Jihoon felt as if he couldn’t have been happier than he was at this moment, with his boyfriend’s arms wrapped around his torso from behind him. He sat cross-legged in between his boyfriend’s legs. The two were enjoying each other’s presence on the wooden floors of their apartment, facing the blank television. Without warning, his boyfriend grabbed Jihoon’s shoulders and spun him around to face him. He cupped his hands around Jihoon’s face and smiled. His lips moved, and even though Jihoon couldn’t hear what he was saying, he heard his boyfriend’s gentle voice in his head.

 

“Hoon, I love you.”

 

Jihoon opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t find his voice. Hearing no response, the other’s smile faded and was replaced with a frown.

 

No…Cheol, don’t misunderstand. I’m trying to say it.

 

He found his voice and began to speak.

 

“I-”

 

Suddenly, Jihoon was very aware of his supine body resting on top of a bed, the warmth from his boyfriend’s hands wrapped around his face gone. He peeled his eyes open to find himself in a dark room. He had woken himself up by talking in the real world. He turned his head toward his alarm clock to see that it was only 5:25am. Groaning, he pulled his blanket over his head and turned to his side.

 

Why did you have to appear in my dreams again?

 

A few seconds passed and Jihoon gave up trying to sleep. He needed to get up by 6 anyways, so there was no point in trying to fall back asleep only to struggle to wake up again.

 

He swung his legs off the bed and headed toward the kitchen. His bare feet felt cold against the tile, but he was too lazy to rummage through his drawers to find a pair of socks. Without turning the lights on, he navigated himself to the refrigerator to find himself breakfast, only to find that the only things left were water bottles, a few cans of energy drinks, and some orange juice. He had forgotten that he hadn’t gone to the grocery store for almost two weeks. Sighing, he closed the refrigerator and returned to his bedroom to change into his work clothes. The one morning he was up early enough to have breakfast and he had nothing to eat.

 

He slipped on his trousers and dress shirt before getting to his tie. Even after working at an office for four years, he still had troubles with tying it. It just took too much time and patience to make such an unnecessary accessory look neat and clean. Who even thought to knot a piece of fabric around their neck and declare it as classy, anyways?

 

This morning, he struggled even more than usual. His patience was wearing thin as he stared at the messy knot through the mirror.

 

Why’d you have to go and piss me off so early in the morning? And you’re not even here…

 

Eventually, he gave up on making his tie look cleaner. He wasn’t expecting to look particularly dressed up for anyone, anyways. After putting on his suit jacket, he slipped on his dress shoes, grabbed his briefcase, and left his apartment for work.

 

The subway was less crowded than when he usually boarded, so Jihoon was able to find a seat easily. He clutched his briefcase to his chest. The rocking motion of the subway threatened to lull the exhausted young man to sleep. He stayed up late the night before to finish a report, and his body was reminding him of his lack of rest (and caffeine). He blinked a few times and shook his head violently. The actions did nothing to wake him up, so he stood up from his seat and reached for the handles above him. Of course they were the extra tall ones, where they were just out of reach enough to where he had to raise his heels slightly to get a firm grip on them. Not wanting to put in so much effort for the entire ride, he moved to where the handles hung at a normal level, enough for him to grab them comfortably. He felt his drowsiness go away from standing, but he still felt out of it from lack of sleep, so he looked out the window in a daze the entire ride.

 

Jihoon arrived at the subway stop half an hour earlier than he normally would.

 

What am I going to do for half an hour?

 

As if on cue, his stomach grumbled audibly. He reflexively clutched his torso, embarrassed.

 

Breakfast it is.

 

Not one to explore new places, Jihoon settled on finding breakfast at the sandwich shop and café near his office, the place he usually visited for lunch. The café was a little quieter than it would have been during the busy lunch hour rush. He approached the counter and ordered a muffin and an espresso.

 

“That’ll be 7300 won,” the cashier said.

 

Jihoon pulled his wallet out from his back pocket and took out a 10,000 won bill. A colorfully decorated jar on the counter caught his attention. A sign with the words “college fund” written on it was taped around the outside. A single 500 won coin sat at the bottom of the jar.

 

“College kid?” Jihoon asked nonchalantly.

 

“Yup! I’m starting my first semester this spring,” the cashier informed him with a refreshingly bright quality in his voice and a glowing smile.

 

Jihoon pulled out another bill and tucked it into the jar.

 

“Good luck.”

 

The young cashier bowed and said his thanks. Only when he realized the value of the bill this customer put in did his eyes open wide in shock. He hurriedly pulled the bill back out and attempted to push it back.

 

“Wait! This is too much! I-I can’t accept this!” The cashier pleaded Jihoon to take back the bill, but Jihoon shook his head.

 

“Study well in college. That,” he said as he nodded toward the bill, “represents my faith in you to do well. Pay me back by studying well in school.”

 

The cashier stared for a few seconds, then bowed humbly toward Jihoon.

 

“Thank you very much.” He gently stuffed the 50,000 won bill back into the jar. “Sir, is it alright if I ask for your name?”

 

A genuine smile formed on the young man’s lips. “It’s Lee Jihoon.”

 

The cashier bowed once more.

 

“I, Lee Seokmin, will work hard and won’t let the kind-hearted Lee Jihoon-ssi down!” His voice echoed across the café. Suddenly remembering the espresso he needed to make, he sprinted toward the espresso machine and added, “Starting with the coffee that he ordered!”

 

Jihoon chuckled at the boy’s energy.

 

What a cute kid.

 

Seokmin handed Jihoon his espresso and muffin. He bowed a third time as Jihoon exited the café.

