Sunggyu had not been sleeping well.

His eyebags were definite proof for that. In fact, they had gotten to severe that even Howon had stopped him the other day and seriously asked him if everything was alright. Of course, said man had to add that it was about time he stepped out of the shadows of denial regarding his feelings toward Woohyun and faced the truth.

That of course, was said without context or knowing the internal turmoil that Sunggyu was going through regarding denial of his supposed feelings toward Woohyun.

Regardless, Howon managed to hit a sensitive topic that had been bothering Sunggyu for most of the week. Howon was awarded with a glare that promised pain if he didn’t remove himself from Sunggyu’s vicinity in ten seconds, in which Howon smartly did not ignore.

Sadly, that was the least of Sunggyu’s headache-inducing worries for the week, believe it or not.

Woohyun had been humming to himself a lot more often than usual.

Typically, Sunggyu would pass it off as normal Woohyun behaviour. He had moods that were a stark contrast to one another. However, Sunggyu was beginning to learn that anything that was just the slightest bit out of the ordinary with Woohyun was a cause for alarm.

It didn’t help that he also seemed to cackle to himself out of nowhere from time to time at his desk. The other faculty members have learned to ignore it, although Ms. Jeon always seemed very amused by the cackling. Sunggyu had long given up hopes of Woohyun spitting out any of his “wonderful” plans before disaster befell him, but he at least hoped that whatever the next plan was, it was going to be sensible.

However, knowing Woohyun… Sunggyu sighed. It still wasn’t getting to Woohyun that he truly did not want to woo Ms. Jeon.

Speaking of the Devil, Woohyun entered the teachers’ bureau, looking every bit the villain that Sunggyu believed him to be.

He was smiling without a care in the world.

When he made eye contact with Sunggyu, if it was possible, he brightened so much that it felt like sunshine was shining right out of him. That also definitely meant that Woohyun was just about finished concocting his next big plan for Kim Sunggyu.

Yep, that’s a no thanks from me.

Sunggyu grimaced and shuddered, looking away. He decided to disengage before he killed himself with the worry of what was going to happen next. It was always easier to live in denial than to face the truth for Sunggyu.

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling an early onset of a migraine.

It seemed like Woohyun did not take the hint (as usual), because he took a seat right beside Sunggyu. That seat was often used by students who came to the office to talk to him, or other math teachers that wanted to conference about the progress of certain students.

“I’m eating lunch,” Sunggyu drily said, before Woohyun could even say anything. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Woohyun pout a little at that.

“Gyu-Gyu is no fun.”

“Yea, yea,” Sunggyu said dismissively, flapping his left hand in the general direction of where Woohyun’s desk. “Go away, you brat.”

His right hand continued to wield the chopsticks that he used to shovel food into his mouth as he thought long and hard. He took another bite out of his kimchi fried rice.

“What are you doing, anyway?” Woohyun asked, clearly not taking to heart what Sunggyu asked him to do. Sunggyu just sighed, knowing that nothing was going to stop the younger man from being a pest. But now that he was here, perhaps he could help him with the conundrum he was facing.

Sunggyu still didn’t get why his sister thought it was possible that he liked Woohyun and after their meeting, he demanded evidence. Of course, Sungmi liked toying and torturing Sunggyu so she didn’t give him a straight answer.

Instead, she had sent a few cryptic messages that made no sense and refused to answer any of his questions. He had been staring at a photo his sister messaged him to “reflect on” after their meeting.

Two photos, actually, in particular.

The first photo was of himself and Woohyun. It was a standard photo, that was taken about two years ago. Woohyun was grinning had his arm slung around Sunggyu’s shoulders and in the photo, Sunggyu looked every bit as miserable as he felt that day. That was the day Woohyun decided to crash his peaceful birthday weekend with many uninvited guests (his family and Woohyun’s family), when he had insisted that he didn’t want a party at all. He wanted to remain indoors and celebrate alone with dramas and ice cream. Leave it to Woohyun to believe that Sunggyu meant the exact opposite.

