~ Choi Minho.

Well, that was an interesting practice. The teams getting better and everything but...I don’t know. They aren’t ready for the game yet, still practice makes perfect I guess. Though it’s kind of lame having to teach them the same technique week after week (Oh save me, let’s just pray that they finally get it next week). I got out a bit late today since some idiot decided it was a good idea to stand under the hoop whilst someone opposing was shooting hard into the hoop and as captain, I naturally had to take responsibility and carry them to the nurses office. What time is it again? I take a look at my watch...what?! Six? Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me! My step-mum is going to kill me. She likes me back by half-five, says it’s so we all have time ‘together as a family’.

It’s cold. And I’m walking home on my own. But at least my house isn’t too far away from the school, it’s just around ten minutes through a few side-roads but it’s kind of nice feeling the cool Autumn air on my face after a sweaty sports practice, so I decide to take a longer way around, a way that I don’t usually go. I don’t really care what my step-mum says when I get home, she’s going to be angry anyway. This way, I just have time to think, time to collect myself. Since I am the type of person to keep my voice in my head, to show little emotion is what I was preached to do by my father. He said it makes a man strong, to bottle himself up, I guess he was right in a way. The only way I really show any emotion, is through sport. Where I can play the rules to the best of my ability and- hello? What’s this? I swear this place was out of business...well what would I know, I haven’t been down this route for a while. I look up at the sign as I tighten the scarf around my neck, the evening breeze feeling icier by the second.

“Moo...do hoi jang?” I say to myself, then I laugh, what a strange name of a café, it sounds inviting though. I peer into the place through the main window, no one is really in there except one staff person, since it’s just closing. Wait, what? It’s just closing? I look at my wristwatch. ,  nearly seven? Serious? I can’t believe I’ve been walking for nearly an hour, I must’ve been walking super slowly...I look back up at the interior, decorated nicely, cosy looking. My eyes fall on the boy wiping tables near the back. He looks around my age, with thin outlined feline eyes and chocolate brown hair styled into a pointed fringe over right his eye. His body is slim but curvy and surprisingly quite feminine for a guy, and the uniform he wears compliments him completely, giving him a sort of Lolita-boy/Aristocrat style that I’ve seen on adverts. Not to mention he was very pretty, kitten like. Everything about him screamed the word ‘attractive’. Yeah, I’m a homoual, gay, . Call it what you like, I’m not fussed. This boy is pretty, but not really my type. Actually...now I think about it he looks like the ideal type that- RING RING

Oh .

“H-hello?” I sound nervous. I’m really not.

“Minho, come home right now.” Oh, how I hate that voice. Trying to be intimidating. It sounds like a threat to me more than a demand.

“Yes I’m on my way, actually,” and I hang up before she can say anything else. I despise her. My step-mum, she thinks she can just waltz into my life, take all our money and order me around. She doesn’t care about what her own son does, it’s just me. I’m her constant prey. And if my Dad actually cared, maybe he’d notice. Anyway, I’m not the one to roll around in self pity. I sigh loudly and turn away from the shop, giving the boy one last glance and noting to tell my friend about the place, before I turn again and walk down the street, preparing myself for whatever lecture/punishment awaits me when I get home.

The next day, I’m sitting in my form room with my best friend, Kim Jonghyun. He’s quite funny, and he’s very chatty. So he talks enough for the both of us. We’ve known each other since we were about four or five, and he’s probably the only person I’ve spoken so much to. He knows so much about me sometimes he can even tell what I’m thinking or how I’m feeling just by my expression. It’s freaky sometimes.

“Seriously, Sekyung is still staring at me in Maths. I think she thinks I don’t notice. What a . Yeah you know, go ahead and date me, cheat on me, then continue to stare at me longingly for months. Don’t look at me like that Minho! I’ll never go out with her again, really. I think maybe I’m more suited to guys, you know, for dating. But I’ve had neither for months! my life!” He throws his multicoloured head (His hair gradients from dark brown roots to a bleach blonde fringe) onto his desk in frustration.

