The mansion is way bigger than Tiffany's three storey house. I can't even begin to start estimating how big it is. There are always rooms to my left, right, in front and behind me. Utter shock is an understatement of the numb feelings vibrating through my body.

It is growing dark rapidly, the dull blackness of outside contrasting with the yellow glow of the mansion. Some rooms hold chandeliers, others ordinary ceiling lights with a few lamps set around. It is like a bunch of rooms from different houses mashed up together.

Baekhyun had typed his house code from outside with such speed that I didn't even notice what he was doing until the door clicked open. We had walked through the familiar white living room but instead of turning right like I did for the past few weeks, we turned left, revealing a more modern-looking room compared to the others that I have passed beforehand.

"Just how many rooms are there here?" I had wondered aloud.

"Enough to get you lost for a long while," came Baekhyun's bemused answer.

"Why do you even need so many?" We pass through another living room.

Baekhyun shrugs. "Why not?"

I roll my eyes, not bothering to reply, pondering if me stepping in his home had finally triggered the cocky and impolite side of him. 

After passing a few more rooms, we come across a staircase. Having spent all my energy at the rather painful basketball game, I find it difficult to venture up the wooden steps. It is only about fifteen steps but it still sends the familiar burning pain in my thighs. Baekhyun takes three steps at a time and I try to keep up, but collapse on the second try. He mutters something incoherent and I ignore it, deciding to take my time after heaving myself up.

Now, I am standing in a massive room, to which I have a strong suscipicion is Baekhyun's bedroom. We are standing to the side, him rummaging through a large black wardrobe that, although has many shelves for the sake of being neat, has clothes stuffed carelessly at every spare space the wardrobe can provide. It is everything I expect a male's wardrobe to be but what shocks me is the bedroom itself. It is immaculate, and the most dominating feature is that it is so bare.

The walls have an abstract look to it, black lines flying everywhere, and it looks great. Dark grey curtains are draped neatly to the side, and the bed is made. Between the curtains, there is a rather cool mirror, or should I say, mirrors? I count eighteen reflective glass angled at every direction, and in front of it is a vase of flowers. What kind of popular schoolboy would have flowers in their bedroom?

There are no posters of models plastered against the wall, no naughty magazines stuffed under the bed, no stray clothing, no spilt coke, no stained tomato paste from a supreme pizza. Nothing.

My eyes flicker to a white drawer which had photo frames propped at the top. The strange thing is, it held no photos. Just white staring back at you.

"How often do the maids come in here and clean?" I ask after I had enough scrutinisation of his bedroom. 

"What?" Baekhyun stops digging through his wardrobe - which looks like a bomb has erupted in it - and raises his eyebrows in confusion.

I spread my arms out. "Your room. . ."

"What about it?"

"It's so. . . clean."

"Why can't it be clean?" I blink, unsure of what to say. He starts working through his clothes again. "And no, the maids don't come in here. They don't need to."

"I see," I mutter quietly.

Baekhyun finally finds the trousers and long-sleeved shirt he spent five minutes looking for. He then walks into his bathroom - which is relatively small compared to his massive room - shooting me an awkward look.

"What?" I say as we step onto the cool marble tile. He gestures to his shower, which consists of a shower hose with several buttons attatched to the wall, and a large, single glass pane.

"We'll be showering in that."

A second passes before my eyes widens in shock. "What do you mean we?" I ask a little too loudly.

Baekhyun blinks before the corner of his mouth jerks upwards ever so slightly. "No I don't mean we'll be showering together, I mean that we will be showering in that, behind the glass."

I tilt my head sideways in confusion. And then, all at once, it dawns on me. We as in us. We'll be showering here. I'll be showering here. "Wait, what?!"

"Finally, you've caught on." Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be the smartest student in the grade?"

"Hey." I narrow my eyes at him but my annoyance doesn't last long. "How come I'm showering here?"

"Because it's late and my staff has gone home. It's just my chef."

"But what about my clothes. . ."

Baekhyun shrugs. "You can just borrow mine." He eyes my body. "It'll be a little long though."

