(Continued)

“So, Yoseob, here’s your uniform. Go try it on and see if it fits,” Jungsu told the baby-faced boy who nodded excitedly and ran off into the employee lounge. Just then, KiWoon walked back into the store and greeted Jungsu.

“Hyung, didn’t you say that the new kid is here?” Gikwang asked. Jungsu nodded and pointed towards the staff lounge.

“He’s changing. Just wait here for him and introduce yourselves. Get to know each other well, just like how you and Hyunseung know each other, got it?” Jungsu instructed. KiWoon nodded and grinned, handing a bag to Jungsu. “What’s this?”

“It’s dried prunes. My umma told me that pregnant people might experience nausea and she said that eating dried prunes would help, so I thought that I should get some for you,” Dongwoon explained. Jungsu’s eyes lit up and he hugged Dongwoon tightly.

“Thanks Dongwoon! Why can’t Youngwoon be more like you? All he knows how to do is nag…” Jungsu sighed and shook his head in disapproval at his fiancé’s actions. It was true that Youngwoon loved him but he just didn’t know how to be sweet like Dongwoon was.

“He’ll learn,” Dongwoon replied with a small smile.

“I guess,” Jungsu shrugged and turned to Hyunseung and Doojoon. The latter was still gaping after Yoseob, his eyes gazing longingly at the door to the staff lounge and Jungsu rolled his eyes. “Yah! Yoon Doojoon!”

Doojoon hadn’t snapped out of his trance at the mention of his name so Hyunseung took the liberty to whack his best friend on the head. That did the trick, and Doojoon glared at Hyunseung.

“What?”

“You were spacing out for too long. I thought you died,” Hyunseung joked. Doojoon scoffed and Hyunseung faked a gasp. Doojoon was never the type to scoff at him, ever. He’d known the elder male for his whole life and Doojoon was always nice.

That expression on his face… Aww, is our Doojoonie in love? With Yoseob? The kid is pretty cute, I have to admit, but it’s too bad my heart’s been taken by a certain Junhyung. Speaking of whom…

“Hyunseung hyung?” Gikwang called. Hyunseung blinked cutely at the latter and raised a brow.

“Ne?”

“You were starting to space out too. Oh, there he is!” Gikwang exclaimed excitedly, pointing to Yoseob who was slowly beginning to walk out of the staff lounge in his uniform. The shirt looked a little too big for his small frame, but Jungsu couldn’t do much about it now.

Doojoon, who had been returning to normal, followed the other’s gaze and he began gaping again. Although he’d only known the boy for less than an hour, Doojoon couldn’t help but feel that the boy was flawless, and he definitely had to stop staring at the kid.

Yoseob caught Doojoon staring at him and he blushed slightly, not knowing what to make of the situation. If somebody whom you’d just met keeps staring at you like he wants to eat you up, how should you feel? Should you be scared or flattered? Yoseob didn’t know, so he just stared at the ground as he walked back to the crowd.

He stood in between Hyunseung and Jungsu, and Hyunseung could feel his best friend’s eyes boring into his back. He resisted the urge to punch the stupid soccer player and just gave Yoseob a small assuring smile which the younger returned gratefully.

“So, what’s your name?” Gikwang asked. Yoseob snapped his head up, noting down the two new faces and clearing his throat before he introduced himself.

“I’m Yang Yoseob,” Yoseob answered with a bow. Dongwoon smiled at the kid and held his hand out, shaking the latter’s hand. His lover did the same.

“I’m Dongwoon and this is Gikwang. I think we’re both your hyungs, am I right? How old are you?” Dongwoon questioned. Yoseob mentally calculated his age and replied promptly.

“I just turned 25 a month ago.”

Dongwoon’s eyes widened and he coughed a few times. “What?! I’m younger than you?!”

“He’s not lying. He’s born on the 5^th of January in 1990,” Jungsu confirmed, looking at Yoseob’s profile that he had been holding.

“NO!” Dongwoon denied, refusing to believe that Yoseob could look so much younger than him yet be older than him by a year and a half. Gikwang and Hyunseung were staring at Yoseob in disbelief as well, but their reactions weren’t nearly as big as the youngest.

“Dongwoon, just stay as the youngest and be happy with it,” Hyunseung chided. “Don’t embarrass yourself like this.”

“He’s the youngest?” Yoseob asked in shock. He couldn’t really believe it either.

“Yeah! Why?” Dongwoon retorted, feeling offended by Yoseob’s words.

“No, it’s not like that!” Yoseob replied. He was quick to defend himself. “I thought that Hyunseung hyung might have been the youngest… That was until you guys called him hyung though.”

Hyunseung felt himself flush at the indirect praise from Yoseob.

So I still look young? This boy is growing onto me already, and he’s only been here an hour!

Throughout the chatter, Doojoon kept his eyes on Yoseob and Jungsu chuckled at his employees’ antics. He glanced at his watch and sighed; playtime was over and it was time for work.

“Ok, I can see that you guys will grow to be great friends, but we have to open soon,” Jungsu reminded them, gesturing to the wall clock at the side of the store. “Yoseob, that uniform looks a little big but I can only get another one tomorrow. Is that fine?”

“Ne!” Yoseob chirped his reply and Jungsu ruffled his orangey hair.

“Ok, Hyunseung will show Yoseob the ropes while the two of you go attend to customers. Doojoon, are you still staying?” Jungsu asked, glancing at the abovementioned male. “Doojoon?”

