3 days later, Jongdae woke up with a splitting headache.

He had stayed up long that night to study for the exam. He had had a weird dream, a gigantic clock with Suho’s face screamed at him incoherently. Jongdae sat up. A clock.

It was already 11 am!

Jongdae jumped out off the bed and stumbled as everything in front of his eyes started spinning around. He dressed as quickly as possible and grabbed a bottle from the fridge and some toast, before he left running his apartment.

He was living on his own, he had moved to Seoul for university. Not that his parents would have been there for him anyway…

So it turned out, he was 1 hour late for his exam.

Jongdae reached the bus stop just in time and thought maybe he had luck and could somehow manage it. The exam was scheduled to start at 10 am and end at 12:30.

Jongdae’s heart was racing so fast against his ribs, he felt sick, and so he had to lean against the door. The bus stopped abruptly and when Jongdae looked out of the window he saw that they had been caught in a traffic jam. His legs were shaking like crazy.

What a horrible start into the day, he thought and rubbed his temples.

When the bus finally stopped in front of the university, it was already 12 am.

Jongdae knew that there was no chance anymore, but he rushed to the exam room only to be held back by a professor. The elder man eyed Jongdae in disapproval.

“Please, this is a very important exam, I need to go inside! Please, even if it’s just 30 minutes. Let me do it, please!”, Jongdae begged.

But the professor didn’t give in and so Jongdae sat down on the floor in front of the room and started at his shoes while his heart wouldn’t stop going crazy in panic. The 30 minutes felt like 30 years.

When the door finally opened, Jongdae had to wait until all of the students had left, then he was called inside. He shortly saw Suho passing him by with a worried look.

Jongdae felt like throwing up, when he heard his professor call his name. “Kim Jongdae!”

With a hanging head he entered the empty exam room. “Why weren’t you here for the exam?”, his professor asked calmly. Jongdae looked up, he had expected him to scream at him or scold him.

“I overslept”, Jongdae murmured and rubbed his eyes. “Sit down, please. Your face looks pale. Are you not feeling well?”, his professor asked. Jongdae nodded.

“My head… feels like it’s going to explode. I-I studied through the whole night and when I overslept, I panicked”, Jongdae tried to explain but his voice was so weak.

“Drink something”, his professor said gently and handed him a bottle of water. Jongdae could barely thank him as he took the bottle and drank.

He heard how someone entered the room. “Can you please wait outside? This is an important conversation”, his professor called.

“I- sure. Jongdae, are you okay?”, he heard Suho’s voice. Jongdae couldn’t even answer, he just heard how the door closed again and silence wrapped over his ears like a heavy blanket.

“Drink a bit more… does it get better?”, his professor asked. Jongdae obeyed and after a while he could raise his head and nod.

“Yeah, thank you so much”, he murmured.

“Have you eaten breakfast?”, his professor asked.

“No, I had no time. But I had a toast on the way”, Jongdae said.

His professor sighed. “It doesn’t surprise me that you collapsed then…”

Jongdae looked up. “But the exam, it was so important!”, he called and he hated that he felt tears coming up. His professor smiled and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I will take care of that. You can do it another time, I will arrange that. I can testify that you were not in a state to take an exam”, he said and nodded. Jongdae started at him.

“That’s really kind. Thank you, thank you”, he said and bowed. Then he let his face rest on the cool table.

His professor patted his shoulder. “No need to thank me, I know that you’re an excellent student… you have great talent”, he said.

Jongdae wasn't sure why his professor would say something like that, because he didn't think so. But he finally managed to get up and leave the room with his professor, outside he fell straight into Suho’s arms.

“Jongdae, what happened?”, he called distraught.

“I overslept, I felt like I was going to be sick, I still feel horrible”, Jongdae murmured into his friend’s shoulder.

“You need to go home, now!”, Suho said firmly. “There’s no other exam for you today, is there?”, he asked.

Jongdae shook his head.

“Alright, I don’t know where Chanyeol is, but he should guide you home. I have another exam in 15 minutes, sorry”, Suho said.

Jongdae nodded. “It’s okay, I can go home alone”, he said. Suho frowned.

“Are you sure?”, he asked.

Jongdae nodded and stepped back and wiped over his eyes. “I’m okay now”.

Suho hugged him one more time, before leaving him alone.

