“Oh my god, not again”

Hakyeon can’t help but sigh when he comes back home from university and the light only to see his neatly organized tiny hole of an apartment has become a goddamn mess. There are torn papers on the floor which he can only hope they’re not from his extremely precious and expensive medical textbooks, a single shoe lying lonely on the couch - its partner nowhere to be seen, and the worst part – he can see white fur everywhere on the black t-shirt he hurriedly threw on his couch before he left, when he was changing earlier, few minutes late to his afternoon lecture already.

He is so tired he could pass out right on the spot, but being the neat freak that he is, Hakyeon spends his very last bit of energy to clean up the mess and can’t help but let out a silent swear.

This is nothing new, and he knows too well about the culprit. When he walks into his bedroom, said culprit is peacefully taking a nap right in the middle of his bed, comfortably lying with four legs up in the air, mouth slightly open, tiny pink tongue sticks out. Hakyeon sighs again.

If you were not extremely cute and looks like a fluffy – slightly overweighted – ball of white fur, if you were not a cat, you won’t get away this easily.

He comes close to lightly pet the cat on the head, scratch his chin a little and the little demon purrs happily at him for that, making the annoyance and lowkey anger Hakyeon had earlier completely disappear. To tell about this cat, he belongs to the mysterious neighbor living next door that Hakyeon has never met since he moved here. He doesn’t know why but for some reasons, they’ve never bumped into each other, could partly be because Hakyeon leaves home early everyday and doesn’t really come out of his apartment at all once he gets home at 5 or 6. Their balconies are connected, though, and it makes it extremely easy for this guy to sneak into his apartment on days that he forgets to close the tiny window to his apartment – which is fairly often.

Only when the cat lazily opens his eyes and turns up to stand on his four legs that Hakyeon sees the tiny note paper being tied by a string to his collar that is now all crumpled and squeezed from the little guy’s weird napping posture earlier. This is strange, he thinks, and he carefully takes the note paper and is extremely surprised to see some writings on it.

We don’t know each other but I sincerely apologize that Leo sneaks into your place all the time and for the messes he has probably caused (that I’m pretty sure he did) ^^;;; from your neighbor, Han Sang Hyuk.

Hakyeon bursts into a big laugh and the cat – Leo jumps a little at that. He doesn’t know if he finds this weird or just pretty damn cute. He admits that sometimes before he had wondered about Leo’s owner, if he mistreats the cat or just simply as forgetful as Hakyeon to not close his window everyday, letting Leo has the chance to come to him. However, Leo doesn’t look at all like a cat that doesn’t get fed – if anything, he looks like a chubby spoiled kid that is too carefully taken care of.

Interesting, Hakyeon thinks as he reaches to the study table nearby for a pen and a similar note paper. Sang Hyuk deserves a reply as a reward for how polite he is.

I appreciate the politeness but I wouldn’t lie and say that Leo has never caused any mess… You have a demon of a cat but I’d miss him a little if he stops coming to visit :)

.

It’s about time for finals to come and let’s say Hakyeon is… not so happy about that – to take it lightly. He hardly has time to rest, sleep becomes a luxury that he can only wish for, and he knows too well that he wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to just lie the down and close his eyes for good if he tries to study at home, so he’s been practically living at the school’s library lately. However, it feels like he’s slowly reaching his limit, eyes heavy and the horrible headache wouldn’t let him concentrate on his studying. When Hongbin – his classmate taps him lightly on the shoulder to wake him up from dozing off in the middle of a studying session then later forces him to go home to get some sleep because you look like a zombie goddamn it, Hakyeon doesn’t see a reason to refuse to do so. He’s gonna die before the actual exams season starts if he keeps it at this rate.

After barely makes it to the apartment, Hakyeon throws himself on his bed only to get startled when he hears a little squeak followed by an extremely loud meowww and something furiously moving under his blanket. Leo crawls out from his blanket, and he realizes it’s been a few days since he last saw the little guy as he’s been spending days and nights at the library. On a few times he comes home for a quick shower or to get a book that he forgets, Hakyeon never sees Leo but he always remembers to leave a small bowl of water on his kitchen sink for the little guy if he visits when Hakyeon’s not home.

