I can’t believe that yesterday even happened, things just went on its own and I had to admit… I did had a good time, I hope it'd stay that way though.

It was bright and early when Jiyong came for work, he didn’t saw Daesung when he was about to leave the apartment. He found it odd but didn’t think about it much, he knows he’ll definitely see him at work.

The very moment he got inside the café, Dae stood right in front of him with an intimidating look and a smug expression on his face. “Here goes the nosy best friend of mine…” he rolled his eyes at the way Dae looked at him.

“I think I don’t need to ask why you weren’t here for work yesterday” he gave a knowing tone, Ji folded his arms “What if I don’t talk?” he teasingly retorted, Dae immediately grimaced at the answer but Ji perked up a smile.

“You wouldn’t dare” he narrowed his eyes but Ji gave a challenging glare “Oh, I would” he gave a wink and walked away. “You ing tease” he grumbled as he turned to watch his friend get inside the dressing room. “We’ll see, I can enjoy a good tease like that… but inevitably you’ll tell” he really sounded confident and made his way to the counter.

In Jiyong’s thought, “I’m not confirming anything yet… it might just be a slight mood change in Seunghyun’s part but after yesterday, things gotten nice. Maybe… just maybe, I can get to know him more of a good companion” he smiled as a memory of yesterday still lingered inside his head. It was a fun day for him that he could testify for.

At the whole shift things went to according to Ji’s expectations. He watched how much Dae was giving him the look and those pouts from time to time, that was Dae’s way of saying “I’m not talking to you unless you fess” he tittered at the way he always acted. None the less, he was used to how less of a tolerant Dae could be. He knows he can’t resist on not talking to him.

As time passed it was nearly end of their shift and finally, Ji saw Dae making his way towards him. Ji acted cool and didn’t show interest in his presence “Ji…” he called out in a low tone, but Ji didn’t turn to face him. “Ji… come on…” he tried once again, yet he didn’t receive any reaction “Alright, you win… just talk to me” Ji grinned at the admission.

“You said I’ll inevitably talk, why reconcile so quickly?” he didn’t bother to turn, “Actually, right now you’re talking so with that I’ve won…” both of them chuckled, “But I’ll let the little event pass since I want to go easy on you today” he folded his arms and smirked.

Ji then turned and faced Dae “Wow… look and see who has the nerves” he jokingly retorted, “You know I can’t keep my mouth shut before my best friend” he opened up his arms, “I know… that’s why I’m doing this” he smiled and they both gave each other a warm embrace.

When they pulled out from it, Dae heard the bell at the door and turned “Whoa… looks like Romeo’s here for his Juliet” he hit Ji with his elbow “What?” he couldn’t understand but when he looked at where Dae was referring to, he saw the answer “I’ll have a macchiato please”

“S-Seunghyun” Ji seemed surprised, with that Hyun smiled and waved. “Nice to see ya, I’ll be waiting here once you’re done with your shift alright?” he was taken aback at that but found it nice to hear something like that. No one had ever waited for him, well, except for Dae but this was different… really different.

“I’m not done for another half an hour, is that fine with you?” he asked in concern and at the meantime, while Dae was ringing up the order, he was eying both of them and checking out the atmosphere. He didn’t know that they talked decently lately and it was way out of his imagination that Seunghyun would wait for him and above all, Ji were to anticipate with what Hyun had planned for them.

“Uhm… you can go and get a seat and we’ll give the order to your table” Dae informed Seunghyun as he handed out his change. He nodded and sat at the nearby table. “Does this have something to do with what happened yesterday? I’m having goosebumps in watching you talk like that to him after telling me what a jerk he is” Ji responded with a sigh.

“Can we please concentrate on our work?” he wanted to drop the topic, “Yup, it really does have to do with yesterday” he confirmed and sat back while Ji readied the order. While Jiyong was starting off with the drink, Dae couldn’t help but to see a shimmering shine in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what it was since it’s the first time he’d seen Jiyong’s eyes shine like that but it looked nice and good for him.

“Ji…” he whispered “Yeah?” he manage to hear, “I’m glad you’re happy today” Ji felt odd with the way he told him that and turned his attention to him, “What do you mean? Ow…!” he groaned in pain as the hot water overflowed from the cup he was filling.

