Hi guys! Finally after being stuck for 6 months I got to finish this story. It may not up to your expectation but I did it guys. Sorry for very delay update. I will try harder next time. Thank you for all your encouragement words. I really appreciate them. Thank you so much! Xoxo

(Do people still do the xoxo or not? I really am outdated over internet slangs. Not jk)

16,826 words

Stone-hearted Prince.

Ice Prince.

Emotionless Prince.

These are what people would call Kim Sunggyu.

If you were to ask anyone, they would be spouting the same answer. That is, Kim Sunggyu is emotionless, stoic and mean.

As if he's void of any emotion.

As if he's impossible to feel.

The truth however, is completely wrong.

Sunggyu is not mean nor is he emotionless. He’s just, sociably challenged. Yes it’s a thing.

His behaviour is nothing other than simple observation. An observation Sunggyu has picked up throughout his 22 years life. A mere lesson. Lessons on how to live, and how to interact with people. Taught by none other than his supposedly most important figures in life.

Where did he learned such obnoxious behaviour you ask? From his parents of course. Or would it be more fitting to address them as his guardians? A mere guardian bind by law whereby they are entitled to act as his parents, lawfully.

As cold as it sounded, that are what they have always been to him for as long as he could remember. Parents in term of law. A hardly functioning one at that.

Sunggyu grew up with his parents too busy to even be there when he learned his first word. Kids learn to talk by copying his surroundings. Sunggyu? He doesn’t have that kind of surrounding to copy from.

They sent him to a specialist when he was 5-year-old when all he said then were yes and no, and also Nana, as in what he called his babysitter, (it was actually his first word). According to the specialist, apparently such thing can happen when parents didn’t speak to their kids – they just don’t learn how.

At first, he was as confused as any child would be. Why they had never been there when he opened his eyes? Why his parents had never wished him good-night? Why was he left alone to fight the demon in his closet? Why they had never talked to him? Hugged him? Kissed him?

But then he got to that phase of accepting everything as it was. Some things aren’t meant to be when they aren’t meant to be.

His parents came to a consensus that he's old enough to live by his own without a babysitter, and they terminated his babysitter's contract. Cutting down his outside world connection to zero. He was 9-year-old by then. He was confused of course, yet again. But he’s learned that nothing good come from complaining to his parents, and so he shunned his own pleas. Accepting thing as it were is what he’s trained for.

He lived off takeout food for almost a year, until one day he found the wonder of internet, and he’s learned how to cook. Of course his very first try would be frying egg, which seemed to be a great challenge for a 10-year-old boy with no experience whatsoever. His first tries ended in disaster, which was to be expected. Until countless tries lead to one successful sunny side egg, then two, three, and more afterwards.

Making omelette is his favourite. Since it was when his skill escalated to making kimbap, and the start of more complicated recipes from then on. He’s practically a skilful chef in the kitchen now.

One day, the day he was bored with browsing YouTube for recipes, he had come across of recommended videos of an underground band called Nell. And Sunggyu, out of curiosity had clicked the said video. The video was just a simple video of recorded vocal accompanied by a strumming of guitar. It was beautiful arrangement of music nonetheless that he fell in love in minutes.

At first, he would just whistle or hum along the tune, but then one day, his interest has explicated bigger that he’s searched for the lyrics to one of his favourite song, and he’s tried following the main singer, singing along.

While talking may be hard for him, singing is another whole thing. His words strings out smoothly like a stream of water out of his mouth. And it’s a fascinating feeling to him – to be able channelling his unsaid words into singing. That's when he learn to speak more. His sentences has always been half song since.

He was home-schooled until he enter high school. Back then, he was still much an introvert. Never talked to anyone, never reacted, never do anything to express himself out. His life was dull and monotonous. Save only by his preference in cooking and singing, which no one knows about. Not that he has any friend to share that with.

On his 17th birthday, he’s found out that he was the result of an arranged-married child. His parents had never loved each other, and quite possibly had never loved him too. The thing is, he doesn't even a bit surprised by it. As if years of training him into a grey man without emotions has finally paid off. He didn’t react much too when his parents were getting a divorced a year later. He somehow has seen that coming, years before.

===

Sunggyu is 18-year-old when it happens.

Today would be his last day at Kyeongsan High School. He would be transferred the next day, somewhere in Incheon. To a boarding school of his mom choice. He knows she doesn't want to but she is stuck with the child custody – him.

