Monday

The night was calm and quiet up on the rooftop, above the busy street of Hongdae. City noises, loud music of variety of genres pouring out of different clubs and bars onto the street seemed like a distance whisper. Jongdae rested, content, on a sofa filled with soft cushions, with his hands wrapped around a cold plastic of his iced americano and legs crossed. Although there was one other person sharing that space with him, Jongdae felt almost as if he was completely alone on the balcony, as he felt beyond overwhelmed by the moment of peace and quiet in the center of one of the busiest districts of Seoul. This was what he loved, what he appreciated—a safe space of solitude above the jungle of social interactions.

From time to time Jongdae would look up to appreciate something else—the man sitting a few table away from him, with a blanket spread across his legs, a book in his hands, and a cup of what Jongdae could only assume would be coffee, sitting patiently on a glass table in front of the man, waiting to be picked up and finished. And yet, whenever Jondgae looked towards the male, he kept his eyes fixed on the pages. The only thing that kept changing about the male were his expressions. Sometimes, he looked confused, then surprised, at moments Jongdae felt as if the man was disappointed, maybe irritated, and then other times there would be a soft smile on his lips. It got Jongdae wondering about the book. What was it?

After a good half an hour of Jongdae’s peeking, the elder male looked up from his book and caught him staring. Jongdae quickly adverted his gaze, but he could swear the other only chuckled, smiling a little. After that, Jongdae would find himself feeling the other’s gaze on himself from time to time, and it took all of his will not to look at the stranger again. His salvation, “oh the irony,” he thought, came in form of his friends climbing up the stairs to the balcony, incredibly loud.

“Jongdae!” Yixing exclaimed, taking a place next him, “it was so much fun!” he continued, throwing his arm over the younger’s.

“You’re so drunk, Yixing,” he chuckled, looking at his friend’s slightly rosy cheeks. “How was it?” he asked, directing the question at Baekhyun and Sehun. The latter gave him over-excited thumbs up, but the former only shrugged.

“It was fun for the first ten minutes after you left, but then I got bored and they didn’t wanna stop showing off!” Baekhyun whined, placing a bottle of water on the table, “I swear, it was really—”

“Uncomfortable?” Jongdae suggested, resting his head on Sehun’s shoulder. “What did you do, Sehunnie?” he laughed, looking up the younger.

“Well, not my fault some people just can’t take this,” he said confidentially mentioning to his body, “men, women, as long as I get the praises I deserve, I’m happy,” he laughed, and the three of his friends only shook their heads.

“I guess they must have changed the definition of modesty,” Yixing mumbled.

“My friend, modesty is a quality of ugly people!” the youngest declared, and Jongdae, Baekhyun and Yixing only gave each other the look.

“Then you definitely should know it,” Baekhyun made a remark and a second later a pillow flew in his direction, hitting him on the face, “SEHUN! I am vulnerable! You cannot be mean to me now!” the yelled out.

“Calm down, we’re not here alone,” Jongdae mumbled, pulling a face.

Sehun, however, disregarded his friend’s words and only rolled his eyes, “not now, not yesterday, not last week, how long are you gonna be vulnerable?! When can I be mean to you again?!”

“You can start slowly getting back at it in three and a half weeks,” Baekhyun declared, “and it goes for all of you,” he added quickly, looking at Jongdae and Yixing.

The former only put his hands up as a sign of defense and compliance, and the latter just simply ignored his friend, and leant towards Jongdae to whisper to his ear, “the guy with the book keeps checking you out all the time,” he mumbled quietly, only for Jongdae to hear. The younger smiled lightly and then rose his eyes, locking them with the stranger. They kept still for a second, then the mysterious man smiled as well, and went back to reading his piece. “Who’s that?” the elder questioned having experience the silent exchange between the two.

“I’ve no idea,” Jongdae mumbled back, his voice soft and light from a funny feeling in his stomach. Baekhyun and Sehun caught Jongdae staring and followed his gaze. Once their eyes landed on the stranger, they quickly looked back at their friend and wiggled their eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh,” Baekyun hummed, “so this must be your type, am I correct?”

