“Alright, what’s so urgent that made Chan yell at me to get online?” Wonwoo asked jokingly. Really though, he was glad whenever he got to see all of his friends.

As if glancing at each other through their screens, the other three didn’t know where to start. It was 8am for Wonwoo and Chan, 7am for Minghao, and 4pm for Joshua. All of them were home.

Minghao sighed and decided he should be the one to start since he knew about it first. “There’s something we need to tell you.”

“Okay,” Wonwoo said, a little shaken by his friend’s tone. “What’s up?”

Chan and Joshua waited anxiously. It was the morning after that terrible night and they still didn’t have the right words for everything. They told Minghao once they finally calmed down, but Wonwoo was the one everyone was most concerned about.

Minghao bit his lip and realized there was no easy way to go about this. “Jihoon and Soonyoung are here,” he said as clearly as he could.

Wonwoo’s forehead crinkled. “Huh?”

By now, Minghao was used to the disbelief in everybody’s reaction. “The reporters who follow you—Jihoon and Soonyoung—are here, in Shanghai. They’ve been here for a few days.”

“Wait, what—” Wonwoo cut himself off as his mouth hung open. He scoffed and looked between his friends to see if this was some kind of joke. But no one was laughing. “How are they there?” he asked just because. He was not falling for this.

“They came for some news story here. It was some random fluff piece, so Pledis sent the interns.”

Wonwoo nodded slowly, impressed with how believable that sounded. Playing along, he smiled. “Ahhh, and what was this piece about?”

“Some panda that was born or something,” Minghao answered.

Laughing a little, Wonwoo said, “Come on, if you’re gonna make this up, at least have all the details.”

Chan felt this knot in his chest. “Hyung, we’re not making this up.”

“Okay, okay,” Wonwoo replied, still going with the story. “So they’re there for a panda?” he chuckled.

“Wonwoo.”

He looked to Joshua on his screen. He didn’t look amused, just defeated.

Once Joshua knew he had his friend’s attention, he sighed. “I’m sorry dude, but we’re serious. They’re there.”

As if something clicked in his head, Wonwoo looked between all of them again. They all looked tired and worried. No way. Is this for real? “You guys are serious?”

Minghao wanted to crumble. “I’m sorry, Wonwoo.”

He was still uncertain, but they proceeded to tell him everything.

“They got here a few days ago and met up with Junhui,” Minghao told him.

“Wait, Junhui?” Wonwoo interrupted, raising a hand and scrunching his eyebrows. “How do they know Junhui?”

“Junhui’s had this friend from Korea he’s talked to forever,” he replied, still unable to fully believe it himself. “Turns out it’s Soonyoung.”

A pit was forming in Wonwoo’s stomach. He sat back and continued to listen.

“They’re here. I’m actually supposed to say bye to them later today with Jun. But we needed to talk to you before all of that.” Minghao cleared his throat and wiped the back of his neck. He was just as unsettled about this as before. “They recognized you in my picture at home.”

Wonwoo leaned back in his chair. His tongue in his cheek, he didn’t know what to say.

“Jun spilled and said your name was Wonwoo, but I told them your name was Hong Wonwoo.”

“Did they buy it?”

Minghao sighed. “I thought they did, but definitely not anymore.”

“They know way too much,” Joshua added.

Holding the hair out of his face, Wonwoo let his sweat fall without any obstruction. His mind was darting in all directions. That’s why Minghao asked for their last names, he realized. As he was sitting there, trying to grasp this, he realized something else. “Joshua, why do you and Chan know about this before I do?”

Joshua scratched his face. “Cause we were there.”

“What?”

“I jumped to Shanghai yesterday.”

Wonwoo just stared.

“So did I,” Chan added.

“You were both in Shanghai? At the same time as Soonyoung and Jihoon?” They could hear the panic starting to build.

“Yeah, it was just as bad as it sounds,” Minghao noted.

Rubbing his face, Wonwoo had to hear the rest of it. “Okay, then what happened?”

Joshua thought this would be a good time for him to continue Minghao’s retelling of the story. “I got there yesterday at like 9am their time. Minghao was telling me everything when Junhui and Soonyoung stopped by.”

“So you met Soonyoung?” Wonwoo frantically asked.

Joshua nodded. “Yeah, but I pretended to be some person who was just lost in the building. They know I’m American though.”

“Josh, Soonyoung’s probably seen you and me together in Seoul,” he mentioned. “Didn’t he recognize you?”

Joshua shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve been there enough with you that they’d remember. Every time we hang out, there’s like MONTHS or even a year in between. I wasn’t consistently around and they probably forgot about me each time. Same with Minghao. I bet they never even saw you with Minghao since you guys only have an hour in the morning.”

Wonwoo agreed, seeing that all of that made a lot of sense. “So they don’t know we know each other?”

All of them hesitated. “That’s where it gets even worse,” Joshua told him. “Minghao and I spent the rest of the day at the apartment and around 5…”

“That’s when I showed up,” Chan jumped in.

Directing his attention to the youngest among them, Wonwoo couldn’t believe anything.

“I got there and they explained it all,” he said. He took a deep breath and just felt bad. “It was bad, hyung.”

“What happened?”

“Well, Minghao jumped and me and Joshua just hung out in the apartment until he had to leave.” Recalling the whole situation gave him a queasy feeling. “Things got bad an hour before Joshua was gonna go.” Chan was having a hard time putting this into words.

Seeing his friend’s difficulty, Joshua helped him out, “We were hanging out when someone knocked on the door. When we checked, it was Soonyoung and Jihoon.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I really wish we were,” Chan commented.

“We waited until they went away, but they didn’t,” Joshua said.

“Wait, so they—”

“They broke in,” Minghao said, his voice just coursing with anger. He was furious that he was ever lead on to believe that these were nice people, that they were friendly. They disgusted him. Wonwoo could even see how pissed he was. It was all over his face at this point. Trying to hold it in, Minghao rubbed between his eyebrows. “They broke into my house and searched the whole freakin place.”

Wonwoo didn’t know what to say so Joshua went on. “Me and Chan got lucky and were able to hide, but they found out some stuff.”

“You guys managed to stay hidden while they looked everywhere?” Wonwoo asked worriedly.

