“Seriously hyung, what was that for?”

“You promised not to tell!”

“Were you drunk?”

“Doesn’t matter, Choi Seunghyun, you’re dead!”

“I’m going to steal your most expensive piece and throw it into the Han River.”

“I’m going to get back at you for this, you wait!”

Seunghyun smiled as he read the bombardment of texts from Youngbae, he slipped his phone back into his coat pocket without replying.

He was walking back to his apartment from the bar, which was only a few blocks away. The cool air made him clear his mind, sometimes Seunghyun found it funny as he sat in one of those Friday night drinks, watching his friends sipping their wine and whiskeys. A few years back, a Friday night out for that crew would have been to go bar hopping across Gangnam and getting wasted or laid.

Now, sans him and Jiyong- who was paving his road as an international super star, most of them work desk jobs or took after a family business that probably mostly exist to exploit the public of their money.

Not that he could really judge, he- out of all of them, had the most “scamming” career, as his friend had once pointed out: “Art curator, seriously? You exploit money from both ignorant rich people and young unknowing artists!”

He’d only laughed at that accusation.

Him, Jiyong and Taeyang and Daesung were childhood friends that drifted in and out of each other’s social circle throughout their youth when him and Jiyong attended one high school, and them two another.

Xin and Soohyuk belonged to another circle of friends from their high school that they’d so conceitedly dubbed as “NUTHANG”.(Now, any mention of that name made all of them cringe in embarrassment.)

“NUTHANG? Seriously??” The boy let out a giggle, “Who on earth thought that was a good idea?”

Jiyong grinned toothily at the boy as if he’d just crack the world’s funniest joke, “It was Seunghyun hyung.”

“Seunghun hyung!” The boy laughed at him, his eyes curving into crescents that somehow made his dark circles even stand out more. “Really?”

“Yea.” He smiled.

It was actually Jiyong.

“It was me.”

Then, they all somehow ended up in the same university and became one group of friends. Of course, there were others that drifted away and out of contact that were not present at the bar today.

Jonghyun, who is busy with his modelling career but still tried to stay in touch.

Kyungil who went to the States.

Hyunjong who now works in Hong Kong.

And there was Seunghyun. Lee Seunghyun. Seungri.

He was…different, he was an accident that was never meant to stumble into the troublemaking, elite circle of pretty boys that turned heads wherever they went around campus. He was popular enough by himself, and unlike them, he was popular amongst both students and professors for being smart as a whip and genuinely kind.

Seunghyun still remembers the first day he met Seungri. He was at the Starbucks beside campus, just finished ordering when he found that his wallet was not in his usual back pocket. He was rummaging high and low, feeling the judging frown from the barista and the impatient shuffling behind him when suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see a boy smiling at him. The boy looked younger than himself, with soft black hair and pale skin and eyebags that looked like he hadn’t slept for days. He probably really needed his coffee and Seunghyun was in his way, or that was what Seunghyun had thought.

But the boy’s lips curled into a cat-like smile, “Here, I’ll get it for you.” He said as he stepped up to the counter and told the barista. “I’ll pay his.”

Normally Seunghyun would refuse out of common courtesy, but somehow, the boy’s smile made him nod.

“How do I pay you back?” He asked as they both stood around the counter waiting for their drinks, he didn’t like owing people.

The boy shook his head, “No worries.” And fell quiet again, tapping away at his phone. Seunghyun didn’t say anything after that.

“Two grande americanos for Seunghyun!” The barrister called out and slid two coffees across the counter, the boy gestured for him to take one as he took the other. “See you.” He smiled and waved casually at Seunghyun before leaving.

Seunghyun wondered how the boy knew his name.

He sipped on his drink on one of the benches on campus, earphones in one ear, tapping his foot on the ground in beat with the music as he bit on the straw of the drink americano he was holding. It was so hot that the ice cubes in his drink had almost completely melted, watering down his drink. 

Then, suddenly Jiyong came out of no where and flopped himself down beside him in a huff, his bright red hair fell across his forehead as he made a face. Seunghyun could almost see smoke coming out of his ears.

“Whats-”

“I met the most annoying brat.” Jiyong seethed, his face a nasty scowl which Seunghyun was used to by now, “I can’t believe he was so rude to his sunbae!”

Seunghyun arched his eyebrow wordlessly, up the last of his drink through his teeth, making the dark liquid churn amongst the few remaining ice cubes.

“I needed a textbook for my paper and couldn’t find it in the library, but I saw this first year carrying it around, so I asked him if I could borrow it, and he just wrote down the name of a bookstore that sells it and handed it to me, then he left without even saying anything! “ Jiyong vented, “Can you believe him?! He didn’t even bow or greet me properly!”

Seunghyun felt the urge to snicker at Jiyong’s evolving prince syndrome, but he restrained himself just to avoid hearing Jiyong erupting into another rant.

He cleared his throat, “Maybe you should ask nicely next time.”

Jiyong scoffed at his suggestion but settled down on the bench thoughtfully.

