Suddenly, I felt like a big ball filled with awkwardness and embarrassment. The need to look in Baekhyun’s direction was like itching sensation in the place out of reach, driving me crazy to the point when I couldn’t even think straight. In a second, I completely forgot what ‘acting normal’ actually meant, which leaded to an uncomfortable and obviously unnecessary combination of my body movements. In a short period of time, I managed to tug the strand of hair behind my ear more than fifteen times, even though it stopped falling on my face after the third attempt to keep it on the place. I kept folding my arms across the chest, just to awkwardly place hands on my laps for a moment and fold them back second later. I  tried to sit with my legs crossed with grace in Miss Korea style or prop them on the back of the chair in front of me but, no matter what, I still couldn’t relax and forget about Baekhyun’s presence. Finding one comfortable position, when he was sitting just a few centimeters away from me, seemed quite impossible at that moment. 

Baekhyun, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that I was occupying the place beside him. He didn’t say anything – no ‘hello’, no ‘how are you’, not even ‘get out, it’s my place’, which I surely was expecting to hear at some point. He didn’t even move an inch when a strange coughing fit behind us spread across the bus, informing me that everyone was aware of Baekhyun’s shameless action. There was a complete, irritating silence between us and maybe that’s why, when my cellphone started ringing and vibrating in my bag like a possessed pneumatic hummer, I jumped on my seat, startled more than ever. The bag fell on the floor with a loud thud and everything I had inside, spilled around our feet. I immediately bent down to pick up my phone, which was jumping happily around Baekhyun’s right leg now, just to bash heads with Baekhyun second later. We both leaned back abruptly, rubbing our foreheads and I shut my eyes closed, trying to hold the urge to curse loudly.

Still, despite my effort to keep my mouth shut, a quiet ‘’ escaped my lips when the throbbing pain filled my head, pushing aside the disorientation after the unexpected smash with my fake ex-boyfriend. So much for acting cool around him.

When I heard Baekhyun’s hiss, I forced myself to open my eyes and check if he was in the same pain as me. Massaging the injured spot on my forehead I looked in his direction, ignoring my ringing cellphone completely. Baekhyun was rubbing his head with one eye closed, because of the ache he felt, but his lips were curled up in a faint smile. He looked in my direction and when our eyes met, a bigger smile pulled the corners of his mouth.

“Sorry.” Baekhyun muttered, trying to hold laugh by biting his bottom lip. He didn’t manage to keep a straight face for a long time though, and after a few short seconds, a quiet chuckle reached my ears. I noticed him grinning earnestly to himself before he bent down again to pick up my phone. This time I didn’t move, too hypnotized by what I just saw. During those two months with Baekhyun, I saw him smiling like this only twice – in the café, during my class reunion and today. It wasn’t the same smile he’s been showing in the school or during his meetings with friends. No, this one was different – more honest, more staggering, reserved only for special occasions. His eyes were crinkling slightly at the corners everytime he was smiling so widely like this, exposing his white teeth. And despite my current opinion about Baekhyun and everything we went through, I had to admit that his smile, this smile, was stunning. Mesmerizing. Simply perfect.

And too short.

As soon as he grabbed my cellphone, the boyish grin disappeared from his face. Baekhyun pressed his lips into thin line, looking with concentration at the name showing on the screen, and my heart started pounding painfully in my chest. I tightened my fingers around the fabric of my shirt, still not sure why I suddenly felt guilty for not leaving the phone at home.

“Here.” Baekhyun said firmly, as if he was trying to control his voice. Looking at me with expression hovering between disappointment and anger, he handed me my cellphone. I gulped loudly at the flash of pain I saw in the brief second before he looked away and covered his eyes with a cap, speaking again with harsh tone, “Your ringtone is annoying, hurry up and answer.”

The laugh in his voice was nowhere to be found.

I scoffed, taking the phone from his hand. His little outburst was just  out of place and utterly unnecessary, especially when a few seconds ago he was laughing at our clumsiness, not even paying attention to the melody coming out from my cellphone. That reminded me how unpredictable and ignorant Baekhyun could be. God, how I fell in love with that jerk was still a mystery to me. 

I inhaled and exhaled deeply, suddenly remembering my mother’s words. According to her, taking deep breaths helped to calm down and clean your mind from unnecessary thoughts. On the other hand, I saw her throwing her things around and screaming in fury more often than hyperventilating so I wasn’t sure if the whole breathing thing was actually working. After a few deep breaths without any result, I decided not to listen to my mother’s brilliant ideas ever again – I was more of the count-to-ten-method fan anyway.

