keo // 11, 011w // secret santa

 

‘So hyung,’ Sanghyuk slings an arm across a smiling Hakyeon’s shoulder, ‘You must be happy, huh. Being entrusted with this year’s Secret Santa activity?’

‘Of course,’ Hakyeon grins, ‘I’m perfect for the job, you see. Responsible, outgoing, friendly-- ouch, what the hell!’

‘Stop with the bull,’ Sanghyuk laughs as he jokingly smacks Hakyeon over the head. ‘Our teacher just likes you, that’s all.’

The bright, angelic smile is back on Hakyeon’s face. ‘Yes, and the above mentioned character traits are precisely the reasons why.’

‘Stop lying to yourself,’ Sanghyuk rolls his eyes and playfully hits Hakyeon again. ‘Anyway. Since you’re in such a high position of power at the moment, I shall be nice to you. Please, don’t put me with someone I dislike.’

‘ up to me only at such a time like this, huh.’ Hakyeon’s tone hardens as he glares at Sanghyuk. The stern expression quickly melts away into one of glee, though. ‘Then I’ll put you with your biggest crush! It’s Lee Hongbin, isn’t it--‘

‘Hey!’ Sanghyuk babbles, response impossibly quick as he reaches up to cover Hakyeon’s loud mouth, bringing the elder into a brutal headlock. ‘That one time I kissed him was purely by accident, I swear. Cha Hakyeon, you better not--‘

‘-- okay, okay I won’t, now stop smothering me to death, you guys wouldn’t want that--‘

‘I’d be perfectly fine, in all honesty.’ Sanghyuk finally releases his grip on a gasping Hakyeon’s neck, smiling angelically.

‘,’ Hakyeon rubs at his neck, before his gaze falls onto a dazed-looking Jaehwan, walking listlessly and unusually quiet beside the both of them. ‘Jaehwan, anything wrong?’

It takes a few taps on Jaehwan’s shoulder before the blonde finally snaps out of it, seemingly confused and surprised. ‘Oh? Sorry, I was thinking about something else.’

‘What?’ Sanghyuk inquires, but Jaehwan shakes his head and bites his lip sheepishly. ‘Nothing of your concern.’

‘Bet he’s got someone he wants to be paired up with in mind,’ Sanghyuk concludes and elbows Hakyeon, the two exchanging knowing, cheeky grins. Jaehwan is obviously flustered by their reactions, and tries to cover up quickly by denying it. But the three have known each other for way too long for Hakyeon and Sanghyuk not to realise that Jaehwan is, very obviously, lying.

‘Sorry to burst your bubble, Jaehwan, but the blush on your cheeks and your stuttering is totally giving it all away.’

‘W-Who says?’ It’s just--‘

‘It’s Taekwoon, isn’t it. Jung Taekwoon.’

Jaehwan’s expression at the sudden attack is priceless: eyes widening comically, mouth gaping open, the flush on his cheeks darkening even more with embarrassment at the exposure of what he thought to be a well-kept secret. Jaehwan sighs, bites his lip at the triumphant smiles blooming on both Hakyeon and Sanghyuk’s faces, their exchange of a gleeful hi-five.

‘How--‘

‘You’re cute, hyung, if you’ve been thinking all this while that your crush isn’t obvious.’ Sanghyuk slings an arm around a pouting Jaehwan’s shoulder, now, teasingly poking at his side. ‘Not obvious at all.’

Hakyeon grins, a spring to his step as he proceeds to Jaehwan’s free side and slings his own arm around a flushed Jaehwan as well. ‘Sanghyuk’s right, Jaehwan. Did you really think you weren’t obvious about your crush on that Jung Taekwoon guy? I mean, we’ve all caught you staring lovingly at that guy during class at least once a day. And how your disobedient ears perk up at every mention of--‘

‘Stop, stop, enough.’ Jaehwan hurriedly interrupts, cheeks impossibly hot, embarrassed about  the sudden tea-spilling of his stupid crush-driven actions. Oh well. Guess it wasn’t a secret anymore. Or ever one to begin with.

‘I know who to put Jaehwan with, then.’

‘Hey, it’s supposed to be randomised, you cheater,’ Jaehwan stops and hits at Hakyeon’s chest. ‘Oh, why do I have literal devils for friends?’

