It’s funny how Junho and Wooyoung’s prediction doesn’t surprise the bartender very much but none the less still confused how that’s possible. He does harbor admiration towards the foster brothers, but maybe more to Taec rather than Jay, it fascinated Chansung how Taecyeon can still be cheerful under such circumstances of being thrown by his family. Has admiration shifted into something else? Pity?  Charity? Commiseration?

“If you don’t have that sort of feelings towards Taecyeon then how come you’ve been avoiding your girlfriend since?” Junho questioned disturbing Chansung from his thought.

“Did she look for you guys?” the youngest asked

“Well where do you think she’d go looking for when you’ve dodged her phone calls, emails, texts, and even when she came here your mother said you weren’t home,” Junho answered sternly.

“So what’s the deal with you Channie?” Wooyoung chimed in

“I honestly don’t know either. After the kiss I spoke with Jay and-,” before Chansung was able to continue his side of the story, Wooyoung cut him off again.

“You spoke to Jay first about this?” Wooyoung asked giving Chansung the nasty eye.

“This is so not the right time for your jealousy Wudong-ah,” Chansung begged.

“Well go on then.”

“Thank you. So as I was saying, after the kiss, I spoke to Jay about it while waiting for Taec. I remember saying that kissing Taec didn’t suddenly make me like an overly paranoid person having to rush back to my girlfriend and kiss the life out of her to prove that I’m still straight. But at the same time, I felt a bit more drawn to Taec. I never really put too much thought into it, I just figured he intrigued me. His life is so intriguing that there was a need in me to have to keep close to him. What began as a normal admiration I guess just bloomed into something - but the problem is, I don’t even know what that something else is!” the younger explained feeling frustrated of the unknown.

“Have you ever thought or wondered of kissing Taec again?” Wooyoung questioned, trying to help his friend solve this puzzle in his head.

“I don’t think so. But every now and then I have this urge in me to want to hug him. Like propper long hug - I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to make things alright again for him even though he never mentioned being not well.”

“Well from the sounds of it, you do harbor some pity on him but have this urge to give him reassurance that you’re not going to leave him.” Junho elaborated Chansung’s earlier response.

“But having that kind of urge after only knowing the guy for a short amount of time must count as  something don’t you think Junho? I mean, you never know, maybe he’s playing his pity card on you. Would you be mad if he did?” the puffy cheeked guy asked.

Almost instantly Chansung replied confidently, “No, not if it makes him happy.”

“I think you’re starting to fall for him baby,” Junho concluded

Another rush of relief spread around Chansung’s whole body hearing Junho’s answer. But the younger doesn’t know how or when this all began, but one thing’s for sure - it wasn’t due to Taec’s lame and cheesy pick up line attempts. It was his true character that shone the most. When Chansung’s with him, he felt like the most treasured person on earth, when actually he was the one who was supposed to make Taec feel that way. Maybe this all did trigger from a form of pity towards the other, but Chansung can’t imagine ever making the other feel even more rejected than he already is. Nothing’s more accomplishing for him right now than making sure to be able to help Taec lead a happy life.

“So, what are you gonna do now?” Wooyoung asked taking turns responding the younger.

“I was hoping you guys could help me on that as well,” the maknae answered sheepishly.

“Think about this deeply and very carefully. If you’re sure of your feelings towards Taec, then do something about it. But don’t be dragging your girlfriend into this for too long - it’s not fair on her.” Sighing, Junho said reminding his friend of his current significant other.

“Come on Woo, why don’t we leave Chansung here to his thoughts.” Junho then called for his friend to leave.

Before Chansung realizes he was already left alone in his room, he didn’t even hear his two friends calling after him before setting their feet out of Chan’s apartment.

“They didn’t even give me a hug before they left,” the barista thought to himself letting out a loud sigh. This whole reveal somehow left Chansung feeling overwhelmed and needed some kind of comfort to calm his thoughts.

Not long after his friends left, Chansung heard the lock to the apartment door opening thinking must’ve been his mom coming, which is great cos nothing’s better than a mother’s warm hug that never failed to soothe his heart whenever something happened to Chansung.

Slowly Chansung walked out of his room and into the kitchen where he found his mum unpacking the groceries. As if drawn by his mom’s warm back, Chansung immediately fell onto the woman’s back and hugged his mother tightly from behind.

“If you wanted my hug you should’ve said so instead of creeping from behind,” his mother said smiling seeing her youngest acting all spoiled.

“Give me a hug please umma.”

