It was late. We had been watching tv for half of the evening and I was tired. My head had fallen on Baekhyun’s shoulder some time ago. He’d put his arm around my waist to make it more comfortable, chuckling lowly when he heard my happy sigh.

Xiumin sneaked glances at us now and then, smiling to himself, while D.O. seemed more annoyed than anything. I suspected it had something to do with what he said to us earlier, but I hadn’t understood what his problem was. I had long since lost interest in the reality show the others were watching. It had been silly from the start and now I was too groggy to pay much attention to it.

“They are so cute,” Lay’s quiet voice reached my ears, followed by Xiumin’s snort. Baekhyun’s chest close to my ear rumbled when he groaned at them. Despite not opening my eyes, I could imagine the pissed-off look that had appeared on his face. His blue eyes had to be burning in annoyance.

“Shut up, Lay!”

“Just stating the truth,” the other man countered sassily. Light flashed through the room, followed by a pained yelp from Lay. “Ouch!”

“Baekhyun, you meanie,” I mumbled, hitting his chest with my hand. I didn’t put any force behind it because I was too tired to do anything right now.

“He had it coming.”

“Shouldn’t you go to bed when you’re this tired, Hyorin?” Xiumin asked amusedly, no doubt looking at my half-asleep form on Baekhyun’s chest.

“No, it’s comfortable here,” I breathed, not bothering to open my eyes. I heard Baekhyun laugh, felt his hand on my hair.

“Can you not be all over each other, please? I’m trying to watch tv here,” D.O. piped in.

“I do whatever I want,” Baekhyun retorted mockingly, getting on D.O.’s nerves with his cocky attitude. “You’re just jealous because you can’t have her.”

“And you’re delusional.”

Xiumin’s and Lay’s laughter reached my ears, making me sigh in annoyance. It was kind of hard to sleep when they were so loud. “We’re leaving,” Baekhyun suddenly stated and before I could react in any way, he’d lifted me up in his arms. As we left the room, I heard D.O. mutter an exasperated, “Finally.” I opened my eyes, looking up at Baekhyun’s face. His braid was hanging over his shoulder right in front of me and I took it, playing with the white strands.

“What are you doing?” he asked, lips twitching in amusement.

“I could ask you the same.”

“They were annoying me, and besides, it’s not like you can sleep with their loud conversation in the background,” he explained, walking to his room where he set me down on the bed.

“Can I stay?” I asked, watching him.

“Why do you think you are here?” he smirked, throwing a pillow at me. I rolled my eyes at him, slipping under the blanket. I had gotten so used to sleeping next to him that it was strange to imagine staying in my room. We were acting an awful lot like a couple lately. Things between us were a little different now. The question was, what had changed?

I pondered over it for a moment. The turning point had been when he had regained his freedom and left the mansion with me. He could finally be himself again and do whatever he wanted to do. Though I had known him for a while now, I sometimes still struggled to understand what was going on in his head. Baekhyun was difficult to read and his actions were often full of contradictions. He could be irritable and violent, other times teasing and even caring.

He lay down next to me and I my side to watch him, gaze darting to his white, slightly tousled hair splayed on the pillow. Long lashes framed his piercing blue eyes. Beneath them, a jagged line marked the pale skin of his face, running over his cheekbones and nose. The wound itself had healed already, but it looked like the scar would stay for the rest of his life. A constant reminder of what had happened.

“There is something I wanted to ask you for a while,” he said. The teasing glint had vanished from his eyes. He looked serious now, observing me calmly. “Why are you scared of the dark?”

My lips parted in surprise at the sudden question, since this wasn’t something I had seen coming. I drew in a sharp breath, his eyes narrowing as he took in my reaction. “Did something happen to you?”

“You… you could say that,” I mumbled, my thoughts going back to a certain summer day six years ago. I felt like I should him about it. It wouldn’t be pleasant for me, but I wanted him to know.

“When I was sixteen years old, my parents and I went on a summer vacation. We spent the first day in a historical museum because my mum was interested in seeing it. The building was quite old; they had already built a newer one and were about to relocate the museum. On the day we visited, the city got hit by an earthquake, a strong one. It started when we were already in the museum. We didn’t have a chance to run outside since the building couldn’t withstand the quakes. The walls gave in and the roof collapsed, burying everybody who was still inside. I was separated from my parents when debris fell from the ceiling and lost consciousness. Much later, I woke up, but I was trapped and surrounded by pitch-black darkness. There was no light, no sound, nothing. At first, I thought I was dead, but then I realized I had been enclosed in debris. Since it was summer, the temperature under it rose until it became unbearable. For a long time, I had to hold out in the darkness and could only hope oxygen wouldn’t run out. It was traumatizing. I called out for help, but received no answer, just silence,” I explained, my voice shaky. I curled my fingers around the blanket, reliving the terrible memory from years ago. I still recalled everything vividly, down to the last detail.

