Jaehyun shuddered as he snuggled deeper into his padded jacket. TY had done him the courtesy of buying drinks once they entered a nearby cafe. There had since been no exchange between the two, TY’s lips sealed tightly shut.

TY returned with a tray of drinks, three in total, to Jaehyun’s surprise. Sitting down, TY picked up a cup and sipped in silence. He motioned Jaehyun to the remaining two.

‘Saw you holding an Americano just now, but wasn’t sure if it was sweetened or not so here are two.’

To say Jaehyun was taken aback was an understatement, for he had no idea the other was so observant and so... kind? He shook the thought off. Nah, the man was just doing his damn job. He picked up the unsweetened cup.

‘Sooo... What do we have planned?’ Jaehyun asked, and immediately regretted speaking.

‘Aren’t you supposed to tell me? You’re the boss here.’

Jaehyun flushed crimson. He did not appreciate the retort.

As if seeing his customer’s discomfort, the tourguide seemed to soften, ‘Sorry, the weather’s getting under my skin,’ he mumbled, ‘Let’s start over again. Hi, I’m Taeyong. Mark calls me TY as an inside joke but I prefer Taeyong.’

Jaehyun picked up two things from that statement. One, the younger boy in the shop was called Mark. Not Marklee or Lee, but Mark, it must have been a typo then. Two, Taeyong was profusely eloquent in English, much to Jaehyun’s amazement. Albeit accented in a strangely exotic way, Taeyong seemed rather confident in the language.

‘Taeyong…’ Jaehyun slurred without even registering that he had embarrassingly repeated the other’s name. The syllables rolled fluidly off his tongue. He didn’t know a name could sound so melodic.

‘Yeah, that’s me,’ Taeyong shuffled in his seat. He fished a handful of what seemed like a mix of garbage and bits and bobs from his pocket and held out a slightly crumpled but readable card. Jaehyun took it and read out loud, ‘Name, Lee Taeyong. Age, 23.’ The boy definitely looked more mature than his age.

For the first time since they met, Jaehyun shifted his gaze to examine the man sitting on the other side of the table who was picking at the loose ends of his thin jacket, zoning out at the hustle and bustle outside the café. Perhaps it was the hair, dyed staunchly silver with threads of black emerging at the roots, or maybe it was the angled jawline and sharp features. The way Taeyong’s facial features came together like a beautiful mess, impossible to stand alone yet so beautifully ethereal when it amalgamated stunned Jaehyun. He had always been a popular kid in school, a star player at the firm, attracting masses of admirers, and truth be told, he had had is fair share of attention from equally pretty girls, yet Taeyong was something else, something different. Jaehyun was broken out of his reverie when he suddenly noticed that Taeyong had been staring back at him, just as Jaehyun was doing the same and immediately cleared his throat and focused on the card once again.

‘Hobbies, a bit of everything. Personality type, INFP,’ Jaehyun paused. ‘What’s an INFP?’

‘Google it,’ Taeyong deadpanned and Jaehyun didn’t think anyone could sound less interested than that.

Whatever, Jaehyun shrugged. If Taeyong didn’t care enough to talk, he couldn’t be bothered to know. It’s just a one week tourguide. Three hours per day max, no commitment, no nothing, he reminded himself.

Nothing on the rest of the card jumped out particularly to Jaehyun anymore and he tucked it into his wallet.

‘Your turn,’ said Taeyong looking up from his drink, as if he had finally found Jaehyun slightly more interesting than the coffee stain on the ring of his cup.

‘I’m Jaehyun. 21. Part Korean, part Americ-’

‘I wasn’t asking for your profile,’ Taeyong cut him short, ‘It’s none of my business. I just need to know what you want to do these seven days.’

, Jaehyun flushed twenty shades redder. ‘Well, you were the one who showed me yours, geez,’ he mumbled in weak protest.

The rest of the afternoon was less painful, Jaehyun having gathered how Taeyong’s mode of interaction, which was, in other words, not at all. Save from the most essential conversations, Jaehyun learnt that the older was a man of few words.

Jaehyun had told Taeyong briefly what he was looking to see – the more modest side of the city. No clubbing, no shopping trips and definitely nothing extravagant.

Taeyong seemed to have it all in his head, because as soon as Jaehyun had told him what he wanted, the older immediately outlined a careful plan of what the top ten places to visit were. He scribbled them onto a map he had fished out previously, together with that introductory card. His handwriting was barely readable