chapter 2

Nervous. That's the only word that could describe my feelings right now. A week after 'meeting' Baekhyun, now I'm getting ready to go to Luhan's house. Why? It's been a year since I've got engaged with him, and he told me that his mother wants to meet me and talk about our marriage. It's not like I don't to, but I'm just 22. I though, isn't it too early for me?

"Irene~" Luhan sang as he back hugged me.

"Neh, Luhaeeen?" I sang back at him using his nickname that Baekhyun once gave. He laughed and sat beside me on my bed. "Are you ready yet?" He asked. I was like, what...?

"Obviously, yes. I should've kick you out if I'm not." I answered with the what-kind-of-question-is-that look. He pouted cutely, and unconsiously I pinched his cheeks. "Stop pouting, let's go. Don't want to be late for Mrs. Lu's breakfast invitation." I told him as I stop up, Luhan copying my actions while smiling like an idiot.

Seriously, this guy can be like Baekhyun...

Like always, we rode Luhan's car towards his parent's house which was 30 minutes from mine. Well, it's still 7:30 in the morning, so it's still early. As much as Luhan wanted to have some time with me in the car, I managed to make him drive faster so we won't be late. I was never late to anything.

Well, except for that one time...

9 years ago, Auntumn...

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." I chanted repeatedly as I ran as fast as I could to school. 5 minutes before school starts, and this is the first time I'll ever be late for school. This is the first time I woke up late other than weekends.

I was never late.

I had to blame myself for waking up late. I had to blame this cold. Two days ago, I caught a cold and fortunately it was weekend. I thought it would go off in a day or two, but I ended up having a fever now. That was one factor for me running late.

I looked at my watch and realized that school had already started. I knew I was going to be punished for being late to school. I fastened my pace as I got nearer to the school gate. Fortunately, I was only 5 minutes late, meaning I took only 10 minutes to arrive. Normally, it would take 30 minutes for me to walk to school. Maybe I just used my hidden talent to be the next Hussein Bolt. Hmm...

AND! Fortunate for me, the school gate won't close until it was 15 minutes after school session starts.

"Good morning, ahjussi!" I greeted the school guard as he was doing his job. He didn't answer but just smiled as I slowed down my running when I entered school. Relieved, of course. But I'm still late. I rushed past every lockers of the school and finally arrived at my class. Abruptly, I opened the door, panting. "I'm sorry I'm late!"

"Well, nice to have you here, Miss Kim." Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Henry said with a sarcastic smile. And I knew what would happen to me. Either a harsh punishment, or a light one.

"Since you had been a great student and never late, I will only tell you to stand outside at the corridor with both hands in the air until the end of my period. Right now." He told me. I sighed of relief because he didn't tell me to do anything embarassing and went to my seat to put my bag before doing my punishment.

After a good 5 minutes of boredom and silent, suddenly the classroom door right in front of my class opened and out came a familiar boy. He closed the door and stood across me with both hands in the air. "Baekhyun?" I mentioned. The said boy looked up and smiled bitterly at me. "Yeah, it's me. This is what you get for not finishing your homework when you're a senior." He said.

I giggled at him. "Well, this is what you get for being late to school if you're a good student." I retorted back. "Whole period?" He asked. I nodded and asked him back the same question and he nodded as well. After that, silence passed by.

"So...?" I trailed off. A few seconds went by, and suddenly both of us broke into laughters. We didn't move from our spots but we talked to each other happily but with a hushed voice until the end of our teachers' periods.

"Hello? Earth to Irene?" Luhan snapped his fingers in front of my face as I snapped out of the flashback. "You okay?" He asked. I nodded and realized that we already arrived.

Going in, his mother welcomed us with open arms and brought us to the dining table. As we ate, suddenly Mrs. Lu broke the silence. "So, Irene, you know what purpose you're here right?" "Yes, I do. It's about the wedding right?" Mrs. Lu nodded. "Let's finish breakfast first, then we'll talk about that, okay mama?" Luhan jumped in the conversation. "Alright, sweetheart."