As per the designated plan, Wonshik and Jaehwan met outside the premises of the school once the day had been done for. A mere, small smile greeted Jaehwan who arrived first as Wonshik neared him. "Hey, sorry for being late. Did you wait long?" 

Jaehwan lightly shook his head, signifying a no as he had only arrived a mere minute ago. 

"Okay then, let's get going. There's a cafe down the street that I occasionally go to. Is that fine?" 

"Yeah, that's fine." Jaehwan was slightly aware of the cafe that Wonshik was referring to; albeit, never having physically entered the cafe, he did pass by it on some occasions. The sudden thought that he would actually be entering the cafe had Jaehwan stilled for a moment. What if his parents found out? It was obvious that as a simple rule Jaehwan never really went anywhere by himself, except for during times it was a necessity or if he felt slightly rebellious (which usually didn't end well). But even then, his parents had been aware of where and with whom he was with. After all, they didn't want him exposing his secrets to anyone, not that anyone could do anything about it, really. This time, however, they didn't know. They didn't know and neither would they. Hopefully, at least. He was going out with someone to some place without his parent's consent and for the first time in a while, he felt a little free. Even though it was a fleeting feeling, it was something that made him feel a little more normal. 

"Hey, you coming?" Jaehwan turned to the side to see Wonshik a few steps ahead, an eyebrow raised quizzically. In his little railway of thoughts, Jaehwan had momentarily zoned out and mumbled a slight 'sorry' before following Wonshik. 

The entire walk there, none of the two muttered a word to each other. The air around the duo was slightly awkward, they didn't know what to say. Not to mention that there was always a difference of a few feet between them courtesy of Jaehwan's slight unease with being too close to people. But, it was fine, Wonshik supposed. Maybe they could break the ice at the cafe; the warm atmosphere of the small yet, comfy cafe often set people at ease. 

Hence, when they entered the cafe, Wonshik breathed a sigh. He looked towards Jaehwan who seemed to be absorbing his surroundings; the pastel coloured walls, the array of delicacies lined across one end, the sweet aroma of coffee that swam through the area. If anything, Jaehwan looked slightly intrigued. "Is this the first time you're here?"

Snapping the other out of his reverie, Jaehwan gave a slight nod. "I've passed this place a few times, never really came in though." Jaehwan was slightly thankful to Wonshik for not opting for a place with hoards of people within it. This place seemed warm and comfy, only filled with a handful of people and Jaehwan felt slightly more at ease at not being surrounded by too many people. What he didn't know was that Wonshik, as well, preferred this calm and quiet setting compared to the loud and obnoxious ones. And he had noticed the slight unease in Jaehwan slowly, disintegrating. "Come on, let's go sit next to the window."

Guiding the duo, they approached the table at the far end of the cafe and it was only after being seated that Jaehwan noticed the menu paper which had a fancy, cursive handwriting on top scribbled with the words 'Lee's Cafe' that caused him to raise a slight eyebrow at the coincidence.  Then again, it was quite common.

"What's wrong?" The query came from Wonshik seated opposite him who had been watching Jaehwan intently and noticed the slight shift in his expression.

"Oh, nothing." Jaehwan slightly shook his head, indicating he was fine. "Say, do the people who own this place, by any chance, have the surname Lee?"

"Oh, yeah, your lastname is Lee too, right?" At which, Jaehwan lightly nodded causing Wonshik to flash a light, amused smile. "A small family owns this cafe and they have the surname Lee so, Lee's Cafe, it is."

"I see."

And with that, the duo yet again relapsed into an awkward silence. While Jaehwan didn't mind the silence having been a victim to it far too many times, Wonshik, on the other hand, did mind. Now, if it were a calming and peaceful silence, that would be a different case but, this one merely suffocated him. Odd, considering this was how the atmosphere around him usually was but when it came to Jaehwan, he didn't want such an atmosphere. However, it seemed as though none of the two knew what to do to break the ice. 

Fortunately, for Wonshik, the appearance of a new dimpled character was the one to cause the dent in the frigid surrounding. 

"Oh, Wonshik, hi. My daily customer, nice to see you here again!" The new figure exclaimed, smiling at Wonshik, flashing his dimples in the process. 

"Hi Hongbin, it's nice to see you too." Wonshik shot a light smile back before Hongbin's eyes moved onto the figure opposite him who had lazily, watched the exchange of pleasantries. 

"You brought a friend today? That's new." Hongbin said, looking towards Jaehwan before flashing his dimpled smile, yet again.

"Yeah, this is Jaehwan. Jaehwan, this is Hongbin, the son of the owner of this cafe. He works here as a waiter." Jaehwan lightly nodded at the dimpled boy, noting that the man was quite flawless in appearance. Brown hair, neatly styled up; chiseled and muscular face; warm, brown eyes; dimples. Jaehwan had to admit Hongbin was indeed, a sight to look at. 

