The younger keeps trying on options of tops to match his jeans, all of Hansol’s tops too loose, but somehow fitting him in a cute manner. Hansol is happy that the raven haired boy seems a bit livelier with all the going to work thing. He hopes Ten really gave up on his death wish.

"I am going to get you a present when I'll get my first payment." Ten smiles towards Hansol wide, warm smile, as he puts on his clothes "You don't have to Ten, you have to focus on yourself, you should’ve used this time to reflect on how to start again." and Ten's face falls again in the expressionless to sad state, he would like to argue back that Hansol does so much for him and that he feels bad to see the other giving so much effort while he is lazing around. 


Hansol knows that now with Ten working they'll save the money for his one way ticket faster and something is bothering him at this thought, he is not sure why or what. 


They are ready to leave the house, Ten dressed into his trousers and takes the white top with black letter printed on the sleeves, Hansol looks not at the younger's shoes which aren't in a very good condition "Ten, have you tried out my shoes, maybe they fit you" Hansol suggested but then shakes firmly his head "No, hyung, I am not going to take even more from you, I'll walk with these, they're still....wearable" Hansol doesn't argue more just let's him know he has an open possibility. 

At the café, Ten receives his responsibilities from the cafe manager Johnny is not there yet, having to attend school with Hansol, but Ten does just fine, fastly taking onto his chores. For it all to be in order, Ten confesses over his record to which the manager assures him is nothing, that they have other employees like Ten, and that they’re only interested on how he does his job, not the record. 

They told him they're going to have Johnny teach him how to do the barista work when he comes, meanwhile he’ll serve at the tables and clean them, but he ends up cleaning the entire place for the entire week, and as each day passes he returns home more tired, falling flat to sleep.

“Ten, are yo- oh, asleep again.” Hansol proceeds to wake him up to eat something “Grab something before going to sleep.” and Ten stands up trying to keep his eyes from shutting, but wakes up in the end and joins Hansol to dinner. They exchange today’s experience Ten on how he handles work lately and Hansol about school and when Hansol asks if it is too tiring Ten just puts his head on Hansol’s shoulder “I want to keep myself as busy as possible to…forget.”



And it breaks him in many ways, it breaks him because Ten is young and has to go through so much struggle, it breaks him that he can’t do much for the younger, and it breaks him because just literarily his heart hurts.



“It’s so funny hyung.” Ten smiles towards Hansol, eyes almost close due to the crinkle of the face “What?” Hansol wipes his mouth thinking that he might have something on his mouth “This conversation, it’s just like the one I witnessed between you and Johnny when I first met him, and I felt left out, it’s like we’re knowing each other for some time as well.” He says eagerly and Hansol nods in agreement.

“Have you thought of what to do once you’re back?” Hansol casually asks before they sleep, the weather starts getting colder and they somehow reduced the distance between them to keep the warmth from dissipating. 

Ten exhales loudly “I-I don’t know hyung, every time I think of home it kills me thinking I am going to return as a looser to my mother, it kills me that I’ll go back to them and say ‘hey, I’ve ed up all your money and did , you gave me money to get my kicked and stay in jail’ it’s pretty hard to even get over, but I will find something, because y-…nothing.” He wanted to say something but stopped “Come on Ten, you’re still young, you can do mistakes. When you are young you are allowed to up, because you have time to repair it, I am sorry that you had to experience such a sad face of Korea, but you will do it, no matter what you set your mind on, try it until you get it.” Ten smiles teary eyed even if Hansol can’t see him.

“You’re such a nice person hyung, your family must be proud of you, too bad I can’t meet your sister now to tell her about you.” Ten says and Hansol nudges him with his shoulder “Hey, I bet my sister found a better someone in there and she doesn’t need you to go there and interrupt her business with this.” And they set on laughing hard. 