“I must say, Jongdae,” Sehun murmured, checking the man out, “you’ve done well. Now that we know what you like, you are certainly allowed to have a boyfriend and add him to our group,” he nodded approvingly.

“Excuse me?” the elder question, “and what is that supposed to mean? And why are you checking him out like that?”

“Well, we cannot be hanging out with ugly people,” Sehun shrugged, “look at all of us and the girls. Only A list looks. Someone like him would be a good addition,” the younger explained, relaxing against the back of the sofa. The three of his friends only gave him confused looks, “oh, cut it! I might be straight as a stick, but I know when I see a handsome face, okay?” A moment passed and the three boys burst out laughing, humored by their friend.

“I think it’s time to call it a night,” Jongdae yawned, getting up, “it’s getting weird, Sehun is talking about being a stick.”

“Just expressing the point about my uality!” the younger raised a finger up, collecting himself.

“You know, Sehunnie, you might wanna be careful with comparisons then, because, realistically speaking, hardly any stick is actually straight,” Yixing pointed to the younger, getting up and stretching his bones. “Oh, it was a fun night, let’s do it again!”

“Oh, please, let’s not,” Jongdae mumbled and followed behind his friends to the stairs. As he was about to walk down, he spared the stranger the last look. To his surprise, the other had already been looking at him, smiling slightly. As Jongdae smiled back, the other nodded his head a little, as if saying see you later. Jongdae did the same, finding the gesture beyond funny for some reason, and quickly caught up to his friends.

Jongdae woke up early in the morning, when it was still dark outside, and quickly made his way out of bed. There was no need getting comfortable. He much rather preferred doing the inevitable right away. With sleep and dream still lingering on his eyelids and at the back of his mind, he grabbed his clothes he had prepared the previous night and went about his morning routine. Half an hour later he was sitting in his car, his gym back on the passenger’s seat, and the car itself stuck in a massive traffic. The man cursed under his breath. It was not a good beginning of the week. Monday morning has not been this annoying in a long time. The traffic, caused by a deadly accident, which was caused by a thick fog, cost Jongdae another 45 minutes of his morning. By the time he got to the gym, he was supposed to be halfway done with his workout. Upon quickly making a few calls, he rescheduled his plan for the day and ended up pushing everything forty-five minutes in time. At the end, he called Sehun to inform him he would be forty-five minutes late to dinner that he had been invited to by his friend’s girlfriend. “Stupid anniversaries,” he mumbled to himself a few moments later as he started the treadmill. He didn’t have a gift for them. He was supposed to use his lunch break for that, but there is little of that left now, with all of the meetings and sessions being rescheduled. Jongdae made a mental note to call his assistant on his way back to ask her for help with this. He needed someone to help him figure out what to get. He knew Sehun, he knew Minchee, but did he really know them together? Anniversaries are beyond annoying.

Twenty minutes on a treadmill, fifteen minutes of stretching and half an hour of weights. At exactly 8:30am Jongdae wiped the sweat off his forehead and was about to leave the room when his eyes landed on a man placing his water bottle on a shelf next to his. He looked up a little bit, and nearly inhaled out loud. It was the same person he had seen a few nights earlier at Café Bene. The stranger lifted his eyes up, and when they met with Jongdae’s there was a confused spark in them at first, but then the realization fell upon the other’s face, and he smiled softly, apparently recognizing Jongdae. The man did the same, smiling softly at the guy in front of him, and then quickly left, as he realized the time. He was already running late enough as for Monday morning. The whole drive home Jongdae wondered how was that possible that he had never seen the man at the gym before. He also thought for a little bit about the man’s strong arms, but that was only for a split second.

The clock was nearing five in the afternoon when Sehun called Jongdae. Upon noticing the younger’s caller ID, Jongdae felt a wave of horror wash upon him. He forgot about the present! Disregarding his friend’s call, he quickly grabbed his office stationery phone and dialed his assistant’s extension.

