“So you met someone you like but he has a boyfriend?” Hakyeon asked, picking things from the store’s aisles while Sanghyuk tried to keep up with him. It was quite annoying; he felt like he was doing the grocery shopping with his mother again.

“And we kissed,” he added.

“And you kissed,” nodded Hakyeon, acknowledging the importance of the information. “What’s the problem exactly?”

“Hakyeon, are you even listening?” Sanghyuk stepped next to him, trying to look as indignant as he could, but Hakyeon was too busy trying to find the price of a box of dates.  “I— he cheated on his boyfriend with me.”

“I don’t really see what’s wrong here,” Hakyeon said, pulling a face when he saw how much the fruit cost and put the box back onto the shelf. “Are you feeling guilty?”

“Of course I am,” Sanghyuk grumbled.

“Well, you shouldn’t,” Hakyeon replied and now he turned to Sanghyuk, looking him in the eye. “You weren’t the culprit, you were merely the tool. He’s the one who messed things up and not even with you but with his boyfriend. If he can get over it, you just resume whatever you two had before the kiss. If he can’t, he will have to choose. Simple as that.”

“No, it’s not, Hakyeon. It’s not that simple. It wasn’t just a… kiss; it was… well. I like him. Like, really. A lot. He can’t choose Tae— his boyfriend, I wouldn’t… be happy with that.”

“God, Sanghyuk.” Hakyeon let out a deep sigh, continuing on his way, throwing seemingly unnecessary food into his basket. “You always it up with guys; it’s so much easier when you’re dating a girl, you should find one instead.”

“You know it doesn’t work like that. There’s no switch—”

“Okay, I know,” Hakyeon cut him off, “you’ve already given me this speech a million times, it’s pretty boring.”

“What do you think, then? Should I tell him that it didn’t mean anything or…?”

“But it did.”

“It did,” Sanghyuk admitted.

“Then no. There’s no point lying about this. Let him open up about it if he wants, and if he doesn’t, then let it just fade away.”

Sanghyuk was very close to grabbing Hakyeon by the shoulders and shaking him until he was dizzy, but he tried to contain himself.

“Hakyeon, you absolute nuthead,” he hissed through gritted teeth, “I just told you I like him. I don’t want it to fade away, I want… more.”

“Sanghyuk, I am an evolutionary dead-end when it comes to relationships, you know that very well,” Hakyeon said, looking a little regretful, making Sanghyuk panic a little. He knew Hakyeon’s numerous short-lived romantic relationships were a painful spot he didn’t mean to touch upon, but he was so lost on this case he needed advice and he needed it from his best friend. “I would probably threaten the boyfriend or blackmail him or persuade the person I like. And if I didn’t succeed, I’d just throw a tantrum over it and whine to you. I can’t help you with this.”

Sanghyuk rubbed at his face, unsuccessfully trying not to have a mental breakdown in the middle of the toiletries section of a grocery store.

“It’s just that it’s a lot worse than anything before,” he said, his voice coming out muffled behind his hands. “I have no idea what to do, I only know what I want, and it’s… I mean, I’d gladly get rid of it all, but I can’t, and it feels like I’ve known him forever and his moves are all so familiar like I was born to recognize them and I lose my mind around him and he makes me the happiest person on Earth and…” Sanghyuk took his hands off his face, embarrassed tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. “Why the am I talking about this in front of a goddamn shelf full of tampons; what even do you want from this place, Hakyeon?”

“Shower gel,” Hakyeon replied, a little dazed as he pointed at the shelf opposite the tampons, but took no steps to get a bottle of shower gel into his basket. “But back to you, because what you just described here was pretty crazy. Sanghyuk, you’re—”

“I swear to every single one of the Greek gods that I’ll punch you in the mouth if you say it,” Sanghyuk growled.

“Wow,” Hakyeon whispered like a silly little schoolgirl who heard the most amazing rumour she can spread to her classmates. “How long has it been like this?”

“I don’t know,” Sanghyuk mumbled. “A few weeks. We’ve known each other for about a month and a half. I don’t know.”

“You should have told me about him earlier,” Hakyeon said, tossing a blackberry-ginger scented shower gel on top of his other things. “I could have helped to keep your libido down.”

“You always keep my libido below zero, but that’s not the point,” Sanghyuk sighed. “I wouldn’t even care if—”

Hakyeon arched an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, okay, he’s incredibly attractive in that sense too, but that’s not why I’m like this. , this is so hard and embarrassing to explain.”

“No, I get you,” Hakyeon said, finally heading towards the cash register. “We should work out a plan to make it look like an accident.”

“An accident?” Sanghyuk asked, totally confused.

“The murder of the boyfriend. It’s not going to be easy, but I’ll be with you.”

“You aren’t actually going to help me with this whole thing, are you?”

“I’m sorry,” Hakyeon shrugged and he looked genuinely sorry for a second before he sent a dashing smile in the cashier’s way who, being a young woman, nearly swooned at it while giving the change to the customer in front of her. “I’ve read about the notion you’re talking about and I know its name which I will not say in front of you lest you break my nose, but I’ve never experienced it. I don’t know how to help you, but there’s like, fate, and things like ‘if you really are meant to be together, it will happen, you just have to wait’? I don’t know, they sound like a pile of ty excuses not to do anything, but if I were you, I’d probably believe in them.”

“You’re as useful a friend as a goddamn tree,” Sanghyuk grouched, ultimately giving up.

“Trees give you oxygen,” Hakyeon said, wagging his index finger. “You’re practically dead without me.”

And Sanghyuk wished he had been.