He hasn't seen his father for 5 months since the news of his parents divorced broke out. But he hardly feel any different. It’s hard to miss someone who has never being there to begin with.

Sunggyu spends his last day at school by just staring out the window, head on the table. He watches the dust motes in swirl in the sunlight, his hands make a grabby act on the air, capturing nothing at all. He is just bored and there's no one in the class who would want to talk him. Or vice versa for the matter. Not willingly at least. He'd rather stab his own legs than talking to his classmates.

He knows he wouldn't miss anything there, nor that he will be missed by anyone. Not that his presence concern anyone anyway. He is pretty much invisible in the class. And he has long stopped caring anymore on what people think about him.

But then, on this very slow and soporific day, (according to Sunggyu) where he just hoped it passes as silence as death could be, someone unexpected come into his life – to the front door to be précised, injecting colour to his grey life. And he didn’t see that coming.

“Hello class. I have a good news for you guys.” A voice suddenly speaks loudly, and some students reply asking 'what is it teacher' in an overly cheery manner. Sunggyu snorts to his table. The all -kissers in his class are intensely infuriating at times. They are annoying at best.

Sunggyu shifts his view to the man in front to see what all this frenzy is about. His homeroom teacher – that he doesn’t bother to remember his name stand there in front. He bet the teacher doesn’t know his name either. Sunggyu has never liked him anyway. He doesn’t like anyone.

“You will have a new transfer student today. Please welcome him nicely okay?” The teacher, says as he adjusts his overly big spectacles by pushing it up his nose bridge. Sunggyu has always thought that it makes him looks older than he truly was. But meh, not that his opinion matter to anyone.

Murmurs of 'who is it' and 'okay teacher' resounded noisily as replies to their teacher. And he nods few times, his spectacles rim slid downward again as he do so. His hands are up on the air, waving faintly as to calm his students down, which has never worked actually.

The teacher gestures for someone outside the classroom to come inside. And Sunggyu is ready to plop his head down on the desk back again when a boy, black-haired, height around 175cm struts into the classroom with false boldness steps. But it seems like only Sunggyu notice that, as everyone around him are woah-ing him. The boy stops next to their teacher, smiling widely.

“Introduce yourself.” The teacher says to the boy as he pats on his back few times.

The boy smiles and he begins to wave his hand. “Hi, I will be cooler than Wonbin, Hyunbin, Lee Seunggi, Song Jongki and Kim Woobin. My name is Nam Woohyun. Nice to meet you.”

Sunggyu chuffs.

He looks dumb.

Sunggyu scoffs silently as he rolls his eyes at that lame introduction. He is thankful it was his last day at the school. He knows he wouldn't stand having that guy as classmate. Being invisible is better than having an annoying narcissist guy as classmate. Sunggyu shifts the mask he wears upwards, covering his nose bridge more and he squints his eyes, undoubtedly annoyed. It's easier to avoid talking to people when he wear it.

But his thought remains unwelcomed as everyone except him are applauding the bold guy. Someone shouts asking Woohyun for 1st day celebration, then another student turns it into a chant. It's soon reverberated around and Sunggyu has never felt so annoyed.

1st day celebration is basically their school tradition where new students are required to show any talent to celebrate their first time coming to the school. Same thing happened to Sunggyu but he just straight away find a seat without even introducing himself, garnered lots of judgemental stares from his classmates and teacher back then but he just didn’t care. He actually despised it. He hated being the centre of attention. Not that it was his fault really. He was born to hate everything to the core, anything.

The guy – Woohyun grins when the teacher tells him to do as he like. He'd always liked attention. He was born for it. (Or so he had claimed.) He then clears his throat with an overly wide smile on his lips. His eyes dips warmly the moment he opens his mouth.

In my locked up heart

I need the right key

I think it exists

Heart fluttering without fear

Alive and breathing emotions

Childish hope, I need it

Should we just run away together?

Should we just leave everything and leave?

I don’t care where so let’s forget everything

Right now, should we leave?

Should we?

Sunggyu blinks in shock while everyone else clap their hands loudly. Some girls sigh dreamily as if they just fell in love with the singer. Woohyun's voice is lovely Sunggyu admits that. The song he sang is called ‘Vain Hope’ by Nell – his by far favourite song of the band. Though that’s not why he gets so touched.