"Crud, I didn't tell my parents about this." I mutter as I realise it's been two and a half hours since I haven't arrived home at my usual time without saying anything to my parents. I think about how worried sick they must be and imagine they must have notified the police already. I glance at Baekhyun. "Can I make a quick call before you shower?"

An annoyed look crosses his face. "Hurry up."

I scurry back to my bag that I had placed next to his bedroom doorframe, him trailing after me. I grab my phone from the side pocket and unlock it, not surprised to see fifteen missed calls from my dad, twenty-three from my mum and countless of text messages.

"Whoa." I hear Baekhyun's voice behind me. "What's wrong with your parents? Have you never been late back home?"

"Never," I answer, pressing the phone to my ear as the dialling tone rings through. They pick up after the second ring.

"Taeyeon!? Is that you!"

"Yes Mum," I wince as I jerk the phone away, the screeching still ringing through my ear.

"Where have you been?!" Her voice is suddenly calm with a little urgency in it but I know my mum is really, tearing at her hair. "Why aren't you back home? Why haven't you picked up or checked your phone? Is something wrong?"

"No Mum, nothing bad has happened." I glance at Baekhyun, who is raising his eyebrow as if questioning why I had such a crazy woman as my mother. "Well, nothing life-threatening has happened."

"Then why aren't you home? It's six-thirty, Taeyeon, in the evening."

"It's my PDH assignment. Everyone in the grade got matched up with another student and they have to complete a certain task. I particularly got a difficult one and it requires me to spend forty-eight hours with my partner."

"Ah right, we got an e-mail from your school about this."

"You did?" I perk up in interest.

"Yes, but they didn't tell us you had to live with another girl for two days."

I falter. "Uh. . . my partner's not a female. It's an opposite assignment."

There is silence from the other end. And then, "And who is your partner?"

I hesitate, chewing on my lip, before I answer in a steady tone. "Baekhyun." My mum doesn't answer for a while and I am afraid the line has been cut. "Mum?"

"Yes. . . Yes, I'm here." She sounds deep in thought. A few seconds pass before she clears . "Does Baekhyun's mother know about this?"

I glance at Baekhyun and he shakes his head, and it occurs to me that he is listening to our conversation. "No, she doesn't."

"And you're in his house right now?"

I frown at the word 'house'. House is a huge understatement. "Yes."

"Perhaps Baekhyun would want to spend the two nights at our place?"

"Pardon? We. . . we don't have space."

There is silence once again, then, "Can you please hand the phone over to Baekhyun?"

"O-okay," I respond with much surprise and place my smartphone in Baekhyun's waiting hand.

"Hello?" Baekhyun asks much more politely than I expect. "Yes. . ." Baekhyun has inched away from me so that I can't clearly hear what my mum is saying. I move closer to him but he casts me a warning glance and shakes his head, stretching the waistband as far as it can go. I narrow my eyes and contain my annoyance while listening to his answers.

"Of course. . . No I. . ." Baekhyun bites his lip and scans his room, while I desperately try to refrain from lunging towards him. All at once, Baekhyun's face turns dark and it looks like he wants to punch something. He opens his mouth and shuts it, as if unsure of his words. Hesitantly, he speaks. "He's on a business trip right now. He won't be back for a week."

His voice is ice cold and my impatience vanishes just like that. His eyes had somehow turned sharper and he is pinching his lips together. I notice that he is gripping my cellphone way too tightly. I don't know who 'he' was, and I don't think I want to. Although knowing Baekhyun's fury isn't directed at me, a growing feeling of fear is throbbing through my body.

"Yes, I understand. It won't happen, Mrs. Kim." Again, I am apalled at Baekhyun's courtesy. I didn't know he had it in him. I watch as he bid a short farewell and grimly ends the call, handing my phone back to me with his attention elsewhere.

For a while, none of us say anything. I am pondering as to what Baekhyun and my mum had been talking about just seconds ago. Baekhyun didn't talk in a hostile manner, nor was it a friendly one and I wonder if they have a connection I am kept in the dark about. Just three weeks ago, I learnt that my mum and Baekhyun's mum are the best of friends. Now, there is a 'he' that strikes up a conversation between my warm mother and the playboy himself. What in the world is next?

