Wrong, I kept repeating in my head. Chanyeol was wrong.

His implication, the hint he’d been trying to send across without actually saying it, had been wrong. Baekhyun’s ‘happy ending’ had happened, and it had been with Soojin. He had chosen her ever since in the very beginning. Why would he change his mind now?

I let the cold water from the shower head continue to drench my body and imagined the running water washing away my miseries as well. My hair dripped down my back and I roughly ran my fingers through it, trying to untangle the knots and curls.

You shouldn’t blame Chanyeol, the logical part of my brain said. He’s just trying to help.

I closed my eyes and let the words sink in my head. Help. He was just trying to help.

But part of me was angry at him somewhat, for making me question my infatuation towards Luhan, for making me realise that Baekhyun meant more to me than just a friend.

Tears fell down my cheeks and I tilted my head up, letting it mix with the water from the shower.

I had no one to else to be angry at. I was the one who agreed to set him up with Soojin. I was the one who encouraged his advances. The person that I could blame in the end... was me.

I arrived at school early the next day, not wanting to let anyone see the dark rings around my eyes when I came in. I hadn’t been able to sleep last night and had tossed and turned in bed. I was well aware of my puffy eyes and the terrible state of my appearance when I woke up. I didn’t apply anything on my face, too much in a rush to leave before Jongdae or my mother woke up. They were the two people who knew me inside out; regardless how much make-up I managed to slather on to cover the eye bags and my pale face, they would know that something was wrong with me.

I decided to resume my preparations in school instead, bringing with me a make-up bag and ducking inside the nearest washroom I could find. Since my own collection of make-up and skin care products was greatly limited to a few tubes of lip gloss, a tube of eyeliner and mascara and a Vitamin E cream, I had brought my mother’s old collection instead. I applied some concealer, powder and lip gloss, trying to add as much colour to my cheeks and lips as possible. I worked long and hard to hide the dark rings under my eyes, and after I was done, sniffed some of my favourite citrus scented perfume to calm down my nerves. I needed to look as normal as possible at school today; I didn’t need any more rumours going around about me.

Once I was fairly satisfied with the results, I zipped up my make-up bag and stuffed it deep inside my bag, making sure it wouldn’t fall out when I pulled out my books. I blinked a few times, flushed all thoughts about Baekhyun out of my head, and marched out, determined to proceed with today as how I always did with other days, determined to forget that I had cried all night because of Baekhyun.

I was incessantly cheery for the whole day, greeting everyone I knew, spending my time talking to the girls in my class before the bell rang so that I wouldn’t have to meet Baekhyun’s eyes when he walked past my desk to his. I felt empty and hollow, but I made my face light up and forced myself to laugh at jokes.

A few girls took advantage of my attempts to be sociable and asked me about the rumours involving Luhan. I denied that I was dating him, but was forced to give an account about what happened. I told them about the dance competition. I was even generous enough to include a few comments about Jongin, to which I received an overwhelming response from the girls, who all begged me to tell them more.

It sort of helped, talking with these girls. I was listening to a girl tell a story about how she embarrassed herself on stage when she was in preschool trying to sing the national anthem when I caught Baekhyun staring at me.

I couldn’t decipher the look in his eyes, but I could feel the intensity of his gaze and glimpsed that questioning frown that etched itself onto his mouth. I looked away and pretended to laugh with the other girls. I had to quench that feeling in my heart. I can’t fall for him any more than I already had.

Today, I was the one who ignored him all day long. I came to the decision that I couldn’t look at him for more than a few seconds without the aching pain again, and decided that I should recompense him with the same treatment he had given me the day before.

Unlike me, he didn’t attempt to make me talk to him. He just stayed silent and watched me. I felt his eyes lingering on my back in class and when I got up and headed out of the door for lunch, but I paid no heed to it. I just quickly dashed out of the door after the other girls, trying to escape the rising tension between the two of us. 

As I walked down the hallways, alone, smiling at a few people I knew, my eyes caught something standing at the far end of the long hallway. A bronze head, more familiar now that I had gotten to know him, bobbed amongst the other students. He saw me make eye contact with him and waved frantically at me, standing on his tip toes to make himself able to be seen above the crowd. I raised my brows and made my way towards him.

“Sehun, what are you doing here?” I asked once I reached him.

Sehun’s eyes were bright with glee and glinting with mystery. He grinned at me. “Noona, I have a message for you.”

“Okay. What is it?”

Sehun smirked. “I’ve been told not to say it,” he said. He reached out and cupped my hands in his. When he released them, I noticed a small folded note tucked neatly in my palm. “You’ll have to read it yourself.” He winked at me, and then slunk off into the crowd.