Yeah, that’s Jonghyun. He’s biual, if you haven’t had guessed. He’s attracted to girls from time to time, but he’s more romantically attracted to guys. Though like he said, he hasn’t dated anyone in a while, neither have I. We haven’t really expressed out uality at school, since this place is swarming with homophobes. Plus the girls all think I’m straight, which is kind of annoying since they flirt with me all the time. Maybe it’s a sports thing? I tap my pen onto my notepad, since this is a study period, we basically do all. I can’t believe the teachers actually put us in a classroom unattended and expect us to study hard in-between lessons. Me and Jonghyun just sit at the back in our usual seats, away from everyone at the front, and just talk. Or I write whilst Jonghyun sleeps. Either one. He turns his head to me.

“When will we ever get boyfriends, Minho?” he whines quietly, just to make sure no one but me hears him. I try to stop myself my laughing as I think he sounds like a teenager girl from one of those American movies. Suddenly I remember something. “Minho, say something. You’re eyes have gone huge. It’s kind of creepy.” I turn to him as I fiddle with my biro.

“I had a late practice last night,” I began, but then stopped to think of how I was going to phrase what I was going to say.

“Oh, wow,” He says sarcastically, face planting the table once more.

“No let me finish,” I sighed, “Well I took a longer way home, you know the one, and you know that café that had been closed for ages?”

“Uhh, yeah...I think. The one next to that weird hat place with the loud fat lady?”  he turns to me, I can tell that I’ve sparked his interest.

“Er, you don’t have to say it like that but yeah, that one. Well the café, it’s opened again so I had a look through the window...” I peered at him, he was now sitting with his chin resting on his hand, I swear he looks so much like a dog sometimes it’s insane, “...and I saw this boy.” There it was. His invisible puppy ears sprung up, and he looked up at me, eager for more information.

“And?” he asks when I hesitated.

“He looks exactly like your type,” I say, and he grins.

“Really? What’s he like?” Oh dear god. His tail’s wagging.

“Slim, feline, really pretty. I don’t really know how to describe him completely,” I start to doodle a few patterns on a blank page of my notebook, starting with a few spirals and scribbled cubes. It’s something to do whilst Jonghyun is mentally drooling at the picture I have now created in his head.

“Let’s go after school?” he offers, looking at me pleadingly, “you don’t have practice on Thursdays, right?” He’s right, I don’t. I don’t have practice on Fridays and Mondays either. So I just nod. It might be weird for two random guys to just walk in on a fairly empty café together, but why not? Anything to stall me going home. He grins wider and turns to look out the window, I feel sort of glad that I cheered him up since he was in such a crap mood earlier. Meeting a new guy would take his mind off that Sekyung girl, and that’s all the really matters. Because I think maybe he’s not completely over her yet.

~ Lee Taemin.

I raced through the door and skidded slightly on the tiles. The boy at the counter turns to me as he wipes a mug with a tea towel, he raises his eyebrow.

“Watch it!” he warns, but then he smiles and winks at me.

“Ah! Sorry! I’m sorry I’m late too, I was finding it hard to understand some of my English work so it took longer,” I reach over the counter to give him a quick hug and a make my way to the staff room door. It’s tough being homeschooled and having a job at the same time. Though I can’t really call it a job, since I’m not being paid like Kibum is. It’s basically just so I can get away from home, get away from my strict parents. I can’t deal with them all the time, not like my nerdy brother who just has a knack for studying. I do love him though. I race up the small flight of stairs and into the tiny room, which just contains a small sofa, a few lockers a plant and a mirror, nothing special. I dump my bag in the corner, since no one is going to steal it because it’s only ever me, Kibum and our boss Onew in this room anyway. I hummed as I quickly sorted my long straight chestnut hair, coloured of course, and changed into my work uniform. Even though it’s late and the place has only just opened we are still expected to look our best.

Once I finished changing I skip back down stairs to where Kibum was, yeah that was Kibum and not Onew. Our boss is rarely in the café, since he is young and has taken a higher level course at college, so he is busy with work. But he still comes in once in a while to check up on things. Kibum basically looks after the place which is really admirable since he is busy with school as well and all that, and I help as much as I can when I’m not being tutored.

