The festive feeling doused the atmosphere as the loud music boomed through the enormous speakers that surrounded the gates. The celebration will officially open two hours later but even in the morning, Baekhyun’s class is already buried with lots and lots of responsibilities. The stalls were extremely active and its being active nudged away the class’ supposedly happy-go-lucky feeling.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, was enjoying the job he was assigned to at the moment. He was handing out free balloons to the kids that were wandering seamlessly around, with their brothers or sisters in high school chasing them from behind. Everyone thought his job looked like what a clown would do, and Baekhyun realizes that it really does resemble a clown’s job. But that didn’t discourage him.

Then, somebody bumped into the back of Baekhyun’s legs. He turned around and saw a little boy sitting on the ground messily. Baekhyun knelt in front of the boy and saw a familiar pair of ashy brown eyes. He positioned his face closer and then had his eyes squint, studying the boy.

Then the little kid scowled at him, “What are you looking at, clown?”

Baekhyun thought, “Is it just me or does this kid resemble Kaeru in more than one way?”

The older guy finally chuckled before apologizing, “Sorry, kid. Did I scare you?” He offered help to the little boy by stretching out his hand to him, but the boy just narrowed his eyes at him and scoffed.

e?” he said, with a smirk coming after.

Baekhyun felt his blood boil but then he tried extending his patience, because, after all, this boy might be a boy from the future and is actually Kaeru and Baekhyun’s son. That was just the other thing Baekhyun used to aide up his draining out patience though. The first thing is that, the intimidator standing so tall yet so short in front of him is just a little boy.

Baekhyun handed him a string attached to a big blue balloon and said, “This is for you, kid; a blue balloon for a blue kid!” He chimed jollily, trying to shade his frustration under his upbeat tone. But the kid was smart enough to blow away his cover.

“Sorry but,” he put his small hands on his waist and leaned up closer to Baekhyun, “My skin isn’t blue. Are you some color blinded fool or something? Your life !”

Baekhyun finally lost his temper. He snapped back at him with a stern voice, “That was called poetry.”

“Poetry? I don’t know how you define poetry but I’m pretty sure that is the stupidest poem I have ever heard,” the kid calmly said, making Baekhyun a lot more infuriated. Baekhyun bit his lower lip and breathed in deeply.

“You know what? Why don’t you go back to your mommy?” Baekhyun widened his eyes while trying to smile ‘sweetly’ but he failed miserably as he ended up looking like a famished predator grinning at his prey.

The boy stared at him in disgust and said, “For your information, mister, I came with my older brother.”

Baekhyun grinned, “Oh yeah? Then why don’t we look for your brother?”

“You mean you and me? No thanks, you’re the most suspicious person I have ever seen in this school,” the boy chortled, then he turned around and marched away from Baekhyun, “Oh well, I’m going ahead, clown!”

An exhausted sigh escaped Baekhyun’s lips. He sliced his fingers through his hair and then sat on the sides of the flowerbeds situated near him. That was one of the most difficult people Baekhyun had to deal with, or if not just one of the list, that boy was probably the only one. For goodness’ sake, that boy was beyond difficult to deal with. That boy was an utterly annoying brat.

But Baekhyun didn’t hate him or any sort. In fact, despite the entire mischief of the little boy, Baekhyun felt some reminiscence when he saw the eyes of the child. They were dazzling, and were just as dazzling as Kaeru’s.

Kaeru! Of course! That reminds him, where was Kaeru? It’s been hours since they’ve been stalled with customers from fun and Kaeru seemed like she’s not present. That devastated Baekhyun more, so he asked a friend of his to take care of the balloons for a while he search around for traces of Kaeru. And Baekhyun reminded himself to not talk about her like she’s some sort of treasure. Well, she is but just not that way. And she was golden, but just not that way.

Baekhyun recalled what was going on with Kaeru these days. She was being impossibly different, and by means of different, different in a good—or if not the best—way. He hopped his way towards the building and was greeted by a running squid mascot. The mascot, as Baekhyun had observed, was missing a shoe and was chasing a girl who was holding the other one.

He sighed at the sight and thought how beautiful youth is. But then he realized how he’s also included in the so-called beautiful youth that amused him and how he was talking like he’s some old man or something.

Baekhyun was such an idiot. But he wasn’t alone.

When Kaeru had arrived home yesterday, her older brother immediately shoved the school festival flyer to her face while asking what time it will start. She growled her reply to him while taking off her shoes and placing them on the shoe shelf. She walked past through her brother and then patted his shoulders, “If you want to come, avoid meeting some idiot there, alright?”

He had chuckled at her absurd warning, but he absolutely understood the gist of her reasons why she had said that. Her brother said, “Tomorrow, you should tell him how you feel.”

