-----

So this is what it feels like to be famous. Still, the stares you get when you walk the halls make you feel ignominious, and you'd prefer not to think that way. This is just how it's going to have to be from now on, at least until things die down.

And it's not like you're going to lose anything in the process. You didn't really have much social status to begin with in the first place. There's no guarantee what will happen from now. All you know is that this is the one thing you can do if you're going to prevent yourself from seeing girls have their hearts broken. 

Justification has a strange way of changing one's mind.

It's a good thing tomorrow is a weekend, because you're given at least two days to gloss over your decision. Baekhyun tells you to see him later today, so that's what you're planning to do after tackling a bulk of your homework. 

You'd be lying if you said that you didn't feel anything. You're going to be dating Baekhyun. Yes, it's fake. It's an act. But you can't stop thinking about whether he's agreeing to this because he secretly wants to date you, too.

Wait. Too? No. That's wrong. You don't like Baekhyun that way, and you've never thought about dating him.

Well ... alright. That's a lie. But of course you've thought about dating him in the past. He's impossibly attractive. Every girl imagines dating an impossibly attractive guy. Baekhyun was just the star of your imagination, that's all. He's never going to intrude into your reality in a romantic sense.

You can't picture it. You've tried to conjure up an image before of what it would be like to date him, but you can't picture it. Holding hands with Baekhyun? Calling him your boyfriend? You've known him for too long, and you've done tons of unexpected things together, but that? That's different. 

But kissing him ... kissing him. You honestly want to know what that would feel like.

No, no, no. You can't do that. You can't let personal feelings involve. This is for the girls' benefit. You can't be distracted.

But that, too, is a lie.

You knock on the door of Baekhyun's house. He lives in a suburb, and the structure of each home is identical to each other. Still, there is one thing that distinctly separates his house from the rest. You eye the rose bush on the right of the front steps, its petals withering, its stem wrinkling, before raising a fist to knock on the door again. He should be awake by now, shouldn't he? It's past 12pm. 

You're about to call his phone and leave a very loud voicemail when the door swings open. Standing on the threshold is Baekhyun, rubbing his eyes sleepily and yawning in that adorable way of his. He has on faded jeans and a simple t-shirt with overlaying triangular patterns on it. He smiles at you, a smile that shadows his sleepiness, and pulls the door wider to let you in.

"You just woke up, didn't you?" You accuse him as you step inside. He closes the door behind you and ushers you upstairs and into his room.

Most parents would be hesitant in letting their daughter go into a boy's room, but your family has known Baekhyun's family for years. They know for a fact that you're simply friends, friends who won't ever have any sort of relationship.

Well, that's all about to change.

"I made it," Baekhyun tells you as he pushes aside a scatter of papers on his mahogany desk. You look around his room. It's surprisingly cle