Wonder

Eunbi started shouting angryly at Baekhyun at the few seconds he’s in the house, besides if he’s as dumb as Sehun, shouting never works anyway. “Maybe because you don’t need an invitation.” She — hopes that she —  deadpans. “That actually just proofs how much this apartment is yours too.”

“I’m surprised though,” He starts, his eyes running miles on Eunbi’s face because he can never set them on one particular spot for more than a split-second at a time “How is it that I don’t have a bad reputation with you? Most people start picturing me as a bad influence at first, then wonder what the hell is going on inside my head and then go through the stage of decision on whether to hate me or simply label me as a crazy fuck. Although I don’t mind with that last one because it’s true; I wonder how much of a devil’s advocate Sehunnie has been that I’m not frowned upon” A smile then - another one of the many he has flashed today “Thank you for that.”

Baekhyun wonders how much of that is damage control and how much is genuine concern - although really, she just met him, she doesn’t need to hold any concern for him (and the little devil on his shoulder secretly wishes she didn’t; somehow he knows it would probably be easier in the long run that she was not nice and understanding). “Oh but I do, my dear --” There is a small pause in his words, not that any regret washes over him upon the affectionate term of endearment, but his words need to be chosen albeit not too carefully (he has no time or patience for that. “I need all the invitations in the world, a little note with my name on and a ‘we politely invite you to our humble maison’” he adds, in his best french accent “I need the whole show, full-blown red carpet even, if it’s an available option. Forgetfulness isn’t a good excuse, I’m a little high maintenance as a friend I’m afraid.” especially not after six years of knowing the guy; he wants to think that he is smarter than that, that maybe uncertainty did it, that the stupid habit of always being sure about everything before taking the next step is what has kept the news from reaching Baekhyun’s ears sooner. But he needs the drama queen act, he needs to be the selfish kid, the spoiled brat who should be the centre of the universe even when he is not. He’s so much better at pretending to be insufferable and the overall bad guy that he can only dream of being.

He takes mental notes here and there, in between the distraction that he is holding and that has her so worried and that so promptly urges the threat upon him. How is it possible for someone to smile as their life is being threatened and his physical integrity depends on whether or not the older (he assumes he is older anyway) holds the chinchilla safely, making sure it stays that way.

( Even if she thinks like that, Sehun has still a long way to meet her sister. )

The younger girl closes the door as soon as Baekhyun ( she thinks with little smugness that she’s got it right ) enters the small apartment and if she were a little more self conscious, she’d be glad that she has the habit of keeping everything clean and in order because of the pet parlor because it should be embarassing enough that Baekhyun caught her wearing only Sehun’s shirt and shorts that don’t show because of the length of the piece of fabric that doesn’t belong to her. She hums in acknowledgement, but doesn’t comment on it because she doesn’t really have anything to say. “Well, you’re sort of famous.” She shrugs instead even if he didn’t ask her how she knew her name. “I’m Eunbi, Sehun’s roommate obviously.” She introduces herself and Eunbi is more grateful that Baekhyun doesn’t offer a hand to shake or even hugs her after he introduces himself than she’d ever admit ( and she also has to shift on her feet for a moment because Baekhyun is doing the the cute thing and she has to hold herself back to not coo at him.

“You and him are best friends, right?” She asks, her eyes narrowing for for a moment while frowning and not because she has caught him in a lie ( truth be told, she has barely noticed how Baekhyun just introduced himself as just a friend ) but because she’s studying him for a moment, he doesn’t seem to fit what Sehun told her but maybe it’s because their difference of intimacy. She also probably sounds rude, nearly interrupting Baekhyun with his polite speech of making sure that Eunbi doesn’t feel obligated to actually be a good host ( which again she’s very grateful for and she thinks for a moment that maybe that cohabitation thing won’t be so hard ). “I guess this is sort of your apartment too so you can stop now with the guest politeness bullshit.” Which, in another words, Eunbi is telling him to make himself at home. “I don’t know to be honest, but I think he’ll be done soon so you can wait here.” She leans again on the door, crossing her arms again.

Maybe Baekhyun is not the absolute best at adapting quickly to changes and situations he didn’t imagine himself in in the first place. That makes him naive, he thinks, which is why he mentally scolds himself just this once. The large shirt she is wearing doesn’t go by unnoticed. If anything, that was the second thing he noticed, right after the fact that it was covering a completely different body. She is not Sehun, most definitely not, but she is comfortable with him, that Baekhyun is sure of. It’s nice, actually, the fact that his friend found another human being to share his words with. If there is one thing he knows about his friend is that he rarely picks people to surround himself, less to live with and share a roof. There are all kinds of bells ringing in his head and he wants to stop them for he has no right to assume anything. That’s the part where he hates the fact that he is so damn intelligent and perceptive.