“Jongdae?” he heard a soft voice on the other end and sighed with relief.

“I’ll pay you double if you drop everything that you’re doing right now and go shopping!” he yelled into the phone, and for a split second worried that the girl on the other end went deaf. “Please?” he added quietly, trying to save himself from sounding like a maniac.

“As much as I love this offer, whatever it refers to, I really need to be off at five, boss,” she whined, “I told you that tonight’s my wedding anniversary,” she added quietly, almost shyly. Jongdae cursed deep in his soul.

“I’m sorry, I completely forgot,” he sighed defeated, “you know what, just go home now, don’t wait until five. Just make sure to be done with anything urgent, and you can finish anything else tomorrow morning,” he said, massaging his temples. Freaking anniversaries.

“Thank you, Jongdae!” the woman yelled out, and shivers ran down the man’s spine.

“Oh!” he exclaimed quickly, “Cher! Tell me quickly, tho, what is something you would like to get as a present? It’s my friend’s anniversary tonight and I didn’t get them anything yet,” he whined, dropping his head to the surface of the desk. Probably just a little bit too fast and too hard.

“Are they married?” she asked.

“No, they’ve just been together forever and started celebrating anniversaries like married couples do,” he whined even more.

“Hmmm,” Cher murmured, but that was followed by silence. Of course, she’s not gonna think about other people’s anniversaries when she has her own to go to.

“Nevermind,” Jongdae chuckled, “you go have fun, and I’ll call it a day as well and just go shopping real quick,” he smiled, trying to make the situation a little better, but then he remembered that the woman couldn’t see him anyway, so it was to no avail. So his smile dropped, and he went back to being miserable.

On his way back home from the office, Jongdae broke nearly every single law that there was, but he didn’t really bother. As long as he doesn’t get arrested, he should be fine. Or maybe, just maybe, that was what he needed the most? Getting arrested so he could have a solid excuse not to attend his friends’ party? Once he got home, he quickly showered, put on one of his best suit, and ran out again. This time, however, he caught a taxi to take him downtown. Taking a look at his phone, he forgot that Sehun had been calling him hours ago. Quickly dialing back, he took a deep breath in. For some reason, he felt stressed. They’re gonna be the death of me, he thought to himself, looking outside the window at the passing lights and rushing people.

“Jongdae!” the younger exclaimed into the phone, “are you alright? I’ve been calling you and you never picked up!”

“I’m sorry, Sehunnie, got busy at work, and… you know, stuff,” he shrugged, and then rolled his eyes, reminding himself that the other couldn’t see him.

“I just wanted to tell you that everyone’s gonna come around nine instead of seven—I hope it’s not too late to be letting you know—”

Jongdae sighed, praying for the day to be over. He quickly glanced at the clock, and then at the driver, “it’s cool, Sehun, thank you for letting me know! I’ll be on time, then,” he laughed at the end and ended the call, “I’ll leave here, thank you!” he informed the driver, and as the man parked the car he quickly hopped off. The dinner being moved in time meant he got two more hours without being late. He can make it.

            Jongdae walked into the shopping center and immediately started doubting himself and his shopping skills… which were none existent.

“Okay, okay, where do we start,” he mumbled to himself and as if on cue his head started hurting. “Coffee first” he whined, going into Starbucks. As he was entering the café, his eyes caught a glimpse of somehow familiar black hair and soft smile. As he took a better, now focused, look, he realized the person leaving the counter and nearing the door at the other end was the same guy he had already seen a few nights before and at the gym in the morning. Hmm, he wondered for a second what were the odds to be running into the same stranger for the third time in a such a short spun of time and in such a large city as Seoul.

As he was walking around the mall, going crazy, Jongdae lost all his faith in the world and in himself. He was about to turn the corner, his head in the clouds, his heart banging against his chest from anxiety, when he walked into someone, dropping his drink to the floor. As he looked around, he realized the other person’s drink was currently staining the floor as well. He cursed silently and was about to start apologizing, when upon lifting his gaze up, he realized the man in front of his was the stranger he kept on running into that day.

