“Rise and shine sleeping beauty, the world isn’t going to stop revolving even if you’re moping around~” Minhyun groans into his pillow, turning sidewards when the first ray of sunshine hits his face (he found out later on that it was just Minki’s flashlight). It was blinding even if his eyes were closed. The beauty of a Saturday is that no one’s supposed to disturb him. No paperworks, no emails, no calls, no boss.

No. Kang. Daniel.

He loves the sound of that which is why weekends are his favorite day of the week.

It’s a free day but someone obviously didn’t get the message.

“There’s no Kang Daniel today, why are you pressuring me to wake up evil stepmother?” He crawls under the comforter, soft and snugly that it makes him doze off before Minki could even say something. Alas, his happiness is withheld when his skin meets cold air. At the foot of his bed, Minki’s dressed up in his usual fashion with a luggage by his side. Did he miss something? Why was his roommate dressed up as a peacock?

“I knew you’d forget!” Came his roommates outburst as he paced back and forth the room. Minhyun remains curled up on his bed, eyes squinting to see what Minki’s doing and although he tries to understand the words going out of his mouth, and the gestures he’s doing with his hands, Minhyun discovered that his brain lacks the capacity to understand anything at the moment.

Being alone and drunk the night before reduced his brain’s capacity to comprehend.

He could recall a significant amount of the bull he went through and that included some crazy laughing and stalking. Minhyun told himself not to wallow in despair anymore since a month and a half ago. The trip to Jeju was kind of spontaneous and was meant to be his escape. Turns out, soul searching doesn’t stop you from drafting a lot of messages to your ex over bottles of liquor.

Dongho’s social media is full of parties.

It reminded him of the social events Dongho used to invite him in. Minhyun, being the homebody that he is never liked the idea of going there. The crowd was wild, crazy, if he can put it that way. It’s always held in a two-storey house with a pool by a mini garden and it’s one of the most expensive places he’s been to.

Dongho’s friends in his line of work were different. Much more different than their group. Although Minki could be quite the diva himself, at least his best friend doesn’t use the balcony as a diving platform whenever he wants to take a swim. Minhyun did have some scars from attending those parties. The kind that’s always embedded in his mind.

At some point, Minhyun thought it could be a reason for their break up. He’s been with Dongho ever since their university days and sometimes, no matter how much you know a person, they can still grow and change. These changes started when Dongho graduated and started to work. They’re now meeting new people, those who can understand how their career works and for the rest of their life, it’s the kind of social circle they need to excel.

It makes Minhyun miserable whenever he recalls the first time he turned down an invite because it was the start of their crumbling relationship. Dongho didn’t protest against Minhyun’s choice. He simply went along and during that time, Minhyun felt relieved his boyfriend understood. Minhyun tried so hard to fit in Dongho’s world. He tried to mold himself in a character he knew he wasn’t but he loved the man dearly.

It was too late to realize that the relationship wasn’t going well.

Now, it only makes him want to hide underneath the sheets again. “I don't know what you're saying, please leave me alone”

“I can’t believe that out of all the responsible and lazy people that I know, you’re the one to forget it” Minhyun would’ve retorted back if he wasn’t such a sad person but Minki’s definitely onto something here. There’s a wide grin plastered on his face, like he ate a million light bulbs, it’s shining.

So far, in his sleep muddled mind, nothing’s processing.

What did he forget? He’s Hwang Minhyun. He doesn’t forget.

“This is why I told you to lay off the alcohol. Clearly, you’re not in the right state of your mind because you forgot about the annual team building session”

It takes an embarrassing amount of time for things to click into place that by the time Minhyun’s out of the shower, Minki has breakfast prepared, which is unusual because he doesn’t do that. He’s never in charge of the kitchen, knowing his history with fire and burnt sausages.

“You didn’t wake me up earlier!”

“I didn’t know I was given that responsibility” Minki replies flatly, looking unamused as he drank his tea. Minhyun, on the other hand, was multitasking between his luggage and Minki’s breakfast which was surprisingly edible. He can’t recall the last time his friend cooked, but this is definitely the biggest upgrade he has ever gone through.

“Well, you could’ve reminded me since you’re such a nice friend” Minhyun whines as he toss a pair of sweatpants in his bag. He doesn’t even have the time to fix them properly. If he doesn’t leave the house in 20 minutes, he’s going to be the cause of their late trip. The last thing he wants is for the bus to leave them. It’s such a long ride from Seoul to Busan and leaving at an early time of the day is necessary if you don’t want to get stuck in traffic.

“Minhyun, you answered the phone last night. It’s the reason why I’m here in the first place” Once Minki’s finish with his tea, he dumps it on sink causing Minhyun to wince internally. They don’t have time to wash the cups and dishes either. The younger strides closer to him, hands quickly folding his clothes in a swift manner like he’s always done this. Seriously. What happened to Minki within the span of a month a half?

Oh right. He has someone now.

“Why are you smiling you’re creepy”

“Nothing, I just remembered you have someone now” Minhyun gives Minki a hug, a sudden surge of feelings making him happy. Well, at least someone in their group is is a happy relationship.

“Minhyun. You’re gross and weird” Despite the words, Minki returns the hug anyway “But thank you”

 

If there’s three things Minhyun learned upon arrival, it was,

He’s late. Kang Daniel volunteered to be his seatmate and; He doesn’t have any choice left.

He could tell by the number of disappointed faces that they wanted to be seatmates with the said man and Minhyun would give up anything to switch places with someone. He’s been with Daniel 10 hours every working day for the past 6 weeks. Surprisingly, without any of Daniel’s odd and rude comments, they work well. He knows his way around the media, he’s charismatic when he talks and immediately garners attention. Turns out, it’s not just the ladies who’s trying to get on his good side, there are also gents.

With that said, Minhyun would love to see a new face.

Although he likes the companion of his boss (private personality aside), whenever he sees Daniel’s face, he’s reminded of that offer from the first night of their meeting. After he turned down the offer and left, Daniel never brought it up. That event kept him up late at night. It had him worrying about his phone bill, electricity bill, water bill, apartment rent and all the things that needed to be paid because Minhyun was so sure he’d be fired for turning down such offer.

Turns out, he had nothing to fear. Minhyun voiced out an apology one day and Daniel simply questioned why he’s saying sorry. In the words of the younger, Minhyun had the choice to decline. That alone, lifted a huge boulder off his chest that he blurted out a thank you without even thinking