"You mean," Hongbin corrected, "as the new owner of the cafe."

"You're not the owner yet."

"But I will be soon enough so it's the same thing." He huffed and pointed his chin upwards, daring Wonshik to argue to which the latter just breathed out a sigh and shook his head lightly. "Okay, now that we've made the point clear that I'm the new owner of this place, tell me, what I can get y'all?" Hongbin looked expectantly at the duo, his pen clutched towards the little notepad he had. 

"I'll just get a slice of red velvet cake and a latte. Sugar, please." Nodding lightly, Hongbin noted Wonshik's order down and then, looked towards his company. During their entire exchange, Jaehwan had merely watched hence, suddenly when the two pairs of eyes landed on him, he squirmed lightly, unnoticeable. 

"Uh," Jaehwan said, not really knowing what to say. "I don't really want anything."

"Huh?" Hongbin shot a quizzical eyebrow before waving a hand at Jaehwan. "Well, that's not fair. You come to a cafe and you're not gonna order anything? The cakes and coffee's are good, trust me. Quality guaranteed."

"I'm sure they're good but I just -"

"Get him the same as me." Jaehwan glanced towards Wonshik who had interrupted him mid-sentence, wondering what exactly he thought he was doing. Hongbin noted it down and scurried off telling them he'll be back soon. Noticing the strange look Wonshik was on the receiving end off, he merely shrugged. "My treat. I mean, I was the one who asked you to hangout so."

Deciding not to argue further or reject free food, Jaehwan just mumbled a small 'alright' and ended that conversation there, opting to gaze out of the window at the passing cars and cerulean, crystal sky, instead. It wasn't that he didn't want to socialize with Wonshik, it was just that he didn't know how to engage in small talk or try to socialize with anything. He was pretty sure Wonshik regretted inviting him and ordering for him by now. That was good, he told himself, Wonshik would soon enough get bored of him and never look back and that's exactly what Jaehwan wanted.

Their order arrived not even five minutes later with a joyful Hongbin who told them to call for him if they need anything before, he moved to another table to serve them. 

"So..." Wonshik started while the other looked up after biting into a piece of his cake. 

"Hmm?"

"Not to be rude or anything, but are you always this quiet or are you just trying to get me off your back?" He questioned, to the point, taking a sip of his latte after which he lightly winced as the hot liquid stung his tongue. 

Jaehwan, in reply, merely shrugged. "What do you think?" 

"Honestly," Wonshik replied, "I think you're trying to get me off your back."

Jaehwan looked straight at Wonshik; a gaze which the latter returned. "That depends on how you answer a question of mine."

"Question?" Wonshik queried, eyebrows lightly knitting in confusion. 

Jaehwan nodded and put forth his question. "Why'd you ask me to hangout with you?"

Wonshik would be lying if he said he was surprised because, he truly wasn't. He anticipated that this particular skepticism would come from Jaehwan's side and would, eventually, pop into their conversation. Truth be told, Wonshik had no idea how to answer that question as he, himself, was confounded as to why he actually did. Hence, he went for the old technique; evade the question with a question. "Do you always ask this to people to want to get to know you?"

Jaehwan scoffed, as Wonshik praised himself for getting a reaction other than mere nods and eyebrow raises from the other boy. "Well, normally people who want to 'get to know me', as you said, only do it because they feel sorry for the freak of the school or were dared to. So, which one are you? Because, if it's either one of those, I think you already got your answer."

Wonshik was slightly surprised at that information Jaehwan had delivered. He had known about his company being given various nonsensical titles throughout the school but, this bit still surprised him that people only approached him for reasons as such. But, feeling sorry for someone and approaching them isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? "So, you're against people feeling bad and coming to talk to you?"

"I don't need pity if that's what you're thinking." Jaehwan replied, his expression manifested into a grim contour. "I'm absolutely fine and there's no reason for anyone to feel bad for me. I'm not some depressed kid who needs to share their awful life stories with someone who came just to make themselves feel better and not me."

"But your eyes didn't say you were fine." Where that had come from, Wonshik didn't know. He hadn't intended to say that and even, he, himself was surprised. Noticing the look on Jaehwan's face which had by now, turned into one of narrowed eyes, hostile expression and walls built higher than ever, Wonshik knew he f*ked up. 

"Excuse me?" Those two words were uttered almost as a light hiss which Wonshik caught onto and internally, flinched. He decided to just go for the truth now because, he already dug himself deep enough, any more probably wouldn't be possible. Hopefully. 

"Well, I mean, the other day, I saw the look in your eyes. It was sad and angry and just, filled with a painful misery." He replied, hoping that maybe the next bit would calm Jaehwan down a bit. "I know that look because I see it in my eyes a lot."

