Episode 5: Jaehwan

When Jaehwan wakes up on a Saturday morning, mouth dry and hair a tangled mess, he realizes he's going to need more than a warm, 15 minute long shower and two tablets of aspirin to get rid of the remnants of alcohol in his body, so he calls Hakyeon (the older answers on Jaehwan's third try, hangs up and a few minutes later he's the one who calls him — he swears a few times, hangs up again and calls him about half an hour later, fully awake, functional and less hungover than the first time) to meet at The Sixth Station; Hakyeon is more than happy to accept, The Sixth Station is a beautiful place, full of nice people and delicious food, but most importantly, it was the place the 2 boys went to after they had a wild night on the weekend — they frequented the café so much, they even had their own reserved table.

Jaehwan sits on his usual spot as he waits for Hakyeon to stop acting like an old man (he knows he's asking for too much) and to sit down as well. Hakyeon sighs loudly as he takes a seat in front of Jaehwan (Jaehwan doesn't think he'd be surprised if he started hearing the boy's bones cracking as well), and smiles softly at the waitress in front of them, they don't need to tell the waitresses of café what they want anymore (an iced cascara coconut milk latte and a devil's food doughnut for Hakyeon and a vanilla latte for Jaehwan, always) but they always come around to confirm their orders. Jaehwan takes a small glance to their waitress of the day — her name is Mina: chubby cheeks and big, scared eyes looking tentatively at the pair as she tries to give them a kind smile without succeding, Jaehwan can tell she's new and very young, for what it looks like, the girl stutters as she reads Hakyeon's long order out loud, and normally Jaehwan would be all about smiling at her reassuringly until she feels at ease, but his headache is huge and he is craving his vanilla latte, so he only hides his face on the table, waits for the girl to leave, scrunching up his nose when Hakyeon makes one of his unfunny jokes to make the waitress laugh. 

''Hakyeon take your sunglasses off.'' Jaehwan says, he groans loudly once the waitress has left their table, ''It's ing raining outside.'' 

Hakyeon rolls his eyes (Jaehwan thinks? He's not sure, the boy's sunglasses are covering most of his face), ''I can't.''

''My eyebags are huge right now.'' He explains when Jaehwan frowns in confusion, ''And puffy.''

''Jung Taekwoon kept you up all night yesterday, eh?'' Jaehwan smirks to annoy the older, who blushes slightly (once again, Jaehwan thinks, and God — Hakyeon's sunglasses are really ing big). 

''Well not really, someone interrupted us.'' Hakyeon says once he's recovered from the embarrassment and sighs, ''I wish, though.''

Jaehwan laughs at the boy's words, looks in wonder at the people hurriedly walking on the streets through the window next to them; and it is nice, he thinks, having a space only for Hakyeon and himself, where no one knew no one except the boys and the café staff, and that old man that always sat by the corner with a newspaper in hand (he's not in the café today, Jaehwan guesses it is because of the weather).

''God, he's so hot!'' Hakyeon whines interrupt Jaehwan's wandering thoughts, the younger sees Hakyeon running a hand through his messy hair (the purple color is fading already, Jaehwan notices) and pouts, ''I added him yesterday on Facebook and he hasn't accepted me yet.''

''He's probably asleep right now.'' Jaehwan helps, in the hopes to avoid a sulking Hakyeon right now, ''What were you guys doing in the closet anyway?'' Jaehwan wants to laugh at the irony of his words, but he doesn't, and waits for Hakyeon's response in silence.

''I already told you what we did.'' The older boy says, he glares at Jaehwan (... right?) and shakes his head in disapproval. Jaehwan can't honestly remember everything Hakyeon told him on Friday — he'd been too tired, too drunk and too scared to drive when Hakyeon announced loudly he'd finally made out with his high school crush (Jaehwan almost crashes his car against a tree when he hears this, sobers up almost instantly and proceeds to keep his eyes on the road from then on).

''We kissed, like, a lot. And when I was about to his—

''I understand what you're going for, please no graphic descriptions right now... or, ever.'' 

Hakyeon sighs.

