It’s cold, the boy thought as a strong breeze sent chills all through his body. He noted just how fast the temperature dropped within the past couple hours.

Why didn’t I grab a jacket? It’s not like he planned being out at this time of the evening. And when he first stepped outside it wasn’t so bad. He rubbed his arms through the thin material covering them as he tried to figure out just what the hell he was going to do and where he was going to go.

Wandering aimlessly downtown at night isn’t exactly the best idea. But it’s not like he had a choice. The only other option was standing outside staring at a door that isn’t going to be opened for you anytime soon.

Being mobile while feeling pathetic is better than being stationary while feeling pathetic (at least he hoped so). Now where to go? There’s no way a single man can keep walking all night until God knows when.

He needed some kind of shelter for the time being because the wind was getting relentless and he was becoming extremely concerned for the safety of his nether region.

Practically everywhere was closed at this time of the night so his options were limited. The only things open at this time of the night were diners, a few convenience stores, and of course bars. At least, that’s all he could think of.

Not a very good set of options in his opinion. There were no diners around that he knew of, a convenience store was out of the question (he wasn’t going to stoop to loitering), and unfortunately there weren’t any 24 hour churches open like there always seems to be in movies. Not that Changhyun was very religious, but it sounded a lot safer than a seedy bar filled with tattooed bikers and gun toting gangsters (which were the types that frequented bars in his mind).

Now where to find one? His eyes scanned all the businesses in the area. He saw a couple restaurants, shoe store, an office supply store, and some sort of business-ey business place. He was going to move on until something caught his eye.

It was somewhat behind the row of businesses (it was somewhat like a small shopping center) so he didn’t notice it right away. He timidly walked up to the place and looked up at a dim neon sign that read “No. 1”.

That’s a pretty presumptuous name for a bar……..or anyplace, he thought to himself. He assumed it was a bar seeing as the windows were tinted. What non-seedy place would have tinted windows? He took a deep breath, stepped up to the door, took another breath and opened it.

It wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be. There were no gun-toting gangsters or tattooed bikers (so far). Just a few people playing pool on the lower level, and some sitting at tables drinking and smoking. On the upper level (there was just a few steps separating them) were a few tables, a couple couches, a couple tvs, a jukebox (not the kind your parents remember) and of course, the bar itself.

The place was small enough that he could easily see from one end to the other, which put him a little bit at ease. He sat down at the bar and nervously waited for whoever was supposed to be working behind it to show up.

It wasn’t long before he saw someone made their way from the back. He was attractive, tall, and had dark purple hair. Which was odd but he seemed to pull it off very well.

“Well hi there cutie”, the purple headed bartender said with a pretty smile “I’ve never seen you here before”.

Changhyun blushed, “Well yeah, I’ve never been here before”. Oh yeah, state the obvious, real cool Changhyun.

The bartender chuckled at him, “What can I get you sweetie?”

“Umm” he thought about it for a second “something that doesn’t have alcohol in it”.

“Not much of a drinker are you?” he asked him.

“No not really” it wasn’t something Changhyun really saw the point in.

The bartender disappeared behind the bar, obviously looking for something, “What’s your name honey?”

“Um, it’s Changhyun”.

“Well Changhyunnie”, he reappeared “I’m Chanhee, it’s nice to meet you” he added with a wink. He then passed Changhyun a small glass with red liquid in it. “It’s cranberry juice”, he winked again.

Changhyun gave a slight bow of his head “Thank you Chanhee-sshi”.

“You’re welcome cutie-pie”, he replied before looking at his watch,  “Hey I have a few things to do before my shift is over so I’ll be in the back for a bit. Call me if you need anything okay?”

“Okay, but um what do I owe you?”

“Nothing babe, don’t worry about it”, and with another wink he made his way back to where it was he had to do whatever he had to do.

Changhyun took a couple sips of the cranberry juice. It wasn’t his favorite type of juice but he hadn’t had a thing in his stomach for quite some time so it was something. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked the screen somehow hoping the sound was accidentally turned off. Of course it wasn’t. No missed phone calls, no missed texts, no nothing.

A small cynical laugh escaped his lips. Of course not, nobody cares so who the hell would be calling?

He was lost in thought, barely noticing when Chanhee came out to refill his glass, and barely noticing when someone took the seat that was next to him.

But that someone noticed him.