Just before go through the door I stop at the bottom of the stairs. There is glass rectangle down the door and I stop and do a double take, to make sure I’m actually seeing through it what I think I’m seeing. There’s a boy standing outside the café, looking up at the sign. Well, there’s nothing weird about that, you’re thinking, a normal customer just checking it out. He doesn’t look normal, he looks everything but normal.

Oh god he’s gorgeous.

Super tall and thin with a sharp jaw line and a long neck complimented by ragged dark hair that’s blowing to the side slightly from the breeze. The boy outside looks back down and leans closer to the window to take a look inside. Oh my god thoseeyes. I reluctantly move away from the door slightly, to make sure I’m not seen by the boy who is now looking at Kibum through those large brown orbs. Shiny dark orbs that immediately made me think of a stag’s wide nervous eyes. A stag. That fitted this boys look exactly, a stag that’s often described as princely and handsome, graceful yet strong and fast. He’s perfect.

Now everything seems different. I don’t understand how but, I feel lighter, as if I’ve just stepped off a roller coaster for the first time. I continue to stare at the boy until he gets his phone out and he frowns as he answers it. Even his frowns are amazing. I’ve only seen him for five minutes, what’s wrong with me? He’s a complete stranger! He puts his phone back in his pocket and turns to walk away, but not before he looks at Kibum again. No, no don’t walk away! No come back! I suddenly feel a bolt of jealousy race through me, why did he keep looking at Kibum? Does he like him? He’s walking away! Oh my god. What if I never see him again?!

Unconsciously I burst through the door, stumbling on my own feet as I watch the boy’s back just pass by the café. He’s gone. I’m having to hold onto all my sane-thoughts to stop myself from running out after him and falling on my knees. No. He’s just a stranger Taemin, pull yourself together! You’ve only seen him for a few minutes!

“Are you ok, Tae?” Kibum asks. He looks concerned and he turns away for a moment to put the wet dish cloth that he had been wiping the tables with in the sink.

“Y-yeah,” I reply, as I shake my head to rid myself of the image of that mysterious boy. Then noticing that my words and actions are completely contradicting each other so I stop. Thankfully Kibum is still turned away. Will that boy ever come back? I take a clean soapy mug that Kibum placed on the counter and subconsciously start drying it with a tea towel. He was so gorgeous. I need to see him again. What was he wearing? It looked like a uniform, he must go to school around here somewhere...the bell above the door rings as someone steps inside. Kibum starts speaking before he turns around to look at the intruder.

“Sorry we are clo-Oh! Onew!” Kibum gasps, and laughs to himself. He turns back around to carry on with the washing up.

“Hey, Kibum! Hey Taemin,” Onew answers happily as he chuckles at Kibum’s little mistake. He may be our boss, but he’s more like a close friend. He doesn’t treat us condescendingly, and him and his family have been friends with my family since like, forever. His real name is Lee Jinki, but he prefers to be called Onew, that’s what he says. Though he doesn’t know why. He’s also super clumsy, that’s why he doesn’t work here himself. Kibum doesn’t even let him near any of the crockery or glasses anymore, with the amount of times he’s dropped them by slipping on nothing. It’s quite hilarious actually. Onew leans against the front of the counter and looks at me, until I notice that I’ve been staring at the floor for a while.

“You look really dazed,” he says, and I look up to him. He looks at me expectantly, obviously waiting for an answer.

“Yeah...” Well, that wasn’t much of an answer. Then I think of something.

“Hey, is there a school around here with black blazers as the uniform?” I ask, Onew looks like he’s contemplating for a while.

“Yeah there’s that public Seoul high school a few streets away, I believe that’s their uniform,” he says, “Why?”

“Oh, no reason!” I smile at him, “I just saw...someone with that uniform. I wasn’t sure where it was from,” I try my best to act calm. Like something so normal was no big deal, but it’s so difficult. He only goes to school a few streets away. Onew raises his eyebrow at my grin, much like what Kibum does, and looks at me sceptically. Great, I’ve made a completely fool of myself again. But still, a few streets away.

