| XV. today, tomorrow, yesterday |

 

 

The following Monday at the Seoul police station, Jongin's hastily writing up a report at his desk when he sees Sehun at the corner of his eye scooting towards him in his swivel chair.

"Jongin. Psst."   

Jongin purposely ignores him. He really needed to get this stupid report done before break, or else Kris will have his head. That's what he gets for putting it off, though. When he doesn't reply to Sehun right away, he can almost imagine the displeased expression on the other officer's face.

"Hey, listen to me."

"What do you want?" Jongin says, distracted, frowning when he accidentally mispells a word. 

He searches for correction tape but doesn't find any, so he sighs heavily and crosses the word out, rewriting it hastily before finally turning to face the other blonde officer. Sure enough, Sehun glares at him briefly before his expression quickly morphs into one of confusion and worry.

"I... I think Luhan's sending me mixed signals."

Jongin glances at Sehun, eyebrows furrowed. Sehun stares back at him with a now blank expression on his face.

"And why should I care, again? You're the one who's afraid to start a conversation with him!"

"I cared when you had that huge crush on Kyungsoo!"

"I did not have a huge cru—" Jongin's head shoots up, eyes widened in protest. However, he cuts himself off when he sees Sehun raise a disbelieving eyebrow at him, and Jongin immediately feels the tips of his ears redden. He looks down, embarrassed. "Okay... point taken."

"That's what I thought."

"But in all honesty, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not an expert in these kinds of stuff; you should probably ask Baekhyun or something."

"What would Baekhyun know about this? I don't care if he's a doctor—it took him months for him to realize that he liked Chanyeol back." Sehun massages his temple, sighing. He leans back in his chair, eyes trained on the ceiling. He lets out a sigh and covers his face with his hands. "The thing is, I have no idea about what to do. I don't know what this even means. I've never been confused about anything in my entire life."

"Now that's a lie, you were totally lost in Calculus."

"Shut up. I hate derivatives."

"You found Calculus hard?" Park Jinyoung cuts in just then, his eyes widened. Everyone looks at him. "I loved that class—"

"Jinyoung, your dad is a MATH professor..."

"Are you still having trouble with this special friend of yours, Oh?" Jackson Wang's head pops up from behind his computer screen. Jongin can't help but smile in amusement when he hears the emphasis on 'special friend'; Jackson always makes it a point to eavesdrop on everybody's conversations so that he could use it to his advantage—for what, exactly, Jongin doesn't have the slightest idea. He knows one thing for sure; he does not want to be on Jackson's bad side.

Sehun immediately looks at Jongin, a murderous glint in his eyes. 

"Kim Jongin."

"Why are you looking at me, I didn't do anything!"

"WHO'S THE LIAR NOW." Sehun violently scoots his swivel chair towards his direction, and Jongin yelps before desperately trying to scoot away from his friend's grasp.

"No, wait, wait, wait, he's right—he probably didn't do anything," Jinyoung cuts in again, sighing. He opens a manila file before continuing. "Everyone could literally listen in on anybody and everybody's conversations in here. I've heard things that I would never have wanted to know myself from other people."

As soon as he finishes speaking, Jinyoung looks around at the other few officers in the vicinity and pulls a slightly disgusted face. He's clearly heard some things about the other people there. Well, leave it to Park Jinyoung to be able to save Jongin from a near-death experience. Jongin mouthes a grateful 'thank you' to the other officer, who gives him a double thumbs-up in response. 

"Oh ," Sehun drops, now moving away from a relieved Jongin. 

"So how's that holding up, huh?" Jackson continues, wiggling his eyebrows. "You and Luhoon."

"It's Luhan, ."

"Same difference."

"They're fine," Jongin answers for him, uninterested, but Sehun whirls on him.

"Fine? We're fine? It's the opposite of fine, it's horrible! After Hongdae we texted a little, but it's not the same..." Sehun cries dramatically, burying his head in his hands. "God. If only I wasn't stupid and didn't confess, everything would've been fine just the way it was."

"You confessed?!" Jackson shrieks, ducking out of the way to dodge the crumpled paper that Sehun threw at him.

Jongin hums thoughtfully, drumming his fingers on the table.

"Well, think of it this way... if you didn't confess, wouldn't you have got the urge to tell him anyways? My mom told me once that if you like someone, it just grows stronger every day, and if you kept it in you'd probably end up hurting yourself even more. If you waited long enough, Luhan might've got with someone else and you would've felt much, much, more worse if you ask me."

