I'm posting this rather late here so feel free to point out typos!! 

Welp, this got long. I'm away this weekend so I'm going to try to get the last part posted before then. I... I make no promises though .__. I apologise for the lame title, btw, lol.

Friday, 19/12

His hands, Woohyun notices, smell of chicken soup. This makes sense. He spent hours that day making the stuff. He doesn't get it - the restaurant's recipe isn't tasty. Why were so many people ordering the slop? Madness, he decides, sheer madness. Woohyun buries his hands in his sleeves and squints, befuddled, at the lot number painted on the wall of the car park. He's trying to work out where to go to find his Mimi. This wouldn't be so complicated if he weren't so tired. (He expects he'll lose another chunk of his sanity if Head Chef has him making soup again tomorrow).

There's some movements audible in the carpark, but it's mostly deserted, leaving Woohyun to huddle in his jacket and wait for his brain to kick into life. He hears a long, loud groan reverberate off the concrete walls and floor. Eyes wide, Woohyun tells himself to ignore it. But someone might be injured, his conscience reminds him. Someone might be waiting for a hero. Woohyun, son of the House of Nam, saves the day... Rolling his eyes - and fully expected to find some drunk salaryman who's lost his parking docket - Woohyun marches off in the direction of the sound.

~.~

As they ride through the downtown, Woohyun has to ask himself why he's giving this guy a ride. 'Why' other than 'because he's sort of cute', because - reasonably speaking - Sunggyu's not that attractive and because Woohyun would like to believe he's not hit that level of shallowness just yet. The roundtrip to drop this guy home and then get home himself is going to add at least an hour and a half to his journey. Woohyun didn't have to be so insistent. If he'd wanted to be the Good Samaritan so badly, he ought to have given Sunggyu money for a taxi. Woohyun's so very tired. He needs food and sleep.

Dwelling upon that tells him why he's acting as chauffeur. Food - to find in his apartment where he knows for a fact that there's nothing but kimchi and soda crackers in the fridge. Or from the conbini, where Woohyun maybe has enough money on him for gimbap and where the woman who works night shift has taken, for reasons unknown, a powerful disliking to him. Then sleep - on his bed that he's sharing with Kibum until they can afford another mattress. They all at budgeting, so who knows how long that'll be. Speaking of budgeting, the time of the month when they get to play will-we-won't-we have electricity and heating is coming up. It's Jaejin's turn to collect their money and pay the bills. He's a reliable kind of guy, but he's also juggling a thesis, a band and cycling all over Seoul teaching little kids how to play Three Bears on the bass guitar.

Woohyun's happy to be able to call all his room-mates his good friends. Nevertheless, sometimes the daily grind of trying to keep living and keep smiling is very difficult. Sometimes he wants to break away from them and his life. Just to breathe. Just for a while. 

Woohyun thinks he hears Sunggyu squeak as a lorry trundles past them and the man's clinging even more tightly to his back. Woohyun grins to himself. The man had looked a bit cool with his suit and briefcase - a briefcase which is now causing Woohyun some serious posture difficulties with how it's digging into his back. He hadn't expected Sunggyu to be such a wuss about the bike. Well, that's also sort of cute.  

~.~

Saturday, 20/12

Woohyun's barely through the door when Head Chef is shoving a ladel at him and instructing him on the chowder recipe he's to follow. Woohyun feels like crying a little. He remembers a movie he once saw. A girl inadvertantly imbued her cooking with her own emotions. Her tears fell into a cauldron of soup and, subsequently, an entire wedding party ended up bawling. Woohyun manages to amuse himself whilst peeling potatoes by re-imagining the story with a more TV-drama style. Clearly he's the chef with the magic powers. Then he's being forced to marry the daughter of a powerful chaebol. For what reason? Well, he's a virile young man - he probably got her pregnant. Woohyun's slept with exactly one woman in his life, so he's not sure how that could happen. But anyway, there's no in TV dramas, so who cares about a detail like that?