He smiles a her instead of mumbling a ‘nice to meet you, Eunbi’. Her name is engraved in his memory along with her blunt demeanor. He wouldn’t say he is being overly polite, he is simply testing the waters with her. “Am I really famous?” He says while tilting his head, offering the girl a sheepish expression. He is not even trying to be cute but he has a feeling that he is failing epically. “I hope he didn’t badmouth me too much.” He concludes, although he doesn’t care much about his reputation. The boy catches, however, the added adjective to the title the older has attached to himself. “Yup, I’m his bestie,” He adds before walking closer to her the moment he spots the furry pet she holds “I’ve known him forever and a day. Dark stories, embarrassing moments, you name it, I have a PHD in Sehunology if you ever have questions I’ll gladly satisfy your curiosity. But really saying that the apartment is mine too would be a stretch. I wasn’t even formally invited actually, I just came over. Nor did I know you guys were sharing the apartment, Sehunnie has been awfully forgetful to allow me to keep up with his life lately.“”

She has a vague memory of the lady he’s talking about, she’s very nice as far as Eunbi can remember, giving them cookies or a cake as an welcoming to the building even if she and Sehun were a little too apathetic about the whole thing and probably made the poor lady uncomfortable, but well, she wasn’t even their floor neighbor so it isn’t like they see each other everyday anyway, they barely meet each other in the elevator to be honest and if not for the small kind gesture, Eunbi wouldn’t even remember her or bother with something like that. It’s even a little amusing the whole situation and she’s a little surprised that Sehun has never mention that he has a roommate, or maybe they aren’t close like that ( or even maybe he has forgotten, everything is possible with Oh Sehun after all ). “I do.” She answers. “I know where the apartment is.” She clarifies, finally uncrossing her arms and leaning away from the doorway, her hand still on the door since she doesn’t know if she’ll have to close it or maybe he would like to come inside and that’s when something clicks on her mind. Eunbi frowns again, looking the boy up and down and she wonders, but then Sehun should’ve probably said something to the person who is supposed to be his best friend.

He looks inside for a split-second, after she leans away from the doorway and then again when she steps aside. She is virtually a stranger to him although she knows his name but Baekhyun feels completely ignorant in this situation, not knowing how to address her. She has a name that is not on the tip of his tongue, a petite frame and a fierce look in her eyes that shift from soft to overbearing to soft again within seconds. He wonders if he looks as stupid as he feels at the moment, at a loss for words that would impress the limp kid he has been looking for.

“Oh. I thought he’d be done early today.” The move is obviously done for and Baekhyun seems to be a couple days late to help on that. Then again, he remembers asking if he needed help with it and being told that there was so little to move anyway that he wouldn’t need more than a couple of arms to do so. Guess he did have that pair of extra arms to help after all. “And yeah, it’s Baekhyun, sorry, uh, Byun Baekhyun, Sehun’s friend, nice to meet you.” And he he has no idea why he cuts the words, leaving best out of friend, but he does it this time. “I’m sorry for not knowing your name though-- you’ll have to trouble yourself with the introduction.” He says, lips stretching into a small smile of pressed lips and slight crinkle of eyes before he steps inside slowly, carefully, as if he is intruding.

It’s okay to squint at the washed away address, he can still remember most of it anyway, but the numbers got him confused. He walks there, paper in hand - held high, in hopes that maybe the sun can help him decipher what looks like ancient lettering. Secretly, he is just hoping the building isn’t a tall one, the kind that is brand new and almost guaranteed to have over eight floors or something. His hopes end up crushed - of course. 

He looks at all the floors and all the buttons he can press on just to have someone else not being Sehun and then he’ll have to apologize all over again. Baekhyun doesn’t think he has the patience for that. But then he looks at a lady going inside, arms busy with grocery bags that she can’t possibly balance on her own. It’s his turn to play the good samaritan, he thinks.  Surely, he helps her out, gets all the compliments in the world, is praised for his willingness to help and offered a glass of water when she sees him sweating. He just went up five floors with bags that felt like they were about to make his arms fall off. So he takes in the generosity and goes along with it, taking the opportunity to ask about new neighbors - a possibly tall one, slim ‘the bony kind’, he says, ‘blonde hair?’ he is so proud of that trait actually, having taken a part in it; and it’s like a light bulb goes off in her head and she nods, points down and mentions the floor and door number. They moved the other day. And he lingers on the words but for only a second before deeming them as a grammatical mistake.

So there he is, grinning at the doorstep after knocking once. And then twice. He frowns a little, wondering if the other male is still supposed to be working and he came only to hit with his nose on the door. Except the door unlocks and Baekhyun moves quickly from where he is with his ear glued to the moving metal but his smile is kind of lopsided and his head tilts to the side like a confused puppy. “Uh.. --” Brilliant display of wording, he adds inside his head as he looks at the unfamiliar girl and wonders if the lady from the floor above got confused before. “You’re not Sehun.” He says, again, so intelligently. At least it’s an obvious remark. Stupid, but still. “I mean, sorry, I’m looking for an apartment in this building, uh.. my friend just moved in recently and I got the address on this shitty piece of paper which I forgot to take out from my jeans, which -- were put in the washer. So, I can’t read it and the lady from the fifth floor said it was this apartment but she is clearly mistaken, but I was wondering if you knew which one it it?” And then he breathes. Finally.