Dae came closer to inspect and Hyun heard the cry of pain as well and rushed towards the counter. “What happened?” he peered at the two, “He got burnt… come on to the back and we’ll place some burn ointment on it” he assisted Ji who was definitely in such pain.

“I’ll take him, which way?” he moved around and took Dae’s place instead. “Over there at the back room and to the left. You’ll see the first aid kit at the washroom” he instructed, Hyun nodded and helped Ji towards the room.

Dae felt responsible with what happened but he only hoped it wasn’t serious. When they got inside the dressing room, Hyun immediately got the first aid kit and placed the ointment carefully at the burnt part. It wasn’t that big but having boiling water poured on your hand wouldn’t be that minor in terms of pain.

It was excruciating in Ji’s point, he had experienced these a few times before and the pain always seems a lot more than the previous. “What happened? You don’t look like the person who would be reckless with his work” he damped the cotton at the burnt area, Ji hissed in pain “It was nothing… Dae and I was just talking”

Hyun just nodded and didn’t asked further, for some time. Ji watched how serious Hyun was with placing the medicine, he was careful and gentle. He didn’t notice that he was already staring at him for a while that when Seunghyun was finished, he caught him staring out blankly at him.

He chuckled at the way Ji looked and raised his brows, “Hey… you’re going have a stiff neck if you don’t move” Ji’s gaze then snapped and he felt like he had just woken up from a dream. “Oh… sorry” he spoke shyly, “W-Wow… you really did a good job with it. Even the bandage is nicely placed” he marvelled at the aid Hyun gave.

“Hey, I’ve been a boy scout so I still know a few” he boasted in a nice tone, “Someone’s proud” he shot back, “I am… anyhow, with this hand of yours you wouldn’t be able to work. Better get your things ready so I can take you out”

Ji froze for a moment at what he said, “W-We’re going out?” he sounded unsure, “Of course, you said you’d accept the next one right?” he grinned and closed the kit, “Uh… yeah I did… but…” Hyun interjected, “It’s all too sudden? Don’t think about it that way, just think of it as a sense of urgency to see each other”

Ji’s heart stopped at those words, he felt in the first time in his life to be valued by someone other than a family relative. His pulse raised and his mouth felt dry, “I did had fun yesterday so I wanted another sequel” he kiddingly said, but Ji took it seriously. “R-Really…?” he was still comprehending it.

“In general… yes… I want to spend time with you” he placed a hand over Ji’s un-injured one, that is. A jolt of electricity surged through that contact and thrill rose in at the sensation. “What’s happening to me?” he questioned the way things were going.

“Y-You’ll probably change so… I’ll wait for you outside then” he stood up and gave one last look at Ji before leaving, and Ji did the same. “Alright… what was that?” he asked himself as his heartbeat was starting to even and the rush inside of him was starting to subside.

“For a moment there, I felt different about him. It’s not a bad feeling but… it felt addicting” he tried to compose himself.

Meanwhile

When Seunghyun came out Daesung immediately went towards him, “How’s the injury?” he worryingly asked, “It wasn’t that big but his skin got cooked that’s for sure…” Hyun didn’t notice his words and Dae felt horrible. “I-I mean… he’s fine… yeah, I was just kidding” he took back his reckless words.

“R-Really?” Dae hoped, “Yeah, he is” he gave a reassuring smile. “Thank goodness… it wasn’t the first he had an injury like that, whenever he get one I get so scared” Hyun found his curiosity fiddling with him.

“Why’s that?” he questioned out, “Promise you won’t tell Ji?” Hyun nodded and swore. Dae took a look behind before telling, “Well… he’s a bit sensitive you know. He cries easily about stuff and especially painful things such as these… earlier, he tried his best not to cry out since there were other people around. He was holding it up” Hyun didn’t seem to believe it since Ji didn’t show much signs of crying.

“He didn’t seem that he’s holding his tears though when I was helping him out, in fact it didn’t seem to bother him… well maybe he groaned and hissed from time to time but I could tell he wasn’t about to cry” Dae took a deep breath, “Because he’s afraid to show you…”

Hyun didn’t found it possible that a person could hold back such stuff, “Come on… stop talking nonsense, it was nothing to him” Dae frowned, “I’m rather saddened that you don’t take my words seriously, I’ve known him for 4 years and I know every detail there is when it comes to his emotions and stuff…” he paused for a moment.