(He wouldn’t mind, though, not at all.)

‘Yet another of my kind acts going unappreciated.’ Hakyeon sighs and wipes an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye. ‘Fine, fine! No rigging, I promise.’

(It’ll be nice to be Cupid this season, Hakyeon decides.)

═ ❄ ═

‘Class!’ Hakyeon claps twice as he stands in front of the room, and the attention is diverted to him quickly. ‘Before lessons start in a few minutes, I’d like you guys to look into your pencil cases!’

Hushed whispers of confusion start spreading amongst the class, and Hakyeon smiles as he watches the students look curiously into their pencil cases.

‘You’ll find a little folded slip of paper inside, which I painstakingly placed in each one of your cases during break. In it, contains the name of the classmate you’ll be getting the gift for!’

The students start finding and unfolding the little pieces of paper one-by-one, and the class is immediately filled with cries of excitement and surprise. Being the angel, and because he knew many of his classmates quite well, Hakyeon had slightly changed up some names here and there from the randomized list, to make sure no arch-enemies were put together or something. Though, that’d be quite interesting to watch, no lie.

Hakyeon’s gaze falls on Jaehwan as the younger slowly opens his folded slip. He chuckles at how naturally cute Jaehwan is -- squeezing his eyes shut upon unfolding the piece of paper, pink lips parting in a silent countdown before finally blinking open, eyes wide and unable to hold back his gasp at the name written on it.

Jung Taekwoon.

If Hakyeon had rigged it: Jaehwan doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, confused on whether to piss at and kick Hakyeon or embrace his friend in the tightest and warmest possible hug ever. And if Hakyeon hadn’t rigged it at all: there’s a warm, fluttery feeling inside his stomach, his heart pounding unusually fast -- then it must be Fate that so kindly decided on this outcome. Jaehwan squeezes his eyes shut and mutters out a word of thanks before looking over to Taekwoon. Taekwoon looks stunned, dark eyes blankly trained onto the piece of paper on his table. His lips are curled upwards so slightly, almost unnoticeably, a faint pink tinge on his cheeks -- it stirs an almost unsettling feeling of jealousy inside of Jaehwan: perhaps Taekwoon too, had a crush on someone else?

(Jaehwan prays hard that it isn’t the case.)

═ ❄ ═

 ‘Hey, Taekwoon.’

Taekwoon looks up from his desk, surprised to see Hakyeon and Sanghyuk standing in front, bright smiles on their faces. Jaehwan, standing somewhere behind them, seems to be sporting a look of pure horror.

‘Wanna join us and Jaehwan after school? We’ll be hanging out at the nearby café to warm ourselves up, and we can get to know each other better too!’

Yeah, sure, get to know each other better when the school term is closing in two months. Perhaps, one of them is in charge of buying the present for Taekwoon but absolutely clueless about what to get -- and so using this as an opportunity to probe more?

‘Uhm… Give me some time to consider--‘

‘We won’t bite, I swear. No need time to consider. With such great company, of course it’s a definite, immediate yes!’ Hakyeon exclaims, and gestures over to Jaehwan, who’s hiding behind, looking extremely flustered and it doesn’t take much for Taekwoon to tell that Jaehwan’s two friends had done this without his consent.

‘Our good friend Jaehwan here is really, really excited for our date-- I mean, hangout, and really hopes you can join us!’

Jaehwan gasps at this, and not-so-subtly smacks Hakyeon’s back quickly in some attempt to shut the elder up and save his own face -- Jaehwan almost wants to turn into a puff of smoke and disappear from the surface of Earth when he catches the curious glint in Taekwoon’s dark eyes, as if he’d taken Hakyeon’s words seriously.

A part of Taekwoon wants to spare Jaehwan the shame and refuse the offer, yet there’s another part of him that takes a slight liking to Jaehwan because of his unexplainable yet cute antics -- confident and loud when with his group of friends, yet always turning into a completely different person whenever Taekwoon encounters him: gaze flickering, speech soft and stuttered. This part of Taekwoon yearns to agree, just to see that pink flush on Jaehwan’s cheeks redden even more--

‘Well, okay.’ Jaehwan’s eyes widen impossibly beneath rounded glasses at Taekwoon’s keen response. ‘Sure. I’ll join you, then. I have no other company anyways.’

