- CHAPTER 3 -

So, asking Jihoon’s boyfriend to give him Jeonghan’s number was a big NO.

Even after he had bribed treated him to an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant. And damn, that kid ate like he had never been fed before (despite his chubby cheeks and, uhh, thicc figure—Jihoon said this). Seungcheol himself was a big eater, though. They held this short friendly debate, in which Soonyoung said that he could not share employee’s data for personal gain and that he did not wish to violate the code of ethics of his profession twice. He deliberately ignored Seungcheol’s raised eyebrow and judging look after that.

Jihoon only laughed beside the munching hamster. Soonyoung also argued that it would be weird if Seungcheol, out of a sudden, texted Jeonghan for a meet-up, even if it was only a casual drinking session between a sunbae and his hobae after work. Jeonghan would definitely be curious about how Seungcheol got his number. They did not seem to hang out with the same circle of friends, after all. Jihoon supported his boyfriend’s point by saying he did not think Jeonghan would fancy being asked out by a man he barely knew.

In Jihoon’s case, he kind of had something of mutual interest or familiar topic to talk about with Soonyoung. In addition, they did not even know if Jeonghan liked men at all. Seungcheol could only pout; he knew they were right. When he asked Soonyoung how he first met Jihoon and if he felt awkward texting him, Soonyoung simply said they actually frequented this same gay bar and the bartender often talked about wanting to introduce this cute guy named Jihoon to him (but having no means of contacting Jihoon).

At first, Soonyoung had thought they only shared the same name, but then he found out it was really that Lee Jihoon after the bartender had shown a photo of him in his phone. He had in fact been attracted to Jihoon since the first time they met, back then when he was assigned to interview Jihoon during the last stage of the recruitment process. And the rest is history. He patted Seungcheol on the back as if to cheer on him before they finally parted ways. Jihoon went back with Soonyoung as he was a bit tipsy and Soonyoung was too protective and freaked out if he so much as heard Jihoon catch a taxi alone in that condition.

Seungcheol smiled as he watched the two, who undeniably made a cute couple, and then fished his phone out of his pocket to look at the candid photos he took of Jeonghan just this afternoon (he accidentally saw Jeonghan walking out of the office with his friends and somehow managed to capture his images from behind a tree without looking like a complete weirdo). Jeonghan’s visual was no joke, even from afar. He pondered his chances of getting close to his ‘angel’—the only nickname befitting the ethereal Jeonghan, he thought.

However, no one would ever imagine that the next day…

Yup, he’s totally whipped! Jihoon smirked as he watched his childhood friend trying his best to sit next to Jeonghan, even though the blonde man was implicitly and politely showing his rejection. Persistence is the key to success in marketing world, after all. And Seungcheol sure acted fast. Jihoon went back to enjoying his lunch and conversing with his boyfriend, who never seemed to be tired of talking animatedly.

But surprisingly, Soonyoung’s non-stop chattering and the busy cafeteria ambient noise combined could not drown out Seungcheol’s cooing over Jeonghan’s beauty and super lame pickup lines (‘Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?’ or ‘Do you have a map? Because I keep getting lost in your eyes’). It piqued Jihoon’s interest more as he secretly listened to whatever happening between Seungcheol and Jeonghan. He mostly did not need to look at Seungcheol to know that he was looking at Jeonghan with eyes full of pure adoration as well.

Oh my God… If only he could roll his eyes right now without offending his boyfriend.

By now, it would be understandable if Jeonghan started to think that Seungcheol was a bit of a creep. That mere thought somehow amused Jihoon to no end because, let’s be honest, Seungcheol had always been a bit of a creep. Seungcheol used to, kind of, stalk a girl classmate when they were in middle school. She was his first crush (Seungcheol was a late bloomer, alright) and he did not want other boys to steal her despite not having the gall to confess himself. In the end, he had gotten reprimanded by their homeroom teacher and both his and the girl’s parents.

Now, it was as if Seungcheol did not want to repeat the same mistake and went full on lunatic with expressing his feelings. It was an improvement, in a way. Jih