Woojin wakes up to rain drops softly clashing against the roof of his small apartment. The sound resonates through his otherwise serene room, making the atmosphere appear rather gloomy than the usual blithe mood he was so used to forcing on himself every morning.

The weather affects him indefinitely; Woojin's mind immediately reeling through possible excuses he can tell his friend, Seongwoo, as to why he cannot go through with their planned study session today. A small voice in his head tells Woojin to relax; to let go. It's his free day from school anyway, he doesn't need to put up the cheery vibe he wears in front of people.

He hates this part of him sometimes, the part that knows Woojin isn't as strong and as happy as he claims to be and someday karma will come and bite him in the but he never learns. Scratch that, he actively chooses not to learn from it.

Woojin stays rooted on his bed for a bit before eventually deciding to get his morning fix first and just think about the consequences of choosing his hidden introversion over meeting Seongwoo after he gets his head cleared.

He showers fast then puts on an old t-shirt with a cartoon character he barely remembers, printed on it and jeans. His friends often criticize Woojin's style of clothing but they're not really the best people you can trust with when it comes to giving good judgment so Woojin decided long ago not to give a .

Woojin heads to the café just a few blocks down from his apartment. He's a regular there, so once he arrived, Woojin sits on an empty booth closest to the door and waits for a few minutes until the waiter, who he became quite good friends with over time, Minhyun, gives him his daily dose of coffee.

Woojin smiles at him and hands over his card, which Minhyun accepts with a playful wink and a quick "Let's be happy today, my friend" before disappearing into the counter.

Sometime between quietly sipping his coffee and thinking about how he might let himself loose one of these days and just be crazy, Woojin pulls out his phone from his backpocket and sends a quick text to Seongwoo, telling him he feels sick and won't be able to go.

Woojin stares at his phone, boring holes into the message app being shown. He feels the all-too familiar feeling of regret pulling on his gut for lying. He briefly wonders when he became so adept with forcing himself to be the happy-go-lucky Woojin whom everyone recognizes that actually letting himself be 'him' for once seems like an awful deception.

A soft pat on his shoulder pulls Woojin out of his reverie. He looks up quickly, fully expecting Minhyun to be there, but who he sees is a man dressed in a black suit, with his hair carefully styled and eyes perceptive and searching. He smiles at Woojin, and the latter catches a whiff of his perfume.

The man looked expensive, and Woojin suddenly feels self-conscious.

"Do you mind?" He asks, voice firm and making Woojin feel something. The man gestures to the chair in front of him and waits for his response.

Woojin shakes his head shyly. He feels his face heat up, so he looks away to hide himself from the other.

The man just smiles again and sits down. "I didn't know those men are capable of hiring cute intels. Did you get lost somehow and they threatened you?" The man asks, laughing.

Woojin furrows his eyebrows at him. "Excuse me, what?"

"Ah, I'm sorry." He replies, casually reaching over his tie and loosens it a bit. He reaches inside his suit and reveals a small notebook with a pen placed between its pages. He places the notebook on the table and holds the pen on his hand. He smiles before asking, "I'm Park Jihoon. Should we get straight to the business then?"

Woojin opens his mouth to ask him what kind of game he's playing but the man promptly gives another question.

"How was the product?"

Something clicks on Woojin's mind. He must be one of those secret evaluators, he thinks.

Woojin looks over the counter to see Minhyun looking at him, obvious confusion etched on his features. This confirms his assumption and so Woojin looks back at the man and answers swiftly.

"The product was great! Granted, it's basically my favorite so I would be biased over it but considering it comes from this place, I guess I could say they're what makes it great. Anyway, my name's Park Woojin."

This time, it's the man's (Jihoon's) turn to furrow his eyebrows at him. It took a few seconds of awkward silence between them before he shrugs and asks again,

"What were the merger's conditions? How will they pay?"

Woojin ponders the questions. Jihoon isn't really using big, corporate words he can't understand, but somehow it puzzles Woojin how these words put together are related to the evaluation of the cafe. Nonetheless, he trusts his limited understanding and answers.

"Customers pay either through cash or card?"

Jihoon looks at him with amusement before standing up.

"Alright," he says. "I'll use your services next time."

"Huh?" Woojin responds dumbly, but Jihoon just silently picks his notebook up and places it inside his suit again and walks out the door without another word.

×××

Exactly a week after the first one, on the same day and place, and at the same time, Woojin meets Jihoon again.

He's about to tell him that he'd interviewed Woojin about the cafe the week before but surely, Jihoon manages to speak first, again.

"Got anything on the new management?" He asks, pulling his notebook and pen out of his suit again.

"What new management?"

"Uh..," Jihoon starts, "this?" He says, gesturing to the cafe.

"Ah, this management?" Woojin asks.

Jihoon smiles before nodding. "I guess."

Woojin looks around then answers. "It's good management, as far as I'm concerned. It makes people happy and satisfied."

Jihoon stares at him again, his gaze calculating yet mischievous. "It must be nice to be happy." He says.

He's caught off-guard by the comment but responds to it with agreement. "Yes, it must be."

