Before You Know It | BAEKHYUN

01

Baekhyun dropped the sheet of paper in shock.

"What did I just..." His voice trailed off, his thoughts in disarray.

Today was supposed to be another dull, boring day. For an entire month he has gotten used to tedious days, and it never occurred to him that he would find something as unexpected as that letter in his friend's room, then again, everything was unexpected when it came to Nam Hyora.

He blinked back tears as countless of thoughts swarmed into his mind, each memory fitting into place like a piece of an unfinished puzzle⁠—Hyora helping him for his promposal for Kim Taeyeon and not looking too excited for it, Hyora being handcuffed to him and blushing like her crush just caught her staring, Hyora staring dumbstruck at the blue flower he gave her for Valentine's day, and everything else he turned a blind eye on.

It didn't make sense, but somehow it did.

She clearly didn't want him to, but now he knew more than he should.

He jumped when he heard a voice from outside. In a panic, he clumsily wedged the letter back into the side of the drawer and pushed it shut, the art materials noisily clattering inside.

"Come on, Byul!" he told the white puppy as they scurried to the door.

Sneaking a peek into the living room, he let out a sigh of relief to find that the boys were still busy discussing while Kang Hanna was nowhere to be seen. Then he stealthily slipped into one of the couches.

Jongdae turned his head and flinched at the sight of Baekhyun.

"Dude! I didn't notice you there!" he said, clutching his heart.

"What do you mean? I've been here the whole time," Baekhyun replied nonchalantly.

"Whatever. Want some cupcakes?"

While munching on Hanna's homemade red velvet cupcake, his mind couldn't help but stray back to Hyora's letter.

Little do you know... she said.

But why didn't he know? Even if she did make an effort to keep everything a secret, how did he not suspect a thing at all? Was he that dense? Or maybe he just wasn't paying attention?

"More cupcakes!"

He snapped back to reality when Hanna arrived holding yet another tray of baked goods. Immediately everyone grabbed a cupcake or two.

"I forgot to tell you guys something," she said as she sat beside Jongdae.

"More cupcakes?" Jongin guessed.

"No. It's better than cupcakes."

"What could be better than cupcakes?"

"Oh, I know!" Sehun raised his hand. "Those chocolate chip cookies you made on Luhan hyung's graduation party?"

Hanna heaved a hopeless sigh. "No, Sehun."

"Well, what is it?"

"Are you guys ready to hear it?"

"Just spit it out, woman!"

She looked at each of their faces with an uncontrollable grin on her face while they waited with bated breaths. At last, she said, "Hyora's coming back!"

Baekhyun choked on his red velvet cupcake. Everyone stopped celebrating to stare at him.

Jongdae laughed at him first before handing him a glass of water. "The fuck's wrong with you, man?"

"He's just excited because Hyora's coming back," Jongin said with a teasing smile.

"Hanna, did Hyora say that Luhan hyung's coming back too?" Sehun asked hopefully.