First it's black.

Then it's an angry red. 

My eyes scream in pain as I creak them open, taking a moment to adjust to the brightness flooding in. I blink a few times before the blurry figure moulds into a stout woman, her back to me. Her black hair is neatly tucked into a bun, her navy blue dress secured with a black belt gripping her hip. Her hands are weaving the curtain onto the hook, allowing the sunlight to penetrate the glass pane.

As if she can sense my gaze, she whips around and lands her beady eyes on me. I startle at the agile movement, fully awake. I am not sure what to do as our gazes lock. I am reminded of the cold but do not dare to move the duvet further up my torso.

She finally blinks and her eyes travel behind me. Her face contorts into an exasperated expression and she mutters something incohorent after a loud groan. Her voice is deep and rich. She circles around the bed - quite enormous, actually - and that is when I notice Baekhyun fast asleep beside me. The duvet covers his bottom half displaying his grey at the torso, black at the shoulders t-shirt. His hands are stuffed under his pillow, face turned away from me. 

To my surprise, the woman raises her arm and drops it hard on Baekhyun's scapula. Said boy jolts awake and slowly curls into a ball, groaning. I look up to see the lady's irritated look. 

"Wake up you ignorant boy!" She haughtily lands another hit at Baekhyun's shoulder, to which he responds with a muffled "okay, okay!"

The woman swings her arms on her hips and huffs loudly. Then, her expression softens up and she glances at me, offering a warm smile. "My apologies for the scene, Baekhyun takes a while-"

A loud snore interrupts the lady from below her. At once, her eyes flare and the woman repeatedly smacks at Baekhyun's sleeping figure. "My goodness! Where are your manners?!" she scolds in between slaps. The boy responds by burying his face into the pillow and turning away from her, giving me a clean view of his pale face. The smacks keep coming until Baekhyun creases his eyebrows and pushes himself up in a terribly sleepy state.

"Ahjumma (아줌마; aunt) stop, stop! I'm up, up!" His voice sounds extremely tired.

"You better!" She gives a good pinch at his cheek with a hostile glare to which Baekhyun yelps in pain. I wonder how his eyes are still closed. 

When she lets go of him, Baekhyun's shoulder slump and mutters a "Five more seconds..."

This slap is definitely the loudest. 

"Five seconds my big behind! Just how difficult are you going to be this morning? Did you sneak in more drinks last night? Is a day's worth of recovery not enough for you?"

"Ow ow ow my ear! It hurts Ahjumma, please-"

"Not to mention we have the presence of another in the room. You are not going to be the reason of your schoolmate's tardiness today. Get up you awful boy!"

"Okay I'm sorry, I'm sorry Ahjumma I'm sorry!"

Baekhyun falls back onto his pillow with a whimper, clutching his ear. As astonished as I am, I can't help but creak a smile in amusement at the scene in front of me. Who knew Baekhyun falls under the orders of his ahjumma?

The woman towering above him huffs again and blows at a wisp of stray hair. She turns to me and smiles sweetly, and again I am taken aback by her sudden change of expression. 

"My personal apologies for the second time, both for what you just had to witness, and for your tolerance regarding the previous day's events." I frown in confusion, trying to recall what had happened yesterday and what kind of events I had supposedly put up with before she grins cheekily. "Though, I have to say, you're quite a deep sleeper." 

This confuses me even more but before I can speak, Ahjumma gives me a bow before exiting the room in lightning speed. The click of the door echoes in the room and I am left staring at the door, surprised. I look down in my numb state to see Baekhyun tenderly rubbing his ear, an annoyed frown on his face, but his eyes are shut again. 

What did the ahjumma mean for when she spoke of the previous day's events? What happened yesterday?

I think back to the party, the blaring music and streaks of lights whizzing around the misty heated room. The party felt like it had happened earlier than yesterday. 

The previous day's events... Deep sleeper... Schoolmate's tardiness... 

Ahjumma must have been referring to me when she said 'schoolmate', but what am I going to be tardy for? 

The realisation hit me as soon as I glance at Baekhyun's clock. It's Monday; school's in an hour. No wonder my memory of the party seemed so far off. I must have slept through the whole of Sunday.

Was I that tired, trying to survive the party? Albeit I do admit I'm quite the sleeper. 

As I throw back the covers, wondering how to wake Baekhyun up so we can somehow get to school before the first bell rings, I find myself chanting 'Sunday' in my head, as if I am still missing something.

What is it, brain? I grumble, to which I am self-answered: Sunday Sunday Sunday.

Man, I really need my cup of coffee. If I had woken earlier, maybe I could've dragged Baekhyun out of his house and somehow gotten to Xiumin's shop, grabbing a large skim cappuccino. Xiumin must be standing at the counter right this instant, his eyes on the door and questioning my missing visit. He would probably be smiling at a customer, nodding and taking down the order, then proceed to his machine. At rush hour, it would be difficult managing orders by himself, for his love of coffee selfishly put him in a position where he did not want hands that aren't his tampering with the worshipped coffee machine. He didn't even want me working for him, which is why I resolved to Silkson.

Silkson! my mind screams and my eyes widen. I slept through the whole of yesterday when I was supposed to be working! 

I'll sure hear it hard from my boss when I turn on my phone.

Temporarily throwing away my dreaded thoughts, I glance down and a sigh escapes my lips as Baekhyun has managed to fall asleep again. The red marks at his arms are clearly visible.

Knowing that any shy, gentle push at him would come no where near to waking the boy up, I give a hard pinch at his forearm without hesitation. The boy snorts his yelp and from his position of laying down on his stomach, somehow springs up with minimal use of arms nor legs, into a crouching position, cupping the area of where I pinched.