"So. . ." I clear my throat that breaks the heavy silence. "What was that about?"

Baekhyun blinks as if he was just in a trance. "Nothing." Without another word, he gets up - forcing me up as well - and heads towards the bathroom. "Now may I shower?"

I am not ready to let go of the situation that easily. "No seriously, what did you and my mother talk about?"

Instead of replying, he pulls off his jersey in a blink of an eye, causing me to yelp in surprise and immediately turn the other way, my face flushing profusely. "At least give me a warning!" I grit my teeth, trying to free my mind of his milky torso. Baekhyun doesn't respond. Seconds later, I feel a tug at my waist, forcing me to move backwards so I don't fall over. "W-what are you doing?" I jump as I feel my back hit something, and the sound that resonates tell me it is a glass pane.

"Move to the end of the glass, the band will just let me reach the shower," Baekhyun says nonchalantly. Then he adds, "And don't turn around. I don't have any clothes on."

I let out a tiny squeak that could have been mistaken for a whimper, but inch sideways until my fingers touch the opening of the shower cubicle.

Baekhyun must have the shower, because not a moment later, a powerful rush of water pounds on the floor. If I close my eyes, it sounds like rain pelting against a roof, but without the echo. It is a content noise.

I don't know how long the water has been running for, but I think it is still way too early for the abrupt disappearance of the soothing sound. My eyes fly open and my body goes rigid as I suddenly remember the school's playboy is standing a metre behind me, .

Baekhyun clears his throat. "Can you pass me the towel? It's on your right."

Although he is on the other side of me, I still rotate my head to the right cautiously, as if I'm afraid a boy would be standing there. All I see is a light blue towel draped over a silver pole. I hastily grab it and shove my arm behind the glass pane. The fabric is lifted from my hand.

I patiently wait for Baekhyun to dry himself off - or else, that's what I hope he is doing. After what feels like ten years, he walks past with the towel tied across his waist dropping to his knees, leaving the rest of his body completely exposed. I catch a whiff of his body wash - vanilla.

I turn to face the shower as he slips on his clothes. And then he utters two words that causes shock to trespass my body.

"Your turn."

I stiffen. I don't have to think twice to know what he is talking about.

I timidly turn around to face him. I try not to focus how he looks incredibly handsome with his hair wet and sticking out in different directions. Not to mention the vanilla scent that is overwhelming my nostrils.

"Why do I have to shower here?" I ask. "What about my clothes? Why can't I - we go back to my place?"

"That's so much effort." A look of annoyance crosses his features.

"Excuse me?" I raise an eyebrow, my hand making their way to my hips. "Too bad. I'm showering in my house."

"Nope," comes his care-free reply and he turns on his heel without another word, the band yanking me out of the bathroom.

"Hey! W-what are you doing?!" He has stalked up to his wardrobe and opened it, ruffling through his clothes.

"My mum doesn't really wear casual clothing, all she has are dresses and. . . classy stuff. I doubt you'll fit into them. Here." Baekhyun shoves a white t-shirt - that seems way too oversized - and a pair of shorts, that may have been knee-length for Baekhyun but judging from his long legs, it will probably reach to my my mid calves. 

"You expect me to wear this?" I try to keep my voice calm but can't contain my horrific face.

Baekhyun blinks back at me. Then his eyes widens. "Oh." He - quite boldly - stares at my chest area and when I realise, I let out a shriek and bring his clothes to my chest.

"What are you doing?!"

He brings his eyes away casually. "I don't think my mum's bras will fit you."

I stare at him in disbelief before shaking my head. "Whatever. I'll just stay in the same undergarments." I shoot him a look. "Or we can go back to my place and I can grab my clothes and shower there."

His eyes convey nothing. Then he nudges me forward. "Stop stalling and get the shower over and done with."

I huff with annoyance and stride over to his bathroom.

The next ten minutes are spent with me awkwardly trying to take my clothes off behind Baekhyun's back, with him telling me to hurry up and me letting out a squeak everytime I think he peeks in the mirror. I curse at the fact I am showering behind a glass wall. Can't it be at least opague for heaven's sake?

