“Dongie, can you call me real quick?” he shook his phone, as if that would do anything to help.

“Uhm, as you can see, I'm kind of busy with these gigantic super heavy boxes over here.” Dongwoo panted, trying to blow a drop of sweat away from his eye. He wasn't annoyed or anything like that though, after all, it was part of his job description.

“No worries, I'll just do it myself.” he said dramatically, like Dongwoo was doing him a huge disservice of making him do stuff for himself. He was joking of course. He loved that they could joke around and be themselves. He wasn't sure he would be able to stay sane if he had to be all business, all day everyday. There were enough masks that he had to maintain and polish every single day, Dongwoo was his escape from all that. They were on the same team, fighting the waves together, a united front.

His hand dove right into Dongwoo's front pocket without hesitation, rummaging around for what it was searching for.

“Dude! Yeah, no problem, I'll just stand still right here while you frisk me. Don't mind the boxes, hope they aren't in your way or anything.” Dongwoo giggled. He was ticklish.

“Oh, would you? Thanks, that would be a great help!” Woohyun said enthusiastically as he fished Dongwoo's phone out of his pocket.

Pressing *1, for of course he was the first number on Dongwoo's speed dial, he called his phone. It started ringing the moment he pressed the button. It was as if the button was directly connected to his heart, pressing start on the blues that proceeded to color his entire world in that cold but heartlessly beautiful navy blue, the color of disappointment and abandonment. The color of loneliness.

He didn't get it. It had been 12 hours and still Sungkyu hadn't called him. He had been convinced that the problem was his phone, for why wouldn't Sungkyu call him after the awe inspiring date they had last night? It made no sense. Woohyun certainly wasn't going to call him, that was for sure. He wasn't desperate. He didn't need him. He had plenty of guys. It was Sungkyu that should be all eager to contact him to start his amazing 'dating a celebrity' experience.

Another two hours and still nothing. That was it. He couldn't wait any longer. He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

“Hey. Are you busy?” he asked softly.

He tapped his fingers impatiently on the restaurant table. What was taking so long? He checked his phone for messages. Nothing. He checked the time. Five minutes late.

“Sorry, sorry!” a lyrical voice sang behind him.

“It was my insufferable boss again, it's like he senses when I have important plans.” Eunji giggled, sitting down opposite him with an apologetic expression on her face.

“So okay, I went on this date yesterday.” he began after they had ordered.

“Oh! Oh! With Myungsoo??” Eunji squealed, interrupting him.

“No, no.. not Myungsoo... another guy.. a guy I've had my eye on for a while..” he explained frustrated. “What's the deal with you and wanting me and Myungsoo to be together, anyway?” he added since the echo of the loud squeal was still pestering his brain.

“I don't know, you guys are my two favorite actors and you'd be so cute together!!” she turned all red as the giggles took over.

“But okay, the date...?” she composed herself and showed him she was finally ready to listen.

“Yeah, ehm... so of course I was my dashing, irresistible self, and the guy seemed to be falling for it and we had a genuinely good time... but he hasn't called me or texted or anything.” he explained, his voice faltering embarrassingly at the end of the sentence, but he covered it up with a cough.

“What? There has to be an explanation. There's no way he hasn't already completely fallen for you.” Eunji nodded firmly, wrinkling her eyebrows.

“Right?! That's what I thought! But... but why hasn't he called then?” he tried his best not to sound desperate, but wasn't sure if he had been successful. He hated feeling so helpless. So insecure. He never had anything to feel insecure over, he was handsome and talented, the world was his playground.

“Hmm.. maybe something happened? Maybe he had an accident and is in the hospital? Maybe his phone broke? Maybe he accidentally erased your number, it's not like you're listed in the phonebook, you know.” she suggested, intent on solving this odd conundrum.

“Accident. Oh, no. You might be right. What if he's lying in a coma somewhere? That would explain everything.” he said, getting more worried by the second. He wondered if he should call and check on him, just in case.

“Or maybe he just slept in, it might be his day off.” Eunji added, deep in thought. It was cute how dedicated her efforts to help him were.

“You could just send him a simple text, that's the fastest way to get your mind at ease.” she suggested in earnest, sending him a supportive smile.

“Yeah... but I don't want to come off too eager. Like, it's not like I'm in love with this guy or anything.. I'm not that bothered you know... it's just... weird that he hasn't called yet.” he said nonchalantly, trying more to convince himself than Eunji. His internal lie detector went off, annoyingly pointing out that he was full of .

“You can just keep it casual. Besides, if you don't care that much, why would you care what he reads into the text?” Eunji grinned, guilty triumph decorating her lips.

“Alright..” he hesitantly pulled out his phone. “So, what should I say then?”.

“Gimme.” she stole the phone right out of his hands, and before he could make any efforts to retrieve it, she had already sent a message to Sungkyu. He couldn't believe it. His heart got stuck in his throat. She was getting a little bit too comfortable around him, he thought, as he nervously checked the outbox on his phone. There it was. A message to Sungkyu. She had really sent it. He forced himself to open it, hoping against hope that it wasn't anything too cheesy.

'Thanks for last night.'.

Thankfully, it wasn't that bad. But what an idiot. This message did nothing. Nothing, except transfer the power to Sungkyu's side. Everyone knew you had to put a question of some sorts in the mix to be sure to get a reply. She was obviously not the most clever seductress ever. He didn't feel like calling her out on it though. And since his appetite had suddenly disappeared, they cut their meeting short. She wished him luck and disappeared down the road, leaving him and his phone alone. Painfully alone.

