Sanha’s once dull routine of going to his classes and doing school works right before the submission date was now replaced with a series of “spying dates” with Minhyuk, as he called it. After the fifth instance of spying around Eunwoo and Bin, Sanha vowed to himself that he wouldn’t do that ever again. Minhyuk’s attempts to drag Sanha along proved to be a failure due to Sanha’s strong resolve. For a while, Minhyuk did the spying alone but he, himself, got bored and sleepy of the two’s boring taste in movies and would wake up in an empty cinema often. So to keep him company, Minhyuk decided to annoy Sanha everyday; teasing him and calling him weird nicknames, following him everywhere he went, stalking him on social media and destroying his ears by flooding his notifications. It wasn’t long enough till Minhyuk’s persistence reigned over Sanha’s resolve.

But if Sanha was being honest, he was thankful for the other because going out with Minhyuk was better than doing nothing at home. Although Minhyuk is quite a weird kid, Sanha did have his fair share at it, as acting cute didn’t really match his age and height. In fact, they’ve bonded over their weirdness and became closer to each other. They were inseparable to the point where most students in their class thought that the two were dating. The first and last person Sanha talked to was Minhyuk. Even on his mind, he was thinking of his day with Minhyuk, and the upcoming days to be spent with him.

It was weird; now that he knew Minhyuk more and that he tagged along with him everyday, everything seemed fun and worthwhile to do. Now, Sanha anticipated going to the movies and watching Eunwoo and Bin’s boring movies with Minhyuk. He doesn’t really understand it. Sometimes, he just wanted to see Minhyuk or just feel his presence. And it wasn’t that he felt lonely; Sanha may not be the most outspoken person but he does know how to socialize with others. It’s just that he prefered a light brown haired, medium height, weird boy to accompany him on his boring days.

*

One late afternoon, Sanha received a text from Minhyuk in class. He quickly hid his phone under the table to check what Minhyuk sent him. Last time, he got in trouble for letting his guard down and laughing at a meme that Minhyuk sent him while in class.

You free later? Let’s watch a movie!

- Park Minhyuk

Yeah I’m free later. Why? Bin and Eunwoo going on another date?

- Yoon Sanha

Nope. Just wanted to watch this movie.

- Park Minhyuk

Ok.

- Yoon Sanha

You get off at 5:30 right?

- Park Minhyuk

Yep.You planning to pick me up? ;)

- Yoon Sanha

Of course I will. You are my date after all ;)

- Park Minhyuk

Sanha stared at the last text sent to him. Date? He dismissed the idea at first and returned to the lecture being taught, knowing very well that Minhyuk was only kidding around. But after awhile of listening, his mind kept replaying the word to the point that he couldn’t concentrate. He didn’t understand why his heart started to pound at the thought of Minhyuk and a date and why he was suddenly blushing and feeling giddy. I’m acting weird today.

*

The feelings of excitement and giddiness instantly died down when Sanha learned what movie they were gonna watch. Apparently, Minhyuk was a big fan of horror movies and was anticipating the new insidious movie. While Minhyuk was engrossed on the movie’s plot, Sanha was covering his eyes and trying hard not to scream, which he failed to do when the first jumpscare of the movie happened. And this happened throughout all the jumpscare and creepy scenes of the movie. He didn’t notice that he would subconsciously hold Minhyuk’s arm or use it to hid himself whenever a scene looked terrifying. And he also didn’t notice that Minhyuk was smiling and silently laughing at how adorable he looked. By the end of it, he felt that his soul left his body. When Minhyuk stood up and told him that they should go, he could barely stand up with his legs feeling weak and wobbly. Minhyuk chuckled at the cute mess that is Sanha. It was a good thing they didn’t buy any popcorn.

Partly feeling guilty for the aftermath of Sanha looking and feeling soulless, Minhyuk decided to treat him on an ice cream parlor. And it looked like the best solution as Sanha’s eyes lit up at the sight of the ice cream flavors. It took him awhile to pinpoint what he’d take - going back and forth from mint chocolate chip, chocolate chip cookie dough, golden medal ribbon, and cotton candy - but in the end, he chose pralines and cream as his ice cream while Minhyuk took chocolate chip cookie dough.  

*

“Do I have something on my face?” Sanha spoke after he felt that the other was staring at him for a while. Sanha also instinctively wiped his lips with a napkin.

“Not really,” Minhyuk said simply.

“Then why are you staring?” Sanha asked.