Sehun removes his hands from his face and runs a hand through his hair, pursing his lips.

"Yeah, but still. I don't know what's going to happen between us."

Jongin opens his mouth to reply, but someone else's voice interrupts his thought process.

"Well, it's very nice to see that you all are clearly being productive." Kris says, and Jongin and Sehun turn around simultaneously to see their mildly annoyed police chief standing behind them with his arms crossed. He looks more tired than usual; there are prominent eye bags under his eyes.

Jongin immediately lets out another sigh before turning back to his report, jabbing a thumb in Sehun's general direction before he returns to writing. "Blame him, not me."

"You really just threw me under the bus like that."

Kris smacks the back of Sehun's head with the manila folder in his hands. "Stop your rambling and make yourself useful, Officer Oh."

"Yeah, Officer Oh." Jongin snickers, but he lets out a surprised yelp when Kris hits him on the head as well.

"Cut Sehun some slack, Chief." Jackson says, typing vigorously on the keyboard as he talks. "His hormones are raging."

"My hormones are fine, thank you."

"Wait, am I actually hearing this correctly?" Kris asks, looking down at Sehun in surprise. "The Oh Sehun has a crush on someone?"

"I—shut up." Sehun reddens at once, fixing his hair to hide the embarrassment on his face.

Kris's mouth widens, suddenly looking interested. 

"The Oh Sehun has a crush on someone?"

"Why do you keep repeating that!" Sehun grumbles, picking up a pen. He turns to his desk, as if he's about to start writing something on the still-empty report on the surface, but changes his mind and crosses his arms instead. "And, I wouldn't call it a crush—"

"—Yeah, it's more like an obsession." Jongin rolls his eyes as he opens his water bottle, nearly spitting some water out when Sehun smacks his forearm quite violently.

"Who's the lucky lady, huh?" Kris asks, wiggling his eyebrows. Jongin guffaws and nearly chokes, and even Jinyoung shakes his head.

Kris doesn't seem to get the message. He looks at Sehun, waiting for him to answer, but Sehun was refusing to meet his gaze. An awkward silence passes by before Jackson lets out a loud sigh.

"No offense, Chief, but do you never listening to any of the stuff these guys are talking about? Honestly, I'm a little surprised that you don't know who it is, considering they're most likely in your friend group as well." Jackson snorts, eyes still fixated on his computer screen as he talks and types at the same time. What on Earth is Jackson doing, really? Jongin muses, but maybe it's better not to ask. "Sehun's not even straight. He's got a big crush on this guy named—"

"JACKSON, IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP NOW I WILL EAT YOUR LUNCH."

"DON'T YOU DARE."

"Oh my God, I didn't know that you were gay." Kris puts a hand over his mouth, oblivious to Jackson and Sehun's shouting.

Exasperated, Jongin looks over to Jinyoung for help, but his eyes are focused on the ceiling. He seems to be muttering a prayer under his breath; Jongin sympathizes with this.

"What, do you have a problem with that?" Sehun then faces Kris and narrows his eyes, a defensive edge to his tone. Kris looks a little offended by this question.

"Okay, why would I have a problem with you being gay? Half of the people I'm friends with aren't straight. I'm just surprised, honestly, I thought you were just not interested in anything. You didn't seem to want to be in a relationship at all." Kris then stops talking, thinking for a while. Then the expression on his face morphs into something of immediate realization. "Wait... you like Luhan."

It wasn't a question. Sehun visibly pales and doesn't say anything. Kris side-eyes Jongin for confirmation, and the officer sends him a subtle nod.

"YOU LIKE LUHAN—"

"How the hell were you able to guess who it was in like five minutes?!" Sehun gapes.

"Well, when you said you were gay, that really narrowed down my choices. And Wang said that they were someone in our friend group... so it was either Jongin or Luhan. I only guessed Luhan cause I knew that Jongin and Kyungsoo were already doing their own thing."

Jongin facepalms, and Sehun groans loudly in exasperation.

"TELL ME WHY JONGIN WAS EVEN AN OPTION—"

"MY BAD." Kris huffs. "I guess that Junmyeon was right about something happening between you and Luhan, then."

"Does it mean that I'm that obvious?!" Sehun panics, eyes widening. He looks back and forth between Jongin and Kris. "Even Junmyeon found out—"

"...I'm going to tell him you said that."

Sehun's eyes narrow dangerously, "You do that, and I assure that it will be the end of you, Yifan."