Kaeru stopped walking towards the stairs and then as if she had misheard him, she motioned him to repeat what he had said. Her brother turned around to face her and proudly reiterated with a few rewords, “I said, tomorrow, you should tell this ‘idiot’ here how you feel about him.”

“I don’t like him,” she whisper-shouted at her brother.

“You don’t?” he chuckled, “Really…”

“No!” Kaeru yelled, rather intimidated by her brother’s excessive smirking. He smiled then asked, “Why not?”

“Just because,” Kaeru said a bit solemnly, then she shook her head again after thinking about Baekhyun. She then realized that she may actually like Baekhyun a bit. But that’s probably just it. She said, “I don’t like him, okay?”

“Oh, I wonder,” he ruffled his little sister’s hair and then placed his hands around her shoulder, “Anyways, I bet you’re hungry?”

Without hearing a response from his sister, he dragged towards the dining room and then they both feasted on the half-prepared dinner, because the other half of the preparation is still being processed by their dad. They both nibbled on chunks of meat they plucked off and happily hushed each other when the other one’s chewing too loudly.

Her brother, Park Chanyeol, can understand her more than anybody else can. And she knew that. So before ending the day completely, she knocked into her brother’s room and asked him if he could hear her out. Her brother, who was an early riser and therefore an early sleeper as well, nodded groggily while reaching out for switch of his lamp.

He ticked the lights open before wiping the freshly dripped saliva on the corner of his lips. Kaeru sat on the edge of his bed and started talking, "So… I wanted to ask you about something."

He smiled and gestured her to continue, "Alright. Is it, by any chance, about a guy called Byun Baekhyun?"

She nodded without hesitations and then she realized something odd. She looked up to him and then asked him why he knew about Baekhyun and how he found out about what she had wanted to say. He simply bit his lip and then smiled nervously, "Baekhyun is kind of, let’s say… popular for being obsessed with somebody called Kaeru. My basketball colleagues who coincidentally go to the same school as you, usually tell me about him."

Kaeru wanted to bury herself in shame after she heard the most embarrassing thing from her brother. He was two years ahead, and was currently in college, and yet he had already heard of Baekhyun's idiotic reputation.

She sighed deeply and then nodded, "Well, yes. It's about that guy," she paused, and then he asked her what was wrong. She shook her head and told him, "It's because I was in love with his brother. Our, uhm, homeroom teacher."

"Byun Taekshin, right?" he guffawed, "Goodness! That man is the teacher who loves bullying his students! He's quite a hot topic in our club. Ah, and his brother, as well."

"For real?" her interest suddenly perked up. She leaned forward and basing on her actions, he could say that she was anticipating what he was going to say. But he highly doubted she will like it, though.

He had gathered his courage and told her about everything his colleagues had shared to him. They told him how much of a laugh-worthy joke Baekhyun was compared to his brother. They said Baekhyun's brother was a friend to all because of his likable and comforting aura whereas Baekhyun was well-liked because he was a class clown who embarrasses himself through his mania, which happened to be a girl, who happened to be Chanyeol’s sister.

After hearing that, Kaeru had felt her nerves pop. She had quickly retorted saying Baekhyun is an idiot but he's not a joke. He's not even comparable to his brother. Baekhyun, she had said, is amazing. She kept on justifying Baekhyun to his brother like it would change a thing when in fact, it wouldn't.

Her brother had patted her back and told her to calm down. She did as she was told. Then he had finally asked her what was so wrong that made her knock on his room, which was a rare occasion unless she's troubled or something. And judging by her expression, Chanyeol was certain she was indeed bothered by something. Then, she had started narrating what happened with Baekhyun so far.

At first, it was awkward. Why wouldn't it be? You're talking to your family member about your love life, for goodness’ sake. So, she gave him bits and bits of information, and her brother intently listened without interrupting her. As she realized how serious her brother was, she finally loosened up her tense and then told him the whole story with ease.

"...Yesterday, he asked me if there's a chance. It was something one should expect from Baekhyun but I was really taken aback. I wanted to say there is, but I didn't. Because I'm afraid, Chanyeol," she had said quietly, "I'm scared that I might actually be taking his love for granted."

"Why is that?" her brother asked, and then ruffled her hair.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Because—ugh, I don't even know. Maybe because I hate being rejected so much that I think being with him is the best. Because I’m confident that he won’t reject me. Even if I don't even...feel the same way about him. Maybe I just want somebody who will always accept me," she started tearing up, "I'm scared, brother, of hurting him."

"Why?"

"Because he's too important,"

Her brother wiped the bead of tear on corner of her eye and smiled, "Doesn't that mean you love him?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure. Probably." she was stuck between her choices and she didn't know which to hold on. Her brother then placed his forehead on hers and said, "Then let me ask you something, if Taekshin said tomorrow that he realized how he wanted to be with you... What would you do?"