“What about you hyung, what do you want to do? I mean after I return home you will be finally able to do things more things for you.” Ten asks and Hansol is now cornered, mind blank, empty because he never thought on what will he really do after Ten leaves, he clears his throat “Um, I haven’t decided yet, I am focusing on school now, after school, well, maybe I’ll try something out with Johnny.” Ten stays quiet, not asking anymore questions, he turns his back to Hansol and the older boy switches his position to be back to back with Ten, for warmth preservation.  



“Hey Ten, so, how’s been Korea so far, what did you enjoy the most?” Johnny says while in the break. Ten tries to focus on the positive part of his staying in Korea “Well, to be honest, I managed to see Seoul with Hansol hyung, I can’t give you too much impressions, I’m sorry Johnny hyung.”

Johnny observes Ten for a bit more “Hey Ten, did Hansol took you to the arcade?” The younger nods, smiling “I like the arcade, there are so many games, I like playing there.” 

“Then, let’s go on Sunday, we’re free.” Johnny says and Ten gives a troubled expression “Umm, are you inviting me out?” Ten innocently asks and Johnny bursts into laugh “No, we’ll hang out like boys, me, you and Hansol.” Ten’s cheeks are red, clearly embarrassed “I’m sorry, it’s fine with me, I really like the arcade.”


Before their shift ends, Hansol appears at their café, he spots Ten and Johnny working behind the counter, the taller showing to Ten how a beverage it’s done and then how he handles it to the customer, with the de rigor flirting. 

“Don’t pass this skill to Ten.” Hansol says after the customer leaves and Johnny purses his lips into a thin line “He does it as well, but I think he’s not conscious of it.” He defends himself “No way!” Ten offers “Johnny, stop bothering him.” Hansol defends Ten “Wh-what, have you seen how he acts all cute, I’ve seen few school girls that would only come when he’s in.” Johnny scoffs.

“You’ve come to pick me up?” Ten asks Hansol “I was passing by and I figured it out you are about to finish your shift, and since I was around why not going home together.” Hansol beams.

“Ohh, Johnny said we’ll go to the arcade on Sunday, the three of us.” Ten eagerly tells to Hansol “It’s a call then.” The elder says ruffling Ten’s hair, before the younger proceeds to change his clothes to go home.

“Nice, I can’t wait to be a third wheeler, I should ask Wendy to come along.” Johnny slaps Hansol’s back.

The three of them proceed home, in pretty much silence, all of them too exhausted from work and hit from the cold weather, they separate from Johnny that takes a different bus, with the promise not to forget about Sunday.

Hansol picked Ten from work from the rest of the week and Sunday proceeded along Ten to the arcade. The younger’s face enlighten at the sight of the games. Johnny came alone in the end, but this didn’t reduce the fun. They played one on one, switching rivals from time to time. 

Before leaving Johnny spots the dancing machine and suggests to play, but to his surprise Ten reacts pretty bad on it, and he wonders if he did something wrong when after insisting on Hansol to play with him, pulling his sleeve like a kid, Ten puts his hands on his ears and strolls out, leaving behind a Hansol apologizing to Johnny on how they have to go home, and a stoic Johnny that freezes on his spot.



The next day in school, Johnny approaches Hansol about Ten, now that they work together, Johnny had enough time to study Ten, plus the arcade hang out, and it bugged him all along that Hansol never mentioned Ten in his life and how he reacted when he confronted him, plus Ten’s reaction to the dancing machine.

