Baekhyun's POV:

When I woke up, I was greeted with Areum's sleeping face.  Quietly, I sat up and tried to shake off the grogginess.  I got out of bed and went to use the bathroom and when I came back Areum was sitting up in bed looking dazed. 

"Good morning, sleepyhead," I smiled. 

"Morning," she greeted. 

"Sleep well?" 

She nodded her head in response and stretched.  Then she got up and walked out of the room.  While she was gone, I decided to change into my regular clothes and pack up my things.  After I gathered all of my things, I went to the living room and placed my bag next to the couch. 

The whole house was silent, so I supposed that everyone else was still sleeping.  I didn't know what to do, so I plopped down on the couch and opened my phone.  I wasn't alone for too long, though, because Areum showed up and sat herself down next to me. 

I put my phone down and looked over to her.  She was staring out into space and looked like she was in deep thought. 

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" I asked. 

It took her a second to answer, but when she did, she said, "Yeah, I'm fine..." 

Somehow when she said that, I didn't believe her.  I put my arm around her and pulled her close.  With all that's been happening, I understand why she seems to always be lost in thought. 

Your POV: 

As soon as I woke up, I remembered everything that happened yesterday night.  Baekhyun wasn't in the room, so I just sat in silence until he came.  When he did come walking into the room, he smiled to me and greeted me with a good morning. 

I then left to use the bathroom, but changed directions when I saw the door to Myungdae and Eunsun's room.  I hesitated in front of their bedroom door for a second, but decided to knock and go in. 

Myungdae and Minkyung were still in dreamland, but Eunsun was up sitting at the edge of the bed looking at something in her hands.  Slowly, I made my way over to her.  Just before I tapped her on the shoulder, I got a peak at what she was looking at; it was an ultrasound picture.  When I did tap her on the shoulder, she jumped in surprise and turned her head to look at me. 

"Oh, it's just you, Areum.  You scared me," she said and tried to calm her fast beating heart. 

"Sorry," I apologized as I sat beside her and looked at the ultrasound more clearly.  "Umm... can we talk, unnie?" 

"Yeah, of course," she replied.  "Let's go out, though.  I don't want to wake my boys up." 

I nodded and followed her out of the room.  I couldn't stop thinking about what my mom had said yesterday and it had been worrying me since then, so I just wanted to talk with Eunsun and confirm some things. 

I leaned against the wall of our hallway while Eunsun slowly and quietly closed the door to her bedroom.  She turned and faced me and asked, "What did you need, hm?" 

"About what mom said yesterday..." I began, "You're not going to... you know?"  Suddenly, I felt very nervous and kept shifting my weight from foot to foot. 

"No," she answered simply.  "I'm not going to." 

"R-Really?" 

She gave me a small smile and nodded.  "Yes.  Myungdae and I talked yesterday about everything after what happened.  I promise you that I won't."  

"Okay, good...  I... I was just... you know, worried that-"  

"Don't worry, Areum-ah.  Everything will be okay.  Myungdae said that we would get through this all togetether." 

I nodded my head slowly, and then she gave me a quick hug before heading back into her room.  I stood there for a moment and sighed in relief.  Then I headed into the living room where I found Baekhyun.  He was sitting on the couch on his phone when I came to sit next to him. 

He wrapped his arm around me after asking if I was okay and I leaned into him.  Every time Baekhyun comforted me and did things like this, it made me happy beyond imagination, but in the back of my mind, I knew that it wasn't right.  Baekhyun's relationship with Taeyeon always popped up in my head and it made me uncomfortable.  Though we were best friends and have always been close, I knew that if I were Taeyeon, I wouldn't exactly like the thought of Baekhyun going around and being so close with another girl. 

Just this time, though, I let him hold me, but I had to promise myself that I would push him away next time.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I didn't want to get even more confused no hurt Taeyeon. 

"When do you have to go?" I asked. 

"Hmm, I don't know.  Do you want me to go?" he questioned. 

"No," I told him honestly.  "I was just wondering, though." 

He smiled brightly.  "I'd rather stay with you." 

"What about your schedules?  Don't you have any today?" 

"Well, probably... but I'll stay here with you until my manager starts calling." 

"Hmm, okay then.  Until your manager starts calling, let's eat breakfast then." 

Baekhyun nodded in agreement and came to help me in the kitchen.  We made a more westernized breakfast, because I felt like eating pancakes, and finished within half an hour or so.  Just as we finished and were sitting down at the table, Minkyung and Eunsun were making their way out of their room.  I helped Minkyung get his food before I finished up and put my plate in the sink.  

