Hanbin thought Jinhwan would push for him to go see Jiwon again but he doesn’t even mention him the next day to Hanbin’s surprise. He doesn’t broach the topic because if he’s honest with himself he’s not sure he’s ready to see Jiwon again. The last visit ripped open too many old scars and he needs time to heal those wounds again. Despite Jinwhan’s silence though Jiwon lingers in the back of Hanbin’s mind, like a quiet ghost he stays and no matter how hard he tries to shake it him off he can’t. He tries to paint a little, as a way to calm himself mostly, but the paintings come out harsh and sharp and bitter as Jiwon’s face and he goes over most of them with white. With each of thick paint he draws over color he imagines he’s painting away Jiwon, his dark eyes and wide hands, painting away Jiwon’s touch he still feels burning on his skin. One day, frustrated with the unrelenting lines on the canvas in front of him he crumples it tight in his hand, wet paint smearing across his palms like blood and throws it in the trash. After a few minutes though he wipes his hands on a paper napkin and fishes the canvas out. He’s learned better then to waste. 

True to his word Yunhyeong get’s Hanbin an interview at the little bakery/café he works at. He’s a little nervous, he hasn’t had to interview for a job in a long time and as he pulls on one of his nicer sweaters over a button down he’s borrowing from Jinhwan he’s suddenly unsure of himself.

The first thing he notices when he opens the door to the café is the rich smell of fresh sweet bread that permeates the air. It’s warm and comforting and Hanbin breaths in deeply, letting the familiarity of it calm his nerves. His mother loves to bake and it reminds him of sunny mornings in their home and the sound of her gentle humming in the kitchen. It’s before opening hours and the place is empty, chairs stacked upside down on top of the little tables scattered across the open floor of the room. Cautiously Hanbin ventures further in, there’s a door behind the counter that he assumes must lead to the kitchen area and he heads towards stopping awkwardly in front of the glass display case.

“Hello?”

At first he thinks nobody’s heard him but then the kitchen door creaks open and a tousled head sticks out quickly followed by a tall lanky body.

“Hey, you must be Hanbin! You’re here for the interview right?”

Hanbin nods. The tall boy makes his way around the counter, wide smile stretched across his face to reveal white straight teeth. When he reaches Hanbin he sticks his hand out,

“Nice to meet you, I’m Taehyun!”

Hanbin shakes it, smiling uncertainly back.

“Nice to meet you too.”

Taehyun throws the towel he was holding in his other hand over his shoulder, wiping his hands on his pants instead which Hanbin finds a little nonsensical.

“Here, I’ll take you back. I think Yang Sajangnim is on the phone right now but he should be ready for in a few minutes.”

He turns and makes his way back through to door, holding it open for Hanbin to follow. The scent of sweet bread and icing is stronger in the kitchen, wafting from the large ovens set along one wall. There’s another person in the kitchen, a boy with a wide angular face and narrow eyes. He’s standing by a flour covered counter vigorously kneading a huge lump of pale dough. When the door opens and they walk in he turns and smiles at them, giving Hanbin a wave. Taehyun gestures towards him,

“This is Suenghoon, he bakes.”

Suenghoon nods happily at this succinct description.

“I’d shake your hand but-“

He wiggles his fingers to demonstrate, little webs of dough string and snap between his fingers. Hanbin laughs and nods understandingly and Suenghoon turns back to his dough. Taehyun keeps walking through the kitchen past pans of unbaked pastries and half decorated cakes. He makes his way to the back of the kitchen and Hanbin trails behind. At the end of the kitchen area’s there’s several large racks of flour, sugar, and anything else you could need for baking. Taehyun makes a right and walks down a little hallway at the end of which there’s a door. He turns back to Hanbin,

“Let me just check and see if he’s ready.”

Then giving the door a slight knock he cracks it open and slips inside. There’s a few seconds of muffled conversation in the room before Taehyun re emerges and gives Hanbin a bright smile.  

“Alright, you can head in. Good luck!”

Hanbin smiles back, thanks him and then he’s gone disappeared back in the direction of the kitchen. Hanbin straightens his collar, takes a deep breath, and opens the door. There’s a middle-aged man, maybe 45 or 46 sitting at a desk in the middle of the room reading some papers. When he hears the door click open he looks up, setting his reading aside. His face is broad and serious, with a flat nose and wide mouth. He gives Hanbin a small smile and gestures to a chair in front of the desk. Hanbin shrugs off his backpack and sits, folding his hands in his lap.

