it had been 2 whole days since the cinema host interviews were held, and seungcheol’s nails were beyond repair as today was the day he would meet the new co-worker.

whilst some *coughjeonghancough* would reprimand him for being extremely biased and all too hopeful, he could not help but be disappointed that the new employee was tall, oozing confidence and had normal coloured hair.

jeonghan merely rolled his eyes at the pathetic excuse he unfortunately called his best friend, offering a smile for their newest co-worker.

“hello, i’m jeonghan. this is seungcheol, excuse his pitiful state, he developed a crush on another potential interviewee… well, i think it’s a crush, but it’s bordering creepy as you can see?” jeonghan averted the new employee’s eyes to an over dramatic seungcheol, who was whimpering on the floor (which was thankfully cleaned by the duo prior to the arrival of the new employee).

despite the strange behaviour displayed by one of his new employees, the boys smile didn’t falter as he bowed towards jeonghan and said, “i’m lee seokmin, please take care of me”.

—>

more often than not, wonwoo had found himself thinking of an adorable giant also known as mingyu. the latter was shy, opting to blush at any skinship that the older would initiate. wonwoo thought it was adorable how the younger destroyed stereotypes.

it had been more than 24 hours since they saw each other and wonwoo was still acting like he had never seen anyone as a man before kim mingyu, burning the breakfast in the process (leading to an even grumpier lee jihoon).

“you’re lucky i’m too tired to hit you” jihoon glared at wonwoo after picking up some foreign cereal that soonyoung had supplied them boatloads of (after hearing that jihoon had liked the mini cookie cereal, of course).

wonwoo pouted, “i’m sorry jihoonie, i promise to make it up to you!”

he received nothing but a glare in return.

—>

jeonghan thanked the heavens for the lack of seungcheol on his lunch break, laughing at the fact that the other would probably have to take his lunch break at the same time as the new employee.

as expected, his phone started vibrating in his pocket, “guess what jisoo-yah?”

after a mumbled reply of ‘mhm’, jeonghan went on to tell his boyfriend about how the new employee was the polar opposite of seungcheol’s expectations, the rude customer who refused to believe him over the price of their order and the amount of people stupidly excited over the overrated disappointment of a film that was fantastic four.

jisoo chuckled, commented and asked questions throughout the whole recount of the other’s day so far. “i’d tell you about my job but nothing’s really happened, apart from hoshi’s story about his ex’s sister’s boyfriend’s proposal this weekend… i have to admit, it did sound heartwarming!”

jeonghan’s laugh could be heard from the other side of the line, “i won’t care how you propose to me in the future, as long as you guarantee you’ll be the one i spend my whole life with, i wouldn’t mind at all.”

—>

jihoon’s interview was at 1pm and , he was late. it may or may not have anything to do with the fact that he was unmotivated because he doesn’t have the possibility of working with a certain beautiful stranger. the rational side of his brain scolded him because he needed a job to pay for his addiction to anything and everything.

a bus stop that was usually only a couple of minutes away felt like a lightyear away on that gloomy tuesday afternoon. there were two busses that stopped at that certain bus stop; one which stopped right in front of the building where his potential workplace could be, and one that stopped 10 minutes away from the stationary shop. and of course, as if the whole world was against lee jihoon, the latter bus came after a 4 minute long wait.

with 10 minutes to spare, skin covered with a light layer of sweat, “hello, i’m lee jihoon. i’m here for an interview at 1pm?”

—>

mingyu has only been in one serious relationship in his whole lifetime - a beautiful childhood friendship that turned into something more, like something out of a movie that makes millions of hearts flutter. but this story ending was often untold. 

mingyu valued the other’s friendship, being in each others lives from a very young age, there were things they could only entrust to one another (including their uality). it felt right at first, the books and the movies said so. 

mingyu was running late to meet his boyfriend and childhood best friend, running as fast as he could until he was in earshot of him and a stranger. 

