Your eyes were watering rapidly. Your lips were swollen and quivering. Your tongue was numb. Your body was burning in the excruciating heat. It was the worst feeling ever.

     “B-Baekhyun,” you whispered, your coarse voice barely coming out. Your throat felt really dry at this point despite downing so many cups of water.

     “Mianhae, _____-ah,” he responded. He looked at you with apologetic eyes. He pouted seeing you like this.

     Your body couldn’t take the full force of what you just did for him.

     Baekhyun held your hand and drew small circles at the back of it with his thumb. It sort of calmed you down, but the pain definitely did not go away. “If it was going to end up like this, I shouldn’t have let you do it in the first place. I’m really sorry, _____-ah.”

     You cracked a small smile. “I-It’s not your f-fault,” you managed to say.

     Baekhyun shook his head. “Yes it is! _____-ah! Stop denying it. It’s my fault that you’re like this now,” he exclaimed. You flinched at his sudden outburst. He noticed and added another apology. “Seriously though... Stop being so stubborn when you know it’s the truth.”

     “But they both made fun of you Baekhyun-ah!” you protested. It hurt your throat to raise your voice, but you had to so that Baekhyun would listen to you.

     “You could have just ignored them,” he muttered as he turned his head away knowing that you were right.
 

Earlier that evening, you and your boyfriend, Byun Baekhyun got ready for a date at a local restaurant that recently opened up. You told him that you heard about a special challenge that they were holding there. If you could finish a big bowl of jjangjangmyun in five minutes, it was free of charge. You were excited to go for it since it was free food after all. It was something you could not pass up on. There was a special prize in the end too. Even your friends recommended for you to go.

Baekhyun chuckled at your childishness and pinched your cheeks, “You’re so cute~”

You blushed and swatted his hands away.  

Once you guys arrived, you had to wait in line for a good fifteen minutes because there were other people who had the same amount as enthusiasm as you that wanted to do the challenge. Once the waiter called you guys in, you were already jumping in nervousness and excitement. The both of you were seated at a far-ended corner of the room that was situated by a window. There, you could see a beautiful view of the Han River.

“Uwah~ Oppa look!” you said, tugging at Baekhyun’s arm. He turned and gazed at the gorgeous scenery.

“Daebak…” he commented as you nodded in agreement. He ruffled your hair as you gaped in awe. A smile spread across his face as he watched you. Baekhyun suddenly had an urge to hug you. He switched to your side of the table without you noticing.  He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you in with your back against his chest. You jumped because you thought it was somebody else, but it was none other than Byun Baekhyun. He rested his chin on your shoulder while chuckling.

“Yah! Don’t scare me like that, babo,” you complained. You turned to the side to glare at him, but it only made you notice how close your faces were. Your cheeks flushed into a light pink as you stared at his flawless features resting upon his face. His twinkly eyes. His cute nose. His perfect lips. The tiny mole above those lips.

“Having fun staring at me?” he whispered, his warm breath brushing your ear. You could hear the smirk that was probably plastered on his lips. You pulled away immediately. You were so flustered from him catching you staring. Your hands withdrew to your face to cover up your embarrassment.

“Jagi~” he pulled your wrists away playfully. You looked down to avoid his eyes. “Don’t be shy~” He lifted your chin up to look at him face to face. He pinched your cheeks lightly. “You’re so cute. You know that right?”

You bit your lips to contain that smile that was successfully appearing. “Stop that oppa.”

“Yeah. Stop that oppa,” a female voice spoke up.

Your heads turned around to see a tall and thin girl around your age with a guy (who was most likely her boyfriend) standing next to her.

You raised an eyebrow in confusion. Baekhyun frowned at the sight of them.

“What do you want, Rina-sshi?” Baekhyun asked. Rina… That was the girl Baekhyun had told you about. She had tried stealing his heart before, but he already had his eyes set on you. Rina was mad because he chose a girl like you over her. She had even tried pulling pranks on you, but they always failed because Baekhyun was there to protect you.

“Oh. Well, we just so happened to bump into each other, so I decided: why not come over and say ‘hi’?” she shrugged. She proceeded by sliding into the empty booth that Baekhyun just got up from to your side. Rina pulled her boyfriend down to sit with her.      