The way Woohyun performed the song left Sunggyu in bewilderment. He just warmly gazed everyone while he sang it with all of his heart. And somewhere in between, when he got to the last chorus, as his eyes found Sunggyu, he stopped and stared into Sunggyu’s straight, Woohyun then sang it more slowly than the usual beat, word by word, then – he smiled. It almost as if he said the words with meaning. As if he just knew what Sunggyu pain was. Which Sunggyu sure it wasn't the case but he couldn't help the thump in his heart at the sharp gaze piercing his soul.

Sunggyu plops his head down onto the flat surface, head facing to the window, and eyes staring at the green scenery of the short grass (freshly mowed) and the trees outside. It's beautiful. He liked green when he was six – it was the first crayon colour he ever used, he knew its name after a month when his Nana told him. Sunggyu closes his eyes and sighs dreadfully, his left hand presses on his palpitated heart. “What's this?” He whispers softly to no one but himself.

“So Nam Woohyun, you can sit there, next to … next to him.”

Sunggyu can hear all the commotion still happening at the front, but he couldn’t care less now. Not when his own world is turning upside down. (Okay that’s an exaggeration.) But his unperturbed state is soon shattered when someone plop down next to him in a not so discreet manner; dragging the chair heavily and all. Sunggyu picks his head up, and freezes on his spot.

“Hi.” Woohyun smiles at him, but soon turns his head in front again when Sunggyu just glaring at him. (He’s not, but he often mistaken, as when he looks at someone, he would stare at them earnestly, and that makes him looks like he’s glaring. He’s not.)

===

This guy next to him is strange, Woohyun thinks.

At first Woohyun thinks that the mysterious guy is arrogant and snobbish for not talking at all when he had greeted him, but then, his behaviour intrigues him. Woohyun can see at first how his classmates – his new classmates swarming over him, asking him, enquiring him. But the guy next to him just stared out the window, not giving even a speck of care to him. One of the girl looks at the guy, then rolls her eyes. And even for their next period, no one has bother to talk to the guy – or him to them. It seems like he doesn’t have much presence in the class. Woohyun should have realised that sooner, but he’s not very observant after all.

Woohyun sneakily watches him through the corner of his eyes. The guy is now nodding off on his seat. Woohyun can’t make the guy’s lineament out much thanks to the mask on his face. His eyes were originally small so Woohyun isn’t sure whether the guy is truly sleeping or not. And to his surprise, the teacher doesn’t even bat an eye when the guy is blatantly sleeping in the class.

Woohyun grips on his pen, and straightens his back, trying to gather his focus back to the teacher at the front. He gazes over him for the last time. “What’s wrong with this guy?” He mutters to himself.

♧

“Can I join you?” A voice greets him, Sunggyu lifts his head to observe but then feels his palms sweat nervously when he realises who it was.

“No.” Sunggyu says as Woohyun plops his down next to him. His brows furrow, annoyed – an expression he’d learned to master for years.

That boy, Woohyun, only grins in respond. Don't his cheeks hurt? Smiling so wide like that. Sunggyu had tried it before, splitting his mouth into a smile – the result was crooked and weird, he never tried to smile again afterwards.

Woohyun rummages into a small plastic next to him, and he fishes out two small cartons of drink with two straws, “Milk?” He offers a carton and a straw to Sunggyu. When Sunggyu doesn't answer him, just blinks confusedly, he pushes it to the boy's unwilling hand, quite forcefully. Sunggyu has no choice other than grips it to avoid the drink meet the floor and burst open – that would’ve dirtying his shoes.

“I have two. It's too much for me.” Woohyun adds later, shrugging his shoulder lightly as if he’s justifying his antic which in Sunggyu’s opinion he doesn’t need to. Woohyun doesn’t have to do anything to be accepted, he’s hardly hated. His nose scrunches cutely. Sunggyu only blinks, not knowing what to react. It's the first time anyone ever talk to him. He doesn't know what to say. Even spouting a simple thank you is a hard task for him. Really, not that he talk much, still…

Woohyun sips on his milk while Sunggyu stares at the guy dumbly, with a still unscathed carton on his hand. The former guy notices that when his milk is half empty, and he stops chugging instantly.

“You don't like it?” He asks, after wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

“Hm?” Sunggyu asks in stupor, clearly not giving full attention.