''Well, when I was about to... take things further on you and your boyfriend started to look for us, so... yeah.'' 

The mention of Kim Wonsik makes Jaehwan frown, and Hakyeon literally jolts up as if he had just thought of something amazing. 

''Now that I think of it...'' Hakyeon mumbles, he takes a finger to his lips and tilts his head to the side, ''What did you and Kim Wonsik do in the bedroom? Taekwoon and I tried opening the door but it was locked.''

Hakyeon wiggles his eyebrows and smirks. 

Jaehwan blushes as he thinks of last night, but it's of course, not because of the same reasons Cha Hakyeon is thinking; because he remembers a very drunk, very stupid Kim Wonsik pleading him to let him go downstairs, confess to Hongbin and make an absolute fool out of himself — and if he had stayed that way, lying on the floor with a pillow between his right cheek and the floor, lips on a pout and slurring out weird poetry, Jaehwan would've kept the memory as something he could look back at and have a small laugh about, but Wonsik then tried to fool Jaehwan into thinking something was going on in the other side of the room (literally points at a blank wall and yells ''Look!'' as if Jaehwan were that stupid) and lounged himself into the door; now Jaehwan is definitely not that stupid, and he stops Wonsik before he can do anything else — they do hit themselves on the forehead, though. Wonsik had only blinked twice and acted like nothing had happened, but Jaehwan is sure that that had left a bruise somewhere in his head.

''So did you finally... you know..?'' Hakyeon asks, raises his eyebrows in curiosity — it takes a few moments for Jaehwan to realize what the older means, and Hakyeon and his subtlety when he shouldn't be subtle. After Jaehwan finally understands what Hakyeon had been trying to imply, he immediately shakes his head in denial, and flustered, avoids eye contact for what feels like an eternity.

Hakyeon laughs out loud, and Jaehwan thanks Mina on the inside (and out loud too) when she arrives with their order on a tray. 

Hakyeon exclaims out loud and smiles as soon as his coffee is in front of him, it doesn't take him a lot of time to devour the chocolate donut he had ordered (he slaps Jaehwan's hand away from the plate when Jaehwan tries to steal it from him) and then he sighs, content, as he chews on the last piece left. 

''Taekwoon.'' Hakyeon says, eyes going wide and mouth full, and Jaehwan rolls his eyes, because really — now that Hakyeon had finally managed to seduce the younger and drag him into a closet to make out (Jaehwan knows this is not how things happened, but he likes to think so) he knew that they were going to be talking about Jung Taekwoon more than they usually did, but it is to early and Jaehwan's headache hasn't disappear and he doesn't want to hear about his older friend kneeling down on some stranger's closet right now — he just wants to enjoy his goddamned cup of coffee and let his headache fade away on its own; Jaehwan should've known better and come to The Sixth Station by himself.

''Can we talk about something else?'' Jaehwan rests his head on the table, cheek pressed against the cold surface as he groans. ''Or like, can we not... talk? My head hurts so much...''

''No, Jaehwan, look — Taekwoon!'' Hakyeon discreetly points at the window next to them, and Jaehwan is confused for a second because he only sees unknown people walking by the café, but then he sees him— he sees them.

Jung Taekwoon and Kim Wonsik stand next to The Six Station's entrance, and Jaehwan prays it's a coincidence ('They're under the café because it is raining and they didn't bring umbrellas with them.' He thinks, hopes, and sighs when he sees Wonsik entering through the main door). The bells ring softly as the pair walk through the door, Wonsik is laughing loudly at something Taekwoon has said (Jung Taekwoon cracking up a joke, really?), and his head is a soaking, wet mess. Taekwoon seems more composed; yellow umbrella hidden behind him as he wanders around the café with curiosity in his face; it seems like it is their first time visiting the coffee shop.

'', , , , ...'' 

Jaehwan blinks twice, the last thing he wants to do be seen by Kim Wonsik, so he takes Hakyeon's sunglasses off of him, and then proceeds to put them on (they're ridiculously big, how can Hakyeon walk around wearing these?!) he looks to the other side and frowns, if he holds his breath, would Wonsik still see him?

