Baekhee slowly flutters her eyes open as the warm sunrays disturbs her sleep and she is a bit startled upon seeing someone in the middle of unsealing the cap of a bottle of fresh milk. She squints her eyes to focus her sight only to realize that— “Jongdae? What are you doing here so early in the morning?”

“Good morning, princess,” Jongdae replies nonchalantly, not even sparing the sick female a glance. “And just so you know, I’ve been here since last night. Chanyeol accompanied me—”

Baekhee’s sleepy eyes widen at the mention of the name of someone she has been thinking about all this time. “Chanyeol was here?! Why didn’t I see you two walk in?”

Pouring himself a cup of fresh milk he purchased a few minutes ago, the journalist then walks to the window and enjoys the scenery outside while sipping on his healthy drink. “Not here as in in your room, but yes, he walked me to your door. After that, he left. You were asleep when I came.”

Disappointment was crystal clear on Baekhee’s pale face although she tries to put on a small smile at the other’s answer. This is so expected, she tells herself for the nth times, but it still does not lessen the pain.

“He’s really angry at me, isn’t he?” Baekhee gulps, looking at the sky through the big window instead of at the man who is now sitting on a plastic chair next to her bed. The bright blue sky with pure white clouds outside seem to mock her gloomy self. “I’ve been hospitalized for days and he is yet to see me.”

“He’s upset, not angry. There’s a difference. Now let me retell what happened to you,” Jongdae lets out a tired sigh. He has had enough thinking last night about the problem between Chanyeol and Baekhee and he has decided that he would just try fixing it. “Once upon a time, a handsome Chanyeol invited a beautiful Baekhee to a special dinner to celebrate his birthday. The invitation was at seven thirty but even after midnight and a waitress nicely told Chanyeol the restaurant was going to close, Baekhee didn’t come. It turns out that Baekhee stood him up because Kai called, saying he needed her help to pick his clothes for his date with Kyungsoon. After Baekhee was done grooming Kai, he asked one more favor which was for her to accompany his Chinese modelling buddy, Tao, who was curious about the night life in Seoul and she simply agreed, forgetting Chanyeol. If I were treated like that by someone, I’d definitely give them the cold shoulder.”

Tears are flowing from Baekhee’s eyes at the realization that Jongdae has just slapped her with the cruel fact. Now that she is able to recall everything, although because someone told her, she feels bad for Chanyeol thousand times more. “I—I didn’t mean to—”

“I don’t need your explanation,” Jongdae gives a roll of his eyes. “Anyway, did Chanyeol really stop contacting you after that night?”

“He… texted me the day after that.”

“What did he say?”

Sniffling, Baekhee lifts her hand to wipe away her hot tears. “He said although you did not come, I still thank you for agreeing to have a dinner with me. I hope we can have a dinner together for real next time, buddy. Yeah, that.”

The expression on Jongdae’s face looks like the combination of amusement, disbelief, and confusion but deep inside his heart, he is cursing at Chanyeol in any language he knows. “You know what, Baekhee, I think you standing him up for Kai must be very heartbreaking for Chanyeol to the extent that he called you buddy to emphasize w