That same day, you woke up after 5 in the afternoon. After lazing in bed for about half an hour, you decided to finally get up and wash.

When you walked out of your bedroom, you heard noise coming from your left and realized that Baekhyun was awake and watching the television. Or at least, it looked like he was watching the television.

Shrugging off the weird feeling, you went ahead and did your morning routine, except in was nearly 6 in the evening.

When you came out of the bathroom, you heard a loud, depressed sigh. You turned your head and saw Baekhyun sighing another time. You grew a tiny bit worried but didn’t want to ask.

You walked over to the refrigerator and looked inside for anything to eat. When there was nothing, you decided to make do with cereal. You took out the carton of milk and opened one of the cabinets and got out the cereal box.

While you were preparing your snack, you realized that Baekhyun never greeted you when you came out of your room. Yes, there was still some tension since between the two of you since a little more than a week ago, but Baekhyun never failed to try to start a conversation.

You looked back again to your big brother. 

Thought his eyes were glued on the television, his eyebrows were knitted together. He kept sighing every 5 seconds and that was when you knew something was up.

Cautiously, and a little bit reluctantly, you walked over to the living room with your bowl of cereal and sat them on the coffee table.

“Baekhyun Oppa,” You called but he never answered you even though you were so near him. How could he have not heard that?

“Baekhyun Oppa,” You called again but this time, you poked his shoulder.

“Oh, Haerin-ah, you’re up already?” Baekhyun snapped out of his thoughts and looked at you. This time, you were the one who had your eyebrows knitted together. What is he so deep in thought about that he never even notice me?

“Do you want anything to eat? I can prepare you your favourite cereal while you go and wash up.” Baekhyun offered.

“I already washed up and made my own cereal,” You pointed out and gestured to your bowl of cereal that was on the coffee table. “I was up since like 20 minutes ago, Oppa.”

“Oh, really?” He said.

Oppa’s acting so weird today. You searched his face as if you could find answers on it. “Are you okay?”

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. Why would you ask that?” Baekhyun stammered.

“Really? You don’t seem like yourself at all.” You worriedly said. “You know, you can tell me anything if something’s wrong.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to say something but closed it. How am I supposed to tell you that Luhan really is playing you? You’ve already done what he wanted and he’s going to dump you anytime soon, Haerin-ah. How am I supposed to tell you all that?

“I’m fine, Haerin-ah. I’m just tired from last night.” Baekhyun said, although it was obvious to you that he was lying. Knowing that he doesn’t want to talk about it now, you decided to leave him for now.

“Alright. If you want to talk to me, I’ll be in my room.” You said and took your bowl of cereal and left.

I want to tell you everything. I want to tell you that Luhan is a lying jerk and he’s only using you to get good grades. I want to tell you that Luhan’s planning to play you until he’s satisfied because you’re pretty and popular. I want to tell you all this, Haerin, but I know you won’t believe me. I can only hope that he hasn’t affected you so much that when you find out the truth, you won’t feel so depressed.

You sat on your bed and ate your cereal as you watched Running Man on your laptop. Running Man is your favourite show and you loved it. It always made you laugh and happy.

However this time, your attention kept drifting back to Baekhyun.

Sure, you may be mad at him and all that but he was still your brother and you cared for him. So obviously, you were worried about him.

It was absolutely obvious to you that there was something on his mind. Something important. But what that something was, you couldn’t guess. But you figured it must’ve had something to do with last night because just yesterday, he was fine.

You kept thinking about it for fifteen minutes before deciding that if Baekhyun wanted you to know, he would’ve told you by now. So you pushed your worries to the back of your mind and continued watching your favourite show.

For the rest of the night, none of you talked. Baekhyun stayed in his room and you stayed in yours.

For dinner, you made fried rice for two. You scooped the rice onto two different plates; for you and for Baekhyun.

You carried Baekhyun’s plate with you first and knocked on his door before entering. When you entered, Baekhyun was lying down on his bed with his eyes closed but you knew he wasn’t sleeping. You left his plate of fried rice on his table and left the room.

Taking your plate from the kitchen, you went back into your room and ate on the bed and watched another episode of Running Man.

*

The next morning, you woke up early. Well, it wasn’t exactly early. It was 11 in the morning but that was considered early for you on a Sunday. Usually, you would sleep in all the way until 1.

Still slightly worried for your brother, you quietly opened the door to his room to check up on him. When you went in, he was still sound asleep. Which wasn’t at all like him though. Baekhyun would usually be awake at 9, even if it was on the weekends. You sighed, thinking that he must’ve not been able to sleep well last night if he was still sleeping at this time.

Quietly, you left his bedroom and closed the door after you.