Joshua scoffed. “It was the scariest thing I think either of us had ever gone through.” Covering his face in agony, he muttered, “It’s unbelievable.”

“They put the pieces together, hyung,” Chan continued. “They found Joshua’s guitar with his name on the strap and they know you three are connected somehow.”

“Luckily there was nothing with Chan’s name,” Minghao added.

Wonwoo’s head was spinning and he couldn’t think of anything worse happening. “Oh my god,” he mumbled.

“Wonwoo.”

He flicked his head up and stared at the person who called him. “Mm.”

Chan sighed. “They know Minghao doesn’t go out after 6.”

His eyes grew wide. “What? How do they know that?!”

“I think Jun might’ve told them,” Minghao said with regret. “He didn’t know...He was just—”

“No one’s blaming Junhui for any of this,” Chan remarked. Everyone was feeling incredibly down. He didn’t want Minghao to take responsibility for Junhui when Junhui did nothing wrong. “We all know whose fault this is.”

Yeah, we really do, Wonwoo couldn’t help but think. Enraged and scared and confused, he knew who to blame. Or what to blame. The ing universe.

“It’s the universe again.”

The others were shocked at his response. “No, Wonwoo,” Chan started to say. “It’s Jihoon and Soon—”

“No! This is all the universe’s fault!” Wonwoo exclaimed, unable to contain his emotions. He looked at all of them with such fear and frustration. “They just throw all of you guys together and force you to deal with the I have to deal with?! I cannot believe this!”

Joshua tried to calm him down. He knew this was a lot to take in. “Wonwoo—”

But he wasn’t having it. “It’s the goddamn universe screwing us all over again!” he continued to yell.

“Hyung, calm down—”

“No, Chan! I can’t calm down!” he screamed back. Getting out of his desk chair, he stood up and held his head as he spun around, trying to get a grasp on anything. But he couldn’t. “This is ridiculous!”

Minghao was just as concerned as the other two. “We all know this is horrible,” he managed to say. “We just needed to tell you—”

“Oh! Thank you so much for telling me!” Wonwoo was going out of his mind. Not even looking at them, he cried, “Thank you for giving me another reason to hate the way we are!”

Joshua, Chan, and Minghao took a second to look to each other. None of them did it, but it was as if they shared a collective sigh. They didn’t know what to do. “Dude, we needed to talk to figure out what to do next,” Joshua said softly.

Stopping his hysteria, Wonwoo turned back to his laptop. Staring at each one of them like a madman, he put his hands on his desk and hunched over. Figure what out? They know too much. With every new piece of evidence, they’re so much closer to just wrecking all of us. What the hell are we gonna do to come back from this?

As defeated as everyone felt, Wonwoo held the most pain. It was his story they were after, and it was his story they were finding. He couldn’t think of a single scenario where this would all go away.

“We have to figure this out,” Joshua repeated, trying to get his attention back.

But Wonwoo was gone. This whole mess—this catastrophic disaster—just reaffirmed to him what he already knew.

“I have to stop.”

Chan was the first one to catch how that was not the right reaction. His eyes shot open and he argued, “NO! HYUNG THAT IS NOT—”

But before he could even finish or let the others react, Wonwoo ended the call. He was alone with his delusional mind and a black screen. Sweat was dripping from his face and he couldn’t control himself. He couldn’t even imagine how bad everything would be once Jihoon and Soonyoung found out. He couldn’t even think of that. All he could recall was seeing flashes of Mingyu in his head.

With no one there, he plopped back down in his chair and closed the laptop. Breathing as if he’d just come back from a run, he knew he was right before.

“I have to stop.”

— — —

“So you guys just throw the leftover cookie dough away?!”

Cleaning off the counter, Seokmin chuckled and replied to his younger coworker, “Well that’s what we’re supposed to do according to the health code, but the manager lets whoever’s closing take it home.”

Seungkwan leaned over the register, his jaw open in awe. “Wahhh, that’s awesome!” He looked out at the store. Only a few customers had been there and it was already 4:30. “I think I’m gonna like working here.”

With a laugh, Seokmin put the rag away. “I think I already like you working here.”

As the two of them were getting along and chatting it up, someone on his phone was about to come through the door. Someone who had just gotten back into the country.

“Yeah mom, I realize she needs the cupcakes for the baby shower, but I just got home,” Soonyoung said through the receiver. Rubbing his eye, he was tired from the traveling. Granted it was only a 2 hour flight, but still. He listened to his mother as he reached out to open the bakery door. “Couldn’t you have asked someone else to get them?”

Ding!

Soonyoung stepped through the door as Seokmin and Seungkwan looked up from their conversation. Immediately, two of them froze, and it’s not too hard to guess which two.

Seokmin couldn’t move. Initially, he was being overwhelmed by shock at seeing this person again. Well, seeing this person in real life again. He’d seen him countless times in his head. And when he realized that, that shock turned to shame. He was reminded of who this person was: the bad guy. He wasn’t some fantasy dream, perfect guy that only existed in Seokmin’s imagination. With those same mixed feelings, Seokmin could only stare. That’s all he could do.

Soonyoung was pretty much in the same state. He did move however to hang up the phone, completely ignoring his mother’s nagging words. Ever since the day they saw each other again in Mansae, the day that Seokmin realized who he was and what he was truly up to, he’d been secretly hoping for a chance like this. A chance encounter. But now that it was here, he didn’t know what to do.

The only person in the room who could actually do anything was Seungkwan.

“Hi! Welcome to Carat Bakery!” he exclaimed with a huge smile on his face.

Trying to get back to reality, Soonyoung smiled gently out of the corner of his mouth.

Pleased by the customer’s reaction, Seungkwan leaned over and whispered to Seokmin, “Hey, you take this one. I’ll be in the back working on the rest of those cookies.”

Seokmin wasn’t fully paying attention. “Yeah sure.” But as the boy left his side, Seokmin realized what he’d just said and how he didn’t mean it at all. He instantly turned around and tried to call, “Wait, no! Seungkwan—”

But he was already gone and Seokmin was left there alone with someone he didn’t want to be alone with. “Uhhhh,” he involuntarily uttered.

That weirdly made Soonyoung ease up and smile a little bigger. Walking forward, he took his chance. “Seokmin, right?”