For the rest of the evening all I could see what that boy in my mind, him just standing outside the café looking in, the way he smiled to himself when he saw the sign, the way his lips moved when he spoke, the way he frowned while he was on the phone, how he walked when he walked away. Every thought I have of him knocks my breath away. What is this? Why am I like this?

~ Kim Jonghyun.

“So, which way is it? I seriously can’t remember.”

Minho grins and points in a rough direction, we walk past the school gates and across a pedestrian crossing, choosing to ignore the groups of girls that would immediately start giggling when we walk past, and we escape down a quiet residential street. We didn’t really say much when we walked, but just enjoyed each other’s company. Sometimes I look at Minho when he’s grinning or smiling to himself and think how someone like, his step-brother for example, could be so mean to someone so sweet and genuine. I rarely have arguments with Minho, he’s like the brother I never had, I can confide in him the things that I can’t tell my sister and I can trust him completely. If he brought me to the edge of a cliff blindfolded, and just simply told me that it’s safe to jump because it’s okay and something soft will break my fall, I would literally do it. I’m not even joking.

After a few minutes we stop outside a very small café, with a few people sitting inside and out. It’s looked really poetic and pleasant. And I’m into that sort of thing, poems and lyrics and all that jazz. It’s only taken us around twenty minutes to walk here as well, so my legs don’t feel like they are going to fall off, which is always a plus. I look up at the sign and burst out laughing.

“Ballroom Café? That’s totally strange,” I say mockingly, unaware of the presence behind me.

“If you think that’s strange you obviously haven’t looked at your hair in the mirror lately,” replied a confident voice from behind us. We both look around to see a boy around our age wearing dark shades, standing with his hand on his hip and his other hand holding his bag over his shoulder. I subconsciously give him a once-over and I note in my head that those lips are the most gorgeous shaped plump lips I have ever seen, and that totally just made up for the blatant insult he just threw at me about my hair.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” he says firmly and we step out the way and watch him open the door and enter.

“Wow,” I breath after a short while.

“That’s him,” Minho confirms and he looks at me. I’m still staring at the door.

“Wow!” If I had a tail, it would be wagging.

“I told you,” Minho chuckles and grabs my arm, pulling me into the café. I think he can tell what I’m thinking.

~ Kim Kibum.

I have to say, as soon as he turned around and I saw his face. I completely changed my mind about his hair, because damn he was hot. I smirk to myself as I enter the café, wondering when the boys were going to win their little inner battle and decide to actually go in the café instead of gawping at it for years. Why is the café even open? I notice a mess of short brown hair bouncing around in front of the coffee machine.

“Onew~”

“Kibum!” he squealed as he turned around quickly, as if he was a young child caught doing something he shouldn’t have. It was kind of cute. I eye the mug in his hand and he sees what I am looking at, and he sets it down carefully on the counter and steps back as if it was a bomb in danger of exploding.

“I-er- I had free time, thought I would open a bit early...” he stutters. Even though he owns the place, he can’t deny that I’m in charge of the counter.

“You. You just take orders, I’ll be down in a minute,” I tell him, deciding not to rant at him today, he just accepts that I’m in charge these days even though he is my elder. Wise decision.

I see the boy twos actually enter the café and take their places at an empty booth at the side. Naturally, their eyes are on me. No, I don’t mean that in a vain way. I’m not swimming in my own self praise or anything, but I’ve got to admit that I do catch a lot of attention. I break my own attention away from Onew, who is now clearing up bits of broken mug. Yes, the very one he had only just put on the side. This is why he is forbidden at the counter. By the end of the day we probably wouldn’t have anything to serve the customers their drinks in. I’d take over now, but er- I’m still not changed and the people aren’t exactly fighting for a their orders done quickly. So I trudge upstairs and change into my uniform, stopping at the mirror to fix my hair. Considering I didn’t get much sleep last night due to homework from school, I look surprisingly good. You can’t even see any bags under my eyes. Hm.

I come back downstairs and I now see Onew standing at the counter, on his usual side this time, wearing his jackets and holding his bag. He looks at me apologetically.

“Leaving already?” I ask, sort of disappointed.