At this, Hakyeon and Sanghyuk both leap in excitement and it’s a wonder how synchronised the two are -- to the point it almost seems as if all of their movements are pre-coordinated. Taekwoon smiles to himself as Sanghyuk and Hakyeon both hi-five each other and giggle at a furiously flushed and babbling Jaehwan.

//

Jaehwan sighs and his lips as he walks towards the lockers where the four of them were supposed to meet, wetting them as he always does whenever he’s nervous, pulling his coat and scarf tighter around his body. Jaehwan stops and looks up through his mussed fringe to see only Taekwoon waiting -- hands shoved into the pockets of his long, dark coat, lips tugging up slightly at the corners and cheeks blushed from the chilly weather. He looks so pretty standing there and the dreamy gaze is back in Jaehwan’s eyes and, wait--

Where the hell were Hakyeon and Sanghyuk?

Jaehwan quickly fiddles for the phone in his pocket as he walks towards where Taekwoon’s waiting. When Taekwoon notices, he smiles and looks almost somewhat excited, or is that all in Jaehwan’s head?

‘Hi, Jaehwan.’

‘Oh, h-hey! You’re here already.’

‘Yeah, shall we go now?’

‘Wait, b-but,’ Jaehwan’s fishes out the phone from his pocket, ‘Hakyeon and Sanghyuk aren’t here yet, I’ll message them first.’

‘Oh. Right,’ Taekwoon rubs at his neck sheepishly, ‘Forgot for a split second.’

Jaehwan’s breath hitches in his throat as he hastily types out a message into their group chat. Taekwoon… Taekwoon forgot? He’d assumed it was just the two of them for a moment -- Jaehwan bites his lip, heart beating faster in his chest, both at the casual statement and also in anticipation and anxiety while waiting for those devils’ replies--

‘,’ Jaehwan curses and looks over to Taekwoon quickly, large eyes widening cutely before his hand flies up to cover his mouth, ‘Oops.’

‘It’s alright,’ Taekwoon chuckles and the look in his eyes is so warm, ‘So, where are those two friends of yours?’

‘Hey Jaehwan, we’ve got something urgent to attend to so we can’t make it, unfortunately :)’ ‘Have, fun Jaehwan.’ ‘Don’t miss us too much!’ ‘Why would he miss us, Sanghyuk-ah, when he’s alone with the guy of his dreams?’ ‘You’re right. Wishful thinking on my part’ 

‘Well, err-- Hakyeon said he and Sanghyuk had to settle something important that cropped up all of a sudden and-- won’t be able to make it today,’ Jaehwan sighs as he furiously types out a reply in the group chat.

‘ you guys.’ ‘You’ll thank us later :)’ 

‘Ohh, okay,’ Taekwoon looks over and notices the look of fury in Jaehwan’s eyes, his bitten lip, the pads of his  fingers moving quickly over the on-screen keyboard. ‘Is… everything okay?’

‘Oh?’ Jaehwan looks up and blushes when he sees the concern on Taekwoon’s face. God,  hopefully Taekwoon didn’t peep at their chat or something and found out the true reason behind those devils’ absence and about his crush -- Jaehwan makes a mental note to cancel their years of friendship tomorrow.

‘Y-Yeah, sure! Don’t worry too much. Umm-- let’s go?’

═ ❄ ═

‘Woah, didn’t know this was such a popular place amongst our schoolmates,’ Taekwoon wonders aloud, a look of adorable awe on his face as they enter the little café: it’s got a really welcoming atmosphere, it’s really warm inside and hence serves as a great escape from the chilly weather -- little tables scattered over and accompanied with padded, comfortable chairs. The place is filled with students of all ages from their school, a considerably long line at the counter, bags and belongings carelessly strewn across  the tables and seats to mark their territories.

‘Yeah! Is… is this your first time here?’

‘Yeah,’ Taekwoon smiles, ‘I usually head back right after lessons end.’

‘Oh, is that so?’ Jaehwan walks around the café, keen eyes desperately looking for an empty table somewhere and there, finally: Jaehwan claps his hands in glee when he spots it, immediately quickening his steps towards it -- an unoccupied, small round table, right at the corner of the café. ‘Thank goodness we found a place! As you can see, it’s a really popular café and gets really crowded at times, especially during the winter.’ Jaehwan smiles, and slings his bag onto the chair. ‘Like, right now.’

