Chansung was excited for ice-cream and soon enough, he forgot all about what he was worrying about in the first place. As they walked out of his house, Wooyoung and Chansung saw Jinyoung sitting on his patio with a cat in his lap.

“Hello hyung! Nice weather isn’t it?” greeted Chansung.

“Sure is! Took a leaf out of your book and decided to read with my cat too! Poor thing shouldn’t stay indoors when it’s so nice outside,” he the said cat in process.

“What about your dog?”

Jinyoung looked up at him, “What dog?”

“I’m sure I saw you walking a Pomeranian dog… oh never mind. Must have been someone else.”

“You need to go out more often Chansung-ah, isn’t that right my little Jinyoungie?” he cooed to the cat sitting in his lap who replied with a content purr.

Wooyoung and Chansung both looked at each other then back to the strange neighbour.

“Oh that’s right. I named him Jinyoung after me so that I can call out JYP whenever I want to.” He lowered his head and whispered ‘JYP’ to his cat but at that point, Wooyoung and Chansung were already down the round; trying to put as much distance between them and the eccentric  neighbour as possible.

They took their time walking to the shopping plaza as they wanted to work up an appetite before stuffing their faces with 20 different kinds of gelatos and frozen dairy at the same time. The gelato shop was located near the giant water fountain that served as a centrepiece of the array of shops surrounding the decorative water feature. The shop was very quaint but cosy and provided some of the best homemade ice-cream for miles. The duo made their order and sat on one of the tables outside while they waited. They chatted and enjoyed the scenery because - as crazy as he might be – Jinyoung did have a point that it would be a shame to stay indoors on such a beautiful day. Taking a giant serving of mango and passionfruit swirl, Chansung was looking around at all the other shops and people moving about when something caught his eye. Looking closer to the water fountain he recognised the young man sitting on the edge of the fountain, playing with the fish swimming in its waters. He froze as he saw said man smile deeply and laugh at something in the water as his slitted eyes and radiant smile brought about inappropriate memories of a Japanese actor with the same beaming feature. He totally forgot about his surroundings and was brought back to reality only by Wooyoung snatching the spoon from his hand and hitting his forehead with it.

“Ow!” Wooyoung’s hit was really hard but the look he gave him made him forget about the pain in his head. He’s seen that evil glint one too many times to know that it meant he was up to something.

“It’s him isn’t it?” Chansung’s petrified look made Wooyoung’s wicked grin grow even more. “Okay so let me get this straight. I hear from Minjun that you’ve made yourself a new friend, which, by the way, you didn’t bother to introduce me to. Rude!” but as soon as he saw Chansung’s gaze drift back to the man beside the fountain he paused his rant for the time being. “And now all of a sudden Mr Hwang ‘I-can-make-any-lady-drop-her-morals-and--in-a-heartbeat’ Chansung is watching gay ? Who might I add looks kind of similar too…” at this however Chansung looked like he was on fire and reached over the table to cover Wooyoung’s mouth to stop him saying what he knows he’s going to say. Wooyoung struggled to remove the hand but decided on biting it instead (“Ow! Again Wooyoung!”). He stood up from his chair and grabbed the hand that he just bit to pull him away from the table. Chansung was confused but when he saw the direction Wooyoung was headed to he panicked.

“Wooyoung what are you doing!?” he tried to pull his hand back but the smaller man’s grip was too tight.

“Fixing your life and possibly getting that stick out of your once and for all. Don’t thank me now but make sure to make me best man at your wedding okay?” That seemed to put Chansung in a sudden stupor as his mind drifted off to thoughts of ‘wedding’, ‘Junho’ and ‘never make Wooyoung best man’ and before he knew it, they were standing before the groom himself. ‘He’s not the groom Chansung; you’re not getting married get a hold of yourself! Besides, realistically I’ll be the groom and he would the bride’.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Wooyoung pushing him in Junho’s direction. However Wooyoung didn’t take into account how dazed Chansung really was because the man didn’t register the push until too late and didn’t have enough time to stop himself from falling onto Junho directly. Junho was still playing with the fish in the fountain and he too didn’t look up until too late and didn’t have enough time to move away before Chansung fell directly on top of him.

Splash!

Any typical romantic comedy would tell you that when two fated lovers fall into a pond or fountain together, the man is on top of the woman and they both look deeply into each other’s eyes in a moment of clarity; the all too famous scene when they both realise their feelings for one another and they fall in love, happily ever after, blah, blah, blah.

This isn’t a romantic comedy.

