VER. 1 FT BAEKHYUN

Baekhyun sighed as his chin rested in his hands, his elbows being supported by the mahogany table in the small café. “Hello? Earth to Baekhyun? You suddenly zoned out on me,” Tao commented, waving his hand in front of Baekhyun’s face before turning around to look at the entrance of the café.

A woman had just entered, one that the two of them had seen often. It was Baekhyun’s long term crush, Kim Sora. She was the typical popular girl. How could she not be? She was the face of many commercials, but that wasn’t her only work. She was a big time model in these days, working with top celebrities. She entered the café without so much as a glance around the place, completely ignoring Tao who was giving her a slight glare and Baekhyun who was completely fawning over her. Her perfume swept around Baekhyun, encasing him as she walked by. “Tsch, typical mean girl,” Tao commented.

“Don’t say that about her! She’s not that way! She’s a sweetheart, she always has been,” Baekhyun replied. Tao looked at him skeptically, glancing between him and Sora who was now standing at the counter.  “Ugh, she hurts me! Her existence is just so…”

“Okay lover boy, I think you’ve had enough,” Tao commented, standing from the table, ready to leave. But Baekhyun was far from that point. The girl he had always wanted was in his presence. How could he just leave?

“I don’t understand, Tao. I thought all the girls flocked over guys like us?”

“Don’t you think that’s a little conceited, Baekhyun?”

“I know!” he whined, “But if I could trade all the female fans I have in the world for her…”

Before he could finish, Sora had accidentally knocked a saucer onto the floor, causing a bunch of ruckus throughout the small building. She blushed, obviously very embarrassed by the event. Baekhyun, noting the embarrassment on her face, tore away from Tao. “This is so embarrassing,” she remarked to herself as she stood from her chair, smoothing out her skirt before kneeling down to pick up the broken shards of porcelain.

Much to her surprise, she met a warm and slender hand that was also gathering the porcelain. She looked up at him and immediately looked back down. “Thank you for helping me,” she said, as if she didn’t completely recognize him. Even if she hadn’t met him previously, it wasn’t hard to figure who he was. His face had only been plastered everywhere for the longest time. Him and the rest of his buddies.

“It’s really not a problem, don’t mention it,” for as nervous as Baekhyun was, he was playing it pretty cool.

That velvety voice, she said to herself, no wonder all the girls fell for him. Baekhyun took the porcelain from her delicate hands to dump it into the trash a couple of feet away. She continued to kneel on the ground before that same warm and slender hand was offered to her. “Let me help you,” he said, but a smile didn’t break on his face. In fact, this was the most serious that Tao had ever seen him as he watched from a distance. He wasn’t sure that it was safe to approach; maybe Baekhyun would get it this time.

She took his hand without thinking and thanked him quietly as he helped her back into her seat. “Your hair has grown so long since the last time I really talked with you, it’s so beautiful,” Baekhyun commented, not even a blush on his pale cheeks as he fondled a lock of her thick dark hair. But Sora wasn’t safe, her face flushed a bright pink as he toyed with her hair, so close to her face that the back of his fingers brushed her cheek.

“You think that just because you’re an idol now, you’re going to get to me?” she said, faltering a bit in her speech, catching her words here and there.

“By the sound of your voice, I would say he already has,” Tao laughed from a distance. “Come on, Baekhyun. We’re late for practice.”

One last look from Baekhyun’s chocolate eyes left Sora in a tizzy as he and Tao left the café.

“Who was that boy, Sora?” a friend of hers asked as she sat down at the table with Sora. Mina was a little too nosy for her own good. “He seems so cool and collected; you blushed so hard in front of him! You like him, don’t you!”  Sora nervously waved her friend off as she picked up her cup of coffee, taking small sips.

“He’s just a boy I met in school. He had a huge crush on me for the longest time…”

“And then what? It seems the role has changed. If I know anything about you, you probably flat out rejected his poor soul.”

“And now he’s a big idol and all the girls flock to him. He’s become much more charming since the last time we talked, I will admit,” she replied, her face contracting another soft blush. 

