“Do you have your periods?”

“Wooyoung what the hell!?”

“No I am asking you a serious question. Or is it menopause you old lady? You have been so mopey and mushy and just everything that a 55 year old woman would be when she goes through her menopause. Trust me, my mum had hers a couple of years back and me and dad sent her to Tahiti for a week--” Chansung cut him off by throwing all the pillows he had on his bed at the blonde man sitting in front of him. He then smothered him with his giant cat pillow which only made Wooyoung scream louder. He’s glad that Jinyoung knows him well enough to know that he’ll never hurt a fly or else he would’ve called the police on him by now from how loud Wooyoung was yelling.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Uncle, UNCLE!” after he was sure Wooyoung wasn’t going to pick on him, Chansung lifted the pillow off his face only to get tackled by the feisty blonde. He straddled his waist and pinned his arms above his head.

“Give…me…a…second…to…breathe” he wasn’t impressed and let out an exasperated sigh to get Wooyoung to spit out what he wants from him.

“Now that I have your attention. What the !? What’s got you all mopey and weird these days and how do you expect to live on if you kill me? Who will be that ray of sunshine in your dull, miserable life after I’m gone? I expect a 1000 word essay explaining both.” He huffed and waited for Chansung’s response.

“You should get a dog.”

“What?”

“Yeah! Maybe a Golden Retriever or a Labrador. Something cute and fluffy to balance out all the bitterness in your life,” he deadpanned.

“I will bite you if you don’t answer my question.” Instantly, Chansung had a flash back to the time he flicked whipped cream on Wooyoung’s face to ‘sweeten up his life’ and shivered at the repressed memory.

“It’s nothing. Just work and my boss being weird. He thinks that I have a girlfriend because I come to work looking tired or puffed out so he gives me these greasy comments. That’s all.” Wooyoung was laughing so hard that he rolled off Chansung and almost rolled off the bed too. Chansung was glad he didn’t ask any more questions because he didn’t want to tell Wooyoung about Junho. At least not yet; not until he can sort a few things out about himself first.

Their ‘weekend dates’ resumed as per usual only this time they started to talk in between sips of their coffee. Chansung felt the heavy air between them lift ever since that fateful lunch date and was glad it took him smelling like tomato sauce for 3 days to make Junho more comfortable with him. The more they talked, the more mysterious Junho got. He was like an enigma wrapped in a riddle inside a spell book. Some words were like ‘magic’ in the sense that they made Junho light up in an instant but most of the time he’s responses only further puzzled Chansung.

“So you’re an only child? Me too! Do you wish you could’ve had siblings?”

Junho shook his head, “Not really. Because then I’ll never get to know them as they all move on to their own homes.”

“So where are your parents from?”

“They’re actually from this town.”

“So what are you doing here then?”

“Holiday” He didn’t say anything more which meant that’s all he’s going to say about it. He scratched the back of his head while he thought of other questions.

“So what do you work as?”

Again, Junho shut him down before he could inquire further. “I quit my last job so it doesn’t matter”

“So you hope to find a job here? Or stay here?”

Finally the magic words. Junho turned his gaze from the window to Chansung and answered his question with a smile that made eyes turn into slits and his eyebrows disappear under his mop of curly black hair.

“If fate lets me.” That was good enough for Chansung.

They continued their conversation while they ate their cream puffs and cookies and cream cheesecake. Chansung isn’t one to remember details, as made clear by his cat running away and Wooyoung’s constant nagging, but he did start picking up little habits of the small man in front of him. Like how he wouldn’t wipe his face whenever he would get crumbs or cream on his face. It’s as if he doesn’t notice the food on him or he just doesn’t care. Chansung has to sit on his hands at times to stop himself from wiping his face for him. Also whenever Junho would dislike something or isn’t happy about something, he’d scrunch up his face as if he just bit a lemon or would pout and turn his head the other way. Most of the time, he reacts that way because of food he doesn’t like but when Chansung asked him if he has pets, Junho turned away from him and faced the window for almost 10 minutes until he calmed down again.

Sometimes he thinks his eyes are playing tricks with him but Chansung can swear that at the times, when Junho is looking off far into the distance or not paying attention to him, his nose twitches. Not like ‘Bewitched’ but more in an unconscious way; as if it’s the most normal thing for him to twitch his nose every now and then. When he asked him if he was going to sneeze and handed him a tissue, Junho took the tissue and just stared at it. Figuring that he wasn’t going to use it, Chansung reached over to take it off him but Junho dropped it. As it slowly fell, Junho’s eyes glazed over and he stared, transfixed by the floating tissue. Tentatively, he reached out and prodded the tissue when it hit the table.

“Do that again.”

“Excuse me?”

“Make it fly again!”