“Rather… I’m quite intrigue to see him anticipate for you when you said you’d wait for him… honestly, I’m finding this… suspicious” he had a hunch on the whole thing and Hyun found Dae’s way of being frank was too much. “Nope… I can’t use this guy”

“Well, you see… things are bound to be like that so, hell… why not get along with each other and have it without fuss, right? You know that people can learn to like each other in the course of time…” he reasoned out and Dae seems to have bought the whole thing. He nodded in compliance “That is true, but there are some that doesn’t…” Hyun was starting to get annoyed, “Though that’s not for me to judge… Ji will be the one who’ll see through that”

Hyun sighed inside his head, “Finally… he gave it a rest” he smiled to cover up the annoyance. “Oh, by the way, do take care of him… I know I’m not in the right place to say something like this to you but, being the only person here to comfort him and look after him… all I want is to see him happy as can be, please… I’m telling you this also for your own good. If he loses his trust in you, he’ll never give it back without consideration”

Inside Hyun’s mind he found it useless, “Why would I even want it back? Is he going to be that important in my life for me to want it back? Please, spare me the words… I wouldn’t need it, even if it cost me my life” he nodded in what Dae said, and after a few seconds Ji came out.

“Took you long enough… I’ll see you later once you get back home…” Dae took a look at the bandaged hand, “Alright, can you manage?” he asked in a teasing way, “Even with my arms tied up… you better get going then” he bid them off. Although Jiyong didn't look hurt or pained as Daesung explaid to him, he saw through the shine that was visible in his eyes, "Could it be possible that... when I left him, he cried out all the pain?"

As the two of them made their leave, Daesung couldn’t help but to feel uncomfortable with Seunghyun’s presence and as much as he wanted to warn Jiyong about it, he wasn’t the one who can dictate either one of them. “I guess… I have to put my faith into Jiyong’s choice in this”

While Hyun was driving, Ji felt he has to ask about something to him but he found himself being shy to even bother asking about it. When Seunghyun took notice of it, “Hey… is there something bothering you?” surprised with the question, Ji snapped out of his daze and looked at him.

“N-No… not really” when Hyun saw Ji’s eyes they look rather reddish and wet up close, “Could it possibly be true?” he recalled what Dae said earlier. “Come on, you can talk about to me. I’ll listen to it” he encouraged. Ji took in a deep breath, “I’ve been wanting to ask this the moment you invited me on a date yesterday, it just seemed to be inappropriate to ask it in the midst of it but… I think I really need to ask”

“I’ll answer it, don’t worry” he assured, “Well… are you gay?” he asked whimsically and Hyun chocked out a laugh, “You said you’d listen and answer my question, I guess that thinking about it is just a joke for you” he jutted his lips.

Hyun recomposed himself, “Sorry… but no… no… I’m not what you think I am, I’m straight as it can be” he clarified, “So… is it awkward to be around me? To talk to me and to be inevitably be married with me? I mean, most hetero often despises people like us. Don’t you feel the same?”

Hyun gripped on the steering wheel to calm his frustration, “No, I don’t actually hate homos but since you ed up my love life. You’ll be an exemption” he noted inside his head. “Not at all… you see, I’ve got friends that are but I don’t feel awkward being around them. As a matter of fact, I found them amusing” Ji raised a brow.

“What do you mean?” curiously he looked at Hyun, “The way they act, talk, joke, fool around and etc. They always make funny things out of the blue, that’s something you wouldn’t be awkward be now, wouldn’t it?” he explained further.

“I guess… but I’m not as entertaining as those people you know of” he seemed gloomy at the fact, “Yeah, you’re way………. Too different to compare to them, you don’t amuse people, you pester them with your existence”

Though he really didn’t mind seeing Ji sad like there’s no tomorrow, he has to have an impression in order to make things go smoothly “Cheer up, you have you’re unique way of bringing joy to people” he encouraged him yet again.