Mina chuckled, watching Sora’s face. “You know, it might not be a bad idea to give him a chance. He might surprise you.” Sora shook her head and looked out the window, it was getting a little cloudy, and maybe it would rain.

Meanwhile, Baekhyun wanted to scream and Tao could see it on his face. “Yo, dude, you need to calm down. It was just a small encounter. You helped her out in a really embarrassing moment. That should count for something for you, doesn’t it? Besides, you played it so cool! I’ve never seen anyone pull anything like that off as smoothly as you just did.”

Baekhyun grimaced. It didn’t really matter how cool he acted in front of her, he knew his heart was going to pound right out of his chest at any minute and he couldn’t only be thankful that it didn’t. “Well I wasn’t just going to stare,” was all he replied. 

“That’s the idea. You didn’t just stand there and stare. You went over there and helped her, you even helped her back to her feet and you know what? She blushed like mad when you complimented her. I don’t think all of these years that you claim to have worked so hard for her are unwarranted. I think she wants you, too.” Tao paused to inspect his friend’s face, but there was hardly a change. Despite that, he knew Baekhyun was going nuts on the inside.

“You’re crazy,” Baekhyun replied, pushing the door open to the studio.

“She’s trying to pull the ‘I’m too good for you’ act on you and you’re totally letting her,” Tao commented, stepping in front of Baekhyun to stop him from walking. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, or the second or third. She wants to think she’s too good for you, but we all know that she isn’t. Baekhyun, give yourself a little more credit, would you? You’re a handsome man, you’re charming and sweet.”

Baekhyun looked a little disgusting by the way Tao was talking about him. He wasn’t really used to this kind of attention from another male, much less his best friend.   “Don’t look at me like that,” Tao said, stepping away from Baekhyun and continued to walk at his side.

For the next few days, Baekhyun and Tao returned to that same café at the same time every day. Baekhyun never expected to see Sora there, and he never did. Him and Tao just enjoyed their time as the always did. Slowly, Sora started to fade from his mind as she did before they had their encounter here. But even though she never came in, it wasn’t unusual for Baekhyun to see her outside crossing the street cattycorner the café. He thought that she must have worked close, or lived close. Either one of the two would have fit why he always saw her at the same time in the same place.

“Well, I should probably get going. Thanks for coming out with me again, Tao. I really appreciate your company,” Baekhyun said, finishing the last sip of his tea before he set the mug down on the table and stood. 

“Hey, no problem, buddy; anytime you need company, I’ll be here,” he replied, planning to stay a few moments longer while he finished his drink. Baekhyun nodded firmly and grabbed his coat. He pulled it onto his shoulders, getting ready to brave the nippy autumn weather.

It wasn’t long before he realized, while on his way home, he was tailing Sora by about fifteen feet. He tried not to let it bother him, it’s not like she would notice him anyway if she turned around. There were far too many people around to pick anyone out of a crowd. Many feet passed, Baekhyun spent most of it looking as his feet as he walked, occasionally bumping into some people and profusely apologizing for his clumsiness. He approached an intersection, waiting for the cross walk along with everyone else and that’s when he saw her. She was barely in front of him; he had to reach over the shoulder of one man to touch her. He just watched and waited patiently for the cross walk. He had every intention of going home and filling up the bathtub to let his sore muscles soak in the steaming water.

With an audible sigh, he looked up. The cross walk sign was green but no one was going, they were all whispering to themselves. His eyes widened as he pushed through the crowd, “Move!” he called, throwing himself out into the street at the sound of a blaring horn. He grabbed Sora by the arm and tugged her out of the way, pulling her safely back to the sidewalk. She banged against his chest, nervously gripping his jacket. Baekhyun had surprised himself, what had possessed him to be so brave? Obviously no one was going to jump out and save her; they were all going to watch her die.

Her head rose and fell against his chest as he breathed heavily. She could hear his heart pounding hard against its cage and could feel his breath on her head. She wanted to speak, but words wouldn’t form in ; they barely even formed in her head. By now the crowd had cleared and crossed the street and only the two of them remained, too much adrenaline rushing through their bodies to move from their current safety on the corner of the street.  

