When Kyuhyun said small, he really meant small. Ryeowook turned in a slow circle, memorizing the doll-like town. There was only road filled with people traipsing around. Rather than a quaint district, it was more like an expansive shopping center – except thrown into olden times where people strolled around with parasols and visited specialty shops.

“Why are you just standing there?” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, one arm draping around the smaller boy’s narrow shoulders.

Ryeowook was about to protest when a red rose was shoved in his face. Automatically, he reached out for Kyuhyun, surprise sending spurts of adrenaline into veins. “W-Whoa…,” he breathed, blinking several times in an attempt to understand what was being offered to him.

A sparkly eyed boy smiled up at Ryeowook, lowering the long stemmed rose a bit. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he chimed, voice sweet and sincere. There was a bouquet in the child’s other hand, abundance of roses nestled in the crook of his arm.

“Oh…thank you, happy Valentine’s Day to you too,” Ryeowook replied, relaxing and trying to back away from Kyuhyun. The latter tightened his grip. I shouldn’t have leaned back…now he’ll never let go. Smothering a sigh, Ryeowook turned back to the young boy, “Is that for me…?” He pointed at the delicate flower.

The child nodded enthusiastically, pushing it forward once more. “I was told to give a rose to anyone I think is beautiful and you’re definitely…,” he blushed, coughing and waving the flower around in hopes that Ryeowook would just take it already.

Chuckling, he wrapped his fingers around the slim stem, twirling it a few times. The full blossom spun around dazzling in the morning sunlight. “Thank you,” Ryeowook remarked, breaking into a wide smile, “What’s your name?”

“U-Uh, Hyungsik,” he squeaked, casting his eyes down and shuffling his feet.

Kyuhyun plucked the rose from Ryeowook’s careful hold, gazing down at it. “A thorn-less red rose,” he murmured, minty breath rushing past his companion’s ear, “means love at first sight.” A smirk slowly turned his lips upward as he shot Hyungsik a look.

The deepest, darkest red colored his face and he quickly bowed, mumbling a goodbye and running off.

Ryeowook watched him go helplessly, still trying to shake off the heart racing shivers from Kyuhyun’s breath. “Why did you like that?” he sighed, taking the rose back.

“He was interrupting our alone time,” the taller boy scoffed, his arm around Ryeowook’s shoulders forcing both of them to walk forward, “There’s a reason we’re here together today.”

Ryeowook looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“We’re getting to know one another,” Kyuhyun replied, “because obviously we don’t know each other at all. Besides,” he turned towards a café, “we have things we need to talk about.”

That was most definitely true. Ryeowook felt his limbs humming with anticipation. Could things between him and Kyuhyun improve if they finally got everything out in the open? All of the bitter resentment and unspoken feelings…wants…needs – could they really be fixed?

“Your waiter will be right with you,” the hostess said with a smile, keeping her eyes on Kyuhyun for a second longer than necessary.

Ryeowook shrugged his jacket off, getting comfortable in the cozy eatery. There was natural light filtering in through arch shaped windows, creating various shadows along the floor and furniture. Behind Ryeowook was a lounging area, oversized couches circling a brick fireplace. Its warmth filled the entire area, devouring any cold that stuck to their bodies.

“If you’re cold why did you take off your jacket?” Kyuhyun questioned, dark eyes trained on the boy across from him.

“I can’t eat while wearing it,” he shrugged, smiling a tad reflexively, “do you?”

Kyuhyun opened the menu casually, “Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.”

Ryeowook giggled, opening his own menu and looking through the options. For a moment he panicked about the prices but then remembered all of it was being paid for by the school. Grinning, he turned to the priciest foods, trying to decide between two rather hearty breakfast plates.

“Are you two ready to order?” a man came up to them, notepad and pen in hand.

At nearly the same time, they said, “Bubble tea, half sugar, and no ice—” Both stopped talking, turning wide eyes to one another.

The waiter stared at them for a moment, surprise scrawled across his face. A low laugh surface before he nodded and scribbled the order down, “No problem…I see that love is certainly in the air, huh?” He smiled at them, turning on his heel to get their orders.

Ryeowook flushed as Kyuhyun grinned. “Some things don’t change,” he chuckled, shifting in his chair and refocusing on the slender boy. “Hey.” Ryeowook locked eyes with Kyuhyun. The latter went on, “What annoys you about me? I want to know.”

“…Nothing,” he stated, “I’ve never been—”

“—don’t you dislike that I boss you around?” Kyuhyun interrupted.  

“Well you had reason to since I was such an easy going child.”

“What about when I would kiss you?” he prompted.

Ryeowook swallowed, playing with his hands under the table. “You had been doing it since we were little so I wasn’t bothered.”

“When I told you that you couldn’t do certain things, like being on Tech Crew for that musical?”

“You were doing that for my own good. I knew that.”

