Minho can’t say that he enjoys working in one of the biggest companies in Seoul. Sure it’s a rather stable job, with a reasonable salary; but to Minho there are certainly more cons than pros. It’s not all that fun to get scolded by your superiors for making mistakes, and seriously; they just give you all the work that they are supposed to be doing themselves. Not to mention the late night shifts which equals to spending less time with your family. The point is, Minho hates it. Sometimes he wishes to be free, to chase his dreams instead of being cooped up in a suffocating office but alas; dreams are dreams and reality is reality.

Friday nights are one of Minho’s favourite part of the week. It is the time when he could let himself go and relax without having piles and piles of paperwork to handle or having to please his superior whom he hates with his gut. He bids the rest of his colleagues’ goodbye, making his way to the nearest subway station. Minho walks, until he reaches a certain convenience store which was right in between his work place and the subway station. He would usually go there during lunch hours, grabbing whatever snacks or fast food available before rushing back to complete his work. The convenience store is basically his life saviour. On that particular Friday night, he is craving for a drink; particularly beer. He wants to clear his mind, at least for a little while even though he knows that he would have a terrible hangover the next morning. He sighs, pushing the glass door to enter the store. The bell rings, notifying the cashier of his existence.

Minho looks up to see a different face, not someone he is familiar with behind the counter. The man could be a few years older than he was, wearing a rather bright smile with his teeth showing.

“Hi,” the cashier greets Minho brightly, to which Minho replies with a curt nod.

He goes to the end of the store where the drinks were, looking carefully before selecting his favourite brand of beer. He then takes the bottle of beer to the counter to pay, eyes focusing on the name tag worn by the new cashier as he scans the barcode.

“Onew Lee,” Minho mutters under his breath.

“That’s my name, what’s yours?”

Minho isn’t expecting the man to hear that. “Um, it’s Choi Minho.”

Onew extends his hand, eyes crinkling as he smiles; “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Minho shakes the warm hand, “Nice to meet you too.”

“You don’t mind if I ask you to stay for a while would you? It’s getting a little boring here. Besides, I would love to learn more about a handsome man such as yourself.” Onew chuckles.

‘Is he flirting, with me?’ Minho thinks. Well, it couldn’t hurt. There isn’t anybody waiting for him back at home since his parents are out for dinner with their friends.

Minho nods, “Sure.”

That was how both men found themselves sitting at the corner of the store on the high stools, facing the empty street that could be seen through the clear glass with a beer bottle in hand.

“Can you drink during working hours?” Minho asks, sipping some of the cool substance.

“I can handle my alcohol well, don’t worry about me.” Onew replies. “So,” he continues; “You are an office worker aren’t you, with the tie and all.”

Minho nods, “Yes I am, with the tie and all.”

The older (Yes Minho confirmed that Onew was indeed older, two years older than he was.) loosens his grip on the beer bottle, “I hate working in an office, so not me.”

“Oh, then what exactly do you like to do?”

“I like being free, not having to work in a small space with hundreds of people; not having someone to control me and tell me what I can or cannot do.”

Minho nods again, agreeing to whatever the older had to say. “I hate that too, but unfortunately I am stuck with this if I want to survive. One question, I haven’t seen you here before; are you new here?”

Onew grins, getting off the high stool; “You should go home, it’s getting late; I don’t want to be the one to send you home if you get drunk.”

“You will be here tomorrow, right?”

Onew shrugs, an action which Minho finds rather endearing; “I guess so.”

Saturday night.

Minho decides to grab some snacks from the convenience store, at that particular store which was two stations away from his own apartment. It is pretty obvious that the snacks was just an excuse for him to meet Onew whom he found very interesting. He walks briskly as the cold wind blew, his hair flying in different directions. He tightens the grip on his sweater, trying to warm himself up more.

“I see you have a new hairstyle”, Onew says as soon as he enters the store. Minho fishes out his phone in embarrassment, looking at the reflection on the screen to fix his hair. As soon as he deemed himself presentable, he makes his way to the counter.

“Yup, I came to see you.” Minho grins.

The older takes a glance at his watch, “I will be done in three, two; one. Okay, done. Wanna go have supper?”

They stop by a bar tent, since Onew insisted on going.

“I wasn’t expecting for you to actually show up,” admits the older.

“I wasn’t expecting it myself either.”

Onew folds his arms on his chest, “Well then, does that mean I will see more of you?”

Minho smirks, Onew is really something else; his interest towards the older is piqued up.

“I guess so.”

They have their hot bowl of noodles in silence, occasionally glancing at each other with wide smiles on their faces.

Minho pays, although the older insisted that he wanted to since he was the hyung.

“You can take the next bill hyung, we are going to see each other a lot more; aren’t we?” Minho winks.

“I am hoping that we are not going to an expensive restaurant for our next meeting, I can’t afford that.”

Minho shoves his hands into his pocket for warmth, “Am I supposed to take that seriously?”

“Yes, yes you are.”

Minho walks back to his apartment with a smile on his face, and also a bag of snacks in hand. His mother welcomes him with a frown, “Why did it take so long for you to buy the snacks? Isn’t the convenience store just around the corner?”

“Let’s just say I took the long way mom. A really long way.”

Monday night

Minho stretches his arms while yawning, grateful that the day is finally over. Work has been more enjoyable than usual, although he secretly knows the reason why he’s looking forward to go to work isn’t because of the work itself.