I feel really scared as I bring my hands up to scrub my hair. I keep glancing at Baekhyun, whose back is on the glass pane a metre away. I keep imagining that he is staring at me whenever I have my eyes closed. I have to admit, once I found out the small buttons attatched onto the wall changes the speed, shape and colour of the water, it was very hard for me to not switch modes every half minute or so.

"Would you hurry the god damn up?" he growls for what must be the twentieth time.

"I'm a girl," I retort back. "We take longer."

After ten minutes I decide to turn the shower off. And that's when I am faced with a problem.

"Baekhyun?" I cringe at my shaky voice.

"Hmm?" he grunts.

"Could you, erm, pass me a towel please?"

His head shoots up from a lowered position and I freeze, afraid that he will suddenly turn around. Instead, he inches towards his drawer under the sink, tugging me along, and passes me a beige fluffy towel without giving me a glance. I sigh in relief.

"Thanks."

I hastily shrug into his clothes; they are far too big on me. The shirt reaches to my mid thighs, and the shorts just under my knees. When Baekhyun turns around, he lets out a chuckle, his face lighting up in an unintimidating way for the first time. I look away in embarassment.

"I'm hungry," Baekhyun comments as I comb out my wet hair with my fingers. "Let's eat dinner."

We descend a staircase, passing a few rooms and stop at a fairly big dining room, though it is as big as I had anticipated. It is simple; a wooden table set in the middle with brown cushioned chairs perfectly tucked in, beige curtains drape over three large window frames, red patterned walls and two chandeliers lighting up the room.

Baekhyun doesn't give me time to stare at the room in awe as he strides to the far end of the dining room, pressing a red button on the wall and speaks into a small speaker. "Jay, I want the usual Friday dinner. We have a guest." He looks over and says to me, "What do you want?"

"Anything," I respond.

He gives me a hard look before leaning to the speaker again. "And a premium meal for the guest."

We sit at the table, him at one end of the table and me next to him. It is only ten minutes when maids file into the room with steaming plates ranging from t-bone steak to garlic prawn, to eel rice and roasted duck.

Of course I gape at the rich food and basically suffocate in the sweet and tempting aroma. Baekhyun digs in and after a minute of scrutinising, I meekly start taking small bites.

As slow as I am eating, Baekhyun nearly polishes everything up, and just as I think we were done, the maids come in again and set down a plate filled with delicacies. I could only guess some to be chocolate mousse and strawberry cheesecake.

After a very filling dinner, Baekhyun gets up and so do I. As we head out of the vast room, I struggle to keep up the same pace as I did with an empty stomach. Baekhyun, having eaten with an appetite worth four times of mine, seems to walk faster than before. He leads me to his bedroom.

"You gonna be cold in that?" he asks me, eyeing his clothes I am wearing.

I am immediately taken aback by his consideration - again. "N-no."

"Well, I'm out for the night. We'll just sleep on my bed."

"Oh um, yeah sure."

And of course, I say that because the full meaning of his words don't hit me until after we make our way to his king-sized bed. I will be sleeping in the same bed with Baekhyun. I bite my lip as I imagine scenarios where he would jump on me during my sleep and do who knows what. It's his bed, his room, his mansion. I am utterly defenceless.

Baekhyun climbs onto the bed and shuffles over to the other side, and I have no choice but to do the same. There is only one duvet, and it is bigger than the bed itself. Definitely enough to keep even five people warm.

Baekhyun drapes the covers over his body, turns over to face the other way and lies still. I awkwardly shuffle around and settle in a comfortable position. The bed is softer than the one I am used to, my head sinking into the pillow, the blanket feeling heavier but more comfortable than my own one. I immediately feel content.

Maybe Baekhyun was waiting for me, maybe he wasn't but as soon as I stop moving, the lights go out and I am cascaded into a room of darkness. No sounds can be heard - not even anyone's breathing. With the new and a hundred more times more content environment, as hard as I try to stay awake and alert, I can't prevent my eyelids drooping lower, and my conscious slowly slipping in and out, until I can't hold my ground anymore and fall into the welcome of sleep altogether.