Chapter Thirteen

Morning arrives too soon. The sunlight trickles through Sora’s bedroom window, causing her to scrunch her face in distaste. She turns away from the intruding rays, brushing her nose against something warm. More like someone. Her eyes flutter open, being met with those soft, brown irises. It was too early for her to lose her breath, but it was happening. It wasn’t a dream. Byun Baekhyun was lying beside her, this time in her own bed. She blinks. He blinks.
“How long have you been up?” Sora croaks out, breaking the silence first.
“About an hour?” Baekhyun estimates. Sora raises a brow.
“Have you just been watching me sleep this whole time?” She interrogates the boy, her eyes jokingly glaring at him.
“Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart. I was on my phone.” He raises his left arm, showing the social media newsfeed on his phone screen. Sora bashfully looks away, her eyes darting to the small clock on her nightstand to read the bright red numbers.
“, I’m late.” Sora curses under her breath. She swings her legs to the side of the bed, bringing herself to her feet. Not even a moment later, a warm hand latches onto her wrist, yanking her back down to the plush mattress in one motion. Baekhyun’s warm arms find themselves wrapping around her small frame as if they were made to do so as he fittingly tucks Sora’s head under his chin.
“It’s Saturday.” He reminds her. A blush creeps across her cheeks out of embarrassment and she silently thanks Baekhyun for hiding her face with his hug.
“You don’t have any plans today?” Sora’s question is muffled by Baekhyun’s body. He only hums, sending vibrations through his chest and into Sora’s touch. She takes that as a no. Truthfully, Sora has a full plate of assignments just waiting to be completed, but she could spare a few more moments with the boy.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Sora glares at the chestnut-haired boy sprawled out on her living room floor. She watches as his fingers incessantly thumps the leg of the coffee table. When she said she could spare a few moments earlier, she didn’t expect his presence to be a complete distraction from her responsibilities, and not the good kind of distraction either. She should’ve known though. It was Byun Baekhyun. When was she ever able to get anything productive done when he was around?
“You don’t have any assignments due?” Sora asks.
“Nope.” Baekhyun shrugs as he aimlessly stares at the ceiling. Abruptly, he turns his head to lock eyes with Sora.
“Are you done yet? I’m bored.” He states.
“Then call up your friends.” Sora replies as she returns to writing.
“I rather hang with you though.” Baekhyun quickly retorts as if he was expecting her response beforehand.
“It’s cold outside. There’s nothing to do.” Sora states, pointing her pen at the window.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” He flicks the pen out of her grasp in one motion.
“Let’s go.” Baekhyun jumps to his feet, extending his open palm to the confused girl.
“Where?”
“Just trust me.”

Sora looks at the boy with uncertainty as he stretches out his hand, a pair of ice skates dangling from his fingers by their laces.
“I don’t know…” Sora hugs her arms to her body, attempting to keep the warmth inside her coat.
“It’s easy. Don’t worry.” Baekhyun insists, pushing the skates in her arms. Sora fumbles with the weight of the skates, her eyes screaming concern.
“Baekhyun,” Sora glances at a crying child sprawled on the ice rink floor.
“The kid says otherwise.” She huffs out. Baekhyun rolls his eyes jokingly as he grabs Sora’s shoulders, forcing her to sit on the bench. He bends down, taking the skates back into his own hands.
“When have you ever regretted trusting me?” Baekhyun asks as he begins to undo the laces. Sora’s about to protest when he abruptly pulls her boot off and wriggles her foot into the skates, but his pointed gaze told her to keep her silence. He made a good point. When did she ever regret following Baekhyun’s plans? Not when she was trespassing for a midnight swim, when they crashed a wedding, and any adventure after that. Being with Baekhyun was always unpredictable, but she liked it.
“All set.” Baekhyun nods his head in satisfaction. He bounces to his feet, grabbing Sora’s hands on his way up. He looks down at the nervous expression playing out on Sora’s face. His hands gently squeeze hers as a sign of comfort and encouragement.
“I bet you’re a natural.”