“Your milk,” Woohyun casts his eyes downward, pointing, “You don't like it?” he repeats.

Sunggyu blinks, then shakes his head.

Woohyun laughs lightly. “Was that yes you don't like milk or no you like milk?”

Sunggyu averts his face, somewhat feeling more awkward, “I l-like them.”

It's the first time someone is laughing with him – at him, but it doesn’t feel bad oddly.

“Drink then, you're making me feels like a freak drinking alone after offering you one.” Woohyun chuckles lowly.

Sunggyu stares down, then up again, then down. He mulls over choices he has. Whether to drink it or not. If he accepted Woohyun's offer then he has to lower his face mask he currently wear which he doesn't want to. Wearing one depleting his nervousness to bearable level, and taking it off while talking to a stranger he's known for a few hours is not a great option. And if he didn't then it would save his face from being detected, and thus decreases his chance of doing anything stupid in front of this stranger. He choose the latter.

“No.” He states, and it came out rather dryly.

He likes milk of course. But he wouldn't eat nor drink in front of others. The percentage of him doing anything stupid is high when he doesn't carefully watch himself. Eating is one of the limited time where he would carelessly behave. The other two would be when he's singing and cooking. Weirdly, he doesn't want to show neither in front of this new guy.

“Oh...” Woohyun's face fell and Sunggyu has a weird thought of coaxing him to smile again. The thought proves to be unnecessary anyway when the frown on the man's face doesn't last long as his lips blooms widely again.

“What's with the mask?” He asks suddenly and Sunggyu is taken aback.

“P-Pardon?”

“Are you sick?” Woohyun asks, nonchalantly, if not politely. Although, he looks like regretting his query as soon as it slipped out. He holds his breath in and his hand presses on the half empty carton unconsciously.

Sunggyu notices that of course; that is what he good at, observing people, and so he shakes his head, denying the question. Woohyun lets out his much held breath with a loud sigh.

“Thank god. That was rude of me,” he says in one breath before standing abruptly. Sunggyu still couldn't process any of it, he blinks more rapidly when Woohyun bows down 90 degrees. “I'm sorry.”

Now, Sunggyu knows he doesn’t have any friend, but he isn’t stupid to know that this new guy is odd. Or maybe it's a standard act people do? Sunggyu wouldn’t have known that.

Sunggyu clears his throat, “It’s fine.”

Woohyun smiles, again. He seems to not be tired at all of smiling. There isn’t a moment that Sunggyu has seen that smile turns into a genuine frown, or anything. Woohyun plops down next to him again, a little too close for Sunggyu liking. But he swallows his disquietude.

“I'm sorry if I sounded like a prick right now, but why are you sitting alone?” Woohyun asks as he stares into Sunggyu's eyes. They both look into each other eyes briefly before Woohyun awkwardly averts his gaze. He stares down, and starts to grip at the edge of the carton, trying to look like he is busy with it.

Sunggyu diverts his eyes towards the drink on his hand, and he shrugs out his body as answer at the former question. But then he thinks that maybe Woohyun didn't see that, and thus he blurts out an answer, “Just...I like it being alone.” He says that and looks up again, just to see the other guy's reaction.

Woohyun hums but he looks like he doesn't understand the other guy's reason.

“I don't like it being alone,” Woohyun suddenly says. (Sunggyu is tempted to say that he could see that) “–so is it okay if...if we sit together? I mean–ah yes I know we already did now–just like, in the future?”

Sunggyu frowns.

For a moment, not even a moment, just a split second, he thinks of telling Woohyun that today would be his last day, but then he remembers he doesn’t know the guy adequate enough to share such information. His words died in his throat. “I … I don't know about that.”

“Ah, it's...it's too much isn't it?” Woohyun stammers, scratching his head shyly, “Sorry, you can just forget what I had just said.”

Sunggyu hums weakly.

Woohyun clears his throat to change the subject. The situation has become too awkward to comprehend for both of them.

“The weather is nice isn’t it?” Woohyun awkwardly utters, but then he laughs nervously, after realising that he probably sounded too ill at ease.

“It is.”

Woohyun snaps his head towards the guy, probably didn’t expect an answer. He has been trying to make the guy talk more freely for the past 5 minutes. Although just before he is able to quip back a reply, words that left Sunggyu’s mouth next does leaves him in disbelief.

