[CONTENTID1]Polo Shirts and Pillows[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]“If it’s easier not to think of it as a date then fine, but you should know that I am going to date the hell out of you.”[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3] The morning after they’d sort of agreed that some kind of romantic interaction was going to be occurring in the near future, things were not going well. Yeseul felt like Baekhyun was watching her every move, even though he was the least observant person she knew and his cereal probably held more of his attention. But the worst part was that Chanyeol wouldn’t stop smiling; it was driving Yeseul positively mental.

She skipped breakfast entirely and went to campus two hours earlier than she was supposed to, because Chanyeol was practicing for the big event at the hotel (he was meant to be there at noon to begin prep, but the thing didn’t start until six) and Yeseul didn’t have the energy to be subtle about staring at his back as he cooked while Baekhyun ranted to her about the state of Asian politics.

On her way over, she came to the conclusion that she should talk to Daeho. They hadn’t had a clear end – or at least that was how he saw it – to whatever it was they’d done, and Yeseul didn’t want it to drag on unnecessarily. It wasn’t right, no matter how much she dreaded having that conversation with him.

The English Department seemed the logical place to try first, but Yeseul checked the office he shared with a few other TAs and wondered through the entire building, not finding him anywhere. She checked the other building she knew he TA’d a lecture in, but he wasn’t there either. With an hour and a half left to kill before one of the two lectures she had that day, she went to all of the other places she’d run into him on campus.

Yeseul gave up, picking up a muffin before she went to her class twenty minutes early and sat in her usual seat. Other people trickled in as she sat there, reading a book for another class she hadn’t gotten to start on the night before because of Chanyeol’s impromptu dinner party.

Her phone lit up with a text, and Yeseul stared at Chanyeol’s name for a moment before sliding it across the screen to open up their conversation.

Did you leave? I thought you just went to your room.

I had some stuff to do on campus

I made you breakfast

Oh

Sorry

It’s okay, I’m sure Baekhyun will eat it

What should I say if he asks why I made you breakfast and not him?

Just don’t tell him you made it for me

Excellent thinking

I knew I liked you for a reason :)

Yeseul stared wide-eyed at the screen. She’d known, of course, but it was weird seeing it anyway.

That was meant to be read in a joking tone

Yeseul?

What makes you think I ever take anything you say seriously?

Because you like me too :)

You’re a menace to society

And my lecture is starting so don’t text me again

So

I

Shouldn’t

Do

This?

Yeseul turned off her phone.

A dozen messaged flooded her inbox when she turned it back on after class, the majority of which she ignored because Chanyeol didn’t have anything useful to say. But the rest were from Serin, who she planned to meet for lunch before Serin went to work and Yeseul had her next class. It was already half past noon, so Yeseul replied with the suggestion that they go to the little cafe just east of campus, which had the best soup and sandwich combinations.

Despite the proximity to campus, the cafe was never busy. Yeseul suspected it was because it had a very unassuming exterior, with a few simple window boxes and a hand-painted sign. She went in and ordered, then picked a table by the window, pulling out her book to read while she waited for her friend.

Serin arrived a few minutes later, half her hair twisted into a bun and the rest falling loose to her shoulders. After she ordered, she came and sat down across from Yeseul, removing her coat to reveal her work uniform underneath. Yeseul was glad to see that her friend looked better than she had after the argument with Baekhyun yesterday – well rested, and back with her usual smile.

“How did the rest of your night go?” Serin asked, leaning her forearms on the table.

“Dinner was good, we watched a film, talked about weird turn-ons, I’m going out with Chanyeol–“

“What?”

Yeseul twisted a lock of hair into a miniature plait, her eyes flicking up to Serin’s wide gaze. “Yeah. It’s not, like, official, but we sort of decided it was a thing that’s going to happen.”

“That’s great!”

“Let’s hope so.”

“This gives me something to focus on other than the abysmal state of my own love life,” Serin said, her eyes bright.

“There’s not even anything to talk about yet, really.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Of course I’m nervous. Chanyeol and I are opposites when it comes to dating.”

Serin gave a knowing look. “You mean because he actually does it?”

“Yeah.”

“The fact that you’re going out with him is proof enough, I think, that you’re willing to at least try this.”

“I supposed,” Yeseul sighed, slouching in her chair. She’d done three plaits in the time that they were talking, and ran her fingers through them, letting the dark strands loose.

Because she could tell when Yeseul was done with a subject, Serin quickly switched gears. “Have you called your Mum yet today?”

“I was going to do it on my break.”

“Tell her I say hi, okay? Pass it onto Youngjae as well.”

“I hope I get to speak to him, I want to find out if he made her change her mind about me.”

“Maybe he was able to remind her what’s actually important in life.”