His eyes, wide open now, swivels around to look at me in what I can amusingly call, fear. Then, as if to register that I am not in fact his ahjumma about to smack him on the head but instead Kim Taeyeon, one of the school's model students, his eyes turn cool and he snarls at me. 

"What are you doing in my bed with me?" 

Well, the way he put it could not have exaggerated the situation any further.

I immediately pink, all emotions related to frustration and panic vanishing. "Good... Good morning?" I mentally slap myself. Greet the great Byun Baekhyun a terrific morning why don't you? Nice, very nice Taeyeon.

He darkens and I cringe as he looks away, throwing back the covers, while muttering something like "Ahjumma's going to be back with a baseball bat". I meekly roll of the bed after him as we enter his bathroom. We repeat the same practice as yesterday's - well, Saturday's. Baekhyun brushes his teeth first while I scoop my hair into a ponytail, and thankfully, my hair isn't in its embarassing haystack as showcased on Saturday. We switch, and I splash cold water on my face, grabbing tissues nearby to pat it dry.

Almost forgetting that Baekhyun could have peeked behind his shoulder, we silently shift into our school uniform and, after having another luxurious breakfast, we hop into his waiting car and arrive to school surprisingly on time, without having said another word to each other during the whole hour. My mother had rung me a few times but as much as I did not want to worry her, the tense aura I had recognised emitting from Baekhyun held me back. I can tell that he wants to get rid of the Band of Doom as soon as possible, and my prediction only proved right when he sped up his pace towards the PDH staffroom.

Baekhyun knocks thrice, and when no one comes to answer, he knocks again, almost frantically. Just as Baekhyun looks like he's about to barge straight through the door, Mr Nam swings the door open, narrowing his eyes Baekhyun who is almost at eye level with the teacher.

"Mr Byun, you should be at your homeroom quite soon," the teacher says gruffly, before noticing me behind him and brightening up instantly. "Ah, Kim Taeyeon."

"Good morning Sir." I give a bow and Baekhyun allows a second to pass before bluntly asking where Ms Lee is. Mr Nam turns his attention back to the boy, letting out an exasperating sigh before leaving us with a "Wait a moment". Once the teacher disappears, Baekhyun turns to survey me and I eye him contemptuously. 

"Do you always bow to every teacher?" His voice is filled with amusement.

"You should bow to anyone older than you," I reply tonelessly and look behind him to notice Ms Lee appearing. I bow and Baekhyun turns around. For a short moment, Baekhyun and Ms Lee lock eyes before the latter clears . 

"Well?"

"Our assignment has been completed." Baekhyun gestures to the black loops wrapped around our waists. Ms Lee stares at it before emitting a rather smug "Ah" and retreating back into the staffroom. She returns with a key and inserts it into the padlock. Baekhyun lets out a long sigh when the band that has attached us together for three days finally releases us. Even though it wasn't that tight around my waist, I definitely feel much lighter without it, and the fresh air cools around my stomach. Ms Lee holds up the band and inspects it, as if it were something precious. She nods and without a word, shuts the door on us. Surprised, I glance up to see Baekhyun's reaction to this, only to find myself alone. Puzzled, I turn around to look down the hallway and manage to just catch the sight of his back before he disappears around the corner. I sigh, massage my hip, and inhale deeply, heading off to my homeroom. 

-

"Yes Mum, I'm fine. I told you, nothing happened... Yes Mum, I understand... Okay, okay Mum I'm due to be in my roll call now, or I will be marked absent. Yes, I know Mum. Bye." Sighing I end the call with relief and enter the classroom, hoping I had kept my voice low enough for no one's ears. For the first time in a long while, I am one of the 'late' students to roll call, and I sheepishly give a deep bow to my homeroom teacher, who glances at me in surprise but continues on with the roll with a short nod. Even if the principal pushes students to be on time, roll call happens in a period of ten minutes, and as long as you are present in those minutes, then no harm is done.

However, everyone's attention is still on me as I take my seat, and I am certain they are wondering how I spent my weekend with Byun Baekhyun. The girls are all sending judgement looks, to which I keep my eyes down on the desk. Usually, I would make small talk with Hani, a friendly girl who sits nexts to me. This morning, she gives me a quick, apologetic smile before looking away. I don't take any offense at this; I know she dislikes attention and with many girls' gazes on me, any attempts at conversation would be one-sided. Albeit I want to know what her assignment is, I'd have to ask her once all interest on me dissipates. During the remaining minutes of rollcall, I scan the short texts from my boss at Silkson, and profusely apologise along with a "unable to contact him due to personal, intimate reasons", to which isn't lying at all. I just hope that my mother hadn't sold an entirely different story to him.

Throughout my classes, I find myself wondering how the group had spent their weekend. Partying, hanging, or working on their assignments? Probably not the last option. Kai and Hyoyeon probably had another date with food, Tiffany would probably have gotten in touch with Kris, and Sehun... If I was with Baekhyun, and Tiffany and Sehun had not yet made up, what would Sehun be doing? Had Tiffany and Sehun made up?

Ignoring the mysterious twinge my heart felt, I shake my head, focusing my thoughts elsewhere. I had been meaning to find out what they received on Friday, but cannot see a way to do this due to our fallout. I bite my lip, missing their cheerful faces and wonder whether they'll be meeting up this afternoon. Would they, without me?

"Kim Taeyeon."

I blink, my vision making sense of the teacher's confused face, students turning around to stare at me. Had I been too lost in my thoughts?

"Please pay attention, Taeyeon."

I feel my cheeks pink and dip my head in apology. A few students keep their gazes on me a little longer before turning back around to doodle in their books. I sigh quietly and try to focus on the equations scrawled in front of me. Concentrating has never been this much of a challenge.