“The song you were singing before...it was my favourite.” Sunggyu timidly confesses.

As it been clarified before, Sunggyu has difficulty to talk to anyone so loosely. It's a hard task for him. So he doesn’t know either why is he telling Woohyun the trivia.

“Really?” Woohyun is smiling again, “it was mine too.”

“Thanks.” He mutters.

“For singing that song?”

Sunggyu manages a nod, (“For singing that song, and for talking to me today. When no one has ever made an effort to.”)

“Yes.” He says.

(Not that he would ever try talking to anyone. Which is why he even more thankful to Woohyun at the moment. But not that he could utter those words out loud.)

Woohyun's eyes blink in excitement, “You're welcome,” he says, his eyes focuses upfront for a brief moment and then he turns his head towards Sunggyu. He is still all smiling, Sunggyu notices that his canine teeth pops up more prominently with how he smile, from ear to ear. Woohyun looks so happy, and bubbly. It's a feat not to be happy with him being a foot away like this.

Sunggyu can feel his inside turmoil happily. And it is a bit overwhelming. He never felt anything alike before. He can feel his mouth move upwards, doing expression he doesn’t know he capable of. He tries to reply Woohyun’s smile with a small one, only to come upon realisation later that Woohyun will not be able to see him smile underneath the mask.

Although he was wrong.

Woohyun does notice. As Sunggyu’s eyes squints small enough when he smile. Not that it's any different from his usual not-smiling-eyes. But his at the moment forms half crescent-like eyes. Which in Woohyun opinion is immensely cute.

“Oh, you’re smiling.” Woohyun points it out, like a dense he was. Making Sunggyu frowns in return. His heart pounds irrepressibly at Woohyun’s words that he has never heard from anyone before.

No. It shouldn't be like this. No one should be able to tell that he’s smiling or anything. He doesn’t supposed to be happy. He couldn't. The butterfly he had felt in his stomach before churned horrendously upon the realisation.

“I'm…I’m busy. I'll get going first.” Sunggyu says abruptly as he stands up, ready to flee away the place. He can’t bear seeing those glassy brown orbs this close. He notices that it's a weird feeling he never had before. He wonders what that is.

“Wait.” Woohyun holds onto his left arm, Sunggyu stiffens at the touch. “Has anyone told you yet that your eyes are beautiful?” Woohyun says while using that broad smile of him, his canine shown proudly. He possesses the most charming smile Sunggyu has ever seen. His eyes crinkle, almost resembling a crescent, his high button nose crunches slightly. There are weirdly placed dimples on his cheeks, next to the both of his lips corner, making him looks young and cheerful. He looks free, like he has the entirety of world in his palm and he can do whatever he want. Nothing sort of Sunggyu.

Sunggyu nervously stares downwards, “N-No,” is his shaky reply. His lips trembles as he talk, so are his hands. Woohyun notices that and he let Sunggyu go immediately.

“Hey are you okay–?” Woohyun stops midway his question, he realises by then he doesn’t know the guy’s name. And as he is about to ask him, the said guy has already flight the place, leaving him alone with question in his head and heart filled with unsettledness.

♧

Woohyun doesn’t see him for the rest of that day classes. Sunggyu’s desk remains vacant till the end bell rung. And the next day. And the next day.

When he has mustered up the courage to ask someone in the class about him a week later, he receives the most devastating answer ever in his life.

“Oh you mean Loser-Gyu? He has switched school. You remember the day you enter? It was his last day here.” The girl, Soojin says as she flips her long hair to the back. “Why would you search for him anyway? He’s a loser.”

The sudden jerk from Woohyun startles her and she is surprised even more when Woohyun exited the class without muttering anything. He stops listening to her blabbering at the word last day. She shouts at him asking where he is going but her voice faded into the nothingness as Woohyun runs away from the suddenly suffocating classroom. He can only see the image that crystallised in his mind, the trembled boy when he held him, and that left a crack in his heart.

Soojin screams his name for some quite time but he doesn’t turn around. He runs and runs, till he gets to where they talk for the first time – the bench next to the big tree, only then that he stops. Woohyun sits down on the bench, panting his breath out, his head is hung low to the ground when he realises he only knows the guy’s eyes. Nothing more, nothing less.

♧

2 years has passed since their last encounter. But honestly, Sunggyu never really forget.

