Donghae had no idea how he managed to greet the other back but he did so it was a miracle, considering his heart that was being so loud and annoying right now. Hyukjae grinned happily before saying, “Oh! You remember my name? Well.. Good morning,” his gums were showing.

          Donghae couldn’t take his eyes off Hyukjae. At this rate, he knew one thing. Donghae was falling. And rather fastly. “Good morning too. A brilliant one indeed.”

         “What are you doing here?” Donghae asked while initally trying to make a decent conversation with the other.

         He heard a light chuckle from the black hair and come to think of it, today his black hair was not tousled messily but rather brushed down neatly, making him looked like a timid guy and Donghae thought that Hyukjae was a 2 in 1 package, handsome and cute at the same. He started to feel dizzy thinking how the other guy managed to look like that at once.

        “Uhm? Probably the same reason as you? Breakfast and hot chocolate for my morning. What did you order?” he said while eyeing the barista that was  busy brewing coffee.

        Donghae mentally slapped himself as he realised his own stupid question. They were in Starbucks. Of course it could only be either ordering their drinks or breakfast. It wasn’t like Starbucks just changed their route last night into selling socks and clothes. Now, he was cursing his own self for being so oblivious. Hyukjae had been standing here the whole time waiting for his order but Donghae was so stupid not to notice him earlier. Donghae wondered how many minutes or seconds that he had wasted by hanging his head low and ordered his coffee. Who the hell freaking cared for his coffee if they knew their crush was around?

        “Ice americano,” Donghae replied quietly but enough for Hyukjae to hear.

        Hyukjae winced, “Ah.. that black bitter drink,” and Donghae took note that Hyukjae wasn’t a fan of bitter taste and at the same time the barista called out for him, handing his drinks and breakfast that were placed in the paper bag.

        Hyukjae took it and said thankyou before turning his attention to Donghae again who had been staring at him this whole time, “Nice to meet you again, Donghae,” and Hyukjae leaned forward a little, making Donghae caught off guard by the sudden action and stepped back a little. It wasn’t that they were close but it managed turned Donghae into another mess and he heard Hyukjae again.

       “And don’t walk under the rain without umbrella. Goodbye, Donghae,” Hyukjae reminded him and the last one was so soft and tender that Donghae started to imagine that it was full of care.

      Hyukjae and his friend, Donghae just realised he had been there all along and Donghae paid no attention, bid him the last goodbye before passing Donghae to walk out of the coffee shop. Donghae rooted to the ceramic floors, still overwhelmed by Hyukjae words asking him not to walk under the rain with no umbrella again.

        Donghae stumbled a little and reached for the counter to hold him stand still. He jumped a little and snapped out of his thoughts when the barista addressed his name before pushing the ice americano to Donghae’s direction with the straw.

         Donghae pulled open the glass door and he was greeted by the cold breeze. The sky had been gloomy since he stepped out today but the smell of the breeze notified Donghae that it would rain again today. He stood at the corner and looked up to the sky, “Why is it you always come when it was raining, Hyukjae?”

      That was it. He prayed for one more chance to have a glimpse of Hyukjae and the Deity granted his wish. He promised for one and the last. He couldn’t be greedy anymore. Their encounter should last here. Nothing other than these 2 encounters was listed down in their name.

     The brunette looked down to his bitter coffee on his hand. A bitter smile adorned his beautiful face. Now, he had no idea how he began to order this cold bitter beverage in this weather and situation.

He took a sip and flinched. The bitterness tasted much stronger than ever. Especially after the thing that happened this morning.

He saw Hyukjae. They even talked and Hyukjae even left a heart warming message for him. The rain would always remind him of Hyukjae. Donghae was glad.

Yes. He was.

No.

He wasn’t glad at all. Donghae thought he would be but how wrong he was. A small part of him was glad but the bigger part was now screaming every few minutes of wanting to see the other again. He was more than delighted to see Hyukjae again, he was sure.

But he didn’t know that seeing one Hyukjae for once more would hurt him this much. He thought he would finally stop thinking of the other but the image of Hyukjae couldn’t be put aside even for a minute, making all of his work that Friday messed up pretty bad which wasn’t him at all.

           Hyukjae had so much effect on him when Donghae barely even knew the black hair guy. He mostly spent the Friday with mostly banging his poor head on the table and clicking the mouse in rage. Every greeting that his colleague threw at him was answered with an almost-dead hum, so lifeless and colourless.

