"Ya! Park Chanyeol!"

Choi Sulli yelled into the phone as the call went to voicemail. There were a thousand and one things she'd like to say him, but right as she said his name, every single one of those angry thoughts vanished.

She was now more exasperated than mad as she breathed deeply and exhaled loudly.

"I can't believe you stood me up, again." She paused. "Whatever."

She ended the message and threw her phone into her tote bag as she gathered her notes and began to storm her way out of the cafe. As she made her way down the street with her notes clutched to her chest, her thoughts tied into a tight and messy knot, she walked into someone.

Her papers flew everywhere and she grumbled. Muttering to herself, she bent down to pick them up. 

"Here."

"Thanks." She reached for the paper the stranger was holding out to her and looked up to find herself staring at a familiar face; not a stranger at all.

"Baekhyun oppa." She quickly stood up and bowed, regretting her coldness towards him before. 

There was an awkward silence between them in which Baekhyun shoved his hands into the front pocket of his corduroy jeans.

"What brings you here?" Sulli asked.

"I work here?" Baekhyun chuckled. 

"True," Sulli grinned sheepishly. "Pabo." She scolded herself in her head.

"But it's not my shift..." Baekhyun continued, "I came here to see you."

"How did you know I was here?"

"Well, Chanyeol forgot he had class till five today, but he told me he promised you a date at three. So he asked if I could drop by and accompany you today."

"It kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? He tells me we've not been seeing each other much, but then he sends his best friend to take his place on a date with his girlfriend." Sulli smiled bitterly.

"You want to grab a drink? Have you eaten?" Baekhyun quickly changed the topic and veered her around by the arm towards the cafe again. He'd rather stay out of their affairs. He learnt that the hard way.

Once, Chanyeol and Sulli had gotten into a huge fight (when have they not been in one, really?) about something trivial, and Baekhyun had stepped in to settle it for them. Baekhyun had sided with Sulli, but this had resulted in Chanyeol sulking for months after that. Even when Chanyeol and Sulli had made up, Chanyeol refused to let Baekhyun go that easily. Ever since that incident, Baekhyun swore to god he wouldn't meddle in their arguments anymore. They were both his friends whom he loved dearly, and it would pain him inside to have either one of them stay mad at him.

"Oppa, I really don't feel like it..." Sulli began to argue, but Baekhyun wouldn't hear any of it - he sat them down at a table and ordered two mocha lattes, along with a slice of cheesecake.

They spent the next three hours sitting and chatting as they enjoyed their little meal. Baekhyun was careful to stay off the topic of Chanyeol. He knew it wasn't the best thing to do; to enjoy his best friend's girlfriend's company but right now he couldn't really care less. 

Seeing Sulli's captivating smile, and listening to her beautiful voice recount how her day went was all he wanted to do.

~

Chanyeol and Sulli didn't speak to each other for the next week. Chanyeol knew she was mad at him, but he couldn't really be bothered. It had happened a few times before, and she always forgave him after that, so he thought why should he make the first move now?

Besides, he had an upcoming English test, and it was going to be included in the grade for his finals, which was only a few months away. Sometimes he wondered what he was doing with his life; Sulli was chasing her dream, studying music in an Arts college to get into the music business. And him; well, he didn't know what he wanted in life despite being 20.

"Yeollie, daydreaming again?" Baekhyun threw a pillow in his friend's (and roommate's) direction but it missed his head, only grazing his left ear that stuck out prominently.

"I'm not." Chanyeol denied it as he pretended to write, only to be scribbling nonsense on his paper.

"I know you're thinking of Sulli. If you miss her why don't you call her and apologise?" 

"I'm not going to because I didn't do anything wrong."

"You stood her up." Baekhyun sighed.

"I had an ongoing class!" Chanyeol turned around to glare at him.

"It's not the first time you stood her up. If I'm not wrong, it was the fourth time this month itself..." 

Chanyeol knew his know-it-all smartass best friend was right, but he hated being told he was wrong. Anyway, Ssul understood his ways. They'd been dating for two years now, and not once has she threatened to leave him because of his little mistakes of ditching her for something else. So all was fine. Sulli would come around soon and forgive him and they'd be on good terms again.

"She'll come by and talk to me when she's ready..." Chanyeol turned around in his chair and began to write on the blank piece of lined paper, "for now, I need to get my mind working on this essay."

Baekhyun sighed yet again as he muttered, "Someday, both your stubbornness will be the downfall of your relationship."

~

Sure enough, the following day, Sulli dropped by the apartment at night dressed in a pair of sweats and a thin grey sweatshirt; something too light to be worn out in Autumn.

"Omo, Ssul!" Baekhyun who answered the door was surprised to see her shivering away as she wrapped her arms tightly across her chest, her teeth chattering from the bitter cold Autumn night wind. He quickly let her in and sat her down at the couch as he rushed into the kitchen to boil some water to make some nice hot tea for her.

As Sulli sat rigidly upright on the couch, afraid to move for her fingertips felt like they were ice, a half Chanyeol emerged from the door of the bathroom. He shook his hair about, getting the droplets of water out from his hair, a hand on his towel around his waistline. But as soon as he looked up, he paused and stared at the poor girl quivering on his couch.

Chanyeol's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but as soon as he was able to read the situation before his eyes, he hurried into the room and emerged yet again with a big towel and wrapped her in it. 

He had only been able to pull on his pants, and he was still shirtless, but it didn't matter much. His body temperature was still much warmer than that of hers so he wrapped her in his arms and began to rub her shoulders, vigorously transferring as much body heat as he could to her.

"Sulli-ya, what the hell are you doing here in just sweats and sweatshirt? Don't you know how cold it is outside? It's 12degrees! Only an idiot would go out in light clothing at this hour!"

Chanyeol repeatedly nagged at her but she couldn't argue back for her lips were chapped and cold, so she had to listen to him until Baekhyun came back with a mug of steaming hot lemon tea.

Once Sulli was a little warmer and her teeth were no longer chattering, she looked from Chanyeol's angry gaze, to Baekhyun's concerned look, and back to Chanyeol's eyes which were wide in anger.

"...O-oppa...I just dropped by to say I'm sorry."

Sulli's voice was so small it was barely audible, and she glanced down at her half empty mug in her hands. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Baekhyun shuffling into the room and closing the door to give the pair some privacy.

"You didn't have to come all the way here just to say you're sorry." Chanyeol rolled his eyes, but he was more amused than angry now.

"I know. It's just... I had been trying to finish my song composition all day, but I couldn't seem to because I had been so distracted this past week. And then I had an epiphany and decided I couldn't not talk to you any longer, so I found myself here." She shrugged as she explained herself.

The corner of Chanyeol's plump lips curled upwards into a small smile, and he pulled her into another embrace, kissing her hair. She was so adorable to him when she was being apologetic towards him.

"I'm sorry too, Ssul."

As always, he was right. Things were fine again between them. Nothing was going to break them apart.