Swallowing his...whatever he was feeling, Seokmin put on his game face. This is Soonyoung. This is the guy that’s causing your friends trouble. You can’t trust him. That last bit was something he usually didn’t have to tell himself.

“Soonyoung,” he said coldly.

Resting his hands on the counter, he said, “So you remember me?” He may have sounded cool, but his heart was racing.

Seokmin felt his eye twitch. “How could I forget a stalker?”

He should’ve known that was coming, but Soonyoung was still taken aback. Especially with what happened just last night, it stung how true that was. He wasn’t as hardcore as Jihoon sometimes. He couldn’t always hold the hard external. “Seokmin,” he said calmly. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“I don’t think that’s what you’re here to talk to me about,” Seokmin said, trying to change the subject back to why he even came to the bakery.

Soonyoung pursed his lips and nodded, seeing that maybe this wasn’t his chance after all. “Right.” Standing up straight, he looked overhead at all the menu items, even though he knew what he was there for. “Can I get three dozen cupcakes? 1 dozen vanilla, another chocolate, and another red velvet.”

“Did you order this in advance?”

“No, my mother did not,” he answered.

Seokmin accidentally chuckled at his sarcastic tone, making Soonyoung flutter inside. Shaking himself, he looked over his shoulder and realized they didn’t have enough premade ones. With a sigh, he said, “We don’t have that ready right now.”

“How long would it take?”

“About an hour for all of it,” Seokmin said, ringing everything up on the register. “Is that okay?”

Without the boy seeing, Soonyoung smiled. “Yeah, I can wait.”

“Great. Go ahead and swipe your card. Sign when it asks you to and we’ll get that order started,” Seokmin said, keeping it professional even though his nerves were on edge.

“Sounds good to me,” Soonyoung replied, following the instructions.

Trying not to be too anxious that this person was going to be there for a while longer, Seokmin took the order and went through the back door. “Hey Seungkwan.”

Seungkwan was pulling a cookie sheet out of the oven. “Yeah?”

Coming over to him, he placed the order on the table. “I have your first real order.”

“OOH!” Quickly putting down the hot tray, Seungkwan removed his oven mitts and tried to read the small piece of paper. “What’ve you got for me?”

“3 dozen cupcakes.”

“What?!” Seungkwan exclaimed, picking up the paper. “Seokmin, I don’t think I can do that many by myself!”

But Seokmin just laughed and took the order back. “No, trust me this is the best thing you could’ve gotten first. Cupcakes are the easiest things to bake around here. You’ve baked cupcakes before, right?”

“Well, yeah, but never that many.”

Seokmin walked around the table to one of the cabinets back there. He opened a door that revealed many different binders. He pulled out one of the thinner ones and brought it back to his coworker. “Everything you could possibly need is in here. I promise you, you can handle this.”

Seungkwan took a few deep breaths and started flipping through the binder. “Okay, boss. I believe you.”

“I’m not your boss,” Seokmin laughed as he pat the boy on the back.

“Yeah, but I just need to think that someone with a lot of power believes in me,” he answered.

Seokmin was starting to get used to Seungkwan’s entertaining remarks. “Call me if you need anything.”

Not looking up, Seungkwan flashed a thumbs up. “Okay, thanks!”

Sure of Seungkwan’s abilities, Seokmin went back out to the front. He was surprised to see Soonyoung still standing at the counter. “You can sit down, ya know.”

Looking at all the empty tables, Soonyoung nervously said, “Yeah, I know.” He glanced back at Seokmin and rubbed the back of his neck. “I...I just wanted to talk to you.”

His palms getting sweaty, Seokmin didn’t know what that meant. “What?”

“I just wanted to apologize, I guess,” Soonyoung said meekly. Part of it came from the fact he’d never apologized for his work before, but also he was getting shy talking to Seokmin about something he’d been thinking about for a while. “Um, I’m sorry for...leaving that impression on you.”

Seokmin was thoroughly thrown off. This was not what he was expecting. The last encounter he’d had with Soonyoung was on the complete other end of the spectrum compared to now. When he and Seungcheol spoke with them, Soonyoung didn’t say much but he was definitely backing the aggressive Jihoon. It was unpleasant and annoying. So for Seokmin to see that bad guy come into his store and apologize...he was baffled.

Taking his time to squint at the boy suspiciously, Seokmin wasn’t sure if he should buy it. He couldn’t let his fantasy cloud his judgment. This was not someone who could be trusted. “Sure. You’re sorry,” he said, not going for it.

But Soonyoung quickly said again, “No, seriously, Seokmin. I’m sorry that that was your first impression of me.” He sighed and scratched his chin. “I know Jihoon can be a little...harsh. But just comes with the job.”

“Right, you guys are journalists,” Seokmin said.

“Yeah, and we’re just doing what we vowed to do.” It felt like he was repeating what Jihoon had been telling him all along.

“Sure, you do that,” Seokmin replied.

Curious about that reply, Soonyoung asked, “Do you have something against journalists?”

“Yes and no,” he answered, having known this reasoning for a while. He’d explained it many times when people asked him why he still bought the paper every morning. “I think the idea of journalism is necessary and completely valid. Everybody deserves to know the truth and find out what’s being hidden from them.” Seokmin looked into Soonyoung’s interested eyes and continued. “But the way journalists have to go about getting that information is just so slimy and shady sometimes. I don’t think they can be trusted.”

Soonyoung was impressed with his sense of knowledge about himself. It was comforting to see someone with such firm beliefs. “You seem to have trust issues,” he joked.

“Rightfully so,” Seokmin replied. “Everybody’s hiding something.”

“That, I totally agree with.”

Seokmin couldn’t help but crack a small smile at that.

Pleased that he got such a genuine reaction, Soonyoung wanted to emphasize his point one more time. “Well, I just wanna say I’m sorry again for leaving such a bad first impression.”

Seokmin looked over Soonyoung’s face again, now remembering how cute he thought this boy was. It was still holding to be true. What wasn’t holding up though was how much he shouldn’t be trusted. It was the strangest phenomenon, but Seokmin got the sense that Soonyoung...wasn’t lying. He seemed real. In that moment, his words seemed...trustworthy. Lost in his head thinking about how messed up it would be to trust someone so easily, Seokmin realized something. “Actually, that wasn’t my first impression of you.”