The interview goes well, Yang Hyunsuk is more then a little intimidating but he seems to like Hanbin and at the conclusion of the meeting he smiles at Hanbin and tells him he can start on Friday. Hanbin had some barista experience from his early college days and so he’ll help Taehyun at the front of the shop. He and Jinhwan and Yunhyeong celebrate that night with expensive kalbi and too much soju. Seeing Yunhyeong and Jinhwan together doesn’t ache as much as it used too, and he falls asleep with a smile on his face and laughter still bubbling in his throat

It’s nice, he settles into his new routine easily. He gets up with Jinhwan in the morning and leaves for work with him, when he has a free afternoon he paints or cooks or heads to the little coffee shop he found his first day of wandering and draws. The girl he saw there that first day is apparently also a regular and he sees her every now and then, always in the same place by the window. He likes to sketch her, the smooth waves of her hair and the thick lashes that frame her eyes, the delicate curve of her lip. He’s aware it’s probably a little creepy but he figures she’ll never know. He’s wrong though.

It’s a sunny afternoon and he’s back in the café, a half finished latte in front of him and his sketch book open on the table. The girl is sitting at her customary table, laptop out and engrossed with something on the screen. She’s not paying attention so he takes the time to let his gaze linger, to perfect the lines of her face on paper. He glances down to adjust the curve of her nose and when he looks up she’s staring directly at him, face impassive and impossible to read. He quickly looks away, heat rising on the back of his neck. When he looks back though she’s still staring and then to his dismay she rises from her seat and starts making her towards him. With each step the heels of her boots clack against the floor and with each step his heart sinks lower. He scrabbles for his sketchbook, pulling it towards him but she’s faster and suddenly she’s standing in front of him with his sketchbook held in her hands. He wants to hide under a rock somewhere and he can feel his face go red but he can’t look as she examines the pencil sketch of her. He keeps waiting for the condemnation to come but she just examines the page with an almost discerning look in her eye. Finally she looks up at him and opens .

“It’s not a bad portrait. Do you usually work in pencil?”

It takes a second for Hanbin to get his reply out, this conversation heading in an entirely different direction then he’d imagined it would.

“Um- no… I mostly do oil paintings.”

She nods thoughtfully, hands back his sketchbook which he clutches protectively to his chest then takes a seat across from him. He stares, still completely bewildered.

“I could sit for you sometime, if you’d be interested. Probably be easier then sneaking glances at me from across the coffee shop.”

If it’s possible Hanbin feels himself blush even harder. He looks away when he answers, not sure he can face her.

“I’m really sorry about this, I wasn’t trying to be creepy or anything.”

The words stumble out of his mouth and he winces internally, way to be smooth. She just smiles though, the first smile he’s seen from her. It makes her hard face even more beautiful when she does.

“It’s alright. I don’t mind. I’m not an artist myself but I run a gallery, I know what you artist types are like. Never can resist an opportunity.”

She reaches across the table to where a few pens have spilled out of his case. She grabs one off the table with manicured fingers and then gestures to his sketch book.

“Could I have some paper?”

He rips off a corner of an empty page and hands it to her. With neat boxy figures she writes out a phone number and name and hands the paper and pen back.

“Text me if you’re interested.”

Then she gets up and heads back to her table, packing up her things and walking out. He doesn’t look at her name until after she leaves, it’s pretty. Lee Hayi.

That night he tells Jinhwan the whole story and he nearly snorts water out of his nose, laughing so hard his face turns bright red. After he’s stopped wheezing and wiped the tears from his eyes Jinwhan says,

“Well, no one can ever say you don’t have a way with the women Hanbin.”

Hanbin has to resist the urge to throw something at him.

All in all things are good, things are better. Hanbin’s happy, and he’s managed to push away the hungry tired look on Jiwon’s face when he opened the door, to almost forget the way his bare skin felt as it brushed against Hanbin’s arm. Almost managed to forget that he’s still in love with a man he’s pretty sure hates him. In love with a person he’s afraid off.  It’s a little over two weeks since the day he visited Jiwon when he comes homes from work. He’s a little later then he normally is, Taehyun was stuck in traffic and he had to stay and cover until he got there. He got to take home a bag of day old buns that didn’t sell though, and he knows Jinhwan will love him for it. He unlocks the door, discarding his workbag on the couch before heading to the kitchen. He hears two voices, and wonders if Yunhyeong is over, Jinwhan didn’t mention anything about him coming over that morning.

“I brought home desser-“

The words die in his mouth though, fluttering like broken butterflies in the back of his throat because sitting in Jinhwan’s kitchen slight and pale and bent over a cup of tea is Jiwon. He freezes in the doorway, fingers loosening around the handle of the plastic bag in his hand till it slips free and lands on the floor with a soft thud. Jiwon’s back is to him, he can just see the line of his profile. Light dancing along the curve of his throat and reflecting off the soft curls of hair at the nape of his neck and Hanbin feels his breath catch and die because Jiwon’s here, Jiwon’s sitting here and he’s so close he could reach out and touch him and yet he feels so far away. Jiwon turns at Hanbin’s words and he looks tired, still so tired, and he doesn’t smile but there is a softness in his eyes when he speaks that wasn’t there before.

“Hey, Hanbin.”