"I don't know. I won't know unless it really happens. Damn it, Chanyeol, I'm such a hopeless romantic," she chuckles and then covers her face with her hands.

Her brother laughed with her and then rubbed her back in comfort, "Fret not, my little sister. You'll find out, eventually."

"But why is falling in love with him taking too long?" she asked, half-serious. He said he didn't know and remained silent. After a while, she thanked him and excused herself before returning back to her room. Once she had left, he takes a deep breath and tells himself, "It's not falling in love that takes long; it's realizing it."

The following day, with puffy eyes and black bags underneath, Kaeru went to the festival an hour before her brothers did. The homeroom teacher asked them to go to school early for the last retouch. As Kaeru arrived there, he noticed Baekhyun holding a handful of boxes and on his right hand were tied strings of balloons.

Baekhyun was too engulfed in inflating the other balloons that she didn't notice her arriving. She quickly dashed off and headed towards the infirmary to cool down her head and to clear out her feelings.

And because Kaeru rested in the infirmary for hours, Baekhyun, who can’t live a day without seeing her shadow, was looking for her tirelessly around the school at the moment. The last place he could think of was the infirmary, and when he stumbled in there noisily, somebody hushed him with irritation obvious in her voice.

"Damn, hush it down," Kaeru groaned. Baekhyun's eyes sparkled at the rough order from the commanding voice that shushed him. He hopped towards the direction of the voice and happily pulled the curtains.

"Kaeru, you’re here!"

"GAHH!" she yelled at the sight of Baekhyun and she quickly pulled up the blanket up to her head. She draped herself completely to avoid meeting eyes with Baekhyun because his eyes, simply, put her in complete turmoil. Kaeru quickly stood up and then crossed her fingers towards Baekhyun.

He raised an eyebrow, completely confused as to why she was doing such, and asked, “It’s just me, why do you act like you saw a ghost or something? Am I too handsome or something?”

“It’s because it’s you!” she groaned then she maneuvered to the side of the bed and buried her face on the pillow that emitted the scent of hospitals. Baekhyun cavorted towards the side of the bed where she occupied and bent over to take a closer look. He asked her, with glints of concern on his voice, “Are you feeling unwell, Kaeru?”

She shook her head, and then he questioned again, “Did you eat breakfast?”

She responds with a mere shake of head again. His questions didn’t stop pouring though, and he shot another one, “Are you, by any chance, pregnant?”

Kaeru finally opened her tightly clenched eyes and sternly told Baekhyun, “Baekhyun, your presence doesn’t make me feel better. Please let me rest.” She lied. Well, it was half true, actually.

The truth why his presence doesn’t ease her is actually because she wanted to; a. Avoid Baekhyun, avoid further tangling of feelings; and b. Avoid further contact with Baekhyun to avoid more confusions. Well it’s basically the same, just reworded drastically so her running away will have more ‘reason’.

Baekhyun breathed in and said, “I’ll stay with you then, just rest,”

He was about to pull a chair and sit on it when Kaeru suddenly realized that if he was to stay there, that means there’s a larger chance Baekhyun would eventually find out about Kaeru’s topsy-turvy feelings. But thank goodness Kaeru thought up of something much less worse but isn’t the best, either.

She quickly stood up and yelled, “Why don’t we walk around the school?! That’s a good idea, isn’t it?” She let out an awkward laugh, and seeing her miserable attempt of holding up a façade, Baekhyun tries to loosen her up a bit by agreeing halfheartedly.

“This is rare, but sure,” he smiles, “Kaeru’s acting suspicious today, isn’t she? I wonder what’s wrong?” He grinned before offering his hand to her. Before taking it, she had second thoughts for a while and then she finally placed her palm on his. The gentle contact between them lit up the lights that sparked only between them.

Baekhyun pulled her back to the stalls and then handed her a balloon. She mindlessly took it before protesting, “So, what’s your game now?”

“To make you fall in love with me within a day?” Baekhyun chuckles, then hands her another one. She asks him what it really was for and he simply replies with a shrug of shoulders and a jolly reply, “I met a boy who resembled you a while ago and I was thinking that maybe… He was our future son who travelled back into time to patch things up between his future father, which is the awesome Baekhyun, and you.”

“Baekhyun,” she stared at him in awe and then placed her hand on his forehead, “Have you visited your psychologist lately?”

He stared back at her for a moment and then he suddenly faked a sniffle. He clutched to his chest dramatically and said, “Yes,” he closed his eyes and tilted his head upwards, “And he said that my brain is only filled with thoughts of you.”

“Baekhyun,” she called sternly as she grabbed his shoulders. Baekhyun stopped his drama and stared back at her with a clueless expression on his face. As their eyes met, she felt a tingling ecsta