“So, are you guys here to do that challenge?” she pointed at the promotion poster by the window. You nodded in response. An imaginary light bulb suddenly flashed in her mind. “Say… do you wanna compete against me?” she wondered. Her eyes were shooting daggers at you. So, obviously she was talking to you.

You opened your mouth to response, but you were cut off by Baekhyun. “No. I wish for you to leave our table and go sit somewhere else. We don’t welcome you here.” He pointed at the guy seated next to her. “And you too.”

Rina scoffed, “Why are you protecting her again? I mean, it’s not like I’m going to do any harm to her.”

The dude finally spoke up, “Afraid? Babe, I believe we have a coward here.”

They both started cackling in laughter.

Baekhyun was unfazed by their words, but anger started boiling up in you. Your fists balled instinctively. You really wanted to give both of them a good punch in the face.

“Fine! I agree to challenge you Rina-sshi. If you lose, you’re going to leave immediately out of our sight and never bother us again,” you stated calmly.

“And if you lose, we’re going to switch partners for the night,” Rina answered back with a smirk playing on her lips. She her lips at the direction of Baekhyun.

“_____-ah! Don—” Baekhyun started protesting, but you lifted your hand up to stop him.

“This is a 1:1 challenge between us girls. Just watch oppa,” you said firmly. Baekhyun bit his lips. He didn’t want to see you do this. It just wasn’t worth it.

“Waiter-sshi! Please give us two extra large bowls of spicy hot jjangjangmyun for that special challenge you guys are holding here,” Rina ordered, while ignoring our little argument. Baekhyun’s eyes widened in shock as he heard the words spew out of .

The waiter came back in a few minutes. He placed the enormous bowls down in front of you guys and supplied the both of you with two large cups of icy water. “Good luck and enjoy!” 

You gulped at the sight. You loved spicy food, but with this huge amount, you weren’t sure if you could finish the whole thing. Plus, the spiciness will make it harder for you.

“Scared now? Winner finishes the whole bowl first,” she said. Rina picked up her chopsticks and started on her share.

Don’t give up! you thought. You grabbed your eating utensils and began the showdown. 

After the time limit (ten minutes for the extra large bowl), you placed your chopsticks down. “Finished!” you managed to shout in joy.

Rina glared at you. “Hmph!” she threw down some bills and dragged her boyfriend out in defeat. “Let’s go.” 

You turned to Baekhyun and gave him a victorious eye smile with a peace sign. He grinned. “You did it babe…” he hugged you tightly. It was then that you started coughing. Your whole body was burning from the intense heat. “_____-ah!” he rubbed your back and patted it softly to calm you down.

You gave him a weak thumbs-up. Baekhyun buried his head on your shoulders. “Babo ya…”

     You gripped his hand and gave him a light squeeze. “Oppa, look at me…” Baekhyun turned around at your demand. You gazed into his beautiful dark brown eyes. “I don’t appreciate anyone making fun of you, okay? Even if you tell me to ignore it, I won’t. I can’t stand anyone hurting someone I love.” You started biting on your lips, hoping that he would understand your intentions. You winced after you realized that your lips were still swollen from the spiciness.

     “Gwenchana, _____-ah?” he held your face as you nodded unconvincingly. His eyes were full of worry. Suddenly, an idea came across his head. “Jagi, hold on a second okay? Just turn around for awhile. Don’t turn back until I tell you to, and I’ll be right back.” Baekhyun got up and walked over to the waiter. He came back several minutes later with a cup.

     “Oppa?” you asked talking to the wall. He brought the cup to his mouth and tapped you on the shoulder. You turned around. Your lips met with Baekhyun’s cool lips. Your eyes widen at the sudden coldness. He your bottom lip for entrance and you allowed him. Baekhyun slipped something wet and solid into your mouth. It was a piece of ice. Baekhyun brought his hands up to cup your face, tilting it slightly to the side while passionately kissing you. The ice was passed back and forth between you both to lessen the chilling sensation. Finally, when it melted, Baekhyun pulled away and smirked.

     “Feeling better now babe?” he asked. You brought your hands to your mouth. Sure, you guys have made out before, but this was different. Your face was flushed into a crimson red.

     Baekhyun gave you a hug and whispered, “_____-ah, I didn’t know you were this tasty.” He pulled away, his lips in satisfactory. You were so flustered that you didn’t know what to say back, so you bury your face into his chest. “Neon nappeun namja,” you mumbled. He chuckled, "I love you too."