“Oh,” he gasped, shyly, “I’m—I’m really sorry,” he mumbled, smiling apologetically.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s my fault, I should have looked where I was going,” the man smiled politely, putting his phone into his pocket. However, Jongdae was more than sure that he was the one at fault, and he wouldn’t have it differently. “I feel like I should compensate you with a fresh cup of coffee,” the man spoke, and Jongdae was shocked.

“Oh, no way, it was my fault, I caused you your drink, please, let me buy you a new one. That’s the least I could do, I insist,” he smile softly, not wanting to come off as pushy, but he got slightly intrigued by the man and wanted to at least get to know his name.

“If you, insist,” the other laughed, and Jongdae’s heart skipped slightly, “it’d be rude of me to neglect it.”

“Starbucks?” Jongdae suggested, raising an eyebrow. The other nodded and they turned the corner back. Starbucks was only a shop away from them, so the walk was extremely short. “Could I please get a grande americano and—” Jongdae spoke to the barista and then looked questioningly at the stranger, nodding slightly at him to tell him to order.

The man smiled at him and then looked at the barista, “I get a grande americano as well, with double espresso, please and thank you.”

“That’ll be 18,000 won, and what’s your name?”

“Jongdae,” he replied, putting a few banknotes on the counter.

“Thank you, the drinks will be ready in a few and you can grab them at the end of the counter,” the man replied as he was giving Jongdae a change.

“Double espresso americano at seven in the evening?” Jongdae asked, raising an eyebrow at the other again.

“It’s been a long day and it’s nowhere near ending,” the man chuckled. “How about you?”

Jongdae rolled his eyes, whining. “My friends are keeping me on the edge.”

“Hmm? How come?”

Jongdae sighed, suddenly feeling beyond exhausted. “It’s their anniversary dinner in two hours and I still don’t have a present,” he exhaled, “and I don’t know what to get them.”

They picked up their coffees as they were placed in front of them and headed towards the exit.

“Ah, I know how you feel,” the stranger hummed, “I usually just go for a trip, a spa day or whatever else may be bought in a form of a gift card,” he laughed softly, shrugging.

“Oh, my dear god, that’s just beyond smart!” Jongdae exclaimed, almost chocking on his coffee, “why haven’t I thought of it?!”

“There’s a place in here, on the second floor I think, that is full of such gift cards.”

And suddenly Jongdae knew exactly why he kept on running into the guy. He was meant to be his savior.

“Thank you so much,” Jongdae sighed out, smiling at the other, “this is a brilliant idea!”

The man laughed out loud, and for a second Jongdae just stopped thinking, listening to the sound.

“You’re welcome. Thank you for the coffee, I’m glad I could help, but I really need to go,” his smiled dropped, “I hope the evening goes smoothly, and well, I guess see you around?” the man wiggled his eyebrows, and Jongdae laughed.

“I should hope so,” he replied and the other only sent him the softest smile and left. As he turned the corner, Jongdae realized he still did not know his name.

The dinner went smoothly, Jongdae’s gift turned out to be a jackpot, and once all the nerves and stress left his body, he fell down on a couch beyond exhausted.

“Long day, hmm?” he heard Baekhyun’s voice next to his ear, and as he opened one eye, his friend was sitting beside him, holding two drinks in his hands.

“Thanks,” Jongdae mumbled, taking one, “oh, you’ve no idea. It has not been my day… not at all. But you know what, something really weird happened today, tho,” he hummed suddenly, remembering the mysterious man. “Do you remember guy that I saw in Café Bene when we went out,” he asked and Baekhyun’s eyes shone. He nodded quickly and a smile started forming on his lips

“What about him, hmm?” he hummed, excited.

“I ran into him twice today,” Jongdae frowned, “once at the gym in the morning, second time in the shopping mall right before I came—”

“SHUT UP!” the other yelled out and suddenly all the eyes in the room where on them.

“Thanks, Baekhyun,” Jongdae growled when Sehun joined the conversation.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“Jongdae ran into the guy from the café today. TWICE!”