“Yeah, I have to be somewhere, I’m sorry. Thank you for all your help!” he bows to me in thanks, weird, because he’s my boss. He’s always been like this, ever since I can remember. But I think that all just adds onto the accidental charm of Lee Jinki. I watch him leave reluctantly and sigh to myself, it’s not like I can’t handle the café on my own. It just gets really boring, but the pay is good, it helps with my savings. What time is it? I look at the clock on the wall and place my palms down on the counter. Quarter to five, huh? Taemin will be here soon. I kind of like being with Tae. Okay I admit it, I love Taemin to pieces. But not inthat way. He’s like a small son to me, even though he is only a year younger. He looks and acts really adorable and girly sometimes though, so I guess he’s more of a daughter? I smirk to myself, then stop when I realise I must look odd. Taemin is just so different to all the other s that go to the boys school I go to, he’s cute and bashful and honest. He actually cares when you have something to say. I’d befriend a girl, but for some reason the girls from this area tend to stay away from me. Seriously. Arm’s distance. I’m not kidding. Maybe all they think about is , and since I’m gay and not offering then that’s like a no-go zone for them? Oh well, I couldn’t give a damn anyway.

Woah, that guy with the wacky hair is still staring at me.

Yeah I noticed, who wouldn’t? I can see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye, and he’s been doing ever since I came back in the room. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the notebook and pen by the till (it’s the kind of café where we take the order or they come to the counter, and it doesn’t look like the boys are moving any time soon), and make my way over to them. He seems to panic a little at this, and turn his gaze to the table. When I get there he just end up looking up and gawping at me again, it’s kind of sweet.

“Would some drinks?” I ask politely, smiling at them. The boy let’s out an audible breath and I can’t help but feel a little flattered at my effect on him already. Not that I don’t get this a lot a school (of which I totally ignore) but this guy...he seems different. Woah, hold up. What am I thinking? Back to the order, Kibum. Reverse.

“A large mocha and a hot chocolate, please,” another voice answers. I look at the other guy, totally pretending that this wasn’t the first time I’ve noticed he was there. He was really handsome, like model-type handsome. You could tell he was insanely tall and he was even sitting down. My god. His eyes are humungous. He looks a bit like Keroro, if Keroro ever decided to be a tall handsome model.

“Sure, anything else? Cake or...?” I say as I scribble down their order, drawing the o’s like little hearts to amuse myself.

“Oh, no thanks,” he says, he turns to his friend then back to me, “What’s your name?” he asks, and his friends face lights up. I debate whether telling them, but the seriously? What I am hiding?

“Kim Kibum,” I reply, looking at both of them. The Keroro dude looks at me and smiles, and I smile back. It was kind of infectious.

“Nice, do you work here alone? There was that guy earlier...?” he questioned, he seemed genuinely interested. There weren’t many customers about now, just some old ladies and someone reading a newspaper, so I might as well stall a bit.

“Oh, he’s my boss. No, my friend Taemin works here too, he should be here soon, it’s nearly five right?”

He nods at my answer and looks at his watch. “Yeah,” he tells me simply. Then as if just on time I hear the bell above the door ring out, and his friend actually breaks his gaze off me to see who it is. And what do you know, there I see Taemin! His hair messy and windswept, his jumper ridden up slightly from the bag that is slung over his shoulder. I can’t help but grin at him.

“There you are!” he laughs to me. Then he looks over at the boys who are sitting in the booth I am standing at.

~*~*~*~*~

Hi! Oh my gawsh, you are on my story! And you are reading it! I'm so happy! :D

This chapter is totally the longest chapter I have ever written, but hey-ho. It was fun, and it totally didn't take the long to write it suprisingly. o.o

Please subscribe and comment about what you think of it! I'm dying to know, and if I don't know, then I'll die and you won't get another update! So comment! >:)

It's a lot different from 'Do You Wanna Bet?', huh? More drama-mama in this one.Sorry if it sounds weird at any point and sorry if there are any mistakes, this is actually my first time writing like this in first person or whatever you call it. e_e"

Bear with me, I will get better as I go hopefully. 

~*~*~*~*~