I sat at a table right beside the window facing towards the door. I reached ten minutes before the time we decided to meet. Fiddling with my phone, I randomly scrolled through Twitter and Facebook, catching up on what I have missed out for the past few weeks I wasn’t scrolling through it. There was nothing important that I’ve missed out apparently. Soyoung had been busy with school, and her posts about it made me miss school a little bit. Also because that was where I spent a lot of time with Jongdae.

“Hi, welcome!” The staffs chorused, making me jump up a little from my seat. I looked up, finding the man I was waiting for walking towards me. I gave him a small smile and I managed to examine his features a little more carefully this time. He had double eyelids, but it was hidden by his hooded lids. I nodded to the seat opposite me, and he slid on the seat while returning a smile.

“Hey, I’m Baekhyun. I never got to really introduce myself, but it’s nice to see you. ” He introduced himself as he reached out his hand from across the table. I reached over and shook it gently. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”

“No, not at all. I just reached like a few minutes ago,” I say, while shaking my head. “I’m Hyemi, Jongdae’s girlfriend.”

“Of course, you are.” He smiles a genuine one and I couldn’t help but to return it. “What would you like?” He asks as he flips through the menu, his fingers tracing over the typed out letters, hovering over some of them a little longer than the others.

“Black coffee and a cheesecake, doesn’t matter what type,” I reply as he nodded and grabbed the menus in front of us.  “Give me a second, let me order coffee and cakes.” With that, he left and walked over to the counter. I watched as the staff brightly chatted with him as he patiently waited for them to key in the orders. I turned back to the empty seat in front of me as he started to walk back.

He took a seat opposite me after a few minutes and tapped his finger on the table, humming softly to himself.

“How much was it?” I asked, reaching for my wallet inside my purse.

“No, it’s okay. I’ve got it covered,”

“But I was the one who asked you out for coffee”, pausing a little, before I continued, “because Jongdae asked me to ask you out, through his letter, you know.” I reasoned, pushing a ten dollar note towards him. He looks at me and shook his head and pushes it back to me. I frown a little, putting the ten dollar note back into my wallet reluctantly.

“So, I was saying,” He begins but was interrupted when one of the waitresses came to our table with our orders. I look up after putting my clutch beside me, and took a sip of the coffee. “It’s a surprise we haven’t met each other personally, considering you’re his girlfriend and he told me so much about you.”

“I hope it’s all the good things?” I ask, raising my brows a little.

“Yeah, it was. He wouldn’t stop bragging,”

“Thank God,” I say pausing a little. There was a few seconds of silence before I burst, shaking my hand and head at the same time, “Oh my, I was not saying Thank God for the bragging!” I burst only because I thought Baekhyun would misunderstand.

He laughs a little, shaking his head. “I know, chill. That outburst scared me for a little though,” I murmured a sorry to him, in which he just smiles as a response. “How long have you guys been together?”

“A little over a year.” I reply before taking another sip of my coffee.

“That punk, childhood friends huh,” He mutters to no one in particular and it was my turn to laugh. “Where did you meet?”

“We met in University. He was a year older, and he was noisy. Very noisy.” I cringed a little at Jongdae’s annoying nasal voice when I first met him. I was not fond of it at all, but somehow I grew to like it and I would do anything to hear it again.

“I know what you mean. I had to deal with him until middle school. I had to save his from all the pranks he did when we were kids,” He spills and I just nodded, prompting him to continue. “Well, he was unstoppable when we were kids. He left a fart-pillow on our home room teacher’s seat before the lesson started. After he sat on it, his face turned bright red in embarrassment and Jongdae being Jongdae, had the biggest reaction and,”

“He got detention?” I interrupted and Baekhyun nods, before he laughs at the memory. I join him laughing but I was laughing at Jongdae’s misfortune instead. He shared a few other stories of the two of them making a ruckus in school. I shook my head as I stopped myself from imagining how difficult it would have been dealing with Jongdae. He was definitely a handful as an adult, what more when he was so much younger.

I took a spoonful of cake before Baekhyun asked me to share a few things that Jongdae and I did as a couple. I tell him about our few adventures, driving down to Busan for a little getaway. Jongdae was having a headache halfway, so I took over the driving halfway and I listened to him and drove around following his directions. But because Jongdae at reading maps so much, we ended up going North to Gangwon-do from Seoul and not South. We ended up crashing at his Aunt’s place instead and I laugh at the memory. Baekhyun tilted his head back, his eyes closed and his body shaking as he laughed at his dumb childhood friend.

Another time, Jongdae planned this camping date for the both of us. It would have been perfect, if he checked the weather conditions before proceeding with the date. We had just finished unpacking after driving for two hours when it started to pour. There was no way, I was staying in that tent even when it was big enough for another four adults to sleep with us. Jongdae was sulking as he quietly packed everything back into his car and I did the same. He wouldn’t stop saying sorry because he felt that the date was a disaster.

I glanced at the watch on my wrist and realised it was close to 7pm. I didn’t even realise what time it was and that we’ve been talking for close to three hours now.

“Hey, I think I got to get going. I’m having dinner with my parents,” He says, more like informs, as I packed my things inside my clutch. Standing up at the same time, we head to the doors together. He walks out first, holding the door open for me.

“Thanks for today. Jongdae was right, it’s nice to talk to someone about the same person.”

“Definitely. Text me if you wanna meet soon alright? I hope you’re coping fine too.”

“Sure. Jongdae says he misses you,” I inform him.

Baekhyun stood there with his hands inside his pockets. “I miss him too,” he says, almost like a whisper.

“I’m walking in this direction.” I say, pointing towards the road home as he continued standing there. He waves his right hand and I walked off, turning after a few steps to wave back at him.

“Bye Hyemi!”

“Hey, it’s Chen. Sorry I can’t pick up the phone. Please leave your message after the beep.”

“Oppa, I’m here again after meeting Baekhyun. He was indeed a very nice person. I’m glad you grew up with someone like him. He told me so many things about you that I didn’t know and he told me he misses you too.” My mind started to be fill with the stories Baekhyun had told me earlier. I bit the inside of my cheeks as I tried to stop myself from laughing.

“Even though we’ve been together for a little over a year and I’ve known you for close to three years now, I can’t believe there are still things that I do not know about you. Oh, by the way, your sweatshirt still smells like you and it felt like you were beside me all those while I was with him. I’m not going to wash this, so that it would still smell like you for as long as possible. Hey, how’s it like there? Is it fun? Would you come back here if you had a choice? Good night Dae-yah, I miss you so much that it hurts and I love you.”

The phone clicks and before I realised it, I was only a few steps away from our flat. I was about to unlock the door when I received a call from Jongdae’s Mum, inviting me over for dinner. She sounded much better than when I last heard from her, and I gladly invited her invitation and told her to give me fifteen minutes to get there.

//

[Author's Note]

Hey guys, a little update for you all (a day before Valentine's Day)!

I hope you guys will have a very nice and sweet V-day,

because I'm spending it studying. Sigh.

Also because I don't have a boyfriend, haha.

See you guys on the next update!

xx