“C’mon Hansol, what’s the deal with Ten, man?” He asks and Hansol shrugs “What’s the deal with Ten?” Answering back with the same question makes Johnny furrow his brows “Don’t play fool with me Hansol, you’ve never mentioned Ten before and one day you shove him into my face as your friend, and you raise money to help him get back to his country.” Hansol shrugs again then nods “As I said, I am just trying to help him.” Johnny lowers his chin looking at Hansol “You like him?” And the older puffs “Are you jealous on Ten?” Johnny hits him on the shoulder “Ha-ha, you’re funny, Han-smol.” Johnny starts now on a more serious tone “You never take interest in people like this, you’ve never mentioned the kid before, he has a record, and…I bet you’ve seen the bruises he has on him, not to mention the leave you took yesterday.”
                                                    
Hansol doesn’t know how to react, he tries to keep as cool as possible, he can’t let Johnny know Ten’s story without his consent and moreover, he can’t tell Johnny that Ten confuses him “You just described me as a careless that gives about no one, he needed help and I was there, that’s all.” But Johnny won’t let himself convinced, he know Hansol better than this. 

“What if he is some kind of psycho, what if he’ll kill you, Hansol, he’s a complete stranger with a record and God knows what past.” Hansol feels now personally offended “Look, Johnny, I appreciate your concern, I know you care, but I think you’ve seen a bit of Ten, he’s inoffensive, he just needs help, when I’ll have the money I’ll send him home, happy?” 

Johnny shakes his head in disbelief “Now this is what I am talking about, Hansol, you try to help him but we both know you can easily borrow those money and send him right away, yet, you’re holding on, and you say you don’t like him, then what, what are you going to do after he leaves?”

Now Johnny hit him, right under his belt, and he might’ve kept his composure well up until now, but it made him think hard, he could indeed get those money and send Ten right away home, yet he didn’t do it, now he hasn’t even thought on what would he do after Ten leaves, he wants the chance to know Ten better, and longer, maybe things will really turn out differently for both, maybe he could give Ten’s life more meaning and the other way around but this is not it, it’s nothing Ten will leave and after Ten, he will forget Hansol, and Hansol will try to forget Ten, or will he?

“Maybe one day I will be able to tell you the whole thing, Johnny, Ten is really not what you think he is” Hansol grabs his stuff to leave “I didn’t put a label on him, I just want to make sure you’re ok, and I do hope when you tell me –hyung-, you will not be crying the soul out of yourself that he left” and this being said Johnny passes by Hansol, leaving him behind.




It’s a week to Christmas, time sure flies fast, Hansol is at the kitchen table doing a list with things to buy for Christmas with a note in his head ‘shoes for Ten’when the other comes holding Hansol’s laptop “I found something, on January 12th 385,000 won, it’s the cheapest in this period.” Ten says and Hansol looks at the ‘one way’ written above the price on the airlines' application, that’s it, January 12th the day Ten will leave, the day Hansol will be free, or alone for that. He nods “Let’s take it, we have enough.” He looks towards Ten that doesn’t sketches any expression, only bites his nails muttering an ‘ok hyung.’

“What’s that, our Christmas shopping list?” Ten puts the laptop beside them and takes the list from Hansol’s hands “Check it out, maybe you want something else besides what’s written on there.” Hansol inches closer to Ten that smells of their shampoo and shower gel, that is dressed in his clothes, and that somehow inspires him ‘home’ and an image starts playing in his head of him holding Ten’s hand, both walking through a park, admiring the Christmas decoration lights, Ten’s nose is red and him cupping the younger’s hands and blowing his hot breathe over the younger’s hands then entering in a restaurant and drinking hot wine, Ten’s lips are chapped and get rosy and he leans in, closer and closer-

“Hyung?   Hyung?” Ten asks startling Hansol that forgot about the real world and now got snapped back into reality, just that he’s so damn close to Ten, and Ten might freak out just in this moment that he somehow might want to kiss him, and Hansol doesn’t want to creep Ten out “Yes, would you like to add something?” Ten looks back into the list, and Hansol might have spotted a tint of red on the younger’s cheeks “You put so much chocolate on this list, but you don’t even like it.” Ten says “I might have started to enjoy a little bit since you enjoy it so much, it gives me an appetite.” Hansol pushes himself back slowly to reduce the earlier awkwardness “Let’s go shopping together then.” Ten puts the list on the table watching Hansol rising a thumb up while drinking water.