How could he? When his heart beating for the first time. And for the good cause. He couldn’t, even if he tried to.

So when he saw Woohyun for the first time in 2 years, he really feels like it's a great destiny that brought them together again. Woohyun looks just as stunning as the last time he saw him.

Still brighter than the sun.

In the first month he meets Woohyun, Sunggyu takes a very great deal in avoiding the latter. He even takes a different route whenever he stumbles upon the black-haired guy. Just to avoid unnecessary awkward get-together-introduction.

But Sunggyu then realises that Woohyun doesn't even remember him when they brush past their ways one day. Sunggyu is on his way to go to the library, and Woohyun has just exited the same room, accompanied by a thin tall guy that possesses a big gummy smile.

Sunggyu even takes an extra measure by accidentally brushing past Woohyun's shoulder that the said guy drops his books. Just so that he could help Woohyun picks them up later, and also he gets to generously being gifted by those Woohyun's signature smile. Only that it's a bit off – with how Woohyun control his smile that his canine teeth are hidden. “Thanks.” Woohyun says.

Oh how Sunggyu has longed to hear his voice. He has to bite his inner cheek to avoid himself from smiling. (And maybe shamelessly introducing himself as someone Woohyun talked to for 15 minutes 2 years ago. He doesn’t even sure whether Woohyun still has any kind of memory collection of said incident.)

“No biggie.” Sunggyu spouts. Trying to keep his cool, even when his inside shakes with tremor and queasiness.

The guy next to Woohyun seems to spot his quivering stares though, as he looks at him judgingly and proceeds to put his arm around Woohyun’s neck and drags him towards the entry. “Come on Hyunnie, we are going to be late.” He says, keeping his eyes contact with the dumbfounded Sunggyu until they pass through him.

Hyunnie?

Sunggyu pouts by himself for the rest of the day.

It's not until the end of the semester, when he finally mustered courage to form a band with Myungsoo and Howon.

They met when Myungsoo and Howon encountered Sunggyu secretly practiced by himself in the music room – they have begged Sunggyu to join their band as they were short of vocalist position, with Myungsoo play as guitarist, and Howon as drummer. After much begging and persuading, Sunggyu accepts the offer. Singing is what he likes the most of, after cooking after all.

Their band actually hit big after the music festival. Sunggyu is the one who proposes to sing a sad love song – which he has secretly intended to dedicate to Woohyun.

It's a feat itself not to jump down the stage when he saw Woohyun tearing up. And it takes all his willpower to keep singing while also holding his tears back. That's when he realises, his crush towards the guy has developed into something more serious than just a Highschool crush.

===

“Tell me again, why are we going to the café when you rarely eat a thing?”

Sunggyu only shrugs at the muscly guy, which earns him a strong disapproval sound. It has been a full two weeks that he has been following Woohyun whenever the said guy would make his visit to the café since he knows the bit information. Which is a bit creepy if you asked anyone. But not that he would tell anyone. He's content with only looking at Woohyun from afar.

“Oh come on! Don’t give me that look. I need a proper answer.”

“You guys know you don’t have to come with me don’t you?” Sunggyu retorts, not really answering the prior question.

“Of course we have to go with you. Your poor doesn’t have another friend apart from us.”

Sunggyu ignores that pain jab and keeps strutting forward. “Whatever, you don’t have to come with me.” He asserts on the matter again.

“Sunggyu.”

“Howon.”

The said guy groans loudly. “Stop calling me that. Call me Hoya you prick.” Hoya shouts. He keeps on asseverating everyone to use the name as his stage name, and often would take an offense whenever someone called him with his real name.

Sunggyu looks at him briefly, then shakes his head. “Hm nope. Not going to happen, Howon.” (Sunggyu takes a great pride in offending Hoya.)

His answer brings out a cackling Myungsoo, who laughs like a madman; snorting included. The supposedly cool chick guy is actually a loud person if you get to know him properly. Of course he wouldn’t tarnish his image with behaving poorly in the public. But when he's with the right clique, like he is now, his usual self comes forwards often than not. And usually that's the sign for Sunggyu and Hoya to stop fighting. Because a loud Myungsoo is hard to control.

“Oh for sake! Let's just go for now.” Hoya groans.

Sunggyu smirks. I win.

