The next morning was Saturday and I had agreed to help Baekhyun with his studying – I knew I would regret the decision, and as my alarm rang, I was. Sitting up in bed, I futilely tried to flatten my hair. I thought back to last night, being at Sehun’s. For both of us, I think it was a relief that we had a label to call the other one. I can’t speak for him, of coursse, but I was really struggling with how I was feeling towards him so it was a relief for him to call it friendship.

Sehun was coming with me to Baekhyun’s to help tutor him. I was actually pretty glad as I really couldn’t see Baekhyun being a particularly devoted student, and I suspected that I would need all the help I could get. When I knocked on Sehun’s door that morning, I was admittedly a little apprehensive about seeing him. Last night had been a little uncomfortable for both of us, but I was still worried about him. I had never seen him looking like he had last night before, and it startled me a little. He still hadn’t told me the reason for his father and him to fight like that, but I wasn’t going to ask. His business was his business.

The door to Sehun’s apartment swung open and I was greeted by the yawning face of a bed-headed Sehun. It was obvious that he had just woken up. He was – thankfully – wearing a pair of pyjama bottoms and a white t shirt. When he saw me, he blinked a little dazed.

“You’re not the mailman…” he mumbled, stifling another yawn.

I tutted once, letting my eyes roll at him. “Nothing gets past you,” I sarcastically replied.

It seemed that it was still too early for my sarcasm to have an effect on him as he just started at me blankly as if I’d just announced I was a leprechaun. Sighing, I tapped my wrist where a watch should have been, “Come on, we’ll be late!”

“For what?” he asked, screwing his face up a little.

I groaned exasperatedly. “We’re helping Baekhyun today, remember?”

Sehun stared at me for a moment before registering what I had said and groaned like I just had. “Are we actually doing that?” he whined, pouting a little.

Grabbing onto his shoulder, I turned him around and pushed his back in the direction of his bedroom, ignoring his painfully obvious question. “Go get changed quickly,” I instructed, closing the door behind myself. I could hear him grumbling and as he went back to his room to change his clothes.

His apartment looked much better this morning; much more normal. Sure, there were a few empty places around the place where ornaments and stuff should have been, but all of that was just faff really.

“Yah!”

Spinning around, I saw Sehun returning from his room just as he was pulling his jumper over his head.

“Why did you come get me so early? We aren’t supposed to be at Baekhyun’s until eleven.” He smirked a little when his head reappeared from the top of the sweater. “Just couldn’t keep away?” he taunted playfully. It was nice – if annoying – to see him back to normal.

Puffing out my cheeks, I get a gust of air burst out my lips. “Well, I actually thought about just not coming for you at all, but then I remembered you need new plates.”

When I said this, his expression froze for a moment as he no doubt remembered why it was that he needed new plates in the first place. “Oh, I see.”

I didn’t think he was going to say anything else and he also didn’t look like he was going to move anytime soon. Walking over to him, I grabbed his arm and pulled it gently towards the door. “Come on, let’s go buy some plates.”

Although I was hesitant, Sehun was adamant that we should take his Mustang to the shopping centre so I once again found myself strapped into it and praying he was awake enough to drive properly.

“So how do you know this shopping centre so well?” Sehun asked as we rolled up to the car park. It was the same one as I had met my father in a few weeks ago, and was actually jointly owned by my father so of course I knew it well.

“I don’t,” I lied. “But really, don’t all shopping malls have a kitchenware shop in them somewhere?”

Sehun may have had a point about it being early because we were two of about twenty customers in the whole place. It was strange seeing the place looking so empty. There were Christmas decorations in a lot of the shops, advertising special Christmas promotions in an attempt to lure customers in. We found the map of the place, and quickly located the kitchenware shop. As we descended the escalator towards it, woman came up behind us and tapped Sehun on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, are you an idol by any chance?” she asked hopefully.

Personally, I thought it was a stupid question to ask someone. I mean, if you thought they were a specific famous person then sure, ask away! But to just generally ask if he was famous just because he was handsome seemed a little ridiculous.

Sehun smiled a little but shook his head, “No, I’m not.”

She let out a disappointed groan and shook her head, “I could have sworn I’ve seen your face before somewhere…”

I turned around on the escalator just as we were about to get off so I could see the woman. My jaw almost dropped at the sight of my father’s secretary standing there holding about fifteen boxes in her skinny little arms. She noticed me as well then after blinking several times as if checking it was definitely me.

“Oh!” she exclaimed.

My feet hit the end of the escalator then but because I wasn’t paying attention I was forwards, almost falling flat on my face. Looking around, I saw that Sehun had caught my arm, preventing me from performing a nasty facepalm. I scuttled away from him quickly, earning a curious glance from Sehun and a very curious glance from my father’s secretary.

“I have to go to the bathroom!” I called out as I made a dash towards the nearest restroom. It was empty. Heading to the sink, I gripped the edges as I realised just how much of a boo-boo that could have been. Ugh, what was she doing here anyway? A second later the door opened again and I saw the face of my father’s secretary on the mirror. I whirled around.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed at me. “You’re supposed to be with Sehun.”

I made an exaggerated gesture with my arm towards the door, “Did you not just see who I was walking with?”

Her eyes widened at this and she put the boxes in her arms on the nappy changing station. “That’s Sehun?”

I nodded, staring at the boxes. “Yeah. Why are you here anyway?”

She pointed to the boxes, “Your father sent me to get some of your Christmas shopping. Not long to go now.” She smiled as if I should somehow be excited about the prospect of Christmas. Eyeballing the boxes again, I could barely suppress the sigh that I felt building inside me. Every Christmas it was the same; countless presents from my father that he had no input into buying, and a lonely but extravangant meal after.

“Well anyway,” I said as I made to move past here. “I better get on with my day.”

“Wait!” she called to me, grabbing my arm. “How is it going with him? Have you met his father yet?”

Technically, yes. Really, no. “I’ve seen him but I haven’t spoken to him.”

Her eyes lit up at this. “Good. I’ll tell your father.” I felt like I was a spaniel being praise for bringing a ball back. I made to leave once again but she called out to me again, “Oh, will you be wanting your usual flight? I have already booked it.”

I nodded, then a thought occurred to me. “Will my father be coming?”

She shook her head, “No, I already asked him.” I don’t know why I had even asked; he had never once com