Jongdae made his way to the bus station and rummaged through his bag. Where the hell was his bus ticket? Did he drop it on his way to university? As the bus arrived and Jongdae still hadn’t find his ticket not his wallet, he decided to walk.

He had made 5 steps when the cold wind made him cringe and look up in worry to the clouded sky. Maybe he should sit down somewhere and rest and call Chanyeol or someone who could drive him home…

He reached a shopping mall as it started to rain and so he hurried over and made it just in time, before the storm started.

Jongdae felt like crying, could this day get any worse? He sat down just in the entrance hall, where some benches were placed and searched his bag for his mobile. To his relief it was in his bag, to his displeasure he had to realize that the battery was empty.

He pulled up his knees to his chin and wrapped his arms around them. Then he would have to wait for the rain to stop so he could walk back to the university and find Suho. But Suho was thinking he had left with Chanyeol…

Jongdae cursed and started at the floor in front of him. The patterns blurred in front of his eyes and slowly faded out. Jongdae flinched and his neck almost snapped as he looked up quickly.

He had fallen asleep again! It was already past 3 pm…

Jongdae grabbed his bag and got up to check if it was still raining. When he left the shopping mall, the storm had indeed calmed, but it was still raining. He was just thinking about walking back to the university in the hope that Suho was still there, when he remembered another place to go.

The coffee shop was completely packed and full of couples.

What the hell was wrong today, Jongdae wondered.

When he squeezed his way inside, his clothes were all dripping wet from the rain. It was a 10 minute walk from the shopping mall after all. Just as he had made it into the queue, he remembered that he had no money with him.

And when he was pushed forward to the bar, he faced Kibum instead of Minseok.

“Is Minseok here?”, he blurted out. Kibum frowned.

“Yeah, he is. He’s looking after the cake in the back, why? Do you refuse to be served by me?”, Kibum asked coolly.

“No, that’s not it”, Jongdae said desperately.

“Jongdae!”

Never in his whole life had he felt such a relief to see someone. Minseok closed the door ‘staff only’ behind him.

“What’s wrong?”, he asked. Jongdae screamed internally. He must be looking horribly.

“Everything”, he just said. “Can we… just-?”, he asked and before he could continue, Minseok walked around the bar and grabbed his arm.

“I’ll be back in a minute”, he said to Kibum and dragged Jongdae through the ‘staff only’ door.

“What happened? You look like you fell into a pool!”, Minseok called and guided him into another small room.

There was a small kitchen, a table and a couch inside. Minseok made Jongdae sit on the couch.

“The rain”, Jongdae stuttered and wrapped his arms around himself, his whole body was shaking.

Even now that he was inside, his wet clothes had soaked up all the coldness of the rain.

“Wait here for a second”, Minseok said and left the room. He returned shortly after with a light brown t-shirt and black pants.

“Sorry, these are the only dry clothes we have here. They are probably too large for you…”, Minseok said and handed him the clothes.

They were the same he was wearing under the white apron.

“Thank you”, Jongdae said. As Minseok didn’t leave, Jongdae got up awkwardly and undressed as quickly as possible.

But as he had dressed up and turned around, he saw that Minseok had his back turned to him.

“Finished?”, he asked. Jongdae looked down. “Yeah”.

Minseok turned back towards him. “I have a break in about 10 minutes. You can stay here in the meantime if you want to, okay?”, he said. Jongdae nodded.

“Thank you”, he murmured. Minseok smiled. “No problem”.

Then he left and as Jongdae leaned back on the couch and looked around, he realized that Minseok hadn’t even questioned him further. He hadn’t asked what exactly had happened, but still helped him as if he knew exactly what he needed right now.

Jongdae bit his lip hard. Don’t make yourself fall deeper in love, idiot, he scolded himself.

But as the door opened and Minseok came in again, bringing him a towel, a blanket and a cup, his heart skipped a beat. Minseok placed the towel onto Jongdae’s wet hair and carefully wrapped the blanket around Jongdae, there had been no need to help Jongdae with that, but he did it.

And as he placed the blanket around his shoulders, he got so close that Jongdae felt like going crazy if he didn’t kiss him now. But just as he leaned closer to Minseok, the other one pulled back.

“Alright, I brought your favorite coffee”, he said with a smile. Jongdae shook his head and blushed.

“Thanks a lot, but I don’t even have any money with me”, he said embarrassed. Minseok smiled.