Kris visibly flinches at the sound of his real name, suddenly looking incredibly uncomfortable. Upon seeing the police chief's reaction, Jongin takes a mental note to use this against him one day. "Don't you 'Yifan' me! You sound like my mom..."

"Junmyeon calls you that, and he's not your mother."

"No... that's... no. That's different." Kris squeezes his eyes shut, as if he were recalling painful memories. "He can do that only because I've known him longer than you buffoons."

"Hey!" Jongin protests, but Kris shuts him up with a glare.

"There's no use keeping it a secret anymore, you know that right?" Jinyoung says thoughtfully, and everyone turns to look at him. Jinyoung falters due to the attention on him now, but he clears his throat awkwardly before continuing. "I mean, you already said that you confessed to him. Luhan already knows you like him, so there's really no point in hiding it anymore."

Kris nods in agreement. "He's right."

"Yeah... but I mean, I don't want everyone in our friend group to know because they'll try and attempt to make things work out between us, and I already have a strong feeling that it'll fail miserably."

"They won't—" Kris says, but when Sehun gives him a pointed glare, he thinks about it again before continuing. "Actually... yeah, they will."

"Basically, things will just probably continue to worsen. I especially can't get Chanyeol, Baekhyun, or Jongdae involved because they're absolutely going to ruin my life with this. ."

Jongin frowns uncertainly. "I feel like everyone already knows about it now, especially if Junmyeon noticed. But can we stop talking about this, please? I feel like I'm back in elementary school."

"Sorry." Sehun says, not sounding sorry at all. "I just don't know what to do."

Silence falls upon the station as the officers take a moment to contemplate about Sehun's predicament. In the meantime, Jongin takes this momentary time of peace to scribble more things on his report, finally finishing the form before swiftly handing it to Kris.

"You know what you should do, Sehun? Your work." Their police chief says, taking Jongin's paper. He frowns at the messiness, but he sighs, knowing that he won't be able to get a neater one out of him. The police chief walks away with the paper in his hands, but not before saying, "Worry about your personal stuff later. Didn't you say that you were going to be more productive this year compared to last?"

Sehun doesn't reply. When Kris leaves, Sehun turns to Jongin with a confused expression on his face.

He mouths, "Did I say that?"

Jongin nods in affirmation, taking another sip of his water. Sehun groans at once.

"You know, when people know that someone like them they tend to sort of like them back too. I just found some blog post online about some girl who likes this guy who rejected her at first, but he ended up liking her back... anyway." Jackson stops scrolling and looks up from his screen. He reaches out to take one of Jinyoung's chips, but the other male swats his hand away. "I don't know what kind of person Luhyun is, but he doesn't sound like a . I mean, at least he wasn't rude about rejecting you or anything."

"It's Luhan, you..." Sehun trails off, exhausted. The blonde police officer massages his temples before replying. "You might be right, but it's really hard to tell with him... he's... erm... hard to read most times. And he even told me that he doesn't want to be in a relationship because he thinks he's going to screw it up."

All of a sudden, Sehun lets out a depressing sigh.

"You know what, whatever. I give up."

"I don't think you should give up," Jackson hums thoughtfully, and Sehun looks mildly surprised by this statement. "It's like that old saying. Love always finds a way..."

He draws a heart in the air dramatically, batting his eyelashes at Sehun, whose surprised expression morphs into one of disgust. On the other hand, Jinyoung offers Sehun an apologetic look before excusing himself to use the restroom.

In an attempt to cheer him up, Jongin scoots over to him and pats his knee in what he hopes to be in a reassuring manner. 

"You know you can always ask Kyungsoo, right? If there's anything you want to know about Luhan, he's the person you go to. Either him or Jongdae, but you know how unreliable Jongdae can be."

"I guess so, but I think Kyungsoo is as clueless as you are."

"...I can't tell if that is a compliment or an insult."

"Neither, it's an observation." Sehun replies. He opens his mouth to say something else, but he changes his mind. After a while, he sighs, spinning around in his chair to face Jongin again.

"Anyway, it's not like he's going to magically gain feelings for me. What's the chances of that even happening?" He grumbles, before plucking the pen off Jongin's desk. The elder male lets out a sound of protest. 

"That's mine!"

"Not anymore." Sehun says, scribbling furiously on the paper in front of him. Jongin frowns and looks to Jackson for help.

"Leave him be." Jackson waves his hand dismissively, taking a handful of chips from Jinyoung's bag. He munches on them thoughtfully, a mockingly pitiful look on his face, before adding, "He is a broken man."

"Shut the hell up, Jackson."

