The sound of something shattering has Kyungsoo running out to the front, seeing Yixing crouching down on the floor with pieces of a broken plate around him gives Kyungsoo all the more reason to panic.  Yixing was clumsy enough, adding broken glass to the situation made the situation ten times worse.

“Yixing? Are you okay?” he asks, running over to his co-worker who is crouched on the floor with wide eyes

“He’s here Soo” he replies in a whisper, Kyungsoo halting his progress of picking up broken pieces of glass to frown at him

“What are you talking about?”

“That guy I was telling you about who got jilted at the altar… he’s here!” Yixing replies frantically Kyungsoo sighing and gently slapping him across the head.

“You went and broke one of my plates for some guy?” he asks, Yixing dropping his gaze to the floor guiltily, Kyungsoo watches him and shakes his head “Whatever, they’re cheap anyway. Which guy is it?”

Stood over by the entrance, holding up the menu for both him and Jongdae, Joonmyun is completely oblivious to a head poking up from behind the counter to get a good look at him. Kyungsoo has to admit, Yixing wasn’t exaggerating when it came to the looks department with the guy.

“Not bad, not bad” he says with a nod of his head “But tell me again, why did you drop a plate and drop yourself to the floor like that?”

“Because he’s not supposed to be here! I was starting to… well, kinda, get over the fact that he was straight and now he’s here! Fate is being extremely cruel to me” Yixing explains and all Kyungsoo can do is shake his head. Whatever the guy wanted to believe, he was going to leave him to it.

“Okay then” he says “In the meantime I need to get this messed cleared up before someone hurts themselves on a broken piece”

“I can help!” Yixing exclaims and moves to get up and find a broom, only to be pulled back down by Kyungsoo

“Nope! I’m going to clean this up, you’re going to serve” and ignoring the pleading look Yixing gives him, gets up to grab the broom.

Though Kyungsoo was his friend, Yixing knows how scary he can be when he gets angry or stressed, he also knows that if he spends another second hiding instead of serving then Kyungsoo is going to start exploding. At the sound of voices getting closer to the counter, Yixing’s going to have to do as Kyungsoo had told him to do and serve Joonmyun whether he likes it or not.

“Oh come on don’t you think that’s just a little bit expensive?” Jongdae asks

“You told me I could pick anything I wanted because you felt guilty about me missing lunch. If I want this I’m having it” Joonmyun replies adamantly and Jongdae knows he’s been defeated; he remembers saying it, Joonmyun remembers him saying it, therefore Jongdae was going to have to pay for it.

Taking a deep breath, Yixing slowly rises from his hiding place as Joonmyun and Jongdae continue their ‘discussion’ and inch closer and closer to the front.

“G-good afternoon, how can I help you?” he asks, mentally cursing himself for stuttering over something as simple as a greeting. Recognising his voice, Joonmyun looks up, his eyes widening in shock at seeing the familiar face again.

“Yixing?” he asks

“H-hi Joonmyun!” Yixing replies, trying to look and sound just as shocked as he does

“You work here?” Joonmyun asks

“Yeah! Kyungsoo and I worked together previously and when he began planning to open this place and offered me the job, I couldn’t exactly say no” Yixing explains, letting out a nervous laugh after.

Jongdae watches their exchange momentarily confused as to what is going on. It’s only when the name Yixing clicks does he realise just who it is Joonmyun is talking to.

“Ah! You’re Yixing! The guy who looked after Joonmyun when he got drunk even though I told him to watch how much he drinks!” he exclaims, not even flinching when Joonmyun elbows him in the side

“Normally I wouldn’t come up with excuses as to why I drank myself silly like this, but just this once I’m gonna say I had a pretty good excuse” he argues

“It really wasn’t a problem” Yixing hurries to tell Jongdae “He actually just came back to mine and slept it out on the sofa after we got him out of his suit” smirking when he sees Joonmyun blush “Though I must say his singing as we walked down the road together was a thing of beauty”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re only doing this to tease me and give Jongdae ammunition to tease me about later on?” Joonmyun asks with a laugh, Yixing pretends to play dumb and shrugs his shoulder.

“I would never do such a thing! Your trust issues hurt me! I’m just merely stating that your rendition of Genie was the epitome of excellent singing” he says making Joonmyun laugh.

Jongdae stands there watching the two of them, a knowing smile settling across his face as he pulls out his wallet and reaches in to grab some money.

“Hey Joonmyun, I just remembered I’ve gotta make a phone call to sort out my next tutoring session this week” he says, which isn’t a complete lie “You can order the food and then I’ll join you when I’m done with the call”

Joonmyun doesn’t suspect a thing and takes the money with no questions asked and no fuss made, Jongdae taking his leave and leaves him and Yixing by themselves. This is the first time Yixing’s been left alone with Joonmyun since the night at the bar and whilst Joonmyun looks completely calm and fine, Yixing is trying to keep himself together and trying to not blurt out anything to make himself look like an idiot.

