A/N : The boys moved to a new dorm and sleep in separate rooms? WAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEE     TTTTTTT.TTTTTTTT  and dooseob aren't even roommates. huh just kill me. 

20 years old, Yong Junhyung

Yoseob walked around Hongdae, pacing through pavements, crossing streets, roaming alleys, he needed to find a designated lounge around the area. His heart was trying to jump out of his ribcage a million times and Yoseob had never been so excited in his life.

It had been four years since Yoseob had started taking pictures – not photography, just taking pictures. The camera he was using until now was bought accidentally when he was seventeen – because it was so cheap and the ahjumma was so nice and Yoseob was so lonely because Doojoon went on his soccer camp and he had nothing better to do and there was no one to drag him away from the store because that was Doojoon’s job – when he walked home alone from school one faithful day.

Turned out the archaic camera was one of his prized possession now, he loved every little bit of it, loved the somewhat springy and tired sound the shutter made when he clicked it, loved the way it captured lights in different ways depending on the angle, loved the dents and a small crack near the lens which reminded Yoseob that it had accompanied him wherever he went.

Yoseob loved taking pictures.

And he loved the fact that Doojoon was his first picture.

During the four years of his amateur photography voyage, he had won awards and prizes. He entered some photography competitions on magazines and newspapers and it just happened that the pictures he took were more amazing than he even thought they would be. Yoseob received so much love from the readers and judges that one of the latter recommended him to the Korea Tourism Board to join the bandwagon of talented young photographers in translating the beauty of Korea cultures and landscapes into pictures.

It was a huge stepping stone for Yoseob, but then a phone call came.

The person said he was Yong Junhyung and invited Yoseob for a meeting. The younger man thought it was a prank call and shouted at Junhyung to never call him again. But the same call came ten minutes later, Junhyung said that – Yoseob could hear the anger between gritted teeth – if Yoseob had the guts to hang up on him the second time, then the older man would hunt Yoseob down for the rest of his life.

And just like that Yoseob was on his way to meet Yong Junhyung. He was ten minutes early when he made a left and found an ultramodern and classy lounge, a slim and charming young lady greeting him at the entrance with a warm and bright smile that could melt the North Pole without the help of the current global warming. Upon hearing that he was Yang Yoseob and was there to meet Yong Junhyung, the lady’s smile widened and escorted him inside.

She motioned Yoseob to sit at the table in the corner and clicked her fingers to notify the bartender for a drink. Yoseob looked around the lounge and immediately felt utterly uncomfortable. The lights were dimmed but they lit up the prefect spots to create the ideal atmosphere of the lounge, the walls were covered with red wallpapers and black cursive decorations while the rest of the furniture were also in black, with simple lines and cutting edge designs.

Yoseob was almost scared that he would ruin one of those expensive looking items, the item he was sitting on. He was not used to hanging around in such places, the places he went with Doojoon were always cozy and familiar and comfortable – exactly how Doojoon was.

Yoseob was totally out of his element right now. And the feeling grew bigger and more uncomfortable as the clock ticked away. A cocktail with pretty rainbow colors was served on the table before him and Yoseob was just too suspicious to have a sip. In times like this, he really hoped that Doojoon would be there beside him, accompanying him to such foreign places. But it was selfish and Yoseob shook his head gently to dismiss the thoughts from his head.

“Are you drunk already?”

Came a calm and deep voice that made Yoseob jumped out of his skin. He did not even realize a man was standing in front of him, he looked up and shook his head slowly, signaling a ‘no’. The man smirked and took a seat across Yoseob, immediately raising his hand up to the bartender and raised an eyebrow. The bartender nodded and nimbly got to making drinks. The man trained his eyes back to Yoseob, “So you are Yang Yoseob?” He leaned back onto the backrest and crossed his legs. Yoseob nodded, eyeing him suspiciously, “Yong Junhyung-ssi?”

A satisfied smirk tugged on the man’s mouth as he folded his hands on his chest, “How old are you? You are tiny.”

Yoseob rolled his eyes, here we go again. Yoseob was so used to the comment (because Doojoon kept saying that, even now) that he was not irritated anymore; it was like a mere greeting, a familiar way of welcoming him. So he just laughed it off and answered, “I’m 20.”

Junhyung nodded, “I’m late ‘89, so you can call me by name, I’m not that fussy anyways, just call me whatever you want.” Yoseob suddenly beamed at him, “You are younger that Doojoonie? I don’t even call Doojoonie ‘Hyung’.” He subconsciously let out a soft chuckle.

An eyebrow raised, “Doojoonie?” Yoseob blinked his eyes as if he just woke up from his trance and quickly waved his hands dismissively, “Oh – oh, no, nothing, nothing at all.” Yoseob stared at Junhyung, “So Junhyungah, why am I here?”

Junhyung let out an amused chuckle, the first chuckle Yoseob had heard from the seemingly cold and heartless man in front of him, “You are fast in calling me by my name. I like it.” He continued to chuckle a bit more before continuing, “I have seen your work, Yoseobah. I know you have won a few awards and other competitions,” Junhyung leaned in to the table, to get a better look at Yoseob, “and I know you were recommended for Korea Tourism Board and is already a favorite amongst the judges.” This time Yoseob raised his eyebrows, this man in front of him was dangerous and all he wanted now was the familiar and comfortable Doojoon.