∞

They plop down at the same table again. Sunggyu knows Woohyun and the tall friend of his would sit across them, two table away. They rarely change their seating. Woohyun would drink his favourite milk, which he interlaces with eating oreos, or sometimes chocolate cookies. That tall guy – Sungyeol, (Sunggyu picked his name after some times brushing past them) would usually drink orange juice. That was basically their lunch. Sunggyu wonders if Woohyun ever had anything heavy for lunch.

(For Sunggyu to know all of this details is a marvel explanation itself on how huge his crush on the guy.)

Sunggyu drums his fingers on the table, waiting, meanwhile Myungsoo is gone to buy food. Hoya is leeching on him, helping the chic guy with the breads. Cream bread for Hoya, chicken bread for Myungsoo, and melon bread for Sunggyu. They also buy 2 sets of kimbap, because Myungsoo eats a lot. He could finish a set by himself in one sitting.

Myungsoo and Hoya dump the food on the table and Hoya take seating next to Sunggyu. Myungsoo plops down in front of them, already smiling looking at the refreshments on the table. Sunggyu had bought him his favourite chocolate milk, so he digs in straight away, contentedly sigh at the cold and sweet taste of the thick liquid through his throat. Sunggyu chuckles lightly as he rips the wrapper open, pinches the bread inside into small pieces then pops the bit into his mouth.

After wasting some time waiting aimlessly, the duo enter the café, with Woohyun laughing at whatever jokes Sungyeol is telling. Sungyeol slung his arm around Woohyun's neck, because he's much shorter than Sungyeol. Woohyun makes a great rest place for Sungyeol. (Not that he would tell that to Woohyun.)

They see Sunggyu and the rest as soon as they step in and Woohyun's laugh stops at an immediate speed. He then awkwardly pulls Sungyeol as to make him a shield or some sort of protector as to hide his beet red face. Woohyun would always do this whenever he sees them that Sunggyu wonders what exhort him to such extend. Does he hate it so much looking at him? But he came to their every performance. Sunggyu doesn’t know what to deduce of Woohyun's antic.

“Why are you creepily staring at the guy?” Hoya nudges on Sunggyu's side with his elbow, just because he knows the vocalist hates it.

“Stop stabbing my body with your knife bone.” Sunggyu hisses and scoots further from the deadly weapon. Hoya grins victoriously. “And, I didn’t stare at him. I was staring at the board behind him.”

Hoya looks at him with a look that says 'do you regard me as stupid'.

“Did you know them?” Myungsoo interrupts. He's eyeing over his shoulder to the side where their conversation seem to be directed at. He's about to look in front again – at Sunggyu and Hoya, when the tall guy looks at him, caught him staring red-handedly. But Myungsoo acts bold and just smiled his cool smile; tugging only one side of his mouth upwards.

“No.” Sunggyu ineptly reply.

Hoya leers at him, totally not falling for the answer.

“That tall one is hot.” Myungsoo blurts out when he faced in front again.

“Sungyeol?” Sunggyu accidentally slips the name out. And he doesn’t even realised his mistake until Hoya point it out.

“How did you know his name?” Hoya asks, with a lopsided smile hanging on his face.

, Sunggyu thinks. He didn’t intend to concede, not even a little.

“Well…” Sunggyu stops on his word to clear his throat. He bites on his lower lip. (How do you continue from denying your blatant lies to admitting them openly?)

“Well?” Hoya asks, he wiggles his thick eyebrows, just to taunt Sunggyu even more.

Sunggyu groans and ducks his head into his arms on the table.

“ my life.”

∞

“Now, allow me to repeat.” Hoya clears his throat, exaggeratingly, “So you like this guy–”

“Woohyun.”

“Yes yes, Woohyun.” Sunggyu lets out a pain sound. “–and you've been following him around, which in your opinion is only a bit creepy.” Hoya makes a snicker face at the last sentence. Sunggyu's face turns into a scowl, so Hoya continues on, “And you–the most popular guy in here, were afraid to ask him out? Seriously?”

“I wasn’t afraid..” Hoya puts on his unbothered expression. “I was … discouraged?” Sunggyu says, tilting his head to a side.

“Potato. Potahto.”

Sunggyu groans. Reasoning with Hoya is like fighting a kid over toys or candies; he just won't give up.

“I just can't okay?”

“You said you can't? Honestly– can you even believe this guy Myung?” Hoya turns to look at the least noisy man between them.