‘Yeah, that’s great,’ Taekwoon laughs, ‘I wouldn’t have spotted this table. You’re really observant.’

‘Nah.. It’s nothing much, I’m pretty used to it,’ Jaehwan bites his lip, the corners of his lips itching to break out into a shy smile. ‘Let’s go order?’

‘Yeah, we better head there quick. Gosh, that queue.’

//

‘Do you and your friends often hang out here after school?’

‘Yeah, we do.’ Jaehwan pushes his hands into the pockets of his coat, happy that Taekwoon had initiated the conversation. ‘It’s almost kind of like a secret hideout, for the three of us,’ Jaehwan’s eyes shining when Taekwoon chuckles at his statement, amused. ‘We come here to rest and chat and during exam periods, to study. The food here is amazingly good and the café has such a homely atmosphere; the staff are really nice as well and some even know our names and recognise our faces!’

‘Wow, by any chance, has the café sponsored you or something?’ Taekwoon jokes, pleased at the flush on Jaehwan’s cheeks. ‘If they haven’t, they really should. I must say I am absolutely convinced already, of the greatness of this café.’

Jaehwan only smiles weakly, heart fluttering in his chest and he almost forgets he’s in a queue for a moment, before snapping out of his daze and hastily moving in front.

‘The staff is pretty efficient, I must say. We’re almost at the front of the queue already!’ Taekwoon smiles and scans over the menu hanging over the counter -- the aesthetics of the café are really pretty: the menu painstakingly handwritten in white chalk onto a clean, black chalkboard, with little cute drawings and decorations along the borders. ‘Since you’re a regular here, you must have some recommendations?’

‘Yeah, s-sure!’ Jaehwan takes a teeny step closer to Taekwoon and pretends to scan over the menu he knows all too well by now. ‘Umm… I think you should try their lava cakes! They’re my personal favourite from this café, besides, this café is really well known for them too!’

‘Oh, is that true?’ Taekwoon grins at Jaehwan, ‘I shall take your recommendation then!’

In a short while, the two of them finish placing their orders -- Jaehwan, a cup of hot chocolate and a chocolate lava cake; and Taekwoon, a cup of hot latte and a matcha lava cake, supposedly the café’s popular choice.

‘Oh? Your order is here already,’ Jaehwan looks at Taekwoon and gestures to his tray. ‘You could… go and settle down first?’

‘It’s okay, a little waiting won’t hurt,’ Taekwoon’s lips are curling up, eyes crinkling into little pretty crescents and Jaehwan’s heart nearly stops. He recovers quickly, though, thankfully, when his tray arrives. Jaehwan sighs as he picks up the tray, smiles weakly at Taekwoon.

‘You’re really a big fan of chocolate, huh.’ Taekwoon laughs as they put their trays down onto the table, ‘Chocolate drink, chocolate dessert.’

‘Yeah, I guess you could say that,’ Jaehwan laughs nervously at all of the sudden attention from Taekwoon. God, this is such a great idea and such a horrible one at the same time. It’s an awesome setting for a cute little date -- it’ll be perfect, if only Jaehwan doesn’t feel like his heart is making attempts to leap out of his chest each time Taekwoon does something that makes him fall a little more in love.

Which honestly is, practically everything.

//

‘You weren’t kidding with your praise about this café, I see,’ Taekwoon’s eyes widen with amazement when he takes a bite into the matcha lava cake, eyes falling shut in bliss as he savours the cake, sighing with contentment. ‘It’s delicious.’

‘Of course!’ Jaehwan starts, then immediately blushes at his unintended outburst, which Taekwoon chuckles at. ‘I mean, yeah sure! Their stuff is great.’ Jaehwan bites his lip as he pushes a fork through his own chocolate lava cake, satisfied at the way the warm and thick rich substance oozes out, its sweet smell already filling Jaehwan’s senses. Jaehwan makes a cute noise of contentment as he chews at his cake.

The way Jaehwan acts just really makes you want to… dote on him, somehow, Taekwoon thinks. He’s not felt this feeling in a pretty long time, the only times being when he meets children or small animals. Taekwoon smiles and scoops another bite of cake into his mouth, making sure to dip it into the warm matcha filling, warmth spreading in his chest.

