I leaned back a little, narrowing my eyes at the boy in front of me in search of any signs of him bluffing. It was safe to say that Baekbeom had my full attention the very moment a word ‘secret’ escaped his lips. But knowing that little rascal, it could be a simple trick he planned just to have a little fun on my expense, so I held back my excitement and gave him a dubious look instead.

“What kind of secret?” I asked, crossing my arms as I leaned on the pillows on my sofa. Baekbeom only laughed shortly, mimicking my pose with a confident look as if knowing full well I was dying inside to get a hold of any little information about his brother.

I gulped, wondering if I looked that desperate.

“A secret about Baekhyun, of course,” he announced with a sneaky smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I know plenty of them.”

My brows shot up as I tried to look indifferent, reaching out to grab my glass of water “And why do you think I would want to know any of them?”

“Come on, everytime you see him, your face is burning like a lighted torch.”

I almost choked on the water hearing Baekbeom’s unusual choice of words. Even though I should be either embarrassed that he discovered my little secret, or angry at the way he decided to break the truth to me, his comparison was just too hilarious for I’d never heard anyone saying it before. I snorted, barely holding myself from spitting the water I didn’t manage to swallow before Baekbeom dropped the bomb. I quickly covered my lips with a free hand, trying to hold the liquid inside my mouth.

“Are you okay?” He asked, hurrying to pat my back when I started coughing. Despite his question, there wasn’t even a small dose of concern in his voice as he struggled to hold back his laughter.

I quickly shoved him away when his patting became stronger than necessary, “Do you want to kill me? Give out warnings before you sputter things like this, will you?”

“Why? I didn’t say anything wrong.”

I looked up at him, still covering my mouth and suppressing the annoying coughing, and when I saw him sitting right next to me with his tongue touching the rim of his mouth and a triumphant grin, and I reached out to smacked the back of his head. I didn’t use much strength but he tipped forward, covering the place I just hit with both hands.

“Yah! What was that for?!” He whined, giving me a side glance as he massaged the aching spot and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his overreacting.

“That’s what you get for being a lying, disrespectful brat.”

He made a face before he reached for the backpack he brought with him, placing it on his knees and hugging tightly to his chest, “I wasn’t lying, though.”

His words made me scowl because I knew he wasn’t. Baekbeom saw right through me, knowing my feelings way before even I realized them. But those were supposed to stay locked inside my heart as there wasn’t any chance of Baekhyun reciprocating them anytime soon, especially with Jihyun being his nightly distraction. Judging from the current situation, there was a painful heartache awaiting me and acknowledging any of my newborn feelings to Baekhyun would bring more damage than good. I was well aware of that, knowing full well it was safer to wade through the lies and convince Baekbeom about his poor judgment than admitting to my crush on his brother. At this point, I didn’t even care if he was to believe me; it was more about convincing myself that those feelings of affection were under my full control.

“Let’s make it clear, Baekbeom. I don’t like your brother, okay?” I concluded tiredly, accustoming my body back between the pillows. I saw him open his mouth, ready with a counterargument to what I had just said and I hurried with the explanation before he could beat me to it: “I mean romantically. We are just friends from the University.”

He blinked fast, looking less than convinced, “Really?”

“Really,” I replied, wincing at his sceptical tone of voice. “We don’t even hang out outside of University, unless your brother has some business with me.”

“So you are not interested in anything that has to do with Baekhyun?” He continued, scrutinizing me as he leaned forward to have a better look at my face.

I managed a chuckle that confidently emphasized my lack of interest, “Not at all.”

Baekbeom stared at me for a long moment, as if in hopes to find if I was being honest with me and I must’ve sounded convincing because moment later he let out a sigh, getting up from the sofa.

His exaggerated expression of sorrow and disappointment made me snort under my nose as I got back on my feet as well, “Why are you looking so depressed?”

“We all thought you are Baekhyun’s girlfriend,” he said with unexpected honesty, his eyes glittering with something akin accusation and anguish. An awkward chuckle left my lips when I realized what he just said and my face lit up with an embarrassing red blush.

My hand shot up to scratch the back of my neck in awkward uneasiness, “Come on, Baekhyun has plenty of beautiful girls surrounding him. Why would I be his girlfriend?”

I couldn’t quite understand why I said it but the moment the words left my lips, Baekbeom scrunched his nose at the radiating insecurity pouring out of the sentence. I chuckled again, looking away as I tugged the lonely strand of hair behind my ear, feeling stupid to let the feelings of anxiety and my low self-esteem get the best of me.

I waited for Baekbeom to say something and break the uncomfortable silence that fell between us the moment I sputtered the ridiculous thoughts about the women Baekhyun surrounds himself with, and when he finally spoke, I breathed out in relief.

“But you are the only one knowing his secret,” he said with a newfound cheerfulness, and I looked back at him, not hiding my confusion.

“What secret?”

Baekbeom’s lips twitched in a short-lived grin before he leaned closer, cupping the side of his lips with one hand as if about to share the confidential information no one was allowed to know except us, “That he tends to strip when he’s very drunk.”

The new wave of burning embarrassment nipped on the skin of my cheeks, leaving it red and blazing. I quickly cupped the sides of my face, trying to hide the effect Baekbeom’s words had on my body but just one look at his smug expression was enough to know what poor of a job I did.

“I-I didn’t know that,” I stuttered, hoping to sound offended at the fact he even dared to think something like this would be of any of my interest but Baekbeom only laughed in delight, enjoying the awkwardness a little too much.

And before I was able to find a way to scold him, I felt a friendly tap on my shoulder. I looked up just to see Baekbeom trying his best to keep a straight face, “Well, now you know. Keep it a secret, okay?”

“Just go home already, you brat!” I pushed him in the direction of the front door and he obeyed, his body shaking in laughter as he enjoyed the effect his words had on me.

***

The hot, summer air was pouring into the kitchen through the open window, pleasantly caressing the skin of my exposed legs and arms as I sat at the table with my laptop on. It was late Saturday evening and I was browsing the internet with no care, having no other plans than procrastinating for the rest of the day. Enjoying the calmness of the evening, I played the Aerosmith’s old hits, feeling somehow nostalgic and, as if on cue, the loud knocking resonated through the apartment along with the first tacts of the “Crazy” song.

Groaning at the sudden disturbance, I got up from the chair, pulling down my shorts that rolled up too high while I was sitting, and marched to the front door. I knew it couldn’t be Sooyoung since she was out with a few of her friends from the tennis club but nothing could prepare me for the unexpected guest I found waiting on the other side of the door.

“Hi,” he greeted me when I pulled the door open and a lazy smile graced his face the moment our eyes locked.

I swallowed hard, eyeing the attractive mess of hair on his head, the dark orbs peering at me from under the long, black fringe as he stood in the corridor with his hands shoved inside the pockets of his tight jeans.

His teeth sank in the bottom lip as he gave my legs a quick glance, and I held onto the door in a sudden need of support when his stare returned back to my face, his eyes glimmering with a newfound emotion I couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“What are you doing here?” I asked lamely, having my brain scream pathetically along with Steven Tyler to the ‘crazy, crazy for you baby’ part of the chorus because Baekhyun looked mesmerizing in the grey sleeveless T-shirt with a v-neck ending deep down his chest, exposing the flawless skin.

I quickly looked away from his chest, focusing back on his face.

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