Chapter 4

Kyungsoo remembered telling himself, “Just this once. No more.” Unfortunately, he wasn’t a Seer, or any of that Hocus Pocus , so he had no chance of knowing that once lead to twice which lead to a thrice, to a fourth time, to a fifth, to a sixth and so on until he didn’t even bother counting anymore.

That unfortunate day – Kyungsoo liked to refer to it as that – they went to a café. Kyungsoo had let out a sigh of relief because really, the idea of alcohol plus Jongin in the same vicinity still had given him a feel of dread. He could not have allowed himself to get drunk in front of the younger any time soon.

Jongin had texted him the place where Kyungsoo was supposed to buy him his drink. Thanking the time he had spent exploring Seoul, he had managed to find the place without getting lost, recognising the street he had been walking on even. It was just a block away from the school he was going to teach in.

Right after seeing the name of the café, he sent Jongin a text. What are you wearing?

He rolled his eyes when he read the reply, smthng blck.

Great! That’ll really help, thanks. I bet the barista’s uniform is black. Did you lie to me and you are actually working as a barista and not at Kim Corp?

*snorts* hve u seen me? I look amazing. Once u enter the café itd only take u a couple of sconds to scan the place and there will be me.

A second later, another text message came in, Looking beautiful. Of course. ;)

Kyungsoo tried his best to continue walking towards the café and not run home. "This over-confident, self-centred ."

He reminded himself that he owed the guy a drink, yet again. He didn’t back down on his words easily, if he agreed on buying someone a drink, he would buy that someone a drink. Even if it pained him to do so.

True to his words, it only did take Kyungsoo a couple of seconds to scan the place before spotting Jongin. And, that was because the place wasn’t that busy. The café was quite small, and looked simple and cosy. The walls were coloured in a nice shade of beige, a couple of tables for four with white chairs. He also noticed the outside tables. The question why Jongin hadn’t chosen to be outside when it was ing hot was at the back of his mind, but after feeling a relieving chill of the shop’s AC, he concluded that was probably why.

Kyungsoo didn’t go to Jongin straightaway instead went to the counter. After glancing at the menu, he recognised that the café was student friendly. There were a couple of deals for students. He remembered his student days where he depended on student discount, they saved his so much.

He desperately wanted to order an iced Americano but he wanted to get a plentiful of sleep at night and opt for an iced latte instead.

He tapped his fingers on the counter creating a tap-tap-tap sound while waiting for his drink, not glancing at Jongin’s direction. He felt his phone vibrating, indicating a message received. He was sure it was from Jongin asking for his attention. He ignored his phone.

The girl – and yes her uniform was plain black – on the counter gave him a pleasant smile when she handed him his drink. He returned the gesture then paid for the drink.

He braced himself before meandering his way to Jongin.

“Told you, it’ll be hard to miss me.” Sipping from his mug, like he’s a posh English man from the 70s. It was that hot of a day, how anyone could drink anything hot at a day like that was beyond Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo questioned how this Jongin and the Aesthetically Pleasing Man he saw that night were the same. Jongin in his normal clothes still looked good though. He could pull off a simple t-shirt and pants looking as if he was a runway model. After a closer look, Aesthetically Pleasing and this Jongin were the same person with different auras. Kyungsoo barely managed to stop the grimace from appearing on his face. This one looked like a cute puppy, the other one, well, looked more of like a fierce wolf. How can someone be so perfect? How can someone pull of cute and fierce so beautifully? Kyungsoo hated Jongin so much.

Two years too young, he reminded himself.

“…. You can pay for my refill. I’m not letting you off that easy.” Because of his inner brooding, it appeared that he missed half of what Jongin has been saying, but he guessed it was about the drink.

“Okay.”

“Well. Why are you still standing?”

He muttered, Ah right, and sat down.

Jongin continued sipping his drink while Kyungsoo wrapped his fingers around his ice latte, the coolness somewhat calming his nerves. Why was he even there in the first place again?

Neither of them spoke for a couple of minutes, the only noise surrounding them was the lull of music the café provided. Kyungsoo didn’t recognise the song playing, he was thankful for it anyway because why was it so awkward. He wanted to glare at Jongin for him to start talking. It was him who texted him first anyway. Why did he even contact him in the first place? Why did he type in his contact details into Kyungsoo’s phone? Kyungsoo made sure to triple lock his phone after Jongin managed to coerce him into “buying him a drink”. He didn’t believe in putting security passwords on his phone before because it was only him using it anyway, and what did he have to hide? Then Jongin came along.

The silent was broken by Jongin’s, “How are you?”

“Good,” was Kyungsoo’s curt reply.

Jongin pursed his lips and nodded, then took another sip of his drink, a distant look on his eyes.

The abrupt sound of ceramic clacking against ceramic startled Kyungsoo he almost yelped.

“Sorry,” said Jongin sheepishly and lifted the mug and placed it on the coaster gentler the second time.

A veil of silence descended on them again after that, Kyungsoo really wanted to kick Jongin.

Then, abruptly, Jongin broke into a fit of giggles, Kyungsoo stared at him dumbfounded.

“We’re so awkward. It’s so funny,” Jongin exclaimed still laughing.

