laugh that he only reason he was being like this was for an idiot like Baro. This was all too ridiculous.

“How about this,” I said after almost a minute of staring. “How about we don’t talk until you get over whatever you have going on with you.”

“You can’t be serious-”

“I’m tired of dealing with this so I’d rather not.”
Maybe I was being the brat at the moment. Maybe cutting Jaehyun off so suddenly wasn’t the best move. But I had too much on my plate at the moment and I didn’t need Jaehyun adding any more to it.

I walked away again and this time he didn’t come after me and I’m glad he didn’t. I wandered around on my own for a bit until I suddenly ran into the only guy who was completely happy to see me.

“Deullie!”

I cringed a bit at how loud his voice was but of course Baro would be happy to see. Especially since I was alone.

“Yes. That is me.”

Baro caught up to me and looked around for a quick second.

“Jaehyun isn’t here. He went to find Gongchan,” I lied.

Baro tried to hide the grin that was breaking out on his face but I already noticed it.

“This will be the only time we can be alone so we better get going,” Baro said. He didn’t wait for a response and just pulled me along with him to walk around the shop.

Pushing Jaehyun out of my thoughts, I decided to just get this whole day over with. Besides, being around Baro helped me calm myself a bit.

But honestly, I wasn’t exactly happy at the moment. Despite being inside, it was still a little cold and without the scarf, my neck was exposed to it. I glanced at the shop’s window that covered the whole wall and stared up at the sky.

It was yet to snow, but you knew it was going to come one of these days. And that just made everything worse. I hate the snow.

Everything becomes a mess once you step out into the snow. Your clothes and shoes get all wet and muddy, the streets are hard to walk through. It’s just all horrible. And don’t forget the cold weather, the annoying heavy clothings, and worst, the christmas romance.

The streets and shops were already decorated with christmas this and christmas that. The typical crap you normally see in movies that always makes the streets light up with what they call “christmas joy.”

It was something all couples dream of spending a day in. 

Christmas was still a week away. We’ll be home by then and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

Earlier this week, my father had called and asked what my christmas plans were for this year. At the time, I didn't have anything in mind and so he asked for me to spend it with him. Five months since he left and this was the first time he asked to spend time with me.

My mother had already made arrangements for her to spend christmas with her sister and their family and I politely declined because CNU was going to be there too and you know how that always ends.

So I have no other option but to spend it with my father.

Baro and I spent almost half an hour just wandering around, with barely any words exchanged between us.

I didn’t mind the lack of conversation between us. It wasn’t as though the atmosphere was awkward either. The silence was comfortable and words weren’t really needed.

We soon found ourselves by the clothes area. Baro decided that the silence time was over because he began forcing me to try on all these different clothes and hats and it was really ridiculous. We weren’t even planning on buying any of it, but Baro would throw me into the dressing room with a pile of clothes in his hand and wouldn’t let me out until I tried them on. I was annoyed by it at all, but Baro seemed to be having fun so it wasn’t that bad.

Eventually Baro decided to join in and began trying on clothes as well.

“Check this out.” He stepped out of the dressing room with a golden button down shirt. The thing looked completely tacky and I wanted to burn it. How dare Baro wear such a thing in front of me.

“It’s horrible.”

“I know. I want it.” Baro looked into the full body mirror and grinned at what he saw. “It’s one of those shirt that you want just for the hell of it, you know?”

I reached at the price tag and let out a small groan. “For something so ugly, it’s pretty damn expensive. I didn’t know thrift shop sells things over 50.”

“Is it really that expensive?” Baro said, checking the tag himself. He also groaned when he saw the price. “Wow. And I really wanted it too.”

“Here’s an idea,” I said, handing back Baro his shirt so he could change out of that horrible on he currently had on. “Why not just buy it? You’re rich.”

“Oh please,” Baro mumbled. Without any hesitation, Baro the shirt right in front of me instead of going back inside the dressing room. That’s when I realized he wasn’t wearing an undershirt. Damn.

“I don’t have the money for that,” he continued as he slid the shirt off of him. Now he was standing completely shirtless right in front of me and I wasn’t sure what to look at

“What are you talking about?” I said. I tried bringing my eyes back to his face, but it was kind of hard at the moment. “You practically live in a mansion.”

I didn’t expect the glare I received from Baro. “My parents are rich. I don’t eat off my parents money. I only use it for the essentials.”

“I just thought-”

“You really shouldn’t judge a person so easily,” Baro said. Finally, he put his regular shirt back on and I was able to properly breathe again.

“Please,” I said, now properly looking at his face, “I’ve judged too much already to care anymore.”

Baro laughed at the comment and before putting the tacky shirt on one of the racks hanging around.
Baro did have a point though. I would have never expected Baro to be rich if it wasn’t for me going to his house and seeing it with my own eyes. Baro doesn’t go around and flash his money in everybody’s faces or buys whatever he wants just because he can.

Gongchan has money flowing out of his pockets all the time and always has to mention it one way or another. Namsoo can’t go a day without mentioning an expensive trip he’s gone with his family before. Even Jaehyun tends to take advantage of his parent’s money. I wasn’t even aware about Jaehyun’s status until he mentioned to me how he managed to even afford going to our rich school. (Inheritance is a big thing, especially when your late grandfather used to run a whole chain of restaurants.

Baro didn’t seem to use his parents money all the time like the other rich bastards in our school.
We decided to continue wandering around a bit before Gongchan calls us to meet up again. The street fair was going to begin soon and I knew Gongchan wouldn’t want to be late for it.

“I was thinking of ditching the guys again. At the street fair this time.” We were at the toys section now and I was in the middle of examining a toy robot while Baro was messing around with a sock money.

“Alone at a street fair?” I questioned. “Sounds like something couples do.”

“Well, yeah.”

I frowned as I placed the robot back on the shelf and looked at Baro. “No thanks.” Even if I wanted to, Jinyoung would kill me before I could. He told me to sort out my feelings, but how could I if I can’t even spend any alone time with Baro to figure them out.

“Why not?” Baro asked, a bit disappointed.

“Because I don’t like you. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, that is.”

“Shouldn’t you be a little more concerned, then? I mean, I did confess to you. You should at least have that on your mind.” Baro wrapped the sock monkey’s arm around my neck so the toy would be hanging off from me. “Cute."

Even though Baro said that, he did only confess to me just yesterday. He even said so himself that he didn’t want anything to happen between us until I figure my own feelings out. Being alone at a street fair together would be crossing a line I shouldn’t even be near.

Also, we were already hanging together now. Why do we need to do it tonight as well.

“The guys will get suspicious.”

Baro sighed and looked away so that he had his attention on the toys.

I also sighed.

“If you can get us alone, then okay. I don’t think Gongchan is going to let us go.”

Baro then grinned and faced back to me. “Don’t worry. I already have a plan.”