At 10am the next morning, Taeyong was seated in the office, dreading the arrival of his customer. He was proud that he had been able to keep himself together the night before when he faced the one person who had broken him years ago. Today would be no different.

Yuta arrived soon enough and Taeyong remained considerably distant, only speaking when it was absolutely necessary. It was almost as if Yuta didn’t get the message and he kept trying to initiate physical contact, shuffling way too close on bus rides and slinging his arm over Taeyong as they travelled from one location to the next. It was painful for Taeyong having to wrench himself from someone who used to mean the world to him. Taeyong couldn’t be happier when the alarm beeped at 6pm. First day of hell and he had survived.

‘I’ll text you,’ Yuta hollered as he boarded the metro, waving goodbye to Taeyong who barely even looked back as he ran out of the station.

-

Jaehyun appeared earlier than usual and Taeyong heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the younger seated with a stack of papers in hand at the front desk back at the office. ‘Hi Tae,’ Jaehyun smiled when Taeyong came into sight and Taeyong had never felt so at ease.

They were back to the routinely dinner with Jaehyun ranting about his superiors as usual and making cocky retorts. Halfway through dinner, Taeyong’s phone began to buzz and he excused himself from the table. ‘Tae,’ it was Yuta and he was drunk, ‘I miss you baby and I’m sorry, I really am.’

‘Go home Yuta,’ Taeyong answered, surprised by his own coldness. He could feel Jaehyun looking at him already and hastily ended the call.

If Jaehyun was curious about the call, he didn’t show it and they quickly paid the bill and moved on to the next location.

-

It was only Tuesday night but the streets of Hongdae were packed. The pair were exceptionally enthusiastic that night. Jaehyun was feeling giddy because he had finally cleared all his tasks at hand and because Doyoung finally had to work overtime while he and Ten were allowed to leave. Taeyong was just glad Yuta was out of sight and Jaehyun’s mere presence was soothing somehow.

Jaehyun seemed so out of place in his pressed suit but he didn’t seem to care, bounding from stall to stall checking out cheap deals.

Taeyong learnt that Jaehyun was a sock collector. ‘For starters, I’ve never heard of anyone who collects socks,’ Taeyong deadpanned, ‘And secondly, are you secretly fifty or something? I swear it’s a past time for people way beyond retirement.’

‘Shut up,’ Jaehyun whacked him on the back with his briefcase.

The night would have been perfect if not for Taeyong’s constantly buzzing phone. Jaehyun had noticed it too, especially when he saw the concerned expression on Taeyong’s face as he scrolled through them.

‘Is everything okay? We can call it a day if you have something urgent to attend to,’ Jaehyun offered.

‘No, no, no,’ the last thing Taeyong wanted was for his past to catch up with his current life. ‘It’s just an old friend. It’s nothing important.’

‘If you say so,’ Jaehyun mumbled. Old friend my , he thought. He wasn’t nosey but he wasn’t stupid either. Jaehyun had clearly seen a few heart emojis and phrases ranging from ‘I miss you’ to ‘I love you baby’. He cringed at the thought of Taeyong at the receiving end of these proclamations but quickly pushed his emotions aside. Taeyong was just a friend.

Minutes later, Taeyong’s phone rang and he scuttled away before answering. Jaehyun could hear him hissing at the caller but the caller must have said something right because Taeyong suddenly softened and grew silent.

When Taeyong returned to Jaehyun’s side, Jaehyun couldn’t contain his curiosity. He knew it wasn’t in his place to poke his nose into someone else’s business but it bugged him that someone else was treating Taeyong in a way that left him so uncomfortable.

‘Who was that?’ Jaehyun asked cautiously.

‘Same person, an old friend,’ Taeyong answered with an air of finality and Jaehyun didn’t push it.

They strolled along Hongdae some more and Jaehyun spotted a busking stand and motioned Taeyong to follow.

It was a trio – guitarist, drummer and vocalist performing an acoustic rendition of one of his karaoke jams. ‘Say what you wanna say; And let the words fall out; Honestly I wanna see you be brave…’ the chorus was Jaehyun’s favourite part as he whistled to the music. The vocalist’s gravelly tone exhibited a sense of rawness, of honesty that resonated in Jaehyun’s mind. In that split second, everything felt so right. It was as if the world just suddenly fell into place, like he wasn’t some oddball exiled in a foreign country. Nothing else seemed to matter apart from the soft music that weaved into the crisp night and the company he was with. Jaehyun was enthralled, captivated even.

Say what you want to say.

He stole a glimpse at the older boy next to him, so focused on the performance, wide eyes gleaming in the musky night. Taeyong seemed less composed than the first time they had met, hair no longer perfectly styled yet his silver locks s