Baekhyun: it’s been 30 mins since ive reached this damn café and I don’t see a single soul! Where are u guys?!

Kyungsoo: We agreed to meet at 2….it’s 1 45 right now.  You’re early idiot.

Hana: lol

Lay: God Baekhyun….

Baekhyun: cmon just hurry up guys. Evn Kai n Jongdae aren’t here yet.

Lay: Well duh. Ur early remember?

Kyungsoo: oi by the way Kai said he was bringing someone along.

Hana: Oooo..who?

Baekhyun: shudnt he have checked with the rest of us first?

Kyungsoo: that would require putting him in the group. Or creating a separate group with him in it. you want that?

Lay: well…..

Baekhyun: no

Hana: ^ hahahaha. Cmon guys he’s not that bad.

Baekhyun: Hana I just lost all faith in u

Lay: he actually isn’t that bad though….

Kyungsoo: whatever the case, Baekhyun I’ll be there in five minutes.

Baekhyun: HURRY!

Kyungsoo pushed open the glass door and the aroma of freshly crushed coffee and baked cakes entered his system. They visited this café frequently ever since they came here with Hana that one time. Spotting Baekhyun wasn’t hard, he was sitting on their usual table with a grumpy look and a half filled glass of orange juice.

Kyungsoo silently walked over and took the parallel seat, unnoticed by Baekhyun as he was too busy staring outside while sipping his drink. Baekhyun’s mini scream upon noticing the intruder brought an almost sinister smile onto Kyungsoo’s lips.

“Don’t ever do that again.” Baekhyun warned and Kyungsoo just shrugged, not really agreeing to his friend’s command.

“I’ve been here since 1:15….the waitress even asked me if I’m waiting for someone. I feel like she thinks I got stood up or something. I mean just look at the pitiful way she’s looking at me.” Baekhyun said, pointing towards a waitress and when Kyungsoo glanced at where his friend was so openly pointing, he indeed saw a waitress giving Baekhyun a sorry smile.

“She probably thinks I called you here so I don’t look like a pathetic looser.”

“Well aren’t you one?”

“Haha so funny you is. But you wanna know who the REAL pathetic looser is?”

“Im guessing still you?”

“Lay.”

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow, but then it suddenly made sense and he snorted a laugh.

“Don’t tell me he still hasn’t confessed yet.”

“No he hasn’t. Also, that jackass thinks I like Hana.” This made Kyungsoo laugh and Baekhyun became more relentless because this bug eyed dude was not helping.

“But- How-how does he-“ Kyungsoo tried speaking between his fit but then realized it was useless to try until he calmed down. So once he was over the humour of the news, he rephrased his statement.

“Why does he think that? Are you sure it’s not you coming up with funny scenarios again?”

“No I’m sure this time. He even asked me.”

“No way.”

“Hell yea he did. He asked if I had a crush on someone recently and if that person played a piano and was shy and short of words.”

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun fell into a pregnant pause before Kyungsoo spoke.

“Wow….”

“Yeah….”

“Tell him you don’t like her then.”

“I did. I think I’ll have to tell him that in clear words instead of being all ‘Oh no I don’t like anyone right now’ over texts.”

“Let’s talk about this later ‘cuz Hana’s here.” Kyungsoo said as his eyes followed Hana coming in through the door. Hana automatically made her way towards their table without even looking up from her cell phone.

Lay: Almost there :D

Hana took a seat next to Kyungsoo on the sofa chair and tucked her phone back into her pocket.

“Hey.” Kyungsoo said and Hana gave him a high five. Baekhyun did the same, and Hana was happy enough to momentarily forget Yuri’s words. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun instigated a discussion about the winter festival. They were lagging with preparations and they needed to work their butts off this break and get at least the music down. So as they discussed the bell jingled and Lay entered with Jongdae. They settled too, Lay next to Hana and Jongdae next to Baekhyun. According to the current setting, Hana was sandwiched between Lay and Kyungsoo while Jongdae and Baekhyun sat opposite the trio. Baekhyun briefed Jongdae about the winter festival. Jongdae was really resourceful; he helped them a little with their theme and suggested some ideas for the lyrics.

The clock ticked the theory about time flying faster while having fun represented itself here. It had been almost half an hour since they had been chatting in the café but still Kai was nowhere to be seen. Kyungsoo messaged his asking, asking where the heck he was but Kai replied with a ‘be there in a while’. And this message was sent announced to the group twenty minutes ago.

“Guys I’m hungry. How about we order? I’m sure by the time Kai gets here, our food won’t be out.” Baekhyun suggested and the others could do nothing but agree because they were all pretty much starving.

“Ah…this Puttanesca looks cool. I think i-“

“No.”

“What- why?”

“No.”

“Baekhyun-“

“Jongdae. No.”

Jongdae stared at his friend who was giving him a hard look. Jongdae didn’t understand why Baekhyun wouldn’t let him try that pasta putta-whatever it was. What confused him even more were Hana, Kyungsoo, and Lay’s laughter that seemed to piss Baekhyun off even more.