''Jaehwan!'' He hears from the other side of the room. Wonsik's deep voice make every single person in the café turn their attention to him: to the soaking, wet mess he had as hair and the hand he was waving around excitedly.

At Jaehwan.

''.'' He mumbles, to then force a smile on his face and wave back with little energy.

''You just said  5 times in like, once second.'' Hakyeon points out, taking a sip from his iced cascara coconut... whatever.

''Shut up.'' 

Jaehwan sighs when he realizes Wonsik and Taekwoon are walking towards them, and decides to take Hakyeon's sunglasses off to greet them properly. 

''Hey.'' Wonsik greets, eyes shining as he takes a seat next to Jaehwan, squishing the latter into the booth that was originally only made for 2. 

''Wonsik.'' Jaehwan hopes his smile doesn't look too awkward.

''Hi Taekwoon!'' Hakyeon is cheerful as he talks to Taekwoon, who's standing up and avoiding eye contact with everyone in the table. 

Taekwoon ignores him — he doesn't say anything before mumbling what it seems to be ''I'm going to order something'' and leaves; it's awkward, to say at least. Hakyeon is left standing there, frozen with his hand in the air and half a smile on his face, but he shrugs off with his shoulders — brushes it off as if it was nothing and laughs nervously.

''How are you guys? Did you have a good time yesterday?'' Wonsik asks brightly, he talks and acts as if he weren't hungover, as if he hadn't drank vodka and whisky and tequila in just a single night, and it onlny manages to make Jaehwan's headache worse, ''I woke up with a bump on my head but other than that I'm okay.''

Hakyeon laughs at this, and then proceeds to have a small conversation with the younger about last night's party. Jaehwan doesn't join their conversation; instead, he focuses on the people on the other side of the window, he focuses on Taekwoon, standing in the counter, expression unreadable as a waitress hands him an iced coffee and smiles, Taekwoon doesn't move after this, refuses to go back to their table — to even face them.

It's not until Wonsik calls him by his name that he looks at them again.

''Jaehwan about yesterday... I'm sorry...'' The boy mutters, and it's the first time that Jaehwan has seen Wonsik in this state: embarrassment written on his face as he tries his best to avoid Jaehwan's curious gaze, ''And thank you for helping me to not... you know...'' He lets out a small laugh, and smiles sheepishly at the older.

''I really want to do it.'' Wonsik raises his eyebrows; he's talking about confessing to Hongbin, and Jaehwan knows he's talking about confessing to Hongbin, but Hakyeon doesn't — so he pinches Jaehwan's thigh under the table, Jaehwan can see Hakyeon's excited smile and it makes him feel guilty — he frowns; is it his fault or Hakyeon's? He's so thick-headed... Jaehwan thinks.

Hadn't he heard Hongbin's name out of Wonsik's lips yesterday? Had he been too drunk, too distracted or too busy staring at Jung Taekwoon to notice?

Jaehwan doesn't reply to Wonsik, he barely even nods with his head — too distracted staring at Hakyeon's dumb face to say anything to the younger.

Taekwoon takes this opportunity to arrive and steal Wonsik from them (and Jaehwan thanks him silently once again — Jung Taekwoon was his personal hero).

''Our order is ready...'' Taekwoon mumbles, ''We should leave... before it starts raining more heavily...''

''Do you mind if I join you guys?'' Hakyeon asks, tentatively, ''I'm heading home as well so...''

Wonsik smiles broadly, seemingly excited at the thought of having another person join them.

''Sure! Let's go.''

Taekwoon makes a disapproving noise after Wonsik is done talking and starts walking towards the entrance without another single word being said to the boys sitting on the table, this manages to confuse Jaehwan, but Hakyeon only smiles apologetically at him, shrugs off with his shoulders and runs off to the entrance as well. Wonsik doesn't notice; he waves at him and smiles softly, jumping out of his seat with an incredible amount of energy that manages to tire Jaehwan out, even though he's been sitting in the booth for more than an hour now.