“Do you think… we should stop this?” Hyun snapped his head at what he said, he watched Jiyong looking outside the window before going back for the road. “S-Stop what?” he dare to ask, “Let’s stop this illusion, this whole stuff about you and me. Honestly, after yesterday… I don’t think you’re a bad guy. I thought at that time how kind and fun you were”

Hyun felt his heart pounce while his mind thought of dreadful things, it was a contrast, his mind was cursing and ridiculing Jiyong as an entity but in his heart it was oddly strange that it didn’t felt the same as his thoughts. It was something deep in the depths of his heart that he hadn’t known yet, that he hadn’t understood yet.

“Last night, I thought about what it was like to have met you in a different way. Maybe things weren’t like this, maybe we could’ve been friends and we wouldn’t try and push ourselves with each other, much like now. Maybe we could’ve been two different people that understood each other” there was a short sting inside Seunghyun’s heart that he couldn’t quite tell why.

As much as he wanted to protest in order to fulfil his plan, there wasn’t any words coming out of his head nor his mouth. Everything blanked out in that very moment, “Seunghyun…” he called, and he looked at him “Would you like me to convince my dad to cancel this engagement?”

Then all of a sudden, his mind began to function once more “Yes… hell yes! Cancel this stupid and absurd wedding that they wanted to have” his mind cheered. In reality, he hasn’t spoken out a word yet, and Jiyong was starting to anticipate for an answer “If you really want to stop this, I’d understand. My dad… he’ll try his best to convince uncle to stop this and~”

He was cut off at the sudden breaks, “What the… can you please warn me before you make a pit stop?” he blurted, but unexpectedly, Seunghyun turned and looked at him with a bad expression. “Are you stupid or something?! You’re telling me that you’ll cancel this wedding? You really aren’t grateful to people’s kindness huh?”

Seunghyun didn’t know what he was spouting, it was just coming out of his mouth without his control, “Oh … this is bad… what am I saying?” he panicked inside his head, “Do you know how much your father’s company owes us? Do you know how much trouble your dad was even before that? He was a bankrupt loser to begin with but he still pursued a path that he couldn’t stand up alone!”

Jiyong was shocked with what he’s saying and with why he was saying such things, “Did you even know how much my dad wanted this wedding to happen? As much as I found it delusional that he’d make me marry a gay guy like you, I’d still cope with it because I respect my dad’s wish… I respect my father’s request” he looked different from who he was earlier.

“So if you have the nerves to say something like that, you better think again on how worthless of a father you have and show your gratitude by going along with~” Jiyong couldn’t let him talk any further. He punched him right in the left cheek, “Yeah… my dad failed as a president of the company, but my dad didn’t fail as a father… so don’t you dare say anything like that to him, especially in front of me!”

He yelled out and hopped outside the car. With what had just happened, Seunghyun couldn’t believe himself from spouting words like that, he thought maybe it was because his dad’s request wasn’t going to be fulfilled or maybe because he felt that his dad’s efforts on helping out was all at vain but something inside of him was telling him that it wasn’t even close to that.

“What in the world did I just did?” he sighed and leaned back and felt the sting on his cheek as the fog of anger cleared, “Choi Seunghyun… what came over you to spoil your own plan?”

Ji on the other hand walked the street with tears threatening to fall at any time, what he thought about him being kind and fun, vanished “Once a dickhead, always a dickhead… it was bad enough that you trample with me but drag my dad into this? You’ve gone way too far off… I’m not going to tolerate this”

He marched towards his apartment without thinking, he was already in the middle of the street and a car was fast approaching. He wanted to run or take a step back but his body froze, he felt his end draw near. “Is this… where I die?” he slowly closed his eyes and prepared for the impact but.

He heard the wheels of the car screeching to a stop and his body down on the ground. He wasn’t sure on what was going on but, when he opened his eyes, he saw Seunghyun holding him and they were down on the street away from the car. “Are you alright?” Hyun sounded meek, “I-I think so” he couldn’t quite tell how his condition was.

“Are you?” he asked back, “Just a bit… I think we had a nasty fall” he pulled himself up and assisted Jiyong back up to his feet. They guy inside the car came to check on them, “Are you guys fine?” he observed them carefully.

They were both dusting themselves off “Yeah… we are” Hyun answered for the both of them, “I thought I was going to hit you, shall I take the both of you to the hospital?” he suggested and both of them shared a look before answering, “No, we’re alright, there’s no need” he reassured, “Please do be careful next time” he reminded Jiyong.