You took your own sweet time going through your daily morning routine. After you were done, you were searching the fridge and cupboards in the kitchen for something to eat.

When you couldn’t find anything, you decided to call for Chinese food for you and your brother.

Before an hour passed, the delivery man arrived at your doorstep and you paid him.

You took your food and left Baekhyun’s in the fridge. Before you went into your room with your lunch, you wrote a small note for Baekhyun to tell him that his lunch was in the fridge and pasted it on his nightstand.

Satisfied, you quietly left his room for the second time that day and went into yours and ate your food.

An hour passed and Baekhyun finally woke up. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and yawned. He felt for his phone on his nightstand and peeked at the screen. It’s already 1? Woah, I totally slept in alright.

With a second yawn, he sat up from his bed. He placed his phone back on his nightstand and noticed that there was a piece of paper on it. He took it and read the paper.

I ordered Chinese food and left yours in the fridge.

Immediately, he knew who had written it. I mean, who else would’ve done it? Smiling a little, he got up and went outside to wash up.

When Baekhyun was done in the bathroom, he looked into the fridge and found the lunch that you had placed inside. He took it and heat it up a little before sitting on the couch and turning on the television.

A while after Baekhyun had finished his food, he heard your door open and looked over. He noticed that you were wearing your favourite red dress and wondered where you were heading to.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened when he realized who you were going out with. He knew you wouldn’t be going out with Minyoung since the two of you still weren’t talking.

“Are you..” Baekhyun started to say and you turned to look at him. “Are you going out with Luhan right now?”

“Yes, I am.” You said as you tied the laces to your converse.

Baekhyun frowned at your response. Although he already knew who you were going out with, he was still hoping he was wrong.

“Please don’t.” Baekhyun whispered.

“What did you say?” You turned around to face him with a confused expression.

“I said, please don’t.” He said. “Please don’t go out with him anymore. I know you’re mad at me and you may not believe me right now but please just listen to me for once.” Baekhyun started to beg a little. “Please don’t go out with him, Haerin-ah. You’re only making this harder for yourself.”

You grew angry at Baekhyun’s words. Does he really not trust me at all?  

“I can’t believe you, Oppa.” You said. “Can’t you trust me to take care of myself?”

“I trust you, Haerin! I really do. But I don’t trust him.” Baekhyun said the last word with so much hatred.

“Oppa, you don’t even know Luhan! You don’t know him like I do! How can you be so quick to judge?” You were practically shouting by then. “It doesn’t matter what you say now anyways, I’m going out with Luhan. He’s probably waiting for me downstairs by now.”

You opened the door to leave but Baekhyun pushed it close with his hand.

“Please listen to me, Haerin! You’re going to get hurt again! He’s going to hurt you! You’ve already done what he wanted you to do, and now he’s just playing with you!” Baekhyun said with a soft but stern voice. “Please just listen to me. I don’t want you to get hurt by another guy again. Please.”

“I’m sorry, Oppa. I don’t believe you.” You said. “Luhan’s a nice guy. I wish you made the effort to get to know him first before you judged him like this.”

With that, you left the apartment and took the elevator down to the first floor where Luhan would be waiting for you.

Baekhyun stared at the closed door of the apartment. She really left. He thought. She’s going to get hurt again and I couldn’t protect her.  

Baekhyun wanted to follow you on your date again and made sure that he was there to punch Luhan’s face if he hurt you. But he knew you would be more than pissed with him if he did so he tried his best to not go after you.

Instead, Baekhyun sat on the couch and thought about what to do to prevent you from getting another heartbreak.

Meanwhile, you went downstairs with a moody face.

“What’s with the face, my princess?” Luhan pouted. “Are you not happy to see me?”

You quickly shook your head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just that my brother was being a pain in the again. He keeps coming up with excuses to make me not go out with you anymore.”

Luhan grew weary but chuckled good-naturedly to seem normal. “What kind of excuses?”

You shrugged. “He says that you’re really just playing me. He says that you’ve already used me for what you wanted me for and now you’re just playing me.”

“Used you for what I wanted? Now what does he mean by that?”

“Don’t know. He never said anything else.” You clucked your tongue. “Probably because he didn’t have a legit reason to say to me.”

The two of you walked hand-in-hand in silence then you suddenly turned to look at Luhan.

“…You aren’t playing me right?” You warily asked.

Luhan sweetly smiled. “Of course not, Haerin-ah. I really like you. You trust me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, Lulu! And that was exactly what I needed to hear.” Haerin smiled. “I really like you too.”

In reply, Luhan swiftly gave you a small kiss on your cheeks and smiled at you while your face turned into a riped tomato.