Jaehwan doesn't say anything as he sees the boys heading home through the coffee shop's window, if Jaehwan weren't hungover he would've complained about Hakyeon betraying his best friend and neighbor for a dude with a pretty face, but he's tired and lacks enough energy to even think of doing a scene right now, so he slumps back on his seat in silence, finishing the rest of his second cup of coffee bitterly.

He once again focuses on the people walking on the street, hurrying to get home or to their jobs, and he draws a smile on his face when he sees a puppy with a raincoat on.Jaehwan then rests his elbows on the table;  he's really bored, but he's too lazy to stand up, and let alone walk all the way to his house. Jaehwan remains in silence for a good whole minute, dozing off with his eyes open until he hears the bells of the door ringing again.

And of course, Jaehwan thinks, that out of all the people he knew, Lee Hongbin would be the one to come to The Sixth Station today as well.

Hongbin immediately sees Jaehwan when he walks through the entrance, and he cheerfully waves at him with a small hand. Jaehwan, who's drained from all energy because of his encounter with Wonsik, waves back with little emotion; Jaehwan then realizes that next to Hongbin stands a brunet boy, who, though is way taller than Hongbin, looks younger than him: chubby, pale cheeks and round eyes looking at Jaehwan in confusion.

''Hi, Jaehwan!'' Hongbin says once he's close enough to Jaehwan so he doesn't have to yell, Jaehwan smiles just slightly, ''You left early yesterday, right? I didn't see you after you know... the shots.'' 

Jaehwan scrunches his nose up as he remembers the shots of tequila Hongbin and Hakyeon had convinced him to take, and nods with little hesitance, ''Yeah... kind of.'' He mumbles, remember the good 2 hours he spend locked up with Wonsik and frowns.

''Ah, it was a great party,'' Hongbin giggles, ''If only the neighbors hadn't called the police... we all had to run to our cars.'' 

Jaehwan raises his eyebrows, amused, and then takes a glance at the boy next to the raven-haired — he stands awkwardly next to Hongbin, hands on the pockets of his jeans and furrowed eyebrows as Hongbin keeps talking about the police. Hongbin realizes Jaehwan's eyes are on the unknown boy and blinks twice.

''Oh, I forgot... this is Hyogi.'' Hongbin says, smiles widely and then looks back at the counter, ''Great! There's no line!'' He exclaims, and hurriedly walks towards it, leaving Jaehwan and Hyogi (cute name, Jaehwan thinks) alone.

Jaehwan blinks twice, takes a look at Hongbin, who's already charmed his way into the waitress' heart with just a smile ( his dimples, he thinks), and then looks at Hyogi. Hyogi looks back, and they awkwardly stare at each other for a moment before Jaehwan motions to the booth and tells him to sit down.

Hyogi doesn't say anything, but he nods with his head. 

''Hi...'' Jaehwan says, uncomfortable, and he gives the boy a small smile, ''I'm... Jaehwan.'' 

Hyogi nods at him again, and then he looks at his hands, resting on his lap. It seems like as if he's debating whether he should say something or not, and he eventually decides to do it.

''I'm Sanghyuk.'' Hyogi — Sanghyuk introduces himself, ''Han Sanghyuk.''

Jaehwan smiles broadly at the boy, and then looks towards the window and to Sanghyuk's face again; to his short, brown hair and his round, cute nose.

Before Jaehwan can say anything else to the boy, Hongbin arrives to the booth (and thank God, Jaehwan thinks, things were kind of awkward between the 2 of them), his hands are busy as he holds a coffee and a bag of what seems to be pastries. Jaehwan notices how Sanghyuk immediately stands up to help the older.

Hongbin shakes his head to Sanghyuk, and instead, hands him a cup of coffee, ''Your favorite.'' He says. Jaehwan manages to notice Sanghyuk's faint blush as he takes the coffee with both of his hands and mutters a small 'thank you', Hongbin's proud smile is almost too big for Jaehwan to ignore.

''I thought you hated coffee.'' Sanghyuk says, after taking a sip from his coffee and sighing contently.