Chansung decided against questioning him (he is actually dying to ask but he decided to file this as a ‘ask when he isn’t being weird’ type of question) and just picked up the delicate tissue and dropped it from a height above his head. Again like he was put under a spell, Junho only stared and Chansung could see his fingers twitching as if he just wants to reach out and grab the paper.

“Go ahead.”

Junho only looked up at him when the tissue reached the table. “Sorry?”

“I know you’re itching to grab the tissue. I’ve seen that look before in my cat when the drawstrings on my jacket were hanging loose. He would practically tackle me down just to get a grab at them! So let your feline instincts take over.” He even did a cat ‘meow’ and paw action to match but then he wanted to bury himself in the nearest patch of grass he can find from the embarrassment. After getting over the second lamest thing he’s ever done to Junho (the first being the hand caress/ that he can never get over), he picked up the tissue and let it fall again.

After three seconds of letting it fall, Junho reached out and snatched the tissue in mid-flight and let out what Chansung believed to be was a small giggle. Chansung wasn’t entirely sure if it was a giggle because it sounded very melodic. Upon close inspection, he realised that he was actually humming. Junho was looking down at the tissue in his hands and was humming in approval; looking extremely pleased with himself. He then looked up at Chansung and held out his hands with the tissue in palms and the biggest smile he’s seen him wear, “I caught it!”

If throwing tissues was all that it took to get Junho to smile like that then Chansung would’ve ditched the small talk and just pull out all the tissues in the tissue box on the table from the beginning.

He was whistling as he walked into the office a little earlier than usual with a steaming cup of white chocolate mocha in one hand and a new box of tissues in the other (you know, in case he spills his drinks or something). Mr Ok saw him walk in and had to do a double take to make sure it was really Hwang Chansung. He walked up to his worker’s cubicle and saw Chansung typing away at the report due in next week.

“Wow Chansung-ah, you must be really happy huh?”

Chansung almost spilt his coffee (see, the tissues did have a purpose) because he didn’t hear Mr Ok creep up behind him and peer over his shoulder.

“Mr Ok, you gave me quite a fright!”

“Please, when it’s just us two, call me hyung!”

“Yes h-hyung. I am quite happy thank you!”

Taecyeon glanced over him again and chuckled. He patted him on the back and commented, “I’m really glad you found love Chansung, it’s a good look on you,” and left him to go back to his own office.

Chansung was stunned and was about to go up to his boss to clear things up because he wasn’t actually in love. Right? His life pretty much revolves around the same handful of people and it’s only recently that Junho has become a new addition to that handful. So why does his boss think he’s in love?

He was still in a daze when he reached home because all day the only thing he could think of was his boss’s comment. He walked into his bathroom and after washing his face, looked at himself in the mirror. “Nothing has changed. Same expression. Well the bags under my eyes are starting to disappear.” He turned around and scanned his whole body, “I don’t think I’ve gained that much weight although my is starting to look a little round…” he trailed off then let out a deep sigh. “If only Emperor was here, he’d know the answer to my problems.”

Chansung didn’t realise how lonely he really was until he remembered the Emperor. The Emperor would only stare back whenever he would offhandedly ask him questions but at least he had company. Now that he’s gone, he’s starting to feel the cold more. He’s starting to notice the dark more. Meals aren’t as appetising as they were and books just don’t hold his interest like they used to. He’s not really ready for a relationship because of the commitment involved and he’s already comfortable with his small network of friends.

He continued to brood over the depressing thoughts while he made his way to his bedroom. It was still a little early to fall asleep but he’s worked himself into a bit of a ‘funk’ and he didn’t feel like doing anything except to brood some more. He changed into some comfortable pyjamas and slipped under the covers with his iPod. He played his ‘When feeling really sad and mopey’ playlist full of drama OSTs and buried himself under the covers.

He started imagining his life with a blurry figure in the picture. A special someone that would be there to greet him when he comes home from work. Someone that would call him ‘Jagiya’ and ask him how work was while setting the table for dinner. Someone that would light up his day with their simple, crescent moon, smile.

“Crescent moon smile!?” He bolted up from under the covers and froze. He didn’t picture anyone in those fantasies of him and his partner drinking coffee, going on dates and enjoying pastries together. ‘That’s because you do all those things with someone already’. He bolted out of his bead and went to wash his face again but couldn’t get rid of the images now projecting themselves in his head. They are the same images as before except now the figure isn’t so blurry anymore. 

No excuses. I am a terrible author for leaving you guys for more than a month but my first semester in Uni is almost finished! I have 4 more weeks and then I have a month of. In that month I'll try and update every day but for now all I can do is update whenever I get an inkling of free time. 

*bows 90 degrees* I am so so sorry! ;____;