Sora was not a natural. For the first time, she regrets going along with Baekhyun’s hunger for adventure. Sora huffs out a frustrated breath of air as she gives up, her planting firmly against the cold ice. At this rate, she’d be going home bruised and battered. She turns her head, eyes scanning for the familiar silhouette amongst all the other skaters. Baekhyun finds her first, not even trying to stifle his laughter as he finishes his lap.
“I don’t know if you know this, but usually you have to be on your feet to skate, sweetheart.” Baekhyun jesters. Sora glares at the male, not amused with his jokes.
“I want to go home.” Sora mutters, her aching muscles readily agreeing with her.
“You gotta learn first.” Baekhyun says as he helps her off the ground.
“Why?” Sora questions. Why would she need to know how to skate? If it was so important the government would make it mandatory.
“What if another Ice Age hits, hmm? Skating would be the most convenient thing to know how to do, don’t you think?” Leave it to Baekhyun to come up with the most ridiculous reasons. Sora rolls her eyes, grabbing Baekhyun’s open hand to help herself up.
“I’m a homebody Baekhyun, I’ll just stay inside.”

Sora’s body is itching to return to the comfort of her apartment. Her sore bottom was silently cursing her for agreeing to Baekhyun’s ice skating adventure.
“See, wasn’t that much more fun than doing homework?” Baekhyun chimes as he follows her into the elevator. He earns an eye roll from the girl as she begrudgingly presses the Level 4 button.
“I just can’t wait to be home.” Sora mutters as she leans her head against the cold metal wall of the elevator. Only a few moments flicker by before the elevator doors slide open again, revealing the familiar wallpaper of the fourth floor. Her body is practically dancing with delight at the thought of collapsing on her bed, far away from anything related to ice rinks, but it’s short lived when she sees two silhouettes standing outside her door.
“There she is!” Eunhae’s booming voice fills the hallway. The girl’s lips only curl even more when she spots the chestnut-haired boy stepping out of the lift. The knowing glint in her eyes only makes Sora feel tinier.
“W-What are you doing here?” Sora stammers as if she were caught red-handed, which was exactly what happened.
“I had a feeling you were with him.” Eunhae snickers with a teasing wink, only causing poor Sora to blush uncontrollably.
“But to answer your question, Ms. Forgetful, we have a cabin trip we planned, remember?” Eunhae states. Sora blinks, her mind searching through all the files and memos in her brain. Eunhae was right. She had been planning this trip with Eunhae since the summer since the latter’s parents had just bought a new cabin at a resort. Sora’s eyes confusingly saunter to the second figure by her door that was waiting with their suitcase. She clearly remembers it being a girl’s trip.
“I also invited Jongin, by the way.” Eunhae adds, tilting her head over her shoulders at the man, answering Sora’s unspoken question. Said man awkwardly waves from his spot, his eyes briefly scanning Baekhyun. Sora could choke on the tension sitting in the air right about now. Baekhyun clears his throat at the mention of Jongin, catching Eunhae’s attention again instantly.
“You can come too, Baekhyun. I don’t want to be third wheeling out there.” Eunhae grins, earning her a panicked glance from her best friend. She was painting Sora and Jongin in the wrong image. On purpose.
“He’s busy.” Sora immediately objects. The last thing she needed was for her ex and the man she likes to be stuck in a cabin with her while her best friend watches the plot unfold like TV drama.
“Not really.” Baekhyun shrugs.
“Don’t you have to go home?” Sora asks, begging him to just agree. Surely, his mom would be wondering where her son is, right?
“Sweetheart, I’m a full-grown adult. I come and go as I please.” Baekhyun smirks, making the decision final.
“Let’s go pack.” He nudges Sora to open her door. Defeatedly, Sora complies. Baekhyun spares the quiet Jongin a pointed look before he disappears into Sora’s apartment.

As soon as the door closes behind them, Baekhyun is quick to grasp Sora’s wrist, pulling her inwards until she’s cornered between his chest and the wall. The unexpected proximity sends a wave of heat across Sora’s skin.
“Let me make this clear, sweetheart.” Baekhyun says in an attractively low whisper that causes the hair on her arms to rise.
“They will be the ones third wheeling us.”

I'm sorry for the hasty ending to this chapter. I just wanted to get this chapter over with because I could not for the life of me write a good ending for this segment.
Anyway, ya girl is graduated. So now maybe I'll have time to update again? Don't count on it though, just saying.