Hongbin scrunches up his face, ''I do.'' He smiles softly at Jaehwan, and hands him the other cup of coffee he was holding, ''This is for Jaehwan, actually.''

Jaehwan blinks twice at Hongbin, and then throws him a sheepish smile before accepting the coffee. He guesses that Hongbin had seen the empty table; it makes the older feel embarrassed to admit he's on his third cup of coffee, so he doesn't say anything, sees Hongbin sit on Sanghyuk's side just like Wonsik had sat on his side a few minutes before; notices Hongbin's arm around Sanghyuk and how unbothered Sanghyuk seems by this.

''So... Sanghyuk just transferred to our school.'' Hongbin says, he squishes Sanghyuk's cheeks with his hands (Sanghyuk frowns at this; immediately taking Hongbin's hands off his face) and smiles.

Jaehwan laughs at this, and takes a glance at Sanghyuk, ''How is it so far?''

''I hate it.'' Sanghyuk replies, the younger doesn't even bother to look at Jaehwan as he does so, too busy playing with his cup of coffee to stare back.

Jaehwan scoffs, ''Same.''

Sanghyuk looks at Jaehwan after this, small smile on his face as he does so.

Hongbin shakes his head in disapproval, unable to comment on the subject because as soon as he opens his mouth, his phone — lying on the table and faced downwards as if the black-haired boy were trying to avoid seeing its contents, starts ringing.

He, however, doesn't answer. 

''Shoot... 2 missed calls from my mom.'' He mumbles, ''I totally forgot we had to take these things home.'' He raises the bag full of pastries with a hand and groans, and then he stares at Jaehwan with little hesitance. 

''... Do you want to come?''

Jaehwan is fine, like — really, he's perfectly okay with being alone (far more than okay, actually — when Cha Hakyeon is your best friend and your neighbor, being alone is something you learn to cherish) but there's something about Hongbin's way of asking him if he wants to come along that almost makes him want to cry (and he totally understands now why Wonsik has a crush on him, he's an angel!). Jaehwan nods without realizing, he excuses himself in his head with the idea of 'getting to know him better for Wonsik' and when did his life start revolving around him?

''My car is not too far from here.'' Hongbin says as they leave The Sixth Station.

It's not raining anymore and the sun seems to be peeking through the clouds, Jaehwan notices, walking behind Hongbin and Sanghyuk so they can guide him.

Once they arrive to Hongbin's car (it's old, but still far better than Jaehwan's car) Jaehwan realizes how Sanghyuk takes the co-pilot seat without hesitation; he notices the way the brunet plays with the stereo and the mirror as if it was his own car, and the giggle Hongbin lets out when Sanghyuk sneaks a hand in the pastries bag. biting out of a chocolate muffin.

''Hey, that's mine!'' Hongbin half-heartedly complains, he lets out a small laugh when Sanghyuk rolls his eyes at him; sticks out his tongue before biting on the muffin again.

''Rude.'' Hongbin mumbles, eyes never leaving the road as he pouts.

Could it be that...? Jaehwan wonders, his thoughts can't wander enough as Sanghyuk changes the radio station yet again and a song Jaehwan does not want to listen to anymore is on; it manages to remind him of the party last night, and Jaehwan feels better now — but he swears his head starts aching again when the first seconds of the song start playing. Surprisingly enough, it's a nice song, the singer's voice is smooth and nice and everything, Jaehwan thinks, but it reminds him of slurred words and alcohol and Kim ing Wonsik, and that's unacceptable. Jaehwan doesn't realize when the song is over, neither does he realizes they've arrived to Hongbin's house until the black-haired boy is parking his car in his garage.

Suddenly they're in front of a beautiful, big house — one Jaehwan has walked past many times before, never realizing it was the one Lee Hongbin lived in. Jaehwan gets out of the car as soon as Hongbin turns the motor off, and awkwardly waits at the door as Hongbin knocks once, twice... thrice and a young-looking woman opens the door. The woman, which Jaehwan guesses and is Hongbin's mom (surprisingly, because she could pass as his sister) receives the boys with a frown, but as soon as she realizes Jaehwan is also there, her frown turns into a soft smile.