Woohyun's not sure how a fox-like office worker fits in. Sunggyu's not handsome enough to be the son from a rival company who whisks Woohyun off his feet. Someone who gets so scared on Mimi isn't cool enough to be, say, a gangster's son who's turning over a new leaf and whisks Woohyun off his feet. Actually, Sunggyu doesn't seem like the whisking type at all, Woohyun thinks, tittering to himself over a bowl of clams. 

Of course, it occurs to Woohyun, he should probably scratch Sunggyu from the story. There are at least four companies housed in the building above Woohyun's restaurant. Woohyun doesn't know which one Sunggyu works for, he's not likely to run into him again, and he didn't get his number. Oh well, it's no loss. He got free food and a beer out of the guy. Plus he got an excuse to stay away from his misery-inducing apartment for a while. That's really all Woohyun was looking for. 

He does wonder if Sunggyu ever found his car or if the police could help or what. However, he's 99.9% certain the office worker earns better than him. Unless Sunggyu's paying for the extra petrol spent dropping him home, it's nothing to do with Woohyun.

~.~

Sunday, 21/12

"Why are you stalking him?"

"I'm not, My Beom."

Kibum picks himself up just enough to lean heavily on Woohyun's side. The heating situation is precarious - in Jaejin's words - so they're spending their day off in bed, under two duvets. 

"Then how would you term your current activities?" Kibum questions, lazily gesturing to the monitor of Woohyun's laptop. The monitor is currently showing the long abandoned Me2Day of a college student call Sunggyu. The display picture is a blurry photo of a band performing, in which you can't make out much detail. Additionally, there are sporadic selca of a kid with spikey hair, a puffy face and narrow eyes, usually posing with the same set of friends and occasional girlfriends. 

"Friendly interest," Woohyun claims in response to Kibum's cynicism. Kibum yawns and snuggles into his friend's side. The hideous white hoodie Woohyun's been wearing as winter pyjamas is remarkably comfortable. Kibum regrets the number of times he's cast aspertions on it. 

"Well then, My Hyun, why are you friendly-interesting him?" 

Woohyun doesn't say anything for a long time. Kibum closes his eyes and decides to let the man be. His friend hasn't been too happy lately. Kibum supposes it's stress coupled with no time to let out said stress. With the holiday season approaching, Woohyun can look forward to even less free time for a while. Kibum's in a similar boat, but at least he likes his boss. At least he can work front of house, interacting with people and seeing the bright, fleeting sunlight through the cafe windows. So really, let Woohyun distract himself for a bit. It's good that his Hyun is thinking about things other than work and money again. 

"Not sure," Woohyun mumbles, barely audible. Kibum listens to the laptop close. He feels the mattress dip as Woohyun shuffles about. The man pulls the duvets further up and brings an arm around Kibum, fingers unconsciously playing with his hair. Kibum pats Woohyun's bicep - both unsure of his best friend duties at this moment and unwilling to move from their cocoon of warmth. 

~.~

Monday, 22/12

The list of things he could be doing with his break - thing's superior to what he's currently doing - is long. Woohyun ticks them off as he's in the lift, feeling powerfully out of place cramped together with all the men in suits and women in blouses and pencil skirts. (Eating: that'd be nice. Sitting down: that, too, would be absolute Heaven. Not talking to any of his co-workers: not his favourite, but on the agenda today). He continues to tick them off as the receptionist flirts with him rather than efficiently answering his questions. (Not embarrassing himself in front of randy receptionists with lensless glasses and tacky lipstick: now #1 on the list). He keeps ticking them off as he's striding down the corridor, still feeling like a great dane in a sea of well groomed corgis. (Washing his hands repeatedly so that one day they might not smell like shrimp. Brushing his hair, because he probably looks like a tramp right now. Drinking coffee so that he doesn't fall asleep with his face in fish guts later on...).

He spots Sunggyu at a desk in the middle of the office. The room is more like a hall, the places where walls were knocked through to join office space together still visible. The carpet is a scratchy looking mauve affair and Sunggyu's aubern hair is one of the only splashes of colour amongst the clusters of desks. To Woohyun's relief, there are fewer than a dozen workers left, so he doesn't feel as shamefaced as he feared he would strolling over to Sunggyu's desk.