Hansol comes to pick Ten up from work, two days before Christmas, luckily Ten will be free for three days, and so will his friend Johnny since the café will be closed. Koreans don’t really hold Christmas, but this café has many foreign employees and the owner, foreign himself decided to let them spend some time with whomever they wanted to.

“Finally getting him on a date?” Johnny mocks at Hansol and gains a smack in his tummy “Is this how you greet customers?” Hansol rants “Are you even one, I thought you came to pick up the groom” Johnny laughs at Hansol’s contorting face into a ‘what the Johnny’ “He couldn’t stop his mouth ‘Hansol hyung’s coming to get me today, we’ll go shopping’ and he’s literarily fixing himself from an hour ago, didn’t put much effort into work either, not to sweat probably, we don’t have a shower here.” Hansol smacks Johnny again when he sees Ten coming like a flower towards them “Hyung, you came.” 

“Oh there he is, ‘hyung you came’ my Ten, you’ve been fixing your hair and clothes since a decade ago.” Johnny gains a slap by his arm form the other, obviously embarrassed at his comment, that his cheeks are all red “I thought you said an hour, now you went by a decade, let’s go Ten, let the grumpy cat have his way.” Hansol signals Ten to come along, placing a hand over his shoulder and letting his tongue out to Johnny “You never picked me up -sol.” they hear Johnny from afar, as they head towards their goal, the supermarket for Christmas shopping.

Shopping for Christmas with Ten is the most pleasant experience for Hansol, reminding him a lot of how his family used to go shopping for Seolnal when they were younger, and how his sister was teasing Hansol whenever he wanted to pick something and realizing when they got home that his sister did take care to put it in the cart even if she .

He wonders how Ten used to go shopping with his family, if his face was like this, now, smiling from ear to ear, a smile Hansol wants to wipe off with a kiss, or maybe just stare at it forever.

“Hyung, I will help with the food, are we going to invite Johnny, I’m asking because we should calculate and take only the necessary.” Hansol winks and nods towards Ten, and now he’s sure, Ten smiles awkwardly embarrassed, and he feels bad, he is creeping Ten out.

“Do you want us to have a Christmas tree?” Hansol looks towards Tens lightened face “Can we?” Ten says as if he is a kitten that was promised milk, the elder nods and ruffles Ten’s hair “Go on, pick up one and some decorations because I don’t think I have any.” He guided Ten. But the younger isn’t greedy, he knows how short they are on money and ends up picking up the smallest tree, that could fit on a nightstand, a red fluffy tinsel and 5 globes.

Hansol enjoys cooking for Christmas with Ten, they play music and somehow Ten dances along while helping with the food, and Hansol can’t do much but watch Ten fondly. When Ten stops and sees Hansol staring at him, the elder joins in the dancing, and Ten puts down their cooking tools and takes Hansol’s hands for a dance to which the elder doesn’t resist. 

“Is this how you cook at home?” Hansol asks, raising his hand to let Ten spin, gesture which made Ten creep a smile from ear to ear “I would always take Mom to a dance while she prepared food for holidays.” The younger says making Hansol do a spin, which ended up being awfully awkward due to the height difference. 

“Do you miss home this much?” Hansol asks even though his heart stings at the thought of Ten’s leave. “I miss their support, they would always encourage me, help me stand up, here no one even patted me on the back when I did something good,” Ten’s face falls sad again and the elder regrets asking, but in a way he wanted to know, he wants to know more about Ten, but fate is twisted, and they have to face it “until you, hyung.” Ten ended the dance with a squeeze of Hansol’s hands.

“Do you need help with the Christmas tree.” Hansol peeks an eye from where he was arranging things in his closet, Ten shaking his head “It’s so small, I can handle it.” He smiles towards Hansol “It’s so cute, I would’ve taken a picture of it, but I can’t.” He looks fondly towards the tree, but sad at the same time. 

Hansol r