 

 

---

 

 

"—But yeah, as I was saying, my break was overall pretty great. I visited my mom back home first, and then I spent the rest of it with Chanyeol. He's so sweet, you know? He keeps insisting to pay for all of our meals whenever we eat out, which is kind of all the time, but I can't just let him do that. He's too nice. I swear it'll be the end of him someday."

"Uh-huh." Kyungsoo says, half-listening to the blabbering doctor who was standing in front of him. The florist is rewriting an order form because fricking Jongdae spilled coffee on the previous one when he was reaching for the telephone. Baekhyun, however, stops talking.

"Why do I feel like you're not listening to me?"

"You're mistaken, I am giving you my 100% attention," Kyungsoo mumbles, eyes darting across the paper. He swears under his breath when he misspells a word and crosses it out multiple times before rewriting the word again.

"That was sarcastic."

"I am being completely genuine."

"...If you say so."

"Why are you here, Baek? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

Kyungsoo finally looks up from the order form, not surprised to see the slightly offended look on the doctor's face. Baekhyun frowns, but it eventually turns to more of a pout. He bats his eyelashes a few seconds later and sends a gooey smile towards Kyungsoo, who gives him a strange look. The doctor certainly has become more comfortable around him the past few weeks; his true personality was starting to come out.

"Well sheesh, I thought I could just stop by when I was on break and say hello to my favorite florists in town."

"Luhan's not even inside the building."

"But he is here, right?" Baekhyun's eyes widen. After a while, he smiles. "I just wanted to ask if Chanyeol's always been like this. Does he usually spoil his friends? Where does he get the money to do that?"

"He's a sous chef, and he's pretty damn good at his job if you ask me. He's done this several times, but he's amped it up like 50 times for you. I mean, it just shows that Chanyeol really is head over heels for you." Kyungsoo says, but he pauses and looks at him in mild curiosity. "You ask this a lot."

A slight flush appears on the doctor's cheeks, and he laughs nervously. "Haha, do I? I don't mean to be creepy or anything. I'm just wondering."

"Well, not that it's a bad thing, of course. I guess you can say that you're somewhat of a good distracton for him—"

He is interrupted when Luhan storms in the store at that moment, apron and face smeared with soil (not the first time, nor the last). Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows at the sight of him, and Luhan shakes his head vigorously in response. Baekhyun turns around and grins at once when he sees the other florist.

"Luhan!" Baekhyun exclaims, giving him a once-over before snickering. "You look great."

"Thanks. I did do something a little different with my hair today, glad you noticed." Luhan jokes, looking happier than he's been the past couple of days. "How were your holidays?" 

"Pretty good. I spent most of it with Chanyeol."

"Ah, that's nice."

Baekhyun smiles sheepishly. "Yeah, we have a date tonight, actually. I'll probably see you later because I'm picking him up from the flower shop when he's done with the deliveries for today."

"I'll be sure to embarrass you as soon as you get out of the car."

"In your dreams, I'm the one driving tonight."

"Not a problem. I'll embarrass him instead." Luhan winks at Baekhyun, who rolls his eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be working right now, though?"

"I'm on a lunch break, but I should start getting back soon. I'm probably going to grab lunch at the cafeteria since I spent most of my time here already." Baekhyun sighs, looking at the watch on his wrist, which was a gift from Chanyeol (the only reason that Kyungsoo knows it's a gift because Chanyeol spent hours bugging Luhan and Kyungsoo about which one he should get Baekhyun). The doctor straightens up at once and dusts off his clothes. "I'll see you guys later!"

Kyungsoo and Luhan bid Baekhyun a goodbye, and as soon as the doctor drives away Luhan lets out a heavy sigh.

"You good?" Kyungsoo asks, and Luhan looks up, distracted.

"Huh? Oh, um, yeah."

Kyungsoo looks at him, unconvinced. Luhan's too busy looking at his reflection in his phone, trying to get the smudges of dirt off of his face to notice. Eventually, Kyungsoo picks up his pen and continues to write on the order form. "Did you have trouble taking out a weed?"

"Sure as hell did." Luhan grumbles, looking down at his apron. "Stinking things are all over the place. It made me remember that time where there was this huge weed in the flowerbeds in front of Sehun's house; goodness gracious, he does not know how to maintain a garden."

"Sehun and Jongin have flowerbeds in front of their house?" Kyungsoo asks, bewildered. He's been to their place a few days ago, and he doesn't recall anything about them having any other living forms in their place besides the two of them. They did have fake orchids in their dining room, which Kyungsoo did not really approve of. "Since when?"