Trying to convince myself that I didn’t care about Baekhyun’s sudden mood change, I laid my eyes on the small screen of my phone, still buzzing in my hand. Suddenly everything seemed clearer and less confusing. I lifted my eyes to glance at Baekhyun, who was now openly ignoring my presence by pretending to be in a deep sleep, and turning my back to him I pushed the green button.

“Hello?” I muttered, not really sure why I was mad all of a sudden. Kai probably realized that he chose a bad moment to call because I was greeted with complete silence. I immediately scolded myself because, no matter what Baekhyun did, I shouldn’t vent my anger at Kai. I cleared my throat, trying to sound nicer this time, “Hey, are you there?”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called you. I guess you’re still mad at me, right? Well, it’s better if I’ll call lat—”

“Kai.” I stopped his sudden nervous monologue. He was speaking too fast and I had a hard time understanding him clearly. “Calm down first and then tell me what happened.”

I heard him sighing heavily before speaking, “Nothing happened. I mean, today nothing happened. But yesterday…” He paused again, trying to gather his thoughts and decide what were the best words to say. Then he sighed again. “I just wanted to—you know what? I will call you later.“

“Hey, hold on.”  I said with an obvious rush in my voice. I was afraid that he’d really hang up before I’d have a chance to speak again. “What are you so stressed about, Kai? If it’s about yesterday, then—“

“I’m sorry.” This time he interrupted me and I pressed my back to the leather seat in the bus, wondering why he kept apologizing when he didn’t do anything wrong. Okay, he told Baekhyun about my feelings but he was drunk and I was pretty sure that the big hangover he probably had today was enough of a punishment for him. But when I was about to ask him, Kai cleared his throat and continued, “Sorry for being such an to you and saying that I had enough of you and Baekhyun. I don’t remember half of the night yesterday but I’m sorry about it too. And thank you. Yeah, thanks for bringing me back home.”

I chuckled, knowing how embarrassed he had to feel after his wild drunk night. When I and Baekhyun took him out from the club, putting his arms around our necks, he managed to throw up twice on the way to the back door. I didn’t know if Baekhyun told him about it, but I wasn’t going to torture Kai more – he already felt bad enough.

“I didn’t bring you home.” I said, trying to stifle my laugh. “It was Baek—“

Baekhyun.

I stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering that he was sitting beside me. If I’d say his name, he’d know we were talking about him and I surely didn’t want Baekhyun to think I didn’t have better topics to discus. I faked a cough, carefully turning my head to see if Baekhyun realized something, but he didn’t even move and kept ignoring me and everything around. I scoffed to the receiver. Why did I even care in the first place?

“Anyway,” I decided to change the topic, “How are you feeling?“

“Well, as good as you can feel after the whole night of being glued to the toilet.” He said with playful tone, making me smile to myself.

“Having the biggest hangover of your life?”

“Yeah.” He mumbled to the receiver. I heard a quiet commotion and when his voice became a bit guttural, I realized he was still in the bed, laying on his stomach now. Suddenly I felt uneasy because, well, thoughts about Kai in his bed were pretty distracting. “What about you?”

Trying to focus back on the topic, I sighed dramatically, “I’m having the time of my life.”

“Sounds fun.” He chuckled to the receiver, catching my sarcasm. “Are you going somewhere? I think I hear the car.”

“I’m in the bus.” I explained,

“Why?” I could hear the sound of springs from his bed bending under his weight and I swallowed loudly. Focus, Eun Jin, focus! His voice became clearer and I sensed disappointment in it. “Don’t tell me you already packed and—”

I knew exactly what he wanted to say. And no, I wasn’t moving out yet. I was just going on this stupid school trip instead of sitting safely in my room – I wanted to say it but Baekhyun snatched my cellphone away from me before I even had a chance to hear Kai finishing his sentence.

“What is wrong with you?“ I yelled, gazing at him with disbelief but Baekhyun only shot me a glare, ordering me to stay quiet. Then he put the phone near his ear.

“I didn’t sleep the whole night because of you,” he said firmly to the receiver, not even explaining why it wasn’t me talking on the phone with Kai anymore, “so stop ruining my morning as well because I will stop the bus and hitchhike back to personally kick your drunk . I’m hanging up, don’t you dare call again.”

And he did. Without hesitation, he pushed the red button and tossed the phone in my direction. It landed on my laps, informing me about ended call with Kai. I was looking at the screen before it went black again and lifted my eyes to glare at Baekhyun, who went back to sleep like nothing really happened.

“That was rude.” I muttered, loud enough for him to hear me. He o