“So you are going to be exclusive under my company. You will be selling your works in my gallery only and we will hold an exhibition for you and I will do the whole marketing to create an empire under your name and…”

It was a blur to Yoseob, he saw Junhyung’s lips moving but he could not hear nor comprehend any word coming out of his mouth, exclusive, gallery, exhibition, marketing, empire. What is he talking about? Yoseob’s frown deepened as more incomprehendable words fell like waterfall, drowning Yoseob alive.

Yoseob felt suffocated, he could not breathe, the walls were closing in on him, everything seemed to be into a black hole and he felt dizzy, spinning around, light and flying high. It was like a dream, everything went into a blurry mess and Yoseob did not know anymore.

When he woke up, he was lying down on a comfortable sofa, with soft and cushiony pillows all over him. He snapped his eyes open and sat up abruptly, frantically looking left and right, trying to comprehend the situation he was in. And he saw Junhyung sitting at the back of his work desk, glasses perched on his nose as his eyebrows frowned in concentration.

Yoseob hated to intrude, but he needed to ask and he had no other way, “Um – excuse me. Sorry, Junhyungah.” Junhyung raised his head and looked at Yoseob, “Ah you are finally awake. Are you feeling better?” Yoseob rubbed the back of his neck and nodded, he answered sheepishly, “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

Junhyung chuckled, “You didn’t even touch your cocktail yet you fainted on me. Geez, dude.” Yoseob bit the inside of his cheek and smiled wryly. The older man rested his hands on the table by the elbows and rested his chin at the back of his hands, “You know what,” he smiled, sincerely this time, Yoseob noted, “you have other pictures at home, right?” When Yoseob nodded slowly, he continued, “Then bring them to me. Forget about what I said before, it was reckless of me to invade your brain like before. I understand that you were overwhelmed and it was entirely my fault.” Yoseob was quiet, confused and he did not know what to say anyway. Junhyung smirked, “I need to filter your works, I can’t just sign an artist before knowing his or her full capability.” When Yoseob was still quiet, Junhyung asked the younger man, “What do you think, Yoseobah?”

Yoseob opened his mouth and closed it, he opened it again and tried to mouth a few words, gathered his eyebrows in a frown, pouted, tilted his head to the side in confusion, and opened his mouth again. Junhyung was completely amused by the sight in front of him; he laughed loudly and decided that Yoseob would worth every ounce of effort he needed to spend.

Finally, Yoseob was able to speak in a soft voice, “But I don’t think my works would fit the lounge. We had different concept and I don’t think it’s a good idea to sign me, y’know, like…” Yoseob stopped talking when Junhyung laughed loudly, banging his fist on the table, clutching his stomach.

“Why are you laughing?”

When the laughter had subsided a little, Junhyung asked Yoseob, “Do you think that the lounge is the gallery?” Yoseob nodded, Junhyung laughed again. “Oh, Yoseobah, you are so worth it. So so worth it.” There wasn’t one word that Yoseob could understand so he just stayed quiet and hoped that all of this was just a bad dream and he would wake up and call Doojoon to tell this nightmare.

Junhyung walked to the back of his chair and drew the curtain open. He motioned to the humongous building across the lounge and spoke conceitedly, “That is my gallery.” Yoseob did not even realize when his jaw dropped open, beyond the huge window of the lounge’s second floor, there it was.

Phenomenon.

Yoseob had heard his schoolmates talked about this place, it was the coolest contemporary gallery catering to art enthusiasts with really distinctive tastes in art. The place itself was like a museum, every artwork was displayed meticulously, and from what Yoseob had heard from his friends in school, Phenomenon was the highest rated gallery for contemporary art and only the genius artists could be featured. It held such amazing reputation amongst the art community that Yoseob frowned suspiciously upon seeing Junhyung, “What? And you are the owner of Phenomenon?”

Junhyung nodded with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Yoseob pouted, “But you are my age. Didn’t you go to school?”

Junhyung scoffed at the question and dismissed Yoseob effectively, “Come back tomorrow with other works you have at home.”

So Yoseob came back the next day to the lounge with an envelope of his pictures. He did not even know what he was supposed to do at this point, he was just going with the flow and hoped for the best. This time the lounge was not as scary and Yoseob was more aware of the serene atmosphere surrounding it. Again, he was led to the same seat by the same lady and immediately a drink was served on the table before him.

A glass of cool and harmless orange juice.

Yoseob smiled and took a sip, appreciating the cool liquid running down his throat. And when he saw Junhyung coming down the stairs, Yoseob beamed and waved at him excitedly. Junhyung laughed at the antic and proceeded to sit across Yoseob.

The picture filtering processes continued for almost two weeks, Junhyung kept asking Yoseob to come back and they had moved from the lounge to Junhyung’s immaculate office on the top floor of the Phenomenon building, a glass of cool orange juice was always served on the table for Yoseob. Turned out that the lounge across the street was also Junhyung’s, created to cater to the lifestyle of Phenomenon’s customers and of course for Junhyung to wind down from his stress.

The more Yoseob knew Junhyung, the fonder he grew to the older man. Junhyung was giggly and kind hearted, he was not as talkative as Doojoon but he was never cold, never mean. He was so warm and welcoming – oh, and he hit like a girl, this amused Yoseob to no end. It was great spending time with Junhyung and Yoseob was extremely happy that someone appreciated his works. It did not matter that it was Phenomenon, it did not matter which gallery, it was the sincere attitude towards appreciating Yoseob’s works.

Now, it felt really cozy and familiar and comfortable with Junhyung too – the way it was with Doojoon.

Yoseob smiled to himself, maybe he could count Junhyung as a friend too? So he would not burden Doojoon anymore with being to clingy.

Well, it might work right?