Ji bowed and apologized with the whole commotion. When the guy left Hyun pulled Jiyong out of the streets and right back into his car. There was a thick silence between the both of them, a moment where they recollect what had just happened and what may had been.

It took them a short while before Seunghyun started off, “Sorry… for saying those stuff, I guess I just snapped when it came to my dad’s request for this marriage to happen" he sounded sincere. “Sorry too… if I hadn’t stormed out of the car, none of it were to happen” they didn’t looked at each other, they just looked far off but neither one of them looked at one another.

“I guess, I should leave now. I should get back home” he was about to leave the car but, Hyun’s hand took hold of him. He finally turned to look at him, “I’ll take you there then. It’s the least I could do” he offered and Ji shook his head, “I’ve caused more than enough trouble for one day, and don’t worry. I’ll be careful now” he guaranteed.

At the very moment when Jiyong got out of the car, Seunghyun felt his heart got stabbed repeatedly. He felt pain rush inside of him and not because of the fall or anything physical, it was that something inside of him that lingered for quite some time now. It was somehow, making him feel that letting Jiyong walk away was awful.

“What in the world happened a while ago? Why did I helped him out? Why…? If… if I didn’t came in the nick of time, he would’ve been completely gone from my life and~” a portion of him didn’t want to continue, it wasn’t him. A side of him didn’t want to think about something like that, something as horrible like that.

He leaned back once more at the driver’s seat as he tried to wash away the bad thought, he’s not that kind of a person, he told himself. He did want Jiyong to be gone from his life but not in that kind of way, “Choi Seunghyun, what in the world has come into you to start being like that?”

After a few minutes of walking, Jiyong got to his apartment, it was starting to get dark at that time. In a bizaar way, he felt numb. He couldn’t feel the burnt part of his hand right after the whole thing, he thought that maybe he got hurt somewhere to feel something like that but, there’s no pain that ran through his body. Nothing to signal that he was injured. Inside his own heart there was an urge to cry out, but there was no reason that popped out inside his mind to do so. "What's going on with me..." he felt somewhat miserable.

When he got inside his place, he leaned back at the door and slowly he sat at the floor. Thinking deeply on how things turned out like that, from a simple question to a fight that never cross his expectation. “Why?” was the only thing running inside his head, the only word that was repeating constantly.

He didn’t notice the time pass when the door lock was sounding off, he felt a push from the door as the person behind it was about to open it “What the… what’s clogging the door…?” the voice wondered, slowly Jiyong got up and opened up. “J-Ji? What’re you doing here, I thought you were with Seunghyun” he made his way inside and immediately he saw Ji’s arm bleeding.

“What in the world happen to you?” he rushed and Ji took a look, “Why are you bleeding like this? What happened? Where’s Seunghyun?” he asked in distress in seeing him bloodied like that, but Jiyong was unfazed. He seemed far off and he had hardly even try to reply with Dae’s questions.

“Come on, let’s get inside and clean you up” he pulled Jiyong towards the living room and let him sit down on the couch as he fetched the medical kit. When he got back, he also brought a basin and a wash cloth to clean up the dripping blood that stained Ji’s arm and disinfect it.

“Ji… what’s going on with you?” he asked in a low voice, but still no reply. “Jiyong…” he wanted to try once more but, he found it useless.

Why did I rushed to help him… it’s not that I’d like to see him get hit by the car, it’s this eerie feeling I got when I saw him. When I saw him nearly get killed. I felt like my heart was about to drop and my limbs automatically moved on its own…  I don’t get it, not one bit.

I thought Seunghyun was also mad at me… that he’d leave me alone, why was he there? Why did he came back for me? What led him to go after me? Although I’m thankful that he’d helped me, I’m still baffled with the truth behind his reason to be there. Did he… wanted to reconcile?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ok, this was a bit intense and things gotten out of hand with their supposed to be date. I think this one was far off though, this could prove to be a signal for Seunghyun that he’s starting to feel at ease with Jiyong without his acknowledgement in it. Still things will start off at the next chapters. Please expect a follow up for this event that happened with them and also expect Daesung being pissed with this.

Anyhow, thanks so much for still reading this. Though I haven’t made things all romantic yet, I hope to have your patients when the time comes for the both of them to start with their lovey dovey moments. :) Please subscribe for those you start to gain further interest :D