Chapter Six

“This is crazy. You’re crazy.” Sora snaps as Baekhyun leads her through the hotel lobby. Everything in this hotel seemed to be either white marble or gold encrusted. Definitely not your typical over-the-night stay.
“Sweetheart, I thought you already knew that.” Baekhyun chuckles as he looks around for the wedding reception entrance. His face lights up with a grin as he spots the congratulatory banners and wreaths lined up outside a large double door entrance. Without warning, Baekhyun pulls Sora closer, hooking his arm around hers. Sora presses her lips together, not knowing how to react to his sudden movement.
“Smile and act natural.” Baekhyun instructs as his feet begin to move. Sora’s eyes widen, her brain frantically looking for a reason to steer Baekhyun away from his idea of fun.
“Baekhyun.” Sora nervously calls out his name when she sees the greeters at the door. Her embrace on his arm tightens.
“Relax, I got this.” He assures her, gently patting the back of her hand.
“Follow me.” He points at a large group of wedding guests about to enter before pulling Sora to blend in at the back of their crowd. They shuffle through with the guests, passing the greeters and security. It’s only when they enter the candle lit room does Sora let out a breath.
“This will become your new favorite hobby, sweetheart.” Baekhyun says as he leads her to the refreshments table. She only rolls her eyes before taking a glass of champagne off a tray. The anxiety of being caught was going to kill her if she didn’t down a glass soon.
“Don’t worry, there are so many guests here. We won’t get caught.” Baekhyun confidently states as he to downs a glass of champagne. Sora’s body freezes when she feels Baekhyun’s hand at the small of her back. Her body stills even more when she feels Baekhyun’s warm, soft lips slightly pressing against her ear.
“Come on, let’s dance.”

Baekhyun’s motions are so swift, Sora doesn’t even recall how they ended up on the tiled dance floor underneath the twinkling light display. He seems to know all the right moves to not make her look like a lost child, gently pulling her arms to hook around his neck. Baekhyun isn’t shy to close the gap between their bodies when he snakes his arms around her waist. Sora could feel her cheeks practically in flames. In attempt to hide herself, she turns her head, refusing to look up at the boy as the soft music plays around them. It doesn’t last too long though. Abruptly, Baekhyun’s cool fingertips softly grasp Sora’s chin, directing her gaze back to his. His eyes are dark and serious, but in a strangely soft manner, unexpectedly causing Sora’s knees to feel like jelly beneath her.
“It’s rude to avoid eye contact while dancing, sweetheart.” Baekhyun snickers before returning his hand to her waist.
“I wasn’t.” Sora lies, knowing well that nobody was going to buy that. He only smirks in response, before maneuvering around the other guests on the dance floor.

Sora doesn’t know where the time goes as they dance, splurge on the free food and champagne, and travel around the ballroom doing their best wedding guest act. One moment Baekhyun’s the groom’s dad’s cousin’s youngest son’s nephew and the next he’s the bride’s brother’s sister-in-law’s uncle. Although, through all his acts one thing remains constant. Sora was Baekhyun’s lovely girlfriend. No matter how many times he introduced her to the curious wedding guests, her cheeks wouldn’t fail to burn pink, leaving Baekhyun more than satisfied.

“Cake never tasted so good.” Sora dreamily groans to herself as she swallows another forkful of the soft French vanilla dessert.
“Almost seems like you came for the cake more than for the happy couple.” A stranger’s voice interrupts Sora’s path of thought. She glances up like a deer caught in headlights. The man is tall, almost ridiculously. His broad shoulders seem to be exaggerated by his dark navy suit and his sharp features are noticeable even in the dimly lit banquet hall. Immediately, Sora’s eyes frantically search for Baekhyun. He had gone to get another glass of champagne for them. Baekhyun was the storyteller, not her. Sora releases a nervous laugh as her mind scrambles for an unsuspicious response.
“Didn’t we all?” Sora finally replies. The wedding guest let’s out a hearty laugh, nodding his head in agreement.
“I mean the dancing isn’t so bad either.” The stranger rambles on. Sora awkwardly nods her head. Why was he even talking to her? Why couldn’t he just continue on his own way?
“Neither are you? you look stunning.” He adds, sending a flirtatious grin at Sora. If she felt awkward beforehand, then she didn’t know how to explain how she felt now.
“Oh… Thanks?” Sora mumbles, not sure how to escape the situation.
“Did you want to dance?” The cursed question comes from the male causing Sora to inwardly cringe in defeat. How could she reject a stranger? It wasn’t like he did anything wrong. In attempt to gain herself some time, she maneuvers the fork to get the last bite, but the sweet taste doesn’t reach as a firm grip wraps around her wrist, pulling the fork in a different direction. The corners of the cake thief’s lips curl upward as he steals the cake right off Sora’s fork, slowly pulling the utensil out of from his mouth, not once breaking their locked gazes.