On the way home his phone rang, giving him a mild heart attack. When it turned out to be Dongwoo, he chewed off his head for no reason, forbidding him from contacting him for the time being. He also told him to cancel his schedule for the day and went home to sulk. He wasn't used to feeling like this, his insides all in turmoil, not knowing what to do, nor what he wanted to do. He was distracted and frustrated, not able to focus on anything other than his annoyingly quiet phone. He hated the fact that he wasn't in control. He hated this unexplainable hold Sungkyu had on him, causing him to turn into some whole other person. A lesser, weaker person.

Why did he care what that random guy thought of him? He was a nobody. He wasn't even good looking. Although, as Sungkyu's eyesmile flashed before his mind's eye, he couldn't deny that he was kind of cute. He had this indiscernible charm that got under your skin without you noticing and latched on, refusing to let go. It was annoying and thrilling at the same time.

Finally, his phone beeped. Fashionably late of course. Holding his breath, his heart well on its way to punching a hole through his ribcage, he opened the message.

'Sure. It was fun. Thanks.'.

No. That was the final straw. He couldn't play this vague texting game any longer. He had a full schedule for the rest of the week and he needed his head to be in the game. No, he had to get rid of this uncertainty that was gnawing at his gut.

He took an hour getting ready, even considering calling in a cordi noona to help make him as crazily irresistible as possible. He was not going to lose this round. He was a winner. He had the upper hand here. It was Sungkyu that should be grateful, begging on his knees for another date. And after seeing him tonight, he would. He was sure of it.

Taking a deep breath to inflate his confidence, he entered the coffee shop. It was relatively quiet since it was so late in the evening. His heart did a backflip when he spotted him behind the counter. He didn't look like he had spent the day tormented over their message exchange, but then again, one could never really tell what was happening on the inside. He just looked kind of bored, and a bit tired. Maybe that was it. He was just tired. He had kept him out pretty late last night.

Clenching his teeth, he headed straight for Sungkyu's counter. There was one customer before him. He had learned that waiting was preferable to how annoyed Sungkyu got when he cut in line. So he waited. In the meanwhile, he tried to establish eye-contact with Sungkyu without success. It was almost as if he was going to great lengths to ignore him. No, that made no sense. He was probably just imagining it. It irritated him how sensitive he had gotten, reading something into every little detail. Before, he couldn't even be bothered noticing the details, let alone worrying about them.

“Hey.” he smiled awkwardly, biting his lower lip when Sungkyu finally shifted his attention towards him. His gut churned, his insides tingled. What an overreaction, he thought in frustration. Things couldn't go on like this. There was only one solution. He had to sleep with him. Then he could just get this, whatever this was, out of his system and move on.

“Oh.. hey.” Sungkyu answered dryly, but sent him a courteous but emotionless smile. What was his deal? Had he had a date with his clone? Or was this a robot that Sungkyu had created and sent to work in his place? Either way, this was not the same guy that had laughed at his jokes last night.

“Your order?” he added impatiently. Woohyun's heart sank. He didn't get it. He really didn't get it.

“I would like to order your next free night, please.” he grinned slyly, putting on the charms, although his heart wasn't fully in it. It was busy its fresh wounds and attending to his bruised ego.

“I'm sorry, that's not on the menu.” Sungkyu quietly muttered, avoiding eye-contact.

“Then can't you just put in on the menu.” he insisted, refusing to give up.

“I'm afraid that's not possible.” Sungkyu said, his voice uncomfortably serious. This time he looked straight into his eyes to show him that he meant business. He was for real. He acted like he didn't want anything more to do with him. Woohyun couldn't believe it. It was impossible.

When Sungkyu turned away and started to head for the back office, he felt the walls close in on him. He abandoned all caution and half-shouted out, “Why not?”. Sungkyu turned back to face him, but just shrugged like he didn't care, and disappeared behind the office door.

Woohyun just stood there, feeling as if Sungkyu had just thrown his heart into a blender. Never in his life had he experienced rejection like this. It hurt. It hurt like hell. And the worst part was the not knowing. Why didn't he like him? What possible reason could he have for not wanting to date him? He couldn't come up with a single one. The smell of coffee was making him nauseous, and it was so stuffy in there that it was hard to breathe. The insufferable coffee musk even got into his eyes, making them all watery. He had to get out. He wanted to run away from this feeling, this horrible, horrible feeling. He knew it was ridiculous, but still he felt like the world had just ended. At least the world as he knew it. His record was no longer untarnished. He had lost. For the first time in his life, he had lost. And he didn't like. Not one bit.

“Woo!” Dongwoo jumped up. He had been sitting on the floor in front of the door to his apartment, apparently waiting for him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked confused, bucking up so he wouldn't notice how down he was.

“You forbade me from contacting your phone today, but there is an urgent situation we have to address.” Dongwoo said, his face ominously grave.

“What's going on?” he asked as he let them both in. “And why didn't you use your key?” he added, but then he remembered he had taken it away from him after Dongwoo had caught him in the act one too many times. It was for both of their sake.

“It's big. I think you should sit down.” Dongwoo advised him, handing him a printout.

'The Mystery Woman Revealed – Golden Boy Woohyun Caught on a Date With the Balloon Girl' he read. There was a picture of him and Eunji at the restaurant, taken right at the moment when she snatched his phone away from him, so from this angle it looked like they were holding hands. He collapsed into the sofa. A scandal. That was the last thing he needed.