“A first year shouldn’t even need that textbook anyway…” He muttered under his breath.

“Yah, there he is! That brat!” Jiyong suddenly jumped up and pointed across the yard. Seunghyun followed the direction of his accusing finger, only to find the boy from Starbucks, sitting on a park bench, his nose deep in a book, soft locks of hair blowing in the wind.

“Yah, that brat, I’ll show him alright!” Before Seunghyun can hold him back, Jiyong was already racing across to where Starbucks boy was sitting, Seunghyun set his Starbucks cup down with a sigh.

Years later, Seunghyun still wished he’d ran after Jiyong that day and held him back, or at least gone with him to introduce himself to the boy and thank him for the coffee.

Then, maybe things would have taken a different route.

Because he should have known, he had known Jiyong for so long that he should have recognized the stars that shimmered in Jiyong’s eyes as he jumped up and ran across the courtyard. And he should have known that those stars almost always align to spell trouble.

*****

The door of the café swung open to the sound of chimes, it was raining outside.

The interior of the café smelt like a mix of sugar, milk and coffee, the café was decorated mostly light coloured wooden tables and plants, the walls being white brick and one whole wall on the far side being covered by a big bookshelf filled with books. It was welcoming and warm and felt more like a home than the apartment Seunghyun lived in.

He inhaled the pleasant aroma lightly as he shook off the raindrops that gathered in his hair. His gaze stopped at the counter where a man stood behind, his head down, busy scribbling something down on a clipboard.

The man at the counter had his eyes down, the shadows under his eyes still prominent as his long lashes batted flickered, his soft hair falling across his forehead.

He hadn’t changed at all.

“Hello, what can I get-” The man stopped mid-sentence as he looked up to greet his new customer, “…..you.”

“Americano. Iced.” Even though it was the middle of Winter.

 Seunghyun fished out the coloured bills from his wallet and handed it to the man, his hands were still small and plump, though they seemed to be rougher than Seunghyun remembered.  “Yo.”

“Thank you, here’s your change.” The man rang up his order and handed him his change with quick hands. “Hi.”

“Youngbae told me you opened a café here.” Seunghyun felt the need to explain his presence as he looked around, “Nice place.”

“Ah-” Lee Seunghyun- or Seungri, started the bean grinder, the machine churning loudly as he followed Choi Seunghyun’s gaze and nodded, and mouthed something that was probably a “Thanks.” Which was drowned out by the sound of grinding coffee beans.

When the churning stopped, Choi Seunghyun took out his business card from his wallet, it was a plane black card with debossed simple print that read “Vittoria”.

“I run an art gallery upstairs in the building next door.” He shifted on his feet as he held out the card. “Come visit sometime.”

Seungri accepted his card with two hands, “Thank you.” He shoved the card in his back pocket where Choi Seunghyun is suspicious that it will end up in the washing machine, wet, mushy and forgotten.

“I’ll have here.” Choi Seunghyun said as he saw the younger man lift up a takeaway cup from the stack. Seungri gave him a wordless glance before setting the plastic cup back into formation and instead took out a tall glass.

Seunghyun made himself comftable on a barstool as he watched Seungri work the coffee machine with familiarity.

“How long have you been back?”

“Korea or Seoul?” Seungri didn’t look at him as he set the tall glass of iced americano on the bar table in front of him

Seunghyun arched his thick eyebrows, “Both?”

“Korea five months, Seoul two.”

Seunghyun nodded without making any comment before taking a sip of his beverage.

He made a blissful sound at the back of his throat as the strong liquid slid down easily, leaving a pleasant after taste.

“Nice.”

“Thanks"

"Ah-” Seungri suddenly snapped his head up like he’d remembered something, “Here.” He took out a card from a cute wooden card holder at the counter and placed it next to Seunghyun’s drink on the table. “It’s our loyalty card. Buy 10 get one free.”

Seunghyun picked up the card and examined it- it was a white card, a row of pink heart outlines with numbers printed in them which lead to an illustration of a cup of coffee with a cute panda winking next to it. The first heart was already stamped with a smile.

“Cute.” He opened his wallet and carefully slid the card into the first slot- above his credit card.

“Also, for our opening promotions, we’re giving away a VIP card that gives you 20 free drinks to a lucky winner. Every bill will go into the draw.” Seungri pointed to a glass jar beside the counter filled with merchant receipts. “The more you buy, the more chance you have.” He explained dutifully.

“Oh. Okay.” Seunghyun nodded thoughtfully as he sipped his drink. He’d always been a lucky person.

Seungri nodded at him before turning back to his counter, keeping himself busy with wiping down the coffee machine as Seunghyun finished his drink.

“Thanks for the coffee, it was really good.” Seunghyun stood up slowly after he’d finished the last of his americano, eyeing the younger man carefully.

“Thank you for coming.” Seungri bowed to him slightly. “Please come again.”

Although dull his tone didn’t suggest he wanted Seunghyun to come again at all.

The bell above the door chimed prettily behind Seunghyun as he stepped outside the café.

It was still raining.