“I paid for it, so go for it and drink it”. Jongdae nodded and Minseok left with another smile.

The ten minutes passed by surprisingly quickly and Minseok returned to the small room.

“So, are you going to tell me now, what happened?”, he asked and sat down next to Jongdae. There was some distance between them, though. His whole body looked tense, but also as if he tried to hide it.

Jongdae looked down. “Everything went wrong. Everything”, he murmured and prayed he wouldn’t lose it and start crying in front of Minseok.

“Is it because… you had a date?”, Minseok asked hesitatingly and furrowed his eyebrows. Jongdae looked up confused.

“Why would I? I overslept and missed the important exam and… it started raining. I’ve lost my bus ticket and my wallet. I don’t know anymore”, Jongdae said and his voice cracked.

“Oh… “, Minseok said.

His expression changed immediately and slid closer to Jongdae. “I have to work until 9 pm, but if you can wait this long, I could give you a ride home”, Minseok said and hesitatingly placed his hand onto Jongdae’s shoulder.

Jongdae looked up. “Do you have a car?”, he asked and wiped his eyes.

Minseok nodded. “Yeah, so it’s absolutely no problem”, he reassured him.

“I can wait until 9 pm”, Jongdae murmured. Minseok handed him some tissues and waited until he had calmed down.

“And your exam… can you-?” – “My professor is very nice, he’ll arrange it so I can write it next week”, Jongdae said.

“It’s a bit stressful, since I have another exam on that day, but… better than getting 0 points on this one”, he murmured.

Minseok gently his shoulder. “I see…”, he murmured. Maybe Jongdae was imagining it since his mind was clouded anyway, but he felt like Minseok came even closer.

“So… uhm thank you for everything, Minseok. I don’t know how I can thank you”, Jongdae said and turned his head.

Minseok’s hand slowly slid down his arm and rested on the tiny remaining space between their legs.

“It’s okay. We all have bad days now and then, you made my day so many times before. I’m just returning the favor”, Minseok said.

He didn’t look at Jongdae as he talked. “Oh”, Jongdae murmured.

Minseok quickly turned around. “No, I mean… it’s not because I feel it’s my duty to help you, I want to help you”, he said hastily.

Jongdae smiled and kept his eyes on Minseok’s hand so close to his. He pretended to change his seating position and accidently let his hand brush over Minseok’s and rested his fingers slightly above Minseok’s.

Minseok didn’t pull his hand back, but Jongdae didn’t dare to look up to see his reaction.

“Say, do you actually-?”, Jongdae finally started, but interrupted himself as he had no idea how or what he should say.

“What?”, Minseok asked. “Uh, nothing. Forget it”, Jongdae murmured.

His heartbeat increased as he carefully let his hand wander over Minseok’s. When he brought up the courage to look up, Minseok wasn’t even looking at him. He looked at the table in front of them as if he was thinking about something very intensely.

Jongdae’s heart felt like jumping out of his chest, he leaned over and hesitated. He couldn’t possibly lay his head onto Minseok’s shoulder!

And so he pulled back and just started at Minseok’s side profile.

“Minseok?” – “Yeah?” Minseok turned his head and looked at him. Jongdae tried to breathe, but his fast heartbeat made it impossible. He leaned forward and stopped, but Minseok just looked at him.

Their shoulders were brushing against each other. “What is it, Jongdae?”, Minseok asked quietly.

Jongdae watched how Minseok’s lips moved as he talked, how his eyes were a bit wider than usual. And then he leaned back again and looked away, he couldn’t destroy that moment.

“You are really…”, he started when the door flung open.

“Minseok, we really need your help outside! We have so many customers, sorry, but you’ll have to end your break earlier”, a girl said as she stuck her head through the door.

She eyed the two boys sitting so close on the couch.

“Oh”, she added then.

Minseok got up and Jongdae could have sworn that his fingers slightly Jongdae’s.

“Okay, I’m coming. See you later, Jongdae. Ah by the way, the bathroom is next to this room on the right”, he added.

Jongdae nodded and smiled. “Okay, thanks”.

Minseok looked like he wanted to say more, but the girl dragged him outside.

Here comes a tiny bit of drama...but also an almost kiss *yaaay*

Don't worry the next part will continue with this day and how Minseok will drive Jongdae home...

and omg, so many new subscribers *__*

I love you, guys

I love you, Penny ♥

I hope you'll like this one too, even if it has so much drama~