Leo comes close to Hakyeon and rubs his head to Hakyeon’s arm, and Hakyeon can’t help but reaching his hand to the cat. This time Leo, fortunately, didn’t create any mess, maybe that’s why he looks particularly cute today, he thinks, before discovering a small familiar note paper attached to Leo’s collar.

I have sent a few notes after your last reply but it seems like you didn’t get them, so I figured you must be studying very hard these days. Rest well and don’t forget to eat, too :D truthfully I’m a little disappointed every time Leo comes back home with the same note I wrote, haha.

Hakyeon smiles, suddenly his sleepiness is completely blown away. Since that time his neighbor sent him an apologize note, they have been talking in this little special method of them with Sang Hyuk’s cat being the delivery guy. In the small notes that they exchange, only short messages can be written but it becomes Hakyeon’s tiny piece of joy that he unknowingly starts to expect it, to look forward to when he comes home everyday.

Sang Hyuk still remains mysterious as they’ve never met face to face, but now Hakyeon knows a little about the guy living in the apartment next door, that Sang Hyuk is a few years younger than him, he’s not attending normal college right now but a culinary school, he dreams to be a chef so right now he is helping out in his uncle’s restaurant and his shift is from 6PM to midnight everyday, that’s why they could never bump into each other before. Sometimes he would tell Hakyeon about this new recipe he just thinks of - I wish Leo could deliver food as well so you could taste it, other times he would recommend a good song that he listens to recently, maybe a movie he just watched, or a weird customer he has at work that day that never fails to break a smile on Hakyeon’s face.

All of Sang Hyuk’s messages, though, always end with him asking Hakyeon to rest and eat properly, and it always makes Hakyeon’s long day brighten up a little as he knows someone cares about him, out of politeness or not, it’s still nice, no?

Sorry I’m having finals soon ;^; don’t be disappointed as I’m not ignoring you or anything, it’s just really hard for me lately… now that you say it I just realized that I’ve been eating only fastfood like burgers, sandwiches lately T_T no time to cook…

When a reply comes a day later, Hakyeon tries very hard to convince himself that he’s just too nervous for his exams tomorrow is the reason why his heart starts to beat noticeably faster.

Then why don’t you come to my place for dinner on Saturday? I’m having a day off then and maybe I can cook something nice for you

He has never said- written yes so fast in his life, but then he decides to send back a half-assed hesitant message, is that really okay? I mean it’s your day off and all T^T

Take it as an extremely late proper apologize for Leo bothering you all the time, Hakyeon hyung ^^ See you this Saturday at 7PM! Until then, please remember to eat well and rest properly :D

Sanghyuk writes back, and Hakyeon holds the piece of paper so tightly that when he lets it go a moment later, the writing has been blurred from the sweat of his palm. No, he’s definitely not nervous at all.

.

“How does this look?”

Hongbin has never rolled his eyes so hard, before he gives Hakyeon an approve nod at the the shirt he’s holding up.

“Why do you have to be so fussy over this? It’s just your neighbor and you don’t even know his face!”

Hakyeon raises his eyebrow at Hongbin, “What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s not a date or anything! You don’t have to be so stressed over what to wear”

Hongbin regrets it the moment he finishes his sentence, because Hakyeon comes closer and gives him a smack full of affection on his shoulder that Hongbin is now sure he has a permanent mark of Hakyeon’s hand shape on his skin. He doesn’t get why his friend makes such a big fuss over just a simple dinner invitation, he’s heard of Hakyeon and his neighbor’s exchanging messages thing and shouldn’t Hakyeon be at least a little cautious of a guy he has never met before even though they’ve been neighbors for roughly 7 months?

“What if he’s an old geezer only tries to fool you for his sick fun? Or even worse he’s gonna kidnap and sell you or something???”