I was about to do the dishes until Baekhyun hip bumped me out of the way and started doing it instead.  I looked at him, but he just smiled.  In the middle of washing the dishes, Baekhyun's phone started ringing. 

"It's in my front pocket," he told me, already expecting me to get it for him. 

He twisted to the side a little bit as he began rinsing a plate and urged me to get it.  I began to blush as I reached towards his phone in the front pocket of his jeans.  I carefully slipped it out of his pant pocket and pressed the answer button before pressing it up to his ear. 

Baekhyun answered the person on the other end of the call with yeah's and okay's before nodding at me to take the phone away.  I turned his phone off and placed it on the counter.  Then he told me that he had to go, so after he finished washing the dishes, even though I told him that he didn't have to, we walked out to his car together.  He gave me a good bye hug before getting into his car and leaving.  I honestly felt somewhat empty after he left, but also kind of relieved, too, but as soon as he was gone, I went out in search for another job or two. 

Baekhyun's POV: 

When my manager called, he said that we needed to talk and he wanted me to get over to the company right away.  His tone was so serious that it kind of scared me, so I tried getting there as soon as I could. 

As soon as I parked in the parking lot, I got out and locked the doors before running up to the practice room where my manager was waiting for me.  No one else was around, so I knew that whatever he was going to talk to about was about me. 

"What did you need to talk about, hyung?" I asked after I closed the door. 

"Baekhyun," he said sternly, "I told you to be careful."  He looked very unhappy and I wondered what he was talking about. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering if I really wanted to know or not at this point. 

"What were you doing yesterday?" 

"Uhm, I was with my friend."  I could see that he was trying his best to keep his composure, so I didn't want to be the one to break it.  "Why?" 

"Because you and your friend is all over the idol news." 

"What?!" 

He unlocked his phone and brought up an article to show me what he was going on about.  One of the very first articles posted was titled "Mystery Girl and Baekhyun of EXO on a Date?"  Then another notification appeared with another article; this one titled "[Breaking!] More Photos of Baekhyun and Girl with a Child."  My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped as I read what the articles were saying.  

I couldn't believe this.  I couldn't believe the paparazzi had pictures of when I took Areum and Minkyung out to eat.  At first I was worried about if I had just ruined my career and EXO in all, but then I was thankful that they didn't get a clear shot of Areum's face or else that would've been chaos, plus as of right now they didn't know if it was Taeyeon or Areum, so I could maybe clear things up. 

"I told you to be careful, Baekhyun," my manager scolded me. 

"I know... I'm sorry, but at lease they don't know who it is," I said. 

"Yeah, you're lucky... for now.  But what are we going to say, huh?  Just tell the public that you were out with a long-time friend or that it was totally Taeyeon who you were with that day?" 

I hesitated.  I was so unsure of what to do or what to say.  "Don't tell them anything yet." 

My manager sighed.  "We'll try to hold them off, but we can only do that for so long, Baekhyun.  We have to tell them something eventually." 

This time it was my turn to sigh.  "I know," I mumbled.  "Just let me think right now." 

"Okay, fine.  You think really hard right now, and I'm going to discuss with the CEO." 

I nodded and watched as he made hasty steps out of the room and slammed the door in the process.  I had no idea what I was going to do.  So many emotions and thoughts were running through my mind that I couldn't exactly think straight.  If I said that it was Areum in the pictures, people might misunderstand or just not believe me at all.  If I just lied and said that it was Taeyeon in the photos with me, I don't know if Areum would be okay with it.  I know that Areum and I aren't a thing or whatever, but still I valued her opinions and feelings on certain things.  It was all just so frustrating. 

After my manager came back, he drove me home and dropped me off.  I walked slowly up to the dorm floor and unlocked the door.  As soon as I entered the living room, I noticed that all of the members were sitting there and seemed to be waiting for me.  All of their eyes were locked onto me and I wondered if they had known about everything already. 

"Go ahead, say it.  Tell me 'I told you,'" I said with a sigh and looked away from everyone. 

Only silence followed after what I had said, so I turned back to look at the 11 of them.  I thought at least one of them would say it, but I didn't expect just silence.  Soon enough, though, Joonmyun broke the quietness and asked, "Well... um, do you want to tell us your story?" 

I nodded before sitting down and telling them, "It's Areum in those pictures.  And the new pictures coming out are of her and her little nephew.  Yesterday, I took her out to the new restaurant and I guess I wasn't careful enough." 