Found you, he breathes, when Sunggyu finally notices his presence.  

~.~

Tuesday, 23/12

Woohyun hadn't intended to go back to Sunggyu's last night. He'd bought that food partly because he was sorry for being late, but mostly because he wanted it himself and hoped Sunggyu would agree to eat with him. Woohyun isn't a fan of eating alone, he gets lonely too easily - he gets lonely too easily. But Woohyun did go back to Sunggyu's place. And the most damnable thing of all, is that he had a lovely evening. 

The issue is that now Woohyun's 95.5% certain he likes this guy as more than an interesting new friend. This guy whose old Me2Day more than once mentioned girlfriends. This office worker who hasn't, honestly, shown him that kind of interest. Woohyun's caught Sunggyu blushing - but Sunggyu seems to blush a lot, sometimes for no obvious reason. Woohyun's pretty sure he's caught Sunggyu checking him out - but Woohyun rides a motorbike and wears clothes he can't afford. Even hate-filled conbini ahjumma checks him out sometimes and Woohyun's positive that doesn't mean she wants to jump his bones (despite what Cheolyong says).

He tried to privately discuss his tribulations with his Beom. Naturally, because such is his life, other room-mates over-heard and barged in on the discussion. Cheolyong demanded to see the Me2Day account and, upon seeing the selcas, hung his head at Woohyun's terrible taste. ("He grew up well, OK? And some of us aren't only moved by looks, Cheolyong-ah," Woohyun had defended himself haughtily. Afterwards, he was annoyed with himself because it was obvious that Cheolyong wanted to test his reactions). Dongwoon, more cautiously, asked him why he felt he liked this salaryman and why it was such a bad idea. Neither question Woohyun was able to lucidly answer, although he was convinced that it was a bad idea. Even Jinwoon, who isn't homophobic but is uncomfortable with these things, chimed in. He patted Woohyun's back, telling him that seizing the day was a beautiful thing and something about regrets being a prison. Then he'd wandered off, presumably to do something manly. Woohyun had stared, bemused, at his tall friend's departing back. In truth, Jinwoon wasn't wrong, Woohyun supposed. His best friend had agreed. 

"I want to meet him. I read people better than you, My Hyun. If he has intentions towards you, he has to receive my approval." 

"Kibummie, he's not looking for my hand in marriage and I'm not your only daughter who needs to be protected from miscreants." 

"All but the last part is true, Hyun-ah. Who shall protect you from miscreants if not I?" 

Kibum stood, tattooed arms akimbo and a sharp grin on his face. Woohyun wriggled on his seat and couldn't help but smile back. His friends are the best. 

~.~

Woohyun had an especially short shift that day. One person was off sick and, with some hasty schedule shuffling, Woohyun had lost a day off later in the week, but gained a shortened day today. It left him a bit of time to prepare to meed Sunggyu later. Only a little bit of time - three hours or so. This is not a fact he plans on sharing with the office worker. 

From Woohyun's point of view, he has a crush. Yes, he was getting all emotional with Kibum - Woohyun's a hopeless romantic, it's in his nature. Yes, he's been thinking about Sunggyu a lot and being around the man has a weird effect over Woohyun's feelings. However, thinking about it logically, he's known this man a handful of days. It can't be more than a crush. Nevertheless, just because it's only a crush doesn't mean it can't develop and it certainly doesn't mean he can't put an effort in. Woohyun thinks he's done well. He looks good, not too flashy. (Well, mini-Kibum in his head is telling him his outfit's too much. But, when it comes to fashion advice, Woohyun's yet to forgive his Beom for the time the man convinced him floral slacks were a good idea. Screw mini-Kibum). 