Soonyoung was surprised. Tilting his head, he asked, “What do you mean?”

Recalling the exact incident of him running into Soonyoung and knocking over his own drinks, Seokmin tried to hide his blush. “We didn’t really meet, but I did run into you before. At 10/10.”

Eyes wide, Soonyoung leaned forward. “You remember that?!” he couldn’t help but exclaim.

Seokmin leaned back and stared at the boy, confused. Crinkling his eyebrows, he craned his neck. “Wait, you remember that?”

Soonyoung tried to play it cool after his outburst. Standing back up straight, he rubbed his neck. “Uhh, yeah. I mean, you were getting some drinks and when you turned around…”

“I ran into you,” Seokmin said, a smile appearing across his face.

Seeing those shining white teeth was enough to get Soonyoung beaming. “Yeah, and I somehow caught your drinks,” he laughed.

Seokmin laughed along with him, completely ignoring the fact that Soonyoung was there to spy on Mingyu that day. For some reason, he was able to forget that in the moment. “As you can tell, I’m the smoothest person in the world,” he joked.

“You obviously are,” Soonyoung said with a smile.

Both of them stopped to catch their breath before just comfortably looking at each other. “Yeah,” Seokmin said, getting back on topic. “So that gave me my first impression of you.”

“Uh huh. And what’d you think?”

“I was impressed you could catch so quickly,” Seokmin answered, purposely leaving out how many daydreams that impression would cause him to have later down the line.

Soonyoung chuckled. “Yeah, that’s a bad first impression too cause I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that again.”

For the next while, the two of them talked and laughed and basically pretended like nothing outside of that bakery existed. Seokmin was completely ignoring the fact that this person was ruining the life of his friend and Soonyoung wasn’t bothering to remember that this was someone he was supposed to get information from. In that little shop, they were just two guys having a fun, playful conversation. They got into all sorts of conversations and found out that they could talk for an indefinite amount of time. It wasn’t until they started talking about pandas were they interrupted.

“You went all the way to China to see a panda?!” Seokmin asked, completely bewildered. At this point, they had both gotten comfortable across the counter from each other. Seokmin was sitting on a stool and Soonyoung pulled up a chair.

Soonyoung eagerly nodded, proud that one of his fluff pieces was finally paying off. “Yeah, I got to meet up with a friend out there, but it was all for this adorable panda.”

“That sounds amazing,” Seokmin said. “The closest thing I get to seeing a panda around here is when I decorate the black and white cookies.”

Laughing, Soonyoung was about to say something when the back door came swinging open.

“Seokmin, the order’s done!” Seungkwan announced with a huge smile.

“Oh wow,” Seokmin said, standing up. Taking out his phone, he was impressed. “Seungkwan, that was fast. Are you sure you baked them all long enough?”

Seungkwan chuckled and wiped the sweat from his brow. His apron was a mess and there was icing all over him. “Seokmin, I’ve been at this for almost 2 hours. How could you call that fast?” he teased.

“It’s been 2 hours?!” Seokmin exclaimed, checking the time. And indeed it was already 6:30.

Soonyoung was shocked as well. “Wow, I didn’t even notice. The time just…”

“Flew by,” Seokmin finished for him.

Seungkwan smiled at the both of them. He didn’t notice their chemistry until now. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you guys were friends,” he said.

Seokmin and Soonyoung both took quick glances at each other. They both had to acknowledge that that wasn’t right at all. Simultaneously trying to explain otherwise, they both stammered different variations of, “Oh, no. Uhh, we’re not—no. We’re just—”

And from that Seungkwan got the hint. Tilting his head back, he understood. “Ahhh, okay. I see.”

“No, Seungkwan,” Seokmin quickly tried to clarify. “No, you don’t see.”

“No, no, you two keep talking,” he said coolly as he bat the air. Returning to the back, he said, “I’m gonna finish boxing these up.”

“Wait, Seungkwan—”

“I got it!” Seungkwan exclaimed, winking as he walked past.

When he’d gone through the door, Seokmin could feel his face heat up. He looked back to Soonyoung and realized that they were no longer the only people around. Whatever was just happening could not continue, because Seungkwan was wrong. They weren’t friends.

Seokmin was hit with a wave of guilt after realizing what he’d just done. Talking to the enemy was not something he would ever encourage, but yet here he was. He felt so bad. It was like he was going behind Mingyu’s back. And worst of all...was that he enjoyed it.

Soonyoung unfortunately came to the same conclusion. He couldn’t believe he’d just spent nearly two hours with Seokmin and didn’t learn a single new thing about Wonwoo or Mingyu. Those two never even came up. The past few days had been overloaded with people connected to Wonwoo and here he was, sitting and chatting with the perfect link and he wasn’t taking advantage of it. He felt bad. He was just reluctant to believe that they couldn’t continue talking. Because he really enjoyed it.

“Umm,” Seokmin said, breaking the awkward silence that filled the just then comfortable space. “I should probably go help him finish that up.”

“Right, right.” Soonyoung agreed, but he didn’t want Seokmin to go. He wanted to keep talking. He wanted to see where this was going past pandas.

With a nod, Seokmin started heading through the door. “It’s been nice...talking to you.”

Soonyoung smiled. “You too.”

“I’ll be right back with the cupcakes.”

“Thanks,” he said back. He chuckled and added, “Just don’t drop them. I don’t think I’ll be able to catch three dozen cupcakes.”

Feeling his heart race, Seokmin smiled. “I’ll try not to.”

— — —

“Mom, I told you, everything’s fine here,” Seungcheol told his mom over the phone. He chuckled as he walked down the street. “No, I know how to cook. We’ve been eating, don’t worry.”

He listened to his concerned mother talk about how important it was to eat healthy as he walked past some shops on his way home. But as he passed by an unfamiliar cafe, he glanced inside and found a very familiar face. Stopping in his tracks, he huffed some air out of his nose and smirked. “Mom, I’ll call you back.”

Hanging up the phone, he glanced up and read the sign. Q&A Cafe. He opened the door and headed towards the person he recognized. The boy was sitting at a table, his head in his laptop so he hadn’t noticed Seungcheol yet. But he sure as hell was about to.

“Well, look who it is,” Seungcheol declared as he took the seat across from him.

Jihoon’s head flicked up and he immediately glared. “Son of a ,” he said under his breath.