The morning coffee he had that morning was still half full before it ended up in the trash bin right at the front of the company.

         If it was usually Donghae that joked around and teased Kyuhyun, that day they switched role. Kyuhyun tried to prank him but he was shot with a murderous death glare, making the younger whimpered in fear to see the unusual side of Donghae.

Kyuhyun had his best to persuade Donghae to spill the bean and talked to him but the brunette would only heaved a heavy sigh before continuing his work, which he done nothing much at all.

The hours passed painfully slower and longer, at least for Donghae. He ended the day with a light dinner and letting himself drowned in thought.

He finally had a hold of himself when he sat on the sofa hugging his knees while looking at the dark sky that was litted by the moonlight with few stars accompanied it.

            Donghae chuckled at himself out of blue, breaking the icy cold silence in his apartment.

Funny how this guy he encountered for minutes had managed to flip him up and down, turning him into a mess. The effect was too huge that Donghae just realised he was indeed impressed. The exchanged a light and normal conversation but it blown Donghae far away and rudely disturbed the thousands of butterflies in his stomach. The worst part was that the person who did it left without telling him the trick how to tame it back to sleep.

They might be only bumped into each other for a few perfect minutes but Donghae remembered every single detail of Hyukjae. The red plump lips that stretched up beautifully, showing his gums and the single lidded eyes with stunning brown orbs as well as the soft wrinkles around his eyes whenever he grinned in pure bliss.

And now Donghae thought that the universe must be laughing at him now for being such a fool. Such a pathetic for wishing too much. For being delusional. For hoping to have a glint of hope that leaded to something more.

Donghae judged the universe for being cruely unfair. If the destiny was written down as just an encounter with nothing more to list down, then they should have stopped there and not to create another meeting that complicated Donghae more.

            The brunette asked questions of why out of all his wishes, the Deity just had to grant this one. His foolish wish to meet Hyukjae just for one more time and nothing else. He had so many wishes that he had been praying for years and Donghae couldn’t even understand why his wish to meet Hyukjae had to be granted.

            Ironically, it was granted right a second after he prayed it silently in his heart and promised himself to such stupid and thoughtless promise. He chuckled bitterly as he remembered at how desperate he was. Maybe, the desperation leaded him there and the Deity took a pity of him.

            Out of all of the calculations and assumptions Donghae had, he put all of the blame into the nature of human; greediness and egoism. The wheel of destiny stopped at one encounter but Donghae hoped for one more and the Deity was kind enough to grant his wish yet now, he was wanting more while letting his hidden selfish side surfaced.

            Donghae knew he should not be like this. He had the belief that his life and destiny had been written down ever since he breathed the air of the earth and now all he needed was just to flow naturally along the wave in the sea, letting it take him to where he really belonged and embraced whatever that approached him.

            Come to think of it, the person beside Hyukjae when he met him at Starbucks suddenly came to his mind. He had been busying and filling his thought with Hyukjae that he hadn’t thought of the other person.

            The guy beside him at that time was indeed a little bit taller than Hyukjae. Hyukjae looked a little bit tiny beside him and he was handsome, indeed, but not in Donghae’s style.. well, the guy was a bit horse-like. No offense but Donghae thought so.

            Donghae wasn’t being rude as well and he was assured that he didn’t judge the guy based on the jealous that was boiling in his heart. Donghae preferred to think that way.

            But Donghae realised he had no right to say anything. If they were together, there was nothing Donghae could do except a congratulary greeting. It wasn’t like he would see the other again as well.

The worst part of all was knowing that Hyukjae might belong to someone else already.

Someone who was more than Donghae in every way.

As much as he didn’t like the fact, he must wake up from his dream. It wasn’t like Donghae had the heart to go around and wishing Hyukjae and his partner break up because it felt like he would break Hyukjae’s heart as well.

            Another sigh escaped his thin lips before he forcefully dragged himself to his bedroom. The room was dark but he didn’t even bother to lift his hand up to switch on the light.

            In no time, he found himself flopped with a loud thud on his bed and pulled up the warm blanket until his neck level, getting ready for sleep. The drowsiness immediately took over quickly before he slumbered into a deep sleep after couple of minutes.

            The room remained quiet, illuminated by the shining moonlight that entered the room through the giant window glass. A beam of the moonlight hit Donghae’s face and a beautiful soft smile painted his face.

            That night, he dreamt his first meeting with Hyukjae.

11th October 2014

            He woke up the next d