 

“Please come again!”

 

Jihoon knew it was customary for employees to say that, but for some reason, Seokmin sounded genuine when he called out to Jihoon. He smiled as he walked toward his work building a few buildings down, having completely forgotten about his rough start in the morning.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The cheerful mood that Jihoon was in quickly dissipated as he arrived at his floor in the office. He could make out nothing but chaos as he maneuvered his way toward his desk. Phones rang left and right, and papers were being faxed, printed, and filed at immeasurable speeds. No one was exempt from the enormous workload due to it being the end of a quarter. A hefty stack of papers greeted Jihoon at his desk. He slumped into his chair and prepared himself for an exhausting day.

 

“Jihoon! Did you get that report done?” Soonyoung, his co-worker from the same department, yelled from his desk. Even though their desks sat a few meters apart, there was no way anything could be heard over the chaos without yelling.

 

“Yeah, it’s right here,” Jihoon responded just as loudly as he pulled out the papers he stayed up late last night to complete. He looked over at the daunting pile again.

 

“Don’t worry too much about the size of that stack. Most of those are small things. We’ll probably have to stay overtime again, though,” Soonyoung tried to reassure the other.

 

“Let’s hope we’re both still sane after this.” Jihoon remarked.

 

“We’ll manage,” Soonyoung said, trying more to convince himself rather than his co-worker.

 

The two worked feverishly to reduce the size of the paper stack as rapidly as they could, along with the rest of their team. They worked nonstop for hours, but the energy level of the entire department was visibly fading away. Employees were tired from lack of sleep from the entire week. Jihoon could feel himself drifting off when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Soonyoung standing by his desk.

 

“Time for a lunch break?” Soonyoung suggested.

 

“I think so,” Jihoon yawned.

 

The two walked over to their usual place, the sandwich and café shop that Jihoon visited in the morning. They ordered their sandwiches and sat near a window. Jihoon looked around the café to see if Seokmin was still working, but he couldn’t find the boy anywhere.

 

“Looking for something?”

 

“Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing.”

 

“Man, those reports are killing me. I don’t remember it being this crazed the end of the last quarter.”

 

“You say that every time, Soonyoung.”

 

“I know, I know. But I always forget how exhausted I get during this time of year. I always keep thinking I’m ready for it but then when the time comes it takes me by surprise.”

 

“We just have one more day. We can make it.”

 

“Should I finish lunch early and get back to work...or take my time relaxing and work more overtime?” Soonyoung wondered as he crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them.

 

“Those reports are going to have to get done sooner or later. I’m heading back as soon as I finish.”

 

“You’re right. Better get through more today than experience hell tomorrow. Let’s blaze through and go out drinking after it’s all over. I could definitely use a night to let myself go.”

 

After a pause, Jihoon gave a hesitant nod.

 

Soonyoung sat back up and propped his head up with one arm.

 

“I know you don’t really like drinking. You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to. Just keep me company and make sure I don’t end up doing anything dumb.”

 

“Yeah, sure.”

 

The two spent the rest of the time in silence, too exhausted from thinking about the amount of work ahead of them to keep up a conversation. Jihoon felt like even the action of chewing on his sandwich took a considerable amount of effort. Soonyoung took small bites of his sandwich, nibbling at the bread with his eyes closed. Afterwards, they dragged themselves back to their workplace to tackle the end-of-the-quarter reports and assignments.

 

By the end of his shift, all Jihoon wanted was to go home and sleep. There was still a sizeable stack of papers to go through sitting on the corner of his desk, and the team manager hadn’t left for the night yet. The team manager was one of those people who chose to complete more work sooner than later, leaving for less stress near deadlines.

 

Well I guess that means less overtime for tomorrow.

 

Jihoon spent the next few hours working as quickly and as accurately as he could in order to go home earlier. Granted, in his sleepy state, he could only work at such an efficient pace before nodding off time to time. Before he could fall completely asleep, Jihoon heard the sound of someone rising up from their seat. He looked over and watched his team manager put on his suit jacket and grab his briefcase. With a nod, the team manager dismissed the rest of the team for the night at around midnight. Jihoon looked over at Soonyoung, who had fallen asleep on a small stack of papers. He packed up and walked over to his co-worker’s desk.

 

“Soonyoung, wake up. We can go home no-”

 

“I WASN’T SLEEPING! I WAS JUST…huh?” Soonyoung blinked a few times and looked around, observing that the rest of the team had already got up to leave and Jihoon was standing by his desk. “Oh…I guess the team manager left?”

 

Jihoon sighed and nodded. Soonyoung stuffed his briefcase with some papers and packed up quickly. The two of them walked out of the building together and parted ways at the subway station. Like in the morning, Jihoon knew that he would struggle to stay awake while sitting down, so he stayed standing during the entire ride back.

 

As soon as he entered his apartment he led himself to his room without turning on any lights and plopped face down onto his bed. He closed his eyes and felt himself drifting off to sleep. After contemplating for a minute, he decided to at least undress for bed. He ed his dress shirt and shimmied out of his trousers all while still laying down with his eyes closed. He threw his work clothes onto the floor and d at the floor to find his nightwear. He felt fabric at his fingertips barely out of reach and stretched uncomfortably to grab for it, almost falling off the edge of the bed during the process. It was his oversized shirt that he wore to bed. This would have all been much easier if Jihoon had decided to open his eyes and get off of his bed to find his clothes, but he felt too attached to the bed to get off. After feeling around for his pants for a minute, he gave up and brought the blanket over his body.

 

Good enough. Who needs pants, anyways?

 

With that last though, Jihoon curled up and knocked out within minutes.