“I will see you tomorrow,” he greets his colleague with a pat on the back. Grabbing his suitcase, he takes the familiar route until he reaches his destination; the convenience store. He takes a peek inside through the glass door to find the object of his affection talking animatedly to a customer. He is amazed at how easy it is for the older to strike up conversations with strangers, as if he had known them for a long time. It is one of the reasons why he is so attracted to the older.

The customer walks out as he enters, the bell ringing once again.

Onew looks up from the counter to see Minho waving at him, he waves back; laughing.

“You seem to be coming every day.” Onew says with a wide grin.

“I didn’t come yesterday.” The younger randomly takes a bar of chocolate, handing the cash to Onew.

Onew raises his eyebrow, “How is work?”

“Its work, how good can work be?” Minho rips the plastic open, using his fingertips to take out the chocolate bar before shoving it into his mouth.

Onew shrugs, “That’s true. Anyway, shouldn’t you be heading home by now? Your parents must be waiting for you.”

Minho nods with his mouth half full, earning a chuckle from the older. He swallows the rest of the chocolate, “I wanted to see you, even if it’s just for a while.”

Onew blushes, blushes which had Minho wanting so badly to kiss him right there and then.

“Now that you have seen me, you can go home now. Don’t keep your parents waiting.”

Minho takes the subway, mind filled with nothing but the image of Onew blushing. The exact image which he wants to see again and again if it is possible.

They meet again on a Sunday. Minho now knows of Onew’s schedule, he works during the evening to midnight in the convenience store as a part timer whereas during the day he goes exploring. Onew, Minho learns; is a backpacker. He goes from one place to another whenever he wishes, trying out new things and new environments. He earns the money through part time jobs, meets new people and explores new places. Minho likes to think that Onew is a bird, flying freely in the bright blue sky whereas he is a frog (his nickname was a frog during his elementary school days because of his huge looking eyes), living under a rock with no hopes of ever getting out of there. Their different lives is what makes their conversations so refreshing, Minho would talk about his job; of his parents whereas Onew tells funny stories and interesting things that happened during his travels.

Minho takes Onew to the heart of the city, bringing him to all the tourists’ sites that he wanted to go to. The older would run here and there excitedly, snapping pictures; noting down the places that they went to write in his blog. The sparkle in Onew’s eyes, Minho wants to imprint it in his mind; to keep it in his memory forever.

“Are you having fun hyung?” Minho asks over a cup of coffee.

“I never knew you would make such a good guide, have you ever thought of changing jobs?”

Minho laughs, “Maybe you are right, I should become a guide instead.”

The moment of silence engulfs them comfortably, eyes focusing on each other without exchanging any words.

“You know,” Minho speaks up; “I think I like you Onew hyung. Really like you.”

“Then you should know it wouldn’t work between us eventually, right?”

Minho leans forward to the older, “I do, but what if I don’t mind? It can be just casual, casual dating.”

Onew sips his coffee, “That sounds like fun actually, let’s give it a shot. The one who falls in love first grants the other a wish, how’s that sound?”

Minho shrugs, “Cool, so does that mean I can kiss you whenever I want?”

The younger doesn’t miss the smile that forms on Onew’s, or his temporary boyfriend’s lips.

Minho listens to the songs on his phone on the way to work. BigBang’s ‘Let’s Not Fall in Love’ plays, which gets Minho paying attention to the lyrics. He is in awe, because the song perfectly describes his and Onew’s relationship. Two people who are trapped in something called love, both not wanting to give in to the temptations; because at the end of the day hearts will break. No promises are made, because they know deep down inside it will never be kept. Minho had his fair share of relationships to know that it is all true.

He asks himself, will he really fall for Onew?

Minho realises that he is falling for the older two weeks into their casual dating. They go out on dates like normal couples do, watch movies; go for dinner. Usual things like that. They don’t hold hands or kiss, because they don’t want to get so attached to each other. It’s like they are not dating, but they are at the same time. Minho is confused, he is. He starts wondering if he can go on having this vague relationship with someone whom he knows is the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

“I think I love you, Onew hyung. So you win.” Minho admits one day, eyes fixed on the older; waiting for his reaction.

Onew’s lips immediately stretches into a thin line, “I am leaving tomorrow. I invited you here to tell you that.”

Minho takes a deep breath, fighting back the tears that starts to form; “Can’t you stay?”

Onew caresses the younger’s cheek, kissing him softly before pulling back. “Since you lost; you have to grant me one last wish.”

“Wait for me.” Was Onew’s last words to the younger.

Minho rummages through the mailbox, lips forming into a grin when he pulls out a postcard. Minho and Onew never lost touch, with Onew sending the younger postcards whenever he travels to somewhere new. The younger never lost hope, because he knew that Onew just needed some time for himself before starting a real relationship. He knows that the older is in love with him as much as he is in love with the older. Minho remembers what Onew wrote to him once, that he was not the type to love; he was used to being alone; he was contented with it. Until he met Minho that is. Minho held onto those words, believing that the older would come back for him someday.

Apparently that someday is today.

Dear Minho,

Meet me at our special place once you have read this postcard, I will be waiting for you.

Minho runs as fast as his legs can take him to the subway station, only stopping to take deep breaths when he gets into the subway. He doesn’t even realise that he is still in his pyjamas, still wearing his bunny bedroom slippers. All he knows is that Onew is waiting for him. He reaches his destination in a matter of minutes, the familiar ringing of the bell has his heart beating even faster than before. He looks up to see the face he missed so dearly, the overwhelming emotions strike him like lightning.

“I love you.” Mouths the older before grabbing Minho into a tight embrace. Minho hugs Onew back, whispering the three words that he had kept in his heart for a long time.

“I love you.”