Working hard..

Ex-convict

Kyuhyun wondered why Sungmin was here at the cafe early Monday morning a month later. He has been diligently delivering coffees to their office every morning and Sungmin was all smiles like a ball of sunshine every morning to his staff especially after Kyuhyun's head appeared at his office room.  His happy mood was totally welcomed by his staff and meetings were now more casual and full of laughter. 

He welcome Sungmin and showed him a corner table, and later served Sungmin the same caramel latte as per Sungmin's liking, plus a slice of strawberry mousse cake. 

"Mr Lee, if you are busy, you can just order online, and I will deliver it to you" 

Smiling, Sungmin said "Somehow now I prefer to drink freshly brewed latte... " 

"Ahhh, I see. Well, on days that you don't have time to drop by, just order ok. Or you can call too. I will send to you".

"I think I will drop by every work days. But yeah, I will order if I can't make it here". 

"Ermmmm, on Fridays, Henry is the barista. I can inform him your preference of latte so that he can brew correctly for you" 

"Ohh, you won't be here on Fridays?" 

"Friday and Saturday are my off days" Kyuhyun said smiling. 

"I see. Then you were working extra days on those Fridays that you send my latte? I'm so sorry I should just ordered Mondays to Thursday" Sungmin said with a tinch of regret and disappointment. 

Sensing Sungmin's disappointment, Kyuhyun quickly added "don't worry about it Mr Lee, and I will show Henry how to mix your latte". 

Sungmin didn't want Henry to brew his latte, not because he scared that it won't be the same, but it was because Henry is not Kyuhyun. 

"It's alright Kyuhyun, it won't be the same as how you brew it, so you don't have to show Henry. I'll skip Friday then".

"Ahh, ok then. I'm sorry Mr Lee" 

"Sungmin" 

"I'm sorry?" 

"Just call me Sungmin" 

"I...." 

Sungmin was smiling at Kyuhyun and raise his browse. 

"I don't think it's appropriate, Mr Lee. You are our customers and you are my friend's boss" 

"Ryeowook you mean?" 

Kyuhyun nodded. 

"But I'm not your boss, so you can call me Sungmin". 

Kyuhyun just look down contemplating what to do. He doesn't want to be rude, but at the same time he knew being casual with Sungmin wouldn't look good since he's a regular customer to Mouse Rabbit. 

"Kyuhyun? There's a customer here wanted to order Americano" Yesung called out to him. 

"Go ahead, Kyuhyun. I'm finishing my drink anyway. Thanks for entertaining me. I will settle the bill and go for my meeting" Sungmin smile at him. 

Kyuhyun bowed, said his thanks and walked back to his counter. He saw that Sungmin looked at him to wave so he waved back before Sungmin turned and left the cafe. 

It was late at night when Kyuhyun finally managed to sit in front of the laptop to continue his online game programming. He only have to finish up the final routine and debugged one small error, and it should be done and ready to testplay. 

He planned to let Ryeowook see the game and have a go at it, so he texted Wook if he's available on Friday night. 

"Of course I'm available since Yesung is stuck at the cafe. So, you want to come over to my office or I go up to your room?" 

"Are you sure I can come over to your office? I don't want to disturb your work" 

"Nah, we finish work at 5pm on Fridays, furthermore Sungmin-hyung wouldn't mind, especially if it's you".

"You mean if I bring along his latte?" Kyuhyun asked, confused. 

"That too..." 

"Ok then, this coming Friday, I'll be there at 5pm, with the laptop and Mr Lee's latte".

The prospect of seeing Sungmin again excite Kyuhyun but he checked himself. Who is he compared to Sungmin. Sungmin is a successful businessman whereas he was just an ex-convict. He realised that he started to be on an "ok" terms with Sungmin because Sungmin was always very down to earth and treated Kyuhyun nicely. 

He completed his online game debugging, save the latest version and logged off. He was very excited about this online game as it was easy to play in the initial level but gets harder when player went to higher levels. He hope the challenges were interesting enough to lure player to keep playing or picked up where they have left off. He had programmed it to be as user friendly and as interactive as possible, so he hope Ryeowook or other players would love it. 

The lift which Kyuhyun was in stopped at one level before Ryeowook's floor and when the lift door opened, Sungmin stepped in, surprising both himself and Kyuhyun.

"Kyuhyun!! What a surprise! You are here for my latte?" 

"Hi Mr Lee, yes I brought your latte, but I'm also here to meet Ryeowook". 

"Ohhh you two are going out somewhere?" 

"No, actually I would like him to try my new online game" 

"You create games? Really?" 

"Yeah, I've created quite a few actually, but only this latest one has up to Level 99. The rest were mostly few levels only". 