“What’s that?”

Serin rolled her eyes and grinned. “Love, obviously. Don’t you read?”

The thing about trying to read on break was that other people were in there too, and they were not reading. Yeseul had claimed one of the corners in the break room, dragged a chair over to it, put in her headphones and blasted her reading playlist so she couldn’t hear the chatter of her co-workers. The boxy polo shirt that made up her uniform was scratching the back of her neck and she hadn’t bothered taking off her visor, so she knew she looked ridiculous sitting in the chair with her legs hooked over one of the armrests and her book right up to her nose, but she was in no mood to care.

A shadow fell across the page, and Yeseul could feel somebody standing over her. She was pretty sure that most her co-workers were afraid of her, so she wasn’t sure why one of them would be interrupting her reading time, but she looked up anyway.

It was Chanyeol.

The shock of him being at her work wore off quickly because he was grinning like an idiot and it was definitely in regard to the visor on her head. Yeseul was very strict about her friends never seeing her in her cinema uniform; only Baekhyun had seen her in it because he’d gone on a date while she was working. It was even worse that it was Chanyeol, because he would never stop teasing her for it.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, ignoring all of the stares coming from around the room. Somebody coming in to talk to her was a very rare occurrence, so they all wanted to know who Chanyeol was and why he was there.

“I managed to leave for half an hour,” Chanyeol said. His coat was undone, revealing the chef’s jacket underneath. There were a number of stains on it from the prep work he’d been doing all afternoon. “I went by your apartment, because I wasn’t sure when you started your shift, and Baekhyun told me you were here. That’s about it.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

Chanyeol glanced around, and those who’d been staring quickly went back to their own conversations. “Can we talk somewhere else?”

“Yeah,” she replied, snapping her book shut. Yeseul got out of her chair and went to her locker to grab her parka, tossing in her visor at the same time. She led Chanyeol out of the cinema and around the corner where there weren’t so many people walking past. “What is it?”

“Well, first of all,” Chanyeol began, holding up his hands. “Can I say how lovely you look today.”

She smacked his arm and tried to scowl, but Chanyeol was giggling and it wasn’t having the same effect on him that it usually did. She smoother back her hair, some of which had fallen loose from her ponytail when she removed the visor, and bit back a smile.

“I mean, really, absolutely ravishing,” Chanyeol continued with a grin. “That hat you were wearing really … well, it hid most of your face but I absolutely loved it.”

A bubble of laughter escaped her lips before she had a chance to stop it, and Chanyeol’s eyes lit up with excitement. He laughed again when she clapped a hand over , her eyes narrowing, but his giggling was making her want to smile again and her hands slowly fell back to her side. But when he lips started to stretch Chanyeol’s laughter cut off abruptly, and then he was kissing her.

Chanyeol’s hands cupped her face, his lips moving against her eagerly. Unable to help herself, Yeseul kissed him back, gripping the lapels of his coat. She went up on her toes to deepen the kiss, her tongue swiping across his lip, and Chanyeol’s hands drifted away from her cheeks and down her back. Because of her thick coat, he slipped his hands around from the open front, one resting where her polo was tucked into her jeans and the other higher on her spine, keeping her pressed closely to him.

In the back of her mind, Yeseul was aware that her break was nearly over and Chanyeol probably had to get back to the hotel soon, but she didn’t want to stop. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair and to kiss him until both of their lips were sore, to feel his skin against hers.

Chanyeol moved away from to focus on her neck, but Yeseul ducked away, pushing on his shoulder to make him lift his head and look at her, confused. “I have to go inside soon.”

“Right,” Chanyeol said, his hands sliding around to her hips as he shifted away from her slightly. He kept them there, though, and she could feel his thumbs tracing the lines of her hipbones through her shirt. “I actually did come here to ask you something, before um, that happened. I wanted to ask what you were doing this weekend.”

“I think I’m supposed to be working, but it’s pretty easy to switch shifts.”

He his lips, drawing her attention to them, but she tried very hard to focus on his eyes instead. “So, it’s a date then?”

The idea of hanging out with Chanyeol in a romantic way made Yeseul nervous. But the word ‘date’ made her laugh. Chanyeol looked even more confused, his grip slackening on her hips. She flattened her palms against his chest,, clamping her lips together to stop from laughing any more. “Sorry. That word is just weird to me. Something about it just makes me … I don’t know.”

“What?”

“Just like, I’ve been on a few dates and they’re always so awkward and horrible. I can flirt, yeah, but I don’t really know how to function in, like, a restaurant environment. It’s why I usually make people take me to bars. At least then I can drink without it being too obvious that I want to get drunk. I prefer to skip the whole dat thing altogether, if I’m honest.”

Chanyeol pursed his lips and steppe