Tried to make one tonight. Hope you'll like it! ^^~

 

**

 

I walked out of school with Byun Baekhyun today. There are a lot of girls staring at us, but Baekhyun glares back at them. What the hell is going on?

 

 

As we were walking home, we passed by the food stand of ddeokbokki that I let him taste one time. His eyes were glued to the man who was cooking, and I can tell he wants one of those.

 

 

I smiled in my head as I walked towards the food stand. He immediately followed suit. I ordered one for me and one for him. His eyes were wandering somewhere, probably because he doesn’t want me to notice how much he wanted these. Suddenly he excused himself first and I let him. I waited for our food to be cooked. As soon as it was done, I walked to the direction where he went.

 

 

My feet brought me to the cemetery. What is he doing here?

 

 

My eyes searched for the figure I was looking for, and not only Byun Baekhyun was present but Chanyeol was there, too. I walked towards them but I felt something’s wrong. Like there was a tension going on between the two. But that quickly faded when he saw me.

 

 

“Oh, Shin Jae-ya, what brings you here?” My best friend asked.

 

“I was with him,” I said. I handed me his ddeokbokki and his face brightened a bit. Chanyeol seemed to want one, so I gave him mine. He gladly accepted it and said his words of thanks.

 

“Oh, right.”

 

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

 

“Just visiting my mom. It’s her death anniversary today,” he calmly said but I know it still hurts him deep inside.

 

“Chanyeol-ah, do you still blame yourself of what happened?” I said with worry.

 

“I can’t help it, you know. She died after she gave birth to me. She died and I lived, and that’s unfair, don’t you think?” I let out a sigh and hugged him.

 

“Did she ever blame you for it? No, right? She wanted you to live after bearing 9 months of the pain you’ve brought her while you were inside her tummy, and of course what would make her happy is that pain to be all worth it. And look at you now,” I tried to cheer him up.

 

 

He patted my head and let out a smile. I smiled in relief as I saw that smile full of teeth. Until someone coughed and cleared his throat.

 

 

“If you’ll excuse us, mister. We have to go somewhere.” And the next thing I knew, he was pulling my wrist as we got away.

 

“What just happened?” I asked after realizing.

 

“Can’t you see that he wanted to be alone?” He asked. I kept quiet after that. I’m just concerned about my best friend, or my crush, so I wanted to be of comfort at least, right?

 

 

I just followed him on where he was walking. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t the way home until we stopped by a big house.

 

 

“Where are we now? I thought we’re walking home?”

 

 

But he didn’t answer me and he walked inside the house instead. I just followed him again because there’s nothing I can do now.

 

 

As we stepped inside the door, a lot of kiddy screams welcomed us.

 

 

“Baekhyun hyung!”

 

“Oppa!”

 

“He’s here! He’s here!”

 

 

And a lot more.

 

 

A lot of kids went to our direction, running as fast they could with big smiles on their faces. And it seemed like there’s something more.

 

 

I glanced at the person beside me and...

 

 

I’ve never seen Byun Baekhyun so happy before.

 

 

Literally. He looked so happy. His eyes are no longer visible, and his lips formed a kind of a rectangle shape as he bent down and hugged the kids and patted their heads one by one.

 

 

I looked up and saw the old woman that we encountered last time. Looks like she recognized me because she walked to my direction.

 

 

“The kids love him, you know? He used to visit often when he was younger, but I guess he became busy and he rarely visits now.”

 

“I can see that.” I smiled at her. I looked at Byun Baekhyun again as he opened his backpack that looks quite full since this morning.

 

“Look at what I’ve got!” He said happily. The kids jumped in excitement. He took out something and...

 

“It’s a toy!” The kids cheered. They all shouted with glee as Baekhyun handed them their own toys one by one. I approached him with a big smile on my face.

 

“So that’s why it was so full. Because your bag was full of toys.” I actually expected him to tell something like ‘shut up’ or ‘none of your business’ but he said otherwise.

 

“I promised, didn’t I? And besides, they love it.” He smiled at me first and continued giving out the toys like he was Santa Claus.

 

“They sure do.” I looked at the kids and saw that they were indeed happy and giddy as they got theirs. I can’t help but smile as I see their expression like that toy was everything in this world. I looked at him again and I noticed something.

 

 

The kids’ smiles looked like everything in his world.

 

 

“Dear, can you come help me with something?” The old lady approached me again.

 

“Oh, sure, ahjumma. What is it?”

 

“Baekhyunnie told us to cook some soup for the kids. He gave us the ingredients already and they’re in the kitchen. Would you lend us a hand?”

 

“Of course. I’d be honored.”

 

 

We went to the kitchen and started immediately. The soup was done in no time, and we prepared the bowls and spoons for the kids. As I went out of the kitchen, a lot of kids approached me like what they did with Byun Baekhyun earlier.

 

 

“Unnie, Baekhyunnie oppa said that you cooked something for us.” They started talking at the same time but I didn’t feel annoyed.

 

“Oh, yes, yes. Just settle down now on the table and we’ll give you your portion, okay?” They all nodded and ran immediately to the table.

 

 

I handed them their soup one by one. As the kids were done and they started eating. I got another bowl and got some soup and handed it to Byun Baekhyun. He said no but I insisted.