“Why are you guys laughing?”

“ Becaue-“

“Not a word Lay.” Baekhyun warned and Lay doubled over in laughter. Baekhyun sighed defeated.

“Look just don’t get it alright? It .”

“No it doesn’t. Hana had it too and she didn’t have any problems.” Kyungsoo said despite Baekhyun’s glare and chuckled.

“Can we please not discuss this?” Baekhyun requested and they all surprisingly agreed. Baekhyun once more warned Jongdae not to order the dang pasta due to mysterious reasons and even though the latter was confused, he decided to just go with it and look for something else.

Hana left for the bathroom as soon as they were done ordering and as she walked towards the table, she saw Kai’s back and smiled. He had finally arrived. There was another person standing next to him, so Hana figured this was probably that friend Kai was supposed to bring along. Lay had hidden his face in his palms while smiling in embarrassment and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were pointing at the unknown boy and laughing. Apparently whatever it was, it was funny enough to have Kai hit things while laughing and to have Jongdae laugh loud enough for the entire café to hear. Hana didn’t know what they were laughing about, and she surely wanted to find out, but the way they laughed made her smile too, and as she approached their table, Baekhyun called her out.

“Oh! Hana you’re here! Kai’s here as you can see and this is his friend Sehun. He’s the same guy who Lay was touring when my precious phone landed on his thick skull.”

The name rang a bell for Hana, and she tried to brush it off but she couldn’t. For some reason she didn’t want the boy to turn, she didn’t want her assumption to come true. She suddenly felt scared, and the second the boy turned to flash her a friendly smile she stopped. The edges of his lips dropped a little and they both stared at each other.

Two years. It had been two years since she had seen him last, and that too was a blurry memory. But even with that, she could still recognize him. Puberty served him well, and he thought the same about her. They both grew in heights and looks and unlike before Sehun could tower over her. Everyone around them fell silent, they could feel something was up, because the two had been staring at each other for far too long, and that too, with familiar eyes.

Sehun cracked a smile, a genuine, toothy smile that made his eyes look like tiny new moons and took a step towards her.

“Hana…? Wow that’s you….? I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

Sehun’s way of addressing her made the others curious. Lay looked up from his hands and stared at the two. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were both staring at them as well while Kai just gaped at him friend. Jongdae was probably the only one normal.

“You know her?” Kai asked as he pointed towards Hana and Sehun nodded, not looking away from her. He was taking in her new appearance. It made him feel happy that she had grown up to be even more prettier than before, but what saddened him the most were the obvious changes that he knew were probably because of the wretched events from two years ago.

“Yeah I know her. I’ve known her for years….”  His tone was reminiscent, and a tear escaped Hana’s right eye. So long. She was seeing him after so long. She wouldn’t say she wasn’t happy, she was. But at the same time she was scared, moreover ashamed. The last time she saw a glimpse of him, things were not good, and it was partially her fault.

Lay got up and stood next to Hana defensively while eyeing Sehun. Not even there for ten minutes and the new kid had already made Hana cry. Baekhyun moved Kai aside and stood next to Sehun while Kyungsoo stood on his other side. Jongdae found the behavior of the three boys odd. He didn’t understand their attitude towards Sehun now that it was revealed he knew Hana beforehand. Jongdae didn’t understand because he didn’t know. Even Baekhyun, who knew the turning event of Hana’s life didn’t know what role Sehun played in her years of existence. But the way Hana reacted, she seemed scared, and that was enough for them to get their defenses up.

“How do you know her?” Baekhyun asked his tone slightly unfriendly. Lay wiped Hana’s tear and placed a protective arm across her shoulder. She still stared at him, and despite the fear, she wanted to smile. Sehun had been away for so long…… and now he was back….if he was back, then that meant-

“Hana you alright?” Lay’s voice broke her train of thoughts and she looked towards his concerned face. She nodded once before looking back at Sehun who was being interrogated by Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.

“People people let the dude breathe! God!” Jongdae intervened and pulled Baekhyun and Kyungsoo away from the poor eighteen year old. Kai still stared at Sehun, trying to figure out how a guy who transferred a few months ago already knew about the most isolated student in the entire school, when Kai hadn’t even mentioned her name to him before.

“Dude…you guys like…friends or something?” Kai asked in a whisper, not really sure why he whispered though. Sehun looked back at his friend and gave another smile and shook his head. Baekhyun felt like he could hit this kid on the head and Sehun was lucky Kyungsoo was blocked by Jongdae or else he would have probably hit him already because of all the suspense he had suddenly created. Lay held Hana while he waited for Sehun’s response, and checked Hana’s expressions every now and then to make sure she was alright and that no further tears escaped her pretty eyes.

“No, were not friends. We’re more than friends….” Lay’s grip on Hana’s shoulder tightened and his eyes widened like everybody else’s. Even Jongdae’s eyebrows rose at his response.

“We’re more than friends.” Sehun repeated for emphasis before completing his sentence after a short silence.

“We’re cousins.”

-

see! i said i'll update soon!