The problem is the rose. He didn't mean to buy it. But then he spotted that ahjumma selling them and then he sort of bought one and now he sort of has this rose and, dear God, why did he buy a rose? That's definitely too much. That's the definition of 'too much'. How on earth is he supposed to play off an individually wrapped red rose as a perfectly natural, platonically friendly kind of gift? I come from a sect where roses are a sign of friendship? No, weird. It's red and your face is always going red, so I thought of you? No, very weird. They say every rose has its thorns? What?! Oh geez, he's there already. What am I going to say? I'm doomed. Friendship ruined. Crush irreversibly scared away. Darn it, Nam Woohyun. Why are you so stupid?

"A token for my prince," Woohyun announces, saying the first nonsense that bumbles into his brain. He bows in order to hide his face - which would surely give away his mortification. 

"What are you even saying?" Sunggyu grouses, tapping Woohyun on the head with the rose. Woohyun risks looking back up, only to see Sunggyu smiling, bottom lip between his teeth and a pretty blush colouring his cheeks. 

~.~

Woohyun does his best to simply relax and enjoy the food and the chat with his best friend. It's hard not to be on the alert though. He knows that Kibum's trying to "read" Sunggyu. So, of course, Woohyun's trying to predict what Kibum will see, how he'll interpret things. If Sunggyu didn't laugh at this joke, but did laugh at that joke, does it mean something? How's his reaction to Kibum's tattoos? (Because people who disapprove of Kim Kibum are people whose friendship must be renounced, in Woohyun's opinion. No matter how cute and pretty they are). Is it a bad sign if Sunggyu's more quiet than usual? The office worker seems to go from talking a mile a minute to lapsing into silence and demanding Woohyun fill it pretty regularly though. Maybe it's OK. 

Despite Kibum's assurances - "The suit's into you, My Hyun. He's probably not a miscreant either. I give you leave to let him ride your ." - Woohyun's already worked himself up. He's worried. He does his best not to show it. Still, as they ride home to Sunggyu's flat, his mind is racing. He can't stop himself from saying something. 

"If you felt it was awkward, that's my fault. But no, it was fun, Woohyunnie." 

Suddenly, Woohyun's grinning. He knows he is (and that he possibly looks like a creep) yet he finds it impossible to stop. Or care. He continues to not care on the long ride home, even as the icy drizzle slows the traffic to a crawl. What is this effect Sunggyu has on him? Why is he getting so happy over a nickname?

~.~

Wednesday, 24/12

Christmas Eve is painful. Part of the schedule shuffling means Woohyun's on a split shift. He comes in in the morning to prep vats of pepper sauce . In the afternoon, he has a few hours off. He takes a quick shower and drags himself to a PCbang to snooze. He spends most of the evening frying fish and gets a glut of minor burns for his trouble. 

The busy-ness gives him no time to dwell on things - which is probably for the best. When he finally reaches home and crawls into bed, he finds that Kibum has made him a hot water bottle and wrapped it up so it's still warm. 

"I love you so much!" he noisily whispers, muffling with a hug Kibum's protests that Woohyun's feet are too cold. 

~.~

Thursday, 25/12

Naturally, Christmas Day is even more hectic than Christmas Eve. At least Woohyun can take it all in one long shift. That doesn't feel much like a benefit come the time he's trudging down the street after 12 hours of work and another hour having a 'celebratory drink' with the boss. He's rather have simply left, but it was blatantly an unspoken obligation to stay and thank the boss for his generosity. 

Coming across a stall selling manduguk, Woohyun flops down on a bench and tucks into a late-night meal. The greasy broth warms him up and it gives him memories of Auntie Cho's. Woohyun wishes he had his office worker to keep him company. 1am on Christmas night and he's eating alone at a food stall - it doesn't get much more pathetic than that. (Just then, a middle-aged man with a beer belly and a santa hat lumbers in. He has a girl, who can't be more than 18 and is wearing reindeer antlers and a red and green miniskirt, on his arm. So it can get a little more pathetic, Woohyun concedes). 

He wonders what Sunggyu ended up doing tonight. If he had a date despite all that whining he'd done about is co-workers trying to set him up. Woohyun glowers at his soup. 

"Good thing I only have a crush," he grumbles to himself.