"Ryeowook? Are you alright?" a waitress asked gingerly, opening the back door slowly and peeping through a small gap in case Ryeowook was in short man rage mode, she had experienced him turn into an angry penguin multiple times during stressful shifts. She noticed Ryeowook sat on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest and his face buried in them. 

"It's cold out here," she pointed out, earning no reaction from him. 

"I know that," Ryeowook whispered, lifting his head up to look at her. She gasped quietly at his tear stained face and opened the door a little more, slipping out into the cold air. 

"Come on now it wasn't that bad," she cooed, crouching down next to him. Ryeowook raised an eyebrow at her. 

"I'm sure everyone has forgotten all about it!" she encouraged, patting his shoulder. 

"You sound like my Mum," Ryeowook commented, not believing a word she was saying. The waitress sighed before standing up again and looking down at Ryeowook. 

"Just come back in when you're ready okay?" she smiled, turning around and walking towards the door. 

"Not until that table has gone," Ryeowook muttered. 

"Well then you're going to be waiting in the cold for a long time," she informed him, going back inside. Ryeowook sighed, wiping his eyes with his sleeves and standing up. He brushed himself off and followed her back into the restaurant, ignoring everything and going straight to the kitchen. 

"Are you okay?" some of the kitchen staff asked, Ryeowook just nodded and picked up two plates of food, balancing one on his left arm and picking up the other one in his left hand. 

"Which table?" he asked bluntly, not in the mood for doing this for the rest of the night. 

"4," one of the kitchen staff said. Ryeowook turned around and left the kitchen, opening the door with his free hand. He walked through the restaurant, blanking out the table of business people; he would rather not know whether they were staring at him or not. 

"Here's your food," he smiled as best as he could, using his right hand to place them neatly on the table, in front of each of the two people. Ryeowook bowed and walked back to the kitchen. 

"Ugh I just want to go home," he groaned, pressing the back of his hands to his cheeks to see if his face was still hot and flustered. Apparently the cold weather had cooled his face down.

This was, by far, the most embarrassing day of his life so far. Ryeowook wasn't one to screw up and embarrass himself; so this was new to him. He had, in the past, said the wrong thing a couple of times, or tripped over his shoelace a little in public and pretended that it didn't just happen; but this was something else. 

Never before had he made this much of a fool of himself, and it was embarrassing. He just wanted to go home and sleep so he could forget about it all for a bit. He wanted to forget about the realisation he had when he started to fall that it was happening, he wanted to forget about the heat of every one staring, and the horrible silence that came with it. 

Most of all, he wanted to forget about how he ran away from the one person who helped him with only a quick 'thank you'. He wasn't a rude person, but in the heat of the moment; that's all he could think to do.

To make matters worse, in the very moment that he was most embarrassed- the moment when he looked up and saw everyone's watchful eyes- he actually took the time to admire this man's eyes. He couldn't help it, they were big, pretty, and puppy like. But why did he admire another man's eyes in the most humiliating moment of his life? 

Or rather just; why did he admire another man's eyes? 

Ryeowook wasn't gay. Or at least he didn't think he was, he had never really thought much about it before. There's nothing unusual about thinking a man has nice eyes, is there? Girls always admire each others facial features and bodies, why is it considered gay for men to do it? 

"Wook," the manager smiled, putting his hand on Ryeowook's shoulder. Ryeowook jumped slightly as he was pulled out of his reverie. 

"The big table have finished eating now, so if you help clear up the plates, then you can go home." 

"Really?" Ryeowook asked, eyes widening happily at the thought of going home at last. 

“Yeah, they're not having dessert so we can handle them without you when all the plates are cleared," he beamed, patting Ryeowook's shoulder once as he walked off. 

Ryeowook sighed heavily in relief, telling himself 'you just have to clear some plates, then you can go home, just ignore all the business men and women staring at you'. 

He took a deep breath as he approached the table gingerly. Completely blanking everyone, he swept up as many plates as he could onto the tray while Kyuhyun watched him intently. He still didn't want to pay attention to the office related conversations, he was bored, and watching Ryeowook was suddenly interesting. 

"I wonder what his name is," Kyuhyun mumbled under his breath to himself. 

"He has a pretty face, a bit feminine, but I'm not complaining," Kyuhyun mumbled again. 

"What are you saying to yourself?" the cat lady laughed, eagerly trying to listen to what Kyuhyun was talking about. 

"Nothing," Kyuhyun said defensively, "were you eavesdropping?" The cat lady laughed again. 

"That's not what eavesdropping is, Kyuhyun." 

"Yes, yes it is," he narrowed his eyes at her. 

Ryeowook scurried around the table, piling more and more plates and bowls onto his tray until no more would fit. Once he was convinced that it was about to topple, he hurried away to deliver them to the kitchen, treading carefully so not to trip over another crevice in the floor. He pushed open the door to the kitchen and dumped the tray of crockery next to the sink for someone to wash up before scurrying out of the kitchen and running up to the manager. 