"We believe you," Kris hyung said, trying to comfort me. 

"I know you guys do... but what about the millions of fans and other people out there?  What would they believe?" 

"Don't let it get to you so much," Yixing hyung told me. 

"Yeah, why don't you just lie and say that it was Taeyeon noona?  Then it wouldn't be a big deal," Tao suggested. 

"I know, but-" I began. 

"But what?" Jongdae interrupted. 

I looked at him and shook my head.  "I don't know...  I'm gonna go to my room." 

No one said anything else, and I continued walking to my room.  When I got to my room, I changed into more comfortable clothing and laid in my bed.  It probably was just easier to just say that it was Taeyeon all this time, but for some reason, I felt bad for Areum if I did. 

In the midst of thinking, the door of my room creaked open and soon Jongdae came into the room.  It was quiet for a moment before Jongdae spoke up, "What are you going to do?" 

"I don't know yet," I replied flatly. 

"Why don't you ask Areum what she thinks?" 

I sat up to his suggestion and thought that was probably the first thing I should have done.  "Yeah, okay.  I will." 

"You might want to hurry, though.  I bet some of our fans will find out sooner or later that the girl in those pictures isn't Taeyeon." 

I nodded and thanked him.  "Hey, let's go pick up Chanyeol from the Roommate house and go grab something to eat later." 

"Okay, sounds good." 

"Alright, call Areum and settle things, then we can go." 

I nodded again and watched him leave the room.  After Jongdae left, I grabbed my phone from my bag and tried calling Areum. 

Your POV:

I walked down into the city to a cafe where I had seen a help wanted sign before.  And just before I went in to talk about the cafe job, I called a translating office about an opening they had. 

When I got to the cafe, it was very crowded.  I squeezed my way through people to the front.  When I finally made my way through, I talked with the worker in the front and he told me to wait while he went to get the manager.  The worker came back within a minute and then politely pulled me into the manager's office. 

The manager interviewed me for about 30 minutes of so and then stood up with a smile.  "I look forward to you working with us.  How about I start you up tomorrow?" 

"That sounds great," I said and shook his hand.  "Goodbye now." 

After leaving the cafe, I immediately headed over to the transtator's office.  They, too, interviewed me right away and told me that I got the job.  The man who interviewed me told me the basics of what I had to do and gave me a work cell so that I could start answering phone calls. 

As I was waiting for the bus, I took out my phone that had been off the whole time.  I turned it on and noticed that I had 7 missed calls from Baekhyun.  I wondered if something had happened to have him try so hard to reach me, so I called him back right away. 

"Hello?" he answered. 

"Hey, did you need something?" I asked. 

"Uhm, kind of...  Have you seen the pictures online yet?" 

I had no idea what he was refering to.  "What pictures?" 

Baekhyun explained everyting that I had missed, just by not turning on my phone for half the day.  At first, I was confused, but then things slowly started to sink in. 

"Anyway, I was wondering what you think about this.  My company wants an answer soon..." 

"I don't know," I told him honestly. 

"Well, I have two options, pretty much.  I either tell them that it was you and hope that the media will understand, or I lie and tell them that it was Taeyeon or someone else." 

"If you tell them that it was me, will people start looking for me?" 

"No, the paparazzi didn't get a clear picture of your face, but they did get pictures of Minkyung." 

"Well, what's better suited for you?" 

"I... don't know." 

"I think you should tell them that it's Taeyeon.  I mean, we have similar hair length and color, right?  So it should be alright.  Then the media won't be all over you about it.  It'd just be a simple date between you and Taeyeon, problem solved."  I tried lightening up the mood because Baekhyun sounded stressed out, but I could also hear a bit of bitterness in my voice. 

It would totally be a scandal if Baekhyun were to tell the public that it was me in those photos, but there was a small part of me that wanted the world to know that I was Baekhyun's best friend.  I knew better, though.  I couldn't ruin Baekhyun's image.  I wanted him to succeed.  I wanted him to be happy.  Besides, even if Baekhyun did tell everyone that it was me, the public and media could take it the wrong way.  

"Okay," he simply said.  "Thanks.  Bye." 

"Bye." 

Annyeong!  here's another update!  i hope you enjoy!! 

Thanks

~Angelflyer

(1/2/18) 

Happy New Year everyone!!  I hope everyone had a great year and will have an even better one in 2018! 

#WeLoveYouBaekhyun

I will try to update again soon!