Suddenly, Luhan's eyes widen. "What did I say?"

"Um... that Sehun has a huge weed in front of his house?"

". Sorry. I meant Kris." Luhan slaps a hand to his forehead, and Kyungsoo looks at him worriedly.

"Sehun and Kris don't look or sound alike..."

"I am well aware of that."

Silence falls between them. Kyungsoo watches Luhan quietly as the elder of the two washes his hands, a still distant expression on his face. Kyungsoo frowns. Luhan's been like this for a while now, even after they and the rest of their friend group hung out. He admits that he is worried, partially because Luhan's becoming a little careless with whatever he is doing. Whatever the deal was with Sehun, it was a huge distraction for him.

"So, um, how are you and Jongin doing?" Luhan asks, seemingly nonchalant, but Kyungsoo knows better.

"Fine. Why?"

"Just... curious. It just seems like everyone has someone these days. Junmyeon and Yixing, you and Jongin, now Chanyeol and Baekhyun... who's next, huh? It's like this is a game show where there's a new couple coming out every week."

His tone is almost bitter.

Kyungsoo is suprised to recognize this, for Luhan's never really talked about love and relationships or just that stuff in general to him. He knows that Luhan would like to be in a relationship, but he also knows that Luhan doesn't think that he himself can commit to one. It's a complicated matter, which is why he was having a difficult time at the moment, especially ever since what happened between him and Sehun. Not to mention that Luhan didn't really bother to text Sehun again after they all hung out at Hongdae; they've only exchanged a few texts since then, but they were all short and awkward.

Kyungsoo chooses not to reply and continues filling out the form in front of him, deciding that he should let Luhan talk if he wants to.

"I mean... I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. It's just you guys all seem so happy, and... bleurgh." Luhan eventually sighs, looking incredibly dejected. "I wish Sehun and I were close again. But I, um, I don't even know how I feel. I don't really pay attention to my feelings towards anything."

"Why don't you talk to him, then? You guys were fine when we went to Hongdae."

Luhan shudders.

"I wouldn't say fine, I couldn't even maintain eye contact with him. I spent 80% of my time trying to avoid him after that talk we had in one of the stores... It's horrible. I don't know what to do anymore."

"You have a tendency to run from your problems, Luhan... something that I'm all too familiar with." Kyungsoo sends him a knowing look, and Luhan scrunches up his nose. "Well, like Jongdae and I said before, one of you has to make the first move. If you guys just let it sit, nothing good is going to happen, and it's just going to get worse."

Luhan bites his lip, obviously feeling conflicted. He walks over to where Kyungsoo was sitting and sits on the stoool next to his. Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose—his friend still smells like fresh soil. After a while, the brown haired florist squeezes his eyes shut.

"Right," Luhan eventually then exhales, and Kyungsoo looks at him in mild confusion. Luhan takes his phone out, opening the calendar app with a frown on his face. "Well, today's not a good time. Tomorrow isn't either. And neither is the day after that... or the day after that...."

"Luhan," Kyungsoo chides him.

"God, I don't even know what we used to talk about before. How the did I do it?"

"You are absolutely ridiculous."

"...I think I'm going to actually myself."

"Don't you dare do that here." Kyungsoo narrows his eyes at Luhan, who snickers in response.

At that moment, Jongdae walks inside the flower shop, an odd mixture of frustration and exhaustion on his face. It was curious; Jongdae rarely got annoyed or mad about anything. Maybe it was because he was the epitome of annoying... but all jokes aside—Kyungsoo muses—he doesn't even think that he's ever seen the barista mad. He's not sure if he wants to see that happen though; he knows that people like him can get really upset when the time comes. 

"Let me guess, you're on your lunch break too?" Kyungsoo asks, raising an eyebrow at the barista.

"Nope." Jongdae sighs, flattening his wind-blown hair. "Junmyeon told me to go home for the day."

"Uhhh... why?"

Jongdae must've seen the shocked look on Kyungsoo's face, for he exclaimed:

"Okay, first of all, I didn't do , if that's what you're wondering. I guess he let me out early because I didn't get any sleep last night, so he said he wanted me to rest. To be honest, I'm kinda thankful for that because Seokjin told me that I almost spilled hot coffee all over my hands since I was nodding off, and even Minseok looked concerned—"

"How did you even get here without collapsing on the sidewalk?!" Luhan's eyes widen.

