CHAPTER 1 - FIRST STEP

Yixing tapped his foot on the ground and hummed an old Chinese song softly. It was still ten minutes after the club started and still, no one came. He sighed and grabbed his pen and started doodling random cat faces and even unicorns out of boredom. Another five minutes passed and he was so into his doodle that he wouldn’t even realize that someone was already standing in front of his table if the guy didn’t fake a cough to get his attention.

The dimpled man looked up only to see the- ! It’s the gorgeous man from two days ago!

“Oh why thank you,” the gorgeous man said with a soft giggle.

Yixing widened his eyes in surprise. He didn’t just say that out loud-- he did.

“Yixing isn’t it?” the man asked and Yixing merely nodded, still in shock.

The man, who was none other than Kim Joonmyeon, smiled brightly to him. “I don’t know if you remember my name but I’m Kim Joonmyeon. Nice to see you here,” Joonmyeon said.

Yixing mumbled a few incoherent words before properly greeting him back, “Yeah, nice to see you too. What are you doing here?”

Joonmyeon laughed. “Well, what do you think people come here?”

Yixing mentally groaned at his own stupidity. “Uh, take a seat please,” he mumbled.

Joonmyeon smiled and sat on the chair in front of him as told. Yixing cleared his throat before asking, “So, love problems? Crush? One-sided or liking your best friend?”

Joonmyeon let out a melodious laugh again and Yixing thought it was beautiful. Yixing didn’t really want to admit it. “You seem to be so prepared.”

Yixing shrugged. “That’s what people usually come here for.”

Joonmyeon nodded in agreement. “I guess. But it’s not about it.”

Yixing raised his eyebrows. “Then… what is it about?”

“Tell me, more like teach me how to fall in love,” Joonmyeon replied, shocking the love counselor a little.

Yixing laughed. He thought the request was ridiculous. “That’s new but I don’t do that kind of things.”

“Aren’t you a love counselor? And this is related to love.”

Yixing shrugged. “That’s true but-“

“I thought the ‘Greatest Love Counselor’ was really great but I guess I was wrong?” he teased in the most annoying tone Yixing had ever heard. He even had the urge to roll his eyes if he was not born to be polite.

Yixing sighed. He was already well-known as the love counselor and there was no way he was going to disappoint his ‘customer’ right? Yeah, right. Yixing was so going to accept the stupid challenge.

“Fine. But we can’t get this done with one meet up only.”
Joonmyeon grinned, a little too widely from his liking. “Well, how about after school?”

Yixing took a deep breath as he slowly approached Joonmyeon; who was already waiting for him in front of the school gate. He tapped Joonmyeon’s slender shoulder and the shorter male quickly turned around. He smiled and waved a little. “Hello, Yixing-ssi.”

“Hi, Joonmyeon-ssi. So, where shall we start?”

“Drop the formalities, please.” Joonmyeon smiled then added, “How about going to the restaurant where we met a few days ago and talk? I’m kind of hungry.”

I have a feeling this is not going to be good sooner or later.

“So, Joonmyeon-ssi, your request is actually not common-“

“I understand that it’s weird. You might be asking why.”

Yixing was silent for a few seconds but then he nodded.

“I have never dated and I have never been in love either. My friends said it was weird, they called me aual. So I want to try,” Joonmyeon simply said.

Yixing took a sip of his milk tea. “You have to know that you don’t plan who you fall in love with,” he replied.

Joonmyeon bit his lips and nodded. “I know, I know. But can you at least help me to… find the one? I mean, how do you tell when you fall in love with someone?”

“Okay, you seem to be really new in this.”

Joonmyeon gulped his lemon tea and then said, “I never paid attention to these stuffs. That’s why I came to ask for your help. I heard you are a professional.”

Yixing laughed. Yeah, someone who has never experienced love is really a pro.

“Okay. The point is you want me to tell you things about love so you can find the one?”

Joonmyeon nodded. “Yeah! Pretty much like that,” he answered.

“Okay, Joonmyeon-ssi, when you-“

“Joonmyeon.”

“Okay, fine. Joonmyeon, people have a crush on someone because of visible reasons. Same thing with admiring,” he said then paused.

“The first thing you have to know is you have to be honest to yourself. You are new and clueless so I think you will be in the denial stage first.”

Joonmyeon frowned and was about to ask but the waiter had to interrupt him first. He smiled to the waiter and damn, Yixing started hating the fact that Joonmyeon smiled a lot. Joonmyeon grabbed a pair of chopsticks and started stuffing the ramyeon into his mouth.

Yixing did the same and it was so quiet until Joonmyeon asked, “So, denial stage?”

Yixing nodded and gulped the noodle when it reached the back of his throat. He sipped his milk tea again then answered, “Yes. Denial stage is when you keep denying your feeling towards the one you like. You are confused and you don’t want to admit the fact that you like, or maybe love them.”

“Ah, that won’t be good.”

“Of course. But for a first timer, it’s perfectly normal. Just note that denying your feeling for too long will only bring you to something… not good.”

Joonmyeon frowned. “And, like what?”

Yixing the sauce on his lips then replied, “You will regret it if you take too long.” Then he shrugged and continued eating.

Joonmyeon nodded at basic information he got today. He took his chopsticks back before finishing the half-empty bowl.

“I’m going that way. See you tomorrow, Yixing!” Joonmyeon said with a smile before waving his hand a little and ran off to the direction where he lived.

Yixing sighed, making his way to his house which was only a few blocks away from where he was standing. Today was pretty eventful for Yixing. This kind of thing didn’t usually happen and he was somehow excited with helping Joonmyeon out. He just hoped the boy wouldn’t be burdensome.

But, Yixing was still curious of one thing.

Doesn’t he get tired of smiling all the time?