"Wow, can I try?" 

"Sure, why not" 

"Come to my room then! Show me how to play and I will give you my feedback" Sungmin said enthusiastically. 

"Sure Mr Lee, I just let Ryeowook know that I'll be in your room"  Kyuhyun said while both of them were walking towards Sungmin's room. 

"I tell him!" 
"Hey Wook, I ask Kyuhyun here to show me his game. You ok with it? You can go off first if you need to go". 

Ryeowook glanced at Kyuhyun and Kyuhyun just shrugged his shoulders, behind Sungmin. 

"Sure boss. Kyu can show the game to me another day" Ryeowook commented. He knew that his boss is quite interested in Kyuhyun. It was so obvious!! How he literally lighted up whenever Kyuhyun came with the coffees and he heard from Yesung that lately, his boss even went personally to Mouse Rabbit just to see Kyuhyun, of course with the pretext of drinking freshly brewed latte. 

Ryeowook didn't mind a bit if his boss tried the game first. It's actually good for Kyuhyun. If Sungmin likes it, Sungmin might sign up to be his game distributor, and he hope that the game is successful. He is happy that Kyuhyun has moved on and has a purpose in life. Hopefully he can then clear his name and his family will accept him back. 

Sungmin drank his latte and asked Kyuhyun to sit at the sofa near his desk in his room. Once Kyuhyun has set up his game in his laptop, Sungmin plong himself next to Kyuhyun and asked Kyuhyun to start showing him the game. Kyuhyun explained to him the rules and what he needed to do in order to launch the game. Sungmin just loved hearing Kyuhyun's voice. Baritone yet so velvety and his explanations were clear and precise. He took over the laptop and started creating his id. 

Kyuhyun explained to him that he is finalising the 'App' version, so that customers could download the app to their mobile phone. But he need some feedback on the game first, preferably from Sungmin, Ryeowook and Yesung. The more the better, so that he could develop a trial version. Sungmin gave him a thumbs up. He is so proud of Kyuhyun. He has been falling heads over heels in love with this man and his admiration just went 10 folds. But he has to be subtle, and take it slow. He didn't want to scare Kyuhyun off. He turned back his attention to the game and started the game. 

Kyuhyun was well aware that Sungmin likes him. It made his heart beats crazily, and their close proximity didn't help a bit. He couldn't help admiring Sungmin's chubby but pretty hands, his lips, his big round eyes, in fact everything about him, even his perfume! But then again, he reminded himself of his position. He's just an ex-convict.. 

Sungmin's phone buzz on the coffee table. Kyuhyun saw the display name "Kim Saeun" but the picture is a chimpanzee.  Weird, but looking at the display name, his heart dropped, thinking that she might be Sungmin's girlfriend. 

"Errr, Mr Lee..." 

"Hmmm..?" 

"Your phone. Think your girlfriend calling you" 

Sungmin glanced at his phone and said "tsk, she's not my girlfriend. Her dad is just trying to matchmake us. I don't like her a bit. Hmmm..... I like somebody else" Sungmin paused the game, looked up at him and smile sweetly. 

Kyuhyun's heart nearly skip a beat..... 

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Comments

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lindatan #1
Chapter 33: Happiness always !!!!! Thanks for the ending authornim
Sessym12
#2
Chapter 33: Thank you for the wonderful story
LeeLenaMx #3
Chapter 32: I really liked this story! Is very well written and even it has a sad background for Kyu, I loved that there is not additional drama or misunderstandings that some times just make stories longer. Yes, there are issues and insecurities but at the end they go thru them like it could happen in a healthy relationship... with communication, love and trust in each other.

It also felt very natural how things worked for Kyu with the help of Wook and Yesung, and all the hard work he did to get his life on track... he really never imposed to any of them neither Sungmin, they just helped him because ... they trusted him and recognized his value.

Also all the development for the application issues are very well described and documented.
Thank for sharing this interesting and lovely story.
Sessym12
#4
Chapter 32: It's sad that's over I really liked the story
lindatan #5
Chapter 31: Omo wat happen ? Hopefully can resolve soon
lindatan #6
Chapter 30: Hope tat both sides families wil accept their relationship
lindatan #7
Chapter 29: A reunion at last ~~~
someday1965 #8
Chapter 28: I am so happy for Kyuhyun to finally have his name cleared. And also happy that he has such caring friends and boyfriend. Whoa, cliffhanger.
lindatan #9
Chapter 28: Thank god he cleared his name finally !!! Hope kyu find his family soon
cynthiasarah
#10
Chapter 27: oh kyu kyu they are not ashamed of you, they are helping you clear something which you have never done