"I always find a way." Jongdae shrugs, yawning and stretching. "Anyway, what's there to do? Order forms? I can do deliveries today if you need me to..." He is interrupted again by another large yawn, accompanied by drowsy blinking. Appalled, Kyungsoo shares a glance with Luhan, who looks as surprised as he does.

As Jongdae reaches for the telephone, Kyungsoo smacks his hand violently, eliciting a loud yelp from the barista. 

"What the hell was that for?!"

"When Junmyeon said that you needed to rest, that doesn't mean that you go out and continue working, especially if that's coming from Junmyeon. He's stress incarnated, and he especially knows when someone reaches their limit." Kyungsoo says, his tone serious. "Just take a nap in the back or something, and you can help when you wake up, okay?"

Jongdae grins sleepily, "Wow... thanks, boss."

"Don't call me that."

Luhan and Kyungsoo watch Jongdae as the barista walks away, where there was a couch in the other room. The black haired florist hears the barista's light sigh as he plops down on the couch. It wasn't even a few minutes later when they heard Jongdae begin to snore lightly. Kyungsoo sighs and shakes his head before glancing back at the other florist, frowning. 

"So, what were we talking about? Oh... Sehun."

Luhan flinches, knocking the mug filled with pens over.

Kyungsoo gives him a death glare, picking the mug back up before putting the pens that fell out back inside. "You need to stop doing that when you're nervous."

"...Sorry."

"Seriously, though... You've got to do something. I don't care what it is, but it's got to be something." Kyungsoo returns to his order form, writing the last few words before setting his pen down. "This whole thing—it's taking a toll on you. You're not doing your work as well as you used to be doing it. This is a huge distraction for you, and I'm sure you know it."

Luhan doesn't reply, quiet for once.

"So, as your boss, and your friend..." Kyungsoo says quietly. "Get your together."

Luhan rolls his eyes, but he's smiling slightly. "So much for a pep talk."

The corners of Kyungsoo's mouth twitch upwards, but he doesn't reply.

 

 

---

 

 

"Order for Table 25," Chanyeol says, much later in the afternoon. His loud voice booms throughout the chaos of the kitchen as he sets the dish on the counter.

A waiter immediately dashes by at the sound of the order and picks up the plate, muttering a quick thanks before dashing towards the correct table. Chanyeol sighs, wiping the sweat off of his face with a towel. He loves his job, seriously, but it really could be exhausting sometimes. Afterwards, Chanyeol moves the receipt over so that he could see it better, and is about to start prepping the next dish until someone clears their throat behind him.

"Hey, Chanyeol."

Chanyeol turns around at the sound of his name and finds himself facing Jimin, one of the restaurant's newly hired waiters. For a newbie, Jimin was pretty good at his job so far; he was an overall really friendly person and also very patient—something that many people valued.

"Oh, hey, Jimin. What's up?"

"Erm, there's someone who wants to see you for something, not sure for what though." 

Chanyeol blinks, waiting for him to elaborate. When he doesn't, Chanyeol asks, "Who?"

"Uh..." Jimin nervously looks sideways. "He said not to tell you who he is. He just said 'as soon as possible', and to meet him outside in the front of the restaurant." 

"Oh." Chanyeol tilts his head in confusion. Jimin offers him an apologetic smile. "Um, thanks anyways. Can you tell someone to take over until I get back?"

"Sure thing."

Chanyeol takes off his apron and doesn't realize his hands are shaking until he finishes washing them. The sous chef takes a deep breath; really, what should he be scared of? Does Changmin (his boss) even know about this strange visitor who wanted to see him? All of this was weird, really weird. And to think that they'll contact him in the middle of work, too...

Chanyeol exits through the front of the restaurant, looking for this person who wanted to talk to him. Almost immedately, he sees a man who is sitting outside in one of the tables who makes Chanyeol think that he's the one he's expecting—the person in question is dressed in a black suit and tie, and he was also wearing a pair of sunglasses.

Wow... this guy looked exactly like a male model.

Surprisingly, the man started first. He smiles when he sees Chanyeol, and he straightens up at once.

"Hey, Chanyeol." The man says, and Chanyeol is surprised that 1) he sounds so casual, like he's greeting a friend, and 2) he really does know who he is. The man sounds and looks really familiar too, for some strange reason. He pats the chair next to him when Chanyeol walks over. "Please, sit down."

Chanyeol complies, trying to relax. He could still hear his heart pounding loudly in his ears, however.

The guy then takes off his sunglasses, and Chanyeol's eyes widen at once. He does know who this is—he's seen this face on television many times...