Kyungsoo let out an amused snort, glad that Jongin was doing something about the awkwardness between them, “Well who’s fault is that anyway? Why did you even invite me to come here, when all we did was share a bed and I barely know you.”

Jongin offered his right hand for a handshake, “Okay let’s begin from the beginning. My name is Kim Jongin, I’m twenty-one years old. I am that dude who dared you to drink shots and who brought you to their apartment because you got too drunk to function.” Kyungsoo wanted to smack the smirk off Jongin’s face that appeared after saying that.

And, promptly wanted to incinerate him when he said, “Now, Mr my-ID-is-not-fake-you-stupid-face, what’s your name?”

A genuine smile replaced his smirk when Kyungsoo let out a bark of laughter. Kyungsoo was liking Jongin already. If Kyungsoo was being honest with himself, he needed someone like Jongin around him. Someone who didn’t easily cower because of his intimidating aura. He was just ing glad Jongin came in the picture earlier than that. Summer sure as hell would be boring for Kyungsoo because so far he hadn’t found a friend. He had Wendy and Joonmyeon but both of them weren’t in Seoul with him. Joonmyeon was still in America, while Wendy decided that she fancied travelling around the world and there she went. She was currently in Thailand.

Kyungsoo took Jongin’s hand to his and shook it, a small smile gracing his face. “First of all, my ID is really not fake and I’m ing legal. I am Do Kyungsoo, I’m twenty-three and I promise not to get drunk in your presence ever again if you’re just going to tease me about it forever.” He winced when he heard what he has said and frowned at Jongin’s smile when he said,

“So there’s a next time? I’ll be seeing you again?”

After that, Jongin would text him every day, like his life goal was to annoy Kyungsoo to the fullest. In return, Kyungsoo made sure that Jongin was aware that he got on his nerve but all Jongin did was ignore his protest as if Kyungsoo had not complained at all.

In reality, Kyungsoo was getting fond of Jongin’s antics each passing day. He told himself that he wished for the latter to stop what he was doing but he was welcoming them instead.

It was always Jongin who invited him to go out, he would send Kyungsoo a text about it and Kyungsoo would text him back “No.” but ended up going anyway. And, always a smile would grace Kyungsoo’s face when they parted ways at the end of it because despite his objections at first, he had a great time.

Late at night, lying in his bed while staring up the ceiling, Kyungsoo often berated himself. More often than not, Kyungsoo had been thinking what it was like dating the younger. Jongin seemed to be the type of person who could cover their own . Jongin was independent, if living alone was any indication. With Jongin, Kyungsoo did not have to worry about him being the one taking care of the other. At this rate, it seemed like Jongin would be the one doing the taking care of. The span of time they’d been hanging out – yes, it’s merely hanging out, thank you very much – Jongin made sure that Kyungsoo’s needs were attended to. Kyungsoo had said, “I’m not actually a girl you know.” And Jongin’s reply had been, “well, you’re only tiny, someone needs to take care of you.”

The question whether Jongin liked him or not was not even a question. Kyungsoo wasn’t blind, he would catch Jongin staring at him in his peripheral vision and just to tease the younger he would glance at him back just to see him hastily looking away.

He knew it was him hindering a possibly great relationship. Was he ready to date a younger man? It wasn’t like he had that much experience in dating but he had a type – someone older than him. Jongin was just not that.

His stomach was in knots when he pressed the doorbell of Jongin’s apartment. This was their first time hanging out in each other’s apartment, the previous ones had always been outside. All those time there were other people around them now it was just them. Whatever happened inside these walls would be just between the two of them. Kyungsoo wasn’t expecting anything to happen but he was nervous anyway. What with him realising he wanted to date the younger. Jongin respected him enough to not do anything bad to him. It was as if he knew Kyungsoo’s growing affection towards him anyway. Only he was giving Kyungsoo the final decision where their relationship was going to go. His feelings for the younger only grew at that because he was not forcing him on doing anything.

Jongin gave him a brief hug when he opened the door, told him to go into the living room and choose which movie they were going to watch while he microwaved some popcorn. There was a variety of genre he could choose from. There was a rom-com, but Kyungsoo rejected that straight away. That type of movie meant kissing and like hell Kyungsoo would want to watch two people eating each other’s face while sitting beside Jongin. He felt awkward enough while watching those kind of scenes with his mother let alone with someone he was harbouring feelings for. There was also a horror movie, which he also rejected because despite him not being jumpy and not easily scared, Jongin might be. He opted for an action movie instead.

Nearing the end of the film, he felt Jongin’s head land on his shoulder. Kyungsoo didn’t do anything to move him. He thought that the younger had fallen asleep on him because he said he had seen the movie already but insisted that he wouldn’t mind watching it again when Kyungsoo asked him if he should choose another one. He was proven wrong when Jongin murmured,

“Kyungsoo?”

“Hmm?” was his reply.

Jongin took his hand in his and gave it a squeeze. Instead of going stiff like he expected him to do, Kyungsoo stared at their joined hand thinking, it fit. It felt right. “I like you, you know.”

Kyungsoo moved his hand, palm up and gave Jongin’s hand a squeeze back. He hummed in answer and leaned in to kiss the top of Jongin’s head.

im gomen lmao