+ thirty three

The couple of days that he asked for suddenly turned into two weeks. In those two weeks, the two met up in secret whenever he was actually in Seoul. Most of his days were spent in Japan with the group, performing in the best venues for their tour. He had returned just a few days prior and spent as much time as he could with Narda. Each time he would return late at night from practices, he'd sneak out of the building and meet her in an empty parking lot in his car. They'd meet at the movies at midnight, with him clad in black from head to toe, concealing his face under a cap, sunglasses, and a mask. They paid for movie tickets and ended up talking through the whole thing or making out. Narda had strategically picked movies that weren't popular anymore, so that they'd have the whole room to themselves.

In the mornings at work, Narda was always run down and tired now, with dark bags under her eyes. But there was always a smile on her face and she often sighed, daydreaming about seeing her Byun again. She wanted everyone to know that they liked each other, and that they wouldn't let anyone separate them anymore.

But as the days became weeks, Narda started losing hope.

They were sat in a lonely movie theater in the middle of the night. On the screen The Book of Life was playing, which Narda had specifically picked since it was late November and it was the month of the dead in Mexico. It had been dubbed in Korean, instead of subbed, and she couldn't understand anything they were saying. But she was half paying attention to the movie, and half getting distracted by her lover's lips trailing slow kisses up and down her neck.

"Pay attention to me, Guti." Baekhyun whined, moving the arm rest in between them out of the way to close the small gap. He had been away for ten days and had just gotten back that afternoon. He needed her company, and her attention. 

But something was wrong. She hadn't smiled at him all night, even though she had been excited and cheerful the night before when he hid from Chanyeol and the managers in a broom closet to video chat with her. He noticed her mood was changed when he picked her up at the subway station for their date. But he thought it would pass as soon as they could spend some time together. He thought it was just the fact that she missed him, like he missed her, that had her so down in the dumps. That was all he needed to feel better, seeing her. No matter how tired from practices and performing that he was, even the mere sight of her made him feel like it was worth it.

"Byunnie," She sighed and turned in her seat to face him. Her face was illuminated in the dimly lit room by the figures on the screen. She was biting down on her lip, trying not to ruin the moment, but her feelings came spilling out of her mouth before she would stop them. It was inevitable. "Have you told anyone about us? You said you would talk to your managers in a few days, its been weeks--"

"I've tried." He told her with sincerity.

And he was being completely honest. He had stopped spending time with Taeyeon like he had been forced to. He stopped answering her calls and texts. He hid from her in the dorms, which was a feat in itself since they lived in the same building. Every time he seemed to bring up his relationship status with the managers, they'd shoo him off, yelling that there was no time for that. They'd shove him into more practices, and threw more activities at him to prevent him from even remembering what he wanted to say. It was almost as though they knew he was reaching his limit and wanted to break things off with Taeyeon.

"I want to have patience." She admitted to him. "But its starting to feel like in those soap operas I watch so much. Where the rich and famous guy uses the innocent dorky girl. I don't want to be your booty call."

"You're not." He quickly assured her, pressing his lips to hers desperately. "Its just with the concerts and the extra practices, and the interviews...they won't listen to me."

"Tomorrow is Chanyeol's birthday, and he wants me to be his date to the party you guys are throwing him. I told him I would think about it." Narda informed him as she shot him a side glance to see his reaction, deciding to change the subject. She would trust him for the moment, but she wasn't sure how much more she would be able to take. 

Ever since her secret relationship with Baekhyun happened, she had lost some contact with Chanyeol, who had been a good friend to her. He didn't know about them, but something in the back of his mind suspected that there was something between them.He had noticed the way Baekhyun was suddenly getting mysterious text messages that made him smile wide. He noticed the way his room mate always snuck out in the middle of the night when he thought the others were asleep.

His eyesbrows furrowed in annoyance. "You can't go with him. You're mine."

"You're going with Taeyeon, aren't you?" Narda accused.

Baekhyun leaned back in his seat and threw his head back, from his lips erupted a groan. "You're just looking to fight with me, aren't you? Why are we arguing when we could be having a good time together? We like each other. I just haven't been able to end things with Taeyeon because SM won't let me."

"By the end of the year, Byun." She gave him an ultimatum. They were at the end of November, which gave him a little over a month to get his promise done. It was a fake relationship with Taeyeon--a forced one that had no meaning or value to him. But she still didn't want to be the one he was sneaking around with, behind Taeyeon's back. "If you don't do this by the end of the year, its over. Whatever this is...will be over. My year teaching abroad will be over by then, and I want to know if I should renew my contract or not."

Snatching the tub of popcorn from his hands, she leaned back into her seat and watched the rest of the movie.

-

All day while the boys were getting their schedules done, the girlfriends of the EXO members had been recruited to set up for the party that night. Narda had volunteered to help with them, since she had asked for the day off and her boss had agreed, commenting that she needed plenty of rest because she's been looking extremely tired lately. 