"No way—Kim Mingyu?" Chanyeol says, surprised.

Yes, Kim Mingyu, the son of one of the wealthiest chefs in the world. Just like his father, Mingyu is also an amazing chef; Chanyeol's seen him cook and judge other people's dishes on TV before. Not to mention that everyone just liked everything about the guy, he was kind and handsome, put others before him, totally charismatic... you name it. Chanyeol always felt a twinge of jealousy whenever he saw him on TV, but it was mostly because Mingyu was younger than him.

Yep, he sure was younger, but he was already thousands of steps ahead.

Mingyu smiles that same bright smile he always shows on television. Chanyeol is a little taken aback on how bright the dude's smile is, and he also knows why a lot of girls always fall for him.

"Sorry for turning up out of the blue, but I really wanted to talk to you."

Chanyeol looks sideways. They're already starting to get attention from some passersby. Some girls squealed in excitement at the sudden appearance of young chef, and he squirmed a little in his seat.

Mingyu must've seen the uncomfortable look Chanyeol was sporting on his face, for he clears his throat a little awkwardly.

"Not a fan of attention, huh?" The celebrity asks, smiling a little.

"To be honest, no," Chanyeol mutters, wiping his now clammy hands on his pants. There are already a few teenage girls a distance away who were not-so-secretly taking pictures of the two of them.

"Me neither, actually." Mingyu smiles crookedly, and Chanyeol is a little surprised, for he sensed a little bitterness in the chef's tone. Before he could ask him what he means by that, Mingyu coughs. "Want to go somewhere quieter? I don't want our conversation to be heard by the public just yet. And don't worry about work... I'll call in with your boss and explain the situation with him."

Just yet? Chanyeol thinks, beginning to sweat profusely despite the cold air outside. What on Earth does Mingyu mean by that? Despite the seed of doubt that just planted in his head, Chanyeol tries for a weak smile. 

"Sure, I've got a place."

 

They arrive at Chanyeol's third favorite coffee shop fifteen minutes later, after giving Mingyu the address to the place. Chanyeol was pleasantly surprised to find that Mingyu was quite an easy person to talk to (really, what did he expect? This guy is a celebrity; he certainly knows how to talk to people) and didn't mind his company, although it was a little overwhelming for him to sit in the passenger seat of the Kim Mingyu's car.

He was really nervous, though, he didn't know why Mingyu wanted to talk to him literally out of nowhere. He thought the chef had his own schedule to worry about, but then again, maybe he pulled some strings to get out of it.

Mingyu puts his sunglasses back on when he enters the coffee shop (Chanyeol finds this funny because they're indoors), but there was nothing to worry about. Nobody was in the coffee shop besides one lone person who was currently snoozing on top of their open textbooks, a cup of cold coffee next to them.

Yoongi's on shift; Chanyeol smiles when he sees him, and the other male nods back to him in recognition (although he has a curious expression on his face).

"Do you want anything?" Mingyu asks him before they sit down.

Goodness gracious, this guy was seriously polite.

"Oh... um, probably an iced tea." Chanyeol says the first thing that comes to his mind, not wanting to delay anything. Mingyu nods and goes to the cashier right away, and in a panic, Chanyeol remembers that he has a date with Baekhyun tonight. 

, , . Chanyeol thinks; it's already 6:40, and they planned to meet at We Are One at 7:30 so that Baekhyun would pick him up. With a jolt, he has no idea how long this will take. He really doesn't want to miss this date, but he is very afraid that they might have to reschedule.

While Mingyu is ordering, Chanyeol pulls out his phone and dials Baekhyun's number quickly, praying that the doctor would pick up right away. Four rings later, he does.

"Hey, Yeol."

"Baek. Hey. Oh man, I'm in this weird situation right now." Chanyeol sighs, relieved that he had someone to talk to about this.

Baekhyun laughs, and Chanyeol's heart becomes full. "You're going to have to elaborate on that one. Maybe when I see you later? I'm supposed to find somebody right now."

"Actually..." Chanyeol feels his heart sinking at once. "I'm not sure if I can make it anymore. I don't know how long this is going to take, everything's moving so fast right now. I'm really sorry, I literally just got pulled into this and I don't think I can escape."

"Aww, Yeol, don't worry. It's okay. Just tell me about it when you have the chance, and we can reschedule anytime."

"I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"Really, it's fine, I was beginning to think that we see each other too much anyway." Baekhyun jokes, and Chanyeol smiles again. "Well, call me later, then. And you should tell Kyungsoo and Luhan, I think they're expecting you."

