lights off | baekyeon

chapter five

19:03

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It was one of those days where Taeyeon wanted to just sprawl on her bed and hibernate for years. 

Waking up with a sore throat, she had already suspected that she was down with a cold. Still, the undeterred girl insisted on simply spamming plain water and taking short naps in between practices. What she attained at the end of the day were, unsurprisingly, an aching and feverish body that annoyed her to no end. 

Taeyeon wasn't one to get sick easily, and so when she did fall sick, everything usually came crashing down hard. Although she had miraculously survived the entire day, feeling as though she had been running on the treadmill for days without stopping, the petite girl literally saw stars by the end of the day. 

Making a mental note to purchase medicine on her way home, Taeyeon grabbed her water bottle and made her way to the nearest pantry in the SM building. She was going to do one last recording before calling it a day, or perhaps days since she could foresee herself being bedridden for the rest of the week. 

She was already as dizzy as she could get, and standing up way too fast just made it worse. Yet, she was already halfway to the door and it made more sense to her that she should just walk on. Thus, with slightly unstable footsteps, she blinked hard to get rid of the vertigo that overwhelmed her in waves, and treaded the polished floorboards along the corridor. 

Breathe, Taeyeon. Breathe.

Turning the corner and into the pantry, Taeyeon made a beeline for the water dispenser and aligned her bottle right under the blue button. Her parched throat was already screaming for the icy cold liquid to cool the itching burn. 

Gaze trained on the streaming water, she didn't pay any attention to the figure not far away from her. He (?) was busy stirring a cup of coffee and the aroma had drifted over to her, causing her to feel slightly nauseous. Any strong smell, at this point in time, wreaked havoc in her already chaotic mind and caused the world to spin twice as much. Made her head hurt, for no apparent reason.

Taeyeon hated being sick.

As if on cue, a sneeze made its way steadily up. She squeezed her eyes tight, scrunched her nose, and sneezed several times in a go. The dull pain drilling into the side of her head worsened and she screwed the cap on tightly as soon as the bottle was filled to the brim. Tears filled her vision due to the continuous sneezing, and the dizzy girl nearly banged into the cabinet, but swayed unsteadily away from it at the last second, only to trip over her own feet.

"Careful!"

A hand grabbed at her arm, jerking her up at the last moment. The shock caused her thoughts to become crystal clear, and she wasn't sure if that was something to be thankful about because the guy standing before her was Byun Baekhyun. Similar to Taeyeon, he was already in comfortable clothes, most probably about to head home.

She was, to be honest, at a loss for words. Any other day and she would merely nod a thanks before walking away. But this time, with sluggish limbs and a befuddled mind, all Taeyeon could do was stand rooted to the ground. It didn't help that his very familiar oak musk scent was embracing her, and strangely, it was a welcoming smell that her brain clearly had not rejected.  

It was also one of the rare moments where he looked into her eyes, or even looked in her direction per say. Ever since the incident in the cinema, Baekhyun had been avoiding her day and night, to the point where she felt tired of hoping. That probably factored in her falling sick as well.