"So?" Sooyoung asked with brows raised in curiosity, bringing up the cup with hot tea to her lips as she sat down at my kitchen table. "What's the thing you want to talk about?"

I took a seat across from her, taking my own hot cup in hands, "Well, first of all, I wanted to apologize for lying to you the other time. I was-"

"No, no," she interrupted me, holding up her hand to stop whatever more I was about to say. "To be honest, I gave it a lot of thinking and I have to say that I blew up the problem out of proportions. You have a very right to have your own secrets and I, as a true friend, should have understood it."

A big grin I couldn't hold anymore spread across my face as I watched her apologize. We both screwed up in some way, but I knew the blame was tipping more on my side of the scale, yet it was Sooyoung who kept blaming herself for everything that had gone wrong that horrible day. It was beyond me how I could've found such amazing friend despite my problematic and unwelcoming personality.

"You're the best," I gave her a thumb up, smiling widely, and she winked adorably.

"You bet. There isn't a person better than me." She laughed. "And I'm definitely not going to lose to Baekhyun."

I would've choked if I were drinking my tea at that moment because her sudden declaration took me by surprise.

"Is there a competition I know nothing about?" I asked, amazed how her cheerful grin melted into a sly smirk within a blink of an eye. She seemed to sense something already, it seemed.

Sooyoung put her elbow on the table top and placed her chin on open palm, giving me a look demanding answers. "Dunno, you tell me."

"About what?" I chirped dumbly, not sure how to break the news to her. Then I winced inwardly at the stupidly cute tone of my voice, which only caused Sooyoung to laugh out loud.

"It's his car I saw outside?" She asked bluntly, seeking satisfaction from the small heart attack I was having after hearing her question. Dammit, I totally forgot about the car.

Not sure how to respond to that, I only nodded, feeling somehow ashamed of letting a guy sleep at my house under my parents' absence. But Sooyoung seemed to think otherwise. She brought her hands up to cover the joyful scream that was about to leave and wake up half of the neighbourhood. Her eyes went comically wide, causing me to snort under my nose. Then she leaned forward, as if to whisper in conspiracy.

"Where is he now?"

"In the guest room," I whispered back and almost laughed at our nonsensicality.

Sooyoung opened to say something but her words got stuck in soon after she noticed something behind me. I saw her staring at it for a long moment before her gaze landed back on me, eyes awashed now with surprise and something akin to fascination. She quickly closed , holding back a smile to spread on her lips as she leaned in her chair with arms folded across her chest, and I knew right away she was challenging me to turn around. At this very moment, remembering how I looked with my uncombed hair and pajamas still on, I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

Hearing Baekhyun awkwardly clear his throat, I knew I wasn't the only one.

"Umm, hi." He finally greeted, still standing somewhere behind my back and I forced myself to turn around and look at him, which I quickly regretted when our eyes met and the memories from yesterday's night came rushing back to me.

He was back in his own clothes and the only thing out of the norm was his messy black hair, falling on his forehead and almost covering his eyes. There was an embarrassing faint smile tipping up the corners of his mouth as he tried to adjust to the new company, and my poor heart rumbled in my chest at the uncommon view like a horde of frightened wild horses.

Before Sooyoung would have a chance to pick on my own embarrassment, I stood up from the table and hastily grabbed the kettle, "Take a seat. Would you like a tea?"

"Umm, sure..." he muttered, taking a few long steps to the main table. I saw how much fun Sooyoung had from watching our interactions and I wanted to strangle her for wiggling her eyebrows at me whenever Baekhyun didn't look. It was making this whole predicament even more stressful.

As I placed a still empty cup in front of Baekhyun and waited for the water to boil, Sooyoung leaned forward and the wide smile made its way back to her lips again as she looked him right in the eye with unhiden interest. "So Baekhyun, how was your night?"

The need to strangle her to death became even stronger now.

For a moment I thought he would shy away, because that's exactly what I wanted to do, even though we basically chatted the entire time and didn't do anything inappropriate. But I forgot it was still Byun Baekhyun we were talking about and his reputation didn't grow out of nothing. He could handle many situations much better than me and I shouldn't have been worried about him even for a second. And Sooyoung? She shouldn't have play with him like she could play with me.

The second I saw one corner of his lips curl up in a quick smirk, I knew he was going to hit her with the same ammunition she was aiming at him.

When he looked right at her, I knew Sooyoung was going to learn that Baekhyun was from a different league and wouldn't back off easily. Seeing her getting startled when he looked her straight in the eye at such close proximity between them, I couldn't help but smile under my nose.

Still with that small smirk wandering on his lips, he motioned with his finger for her to lean forward, "Come closer and I will tell you how amazing it was."

"On the other hand, I'm not really interested." She