“Baekhyun, I…”

Baekhyun’s eyes closed as he remembered the earlier conversation he had with Tao about her. About what he should do regarding actions to get her; it went something along the lines of this:

“If, on the rare occasion you get close enough to her like you did that one day, just kiss her. If she’s willing to get that close to you, much less let you bring her that close to you… what do you have to lose?” Tao said, encouraging the boy that it was the best thing he could do. “If she still turns you down, hey, you kissed her.”

“I don’t know, Tao, that seems like a serious invasion of space” Baekhyun replied, very skeptical about the idea. He had no idea that Tao could be so conniving.  

“Fine, then I’ll leave you to be the judge of what kind of interaction deserves such a special gift then, and I’ll just stop helping you.”

Baekhyun swallowed hard and looked down at her. He deep brown doe eyes looked right back at him, freezing her speech before she had gained the courage to speak again. “Baekhyun, thank you,” she whispered and would have continued if it hadn’t been time for that special event.

His strong but delicate hand lifted her chin only slightly, tilting her head up to give him the perfect angle to descend on her lips, bringing his to hers in a sweet and gentle kiss. Her hands tightened their grip on his jacket as she pulled herself up, making herself more suitable to his height and his free arm pulled her in close, his hand on the small of her back to support her. The hand on her chin grazed her skin gently as it shifted to cup her face. Baekhyun’s eyes were closed lightly because he knew it felt so right; he was confident that he should have done this. His confidence only grew as her hands slid up his chest, her left lingering on his shoulder while the other disheveled his hair, weaving it through her slender fingers to hold gently as they readjusted for yet another gentle kiss.

Sora’s nose rubbed up against Baekhyun’s and her brow furrowed in delight when his lips parted to bring her lower lip in, allowing him to flick it gently with his warm tongue and her body pushed into his with a little encouragement from his gentle touch.  She whimpered inaudibly at the last soft sweep of his tongue before he pulled away.

Those dark mocha eyes of his stared into hers, and he wanted to so badly mutter ‘I love you’, but he knew that he couldn’t. It caught in his throat before it came out as his hands tenderly tightened on her hips, which was where they now resided, before he finally choked out a sentence.

“I have to go,” he mumbled to her, but clear enough for her to hear as his slim fingers toyed with a tassel of her hair. It left her speechless and motionless as he continued past her and shoved his hands into his pockets, continuing down the street away from the scene. She wanted so desperately to call out his name, to run to him and be in his sweet embrace once again, to thank him for saving her, but when she turned around he was gone.

She couldn’t do anything but let the tears that welled in her eyes fall down her face. She had regretted all of those years that she ignored him, pretended like he was nobody; he saved her life that day and there wasn’t a way on this earth that she was going to be able to repay him. She didn’t try to stop the tears as she continued on her way home, crossing the intersection that she had just been pulled out of. The sobs were quiet and to herself, she was scared and nervous, but most of all mad and upset at herself. Maybe her friend Mina was right, maybe Baekhyun was worth it. But he was gone now and she hadn’t the slightest idea where to find him.

A bronze key unlocked the door to her apartment, a door that she closed behind her and slid down to the tile floor, finally wiping her tears away. “I’m sorry,” she whispered though no one but herself could hear. On the tile floor is where she remained for the rest of the evening before crawling into bed.

Baekhyun wasn’t in any better condition as he crawled into bed after spending hours on the couch in silence, cradling himself as he stared into the open nothingness. Though he felt proud of his bravery and confidence, the reality of what could have happened was finally catching up with him. He was scared, even though it was over. But now he lay in bed, unable to get her off his mind. He was glad he saved her, especially after watching everybody just stand by and do nothing. But he couldn’t shake the depression that was looming over him now. All those years that he had spent trying to get her. All the pressure and anxiety he put himself through all rushed back to him now. He wanted to cry, his eyes welled with tears but he refused to let them fall down his face. Instead he closed his eyes and fell into sleep only to be awoken many times through the night as he tossed and turned through nightmares.