But Seungcheol was feeling smug. “Ya know, I was almost scared my stalking plan wasn’t gonna work. Didn’t see you for a few days there. Thought maybe you took what I said seriously.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “I don’t think I could ever take you seriously,” he scoffed. “So you’re actually stalking me now?”

“I was just on my way home,” Seungcheol admitted as he leaned his elbows on the table. “I guess it was just fate that I found you here.”

Thoroughly annoyed, Jihoon tried to get back to work. He was finishing up their panda story as well as going over everything they found in Shanghai. “Yeah, well you can just leave.”

“Why? So you can bother my friends in peace?” he asked sarcastically.

Jihoon didn’t look at him. He just kept typing. “They’re not even here.”

“Then I guess I’m just here to bother you.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

Checking his watch, Seungcheol pouted. “Nope. It’s 4:30 and I have absolutely no plans.”

“You’re a real jackass, you know that?” Jihoon snarkily replied.

Pleased with the insult, Seungcheol smiled back at his enemy. “I’m just doing my job.”

“That’s a stupid job.”

“You have stupid hair.”

Jihoon flicked his head up and stared at him with big, unamused eyes. “Wow,” he uttered sarcastically. “You’re really gonna just knock my hair now.”

“It’s pretty stupid,” Seungcheol said again.

Ignoring him, Jihoon tried to refocus his attention on what was way more important than this person who was just getting in the way.

Seeing that Jihoon wasn’t going to argue back this time, Seungcheol glanced around. Still genuinely bothered by Jihoon and what he did for a living, he was glad that he was able to cause some havoc. Looking all around, he realized he’d never been to Q&A Cafe before. “Nice place.”

Not answering, Jihoon paid no attention.

Seungcheol glanced along the table and reached for the menu that was beside him. “Well, I’m probably gonna be here a while.”

“Wait, what?”

Seungcheol turned his gaze and found Jihoon staring at him. He cracked a pleased, sinister grin. “Stalking is a tiring job and I’m willing to sit here all night if that’s what it takes.” He flipped open the menu and scanned through the items.

Watching him, Jihoon couldn’t believe how much of a nuisance Seungcheol was.

Seungcheol nodded to himself and raised his arm. “Waiter!” he called out.

Someone quickly came to their table and Seungcheol immediately told him, “Can I get an iced americano? For here.”

The waiter nodded and replied, “Right away.”

“Thank you,” he said, handing him the menu. Once he was gone, Seungcheol turned back to see Jihoon with his mouth hanging slightly open. Mockingly, Seungcheol scoffed and smiled. “I’m so sorry, how rude of me,” he said. “Did you want something?”

“I hate you,” Jihoon said flatly.

“Are you reading my mind?” Seungcheol said through a laugh. “Cause I was thinking the exact same thing.”

“Oh my god,” Jihoon muttered, rubbing his forehead. “What is your deal? I’m not even doing anything right now.”

Cutting the jokes, Seungcheol glared back at him. “My deal is that you’re always doing something. I know for a goddamn fact that you’re just planning how to get up in Wonwoo’s business. It’s horrible and I’m just giving you a taste of your own medicine.”

Rolling his eyes again, Jihoon argued, “Never have I ever been this annoying to him.”

“Trust me, you have, my friend.”

Jihoon wanted to kick him for the way he said “friend.” This condescending bastard, he thought. Realizing this was going nowhere, Jihoon brushed him off. “Ya know what, whatever. Just sit there for all I care.”

“Fine,” Seungcheol replied, getting comfortable in his chair.

“You’re so annoying.”

“You’re terrible.”

“Irritating.”

“Disgusting.”

“Obnoxious.”

“Awful.”

“Jackass.”

“ing stalker.”

“Iced americano!”

Both of them turned to the side and found the waiter putting the drink at the end of the table. Seungcheol smiled. “Thank you,” he said as the waiter walked away.

Watching Seungcheol take a sip of his drink was even more bothersome, especially since he was craving one now. “Goddamn it.”

Satisfied, Seungcheol could see Jihoon’s hungry eyes staring at his drink. Leaning the glass over, he asked, “You want some?”

“I don’t want anything from you,” Jihoon declared, trying again to keep working.

“Suit yourself,” he said as he continued to drink. Pulling out his phone, he was really setting up camp to just bother the out of Jihoon.

For the next few minutes, neither of them spoke. They just sat there, hoping the other would leave. Jihoon wanted to be alone and Seungcheol wanted to make a point if Jihoon left first. But neither of them budged.

Working through his notes, Jihoon was creating a digital version of their Wonwoo storyboard. Things were starting to line up better with all that they gathered. He was able to add Minghao to the list of people who didn’t go out past 6. He threw Joshua in there too out of assumption. Based on Soonyoung’s description of the boy, Jihoon was getting some visuals in his head, but he couldn’t be certain. There were still too many things missing. Trying to sort through that stuff, he realized Seungcheol being there didn’t just provide a source of annoyance. He was also another source of information.

Jihoon looked up and tried to change his tone into something not so...mean, even though he hated the person he was staring at. “Hey,” he said somewhat gently.

Thrown off by the tone, Seungcheol turned to look at him uneasily. “Yeah?”

“Do you know anybody named Xu Minghao or Joshua Hong?” Jihoon doubted Seungcheol was going to give him anything, but it was worth a shot.

Seungcheol furrowed his eyebrows. “What kind of a sir name is Joshua?”

“That’s his first name. He’s American so. Hong Joshua.”

Understanding, Seungcheol nodded. “Ahh.” But he quickly shook himself, annoyed that Jihoon would question him like he questioned Mingyu before. “Even if I did, why would I ever tell you?”

“So you don’t know them,” Jihoon concluded.

“I didn’t say I did or I didn’t.”

“Clearly you don’t,” he scoffed.

Seungcheol was irritated by how Jihoon was figuring things out. “Shut up.”

Jihoon couldn’t help but smile to himself, pleased that he was able to turn the tables for once. “Thank you for your help.”

Seungcheol could just feel the rage crawl under his skin. “Who are those people?”

“Now why would I ever tell you?” he asked mockingly.

Seungcheol rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Leaning back in his chair, he met eyes with the person that he wanted to punch the most. “You are incredibly infuriating.”