Myungsoo just grins. He's the type to sit at the corner to witness and would only in when he sees it’s fitting. He’s a very polite guy mind you. He shrugs his shoulder, and that's an enough answer from him. He's a neutral. Both of them needs Myungsoo to balance out their band excessive energy – to neutralise them.

“What–what did I even do?” Sunggyu blurts out, slightly pique by Hoya's remark.

“You didn’t even deny my words from before.”

“What words?”

“When I said that you're the most popular guy in here.”

“That's the truth. Why would I need to deny them?”

“See!”

“See what?”

“If only you had used this confidence elsewhere.”

Sunggyu chuffs. Hoya grins. He knows Sunggyu would understand the preference. They both don’t even realised that Myungsoo has had left the table.

“ you Howon.” Sunggyu grits the words through his teeth.

“I'm honoured to have the privilege.” Hoya's words are dripping with sarcasm. Sunggyu grimaces at the image the words bring. “But you'd want to do Woohyun. And that too if you had balls to ask him out.”

Sunggyu gasps loudly, feeling appalled. But before he even has the chance to quip back, Myungsoo startles both of the discorded parties when he suddenly bangs his hand on the table. Under his palm is a piece of yellow post-it note; a phone number with name and a smile emoticon were on it.

The smile that's plastered on Myungsoo's face outvoted both Sunggyu and Hoya of turn to speak their minds.

Myungsoo removes his hand tardily from the surface. “Problem solved.” He says.

∞

Sunggyu taps on the table impatiently. He hasn't be able to calm himself for the past 10 minutes they'd arrived at the location. Previously, as he got too nervous, he kept on cursing while playing some game. In another occasion and at another place, Hoya and Myungsoo wouldn’t even bat an eye, (they were used by his habit) but now that they were in the middle of the coffee shop, and with everyone kept on glaring at them, Hoya confiscated his phone, and even threatening to leave. Which Sunggyu profusely begged not to, as he said he was nerve-wrecked at the moment he needed company. So now, Sunggyu is resorting to tapping his fingers on the table, drumming some beat of melody he had had stored in his memory for over 2 years. It was his own song that he inadvertently wrote, but hasn’t yet completed to this day.

Hoya clicks his tongue in annoyance but he doesn’t say anything else, understanding that doing all those not-so-discreet noises could calm the vocalist down a bit. Meanwhile Myungsoo is busy flashing his apologetic smile politely to everyone who has been looking to their direction for a while now for the commotion they had done.

Their waiting are finally paid off when a certain tall guy approaches them, and after confirming their seating, plopping down across the trio friends. The guy that has just recently joined them – Sungyeol, propping his elbow on the table. And with a sceptical looks heavily visible on his face, he looks at Sunggyu. Like he's waiting for him to start talking first, but also like he already knows everything he needs to.

“Now,” he starts, then leans his back to the woody chair, “give me a reason to stay.”

Sunggyu feels his stomach plummet seeing Sungyeol's downrightness advance. Opening up to Hoya and Myungsoo was one of the hardest thing he'd ever did, and now to Sungyeol? Who the thinks this was a good idea?

“Well?” Sungyeol says impatiently, cocking one of his eyebrow. (His eyebrows were totally pencil-drawn, they're at least half gone. Sunggyu can see that!)

Why does this feels like déjà vu? Sunggyu has a recollection of a similar experience he had going through in the past, (with Hoya and Myungsoo) yet the thought still doesn’t calm his stomach down.

He breathes in deeply. This is just like confessing to those idiots.

“Well…”

∞

“Is that why you kept on following us?” Sungyeol blurts out after Sunggyu finished explaining. He has patiently listened to Sunggyu from the start and had not bombarding him with wards of questions unlike what Sunggyu had imagined.

Sunggyu abashes at the question. For a second, he thought of denying the accusation, but if Sungyeol had so brazenly stating the matter, isn't that because he has solid proof as to say that? Can it even be called accusation then when it was nothing but the truth?

Honestly, Sunggyu had thought that he was being stealthy enough while following Woohyun, but Sungyeol's words has just proved him wrong. He thinks of the possibility of Woohyun knowing too, and the thought hurts his stomach even more. Sunggyu dips his head down to sip on his drink, just to avoid looking ahead a bit longer. The cold liquid tastes bitter in his throat.

“You noticed that?” He timidly asks, when