Hakyeon paced restlessly outside the restaurant they were supposed to meet at.

"She will come, won't she?" he murmured to himself. "She has to. She did say that she was free."

He stopped, letting out a groan. "I look like some lovesick nutcase," he complained to himself.

He somehow caught the sound of a particular set of heels clicking against the concrete (among all the other sounds of heels clicking against the concrete, he had no idea how) and swiftly turned around to find her walking up to him.

At once, his initial fear that she wouldn't show was replaced by another fear, a fear that she might reject him.

"Hey," she breathily said.

It was then that he noticed that she was a bit ruffled, her hair a bit of a mess as she tried to straighten it with her hands. 

"Coming from somewhere?" he asked.

She nodded, trying to catch her breath. "I was working on the manuscript when I realized how late it had become," she admitted. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting. I almost missed it."

"I-it's okay," he quickly said. "We could just reschedule."

"Nonsense!" she brushed it off. "I wouldn't miss an outing with you! We barely see each other as it is!" She grabbed his elbow and began dragging him inside the restaurant. 

"By the way," she informed, "I may not be able to stay for too long, since I have an appointment in a little while."

"Oh are you going somewhere?" he inquired.

"Not really," she explained. "He's meeting me here."

Probably a colleague, he thought.

When they got themselves a table and settled down, she folded her arms across the table. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" she asked.

He just never noticed how sweaty his palms had become till now. He'd been fine all through the night and even morning, but now it was like his tongue had failed him and turned him mute.

It was happening.

It was actually happening.

And now that it was happening, the elaborate dialogue he had planned out escaped him, leaving him with nothing.

"I...uh..." he stuttered, rubbing his palms nervously.

A chuckle escaped him. "T-there's no easy way to say this," he said.

She leaned in closer over the table a bit, worrying. "Is it something bad?"

"No, no, not at all," he assured. "It's something else."

"What is it?"

"I like you," he blurted out.

She seemed to be taken aback by his sudden outburst, her eyes wide and her body frozen on the spot. Letting out a breath, he lifted his eyes from the table to meet hers.

"I like you," he repeated, "in a way I've never liked anyone before."

She stayed unmoving.

"You definitely caught my eye the first time you came to the cafe, but then you showed this amazing and passionate side of you that loved creating and writing," he continued. "Whenever you wrote, you had this certain twinkle in your eye. That combined with everything made me fall for you."

She didn't respond, so he went on. "Hell, I think I've passed the stage of just liking you. I think I love you. I'm head over heels for you."

He then leaned back against his chair. "Felt good to say that out loud," he said in a low voice, before looking up and seeing Nayoung's astonished face.

"I-I'm sorry," he quickly said, "I may have gone overboard, but I've been meaning to say this for a while now."

She looked down. "T-that's not it," she said. Then she raised her eyes to meet his, and to his dismay, the look in them wasn't one of happiness. "I-it's...just...your timing couldn't be worse..."

"Why?" he wondered. "What happened?"

"Hakyeon-ah," she softly told him, "I really like you, as a friend, and I sincerely appreciate everything you've done for me these past few months, and I've gotten to even care about you...but not in that way."

He pressed his lips together, nodding even though his heart felt like it was being crushed in someone's hand. "Y-yeah, I get it."

"And besides," she stated, "even if I did think of you in that way, it would be a bit too late."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm engaged."

Those were the words that made his blood run cold.

Engaged?

So someone had already swooped in and won her heart before he could.

He also began having an inkling of something. "I-is the person you were going to be meeting after this him?" he asked her.

She nodded silently, turning when she heard the restaurant's bell ding and door open. "Oh, here he comes right now."

Hakyeon craned his neck to see the face of the man who had been smart enough to snatch the love of his life before he could muster the courage himself. His stomach then fell deeper into the void when he finally saw who the future husband of Nayoung was.

Walking through the door, dressed in an impeccable suit with his hair well groomed, was none other than Jung Taekwoon, the son of Kratos himself.

"Taekwoon?"

The young salaryman was equally astonished to see Hakyeon there.

"H-Hakyeon?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same question," Hakyeon responded.

"Uh, you two know each other?" Nayoung asked, looking between them.

"He's my cousin," Taekwoon answered her. 

Hakyeon definitely didn't miss how he leaned against her chair and looked down at her with a tender look in his eye, a look he saved for only animals and children. 

"Well this just made things a thousand times more awkward," she said.

"How is it awkward?" Hakyeon piped up. "It's not like I just found out that the girl I just confessed to happened to be not only taken, but engaged, and to none other than my own cousin too. Yeah, not awkward at all."

Taekwoon and Nayoung exchanged a look, bringing out a sigh from Hakyeon, who pushed back his chair. "I-I should get going and leave you two alone."

Taekwoon then stepped away from her and grabbed his elbow. "Can we talk?" he pleaded.

Despite his heart literally crumbling to pieces, Hakyeon still couldn't refuse his brother, and accepted his plea to have a talk. The two went over to the area behind the reception desk that was pretty dense with plants, hence no one could hear them talking.