That last part indeed, did cause Jaehwan's expression to change. From the hostile one it first was, it softened a bit as he clearly understood what Wonshik was going through. He didn't, fully, but he was close enough. Jaehwan's fists unclenched from their sides and he breathed out a sigh, eyes closing momentarily and then, snapping open to look at Wonshik. Once they did open though, Wonshik couldn't see anything; the previous brown hues that held some or the other form of emotion were now desolate. Jaehwan had put all his guards up and even Wonshik may not be able to climb them, this time. 

"Listen," Jaehwan started, "I know you're going through a tough time right now. It's not easy to get over something you've lost, I know, trust me, I know." He paused lightly, wondering how to exactly phrase the next bit before looking straight and Wonshik and muttering in a light tone. "But, Wonshik, I can't give you what you want."

That caused Wonshik to burrow his brows in confusion and stare at the other that clearly indicated he wasn't following. That, yet again, elicited a light sigh from the brown haired boy. "Wonshik, you're looking for someone. Someone who can understand  your pain and someone who can help you get through it. You saw that supposed 'look' in my eyes and assumed I was the one; the one to help cope up with this mess." He paused, letting Wonshik absorb that information. He could tell that Wonshik warily knew of this yet, probably refused to believe it. Jaehwan could relate in many ways; they were more alike that he initially anticipated. "But, Wonshik, I'm not someone who can help you. We can't get buddy-buddy all of a sudden and share our deepest and darkest secrets, about how f*ked up our lives are and then, manage to get out of it unscathed. And you know that."

Wonshik took a light breath in, letting himself drown within what Jaehwan just said. As he replayed it over and over again in his head, his eyes fixated upon the half-eaten cake in front of him, he realized just how right Jaehwan was and how foolish Wonshik was to think of it. It infuriated Wonshik just how much Jaehwan could get with a few mere words spoken by Wonshik; for someone who claimed to not know how to read people, he analyzed Wonshik pretty well and that too, on their first meeting. But, as he kept replaying the little monologue, he realized something. Whilst Jaehwan was absolutely accurate, he missed out something; something much important than anything else.

Knowing he had hit the nail on the spot, Jaehwan watched Wonshik as the latter frowned in confusion and realization, coming up to par with his words. Wonshik had probably ignored the entire reason and was finally coming to terms with it. Jaehwan knew because he had done this countless times only, he was always in Wonshik's position. Deciding that their little meeting was over and the two would probably never talk again, Jaehwan proceeded to pick up his bag. "Well, now that we have that across, I think I should go. Thanks for the meal. Good bye." 

As Jaehwan got up from the seat, proceeding to leave, Wonshik finally caught up with his words and escaped his little reverie with a light, yet, un-defiant shout of, "Wait!" This promptly caused Jaehwan to look at the other man, eyebrow raised, wondering what he had to say now.

Wonshik averted his gaze but then, forced himself to look back up at Jaehwan as he now knew what he was going to say. "I want to be friends." 

He could see Jaehwan resisting the urge to sigh or roll his eyes or both and as Jaehwan opened his mouth to most likely, argue back, Wonshik pushed forth before the other could get a chance. "No, listen to me first. You were right, that's majorly why I approached in the first place. I thought that you would know how I feel and that, maybe, I could get to know what plagued you as well." At that, he noticed Jaehwan's jaw lightly clenching and made a mental note to not pester the other one about what exactly had caused such a broken and miserable behaviour within him. "But, it's okay. It's okay if you don't want to or can't understand and it's okay if you don't want to say anything, either. I won't ask. All I want right now is for us to be friends."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "You're a nice guy, Jaehwan, I can see that much and at the moment, both of us need friends. You don't need to depend or rely on me completely if you don't want to and neither I, you. But, just maybe, we can give each other company; at least, give it a try. Get something slightly nice out of our f*ked up lives, maybe?" He lightly smiled at the other, hoping he got his words across.

Jaehwan's face was morphed into one of apathy, indescribable. It seemed as though he was scrutinizing Wonshik's words and the other watched intently for any sign that would give off what Jaehwan was thinking. Finally, something flickered and Jaehwan lightly nodded. 

"Huh?" Wonshik mumbled out in clear surprise and astonishment. He needed clear words to go along with that nod, to confirm that Jaehwan was agreeing. 

"Okay. We can be friends. Just don't get too attached." That was met with a mere nod from Wonshik, understanding completely. The two were just going to give each company and that was it. That was enough. 

Jaehwan glanced at his watch and looked back up at Wonshik. "I really need to go now though. I need to get home before it gets too late. So, yeah, thanks for the meal and I'll see you later, I guess?" The slight tilt at the end turned that into a question and Wonhik nodded at Jaehwan, a light smile playing across his lips. 

"Yeah, we'll see each other later." And in that moment, Wonshik knew that maybe something was finally going right in his life for once.