 

 

“Come on. You bought the ingredients, so why don’t you have a taste?” And I won that.

 

 

As we were eating, his eyes were focused on the kids the whole time, like how a mother eagle watches her egg. But a visible smile was then again plastered on his face.

 

 

“I can see that you’re happy,” I said.

 

“I told you, I really like kids.”

 

“Do you have a specific reason for that?” It took a while before he answered my question.

 

“I just wanted to have a dongsaeng. I’m the maknae of our family and I’ve always wanted to take care of little children like them,” he said but...

 

 

Why do I feel like there’s something more?

 

 

After we finished eating, we played a lot of games like tug of war, dodge ball and tag. I really enjoyed because I didn’t have time to play like this when I was young because of my family situation.

 

 

And it seemed like I wasn’t the only one enjoying.

 

 

Byun Baekhyun sometimes purposely let the kids win in the games and pretend he tripped or something and he smiles at them, and I don’t know why but it makes me laugh and smile, too. He looked so happy and different from the Byun Baekhyun I know, but I like this side of him much more.

 

 

A boy sat on my lap and told me something.

 

 

“Noona, can you tell us a story?” He asked. The other kids seemed to hear his request, too. So they pleaded and of course, I can’t say no to them.

 

 

They all sat obediently on the floor. Byun Baekhyun sat beside me, which made me a little uncomfortable but for the kids, I started.

 

 

“Do you know the story of Cinderella?” I asked. They all answered no, and I was a bit shocked because that story is a classic.

 

“That’s okay. I’ll tell it so you’ll know.” I smiled as I looked on their expectant faces.

 

“Once upon a time, there was a girl named Cinderella. She was living normally but she has no mother anymore. So her father decided to marry someone again, hoping to give her the motherly love she hoped for. But it was a very wrong decision.”

 

“When her father died and she was left with her stepmother and her two stepsisters, things turned upside down.” The kids gasped and complained that it wasn’t nice. I smiled and continued. “But, she still lived her life happily even if things get through the worst times. Until one night came when she got a chance to attend the royal ball.”

 

“What’s a royal ball?” They asked.

 

“It’s a party for kings and queens and princes and princesses.”

 

“Is Cinderella a princess?”

 

“Hmm, no, but everyone in the kingdom was invited, so she got her chance.”

 

“She got it that easily?”

 

“Actually, she faced a lot of hardships. Her stepmother and stepsisters didn’t allow her to attend, but she’s got someone by her side.”

 

“Someone helped her?”

 

“Yes. It was her fairy godmother.” They were all amazed when I mentioned the word fairy. I can feel my smile getting wider.

 

“She helped her have her beautiful gown, arrange her hair, and even got her a carriage that she rode on her way to the castle. The prince was so struck by her beauty that he decided to dance with her. That night they fell in love with each other, but of course, it was when she had her limit.” The kids’ eyes widened, and I heard Byun Baekhyun laugh.

 

“The magic will only work until 12 midnight, and at the twelfth strike on the clock, everything will be as it was before.”

 

“But isn’t that unfair? Shouldn’t she have enjoyed herself in the party?” A girl asked me with a sad pout.

 

“Everything is not permanent, dear. But let’s continue with the story, shall we?” Her pout was replaced with a smile.

 

“The only thing that she left as she ran off was her glass slipper. So the next day, the king decided to have every girl in the kingdom fit that shoe. But one thing went wrong: the stepmother found out that she attended the ball.” The kids gasped again. “So she locked Cinderella up to her room so she can’t have the chance to try her own shoe.”

 

“That’s so mean.”

 

“That’s unfair!”

 

“That wasn’t right, unnie.”

 

“Tell us what happened.”

 

“But her friends, the mice, helped her get out.”

 

“She had animal friends?” Someone asked.

 

“Yes, but they’re kind so don’t worry about it.” I smiled sheepishly as I continued. “She got her chance, and the both of them reunited and got married, and they lived happily ever after. That’s the end of the story.” They clapped as they smiled.

 

“That was nice.”

 

“Cinderella’s so cool.”

 

“I want to be a princess, too.”

 

“Kids, settle down now because it’s getting late and they need to go home. Say goodbye to them.”

 

 

They all recited their good byes and thank you words to us as we got out of the house.

 

 

“Wasn’t that nice?” He asked. Wow, he was actually the one who spoke first to me.

 

“I’d love to go back there sometime,” I said with determination.

 

“Me too.” We kept quiet after that.

 

 

We turned to our street. We reached our houses and I was about to go when he talked.

 

 

“Say, would you like to come with me the next time?” He asked while looking at the ground.

 

“I’d love to. You didn’t have to ask because I’d like to even go there myself.”

 

“Okay. Thank you for today, Shin Jae.” I was about to say thank you, too, when I realized something.

 

 

He called me by my given name for the first time.

 

 

I walked inside the house with a big smile on my face.

 

 

**

 

Sorry it took long again. I've had sleepless nights this week and my body can't take it anymore. But tonight I've got nothing to do, so I decided to make it up to you~^^ I hope you liked it. And hello to new subscribers! Just comment your thoughts and I'll always reply to them, okay?

 

 

I have other fics if you want to check them out~^^

 

 

Thank you for everyone who are supporting this. You know I love you all, right? Okay? Okay. *huugs*