The second photo was of himself, Woohyun, and one of his ex-boyfriends. There wasn’t really much to the photo, but it had apparently been sitting in one of Sungmi’s photo albums, since the photo was taken at her 30th birthday party.

He had texted Sungmi for clarification on what he needed to reflect on, but the only response he got that sounded like she was mocking him was: Just compare them.

Quite frankly, Sunggyu didn’t see .

He had no idea what his sister wanted him to see and compare, and every single guess he had texted her had come back with one word as a reply: Idiot. Sunggyu almost wanted to pull out his hair because of his sister. She liked torturing him.

Maybe Woohyun would see the differences or similarities between the pictures he missed, although that was probably just wishful thinking, given that Woohyun wasn’t the most adept at reading facial expressions or social cues. Woohyun was definitely talented in many other things though, namely music-related things.

His phone had been unlocked as he ate his lunch, comparing the photos side by side on his phone. He still could not conjure a reasonable reason as to why his sister sent two seemingly different photos to him.

Sunggyu reluctantly handed over his phone to Woohyun.

The second Woohyun saw that ex-boyfriend on the screen, he immediately darkened. It was not a characteristic expression on his face, but it was a common one Sunggyu saw whenever he saw that particular ex. “Why are you looking at photos of this person?”

Out of everyone that Sunggyu dated, Woohyun did not like this particular ex.

Woohyun never really explained what had happened between the two of them, but he put two and two together when his boyfriend then asked him to stop hanging out with Woohyun. He had tried to explain to that particular ex that Woohyun was just a friend and brother to him, which he did not believe.

That relationship had ended badly.

Anyway, Sunggyu couldn’t really answer Woohyun’s question because that would be super awkward. So instead, he just opted for, “Sungmi’s playing a game with me and asked me to compare the photos.”

“Ooh!” that captured Woohyun’s attention immediately and he immediately peered at the photos with a determination that would make Sunggyu shudder in a particular context that he would rather not think about right now.

Honestly, the only other person he could trust would not spread rumours of him and also help him solve the mystery would be Lee Howon. But Lee Howon was super annoying and Sunggyu was not ready for the level of commitment needed for seeing Howon’s smug face taunting him about being in denial. Again, the man was awfully perceptive, unfortunately.

Woohyun lit up.

Woohyun pointed at photo one on the screen, “Happy Woohyun.”

Then he pointed at photo two with his index finger on the screen, purposely covering the face of Sunggyu’s ex in a type of petty revenge, “Annoyed Woohyun.”

Sunggyu sighed, shovelling the last of his lunch into his mouth and chewed. Woohyun was still studying it, his eyebrows furrowed, when he closed his bento box and asked for his phone back.

“That wasn’t what Sungmi was looking for.”

Woohyun gave back his phone, although he was still in deep thought. The two of them sat there thoughtfully without speaking, ignoring the comings and goings in the office.

That was, until Dongwoo walked by, curious. He reminded him so much of a curious puppy that Sunggyu could definitely see why Woohyun and Dongwoo took to each other so easily, “What are you two doing?”

Dongwoo didn’t talk bad about anyone and he seemed trustworthy. Well, the guy wasn’t exactly the brightest crayon in the crayon box, so Sunggyu didn’t seem to think it was a big deal if he showed the photos to him.

Sunggyu was a private person and not many people knew he was interested in both men and women. The only people were Sungmi, Woohyun, one of his serious ex-girlfriends, and a select few university friends.

Anyway, he didn’t think it was a big deal to let Dongwoo in on the comparison challenge, since Dongwoo would need to be grasping at straws to figure out that it was a photo with his ex, and Sunggyu just sort of shrugged in a way that suggested that he should come on over.

Woohyun excitedly waved over Dongwoo, much to his annoyance.

On any normal day, Sunggyu would not have invited said man to help him out, because he doubted the man could be much help. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. He was grasping at straws and three brains were better than one.