''Took you long enough.'' She says, smirk on her face as the first thing she does is grab the bag of pastries and run off inside the house like a little kid.

Hongbin shakes his head in disapproval.

''That's... my mom...'' He mumbles, embarrassed.

As soon as Jaehwan enters the house, he's met the sound of loud laughter and light chatter. The smell of cigarettes and expensive perfurme fill his nose and though he's not the biggest fan of the smell of cigarettes, he doesn't mind, looking around Hongbin's house out of pure curiosity. Hongbin's entire house is white — so white, it's almost blinding, the wooden floor contrasted perfectly against the walls, and though the interior of the house didn't exactly scream 'home', it was a nice place, Jaehwan thinks.

Hongbin tells them they can sit down in the (equally as white) living room next to them, before leaving them to head towards the kitchen. Background music from God-knows-where and Hongbin's voice through the walls are the only things Jaehwan can hear right now. 

It's not as awkward as Jaehwan thought it'd be; he notices just how comfortable Sanghyuk looks around Hongbin's living room, how he plumps himself into the sofa and grabs a feathered cushion to support his elbows, how he turns the television on and turns it off again when he realizes there's nothing interesting on (and of course there isn't, Jaehwan thinks, it's the ing television) Jaehwan has no intentions to talk to the younger, still too busy looking around Hongbin's house — Jaehwan manages to see Hongbin's childhood pictures from where he's sitting down, and silently curses at him; it looks like the raven-haired boy never went through a weird phase, not even in the awkward, early years of being a teenager, the pictures in front of Jaehwan only showcase a pretty boy with big eyes and braces, holding school awards and smiling widely to the camera. 

Although Hongbin makes no sound as he comes back, the silence in the room is so big both Jaehwan and Sanghyuk realize when he's walking towards the living room, heads directed to the boy's figure in wonder: Hongbin is busy trying to hold 3 plates at the same time, he sighs in relief when he finally puts them down on the glass table in front of them and smiles.

It's cake, Jaehwan smiles.

''So Chanshik is grounded for the rest of his life.'' Hongbin laughs as he sits down.

Jaehwan realizes when Hongbin starts cutting up one of the pieces of cake with a fork, ''He's pretty hungover, too. That one last shot...'' He giggles. 

It seems like it's normal for Hongbin and Sanghyuk to feed each other — at least for Hongbin to feed Sanghyuk; the black-haired boy takes his fork to Sanghyuk's mouth almost unknowingly, and Sanghyuk doesn't hesitate to accept the cake, blushing once he realizes Jaehwan's gaze is on him.

Jaehwan moves his eyes to his own piece of chocolate cake, and frowns in utter confusion.

''I... didn't know you had a boyfriend, Hongbin.'' The older boy says, hoping for a clear answer, his eyebrows are raised when Sanghyuk chokes loudly on the cake and Hongbin laughs out loud.

''You mean...?'' Hongbin mumbles, pointing between Sanghyuk and himself — Jaehwan only nods.

''We're not dating!'' Sanghyuk is quick to deny, but Hongbin giggles and starts cutting another piece of his cake with the fork.

''It's okay, Hyogi. Jaehwan won't say anything.''

''Hongbin!'' Sanghyuk groans loudly, and then looks into Jaehwan's eyes, desperate, ''We're not even friends! We're definitely not dating!'' The younger crosses his arms against his chest — Jaehwan can almost see him pout, and when Hongbin starts laughing out loud, Sanghyuk sighs in frustration.

''Fine. Whatever.'' Sanghyuk mumbles, and puts his fork on the table, ''I'm leaving.'' He says, standing up in an angry manner.

''Where are you going?'' Hongbin asks, confused when he sees Sanghyuk heading towards the stairs.

''To... your room...'' Sanghyuk says, dumbfounded, and then groans again, leaving the living room without saying anything else to the pair.

Hongbin scoffs, and then focuses his attention on Jaehwan, who's too busy trying to figure out what's the deal between the 2 of them to even notice that the room got quiet.

