Jeno was working his shift at Wanderer's Café as usual. It had rained just while ago and so, the cafe was almost empty. Tired, exhausted and bored out of his mind, Jeno was playing Angry Birds on his phone, even though he at it.

“You know, I've never seen somebody who's bad at Angry Birds.” Renjun commented, an amused smile playing on his face. “Shut up, you broccoli.” Jeno scrowled, “One day I'll beat the one with the highest score and show you what I’m capable of. Never underestimate me. I'm Lee Jeno.” “Yeah, you're Lee Jeno and you at everything.” Renjun replied dryly. “Hey, watch your dirty mouth. I'm pretty sure there's something I’m good at.” Their bickering would go on longer if Jaehyun didn’t step in, “That’s enough, you two. You guys are giving me a headache.” He gave them a stern look and Jeno mentally shivered. Jaehyun was scary when he was mad. “Anyway, Jeno. I have a request.” That got his attention, “Uh-huh? And what makes you think I’ll keep it?” “Because I’ll buy you bubble waffles if you keep it.” Jaehyun replied smugly and Jeno wanted to slap himself. He was a er for free food and that was why everyone he knew would always bribe him with food if they ever needed something. Come on, Jeno would sell his soul to the devil if he said there were delicious foods in hell.

“You got me there. Well, spill it then.” Jeno said with a sigh. Jaehyun grinned, “I have to go on a date with Doyoung. He wouldn’t stop sulking because we haven’t done anything together in ages, and by ages I mean in a week. So I need you to cover for me on Sunday. Afternoon shift.” “Why me? Why not Renjun?” Jeno complained. “Because I have classes. Unlike you, I’m not free all day.” Renjun shouted from the kitchen. “Stop insul-" Before Jeno could smack Renjun, Jaehyun stopped him, “So are you doing it?” “Yeah yeah. I will. Fine. Whatever you want.” “Great. I'll see you on Monday, then! Bye, guys.” Jaehyun beamed at Renjun & Jeno and just like that, he was gone. Jeno buried his face in his hands, “I hate everyone.”

By the time Sunday rolled around, Jeno was considering ditching the afternoon shift Jaehyun forced him to take over. He could say he had a bad cold, or his cat died, or he got ran over by a car. But he also knew the moment he said those words, Renjun was going to come over to check like he always did. And so, he forced himself to get up and get changed.

Jeno wasn’t sure if the whole universe hated him or if it was just him getting into trouble every time he breathed. It rained on his way to the cafe, leaving him soaked because he was stupid enough to ignore the weather report. He also accidentally stepped on a dog's tail and the next thing he knew, he was shouting and screaming and running for his life. Which got him some unwanted attention and he probably would've kept running if a policeman didn’t take mercy on him and shooed the dog away. Needless to say, Jeno looked like a madman who ran away from the hospital when he entered Wanderer's Cafe.

“This is the second time in a month that I’m seeing you looking like complete .” Yuta deadpanned while handing over Jeno a towel. “I got chased by a dog.” Jeno complained. “Wow, even dogs can smell the aura of stupidity you radiate.” Yuta dodged the towel Jeno threw at his direction, “I never understood why Taeil made us keep a pair of spare clothes, I mean uniforms,  in the stuff room but now I understand. Go get changed. I don’t want the customers to get scared by a ghost.”

Jeno already decided that his day was going to get worse after that and he was proven right not even an hour later. An angry old woman threw her coffee on the floor because “the color is 0.67% darker than it should be.” A couple broke up while Jeno was serving them some muffins and it resulted the girl to yell, scream, grabbing her boyfriend by his collar and it took Jeno, Yuta and a regular customer named Lucas to pull them apart. Jeno was exhausted. He just wanted to go home.

He was weighing the pros and cons of leaving all the work on Yuta and risk getting fired even before Taeil closed the shop down, when the bell chimed. Announcing the arrival of another customer. Jeno sighed, straightened his clothes and put on the best fake smile he could master, “Hello and welcome to Wanderer's Cafe! What can I do to you?” but the moment he looked up, he stopped talking. Or rather, he forgot how to speak.