The next day was consistent downpour with heavy thunder and Baekhyun had decided it wasn’t a good idea for him to go out walking in the rain, so he took the car. Today, on his way home, through the pouring rain he spotted a familiar build. “What are you doing?...” he asked, squinting through the rain to make sure it was her. She was covering her head to the best of her ability with a newspaper, trying her hardest to get home without running in heels and risking damage. She had to be soaked to the bone right now. “What am I going to do?” he asked, racking his brain for answers as he sat there at the stop light, watching her round the corner.

He took that corner slowly and pulled up next to her, rolling down the window and following her at a slow pace. “Sora! Get in the car!” Baekhyun called to her.

“I’m not about to let you keep me out of trouble like I’m a child, Byun Baekhyun!” she knew her words stung, but that was just her nature. She didn’t like anyone to help her without her asking, especially not from him.

“You’re going to get sick! You’re drenched, get in the car, now!” Baekhyun demanded authoritatively. But Sora wouldn’t listen. She continued to walk and Baekhyun continued to follow her. “Sora, for the last time, get in the car.”

“Why should I?” she retorted; this was her way of sticking it to the man.

“Because I want you to,” Baekhyun replied sincerely, a look of concern in his eyes.

Silence, just the sound of the falling rain hitting the ground was heard, though Sora’s heart sounded like it was pounding in her ears at a hundred miles an hour. She froze in her spot, allowing the rain to soak her even more before Baekhyun repeated, “Get in the car because I want you to.” It took her a few moments, but Sora soon rounded the car. Baekhyun knew his seat cover was going to be trashed by her drenched body, but at this point he didn’t care. The second the door was closed he rolled his window up and they were on their way.

He thought for sure she was going to ask where they were going, he knew that she knew that he didn’t know where she lived, but she wasn’t going to protest. How could she when she could barely speak at all; she was still in shock by Baekhyun’s previous statement and she was surprised that her legs had the strength to get her into the car.  Sora coughed gently into her hand as they arrived at their destination. It was a quaint little house in a more rural part of town where not many people lived. She had figured Baekhyun would live somewhere like this.

“Come on, let’s get you into some dry clothes,” he said, pulling under the awning that covered the entry way to his home. She followed him in, catching his long and slender fingers on her way. Upon entering the home, Baekhyun cursed under his breath. She didn’t dare ask what it was about as they removed their shoes and she followed him to a back room. “You can change in here, just throw your clothes in the hamper for now,” he said as he opened the door. Sora concluded, it was definitely his bedroom. The door closed behind her as she looked around; there was a large bed in the middle of the room with simple décor, a couple of dressers and a door to the master bathroom.

After beginning to peel away her wet clothes and toss them in the hamper there was a knock on the door that startled her slightly. She didn’t have the voice to tell him she wasn’t decent before he had opened it. There was a full fluffy towel in his hand, a shirt that she assumed to change into laying atop of it, but she noticed something different about him, he was dressed differently. An untied black tie hung around his neck as he sported a white tank. “I haven’t had time to do laundry lately, I hope this is okay,” he said, offering her the towel and the shirt off his back. He kept his eyes on hers the whole time, not even tempted to scan her as she approached him. He swallowed the knot in his throat, one he assumed she had as well as she gently took the items from him. She thanked him quietly before he left the room.

Though she knew he didn’t dare take a peek, she couldn’t help herself. His lean but defined body peered at her from under his tight white tank top—she brushed those thoughts away as she continued to strip down. All he had given her was a pair of underwear—a set of deep grey boxer-briefs—and the shirt off his back, a white long sleeved button down. After toweling herself off and attempting to salvage what she could of her clothes, which was nothing, she pulled on his shirt and it was loose and long, what she assumed he had expected.

She tossed the towel in the hamper with her clothes before exiting the bedroom, modestly crossing her arms over her chest, feeling a little uncomfortable. He looked over at her, noting her discomfort. “Do you want me to get you something else? All of my clothes are dirty but I can do a quick wash if you—”

“No, it’s okay,” she replied.

