“It’s okay. You have me.”

A bitter scoff escaped Baekhyun’s thin lips – he has heard that exact phrase one too many times. They were always empty, meaningless words that people spout, but fail to keep to it. “Don’t kid with me. I’m no fool,” he said, turning around to leave the room. “Hey,” Jin Ae managed to call out, and Baekhyun immediately stopped in his tracks. “Don’t go on, Im Jin Ae. Just end everything here,” he pleaded desperately in his own head, since he has never shown his weaker side anymore to anyone, in fear that they’d feel sympathetic for him. “It doesn’t mean if you ruined every other moment we could’ve had, means I’m gonna let you ruin this one.” Her voice once again came out so humbly, so soft, so gently, it was barely audible. But the young man still managed to sound out every single syllable that escaped the younger’s lips.

“Baekhyun, I miss you.” Jin Ae whispered in banmal.

Baekhyun slowly turned his body back to face Jin Ae, who had her head hung low as she fidgeted with her fingers. “What…?” he probed, just in the mild case where he had heard wrong, which of course, he wished he didn’t. “I said,” she began, her voice projected this time. There was a long pause; Jin Ae wasn’t sure if she should repeat what she had said. It already took all her courage to just whisper that sentence, and now saying it with twice as much volume… what if he rejected her? All those negative thoughts drifted around in her mind, but she was determined to let the foolish boy know how she felt, before it was too late, even though the evident fear of rejection lingered. “You said…?” the impatient boy probed further.

“I miss you.” She finally managed to blurt out. Her eyes were shut tight, but she opened them and stared directly into Baekhyun’s eyes that were totally blank – he was zoning out. “Come here?” she offered, spreading her arms out wide and using her fingers to gesture for him to walk over, her whole expression all cutesy. “I don’t want your germs.” Baekhyun snapped back into reality and flashed Jin Ae a disgusted face, along with a slight tug at his upper lips, even though he totally loved how Jin Ae was using her aegyo on him. “Aww come on you know you want some sugar,” she purred, getting up from the bed and walking over towards Baekhyun with her arms still spread wide apart.

“Get away from me!” Baekhyun let out a girly shriek and gave Jin Ae a light push before he ran away, making all sorts of funny (and retarded) expressions in the process. After the two ran around the room approximately 50 times, Jin Ae’s arms managed to find its way to his waist as she managed to securely wrap her arms around it. A wide grin formed on her face as she breathed in his familiar scent that she missed so much.

Baekhyun on the other hand, gladly wrapped his arms around her upper body too. And with his eyes closed along with a wide grin that spread from his left ear to his right ear, he reminisced the feeling of being able to hold Jin Ae’s petite figure within his warm embrace. Both swayed in synchronization, Jin Ae’s giggles and Baekhyun’s light chuckles filling the silent atmosphere of the room. It felt like the sunlight was shining on them and they were the only people existent in this world – how they missed being able to be this close to each other.

“I missed you too, idiot.” Baekhyun whispered, and planted a light kiss on her forehead.

Hyun Ae’s eyes fluttered open to be greeted by a panda shirt. She felt a pair of arms wrapped securely around her waist, and she raised her head up making as minimal noise as possible, to be greeted by the peacefully asleep deer prince of hers – Lu Han. A small smile tugged at her lips, and she had the urge to just poke his milky white cheeks, but she didn’t want to wake him up yet. Instead, she snuggled towards Luhan’s chest and breathed in his familiar candy scent. Sometimes, Hyun Ae would wonder if, just if, Luhan actually tasted like a deer covered in honey.