I stared at him and the note, my forehead creasing at his strange behaviour. Shrugging, I pocketed the note and ducked inside one of the doors to the fire escape. Once I was sure that I was alone and safe from other prying eyes, I slowly opened the folded note.

Come to the dance studio no. 3 after school today. I have something to tell you. If you’re about to say no and that doesn’t change your mind, I also have some milk and cookies that we could share. Hope that lures you in ;)

Sincerely,

Luhan

“Milk and cookies,” I chortled as I pocketed the note. “Honestly.” I shook my head and slipped out of the fire escape, melting into the moving crowd that was headed for lunch. I suppose I could go, seeing that it provided me with a viable excuse to get away from Baekhyun for the rest of the day.

My librarian duties today were slotted during the lunch period, and I had to spend the rest of the period carting books and arranging them to the right shelves. I didn’t mind though. The peace and quiet that engulfed the room calmed me, made me forget everything that happened today and the day before. The sounds of turning pages were as good as music to my ears, and even the tiniest scrape of the chair against the marble floor blended into the whole glorious symphony.

The people who came to the library were usually those who intended to study. Hence, I was safe from further interrogations about the truth of the rumours. People barely acknowledged each other as they sat and perused their books, and I was perfectly content while I rolled my trolley down the aisle and shoved the books back into the appropriate spaces.

I hummed a tune under my breath, feeling as relaxed as I had ever been since the start of today.

A slight, but prominent cough jarred me out of my thoughts. I turned my head slowly, arm still poised over the shelf with a book going just half-way into the empty space. Blood drained from my cheeks and I felt cold all over.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Soojin whispered at me as she speed-walked towards where I stood. “You’ve been disappearing off for the whole day. What happened?”

I slowly pushed the book into its place and wiped my hands on my skirt, forcing a strained smile onto my face. “Hey, Soojin.”

Soojin squinted at my face. “Are you okay? You don’t usually wear make-up to school.”

“I’m fine,” I lied.

“I’m not buying that,” she said with a shake of her head. “It’s obvious you didn’t get much sleep last night. You shouldn’t overwork yourself,” she chided me.

“I’m not overworking myself.”

“Then why couldn’t you sleep?”

“I don’t know. I just couldn’t last night. So,” I said, quickly changing the topic, “why are you looking for me?”

Something lit up in Soojin’s eyes, something that made my heart wrench involuntarily as I began to regret my question. She reached out and took my hands in hers, clasping them tightly as she leaned forwards to whisper something to me.

“I came here to tell you,” she said slowly, conspiringly, before breaking out into a wide grin. “Baekhyun and I are dating!”

If my heart had been crushed yesterday, it was shattered and torn apart now. My ears seemed to have turned deaf; I couldn’t hear a word she said. The pain that exploded in my chest was nothing compared to any pain I had ever experienced in my life. Hearing the confirmation coming from Soojin’s lips made me want to scream, to drop to the ground and cry.

“Isn’t that great?” she exclaimed, oblivious to my inner turmoil.

 I suppressed the pain and forced a smile into my face, forcing my numb fingers to squeeze hers as a gesture of mutual happiness. “It’s wonderful.”

“I’m so happy, Yoora,” she said, suddenly pulling me into a tight hug. “I’ve liked him for so long,” she murmured into my shoulder.

I reciprocated her intimate gesture weakly, hesitantly. I felt light-headed and dizzy, as if everything that happened was just a dream conjured up by my subconscious. I was partly hoping that I would wake up soon, tucked in bed with my book next to me; I wished that the time would turn and that I would find Baekhyun and I together once again, with nothing and no one between us that could tear us apart.

I closed my eyes and tried to suppress the tears that were threatening to fall. “I’m happy for you.”

A/N:

I was actually planning on updating tomorrow, but seeing as there's a lot of requests for it, I'll just post this now.

Looks like the drama has started ;), but it has barely begun. There'll be more confusion, more heartbreak, and of course, more Baekhyun and Luhan. Let the best man win.

This story is going to end soon. There's less than 8 chapters left to the ending, so I think I'll take this oppurtunity to thank all of you for your support. All the comments that you've left over the course of this story have become my motivation to write. I love all of you, really.

I'm sorry to say that maybe I won't be posting another story too soon :'(. It's a busy year for me, and I couldn't seem to find the time to dedicate myself to any fic. However, I do have a plot in mind, and the star of it is none other than EXO's Suho! Honestly, I have had a crush on that boy for the longest time. He's just too sweet. Anyway, I can't promise anything too soon, but I'll try my best. Thank you and love you all!