“So, Jongdae’s left me all of this money, I’m tempted to buy the most expensive thing here, what have you got?” Joonmyun asks and it acts as an immediate ice breaker as the tension in Yixing instantly leaves his body with just a single laugh.

“That would be the dark chocolate cake” he says “But even then, it’s cheaper than what you would be paying in other places”

“I’ll take two of them, Jongdae loves his chocolate and I haven’t had any dark chocolate in a long time” Joonmyun replies and Yixing goes through the usual process of asking him whether he’s eating in, would he like a drink with it as well.

Kyungsoo makes his reappearance eventually. It shouldn’t take somebody that long to find a broom, but Yixing’s hunches tell him he did it deliberately. He doesn’t say much, only greets Joonmyun and gets to quickly cleaning up the remains of the shattered plate before he’s hurrying back out once again.

“Uh, a little accident. My fingers slipped” Yixing explains when Joonmyun asks him what had happened “S-so how have you been since I last saw you?”

“A little bit better. Jongdae’s been getting me out of the house so I don’t lock myself in and everybody else is trying to get a hold of my fiancé- if I can still call her that- without much success” Joonmyun replies “Plus I went back to work today”

“Oh? How did that go?”

“I’d be lying if I said it went well” Joonmyun answers truthfully “Obviously something like getting jilted at the altar is going to bring gossip. But still, it’s not a nice experience… especially overhearing work colleagues bringing up old rumours you thought were a thing of the past”

“Oh really? Like what?” Yixing asks, but wishes he hadn’t when he sees how uncomfortable Joonmyun becomes “You don’t have to tell me, I’m fine with that” he rushes to say

“No, no, it’s fine. Basically there were a lot of rumours going around… since I was in school really, anyway, people have always thought I was gay and I was only using this marriage to stop them from thinking it was true” he explains “But that doesn’t mean I’m gay or I was going to get married just for that”

“I know, I was never going to make that point anyway” Yixing says, seeing how panicked Joonmyun had looked and how he had rushed to get the last part out

“Right, right, sorry” Joonmyun apologises, dropping his gaze to the floor

“Don’t worry about it! Would some chocolate cake make you feel better?” Yixing asks, waving the plate in front of Joonmyun’s face and making him laugh, the smile remaining on his face as he paid for his cakes and walked to a table in the corner to wait for Jongdae, Yixing watching his every step.

Apologising for breaking the plates and promising Kyungsoo he would pay for a new set, Yixing leans against the counter and sighs unhappily. “What up with you today? Your mood has been like that of a yoyo since you came in this morning?”

“Fate has it out for me. I’m sure of it” Yixing replies

“Is this about that Joonmyun guy that came in earlier?” Kyungsoo asks, shaking his head when Yixing pauses and nods in return, “Are you seriously this hung up on the guy?”

“You don’t understand Soo, he’s literally perfect! When I saw him at the bar I thought he was just cute, but then we got to talking and he’s just… he’s just so perfect. It probably sounds stupid because I’ve only met the guy, but it’s not like I can go any further than a silly crush because he’s straight! It’s not fair!”

For one horrifying moment Kyungsoo believes that Yixing is going to cry on him. In front of all of their customers. If he does, Kyungsoo isn’t sure how he’s going to explain to them it’s because of a guy when his friend was well into his twenties. Not really having any experience in this field before, the most that Kyungsoo could offer him was a slightly awkward pat on the back and some attempt at some comforting words.

“Look, I’m not really an expert in the field of having crushes on straight guys, so the most I can offer is to tell you that it’ll be alright, eventually. Give it a couple of weeks or so, and you’ll be over him in no time!”

“I doubt that very much” Yixing mutters under his breath, but Kyungsoo still hears him

“Well in the meantime, there are plenty of customers to serve and a lot of leftover cupcakes that you can take home to eat and cry over whilst watching a soppy romance film or something” he offers, getting a laugh from his friend in return.

“Is that really how you view me? Romance movies?”

“Need I remind you of The Notebook incident again?” Kyungsoo replies, smiling when he sees his friend cheering up again.

Yixing knew it was going to be difficult to try and get over Joonmyun. Kyungsoo knew that as well, and whilst he was very inexperienced in this field he was going to try and be there for his friend. Besides, there was no way he was going to be able to get out of this one now.

It has taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, but I am a woman of my word! I have rewritten all of the chapters and added in new ones, all ready for your enjoyment! 

I'll post another chapter tomorrow, and then it'll probably be every couple of days (I am a very busy university student after all). But yes, hopefully this new rewrite will make the flow of the story much better for you guys. I'm actually so happy with how it's turned out! 

Until the next chapter!!