Now wearing the smug smile himself, he leaned over the table and picked up Seungcheol’s iced americano. Leaning it the same way Seungcheol did earlier, he said before he took a sip, “Ahh, as are you, my friend.”

— — —

“My grandma’s been telling me to invite you over for dinner again.”

“Yeah?” Mingyu was sitting on his apartment floor, folding some laundry while Wonwoo sat on the couch and tried to keep the cats from interfering with his chores. Sushi was the only one behaving enough who got to curl up beside Mingyu.

“She really liked you and wants you to come over more,” Wonwoo said as his grey friend crawled onto his lap. He smiled down at him. He never got tired of that.

Mingyu straightened out a few shirts and replied, “Yeah, sure. Your family’s so nice to me. Sorry we always hang out here.”

“No, it’s totally cool,” Wonwoo quickly told him. “I love it here. Plus I’m sure these guys like it when we’re around.”

Grinning softly, Mingyu Sushi between the ears. “I bet you’re right.”

It had been a few days in this magical bubble of theirs, one in which neither of them acknowledged what was truly bothering them. Wonwoo was still trying to suppress his pain from Mingyu’s lack of emotions while Mingyu was still worrying about Wonwoo’s motives for his emotions. For the past few days, neither of them wanted to ruin their good times. It just seemed easier to keep it all in for the sake of their friendship.

But today was different. After learning about what happened last night, Wonwoo had a whole new cause for his inner turmoil. He couldn’t stop thinking about Soonyoung and Jihoon and how they were ruining his life. He was blaming them for everything, but really he was blaming the bigger source like usual.

The universe just has to everything up doesn’t it? he angrily thought. I cannot believe...How is this happening to us? Why is it letting all of this happen to us? Why the hell would it let this happen to us?

With all of this pent up rage at the universe, Wonwoo’s only escape was Mingyu. It had been Mingyu for a while now. So it was even more frustrating that the only way he could keep his happiness was to hold back something that would make him even happier as well as safer.

If Mingyu just felt the same was I did, I would stop. And if I stopped, then Soonyoung and Jihoon would have nothing. Nothing would happen to us Jumpers. We would be safe.

Before that morning, Wonwoo always convinced himself that it was wrong to think that way. It was wrong to think of his love for Mingyu in ways that would only emphasize his gain. But he was desperate now.

The universe is making me do this.

Checking the clock, he saw that it was 4:30. There was time. Wonwoo took one good look at Mingyu’s smiling face before doing what someone was going to do eventually: pop their happy little bubble.

“Mingyu.”

Mingyu put down the sweater he was holding in front of him and glanced over at his friend. “Yeah.”

“I love you,” he said as convincingly as possible.

Knowing this bit way too well, Mingyu rolled his eyes and went back to his business. “I already know that. You don’t have to keep—”

“So why won’t you love me back?”

Mingyu looked back up and found a straight faced Wonwoo. They stared into each other’s eyes as Mingyu realized their time of playful banter was over. So we’re actually gonna talk about this, he said to himself. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before leaving what their drama-free, safe haven.

“Wonwoo, I’ve told you over and over again,” Mingyu said, shaking his head. “I don’t want a relationship.”

“Yeah, I know that much,” he replied, moving the cat on his lap to the side. He didn’t want them to get involved. “But that can’t possibly be the reason for you not having feelings for me.”

“Maybe it is and you just can’t accept it,” Mingyu lied.

Wonwoo wasn’t buying it. “No, you’re lying to me.”

Mingyu could feel his heartbeat get faster and faster. “Wonwoo, I don’t—”

“You can’t possibly say that you don’t have any feelings for me.”

“Wonwoo, that’s what I’ve been—”

He refused to believe any of it. Wonwoo was too desperate at this point to take no for an answer. “No, Mingyu. You’re lying to me!”

Annoyed that he wasn’t able to defend himself, Mingyu fired back, “You can’t just think that I have feelings when—”

“It’s because you do have feelings!” Wonwoo continued to interrupt him.

Unable to keep his cool, Mingyu’s tone picked up as well. “I don’t have any—!”

“Yes you do!”

“Wonwoo, I seriously can’t tell you—!”

Getting up on his feet, he yelled, “You can’t keep lying to me, Mingyu!”

Frustrated beyond belief, Mingyu stood up too. “You can’t keep interrupt—!”

“Why won’t you just tell me the truth?!”

“Because you’re not letting me say n—!”

“You love me like I love you!” he screamed as he got closer.

Mingyu didn’t budge. He just got more annoyed. “No, I don’t! Would you just let me—”

“You can’t possibly explain to me how that’s not true!”

“Stop talking over—!”

“Just say that you love me too!”

“I don’t lo—!”

“Stop lying and just admit!”

“Would you stop in—!”

“Just say it!”

“You won’t—!”

“JUST SAY IT!”

“FINE! I HAVE FEELINGS TOO!”

Wonwoo stopped. At this point, he was standing right in front of Mingyu. They were just screaming in each other’s faces, intense looks stuck in their eyes. Both of their hearts were pounding insanely. Wonwoo couldn’t believe what just came out of Mingyu’s mouth, and neither could Mingyu. Neither of them knew what to do next.

Wonwoo craned his neck out and squinted. “What?” he asked softly, scared that his voice would shift reality. Did he really just say that?

Did I really just say that? Mingyu was furious and panicking. He wished that he could be anywhere else. With a groan, Mingyu spun away and walked in the opposite direction. “You are so frustrating!”

Ignoring the insult, Wonwoo followed him into the kitchen. “Did you just say you have feelings too?”

Trying to disappear, Mingyu stuck his head in the fridge. “You kept interrupting me! You wouldn’t let me talk!”

Pulling Mingyu out by the shoulder, Wonwoo shut the door. “Did you just say that?”

Looking for a new place to hide, Mingyu ran to the other side of the counter. “I don’t know what I just said!”

“Yes you do!” Wonwoo argued, following him out of the kitchen and back into the living room. The cats were watching the chase with great interest. “You just said you have feelings for me!”

“Maybe I did just say that!” Mingyu said back, realizing that he really had nowhere to go.

Standing right behind him, Wonwoo was frantic. “It’s not maybe! You just said it!”

“Yeah, I did say it!” Mingyu shouted, spinning around.