Kyuhyun was about to say more when Ryeowook opened his mouth, cutting off the unsaid thought. “You never trusted me.”

“…what?” Kyuhyun tilted his head slightly.

The other boy sighed softly, looking uncomfortable. “You always took care of me and I’ll never say anything bad about that because even though you were strict and unreasonable sometimes it was out of the goodness of your heart,” Ryeowook explained quickly before clearing his throat and saying, “but…you never leaned on me. Even though we had been friends for such a long time, you never tried to talk to me about your own problems. The last memory I have of you coming to me for help was,” he smiled sadly, “that afternoon when we first met.”

Kyuhyun was silent, expression unreadable to the rest of the world. Sometimes Ryeowook wondered if he should write a book called A Guide to Cho Kyuhyun. After all, who else would be able to understand him? Who else would know that the quieter Kyuhyun got, the more thoughtful he was being? Or that if Kyuhyun became blank faced it meant he was sincerely considering what you said?

“Here’s your order,” their waiter said, placing two plastic cups and extra-large straws onto the tabletop. “Do you need a few more minutes?”

“Yes, that would be great,” Ryeowook answered, poking the straw through the thin film covering his drink.

“Okay, just wave me over when you’re ready,” the man nodded and walked off.

He could see the words were having an impact as he turned back to study Kyuhyun’s facial expression. “Kyu…,” he began but the boy in question shook his head.

“I’m sorry.”

Maybe he didn’t know him that well after all. Ryeowook choked on the bubble tea, coughing and gasping. Surprise fluttered across the other male’s face. He reached over, patting the spastic one’s backside. “W-What did you just say?” Ryeowook managed, wincing and wiping away the tears wetting his face.

“I said I’m sorry,” Kyuhyun repeated, shooting him one more uneasy look. What if he started choking again? “Anyway…,” he played with the sweating plastic cup before him, sweet drink swaying inside the container, “I never really thought about telling you anything. I suppose I didn’t think you would be capable of helping.”

Ryeowook paused, wondering if that was an insult or not. After taking a slow sip from his tea, he said, “How long ago did you start hating me so much?”

“I never hated you,” he retorted mildly, “I never did and I never will.” Kyuhyun slowly dug the tip of his straw into the film cover of his bubble tea. “They say familiarity breeds contempt.”

A new question popped into the boy’s mind as he swallowed a mouthful of pearls and leaned forward. “Hey Kyu…”

“Yeah?”

“When did you start reading literature and studying flowers?” Ryeowook frowned, brows furrowing.

The dark haired male rolled his eyes, poking the curious one’s forehead, forcing him back into his seat. “I didn’t have enough English and Technical credits to graduate so I took Literature and Floral Design.” Kyuhyun glared at Ryeowook, silencing the laughs that hadn’t yet surfaced. “All of the other classes filled up already. It was Floral Design or Fashion Design.”

“Oh…that’s why,” Ryeowook muttered, forcing down all of his taunting giggles.

“Let’s eat already,” the taller of the two snapped, waving over their waiter.

They offered the man their menus once all of the orders were made and soon enough they were alone again – nothing else to do but explore their emotions more. Then again, that was the precise reason Kyuhyun had asked Ryeowook out for Valentine’s Day right? Well, aside from wanting to piss off Sungmin.

Ryeowook had come to terms with all of the reasons behind the “date”, unable to feel offended at being a pawn for revenge. In the end, he was the one benefitting so really, he couldn’t complain.

“Why did you decide to run for StudGov President?” Kyuhyun questioned.

He sighed, exasperated at the mere thought of explaining himself. There were too many miniscule details and he didn’t particularly want to go through all of them.

Just as Ryeowook was about to say it was too long of a story to tell, Kyuhyun said, “We have all day so tell me.”

And so, with a bit of hesitation, he told Kyuhyun everything, including the life changing days with YoungSaeng, the accident with Henry, his drinking, and then finally his realization that it was time to start correcting everything he had done wrong. There was nothing really to the conclusion. Ryeowook just felt that the time had come for the end of mistakes and the beginning of reconstruction. The best way to do that was by aiming for something like the presidency – even on such a small scale.

By the time the story had ended, their food was on the table, steaming and waiting. Neither touched their dishes though, eyes locked in an intensely, inaudible conversation. Kyuhyun had no words to describe his feelings while Ryeowook had no words to further justify his actions.

The sound of the door’s bell ringing broke their connection. Ryeowook lowered his head, rubbing his eyes tiredly. On the other hand, Kyuhyun was leaning back in his chair, turning around to peer at the people who dared to interrupt them – purposefully or not.

He hadn’t properly prepared himself though. Regrettably, Cho Kyuhyun had forgotten one of the greatest wonders of life. Whether you believe in coincidence or destiny, it doesn’t matter because the reality is things happen as they please.

That was why Kyuhyun uttered a breathless name, “Zhoumi?”