When Hyukjae said he missed his brother, he meant it. But having him always around isn’t something he’s pleased about. His brother is a bully, a big bully – he orders him around like a boss and he’s stupid enough to comply to his orders no matter how ridiculous it is. He – with a heavy heart – dragged himself to the convenience store to buy his brother a facial cream. “I wish pimples would grow on his face.” he mumbled, but of course, deep down inside, he didn’t mean that. Well, maybe just a little.


He entered the convenience store and greeted the cashier with a bow. He walked towards the aisle where the toiletries and beauty products are and looked for a certain facial cream, the moisturizing one. He quickly grabbed one and paid for it when he felt his stomach grumble. It was making funny sounds that he just couldn’t ignore it, he knew he had to do something about it. Just then, he spotted a rice cake stand a few blocks away from the store. A few minutes of walking won’t hurt if that means satisfying his desire for food, right?


He was lucky that the stand wasn’t jam-packed with customers so he easily found and saved himself a spot. “Two orders of ttugbogki please!” he shouted at the middle-aged lady at the counter.


“You sure you can finish that by yourself?”


“Well, yeah I—“ he stopped and turned around to find the owner of the voice. “You!” It’s been over two months since he first saw the stranger and he looked the same, sans the sunnies.


The stranger took the liberty to invite himself to sit across Hyukjae. “I’m glad you remember me.”


How could I forget you? Hyukjae wanted to say but resisted the urge to do so. He felt himself stiffen at his seat. In those months since his encounter with the man, he found himself hoping that he’ll see him again. And now that he did, why was he acting like a fool?


“Don’t you like me? The last time I talked to you, you didn’t respond so much and just stared at me.”


“I’m just…surprised, that’s all.” He managed to say when he found his voice again. “Why are you here?”


“Well,” the man chuckled. “If you must ask, I followed you here.”


His head shot up as his eyes turned into the size of saucers. “What?”


“I was kidding.” Hyukjae felt himself getting humiliated again. “What I meant to say was, my aunt owns this stand. I wanted to visit her before I go back to Taiwan.” He leaned closer to Hyukjae and whispered. “I’ll ask her to not charge you for your order.”


Hyukjae felt sad, no kidding. He was utterly happy that they met again only to find out he’ll be leaving again. But of course, that’s really none of his business. “Are you going to stay there for good?” he found himself asking even before he could stop himself. He could tell that the other was as surprised as him. But unfortunately for him, he couldn’t take his words back, could he? Awkwardly, he let out a smile and cross his arms on his chest. “I was just curious, I’m sorry.”


“Don’t be. I just didn’t expect you to be so interested.” What is it with this guy that makes Hyukjae all the more humiliated? “I live there, actually. I study there, that’s why.” Hyukjae found himself nodding.


He wanted to know more about the guy but he knows he shouldn’t be asking too much personal questions. He panics and bows apologetically before scrambling out of his seat, making a run. It's just a few moments later when he realizes that he just ran away from the guy he's interested in and to make things worse, he forgot his ttugbogki.


"I still forgot to ask his name. Dammit!" he curses and drags himself back the house with much disappointment.