Hyunseung sighed; he knew exactly why his friend was acting like that but he had to stop it.

Had I been that bad? I mean I still do think of Junhyung like all the time, but I don’t space out so much do I? Wait… Do I?

Hyunseung shook his thoughts off and whacked Doojoon on the head like before, this time slightly harder. He watched in delight as his friend winced – yes, Hyunseung was sadistic. He was only that way towards Doojoon though. He couldn’t help the fact that he and Doojoon would constantly hit each other for the fun of it. They would just laugh it off after a while.

“Ow! Hyunseung you !” Doojoon shouted at his best friend but he froze when he realised that Yoseob was still amongst them. Of course, what had he expected? The boy was working there now, so naturally he’d be there.

“Doojoon, are you going to continue daydreaming or work? I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but-” Jungsu was cut off by Doojoon nodding.

“Yeah, I’m going to continue. In fact, I’ll come over more often to help out since my soccer practices will be less than before. I don’t need an official position or even the pay; I just need something to pass time,” Doojoon lied. As if his soccer practices were going to decrease. Hyunseung had seen the schedule for the next few months and if anything, Doojoon had practices nearly every day.

Hyunseung let out an ungraceful snort and the others looked at him. Doojoon glared at Hyunseung, silently warning him not to tell on him. Hyunseung wasn’t stupid and as much as he liked to hit his friend, he could tell that Doojoon felt something for Yoseob already. He wasn’t heartless. So Hyunseung just kept quiet and grinned.

“I just thought of something funny, that’s all. Omo! Look at the time! We have to get cracking! Follow me, Yoseob. Can I call you Seobie?” Hyunseung asked, grabbing onto Yoseob’s hand as he pulled the younger male to the staff lounge to brief him about his job.

“Sure! That’s what my friends call me anyway,” Yoseob told Hyunseung. At that, Hyunseung froze in his steps. Yoseob’s friends call him Seobie?

It can’t be, right? I clearly remember Junhyung saying ‘Let’s go before Seobie gets here’ to his girlfriend. Nah, it can’t be so coincidental. I mean his friend’s name might just have happened to end with ‘Seob’, right? Yeah, there’s no way that Yoseob knows Junhyung.

“Hyunseung hyung, are you ok?” Yoseob asked worriedly, waving his hand in front of the other’s face. Hyunseung smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, I was just thinking about something,” Hyunseung replied hastily as he flashed Yoseob another small smile and walked into the staff lounge, closing the door behind them.

While Hyunseung was briefing Yoseob, the rest were sitting behind the counters, busy collecting money from customers and handing them their stuff. Doojoon had worked at the convenience store often enough, but he wasn’t focused on his work and he dropped a small glass bottle of milk.

The sound of glass shattering could be heard throughout the store and Doojoon apologised to the startled customers immediately, redirecting them to Gikwang and Dongwoon’s lanes as he cleaned the glass shards up.

Jungsu ran over to look at what had caused the commotion, rubbing his temples tiredly. He’d been heading over to the staff lounge, thinking that the three were fine managing on their own, but apparently he’d been wrong.

“Doojoon…” Jungsu sighed. Doojoon apologised to the manager and managed to accidentally cut his palm with a shard of glass as he had been looking at Jungsu. The pregnant male pushed Doojoon out of the way, telling him to attend to his wound in the staff lounge. Doojoon had protested, but seeing how Doojoon’s palm was bleeding, Jungsu forced him to leave the cleaning up to him.

“Thanks Jungsu hyung and I’m sorry again,” Doojoon apologised for a second time before he hurriedly rushed to the staff lounge, trying not to knock into anything on the way.

The moment Doojoon stepped into the staff lounge, Hyunseung and Yoseob’s gazes travelled to his hand and the two gasped simultaneously. Hyunseung got the first-aid kit while Yoseob stood at the side, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, an idea appeared in his mind.

“My friend knows a thing or two about first-aid. She’s been trained in the field for a short period of time. She said she’s coming over around now. Should I give her a call?” Yoseob asked. Doojoon momentarily forgot about his pain as he heard Yoseob’s voice. Doojoon was really crazy, and it’d only been a short hour or so.

Hyunseung nodded at the suggestion. “Of course! Thank you so much Seobie!”

Yoseob waved it off with a smile and dialled the familiar number.

“Hello? Hara?”

At that, Hyunseung froze yet again. It couldn’t be that coincidental, right?

“You’re coming together? Arasso! I’ll see you!” Yoseob exclaimed as he ended the call. “My friend’s almost here with her boyfriend. Hyung?”

“Yeah?” Hyunseung replied, pretending to busy himself with Doojoon’s wound.

“Nothing. We should probably go meet my friend outside so that she can handle that properly,” Yoseob suggested. Hyunseung nodded and pressed a cloth to Doojoon’s palm before the trio walked out of the store, Hyunseung informing Jungsu that they were heading out.

They sat down on a bench opposite the store, waiting patiently for Yoseob’s friends to come. The moment Yoseob pointed to the couple excitedly and Hyunseung looked over at them, Hyunseung felt his blood run cold and the colour faded from his face.

Fate really had a way to play with him.

Ok so now you know why Seobie is working instead of Junhyung, I guess :)

Well my lappie's running low on batt so I won't say much today. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one! :D

See you next time then! Annyeong! ^^