Baekhyun woke up with a lot of energy this morning. Because for some reasons, it was the day he had been waiting since a week ago. The man didn’t take long to dress himself up before finally emerged from his apartment and went down to the basement to get his car. Yes, Baekhyun started to live on his own now. It wasn’t long since Baekhyun decided to move out from his parent’s house. Well, the apartment was a gift from his parents for his birthday a year ago, but he still didn’t want to leave his parents’ house that time. Although, yes, he was aware that sooner or later he had to. Until some months ago Baekhyun decided to move out.

“Good morning Mr. COO,” Jongdae greeted him kind of loudly when he passed by his best friend’s room right across his. Baekhyun only waved at him because he knew he’s going to come to his room later for the morning brief.

Baekhyun settled himself on his seat before he finally started checking the pile of documents which already waiting for him to be reviewed and signed.

“Shall we start the brief?” Jongdae asked, putting another pile of papers on the COO’s table.

“Sure, I’ll listen while signing these.” He answered shortly, eyes not leaving the paper he’s reviewing.

“So, for today, you have an appointment with Lee corp. at ten, they are doing the presentation for the collaboration project we talked about two days ago. They also expect you to join them at lunch. Then you have a meeting with the Research and Development team at two, and a meeting with the top management for the trimester report at four.

Baekhyun sighed. “Here I am, thinking I could leave early today because I need to stop by somewhere.”

“You know tomorrow is Saturday, Sir. You can spend the whole day with your date tomorrow without anyone disturbing.” Jongdae said teasingly.

The COO heaved another sigh as he stopped signing and leaned his back on his chair. “Tell me, Jongdae. Is it weird if I want to see her every single day?” He casually asked, earning a loud laugh from his best friend.

“I’ve never seen you so whipped like this you know.”

Baekhyun groaned because what Jongdae said was so true. “And I know I’m screwed.”

“Didn’t you tell me that your relationship is going in a good direction?”

Jongdae saw a smile slowly blooming on his friend’s lips. “I know, but still…” Baekhyun suddenly looked conflicted. “I’m scared you know. I’m scared if it was just a temporary thing. I keep telling myself that she genuinely likes me, but I hate that sometimes my head betrays me by giving me pictures of some possible scenarios of how she would leave.”

Jongdae looked at him with fondness in his eyes. He knew it was hard for his friend. “Aerin is not that girl, Baekhyun.”

The man felt like someone just punched him. Jongdae’s words were simple, but he didn’t know this was what he needed. Baekhyun had unpleasant memories of being betrayed by someone he loved. And he knew it left some scars in his heart. He lost interest in building any relationship after that, and he chose to focus on his career. It wasn’t because he hasn’t moved on from the girl, he just chose to make a good of his time to be a better version of himself.

And that was until Aerin came into his life.

“You told me yourself that it was hard to win her heart. And when you finally did, you choose to let your unreasonable fear to win over everything you have done? That’s not really the fearless Baekhyun that I’ve known, though.”

Baekhyun only let out a wide grin at his friend.

“Good afternoon, Sir, may I help you?”

“Hi, I’ve placed a custom order a week ago and they say I can take it today.”

“Oh, yes. An order under Mr. Byun, right? Please have a seat, Sir. I’ll be back with your order.”

The man smiled as the clerk bowed and excused herself to get inside. Baekhyun felt giddy. After taking a long time to think about how their relationship going, Baekhyun already toughen his heart and gathered his courage to finally pop the question. They both confessed that they like each other, and after spending more time together with her, it was getting hard for him to be apart from her. Some people might think it wasn’t important to put a label on their relationship, but as mature as Baekhyun could be, he knew he wanted to. It might be childish, but Baekhyun didn’t care. Deep behind his insecurities, he just wanted to assure himself and wanted her to choose if she would be willing to be called his.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Byun.” The woman came bringing a velvet box and carefully put it on the table in front of Baekhyun. “You can check it first and let us know if you want any correction.”

The softness of the velvet box melted in his fingers. The man gently took off the cover and immediately greeted with the pretty shine that made his heart skip a beat. It was a simple ring with a thin yellow gold band. There’s a sparkling oval cut diamond on the centre, accompanied by two small round cuts of diamond on each side. Baekhyun’s heart fluttered at how pretty this design turned out to be.

He had been going in and out of jeweller’s places in the last two weeks on his own. He took his time because he really wanted something special. It wasn’t the most expensive place, but Baekhyun’s heart was caught by this one design and decided to choose it. The only thing going on his mind was that he knew it’s going to look pretty on her finger. But they only made this design by order, so he was promised to get the ring in a week. Baekhyun wasn’t in rush, so he agreed immediately.

“This is perfect. Please wrap this for me.”

The man felt his heart thundered in excitement. He didn’t prepare any extravagant event for this, but Baekhyun really couldn’t wait to finally make her his.

Hyera quietly took a seat next to her brother who was sitting on the couch beside the windows. She was currently staying in Sehun and Kyungsoo’s apartment for a day before moving to the ward in the Kim’s hospital. The girl begged to stay a while because she missed her brother. And Sehun just couldn’t refuse although he knew it would be dangerous for her if the episode came, not when she asked him with teary eyes, saying she missed his presence and wanted him around even if it was just for a day, away from people.

“Oppa, can I just stay here? I don’t want to go back to the hospital.” Hyera said softly as she casually put her head on Sehun’s shoulder.

Sehun circled his hand around her shoulder and left a soft peck on her head. “We’re not gonna stay for long, okay? Promise me you’ll get better.”

“I’m okay as long as I don’t meet a lot of people.”

“Didn’t you say you want to go to Art College? How are you going to do it if you don’t meet a lot of people?”

Hyera pulled away from him and pouted, making the older brother chuckle at how cute she was. Sehun knew his little sister still needed more time to fully recover. Her previous doctor said that she had a great progress, but the doctor didn’t want to risk it. He had the permission to have her stay at the apartment after a long discussion and a lot of notes from the doctor.

“I know you’re doing great, Baby Chick.” Sehun gently pinched her cheek. “Just endure a little bit more, okay?”

She let out a long sigh because, well, no one knew her condition better than herself. And although she was aware that her mental condition improved a lot, she knew the ‘devil’ would still come from time to time. Those gruesome nightmares, the sudden short breath when she was reminded of something bad, also the flashing of random memories which always came unannounced. No, she didn’t want to risk herself, and she didn’t want to make her brother worried.

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?” Sehun answered softly