Chuckling, his mother turned around and gave her son the warmest hug he could ever wished for. It never failed to amaze Chansung how a mother’s hug can have so much healing power and reassurance that everything will be fine (eventually). Another thing that Chansung loved most about his mom is that she never asks why or what is going on whenever Chansung requested a hug from her. She would always immediately open her small arms ready to embrace this tall and big boy that is her baby. The hugs always comes first and she never pushed her son to tell her immediately of his problems - she would patiently wait for the explanation when Chansung’s ready to talk.

“If we keep this up, we’re gonna have to take it to the sofa honey,” Mrs Hwang said after minutes of hugging. She loves embracing her children - above all, she appreciates the fact that her children still comes to her for hugs. But as time goes by, her body isn’t getting stronger and her children did not stop to grow and doubled their sizes as well, making it harder for Mrs. Hwang to hold them long without any support.

Sheepishly Chansung smiled and let go of his mother.

“Thanks umma.”

“You’re welcome Channie.”

“I think I’m gonna take a nap before work.”

“Okay, do you want me to wake you up?”

“No that’s okay, I’ll set up an alarm,” with that Chansung headed back to his room, feeling a little bit better for him to rest his eyes.

---------

“Yah, maknae! Didn’t I tell you to sort out your problem soon? Or if not, please answer or reply your girlfriend when she’s calling and texting you. Me and Wooyoung can’t handle giving more excuses for you anymore. Woo in particular is ready to put poison or a hex on her to make her shut up, then he’ll come after you to personally kill you himself!” Junho yelled on the phone after 5 failed attempts to reach his best friend while he was at work.

Quite frankly, the latter doesn’t give a rat’s whether his friend is at work or not. He and Wooyoung just couldn’t take her constant annoyance anymore. If Chansung won’t answer her calls, why doesn’t she just take the damn initiative to corner him at the coffee shop while he’s on his shift. Surely Chansung won’t be able to escape there.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m being a headache to everyone at the moment, but this whole thing is just way too confusing for me. What if this whole thing with Taec is just a momentary thing, you know like the flu - I’d throw a perfectly good relationship with my girlfriend out the window.” the barista excused himself.

“First of all, who are you and what have you done with my best friend. You do realize you’re being f**king selfish right now. And second, how the hell can you compare your feelings to Taec with the flu. I swear, if he heard you right now, you’d hurt him for sure - I know I would be.” the rain lookalike fired again.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to think anymore Junho. I mean how can a straight guy have these kind of feelings towards another man?” Chansung sighed suddenly feeling hopeless but at the same time pressured.

“Love doesn’t know gender Channie, I thought you’d realize that by now by the number of guys falling for Wooyoung’s ‘spell’,” Junho began to explain softly trying to understand his friend’s position.

“Whoa Junho slow down there. I never said I was in love with Taec,” the other panicked when the L word appeared.

“Okay, then attraction also don’t see gender. The heart doesn’t specify its feelings based on gender. It just feels.”

“I’m hanging up now,” the bartender sighed again.

“Okay, talk to you later.”

‘I wish there was a way for me to look more into my attraction for Taec,” Chansung thought quietly while heading back to the store.

As if his thoughts had been heard by the universe, enter Taeccyeon, alone - which was unusual but at the same time a blessing for the bartender. Maybe this was the answer to his wish.

“Taec, this is unusual to see you alone.” Chansung greeted momentarily forgetting the whole awkwardness that happened recently between him, Chansung and Wooyoung.

“Yeah, Jay’s girlfriend just came back 2 days ago. So they’re inseparable right now, making up for lost time if you know what I mean.” Taec answered with a greasy smile at the end.

“Uuuhh, yeah I got it. So now you’re here to recruit me to be his temporary replacement?” Chansung answered cheekily feeling as if he’s flirting with the other.

“Well yeah, I’m sad like that. I don’t have anyone but Jay.”

“Well my shift’s almost over .. which of course by the look on your face you know that already as well. I keep on forgetting that you were once my stalker.”

“Well it does come in handy now. Most of the times I won’t have to check where you are as I’ll know that already.” Taecyeon answered proudly.

“That’s kind of creepy actually,” Chansung said but still full of warm smiles.

FINALLY I MANAGED TO POST AN UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apologies for the long update - work's just been hell and dissapointing recently which triggered a lot of negative emotions in me thus making it hard for me to write an update for this.

Work is still piling up so I'm hoping the next update won't take this long again. No promises though *sobs*

Thank you to everyone reading the story and also commenting on it. Always very much appreciat it. It's always interesting reading them feedbacks :)

Also, sorry if there's any spelling mistakes or missing words (I have tendency of doing that). But I've also just found out that AFF likes to automatically delete words that are not quite appropriate I guess, I don't know - that's just what I've been seeing on my chapters.