"How do you know Nayoung?" Taekwoon asked him once they were out of earshot.

"She's a regular at my cafe," Hakyeon coolly replied. "The real question is, how do you know her?"

Taekwoon rubbed the back of his head. "My mother asked me to meet up with her as a potential partner," he admitted. 

Hakyeon stayed quiet, silently processing this as Taekwoon looked around the room, trying to find the right words to say. "Hakyeon," he finally broke the silence.

"Hm?"

"I seriously had no idea that the woman you liked was Nayoung," Taekwoon apologized.

Nayoung? They were close enough for him to call her with no honorifics?

"It's alright," Hakyeon said. "Neither of us knew."

"If you want me to, I can call it off," Taekwoon suggested.

Hakyeon hummed in question.

"I've seen the way you looked at her and the way you talked about her," Taekwoon observed. "You really are in love with her, unlike me, who's just marrying her because she was the best option I have."

"What are you saying?" Hakyeon wondered.

"I can call off the wedding," Taekwoon explained.

Hakyeon's eyes widened at his cousin's suggestion. Taekwoon nodded. "You obviously love her more than I do, so I don't mind breaking it off. I can just find another woman. I'll call off the engagement and then you can have her all to yourself."

"Even if you did, she doesn't like me that way," Hakyeon said in a low voice, casting his eyes downward to avoid looking into his cousin's concerned gaze.

Taekwoon was so selfless, he was willing to give up his marriage in order to make Hakyeon happy.

Hakyeon was no idiot, he knew that Taekwoon's parents had been pressurizing him to tie the knot soon, and that would eventually become important in his corporate career as well. Hakyeon, on the other hand, was in no hurry to tie the knot. In fact, he debated whether it was really necessary to get married at all.

And yet, when Taekwoon had finally found a match, albeit in the same woman Hakyeon wanted to pursue, he was willing to give it up just so that he may have a chance. 

In his social circles, vastly different from Hakyeon's own, marital status was big. If the fact that Taekwoon had broken off an engagement got around, other women might refuse the match, not to mention it might even affect his business (he had no idea how but he just knew.) 

Hakyeon sighed. He was just being selfish, thinking about his own feelings and emotions when his cousin had virtually his entire life riding on this marriage going well.

"Don't," he finally said.

Taekwoon looked at him inquisitively.

"Don't break off the engagement," Hakyeon clarified.

"You sure?" Taekwoon asked. "It's just an engagement, nothing will happen if I-"

"You have more riding on this than I do," Hakyeon interrupted him. "I can just fall for someone else, but you need this marriage to take place."

"It's not a need," Taekwoon murmured, low enough for Hakyeon to not hear.

"Besides," Hakyeon continued, "she's beautiful, responsible, mature and intelligent. What else could you want in a wife? She'd be perfect." He frantically tried to ignore the pain in his chest area growing bigger by the second. 

"Are you absolutely sure?" Taekwoon asked again. "Because I don't-"

"Just marry her!" Hakyeon blurted out, rather sternly that it got Taekwoon's attention, not to mention loud enough for some of the nearby patrons to turn their heads and see where the commotion was coming from. 

"Just...do it," Hakyeon lowered his voice, placing his hand on his cousin's shoulder, not letting him see the expression on his face.

This was against everything his heart was telling him. He was in love, head over heels in love with Nayoung, and no one was going to take that away from him. So what if she didn't love him back? He'd make her love him.

Taekwoon looked unsure but then slowly placed his own hand on Hakyeon's, removing it. "Alright," he finally said. "I'll do it."

Hakyeon forced a smile on his face, which was the hardest thing he ever had to do. "Congratulations!" he said.

When they got back to the table however, Nayoung was picking up her bag, already wearing her coat.

"You're leaving already?" Taekwoon asked.

She nodded. "Apparently an offer for an adaptation came in," she said. "I need to go at once."

"I'll walk you out," Taekwoon offered.

Hakyeon was about to offer when he stopped himself. 

Yeah, that's right. Taekwoon's officially taking care of her now.

Despite him rationalizing it out to himself, there was a small, increasingly growing part of him that told him that decision was wrong. A tiny swirl of heat making its way from his stomach upwards towards his heart, making him unconsciously catch his heart.

Taekwoon walked over to Nayoung and the smile she gave him made Hakyeon feel the burning in his heart again.

That smile, with eyes full of happiness and passion. He wanted her to look at him like that too.

Taekwoon exchanged a couple of words with her and she nodded, locking her arm with his elbow as he walked them out towards the door.

Before they left the restaurant, Nayoung cast a look behind her, at him. 

Then she tore herself away from the devastated cafe owner and walked out with her new fiancee.

Hakyeon then lost all reason as a primal emotion overwhelmed him, filling him up from the inside out, almost spilling out. His head burning, he leaned down, resting his hand on the table, breathing hard in an effort to let out the heat.

One image kept playing over and over in his mind; the image of the love of his life looking at him while she walked away with his cousin and best friend.

He raised his eyes towards the door, the rational part of him getting smaller and smaller, getting crushed by the overflowing emotions.

It was then that Cha Hakyeon was officially jealous.