"Oh, crap. I will, thanks for reminding me."

"For sure. All right, I gotta go."

"Wait—Baek."

"Hmm?"

"I miss you."

Baekhyun snorts at the statement, but Chanyeol can hear his smile. "I miss you too, dummy. See you."

He hangs up when Mingyu comes over and mutters a small thanks when the celebrity hands him his drink.

"Friend?" Mingyu asks conversationally, as he slides in the booth opposite him.

"Boyfriend, actually." Chanyeol corrects him casually, stirring the iced tea in his hands. Mingyu's eyebrows raise, but he doesn't press the matter.

"Anyway, you must be wondering why I wanted to see you." Mingyu says, straightening up in his seat. He takes off his sunglasses and places them on the table, folding his hands delicately in front of him. "The thing is... I've heard a lot about you, Chanyeol. You're more popular than you realize you are, especially ever since the restaurant you work at got a fabulous review from one of the most famous food critics in the world."

"Ahh... well." Chanyeol laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. He remembers that day as if it were yesterday; he had never received much praise for his cooking until the well-famed critic said that the food he had at the restaurant was 'absolutely spectacular'. 

"So, I decided to investigate myself. A small business that managed to win the heart of one of the most famous food critics? I thought it was impossible. I then started to visit the restaurant from time to time, but secretly; I ordered food to-go constantly and used different names because I wanted to see how good your dishes really were. I thought that maybe you were only at your best when celebrities came, but I was wrong; your cooking has been consistently delicious and I admit that I'm very impressed. After all, I heard that most of the dishes are actually your own recipes...?" 

Chanyeol nods slowly when Mingyu trails off, and the younger chef's smile grows wider.

"Well, here comes the juicy part. I specifically came today to ask if you wanted to work at one of my father's restaurants as head chef."

Chanyeol nearly chokes on his drink, his mouth wide open in shock.

"You... er... I..." Chanyeol gapes, and he mentally screams at himself to say something intelligent. "Oh."

Slightly amused, Mingyu nods.

"I have been thinking a lot about this decision, and I believe that it's a good one. You have plenty of experience being in the kitchen. You'll be exposed to a new but greater and fancier environment, but I know for sure that your talent will continue to grow here. You're a damn good chef, really."

Chanyeol closes his mouth, blinking rapidly, half-pleased that the Kim Mingyu called him a 'damn good chef', and half-afraid because he didn't know what to make of it. 

He drinks some of his iced tea, thinking.

Working at one of Mr. Kim's incredibly fancy 5 star restaurants seemed like a dream come true, and as the head chef?! And to think that the Kim Mingyu himself was recruiting him... all of this sounded incredibly surreal. It was certainly all happening too quickly too.

He loved the restaurant he was working at right now. Everyone was like a big family there, even with disgruntled Changmin as their father figure. He liked his current employees, whom he worked with for years, and the thought of him leaving made his heart hurt. But then again, he could earn more money for himself and his family if he accepted this new job offer, and that extra money could go towards his savings in his dream to open his own restaurant someday...

But he dreams.

"I don't know what to say." Chanyeol admits, snapping out of his thoughts. "All of this is very overwhelming."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Mingyu replies, swirling his drink with his straw. "But, hey, it'd be great if you give it a thought. I'll give you my number—", Mingyu takes out a business card from inside his suit pocket, and hands it to him, "—just call me when you've made up your mind, okay? There's no rush or anything."

"...Yes, of course."

"Cool." Mingyu flashes that bright smile at him once more, finishing up his drink. He's about to say something else when his phone rings, and he looks at his cell with a deep frown on his face. "Damn, I've gotta run. I forgot I have a meeting later. See ya, Chanyeol. I'm sure that I'll hear from you soon."

"Okay." Chanyeol says, his voice sounding hollow.

He does end up saying a curt goodbye when Mingyu gets up and leaves the coffee shop. Though, as soon as he left, a feeling of unease began to grow inside of him.

 

 

---

 

 

A/N: new character but it's none other than kim mingyu of svt! I know he's amazing at cooking so why not make him the son of a famous chef in this story? :) also Gah sorry for the late update... I lost motivation HAHA not to mention summer school took up most of my time after actual school ended, but I finally found time to update, yay!

hope you guys are all doing well, and thank you so much to all of those who subscribed to this story! it really keeps me going, so thank you so much guys! stay tuned to find out what will happen to hunhan lolol and yeah I'm aware that there's not much sulay/taoris recently, but pls bear with me D:

-seokminz x