He nodded, “Please make yourself at home.” The tie from his neck was gone and he had changed from dress pants to sweatpants. Sora ambled over to the couch where she plopped down, glued tightly to a corner. “Are you hungry? I can cook here or we can get takeout—”

“Takeout sounds lovely,” she replied, picking a menu up off the table of a nearby delivery restaurant.

Soon after they sat at the table, a feast in front of them and they both ate slowly and silently. Sora wouldn’t look at him, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off her beautiful face. He watched as she pushed her food away; it was only half gone but he wouldn’t complain, he knew she ate what she wanted. Baekhyun excused himself to the kitchen, taking the leftovers with him to store for future meals. He could hear the sound of Sora standing from the chair, her feet padding on the floor as she followed him.

Baekhyun turned around to face Sora who was a little too close for comfort. She was right in front of him; he couldn’t even take half a step towards her. “Why did you save me, Baekhyun?” she asked. He wouldn’t answer; he just looked at her with the same eyes he always looked at her with. They were sincere and honest and if she looked hard enough she could find all of the answers in them, he hand nothing to hide from her. “I said, why did you save me?” she asked again, this time pushing him back slightly. His hands came up quickly to grab hers and he turned her around, walking her backwards to press her up against a clear wall. His hand crashed down beside her head as he pinned her against the wall with his body.

“Why did I save you?” he asked, his slight form only barely towering over her; nonetheless, he had to look down to look into her eyes. She inhaled sharply when his face moved away from hers, moving down to the left, opposite his hand against the wall. His breath fanned over her neck as her chest pushed against his with her heavy breathing. “Because, Sora,” he tenderly whispered into her ear. He could feel her body become slightly limp with the brush of his lips against her neck. “Because from the moment I met you, I have loved you with everything that I am. I tried so hard for years to get you to notice me, but you never would. Still, I persevered. You want to know why I saved you? Because I love you, Kim Sora; I love you with my whole and untainted heart.” With a kiss to her temple, he turned away, freeing her body from the wall.

She heaved for air only for a moment before she decided a course of action. “Baekhyun,” she called desperately, causing him to turn before she crashed into him, one of her hands clutching his bicep, the other tangled in his hair as she pushed her lips against his and this time she knew: there was much more passion in this kiss, much more emotion and fervor, desire and need, like she, too, had loved him. It took Baekhyun a few moments to process what had just happened, but his eyes had already fluttered closed and he was waiting for his arms to react. They wrapped tightly around her waist, one hand eventually sliding up to cup the back of her neck. Her tongue proceeded this time, but it didn’t meet his lips; it met his warm and soft muscle for a tender , a small exchange between them before retreating, their lips curling around each other’s.  

Sora pulled away first, her ear resting down on his heart for only a moment before skimming her lips up the slender column of his neck, causing his hands to tighten on her. “A wise woman once told me that I should give Byun Baekhyun a chance, because he may surprise me,” she quoted, her sincere eyes staring deeply into his. “And I think she was right, because I know that I love him, and that deep down, I probably always have, and for that I’m sorry. You really are all that they say you are: charming, kind, but most of all open hearted; you never ceased to care for the ones you loved, even when they ignored you.”

“Sora, you don’t have to—”

“But I do, because even after all the years that I ignored you, that I shot you down and thought I was out of your league; for all the mean things I did or said to you, you should have hated me, you should hate me, but you don’t. You saved my life, Baekhyun. You saved my life and you still love me. Why?” she asked, tears in her eyes.

“Because I always knew the girl that was in here,” he said, pressing a soft finger to her heart, “and I knew that if I just tried a little more, if I showed her that I cared enough, that she would know that I love her, and that she would come to love me,” he replied, reaching up to wipe a stray tear away. “I love you now, I love you still; I always have, I always will.” He buried his face in her hair, taking in the sweet aroma as she listened to his heart.

 “Stay with me tonight.”