“A day passed until I was finally rescued. It had been difficult for the rescue workers to get the debris out of the way without crushing the survivors beneath it by accident. I was incredibly relieved when I finally saw light and breathed fresh air, but the happiness was short-lived. Soon, I learned my parents had died. They were already dead when they were found, nobody could have saved them. I was devastated… To this day, I haven’t been able to get over the trauma from back then. Whenever I’m alone in the dark, the memories and the panic come back.”

I sniffled, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. Baekhyun stayed silent for a while after that, watching me without commenting on what I had told him. I felt his arm wrapping around me, pulling me closer. He buried his face in my hair, sighing. “It’s understandable you’re afraid. I can imagine how scary it must have been for you.”

“I lost my parents so suddenly… One day they were there, and then gone forever. It took me a while until I could fathom it,” I whispered, leaning into his embrace. “And then I faced the next problem. I was alone, about to be sent to an orphanage, but my uncle unexpectedly stepped in and offered help. I was grateful for it, but now I don’t understand why he did it. He doesn’t care about me, why did he take me in?”

Baekhyun growled, his muscles tensing as soon as I mentioned my uncle. “Maybe he thought you would be useful to him. That’s how he is. He uses everyone around him and when someone loses their worth to him, he throws them out like trash,” he snarled. “He is a despicable .”

“Sadly, the only family member who is left had to turn out this way,” I mumbled bitterly. “I wonder how he planned to use me… There has to be more to it.”

The next morning, I woke up when the first sun rays shone through the window. We had forgotten to close the shutters last night, but I didn’t mind being woken by the sun. It promised to be a good day with gorgeous weather. As I glanced around, still half-asleep, I suddenly noticed something. Or rather, someone. Baekhyun was lying behind me on his side, hugging me to his chest so that my back touched him. His arm enclosed my stomach. I felt his lips close to my neck, hovering over my skin. His breath ghosting over my neck made me tremble and I clutched the blanket in a tight grip. Was he awake already, doing this on purpose? Or was he still asleep? I blushed, and the longer I thought about it, the more nervous I became.

“Baekhyun?” I asked but received no reaction. “Are you awake?” I tried it again. I felt how close he was to kissing my neck and it made my heart beat faster, a burning longing rising within me. It was hard to take and drove me insane. I started to shift around, lifting his arm carefully to leave his embrace without disturbing him. It took some effort but ultimately worked out. I ended up sitting on the bed for a seemingly endless moment, watching him sleep. He looked peaceful when he was like this. No anger was visible in his expression, no worried crease between his eyebrows. Right now, he was just a normal person. I sighed to myself, reaching out to touch his soft white hair, moving a few stray strands away from his brow.

I got up reluctantly, closing the door to his room behind me with a soft click. My feet carried me back to my room where my bag with my clothes and toiletries was. I wanted to take a shower before breakfast and walked to the bathroom, disappearing in it for a while. When I was done, I dried my hair and went to the kitchen. Lay was sitting at the table, looking up from his phone when he heard me come closer.

“Good morning,” I smiled and he waved at me.

“Morning, Hyorin. Did you sleep well?” he asked, a teasing smile playing with his lips. He seemed to be aware I hadn’t spent the night in my room.

“Yeah,” I replied while I readied the coffee machine, pushing a few buttons to get it running. While I was waiting for it to finish, my attention moved back to Lay.

“Lay?” He lifted his head as he heard me speak, raising an eyebrow at me when he saw the serious expression I wore. “A while ago, you said something that got me thinking and I was wondering if you could… explain some more,” I began. “You mentioned Baekhyun changed a lot since you last saw him. What exactly did you mean?”

“Come and sit down. I’ll tell you,” he said, smiling warmly at me when he gestured to a nearby chair. I  sat down across from him, putting down two cups of coffee in front of us. He thanked me briefly before he started his explanation. “Let me ask something first. How did he act when you first got to know him?”

“Well… he was closed-off, to the point where he didn’t want to reveal his name to me. It was