“Nothing. Just that you look cute eating,” Minhyuk said and continued to eat his ice cream. Sanha looked at him wide-eyed and tried his hardest not to blush as he continued to eat his ice cream in silence. The weird awkward atmosphere that they both created had prevented them from speaking, so the both of them silently ate their ice cream. After finishing their ice creams, both of them decided to go home, still not speaking to each other.

Sanha found it weird. Why am I acting like this? He didn’t really get why he suddenly felt shy to the other. As they rode the public bus, he couldn’t help but steal glances on Minhyuk and quickly divert his eyes into something else as he felt his ears burn and his heart pound a little faster every time. Doing it repeatedly for the whole bus ride, he almost forgot his stop. He bid farewell to Minhyuk, who smiled at him and waved while mouthing the word ‘bye’. Focusing on Minhyuk too much, Sanha almost tripped on his way down, making Minhyuk laugh. He just played it off and waved at him until the bus left. He quickly retreated to his apartment and plumped himself on his bed, burying his face in pillows and screaming out of embarrassment of how foolish he has acted today. He couldn’t shake off the feeling even till now. Whenever he thought about Minhyuk, he would feel his cheeks burn up and he would roll over his bed while squealing.

Park Minhyuk huh. I guess he’s not half bad.  

*

The days that came after wasn’t really the same anymore. Sanha may be young and inexperienced with love, but he knew well enough to differentiate friendship and love. At first, he played it off and continued to hang out with Minhyuk but soon the butterflies in his stomach took the better of him. His mind was occupied of moments of him and Minhyuk doing anything and everything. He would notice the little things that Minhyuk would do; how Minhyuk would occasionally hold his arm and link it with his, how Minhyuk would quickly finish his juice boxes like a kid, how Minhyuk would always remind him to eat, how Minhyuk would let Sanha take the window seat on their way home, how Minhyuk would grin when he knew he was right or when he was confident, how Minhyuk would crinkle his nose when he found something questionable. All of it made his heart flutter. And it didn’t help that the first and last person that Sanha texted was him.

After a few months, Sanha couldn’t deny his growing feelings. Playing it safe, he fooled himself into thinking it was just an infatuation to the other, as he did find Minhyuk amazing and an admirable person, and that it would probably go away in the near future. And so, he blindly basked on the moments of bliss, neglecting his heart, and continued to fool himself.

*

16:05

Where are you?

- Park Minhyuk

At home. Why?

- Yoon Sanha

You doing anything special? I’ll come over.

- Park Minhyuk

Actually I am. Just some school stuff though.

- Yoon Sanha

So nothing special. Ok. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.

- Park Minhyuk

Ok see you :)

- Yoon Sanha

16:21

Minhyuk pressed the elevator button and waited a minute for it to arrive. He went to press the third floor button and was about to press the close button when he saw that a guy was rushing to go to the elevator. He pressed the open button and waited for him to enter the elevator and smiled at the stranger before closing it. He asked what floor and was ready to press the button for him. The guy smiled and said third floor, which meant both of them had the same destination.

The elevator was quite slow, leaving Minhyuk and the stranger in an awkward silence. He examined the guy; semi dark red hair, quite on the short side as Minhyuk was slightly taller, soft facial features, having a fierce poker face yet having an aura that only Minhyuk can describe as a friendly puppy. Deciding to break the ice, Minhyuk started some small talk.

“So.. visiting someone?” Minhyuk said. He didn’t really know how to start the conversation since introducing yourself to the guy in this situation seemed weird.

“Actually, I’m picking up my boyfriend,” the red haired stranger replied with a smile.

“Oh ho ho a boyfriend. I see. I see,” Minhyuk said. He was about to ask another question when the elevator door swung open and so both of them exited the elevator. Minhyuk went out first so that he could quickly go to Sanha’s apartment but it seemed like the stranger was following him. Minhyuk quickly rang Sanha’s doorbell, getting slightly paranoid and embarrassed for no reason, and quickly went inside halfway while looking behind. He didn’t know why his initial thought was the stranger was going to kill him. It must’ve been all the horror movies he had watched.

“Oh my god! Thank God you answered the door quickly. There’s a stran-” Minhyuk was cut-off when he saw that the person who opened the door wasn’t Sanha but a light browned haired guy. Minhyuk went back outside to check the apartment number, which was correct.

“Uhh… I must have been mistaken. I thought this was my friend’s apartment,” Minhyuk started and was about to head back outside when he heard Sanha’s laughter from a corner. The guy also laughed.