'Hakyeon said this meetup was so as to get to know me better,' Taekwoon chuckles, and takes a sip of his latte, nods with contentment at the rich taste. 'Funny when there's only like, two months left till we graduate.'

Jaehwan's still munching happily on his cake, cheeks bulging at the sides -- he's obviously taken aback when Taekwoon suddenly speaks, eyes wide as he quickens his chewing, makes some flustered gestures for Taekwoon to wait while he swallows. Cute.

'Ahh,' Jaehwan says when his mouth is finally cleared, embarrassed. 'You know how Hakyeon is, he thinks of himself as... very sociable and well-liked by all,' Jaehwan scoffs good-heartedly and Taekwoon grins. 'Probably listing down the people he's rarely talked to and taking the rest of the year to... forge the maximum number of friendships possible.'

'Oh, that's... nice,' Taekwoon says, amused. He looks up and makes eye contact with a wide eyed Jaehwan, gesturing towards him.

'What about you? We've not talked much this year... I must really have a sixth sense or something,' Taekwoon chuckles, 'I always seem to catch you looking over to my seat?'

'Uhhh, I-I,' Jaehwan blabbers, shocked at the sudden question and absolutely clueless on what to say. Was Taekwoon having fun, teasing him? Maybe he’s completely aware of Jaehwan's crush all this while and Hakyeon and Sanghyuk were right about it not being a secret after all? Jaehwan bites his lip, if only he could just, dig a hole in the ground and bury himself in it to save himself the need to answer -- Jaehwan looks over to Taekwoon and there’s a bright, expectant look in his eyes.

'I... I've always wanted to initiate some kind of conversation with you to umm, get to know you better but just never... found the right time to? Also,' Jaehwan takes a sip of comforting hot chocolate to calm his nerves, 'You rarely speak in class which might come off a little... intimidating sometimes?' Jaehwan curses at himself mentally, that's totally not the right thing to say. 'But I mean, I'm completely cool with it! I kinda... like it? That you're not extremely open to everyone... I guess?'

The embarrassed look in those wide eyes and the pretty pink flush staining Jaehwan’s entire face as well as the tips of his ears is enough to have Taekwoon’s chest filling with that nice, warm feeling again.

‘I’m glad you like that,’ Taekwoon takes another sip of his latte, smiling. ‘Many think I’m unapproachable at first, but you’ll see that I open up pretty easily the moment you get to know me or initiate any sort of conversation with me. I’m pretty much just like everyone else.’

‘Yeah, it’s a huge relief,’ Jaehwan laughs weakly, scooping up a piece of cake into his mouth. ‘I could tell, from how much more you spoke than I expected. Which is great!’

‘Glad we could have this little chat to clear some doubts and warm up to each other.’ Taekwoon brings the little ceramic cup to his lips, savouring the last bit of latte inside. ‘So now you know, really just, feel free to talk to me anytime. No need for reservations too,’ Taekwoon beams.

‘S-Sure, I’m glad Hakyeon and Sanghyuk couldn’t make it-- , I mean-- um, I’m glad we could spend some… um, personal time with each other?’ Jaehwan also drinks up the last bit of hot chocolate, in desperate hopes of the cup hiding the heat in his cheeks. ‘God I’m so sorry, I don’t really think much before saying stuff, would you please just… try to unhear that--’

‘It’s fine,’ Taekwoon chuckles, ‘You’re quite cute, you know.’

‘Me? Ahh… I’m honestly just really dumb but thank you for the kind compliment? You’re too nice, Taekwoon.’

God, could Taekwoon just stop right now, Jaehwan thinks, eyes clenching shut -- he’s doing and saying all sorts of things to make his heart do all sorts of unusual flips in his chest, swarms of butterflies furiously fluttering in the pits of his stomach. Taekwoon definitely knows about his crush by now, if he hadn’t previously. And it almost seems as if he’s somewhat enjoying Jaehwan’s reactions towards his teasing, the flustered replies and the inevitable pinkening of cheeks. This is all too much, too much--

Jaehwan blinks open right away when he feels a warm, gentle touch to his cheek, the corner of his mouth -- he nearly gasps when he sees Taekwoon leaning over, a concentrated and amused look in his dark eyes as he works at swiping a napkin carefully over the stain of chocolate at the corner of Jaehwan’s (soft) pink lips. It’s almost as if that single moment had been in slow-motion in Jaehwan’s time, it feels like an eternity before Taekwoon finally pulls away -- Jaehwan releasing the long breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding all that time. Taekwoon’s eyes are crinkling up again with a bright smile, adorable wrinkles of skin framing the corners of those dark crescents, and Jaehwan’s heart skips a beat. (once again.)

