The next day Ken sat outside a nearby coffee shop. He stared vacantly into his coffee as his mind recycled yesterday’s events. In a way the coffee represented the way he felt dark, bitter, and hot. He wondered why now of all times he would come back. It didn’t make any sense to him, why wait two years? He sighed; he just couldn’t put it together. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back resting it on the back of his chair.

“The coffee’s that bad huh?”

Ken quickly sat up at the sound of the voice to see Leo standing at the other side of the table. He was holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Ken smiled. He couldn’t remember the last time he meet someone who actually read those things.

“I haven’t even tasted it yet.” He replied.

“Good,” Leo smiled, taking a seat next to Ken. “This place makes the best coffee and for a minute there I was beginning to think your taste buds were cheap.”

Ken gasped pretending to be offended. “I’ll have you know my taste buds are quite rich”

The two began to laugh before coming to an awkward silence.

“You must come here often?” Ken asked breaking the silence.

Leo nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.

“How come you never mentioned it?”

“I don’t know,” Leo shrugged, “It just never came up.”

Jaehwan looked over the coffee shop’s banner then towards its doors. He imagined Taekwoon coming here greeting the owner, who Jaehwan imaged to be a cute elderly woman in her 50’s. She would welcome him with a big warm hug to which Leo would never be accustomed to, freezing up each time but slowly embracing her.

“If you come here often you must be close with the owners?” he asked.

“No, I’m not.”  Leo replied, “My friend Kyungsoo works here so I stop by every now and then.”

“Kyungsoo?” Ken asked his voice a bit unstable. “Are you…close?”

Leo looked over to Ken and furrowed his eyebrows. Why did he have this sense that there was more to what Ken was asking?

“Yeah, we’re close. We’re best friends actually.”

Ken grinned widely, a bit relieved.

“What?” Leo asked, noticing Ken’s change in expression.

Jaehwan shook his head still grinning.

“Nothing it’s just great to hear you have friends.”

Leo stared curiously at Ken before shrugging and continuing to drink his coffee.

“Is he here?” Ken asked lifting his head to gaze through the shop’s windows.

Leo smiled as he watched Jaehwan curiously search the shop’s windows. He liked how bright and naïve Ken could be sometimes. He just had this energy about him that made Leo want to be closer to him.

“He’s not here.” Leo said. “He should be here soon though.”

“Oh,” Ken laughed, “I hope I didn’t look stupid just now.”

“It was cute…” Leo blurted out, cursing himself mentally seconds later.

Ken lowered his gaze as his cheeks filled with color and his body temperature raised.

“Leo?” Ken called gazing intently at Leo. Leo turned to make eye contact with him. “Have you ever…you know…dated someone?”

Leo eyes grew wide before looking away in embarrassment. He hoped that if he stayed like this Ken would drop the subject and forget about it completely. Unfortunately when he turned back around Ken still sat there with the same intent look waiting for him to respond. He averted his eyes and cleared his throat. 

“No.” he spoke in a barely audible tone.

“Really?” Ken asked. He had trouble believing a guy like Leo never dated. Sure he was a bit quiet and can be a bit scary when you first meet him. However from their short time of knowing each other Ken knew there was so much more. He was sweet and kind, not to mention very handsome.

“What about you?” Leo asked, breaking Ken from his thoughts.

“I’ve dated a bit. Before coming back to Korea I dated one of my co-stars on Broadway. He turned out to be a total so…”

Leo choked on his coffee. “He?” he asked after catching his breath.

Ken raised an eyebrow at him. “You seem surprised. You didn’t know that I was…”

Leo shook his head rapidly in response.

Ken bit his lip looking uneasily at Leo. “I’m sorry…I thought you knew. Is it a bad thing to you?”

Leo shook his head again. “No,” he said looking into Ken’s eyes. “It’s a good thing.”

Ken could feel his heart race in his chest. “It is?”

“No! I mean yes, but…you know…um…I should go.” Leo stood up from the table and quickly grabbed his newspaper before running off.