Face to face again, Wonwoo suddenly became filled with nerves. The only thing he was expecting from this conversation was disaster. He had no idea Mingyu was going to say...that. Taking a few deep breaths, he said, “You have feelings for me.”

Unable to deny it now, Mingyu stared down at the person he had to admit was holding his heart. And he hated to admit it so much. “Yeah.”

Wonwoo felt like he was choking on his words, but he managed to ask, “Since when?”

Mingyu scoffed and turned away. He went over to the couch filled with his friends and sat in between them. Trying to find comfort by petting Boba and Kiwi, Mingyu was still uneasy about the whole thing. “I don’t know, Wonwoo. Not too long, I guess. But maybe a while? I seriously don’t know.”

Wonwoo stared at the boy he was in love with. For a moment there, it felt like things were turning up. “So, you...love me back?”

“I never said that,” Mingyu clarified. Staring into Wonwoo’s eyes, he swallowed hard. “I never said I love you. I just have feelings.”

“Well, what are those feelings?” he asked, hopefully.

“I don’t know.”

Biting the inside of his cheek, Wonwoo wanted to know more. “Well, can you describe it?”

Mingyu sighed and sunk into the couch. Boba squirmed beside him. “I seriously don’t know, Wonwoo. I just...I just know that...I don’t know. There are feelings, okay? Can we just leave it at that?”

“No, we can’t just leave it at that,” Wonwoo argued. “We need to talk about this.”

“Of course we do,” Mingyu mumbled under his breath.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Wonwoo didn’t like the way that came off. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Of course you think we need to talk about this,” Mingyu argued. “You always need something from me. For some reason, being your best friend isn’t enough and you just want more.”

Upset and hurt by that comment, Wonwoo didn’t feel that that was true. “What are you talking about?! I haven’t been that way!”

“Yes you have!” Mingyu sat back up and rubbed his hair away. “You’re always like this! You always throw your feelings at me and expect me to have something in return! You just want everything from me!”

“Mingyu, that’s not it at all!”

“You just want me to have feelings for you!”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you do?!”

“Because!”

Wonwoo waited for Mingyu to finish before shouting any further. They’d been in similar situations before, but this was so different since it was Mingyu’s emotions that were causing the fight.

With a sigh, Mingyu tried to put into words what he’d been worrying about for way too long now, probably since when his feelings began to develop. “Because, Wonwoo,” he started to say. Nervously rubbing his hands together, he admitted, “I’m...scared that...you’re rushing all of this.”

Wonwoo felt his heart sink. “Wha—what do you mean I’m rushing it?” he calmly asked as he made his way to the couch.

Mingyu watched as Kiwi and Berry moved over to give him some room. With Wonwoo just beside him, he didn’t need to raise his voice. Unsettled by this whole thing, Mingyu didn’t want to say what had been going through his mind. He was worried...that he was right.

“Your emotions have...moved really...fast,” Mingyu slowly said. Just speaking this way reminded him of when he first told Wonwoo he hated relationships. On that park bench so long ago, he even admitted that Wonwoo wasn’t wrong to think there was something between them. Now here they were, sitting on his couch where he had to explain why it was bad that there was something between them. He let out some air and said, “I just don’t...know if...you’re doing this for the right reasons.”

It felt like someone was chipping at his insides. “You think I’m forcing all of this?” he asked, his voice drenched with hurt.

But Mingyu couldn’t deny it. “I don’t know if you are...but part of me thinks…” Frustrated, he buried his face in his hands. He couldn’t look at Wonwoo. It was starting to hurt him. “You just want to stop.”

Wonwoo felt his heart aching. It was a complete deja vu moment. He got flashbacks to his conversation with Chan.

“Hyung, promise me that you’re not trying to use your love for Mingyu to stop.”

He hated that he had to keep defending himself about this one issue. “Mingyu, I love you because I love you. I don’t know how I can make that more clear!”

Hearing the rise in his tone again, Mingyu knew this wasn’t going well. “You keep saying that, but I know you Wonwoo! You hate jumping more than anything!”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Wonwoo argued. “How does that change how I feel about you?”

“It changes how you came to feel this way about me!” Mingyu shook his head. He was about to say more, but he saw the nameless cat crawling back onto Wonwoo’s lap. He looked scared. Glancing around him, Mingyu saw that the others also looked pretty frightened. All of the yelling must’ve been just as unsettling to them. Not wanting to continue this in front of the animals, he moved the grey fellow away and grabbed Wonwoo by the wrist.

“What’re you doing?” Wonwoo asked as he was pulled off of the couch and down the hall.

Making it to his room, Mingyu shut the door behind them. “I didn’t want them to have to see this.”

Wonwoo was too upset to even find that cute. “Sure,” he sighed, sitting himself down on the bed.

Mingyu looked down at him and tried to find his train of thought. “Wonwoo…I don’t know if I can believe you when you say you love me that much.”

“Of course you can believe me!” Wonwoo shouted, throwing his arms out. “Mingyu, you’re my best friend! I’ve told you every reason why I feel the way I do about you!”

“No you haven’t!” Mingyu shouted back. Pacing the room, he put his hands up by his head. “You’re not admitting to one crucial reason why you love me!”

Rolling his eyes, Wonwoo didn’t want to keep arguing about this one thing. “I love you, Mingyu! It’s not because I want to stop!”

“But you can’t tell me that you never think about it, can you?!”

Wonwoo couldn’t answer.

Mingyu watched the color drain from his face. In that moment, his own heart ached. “You can’t tell me that, can you?” he asked again.

Wonwoo still wasn’t saying anything.

Knees weak, Mingyu fell into his desk chair. “You can’t, can you?”

Wonwoo couldn’t deny it. From the beginning, he told Mingyu everything about himself and who he was and what happened to him. Mingyu knew he hated jumping and he knew how to stop. From then on, Wonwoo let his emotions get the better of himself, never forgetting how he may be rewarded for that. Chan saw it and apparently Mingyu saw it even before Wonwoo did. He kept telling himself it was pure love, but maybe everyone was right. A part of him always thought of what he could gain. What he learned this morning just made his desire to stop even greater and his hope for Mingyu even stronger. It broke his heart that Mingyu was right.