“Did you ask him to be your boyfriend and join our group?” Sehun asked and sipped on his whiskey as he leant back in the chair. Jongdae puffed, rolled his eyes at his friend.

“Yes, I did, he said he’d take it into consideration,” he barked and Sehun only shrugged.

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t do that.”

“Because as much as it is socially acceptable for you to just assume everyone around is straight, it is not acceptable to assume that anyone would be gay,” Jongdae replied, “so it’s not like I can just come up to the guy and ask him out or anything like that.”

“It’s also not like you don’t see two guys holding hands on the streets, so I can only assume it happened because either one of them had to first talk to the other and ask,” Sehun pointed, “I think you’re just looking for excuses.” Jongdae adverted his gaze from his friend, not wanting to talk to him anymore.

“Babe, leave him alone,” Sehun’s girlfriend chimed in sitting on the boy’s laps, “it’s none of your business.”

“But it is! That’s what we’ve just established. Just a few days ago!”

“Two days in and I already cannot stand how annoying you are,” Jongdae mumbled and felt someone’s hand ruffle his hair.

“Stop being so grumpy, Dae,” Baekhyun laughed, “we have years upon years of teasing to catch up on. So, tell us what exactly happened today, hmm? How did you run into him? What was he wearing? What did he say? Did you make a total fool of yourself?” he asked, giggling at the end.

“Why do you need to know what he was wearing?” Yixing asked as him and his girlfriend joined their little circle.

“Because,” the boy cleared his throat, as if preparing himself to give a long and demanding speech, “as much as Sehun seems to be concerned about showing up anywhere with a pretty face, let’s not forget clothes are an inseparable aspect of one’s image. Pretty face need to be complimented with pretty clothes.”

Jongdae narrowed his eyes, looking his friend up and down. “What the are you even saying?”

“He’s not wrong,” Jooeun said from an armchair in front of Jongdae’s. Everyone looked at her, “I mean, he’s being a complete idiot, but he’s not entirely wrong,” she explained, running her hands through Yixing’s hair. The boy hummed in content closing his eyes and leaning into the touch. Jongdae looked at them, a flash of envy appearing in his eyes. It was gone as soon as he blinked. “The way people dress can tell you a lot about a person,” she shrugged, “so what if he’s handsome if he wears old, ripped or stained clothes?”

“Or!” Minchee yelled, almost knocking Sehun’s drink out of his hand, “what if he wears socks and sandals?” she whispered, her eyes growing bigger. Everyone burst out laughing, even Jongdae.

“I see your point, but don’t worry, I didn’t see any socks and sandals paired together,” Jongdae replied, smiling at his friends.

“So,” Minchee skinned her head, “what happened today?”

Rolling his eyes, but with a soft smile on his lips, Jongdae chuckled and told his friend the story of his terrible day, including the two times he run into the mysterious man and omitting all the times he wanted to throw himself under the bus because of his friends’ anniversary. “So to sum it up, I believe it was all meant to be so that he could give me an idea for the best gift ever,” he summed up, glad to be done. His friends kept on giving him a lot of laughs, sighs and “oh, damn, Jongdae, you stupid , how could you spill his coffee? What if now he’ll remember you as the clumsy idiot from the mall?”

“Someone remind me to thank this mysterious man for ‘the best gift ever’ when I get the chance to see him,” Minchee smirked, throwing Jongdae a daring glare.

“I don’t think that’s going to ever happen, then,” he only summed up, finishing his drink.

“Life works in mysterious ways, Jongdae,” Yixing said winking at his friend, “I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you.”

“Even if I were to ever run into him again, do you really think I’d let him ever meet any of you? I think not,” he sassed them, but only to receive a harsh blow in the face with a couch pillow. “Ouch!”

“You only try not to introduce him to us and I will turn you life into a living hell, Jongdae,” Baekhyun threatened, pointing a finger at the younger.

“Haven’t you done it already, tho?” Jongdae whined and got punched again.

He was beyond done with Monday.