part ii

date number two occurred at the mall.

why?

a shopping spree.

his name was yoon jeonghan, studying international fashion and majoring in extreme shopping trips every season. it was just a week before april, which meant that there were new lines that were about to come out, and mingyu – apparently they were in the same mentor class – volunteered wonwoo to accompany him and make it as.. much of a date as it could be.

so, that would be the reason wonwoo was trailing behind the blond with shopping bags galore.

“what do you think of this?” jeonghan inquired, holding up a leaf patterned sweater. if there was anything wonwoo was bad at through the glorious perfection he was, it was how to pay attention.

he couldn’t help but to think about mingyu’s amazingly warm sweater he had on, and would rather dwell on how he knew his best friend wanted this for his birthday rather than answer the other male who was snapping to get his attention.

“hey. wonwoo?”

“hm?” wonwoo blinked, adjusting the designer bags that he somehow didn’t mind to carry for the other.

jeonghan only rolled his eyes and took the sweater regardless. “you know, mingyu told me that you were a more outgoing person now.” jeonghan frowned and looked up at the aforementioned boy, “he didn’t say anything about you being so spacey.”

“do you.. actually like having me around?” wonwoo bluntly asked, nodding to the article of aesthetic clothing that the shorter had held up.

“why do you think i said yes so fast?” the blond chuckled, exhaling softly before turning his head to face wonwoo again, “dude. i’ve had a huge crush on you since high school. i.. had shorter hair. brunette. i was always made fun for never cutting my hair but i remember that one day senior year you complimented me about that and , i didn’t even know you knew i existed.”

two years ago. may. the end of a strenuous four years of hell and drama was coming to a close that  wonwoo was more than happy to have happened. high school was nothing short of annoying, having to wake up and learn about that didn’t pertain to his career goals at all. he supposed it was for the best, effortlessly acing his way through school with little to no problems. he was loved by all, students and faculty alike. he was just that model student that others envied.

yoon jeonghan sat two rows behind him, three to the left. he sat in a perfect place that allowed him to casually stalk and marvel over the other’s profile, and damn was he blessed whenever wonwoo turned around and happened to have caught his eye, even if it was for a mere second. that was one more second to add to the many he had started to keep count of ever since freshman year.

he was up nine minutes six seconds.

jeonghan never ever minded when he was grouped with wonwoo all year long. he was more blessed than not to be sharing the same breathing space with perfection in its finest form, and he always did everything he could to keep his cool.

at times, it worked.

other times, it never worked.

graduation was definitely an example of this.

seated to his right was the glorious jeon wonwoo, the two perched on stage with the principals and other high figures of the school as they were both the salutatorian and valedictorian respectively. to be quite honest, wonwoo was jeonghan’s motivation to get him to where he was today, for the two hours they had to sit through for everyone else’s name to be called. he totally didn’t catch the sneers from the other jealous students as they walked across in front of them, secretly smiling at the fact that he was practically living his dream.

“jeonghan?” wonwoo had leaned over to whisper during the class president’s speech, catching the other’s attention with no fail and a slight hum.

“did i ever tell you I liked your hair?”

well of ing course not, mister idiot. did you just say that you—

“o-oh, really?” were the words that replaced the ones in his mind, shier than he would admit to as he couldn’t help but to smile back to the other.

wonwoo hummed back. “you know, people always thought you were my girlfriend whenever we worked in the library or café. i’d always get messages about it and stuff.”

if jeonghan could relive that shared moment between them, their proximity and how damn close wonwoo’s perfect lips were to his pair, he really would.

“of course i knew you existed, idiot,” wonwoo rolled his eyes, eyeing a black and white pair of sweats off to the side. “no one could ever shut up about how we should’ve been together.”

“then why weren’t we!” jeonghan whined, hair covering his eyes when he turned back and found the other not paying attention to him. wonwoo met his gaze and let a small moment of silence pass between them.

“wait wait wait. you mean to tell me you told jeonghan that he was too pretty for you?”

“what the else could i have said?”

eleven rolled around again, inception playing on the tv though the two men weren’t really paying attention to the movie that served as backlight as the hiss of the can of beer being opened resonated through the apartment. they had already run out from the day before, congratulating themselves on the acheivement of mingyu scoring his seventh date this month with the infamous exchange student, amber liu. age didn't matter to the two of them, and wonwoo was more than happy that at least someone in the apartment was leading a grateful and fruitful love life that often time caused him to sleep elsewhere. something about learning anatomy required full undivided attention or something along those lines that wonwoo needed not to interfere with.

that's not what the clothes splayed on the ground and a huge lump evident on mingyu's bed said come the next morning.

(wonwoo made sure to take a picture and blackmail mingyu about this for the rest of his life.)

“i will never understand you, wonwoo.” mingyu flicked wonwoo’s forehead.

“no one asked you to.” he retorted, holding the cool can against the reddening skin of his forehead. “i just.. jeonghan and i don’t really seem to fit together in that aspect. he’s a great kisser and all, but.. nah.”

“my ,” mingyu grumbled, “picky picky picky. why do people even like you?”

wonwoo could only shrug. “because i’m a god and my voice drops pants from miles away?”

the two friends laughed at the statement, alcohol slightly influencing the way they seemed to have giggled like idiots. these were good times for them, unwinding with a bottle of beer and late nights of procrastination because of getting tangled up in their own little world of relaxation unravelled from their stressful days.

if mingyu could listen to wonwoo's words in a more sober state, though, he would have agreed to the moon and back.

wholeheartedly. 

jeonghan and sweater shopping. heh. this chapter's dedicated to one of my friends, so some of the references came from her. heuheu. next chapter should be up soon, i'm hoping. thanks for reading, guys!