"Can I go please?" he urged, bouncing on his feet slightly.

"Yes you can, thank you for your help tonight," the manager chuckled, amused at Ryeowook's child like excitement all because he could go home. He did have a rough night after all, not many people screw up like that on their first evening shift.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning," Ryeowook bowed after he had put his coat on and done it up. 

Kyuhyun watched him hurry out of the restaurant. 

"Leaving already?" he asked himself. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

The next morning 

Good morning, Bella," Ryeowook cooed at the Dalmatian slumped on top of him. 

"When did you get up here? Did you come and sleep on top of me during the night? How did I not wake up? Man I must have been tired," he said, not sure whether he was talking to the dog or himself. 

"Agh, oh god, last night," Ryeowook groaned, burying his face into the relaxed Dalmatian. 

"Oh Bella, last night was so embarrassing. I hope none of the daytime staff have heard about it, because I have to go into work and face them now. At least I'll probably never see those business people again, especially the guy that helped me...or maybe I do want to see him, I should probably thank him properly. Although I don't know if I can face him after something so humiliating. What am I thinking? I'm never gonna see him again anyway, Seoul is huge," he rambled on, losing track of whether he was talking to the dog or himself again. 

"Come on, off you get," he sang, patting Bella lightly; attempting to pry her off him so he could get ready for work. 

It's Friday, at last. The most exciting day of the week. Ryeowook loved Fridays because when he finished work he got that Friday feeling you get when you know you're finished for the whole weekend. Of course that had to be ruined sometimes by the occasional lack of weekend staff begging him to cover their shifts. It was extra money after all though. 

Ryeowook ate some cereal and watched TV like usual before cleaning his teeth and getting dressed into his usual black skinny jeans and white shirt. The usual, again. But just for today, then he had two whole days to himself. Then back to the same old again on Monday. 

Sometimes Ryeowook wondered how long he'd be doing this for. He was 28, single, and struggling for money in a standard job. Would he do this until he retired? Or died? When will he find a nice woman and marry and have kids? Get a better job? Or would he even do that? What if this was his life now right up until he dies? 

He did his best to shake these thoughts out of his head, or at least push them to the back of his mind- but they just seemed to surface sometimes. 

"I'm going now," Ryeowook told Bella, crouching down and kissing her head before checking his bag had everything he needed- especially his bus pass- and leaving the house for the day.

________________________________________________________________________

Bored. Again. Kyuhyun sat typing away on his computer at his desk, praying something interesting would happen for once in his life. Why was he 27 and still single, working in a boring job? He didn't even have time to socialise and find a woman to be in his life. 

"Mr Cho, I finished these," a younger actuary in training smiled, putting some documents on his desk. 

"Ah, yes, thank you," he returned the smile while she bowed and walked away. He flicked through the documents, checking they were all there before opening a drawer and placing them inside. 

"Kyuhyun, are you busy?" a senior asked him. Kyuhyun looked at his computer, pondering his current tasks. Stupid question, Kyuhyun was always busy, but of course he couldn’t say that.

"I'm not hectic...why?" he asked politely. 

"Would you go and get everyone's coffee?" he asked. Kyuhyun sighed, he couldn't say no to a higher up. Although, at least it gave him something more interesting to do, an excuse to get out of the building for a while. 

"Yeah, sure," he nodded, grabbing his coat of the back of the chair and putting it on. 

"Thank you," his senior smiled. Kyuhyun left the office and took the elevator down to the ground floor, exiting the big doors of the offices block. He walked the short journey across the road to the coffee shop and entered.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Good morning!" Ryeowook sang, removing his bag and coat to hang them up in the cupboard room. 

"Morning ,Ryeowook, we're not very busy this morning, want to be on station one for a bit?" his colleague asked. The till, the easiest job? Hell yes. 

"Sure," Ryeowook replied nonchalantly, tying his barista apron behind his back and standing behind the till, waiting for a customer. He scanned around the area, keeping his mind busy while he waited. 

"We heard about last night," a female barista told him quietly, Ryeowook groaned loudly. 

"It's fine!" she said quickly, "it happens to the best of us don't worry about it," she encouraged him, Ryeowook nodded. 

"Well at least it's over now," he said as he recalled last night's events in his head once again. He scanned around the coffee shop once again, checking that all the customers were satisfied, as he looked around his gaze fell on the door, with an approaching customer. 

"No way..." he murmured, instantly recognising the man entering the shop. He opened the door and let himself in, closing it gently behind him. Kyuhyun approached the counter, looking down at the floor as he went over everyone's order in his head. The good thing about being trained in the field he's in, with a lot of maths skills, is that he has a great memory. 

He stopped walking when he saw his feet reach the counter, he went over the orders once more before looking up and starting to speak. 

"Hi, can I have..." he stopped, instantly recognising the nervous looking man in front of him. 

______________________________________________________________________________