“Don’t worry. This is your friend’s house. We’re just messing with you. Sanha, come out already your friend looks so embarrassed,” the guy spoke. And with that, Sanha appeared from one of the corners he had hidden himself from and casually waved at him.

“Ya!” Minhyuk said and slapped Sanha’s shoulder when Sanha approached him. Sanha only laughed more.

“Myungjun this is my friend, Park Minhyuk. Minhyuk, this is Kim Myungjun. He’s also a music major like me,” Sanha introduced, both of them smiling at each other and shaking each other’s hand. As they finished shaking hands, the doorbell rang.

“That must be Jinwoo,” Myungjun said with a tone of excitement in his voice. Sanha opened the door to see the same person that Minhyuk had been with in the elevator. Both of them looked at each other surprised, which Sanha noticed.

“You know each other?” Sanha asked.

“Uhm.. I was at the same elevator with him a while ago,” Minhyuk explained. Sanha only murmured an oh as a response.

“Looks like my date is here. We’ll be heading out then,” Myungjun said as he went to the boy named Jinwoo and side hugged him. Jinwoo smiled sheepishly and ruffled Myungjun’s hair.

“Have fun!” Sanha said. Minhyuk only smiled at them as he scrambled his way to Sanha’s side.

“We will. You two also have fun,” Myungjun replied with a wink before closing the door.  

“Curse you Kim Myungjun,” Park Minhyuk heard Sanha say under his breath.

*

“Who were those two couple?” Minhyuk asked, now lying comfortably on Sanha’s couch and watching some netflix show on his tv. Sanha was beside him, fixing some papers and typing on his laptop.

“Myungjun and Jinwoo. They’ve been dating for 3 years now,” Sanha told Minhyuk as he continued to do his essays for his classes. “Myungjun was here to help me with one of my projects, which is to write and compose a song. I figured that he’s more experienced with songwriting and with love than me so I asked for some help.”

“Oh? I want to hear it!” Minhyuk said excitedly, fixing himself up so now he was sitting and looking at him.

“All we’ve done is the melody and the guitar chords. We haven’t thought of any yrics yet,” Sanha said, trying his best to avoid playing it to Minhyuk since he decided that it was gonna be a song about him.

“I still want to hear it! Even if it’s just the instrumental,” Minhyuk replied. Minhyuk took the black guitar from the side of the couch and handed it to Sanha. With Minhyuk looking at him expectantly, Sanha heaved a sigh and started strumming his guitar.

The song was, nonetheless, incomplete; it was lacking lyrics and Sanha had to do double takes on some chords, some of the parts feeling out of place and unfitting. But what it did have was a story; it was as if Sanha had been playing using his heart strings, pouring out his raw emotions and conveying it through his melodies as he hummed incomprehensible words. It told a story of love, of realization, of being afraid, of being young. It was beautiful.

Minhyuk was so entranced that he didn’t notice he had been staring at Sanha, who had now finished strumming his guitar. It occurred to him only after a second as he heard Sanha’s voice that it was finished.

“So… what do you think?” Sanha asked shyly, hugging his guitar as a means to cover his flushed cheeks.

“Beautiful,” Minhyuk replied, the only word that came up to his mind. He didn’t know if it was the melodies and chords, the feeling it conveyed or the very person who was strumming, but maybe it was all of it combined.

*

That day, after Sanha played his incomplete song, Minhyuk had fallen asleep on his couch. The boy had practiced playing basketball in the entirety of the day as he was a part of their department’s varsity team and a game was coming up. Sanha had noticed Minhyuk falling asleep as he was typing his essays and so after he had finished writing the last paragraph, he took a blanket and lay it over Minhyuk.

Sanha didn’t mean to stay there and look at Minhyuk sleeping, but that was what happened. Minhyuk looked so peaceful sleeping; despite being on the sun all day, he still managed to look as breathtaking as he had always been. Sanha hesitated at first but could not help himself not fix his messed up hair. Sanha smiled and stared at the boy sleeping so soundly. Sanha laughed when Minhyuk started to snore weakly and he unconsciously ruffled his hair.

As he was doing so, he heard what Myungjun had asked him a while ago when they were composing his song. If he wasn’t sure what to answer on that moment, he was more unsure of himself by now. Without noticing, Sanha thought out loud.

I can’t be falling for him. No, I’m sure I’m not. I wouldn’t anyway… I hope.