''Sorry about that, Jaehwan. He's a nice kid, I swear.'' 

Jaehwan nods in silence, he notices Hongbin's eyes on the staircase, as if he was wanting to follow the younger.

He suddenly realizes he might be interrupting something.

''I'm sorry to ask... but if you're not dating...''

''Oh, don't worry.'' Hongbin interrupts immediately, ''He's too sensitive, but I don't mind.'' 

''We're just friends — at least that's what I used to think, but he just said we weren't?'' He laughs, and Jaehwan wonders if there's a bit of discomfort in his words, ''But between you and me... I'm trying to change that.'' 

Jaehwan blinks twice, realizes what Hongbin means and smiles broadly at the boy, it reminds him of Wonsik, somehow?

''... Want more cake?'' Hongbin asks when he realizes Jaehwan won't say anything.

The older shakes his head, and before he can talk, there's 2 women in the living room — one of them is Hongbin's mom, and next to her is an equally young and attractive woman, they're laughing with each other about something until they realize that the 2 boys are looking at them.

''Where's Sanghyuk, darling?'' Hongbin's mom asks, confused expression on her face as she speaks. 

Hongbin puts a strained smile on, ''He's in my room...'' He mumbles, and her mom only shrugs off with her shoulders.

''Oh!'' She exclaims when she makes eye contact with Jaehwan, ''I'm so rude, let me introduce myself, dear.'' 

The woman hurries to Jaehwan's side and smiles broadly, ''I'm Hongbin's mom, I'm guessing you're Hongbin's friend?''

Jaehwan nods, small smile on his face, ''I'm Lee Jaehwan. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms.''

Hongbin's mom and her friend giggle, ''So polite.'' She mutters.

''Jaehwan, this is Sanghyuk's mom.'' Hongbin says, indicating with his hands to the younger-looking woman out of the two.

The woman smiles softly at him and waves with a hand.

''Nice to meet you, Jaehwan. Are you Sanghyuk's friend as well?'' She asks, excited; it makes Jaehwan guess Sanghyuk is not someone who has a lot of friends.

''Eh... not really...''

''Not yet.'' Hongbin interrupts with a smile, ''If you don't mind, I think we're going to my room?'' The black-haired asks, looking at Jaehwan to make sure he's okay with that, but Jaehwan shakes his head.

''Actually... I have some stuff to do, so...'' Jaehwan mumbles awkwardly, and Hongbin widens his eyes in surprise; he nods in agreement.

''Oh — it's okay, Jaehwan,'' He says, smiles softly, ''Do you want me to give you a ride?'' He asks, and Jaehwan genuinely starts wondering if Lee Hongbin is an angel, but he ends up shaking his head again, to which Hongbin frowns.

''Okay...'' He mutters, ''Let me walk you to the door, then.''

Jaehwan nods, says goodbye to the women in the living room and then to Hongbin, who's giving him a genuine, soft smile below his doorframe.

''I guess I'll see you around?'' 

Hongbin smiles, ''Of course, see you on monday.'' He says, waves again at him and doesn't close the door until Jaehwan is meters away from his house.

Jaehwan lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Though the trip to Hongbin's house hadn't been as awkward as he had thought it'd be, the tension between Han Sanghyuk and Lee Hongbin had been too much for him to handle on his own. Jaehwan smiles, thinking of how things just seemed to only get more difficult as the time went by. He takes his hands into the pockets of his jeans, the cold getting the best of him as he breathes out, tired and shivery. Jaehwan decides to take a glance to the playground; to the red swing just a few meters away from him, it is old and rusty and the paint is peeling off of it now, but he smiles softly, sighs as he takes the keys out of his pocket and opens the door.

Of course things would be difficult.

He smiles to himself.

As the wise Kylie Jenner said once, 2017 is the year of realizing stuff (have y'all noticed I use the word 'realize' too much lmao I apologize) anyways! 5219 unedited words for you <3 and thank you!!! for the comments and the 50 subsciptions ;__;