Narda, Florencia, Nari, and Acacia did most of the work. SM Entertainment was thrilled with Acacia and Jongin being seen togehter.  They were happy with the idea of another one of their members dating a famous super model, especially one from a foreign country, which could help them expand their fame. Taeyeon had arrived to help for an hour, out of obligation rather than her desire to help. In the eyes of the world she was Baekhyun's girlfriend, and she wanted the fans to like her more. But as it happened, most fans didn't like them together. As opposed to Sehun's relationship with Florencia, people didn't like Baekhyun and Taeyeon together. Instead of helping to set things up for the party, Taeyeon was plopped on the couch replying to texts on her phone, barking orders at everyone. Telling others what to do and where to put things.

When she left everyone was relieved. Sarang and Mae helped out for a short while as well, since they had their own schedules to tend to that day. But they promised they would be there later to celebrate with Chanyeol and everyone.

Florencia and Narda were putting up banners in their lounge room while Nari had gone out to pick up a birthday cake the boys ordered for him. Acacia had gone into town for a boba tea fix. Sehun had gotten Florencia's younger sister addicted to the drink. Florencia was surprised that her boyfriend and her sister got along so well, since Sehun was always cold towards her when they were alone. But she'd always remembered that had been her own fault. Still, she thought he would have gotten over it by now.

Narda's wrist was still wrapped in a cast, and Florencia had insisted to put up the banners on her own, since Narda really couldn't do much. But when Narda insisted on helping, they let her help.

"You look really happy lately." Florencia commented as she observed her friend with suspicion. She was happy for her, of course. But pieces were coming together and she was close to figuring out what Narda was hiding. "Jongin has told Acacia that Baekhyun's been happier lately too. He thought it was because of Taeyeon, but he hasn't seen them together in a while." Since her relationship with Sehun had been announced, another relationship surfaced for the media. Taeyeon was trying too hard to be friends with Florencia, and SM supported it.

The media immediately started calling them SM Queens, and pictures were all over the internet. Kkoch and Taeyeon, the best of friends. The goal was to get the fans who accepted Florencia, to accept Taeyeon's relationship with Baekhyun.

"I'm just happy that I'll get to see my family again, with the holidays coming up. I haven't seen them in person ever since I caught a plane to Korea last winter." Narda said, not entirely lying. While her friends wanted her to return to Los Angeles with them, they supported her idea to possibly stay in Korea another year. But in case she were to stay another year, they wanted her to visit them. Narda thought about when she would return home, but it would have to be before the new semester started at the primary school.

Florencia and the others knew about it, Narda's possible returning home. They didn't want to pressure her, but many of them did let her know that she would be missed in her absence.

Florencia seemed satisfied with that answer, and immediately changed the subject. The expression on her face gave her away as she asked. "So, Sehun said that Chanyeol wants you to be his date for the party." She wiggled her eyebrows at Narda while the grin on her face seemed to get bigger.

Since arriving in Korea, Florencia had been all caught up on all the major scandals within EXO. She had been very interested as Narda and Nari told her all about it. To her, it was all just as dramatic as the dramas she watched back home. She had been told about Yifan and Lu Han, the two members that had left the group. They told her about Yena, who pretended to be her brother Tao for a year when he became injured at a variety show. She was told about Mae and Yixing, how they had dated in secret for over a year because of EXO's beef with Baby Lips. She was told about how Sarang and Junmyeon dated in secret too, but bravely announced their relationship to the world.

She was all caught up in no time. The only two stories that she hadn't heard yet were Nari and Kyungsoo--she didn't know what the deal with them was since no one ever talked about whether they were in a relationship or not--and the triangle between Narda, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol. Florencia had to put the pieces together on her own for that. And as an expert drama watcher, she had mostly figured out what was going on.

Narda gave a nod of her head. "Yeah. He asked me last week."

"Will you be his date?" Florencia wondered with an encouraging smile. She soon added with a gasp. "Oh my gosh, what if he asks you out tonight? You can't say no. Its the guys birthday. You'd crush him."

Narda bit down on her lip. 

"Well I can't say yes." Narda reasoned. "I don't want him to think we have a chance. He's my friend."

"Still waiting on Baekhyun?" Florencia guessed.

Narda said nothing, but the decision had been made. Baekhyun had an ultimatum. And in any case that he were to decide he didn't want her, Narda thought that didn't have to mean she had to lead Chanyeol on. Those were two different things that didn't have to overlap.

-

the countdown to the end of this story will start now, since there are about seven or eight updates left before this story ends. its been a good about eight months writing this. the characters in this universe became like my children. i tell you guys. i ship narda and baek so hard now that, i even ship them in real life.

like--if for some crazy reason--mariana van rankin (face claim for narda) ever met baekhyun, and they fell in love, i wouldn't mind. i would be their most loyal supporter.

even though in real life mariana is three years older than baek, whereas in the story they were born in the same year. but i ship them. baekrankin for the win guys. lets ship this relationship. haha.

anyway, thank you for reading!

-clary