“i… i know you’re with mingyu, and that you’ve literally been together forever and i’m not saying this for your discomfort or pity.” the stranger took a deep breath, looked straight at his boyfriend’s eyes and continued. “i’ve liked you ever since i’ve met you. i was new and uncomfortable and scared but you helped me find the right classroom and you smile whenever you see me and you made me feel safe.”

and with that, the stranger left with a pitiful smile, not even letting the recipient answer or comfort him. turning around with a sigh and a heavy heart, he was faced with his boyfriend whose face was far from happy (but not quite anger, either).

“i’m guessing you heard that? don’t worry about it and just trust me, ok?” mingyu felt his boyfriend offer him undeserved reassurance and couldn’t help but think, think and think over their relationship.

mingyu went for a walk to clear his head, shortly after dropping his boyfriend home.

‘i love him, i do. you… you can’t put a price to the amount of love i have for him.’ he thought to himself, ‘…but my heart. it, it… doesn’t threaten to jump out of my ribcage whenever i see him.’

now, all mingyu knew was that he had never felt more content than when he woke up next to an adorable sleeping mess of ungroomed toffee coloured hair, sweater paws and light snores. 

—>

“well, jihoon-ssi… i might have to find a stool soon!” jennie, the manager at this stationary shop smiled fondly at jihoon and offered her hand, “welcome to seventeen staples.”

and as if the day couldn’t get any better, as soon as he walked out of his new workplace, he got a notification for their group chat on line.

junovember: china line are back and are waiting patiently for everyone :3

jihoon dialled his best friends number, “won-ah, are you with china line?”

“yeah, i was their ride back from the airport! you coming?” his best friend lowered his voice before asking, “how did it go?”

jihoon chuckled, admitting to himself that his best friend was cute sometimes. “i have good news and bad news? which one do you want first?”

“oh…” jihoon could practically imagine wonwoo pouting at his question.

jihoon decided for himself that wonwoo would rather get the bad news first, “bad news is that i unfortunately cannot meet you guys right now? and good news is, i got the job.”

“I TOLD YOU YOU’D GET IT!!!” wonwoo was laughing over the phone, “but why can’t you come?? cancel your plans and save me from soonyoung who keeps threatening my life if you don’t come”

chuckling, he replied with “maybe” before ending the call.

jihoon made his way inside the cafe to meet his giant idiot of a friend. 

“you look happier than usual! is it because you’ve finally realised my model-like looks or is it because you got the job?” mingyu asked, signalling for jihoon to sit down.

after sitting down and accepting the drink that mingyu had ordered for him, he scoffed, “good looking you may be, but you’re also the biggest dork i’ve ever met so it cancels out the former part… loser”

a small soft moving thing rubbed its head and jihoon rubbed the feline’s head, secretly thankful that mingyu insisted to meet in a place he had always loved but was too shy to go to.

mingyu put a gift bag in front of jihoon, “a present for you!”

“what if i didn’t get the job?” jihoon asked before opening the gift bag to find a sunflower in a hand decorated pot.

mingyu didn’t hesitate before arguing back with, “i knew you’d get it though!”

“thank-“ jihoon was interrupted by an obnoxiously loud and annoying ringtone, no doubt belonging to the person in front of him.

mingyu blushed before answering with a “hello?”

“i’m at the cat cafe… yeah, why? urm, okay. see you later”

no sooner had mingyu ended the call did a familiar-sounding deep voice greeted the taller.

“thank-you mingyu! i knew he didn’t have any other friends outside of our circle apart from you!” wonwoo stuck his tongue out at his best friend, seemingly holding a grudge against the other for leaving him with soonyoung.

jihoon was happy to notice his best friend was on his own, until he felt two familiar hands cover his eyes.

“guess who?”

“go away soonyoung” shaking his head violently to get his sight back.

soonyoung’s smile didn’t waver as he replied with, “congratulations on your new job hoonie!”

jihoon was in a good mood, thanking soonyoung and even initiating a hug which obviously made the other happy too.

