“Yeah mom, I know.” He sighed.

He had been on the phone with his mom for a little over an hour now but no matter how many times he tried to hang up she would always find something else to talk about.

“Mom, just… I need to hang up now, I have an essay to work on.”

“Oh, of course !” She said, and Minho rolled his eyes. It was the third time he was telling her about it but she had ignored him twice already. “I’m sorry I’ve been keeping you on the phone for so long. I’m going to hang up now, okay ?”

“Yes !” He said annoyingly.

Finally.

“Oh, are you still coming back for the holidays ? Because your uncle has a new car and he’d like to-”

“Mom.” He said, the annoyance in his voice very noticeable.

“Alright, alright. I’m done talking.” She said, giggling. “Don’t work too hard okay ? You need to rest too. I miss you sweetie.”

“I miss you too mom.” He said, in a softer voice.

He had been living far from his hometown since the start of the school year and he had to admit he missed seeing his friends and his family.

“You know you can still come back this weekend right ? I’ve been talking to the neighbors - they are really nice - and they said-”

“Alright mom !” He cut in. “I really need to go now, bye !”

“Okay ! I love you sweetie, bye ! Goodnight.”

“Bye mom, love you.” He said, hanging up.

He stared at the papers scattered on his desk and sighed. He had so much work to do and so little time. He glanced at his watch. He could still work for a few hours before going to bed. He started sorting out his notes and the ideas he had already written down for his essay when his stomach made a rumbling sound. He sighed once more. He was not in the mood to cook something and definitely couldn’t afford to waste time now. His essay was due in a few days only. He probably should have started working on it earlier, but he really was struggled to find the motivation he needed to get to work these days. He grabbed one of the many pamphlets lying on the kitchen table for restaurants offering food deliveries and settled on a pizzeria. It was cheap and simple.

“Petit pizza deliveries, what can I do for you ?”

“Oh, hello !” Minho said, staring at the pamphlet in his hand. “I’d like to order a large hawaiian pizza.”

He told the man his address and was about to hang up when it happened.

“Your pizza will be delivered in the next forty five minutes. Thank you for ordering.”

“Thanks. Bye, love you.”

The words had slipped before his brain had even had the time to register what he had said.

“Love you too.” The man replied on the phone.

Minho stood there, completely flustered, and his face turned bright red. Did he just… Had he just… told a random pizza guy ‘love you’ ?! And did that guy just said it back ?!

There was a minute of awkward silence and Minho was too embarrassed to say anything or hang up, and after what seemed like an eternity the man on the phone spoke again.

“I hope you don’t expect me to give you a discount now that we’ve confessed our undying love for each other.”

If he hadn’t felt so embarrassed, Minho would have laughed.

“Oh f-, I mean I-I… I’m so sorry, it’s a habit !” He said, trying to justify himself.

“I’m going to ignore you said that and pretend that our love is real.” The guy said, sounding very amused.

“O-okay.” Minho said, completely flustered. “I’ll just- er… Hang up now. Bye.”

He was very careful not to say those three words again and hung up before the guy could even say something else. He threw his phone on his bed and cursed. What the had just happened ?! Did he really just confess his love to a stranger on the phone ?! And the guy flirted with him ?! He dropped on his bed, his face on his pillow as he groaned. This just had to happen to him.

After five minutes of about, he decided to get his together and start working. That was why he had ordered pizza in the first place, after all. To gain precious time to work on his assignment. But there he was, wanting nothing more than to go in a corner and hide from embarrassment.

He lifted himself off the bed and sat at his desk, taking a deep breath. He tried to forget the whole thing and focused on his work.

After a while, he was so engrossed in his essay writing that he jumped when he heard the sound of the doorbell. He sighed and grabbed his wallet, walking out of his room and into the corridor to open the front door. When he did open it, his eyes fell on a small guy with big puppy eyes, prominent cheekbones, and a cute smile. He had a red jacket and a red cap on which the Petit Pizza logo was sewn and Minho was really hoping this guy wasn’t the same as the guy he had been on the phone with about half an hour ago (or maybe he was hoping he was, because the guy was kinda cute).

“This is the pizza you ordered.” The guy said with a smirk, and Minho froze right then because he had a feeling the guy knew about the ‘love you’ accident.

“T-Thanks. How much do I own you ?”

The guy looked at him funny, like he tried to hold back from bursting out laughing, and Minho’s eyes widened.

“I-I mean ‘owe’ ! Owe ! How much do I o-owe you ?” He stuttered, looking down at his wallet as if he was looking for change instead of hiding his pink cheeks from the guy.

“Four dollars.”

Minho looked up with a frown.

“But I thought-”

“‘Guess I gave you that discount after all.” The pizza guy said with a playful smirk. Minho couldn’t help the blush spreading on his cheeks.

Minho gave him the money silently, trying really hard to ignore the spark of electricity he felt when their fingers touched. The guy smiled and winked at him.

“Bye.”

“Bye.” Minho mumbled, glancing at the retracting figure of the man in the street.

He heaved a sigh and went back inside with his pizza. He went back to his bedroom and sat at his desk, staring at the open document on his computer screen. He grabbed a piece of pizza with one hand and wrote some notes with the other. He tried really hard to focus on his homework and planning his essay, but the pizza guy kept showing up in his mind.

He was kinda cute.

Oh God, Minho focus ! Do you really want to fail the module because of some cute pizza guy ?

He groaned and tried to grab his bottle of water on the desk but he accidentally knocked down the pile of books by doing so. He cursed and tried to grab them, but the piece of pizza he had been holding fell on his lap, the side with the toppings landing flat on his jeans. Jeans he had just bought a week ago. It was definitely not his day. He cursed again and grabbed one of the napkins provided with the pizza. One of them fell on the floor and he frowned when he noticed the ink on the said napkin. He picked it up and read the message.

“Hey. You sound really cute when you’re flustered, and I wanted to ask if we could get coffee sometime or something (it doesn’t have to be coffee). I will be really sad if you say no because you totally got my hopes up when you told me you loved me.

Yours truly, the guy you confessed your love to on the phone. (The name’s Jonghyun, by the way.)

PS: don’t think dating me will get you free pizzas.”

He couldn’t help his lips from curving up into a smile. He turned the napkin around and saw something that looked very similar to a phone number on the other side.

Maybe his day wasn’t so bad after all.