And it broke Mingyu’s heart to know that he was right. With that lack of a reply, he knew that all of his worries were not just him being paranoid. They were true. He was right. Wonwoo couldn’t deny it.

“You can’t tell me that you never think of it,” Mingyu said one more time, needing an answer to confirm what would crush his feelings.

Wonwoo couldn’t say otherwise. “I can’t,” he confirmed so softly that Mingyu could barely hear it.

And with that, Mingyu felt a wave of shame and annoyance on his own part. I knew that I hated this stuff. I knew that I was right to never fall for this crap. And I ing let him get to me.

Thoroughly pissed off, Mingyu didn’t know what to say.

And Wonwoo didn’t know how to recover from this, but he had to try his best. “Mingyu...none of this changes any—”

“But it does!” Mingyu interrupted him, his voice cracking.

Wonwoo looked into his eyes and was shocked to find them welling up. Whatever feelings Mingyu was hiding all this time were starting to come to the surface. “Mingyu…”

But Mingyu didn’t want to hear anything from this person he let in. He knew it all along, but let himself be fooled. He listened to Wonwoo’s crap about love and how great they could be together and how they could give each other a home and how he was even convinced that Wonwoo was like a cat. He was pissed and embarrassed for letting himself have feelings for someone who was just using him.

“You just want to stop!”

“I don’t just want to stop!”

“But that’s what you want!” Mingyu shouted, his voice quivering. He hated how weak he sounded. “That’s what you want more than anything!”

No, I want you more than anything! Wonwoo thought. Yesterday, that would’ve been the first answer out of his mouth and he would’ve convinced himself that it was 100% true. But today he was just reminded of how much he hated his life. This whole time, he thought that Mingyu and stopping would result from the same thing: his love for the boy. But right now, he couldn’t deny that if he had to choose between one of them…

“Yeah,” Wonwoo choked. “I want it more than anything.”

Mingyu had never felt devastated in this way before. It was the most pain his heart had ever experienced and he didn’t even know how to handle it. Tears were running down his face and he couldn’t look at Wonwoo.

Wonwoo was so angry. He wanted to scream and blame the universe for how much he screwed everything up. The moment he found out Mingyu had feelings for him all along was the moment he found out his feelings were there for the wrong reasons. But they were still there.

“Mingyu, I love you!” he couldn’t help but yell.

But Mingyu barely flinched. Swiveling in his chair, he turned away. He didn’t want to deal with this anymore. “Just go.”

“Mingyu, I don’t—”

“JUST LEAVE, WONWOO!” Mingyu shouted at the wall before collapsing into his arms, crying uncontrollably.

It broke Wonwoo’s heart even further to see Mingyu so torn apart. He ed up so bad. Just seeing this scene, he knew that Mingyu’s feelings were real and they were strong. And he ed it up. Reaching out to hold Mingyu’s shoulder, he stopped himself. He knew Mingyu well enough to see that that was the worst option. All he could do was follow the instructions.

Getting up, Wonwoo headed out the door. He hesitated as he heard the sobbing in the background. Taking one last look at Mingyu, he left the room. Leaving the hall and letting himself out, he found the cats roaming through the laundry basket. The clothes were no longer folded. Feeling the tears coming himself, Wonwoo couldn’t even smile at the grey cat that approached him. He didn’t even bother to say bye. He just left.

Mingyu couldn’t leave his position. He couldn’t stop crying. Nothing was even going through his mind. He could just feel the emotional pain all over his physical body. It infested every corner of his being and refused to let up. It must’ve been at least twenty minutes before he felt something brush up against his leg. When that didn’t get his attention, the cat hopped onto his desk and Mingyu’s ear.

“Meow,” she said to him.

Mingyu didn’t even need to look. He recognized her voice anywhere. Finally tilting his head just 30 degrees, he found Boba looking at him with concern.

“Meow.”

He still couldn’t muster a smile, but he reached up and pet her head. He didn’t say anything, but she knew he was thankful for her words of encouragement.

In those same twenty minutes, Wonwoo made it home and stormed through the apartment with his broken heart. It was almost 6 so he didn’t have much time to gather himself. He didn’t even say hello to his grandmother in the kitchen.

“Wonwoo-ah!” she called to him cheerfully. “Did you ask Mingyu about dinner?”

“Not a good time, grandma,” he answered, tears now washed over his face.

Seeing this, she got a very bad feeling. “Sweetie, are you okay?”

He made it to his bedroom and replied, “Not a good time.” With that, he slammed the door shut.

— — —

It was 2 in the morning where Wonwoo jumped. It didn’t take him long to realize where he was.

LA again, he thought to himself. Maybe the universe is really ing with me and brought Soonyoung and Jihoon here too.

Wonwoo took longer than usual to get to Joshua’s apartment. He wasn’t in a rush since all he could think about was Mingyu. Every part of him ached as he thought about how he lost his chance at something real, and how he may have completely lost his best friend. Since the morning, it was proving to be a terrible day.

By the time he got to the apartment, he was exhausted physically and emotionally. He knew Joshua wouldn’t be home, but seeing Vernon was just as comforting. Maybe the younger boy had some advice, even though Wonwoo knew nothing could help him right now. In a time when it felt like everything was working against him, it would just be nice to have someone be there.

More tired than he should be, Wonwoo stood in front of apartment 17 and knocked weakly.

Knock...Knock...Knock…

He slouched his head against the door as he waited for Vernon to answer. But before that happened, he heard rustling from the other side.

“Hansol, did someone just knock?” he heard a tired voice ask.

Wonwoo shot up, confused as to why someone else was in the apartment.

“Umm, I think so, maybe,” he heard Vernon reply.

“Are you expecting anybody at this hour?” the voice asked. This time Wonwoo heard it more clearly.

Why do they sound so familiar? he thought, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Sometimes people come by,” Vernon answered. “I’ll get it.”

“No, it’s okay,” the person said. “I’ll get it.”

Then, like a train, it hit him. Wonwoo’s eyes grew wide. He had completely forgotten that his friend was there. His friend who knew absolutely nothing about Jumpers and was not supposed to know anything about Jumpers. His friend who he told he couldn’t go to LA with him. That friend was about to open the door and find him standing there with no explanation whatsoever. He couldn’t move. Just that one clear realization was stuck in his head.

It’s Jeonghan.