"Strange," Sooyoung chuffed, leaning against the kitchen counter with a drink in her hand. She narrowed her eyes at Baekhyun who was currently chatting happily with a few girls in the living room. Then she clicked her tongue in annoyance, as if the view frustrated her endlessly. "No matter how much I think about it, it just doesn't make sense to me. Are you sure you didn't invite him?"

I rolled my eyes at her for the ninth time today, taking a sip from my bottle with beer. "Do you think I'm dumb enough to invite him?" I said back, eyeing the devil myself. It irked me to see how Baekhyun paraded around my apartment like its owner, chatting and having fun with people I was supposed to entertain, considering it was my party to begin with. He surely knew how to take away the spotlight from others.

"You said he just came by himself?" Sooyoung asked, still sounding dumbfounded and suspicious and I cursed in my head, praying for her to finally change the topic. I already told her the truth - necessarily omitting a few details, though, such as Baekhyun using the balcony instead my front door. She didn't need to know that, did she? But it seemed that Sooyoung still wasn't happy with the answers I'd given her and her brain was working hard, processing the facts. Having a father who was a policeman surely rubbed off on her.

"He did," I admitted once again, sighing tiredly. "Remember when I told you about Jihyun? She lives upstairs and Baekhyun happened to visit her today. Unfortunately, he also heard us talking about the party. That's exactly why he came here."

"But it's Byun Baekhyun we're talking about," she threw her hands in exasperation. "He doesn't just go to any party he hears about, you know. That's why it's so strange to see him here."

"Well, thanks," I scoffed before gulping down the rest of my beer.

"Okay, that wasn't supposed to sound like this," Sooyoung quickly apologized as I whipped my mouth with the back of my hand and placed the empty bottle on the table.

"Yeah, right." I waved a lazy hand at her, trying to finish this conversation. I couldn't really tell why I was suddenly feeling so upset. Was it because of Baekhyun having more fun than me at my own party or maybe the hidden insult from my best friend hurt me more? I knew I wasn't the most interesting person on this planet but still, I could make a good party myself - if I were to enjoy having a party in the first place, of course.

"Seriously, I didn't mean to--"

"Okay, listen," I interrupted Sooyoung, giving her shoulder one reassuring squeeze, "it doesn't matter what you meant so lets have fun before this party will be over."

As on cue, some pop song blasted from the speakers, giving me a small heart attack with its loudness. Sooyoung nodded her head, agreeing to my plan and turned around to join other people already dancing in the living room but I grabbed her hand to stop her before she could make first step. I had to make sure a hell wouldn't break lose when Sooyoung wasn't near me and I couldn't stop her from talking to Baekhyun.

"Wait, there's one more thing," I explained quickly when she gave me a surprised look. "Don't approach him, okay? Don't even make eye contact with him."  

She furrowed her brows in confusion, "With who?"

"With the president of Korea," I said back, not hiding my sarcasm and Sooyoung rolled her eyes immediately. "With Baekhyun, of course. Who else would it be?"

"But why? It's not like he would want to talk to me in the first place, wouldn't he?" She asked matter-of-factly and looked over her shoulder in the direction where Baekhyun was the last time she had seen him. The moment we both fixed our eyes on him, Baekhyun looked in our direction and one corner of his lips turned up in a sly smirk as he lifted his free hand to wave at us. Sooyoung whipped her head in my direction in such a hurry I was sure it would fall off her neck and roll on the kitchen floor. ", I just looked."

I wanted to say something ironic to that but decided to close my eyes in resignation instead, massaging my temples. Then Sooyoung grabbed the fabric of my dress, pulling it down in emergency, making me look at her again just to see her terrified face. ", he's coming here. What are we going to do?"

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded, not really registering her words. Ignoring the panic literally spilling from her eyes, I looked behind her and I saw Baekhyun walking in our direction, the same smirk still playing on his lips. Then I finally understood what Sooyoung meant in the first place. "."

" indeed." She chimed and before I could drag her from the kitchen, screaming something along the lines of 'forget about ignoring him and abort the mission', Baekhyun was already standing next to us with his both arms around my and Sooyoung's shoulder, embracing us in a quite uncomfortable and definitely unnecessary imitation of a bro-hug.

"Hi ladies," he chirped, standing between us, having the two of us with our noses almost buried in his chest as we struggled to stand straight and in a save distance from him. "What a great party. Congrats. Now, if you excuse me," he looked at shocked and speechless Sooyoung, letting go of her as smoothly as he'd wrapped his arm around her before, "I need the host of the party for a minute."

"F-for what?" I stuttered as Baekhyun placed his both hands on my shoulders and pushed me to walk in front of him.

I felt him leaning closer before his warm breath mussed my neck, making me shiver immediately. I closed my eyes, praying he didn't feel anything, "There's someone you should meet."

"Oh no...Not.Gonna.Happen." As soon as I understood who he had in mind, I tried to use my heals as nails, stopping me in place but Baekhyun just effortlessly pushed me forward. I knew he wasn't going to give up on his plan and would drag me to Joonmyun even if he had to use force. But I wasn't ready to face my crush. Not yet. So I swiftly turned around in protest and Baekhyun, suddenly loosing the hold of my shoulders, stumbled forward, almost crashing onto me as I reached to hold him in place, placing my hands on his chest. A sigh of surprise left my lips as I realized his face was just a few centimetres away from my own. Reflexively, he grabbed my arms to protect himself from falling and we both crashed onto the door to the living room, missing th