 ‘Just wanted to clean up some of that chocolate staining your cheek,’ Taekwoon clarifies, and notices how the dazed look is back in Jaehwan’s large eyes. ‘Since we’re pretty much finished, shall we head off?’

‘Alright, I shall check the timings for my bus arrival first,’ Jaehwan hastily fishes out the phone from his pocket, ‘And… you, Taekwoon? How would you be going home?’

‘My place isn’t too far from here -- well, walking distance is bearable, at least,’ Taekwoon laughs. ‘It’s nice, taking a break from hectic life and just basking in the beauty of nature.’

‘Oh, that’s really nice! Maybe I should try that out one day, too.’

‘You really should, I promise it’ll be worth it!’

‘Oh--‘ A look of worry flashes across Jaehwan’s face as he scans over the screen of his phone, sighing heavily. ‘Dang it. The bus currently on the run had just broken down halfway and the next service will take at least an hour more to arrive. Just my luck.’

‘Maybe it’s the heavens telling you to take a walk back today?’ Taekwoon looks at Jaehwan seriously for a good moment before his expression breaks into a smile. ‘Just kidding, but I mean… It’s an option to consider!’

‘Well,’ Jaehwan sighs and slips the phone back into his pocket, trying his best to maintain a calm and cool expression on his face so as not to give it away that he’s completely excited, ‘I ahh, guess you’re right!’

‘Great.’ Taekwoon grins. ‘Put your coat and scarf back on first, though. The weather has been pretty unforgiving lately. Don’t want to be catching a cold now, do we?’

═ ❄ ═

‘Never knew you lived in the same neighbourhood too!’ Jaehwan chirps, shuffling up to catch up with Taekwoon.

The weather is indeed pretty chilly, Jaehwan sniffs as he grabs the ends of his fluffy scarf to wrap it tighter around his neck, as well as to shield his sensitive ears -- but it’s definitely worth it, Jaehwan thinks, as he looks around and admires the scenery that he’s honestly not cared much about when in the bus, tapping away at a game on his phone. It’s snowed quite a bit the last night, boots trudging through a layer of soft clean snow blanketing the sidewalk. There are a good variety of tree types adorning the pathways -- spruces, sycamores, figs: the needle-like leaves of the evergreens as well as the bare branches of the other trees, coated beautifully with a perfect smattering of pure white. There are a good number of birds around, too: each of them coloured so beautifully and uniquely, cute rounded bodies and sharp beaks -- perched on snow-drenched branches or flying around from tree to tree, exploring the place eagerly. A few snowmen are spotted too -- surrounded by little kids bundled up in thick padded clothing and their happy parents, proud at their little works of art.

‘Yeah. Pretty much all the students who don’t live in the school dormitories live around here, in this neighbourhood,’ Taekwoon smiles, pleased at the look of pure awe on Jaehwan’s face. He’s cute, soft little gasps escaping cold-chapped lips, face half buried into his scarf -- almost looking like a child in an amusement park for the very first time.

‘That makes sense,’ Jaehwan giggles, sound muffled. ‘God,’ Jaehwan sniffs, clasps his shivering hands together and rubs them together, desperately trying to generate some body heat to save this particular body part that’s incredibly numbed and feels almost as if it’s about to freeze and fall off any moment. ‘Would have brought some heat packs and cotton gloves, if I knew I was going to walk home like this.’ Jaehwan looks up at Taekwoon, who’s looking concerned. Well, at least Jaehwan now has a feasible excuse for his flushed cheeks. ‘It’s okay, I get cold easily,’ he explains.

A warm hand touches and holds Jaehwan’s ones, suddenly -- Jaehwan bites his lip when he looks over to see Taekwoon’s pale, larger hands clasping and cupping his own freezing ones, in some attempt to help Jaehwan warm up. There’s that same fluttery feeling in his stomach, and Jaehwan