Hakyeon knows Hongbin has a legit reason to worry about things like that, but Hakyeon insists on convincing him with a weak reason that a guy who loves cats can’t be a bad guy. Besides, having a new friend is always a good thing, especially when they’re your neighbor who can come in handy when you need urgent help.

Hongbin sighs at his hopeless friend. He has known Hakyeon for years already and he can’t get the guy sometimes. Unlike Hakyeon who is spontaneous, Hongbin is too secured about everything. He wouldn’t risk it for a slightest chance, but Hakyeon is Hakyeon and if Hongbin knows something then it’s definitely  Hakyeon – makes risky and supposedly stupid decisions for a smartass like he is once in everywhile, and won’t ever change his mind once he’s set on something.

Hongbin makes it out of Hakyeon apartment about an hour later - when Hakyeon decided on an oversized pastel blue shirt with impossibly tight ripped jeans which he knows too well that he looks good in - but only to be dragged by Hakyeon to get something as a gift for Sang Hyuk. Hongbin almost blurts out a “why would you even need to give him anything when he’s trying to apologize to you???” but he swallows it right in when he sees a light blush colors Hakyeon’s cheeks after showing Hongbin a piece of note paper that wrote “I can’t wait for Saturday to come, Hakyeon hyung >__< I have already planned a whole 3 course meal for us hehe XD”, instead he starts to worry again if that Sang Hyuk guy is trustworthy at all as a grown man who uses that many emoticons in a written message.

.

The rest of the week comes by as a blur to Hakyeon, and when Saturday comes he starts fidgeting since the moment he wakes up. Their dinner is at 7PM and Hakyeon wonders if it’s okay to be this nervous at 7AM, so he decides to go out for a morning run. His mood is particularly good today for an obvious reason that he’d prefer not to say out loud, so on the way back he rewards himself with a cup of strawberry smoothie.

He checks his phone with the smoothie on the other hand, and he was immersed in an article about a breaking news of Bi Rain and Kim Taehee getting married when he bumps, hard, into someone on his way to his apartment. Hakyeon gets startled and steps a few steps back only to spot a horrible pink stain on the other person’s white hoodie and a lot of vegetables rolling around at his feet. He somehow manages to knock off a bunch of things the other person was holding and spills his smoothie all over his white hoodie but before he can apologize, the other guy is already a second faster.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!”, the other person speaks up worriedly, he then picks up the phone that Hakyeon dropped and gives it back to him after looking carefully to make sure it’s not scratched or broken anywhere.

“No no, I got my drink on your clothes, I’m the one who needs to say sorry!” Hakyeon says before sitting down to help the guy to pick up all the vegetables and the fruits that are rolling around everywhere on the floor.

“Do you live around here? Please give me your number so I can pay for the laundry or something, oh my god I’m really sorry…”, Hakyeon speaks up again after making sure they got everything off the floor, feeling terrible, but the other guy keeps saying that it’s okay.

“It’s okay, really! It’s not your fault, I was carrying so many things so I kinda couldn’t notice you coming either.”

Hakyeon sighs a little, only now notices how tall and broad the other guy is. Hakyeon is not short at all, he’s pretty tall himself but considering the fact that he’s only stands over the guy’s eyebrow level a little, he should be at least 5 or 7cm taller than him.

“Then at least let me help you carry some of these to – um – wherever you’re going?”

“I keep saying it’s not your fault already!”

“But I insist”, Hakyeon takes some of the bag the guy is holding before he can say anything else, and when they meet eyes, he finds the stranger is smiling at him with his eyes into pretty crescent and white teeth beaming.

“Okay then, I’m actually heading to my apartment just over there”, he gestures forwards and Hakyeon stills a little.

“Wait, you live here?”

“I do, what’s wrong?”

“Um… by any chance you’re living in apartment no.340?”

“How’d you know?”

Hakyeon feels like his heart is going to explode.

“Sang Hyuk, right?”