An Autumn in Seoul 

Ch.4 

By Eiryia 

Being left behind was never a good feeling. He knew it would happen and he had more than enough things to do while on his own. It was the way he had been left behind that bothered him. All he wanted was some kind of explanation, he just to know that everything was fine. That was all.

Staring in to his half empty and now very cold coffee he decided it was time to let his family know he was in town. He had yet to tell them anything about Seungyoon or this entire situation, but after having told Seungyoon this and wondered how to approach it had they decided to just go visit them together without telling them about anyone accompanying him beforehand.

They had yet to find a suiting time for their visit and so he only sent a general message telling them he was in Seoul. After that had he cleaned up the kitchen while playing with the sound system that was equally impressive to the one in the London apartment. The reply came shortly after he was done, asking when he would be visiting. He didn't wish to reveal anything and so he told him he had a few things he needed to schedule first and that he would be in touch with them.

He had lots of work he could be working on, but he didn't really feel up to it and there was no deadlines that were uncomfortably close yet. Deciding to head out into the city instead Mino headed towards the front door. The image of Seungyoon from that morning played vividly in his mind as he approached the door and so in the spur of the moment did he turn back to the living room. There he found his hat which matched perfectly with Seungyoon’s from this morning.

                "Matching is always fun"

Mino hummed to himself as he locked the door and headed for the elevator.


It was well passed lunch time when he got a message from Seungyoon. He wondered if he was holding up well on his own which he confirmed that he indeed was. Mino also threw in a question about dinner and was happy to hear that Seungyoon thought he could make it. After many messages back and forth discussing what to eat had they agreed that he could pick up ingredients on his way back. That way could they make something together when they met up back at the apartment.

Walking up to the tall apartment buildings from the subway he enjoyed the last rays of sunlight. Carrying all the food was no trouble, but it was nice with a break regardless. Stopping at a bench he watched as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. He picked up a snack bar from one of the bags while checking his phone. Only a message from his mother, yelling at him for not telling of his arrival in the country beforehand. He only smiled at it, mothers and their worries. He had not heard from Seungyoon since their overly dramatic and slightly comical dinner discussion. That was a sign dinner would be late for sure.

It was passed eleven in the evening when Seungyoon returned home. Mino had prepared what he could for their dinner, but in the end had there been nothing else for him to do but to wait. At first had he looked around for a bit, but the apartment was sadly bland and un-personal. He had then unconsciously begun wondering what he could do to make it more homey, but caught himself mid-thought groaning loudly at himself. Was this what they called nesting? He was creeping himself out more and more these days.

Those thoughts had put an end to his exploring of the apartment and he had found himself a beer. Clutching it tightly as if clinging to his manliness he walked back to the living room where he dug the remote control out of the couch pillows and found himself a movie.


                "Napping without me is illegal you know"

He woke up with a jolt startled by the sudden sound so close to his ear. Seungyoon was leaning his face down close to his ear and was now poking his cheeky while grinning widely.

                "I’ll let you off the hook easy today law breaker"

Seungyoon said and gave a small laugh before stealing a quick kiss. Still slightly dazed he barely registered the soft brush of lips against his own before they were gone again. Missing them the second they were gone he reached out just in time to get hold of Seungyoon’s shirt and pulled him back down for another kiss.

                "Welcome home"

He said between kisses before following up with

                "How is your lip?"

Seungyoon only hummed before answering his question with another question

                "How is your.."

Seungyoon didn’t get to finish talking before Mino kissed him again. Mino didn't feel like talking about the state of his nether parts and there was no better way to shut him up. Things were just about to get interesting when his own stomach growled so loudly Seungyoon broke the kiss to look around.

                "That was you? I’m sorry for making you wait for so long.."

He got up from the couch and stretched out a hand. Mino grabbed it and they were soon heading to the kitchen. 

They had finished making dinner together and Seungyoon had brought home a bottle of wine which they had given a taste. It had been ghastly, a gift from some brand Seungyoon had done advertisement for earlier in the year. Settling for soda they sat down by Seungyoon’s way to large dining table.

                "I can barely see you over there"

Mino joked as Seungyoon took his seat way on the other side. He laughed and got up again bringing his food with him.

                "This better?"

He teased pulling up a chair next to Mino, sitting down so close their shoulders were rubbing together.