“cute.” mingyu’s comment led jihoon to stop hugging soonyoung to glare at the giant idiot.

soonyoung pouted at the sudden loss of contact, before remembering, “oh crap! yes, china line are waiting for us!”

—>

minghao and junhui had watched a film the day before their departure from their home country, and both thought the others would love it as much as they did so they didn’t hesitate in saying “6 tickets to big hero six please!” 

a long-haired employee laughed, “on purpose?”

both minghao and junhui exchanged a look of confusion before junhui realised the meaning and laughed, “ah, i wish i could’ve done that on purpose! 3 of our friends are coming and a friend’s friend, so we do genuinely need six tickets!”

the friendly employee handed them 6 tickets and asked, “would you like to order food and drinks?”

“is it okay if we wait? we don’t want to order the wrong thing for the others!” minghao answered with an apologetic smile.

“that’s perfectly fine! i’m just about to go on my break so i’ll leave you with seungcheol here. if he doesn’t take care of you, let me know! my name is jeonghan.”

the person next to jeonghan was startled out of his thoughts when he was flicked in the ear, “yah!! violence in the workplace is not allowed!”

jeonghan simply scoffed and replied with, “neither is daydreaming about strangers when you’re meant to be the working!”

“where is the new kid anyway? while you’re on your break, he can do the work while i don’t”

jeonghan’s reply was inaudible to china line as they saw soonyoung, jihoon, wonwoo and a tall stranger approach them.

jihoon smiled towards china line and said, “i’ve missed you both, the only sane ones in this friendship!”

junhui and minghao chuckled before hugging the resident violent cutie in their friendship group.

soonyoung suddenly looked angry and claimed loudly, “YAH THIS PLACE IS STUPID!”

jihoon covered soonyoung’s mouth whilst smiling at china line, forgetting that this is the place that the beautiful stranger worked at.

“but this place rejected you! how can we even enjoy a film here?! how DARE they reject you because ‘someone had more experience’?!!!! why did they even get your hopes up by asking you for an interview even if they’ve already seen on your cv that you have no previous experience?!” soonyoung was raising his voice, attracting the employee’s attention.

jeonghan walked over and calmly asked, “is everything okay, sir?”

jihoon felt embarrassed about the scene soonyoung was creating and said, “i’m sorry, i’ll take him out for a minute! we’ll be back and i promise he won’t make a scene”

meanwhile, seungcheol took his head off the counter a couple of minutes after feeling jeonghan leave, with the intention of looking for the new employee but instead, he saw someone who looked all too familiar.

the pink haired love of his life was holding hands with a good looking guy, crushing seungcheol’s hopes with every step they took out of the cinema.

—>

jihoon’s anger was slowly dying down as he said “stop being angry 10:10. i know your heart is in the right place but we’re here to welcome china line back, let’s try not to get banned from another place, yeah?”

soonyoung felt his heart flutter at jihoon’s use of the old nickname, accepting he was in the wrong and promising to behave.

as soon as they left, they returned and soonyoung apologised for his behaviour and promised to be good whilst buying snacks for everyone.

wonwoo was left to introduce mingyu to the both minghao and junhui, “this tall guy is the giant idiot jihoon always complained about!”

mingyu bowed and faced the two new people, “nice to meet you, i’m mingyu”

A/N: i'm sorry for this horrible update! i can't seem to get my ideas from my head to my laptop screen :c i wanted it to be longer and more jicheol but i couldn't fit everything in! i'm thinking of maybe deleting this story it so much i hate that i can't write properly??? idk it's 04:11am rn urGh unbeta'd too idk i'm going to sleep now 

updated A/N: thank-you for all the kind words, i'm so touched ;_; you guys gave me strength to keep on writing even if i'm still not very confident! and thank-you so so much for 80 subs???? i'm so ;_; i'm just finishing the next chapter which will be up soon! yet again, thank-you ^^