As soon as Junho hit the water, his body tensed up and he let out an ear-piercing shriek. Like a cat in water, he  flailed around which only splashed more water around and drew the attention of the people nearby. Chansung was trying to get up but every time he got a hold of the fountain edge, he would only be pulled back into the water from Junho’s thrashing. After a few minutes of splashing around, the giant bear-like man finally heaved the smaller male onto his back and managed to somehow slosh his way out of the water and onto dry land. Junho stayed clung to Chansung’s back like a koala and had to be pried off limb by limb to get him down. The man was wracked with shivers from head to toe and thankfully Wooyoung brought back Chansung’s jacket that was left that their table back at the gelato shop. He wrapped him up and rubbed his shoulders to get some warmth in him.

After a few minutes, the shivering died down and he dared to take a peek at his face, fearing that Junho thought he fell on him on purpose. Junho looked like a car-crash witness. A victim of a trauma so horrible that it will scar him for life. His eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of his head, his chin trembling and lips pressed into a very thin line. He looked up at Chansung, unblinking with a stoic expression. Chansung couldn’t read his face and didn’t know if he did something wrong or what to do next.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

“I have to go. Sorry Chansung.” And without looking back, he made a run for it. Chansung was rooted to the spot. He was too shocked to run after him as his legs were frozen from the penetrating cool and from the blow. Wooyoung didn’t say anything but only patted his shoulder. He just stayed there, overcome with shivers that weren’t from the cold anymore.

After Wooyoung took him home and stayed with him until late into the night, Chansung took a shower and went to bed. He was still feeling dazed; like the reality of today’s events hadn’t hit him yet. But it was when he finally rested his head on his pillow did he feel that pang. There it is again. A giant tug at his heart that worried him. He played it off as the beginnings of a cold from being drenched for half a day but the third time his heart-strings were pulled he couldn’t ignore it. Hurt. He was hurt. And more importantly worried. His heart hurt because of the rejection but it was also hurting from the worry he felt. He was worried about Junho and how he was holding up. What if he got sick? What if he broke or injured a limb because of how hard he fell on him? The worries and ‘what if’s’ continued until he eventually tired himself out and fell into a fitful and dreamless sleep.

He woke up late into the afternoon the next day but felt like he didn’t get a wink of sleep. His body was sore all over and it threatened to give out from fatigue. But he knew he had to get some work done since he didn’t do anything yesterday, so he fought off the weariness and got himself out of bed. He decided to grab his caffeine from Minjun instead of making instant at home in the hopes that talking to another human being might lift his spirits and wake him up a little. Deeming it too dangerous to ride his bike, he lazily strolled to the café in a pair of simple track pants and a navy hoodie. He rounded the corner and almost got to the shop but was halted in his tracks. He rubbed at his eyes just to be sure. Junho was leaning against the telephone pole right outside the café. He was looking around like he was waiting and lightly kicked his feet against the pole with his hands in his pockets.

Chansung was about to turn around and run away but it was too late.

“Chansung!” he was spotted and Junho was waving him over. He still contemplated whether he should make a run for it but thought otherwise. ‘Man up Chansung! No more hiding away from your problems’. He took a deep breath and made his way to Junho. As he finally reached him, he let out the breath he was holding and let relief wash over him.

Junho was smiling.

Junho was happy.

He thought he could pass out from relief because he was so sure Junho hated him and that he’ll never see him again. Junho noticed the relieved look on Chansung and stifled a giggle behind his hand. This however puzzled Chansung.

“I wanted to thank you for yesterday,” Chansung could respond with more confusion. “I know it wasn’t your fault when you pushed me in the water. I saw your friend pushing you but I didn’t react in time,” he giggled which in turn made Chansung giggle too. He held up something in his hand and held it out to Chansung. “Thank you for the jacket. Sorry I couldn’t really wash it but it’s dry now and I can dry clean it for you if you want,” he mumbled shyly. Chansung took it from his hands and just barely held himself back from sniffing it. If Junho hadn’t washed it then it means it still smells like him. It still smells like warm fuzz and sunny afternoons. Chansung could never pinpoint what cologne Junho uses but all he knew was that it smelt like home.

“Thank you! You can keep it actually, I have more at home,” he offered. He shook his head in response.

“Sorry I can’t. It’s yours. Besides I don’t have much space to put it,” he humourlessly laughed. Suddenly his face shifted to a more contemplative look as he started to gnaw on his bottom lip and averted his gaze to the floor.

“About that actually… I have something to tell you.” He looked back up at Chansung with his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pressed tightly together. Chansung was scared. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Junho wanted to tell him if it made him look that worried. They just reconciled again and he didn’t want anything to ruin that. Junho locked eyes with him and gulped. “Promise me something though.”

“What is it?”

“Just say promise first.”

This worried Chansung even more but he promised anyway and prepared himself for the worst.

“Promise that we’ll still be friends. That you don’t think I’m crazy or that you don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me,” he was close to tears but he pulled himself together and finally confessed.

“I am the Emperor.”

Dun dun duuuuuun. He revelaed that he's the emperor! :O

What will Chansung say?

What will he do?

Tune in to find out~ ;D

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