                "Cozy"

Mino replied and wriggled his shoulders as if wanting to be even closer. It turned out eating while sitting that close was more than a little bit difficult and so they had moved to get arm space a few minutes into the meal. Mino had wanted to ask Seungyoon about his day, but now that he felt it was the right time for it was his words strangely stuck in his throat.

                "Sorry about this morning"

Seungyoon began between taking sips of his soda. Mino just nodded as if to say don't mention it. He seemed happy to let the subject go after seeing Mino’s response and so his question now felt even harder to ask. His other question about the song writing kept popping up in his mind as well, but after how little interest Seungyoon had paid the matter in the morning couldn't he bring himself to ask that either.

                "You are very silent tonight"

Mino looked up from his food. Mouth still stuffed he gave Seungyoon what he thought was a hearty smile. Waiting for him to reply, Seungyoon never let go of his gaze. Telling himself Oh it he decided to ask the things he had silently been pondering all day.

                "Just, eh, how do I break it to you, I feel like a walking question mark. I got no idea what is going on in your life half of the time. I don't want to poke my nose into things, but being here, seeing you leave this morning. I have so many questions"

That turned into one hell of a long sentence. He thought to himself before stuffing his mouth with food. Still hot it burned the inside of his mouth, made his eyes tear up slightly and something made its way into his airways. Coughing violently he looked up at Seungyoon while waving with one arm to say he was fine. Seungyoon put a hand on his arm, waiting for him to clear his airways.

                "My walking question mark"

He began and Mino let the word my run a few rounds in his head before focusing on what came next.

                "Ask me all you want to know. I have no secrets from you, whatever you want to know, ask it and I will try to answer"

He blinked a few times clearing his still slightly blurry vision. Where to begin, he wanted to take this opportunity, but he didn't want to come off as worried or accusing or..

                "This morning, you suddenly had to go and I couldn't go with you.."

Seungyoon nodded and looked down the hall as if remembering some bad memory. He then turned back towards Mino and grabbed his hand in his.

                "How about we finish our food and I’ll tell you about the whole ordeal. Work, London, everything"

Mino smiled.

                "Just don't fall asleep on me before getting to telling me anything"

He said and waved his fork at Seungyoon so that the broccoli on it fell off.



                "Okay let me see if I got this right"

Mino began taking a sip of his beer. Seungyoon leaned back on the couch, eyebrows slightly furrowed. This was Mino’s second talk through of the story yet he still felt like there was something missing that he had not managed to grasp.

                "You got recruited to this company after placing top 5 on that music show, you lived in that dorm with Jinwoo and others from the company"

Seungyoon gave him a nod as to say so far so good.

                "You debuted as a solo artist, won every award you got nominated for. Released three albums. Then was that scandal with the company, you stayed, but many left, Jinwoo included"

They exchanged glances now. It was obvious that it weren't Seungyoon’s favorite topic of discussion. He then leaned forward in his seat a little and continued before Mino could

                "Even though the scandal had nothing to do with me so was I the one most people related to the company. Everything was put on hold and things were really uncertain for a long time"

Mino reached out a hand towards Seungyoon. He had been through a lot and by the sound of it had he been dealing with it all on his own.

                "That was when you decided to focus all your energy on music and bought the place in London? You got overworked and felt isolated however and didn't get out much so that’s when you started working at the coffee shop?"

Seungyoon smiled now before continuing the re-telling.

                "I like sweet things"

Mino did a cute pose to expressing his awareness of this.

                "Like me?"

He teased

                "Like you"

Seungyoon confirmed poking Mino’s cheek who was all too pleased to hear it.

                "So I worked at the coffee shop three days a week, took a cooking class and worked on music. It was nice even if I was a bit lonely in London as well. I sent samples of my music back to Korea and flew in every other month to discuss the situation. A whole year went like that"

Mino moved closer to Seungyoon now, he knew the next part because that’s where he came into the picture. He liked that part the best. 

                "Then you walked into the book store one day, it was love at first sight and decided to test my dedication by getting a book you knew were close to impossible to get. One I must add, you already owned a copy of"

They both smiled now. That book had brought them together and it had been a sweet move at the airport that summer leaving him with one copy.

                "It took you a while to find the note"

Seungyoon commented and leaned forward, resting his chin on Mino’s shoulder. It was true, he had found it a while later.

                "You turned up at the book store. I was so happy. Really"

He could still remember that feeling of sudden happiness, a moment he woul