“I told you to leave some for me, sweetheart.” Baekhyun’s unwavering voice breaks Sora’s shocked silence as he refuses to end his smoldering eye contact. Sora can feel her heart beating uncontrollably fast inside her chest, even when Baekhyun finally directs his attention the tall wedding guest beside them. “Now, what were you saying to my girlfriend?” Baekhyun interrogates the man. The friendly smile on his face could fool anyone, but the dark and edged aura in his eyes was enough for anybody to read the situation. Sora bets her face is the shade of a tomato at this point. It didn’t help that Baekhyun had comfortably maneuvered his arm around her waist, pulling her protectively to his side. How could Baekhyun be so calm and confident when all Sora could feel was her insides jumping around in all directions?
“My bad, I didn’t realize. No hard feelings, right?” The guest immediately takes a step back, trying to send a friendly grin to ease the tension emanating off Baekhyun. Without needing to share another word, the man meanders off, disappearing from their sight.

Baekhyun doesn’t remove his arm, but Sora strangely does not protest. Maybe she was starting to get used to his behavior after spending all this time with the touchy boy. It almost felt like she enjoyed his closeness.
“Here,” Baekhyun hands her the small chalice of champagne she had asked for, exchanging it for the finished plate of cake. He quickly places the dirty dish on a passing server’s tray. All his movements were so fluid and natural, how he did it all was a mystery to Sora.  
“I can’t leave you alone for a few minutes, hmm.” Baekhyun chuckles.
“He just popped out of nowhere for no reason.” Sora replies as she washes the cake down with her drink.
“Oh, there was definitely a reason. Guys have been eyeing you all night, just waiting for the chance.” Baekhyun states, turning his body to face her. Sora tilts her head, confused.
“You’re irresistible, sweetheart.” Was she breathing? Sora didn’t know, honestly. As sudden has his unexpected remark was, it passes by just as abruptly.
“Looks like we’ll be leaving the wedding a bit early.” Baekhyun nonchalantly says as he looks past Sora and at the security guards quickly making their way towards them. He reaches over, snatching an unopened champagne bottle from the table. Sora finds her hand naturally holding onto Baekhyun’s. Then they run.

All she knows is the rush of energy trickling through her veins and the never ceasing smile stretched across her painted lips. Somehow, they found themselves lying on the rooftop garden of the hotel underneath the vast night sky, halfway through a bottle of champagne, laughing to their hearts’ content.
“Byun Baekhyun, you’re crazy.” Sora giggles, rolling onto her stomach and propping her arms to rest her chin on her palms. She stares at the blue haired boy, the insuppressible smile still glowing on her face.
“Crazy, but you like it.” Baekhyun says with a lazy grin. Sora presses her lips together before falling back on to her back.
“It’s fun, yes.” Sora happily sighs.
“I’m fun.” He corrects her, earning him a good smack to the chest.
“I never thought I’d like letting loose so much.” Sora mumbles in a half sleep daze.

Click!

Sora’s eyes flutter open at the flashing light.
“For the memories.” Baekhyun smiles as he waves his camera phone.
“Yah, then at least take a photo of me when I’m ready.” Sora playfully scolds as she scoots closer and bravely snatches the phone from his hands. Baekhyun is speechless for once, completely taken off guard by her sudden movements.
“Say cheese!” She instructs, holding the phone in selfie mode. Baekhyun smiles, almost as if uncontrollably beside her.

Click!