×××

The third time it happens, there's no awkwardness or timidly asking for consent to ask, just quiet acceptance of a strange yet familiar company.

"I almost died today." Jihoon shares as soon as he sits down on their table.

"Tell me about it. Life's a sometimes." Woojin replies without looking up from his phone.

Jihoon stays quiet for a while before laughing softly. "I guess you're right."

Woojin looks up to see Jihoon looking ethereal even though he's just wearing casual clothes.

He thinks Jihoon's laugh is the sweetest melody he's ever heard and he doesn't regret letting him interview him regarding the café evaluation every week, as weird as that sounds.

Woojin sees the days they share a few minutes with each other as time he allows himself to be 'him'; to be the quiet and reserved Woojin who acceps that maybe he's reclusive and happiness isn't something he can readily find anywhere; to be the Woojin that knows he might not be honest with himself most days, but at the very least he can be honest in front of Jihoon.

"You're not going to ask me anything?" Woojin asks.

"I think you should ask me something, for a change." Jihoon says, smiling once again. It seems to be a habit of his, though Woojin's not really complaining.

Woojin chuckles. "Would that be okay? Considering you're supposed to be the one doing the evaluation."

Jihoon nods slowly, as if finally understanding something. "Evaluation." He repeats.

Woojin narrows his eyes at him. "Yes?"

Jihoon snorts, but then he reverts back to a serious stance, though Woojin still sees the amusement in his eyes. "So, any questions?"

Woojin hesitates at first, but eventually relents. "Do you think its possible to always be yourself?"

"No." Jihoon says, surprising Woojin a bit.

"Sure, it's a nice thought to be yourself all the time but I think it's too ideal to be true. What constitutes being "yourself" honestly? Is it having the same attitude over everything? Because if that's the goal then that's pretty hard."

"We encounter different people everyday, and we show each person a part of ourselves that they can accept; a personality that they can interact with. Does that mean we're being fake? No. It means we know that people's tastes are subjective and to make things easier, we both fall into a silent agreement of respect by treating them in a way that they'd feel satisfied with. Wanting to be yourself doesn't always mean being different all the time. It could also mean letting others see a part of you that you want them to see, while still knowing that you are not just that personality, but a whole lot more."

Woojin's very much impressed by Jihoon's answer and couldn't muster anything to say back than a weak, "Woah."

Jihoon laughs, his eyes crinkling and sending mixed signals to Woojin's heart.

For a while they just stare at each other. Woojin hopes to God Jihoon is oblivious because he's pretty sure his face screams "You amaze me."

Jihoon surprises Woojin (yet again) by suddenly reaching over and softly patting his head. He smiles that smile that Woojin's grown accustomed to and spoke with a voice full of sincerity. "It's okay that you're not who you thought you should be, Woojin. Discovering who you are is a long process, and sometimes you just have to let go and let life happen, let people see you the way they want to, because the opinion that should matter the most is your opinion of yourself. And if someday you become satisfied with how you live your life, then thats the time you should know that's enough; that you're already good enough."

Woojin opens his mouth to say something but eventually closes it again as he finds no words to say. It seems that Jihoon knows all the right things to say and Woojin's admiration of him might have admittedly soared too high for his comfort.

"But you know," Jihoon continues, "it wouldn't be that bad to discover yourself with another person's help."

"W-what do you mean?" Woojin stutters out, feeling his face heat up. What's new?

Jihoon shrugs but still smiles sweetly. "You know what I mean. Oh, and by the way, I'm not an evaluator or something."

"What."

"I'm a private investigator, and I was told a new intel was hired by the company to help me with my case."

Confusion dawns on Woojin's features. "Intel? Are you talking about me?"

Jihoon nods. "They said the new intel was in this café and wears cartoon-printed shirts. The description's basically you. Though, to be fair, I didn't really try to look for another person once I saw you. So, uhm, my mistake, I guess."

"When did you realize I wasn't the intel?"

"Like, 5 seconds into the first conversation."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Woojin asks, a bit annoyed but isn't that confused about the situation anymore.

Jihoon sighs. "You were really cute, okay? And I didn't really mind not getting anything from that intel anyway because hey, it meant having a reason to talk to you."

"So you lied to me." Woojin says, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Hey, I didn't lie!" Jihoon responds, letting his composure waver in front of Woojin for the first time. "I just didn't clear the misunderstanding earlier than I should have, and I'm truly sorry for that. I hope you know I have no intention to lie to you, or to keep doing so."

Woojin rolls his eyes at him but he knows that Jihoon's been forgiven even before he apologized goddamnit. "Thank yourself for being one hell of an intellectual, and for being cute too, I guess."

Jihoon smiles cheekily and pats his own shoulder. "Good job, you."

Woojin sighs, defeated but is still undoubtedly charmed.

"Anyway.." Jihoon starts again, "Should we start over?"

He smiles once again and offers his hand. Woojin already feels like he'll be unable to say no him, not anymore, not ever. "Hi, I'm Park Jihoon, a private investigator. Nice to meet you."

Woojin takes his hand and holds it against his own. "I'm Park Woojin, nice to meet you too."