The whole Christmas day is pretty hectic. His morning and afternoon shifts leave Taekwoon exhausted while the incredible amount of couple he served managed to unsettle him. It reminded him that Christmas is mainly the holiday for lovers and the perspective to spend his evening with Hakyeon unnerves him. It’s not like it’s the first time he will meet with another single friend on Christmas. Except Hakyeon is not even supposed to be his friend to begin with. He’s just a co-worker, and one he officially can’t stand.

         His mind is a mess but his last conversation with Jaehwan severely reduced his options. The barista miraculously managed to find a few minutes to talk to Taekwoon... and to threaten him.

         “I heard you asked Hakyeon hyung to go to a movie tonight?”

         “I did.” Jaehwan’s surprise isn’t faked.

         “Well, I don’t care if you were in your right mind or not when you suggested it, but you better not stand him up or I swear I’ll kill you...”

         “I don’t...”

         “Did you hear me? I’m not kidding! I swear...”

         “Jaehwan, I...”

         “Don’t speak when I’m talking! As I was saying, I’ll kill you and I’ll make sure you’ll suffer through it... Is that clear?”

         “...”

         “Is that clear?”

         “Yes.”

         “Good. Now you can go back to work.”

         Taekwoon doesn’t have a chance to talk to Hakyeon. They don’t work on the same shift and Taekwoon has just the time to take a glimpse of the other before he leaves on the afternoon. Hakyeon is serving customers with his back to him. Taekwoon doesn’t wait for him to turn around and heads in the direction of his apartment. He’ll need some rest to compose himself before he faces the other later.

         Taking Jaehwan’s threats seriously (a furious Jaehwan is very rare, that’s probably why he’s so scary when he happens to be angry), Taekwoon makes sure to arrive earlier in front of the cinema. Even if they’re not as good as the ones they serve at the coffee shop, he orders a latte to a company store nearby to warm him up and takes a mental note to offer one to Hakyeon when the latter will arrive.

         Like a mantra, he repeats in his head ‘be nice’ because he actually wants to be. He’s tired of his irrational reactions whenever Hakyeon is nearby. He knows it’s not fair of him to vent on the other, just to avoid his own insecurities. One way or another, he’ll have to eventually work on and overcome his own issues. And he realises that treating Hakyeon so rudely didn’t help him with that.

         What if Hakyeon is so confident, so radiant, and Taekwoon isn’t. Hurting the other with harsh words or gestures didn’t make him feel any better. On the contrary, he has been increasingly ashamed of himself as time went on. Especially when he realised how Hakyeon’s carefree attitude towards him didn’t mean that the other wasn’t upset. He remembers the uncertainty painting itself on Hakyeon’s features the day before, and he agrees to all the bad names Jaehwan gave him each time he witnessed him being unkind with the other.

         It’s time for him to change so he’ll start with swallowing his pride and apologise to the older. And next... Next he will deal with his problems, without involving and hurting others, just because he feels bad about himself, miserable even.

         The notification sound of his phone interrupts his thoughts and he checks his messages. It’s from Hakyeon.