Jongin's vow, however, was broken the next day, almost as soon as he laid eyes on Taemin. 

The day started out normally, so as usual, Jongin was the first of his coworkers to arrive at the coffee shop. But he was not expecting the new kid to be second to walk through the thin glass door, arriving only a few minutes after him. 

Taemin greeted him with a smile as he headed to the back room, and Jongin found himself looking after the other boy as he went, finding the genuine good-naturedness of his expression captivating. Jongin frowned at himself as he caught his mistake, his already volatile mood quickly nose-diving after the sinking feeling in his stomach. 

Why did he keep doing this? 

He hadn't even known Taemin for twenty-four hours, for heaven's sake. Not only was it completely irrational for him to feel attracted to Taemin, but it was morally wrong. Only last night had he vowed to stay loyal to Kyungsoo, but yet, here he was. 

Jongin shook his head in self contempt, turning his back to the staff room as he began to wipe down a counter. Moments later, he heard soft footsteps from behind him, and the shutting of a door, quiet as the footfalls of the other employee.

"Hey, Jongin?"

Inwardly, Jongin sighed. Of course there'd be no way to avoid any contact with him. 

"Taemin, you're here early." He wouldn't turn around to face him. He couldn't.

"Yeah..." 

The footsteps stopped. 

"I figured that after yesterday I should get here early, to try to make a good impression, you know?" 

Jongin almost laughed at that. 

"First impressions are made the first time you meet someone. It's a bit late to be doing that now, don't you think?" He asked Taemin, attempting to sound condescending.

There was a heavy sigh from behind him. 

"Guess I shouldn't have even bothered then, huh? I don't know, I figured it was at least worth a shot. I mean, there has to be something I can do to change your perspective of me, right?"

Jongin was taken aback. Why would Taemin even care what he thought of him? He turned around, praying his face didn't reveal the fact that he was flustered. 

"I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do, new boy. Now stop standing there wringing your hands and do something helpful. There's no point to getting here early if you aren't going to do anything." 

Taemin gave a small nod before turning to one of the many coffee-making machines lining the walls. 

Jongin busied himself with something else, not wanting to find himself in the position to talk to Taemin again. 

Eventually, their other coworkers arrived, the three of them filling the quiet space with noise the instant they set foot inside. Usually, he didn't mind them all that much, but today, even the thought of putting up with them until six o'clock made him miserable. Deciding he'd done more than enough to prepare the shop for opening, Jongin disappeared to the staff room to let the others take care of the rest. 

*****

"Hey Jong! We're heading out to get drinks, wanna come with?" Jongdae, who Jongin considered to be the most annoying out of all the other employees, asked, shouting at him from across the room in that irritatingly loud voice of his. 

"No, I have to go somewhere now. You can close up, right?" Jongin shouldered his messenger bag, eager to leave. 

"Sure thing, Jong. See ya tomorrow." 

Pushing down his annoyance at the stupid nickname Jongdae insisted on using for him, Jongin hurried out of his workplace without so much as a word of goodbye. 

He checked his watch, panicking when he realized he had only four minutes until his first class. And of course, with his luck, the bus was running late as well, leaving him stranded at the bus stop. 

Jongin ran a hand through his hair anxiously. He was going to miss his exam. Briefly, he wondered if his professor would let him make it up, but he was cut off from his thoughts by a car stopping in front of where he waited at the bus stop. The window rolled down to reveal none other than Taemin, who he'd been avoiding all day since the encounter before opening that morning. At that moment, Jongin would have liked nothing better than for the bus he was waiting for to suddenly arrive and run him over.

Of all the people who could've been in that car, why did it have to be Taemin?

"Hey, Jongin. You need a ride? You look stressed." His voice was as friendly as ever, and it held the same sincerity as always. 

And then there it was. That ing smile. Jongin felt his heart fill with self-loathing as he realized his face was heating up. He was a disgusting, disloyal human being, and he hated himself. 

"No," He snapped. "I'm fine."

Taemin's smile faltered, if only slightly, before a thoughtful expression took his features, smile coming back to where it had been before. 

"Okay, well, see you tomorrow Jongin." 

With that, he rolled the window back up and drove away, leaving Jongin alone at the bus stop.

Feeling worse than before, Jongin rested his head in his hands, rubbing his face as he did so. Why was he such a bad person? Usually he managed to keep his promise to Kyungsoo present in the back of his mind, but it felt as if every time he and Taemin interacted it went straight out the window. The only option was to steer clear of Taemin, which was much easier said than done, it seemed. He could apologize to Kyungsoo every time he felt things for Taemin, but that wouldn't solve anything, either. It would only allow this to keep going on, and then what if someday Jongin gave in, and decided to act on his attraction, completely betraying his deceased lover. 

For two entire years, Jongin had resisted becoming attracted to any one, he'd resisted developing any sort of emotion towards someone that had the potential for something more. So why was it different now? What was so alluring about some random boy that he'd only just met? It was endlessly frustrating, and despite it only being the second day of working with Taemin, Jongin knew he couldn't do this every day. But what other choice did he have?

Finally, the bus pulled up, and Jongin was rescued from the thought of Taemin by the distraction of Sehun, his best friend, waving him to the back, eager to share whatever exciting new turn his life had taken on today. Jongin braced himself and listened intently, desperate to forget his own problem, but deep down, he had a growing feeling there was a rough road ahead of him. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N

Once again, it's 3 am and this is completely unedited... 

Anyway, so sorry for the delay, school has been killing me lately. I'm really hoping to update this at least once a week, but my first semester ends this Friday and I have finals all week so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the next chapter out very fast. 

I'd also like to say a huge thanks to the people who've subscribed, and I'm so happy about the positive feedback I'm getting. Trust me, it really makes my day! :D 

Thanks for reading! 

-H