Before him, stood a boy slightly taller than him, with pink hair and fair skin. He had the most beautiful pair of eyes Jeno had ever seen. They were the most beautiful shade of brown in the whole world, looking so deep and mysterious. The boy wore a blue shirt, paired with ripped jeans, a black backpack resting on his shoulder. At that very moment, Jeno decided angels existed. Because a boy so beautiful couldn’t be from earth. He must be an alien.

“Alien? No no, I’m from earth. I assure you that.” The boy chuckled and Jeno realized with horror that he said it out loud. Embarrassed, Jeno was flushing bright red, and he hoped for the ground to open up and swallow him. “I'm sorry. It wasn’t meant to say out loud.” Jeno quickly apologized and the boy laughed. Jeno thought he had the most beautiful smile in the world, it could even outshine the sun itself. Oh lord, how could someone so beautiful exist? It should be illegal. This boy was making him feel weird things.

“Um.. m-may I have your o-order, sir?” Jeno cursed himself for shuttering. Jeno NEVER shuttered. He might be gay but he was a CONFIDENT gay, thank you very much (Renjun's voice was yelling at him for lying somewhere in the back of his mind but he was going to ignore it). “I'll have an espresso. Also maybe some chocolate cake?” “Sure, sir. What’s your name?” Jeno mentally patted his back for not shuttering this time. “Jaemin. Na Jaemin.” “Okay, sir... wait. Na Jaemin?!” Jeno dropped the pen. It couldn’t be... but it HAD to be. The Na Jaemin from the park also had pink hair. And now that he thought about it, the boy's voice DID feel kind of familiar. “Yeah, it’s Jaemin. Why do you look so shocked?” the boys asked in surprise. “Do you perhaps go to YGE University?” Jeno asked just to be sure. “How did you...” the boy began and then his eyes fell on Jeno's name tag, his eyes widened in surprise, “You're the kidnapper guy from the park?” Jaemin asked in disbelief. Jeno nodded, “That's me.” “Oh my god.” Jaemin exclaimed and Jeno laughed. He couldn’t believe he was talking to such a pretty boy for the past few weeks. Jeno always went to the park around midnight and Jaemin was there too. They talked but as it was always dark, they never saw each other properly. And now, under the bright lights of the cafe, Jaemin shone so bright and looked so happy that Jeno felt dizzy. He willed his heart to calm down. It wasn’t good for it to beat so fast.

“When does your shift end? Maybe we can talk!” Jaemin beamed at Jeno. There weren’t many customers at the shop so it should be okay if Jeno spent some time with Jaemin. “it ends at 9 but I have some spare time now. Go sit. I'll be there with your order.” “Alright. Come quickly, kidnapper boy.” Jeno smiled as he watched Jaemin almost hopping to a nearby table. 

Maybe the universe didn’t hate him after all.

That night, Jeno didn’t go to the park. Jaemin mentioned he was going to pull an all nighter and study for an upcoming exam. Jeno didn’t want to be there alone. It would feel too empty without Jaemin there. He had gotten too accustomed to Jaemin's presence. It was scary how quickly the pink haired boy made a place for himself in Jeno's life. It was scary how comfortable he felt with Jaemin, how he trusted him, how he looked forward to see him everyday. And now that he had finally SEEN Jaemin, he couldn’t get him out of his head. This wasn’t good because emotions never did anyone any good, trusting people meant giving them a gun and hoping they wouldn't shoot you and Jeno was aware of that. Jeno didn’t want to go through that. The pain, the heartbreak, the feeling of betrayal. All those tears shed, thinking what he did wrong. Not again. But he didn’t want to let go of Jaemin either. He feared that if he lost him, he was never going to find happiness again, the songs wouldn’t make sense anymore, the birds wouldn’t sing anymore. He was going to be pathetic, alone and sad. Just the thought of it terrified Jeno. He didn’t know why he was feeling so much for a boy he met only a few weeks ago. The universe was playing a joke on him. A cruel one.

It was funny how quickly a person became a part of your life and suddenly without them, the world felt dull and scary. They found their way deep into your heart and you didn’t want to let them go. Maybe you'd survive without them. But nothing would ever be the same. Not without the bright smile of that person.

Emotions were scary and dangerous. They made you FEEL things. They made you do things you never thought of ever doing. Too much of anything never did anybody any good. But maybe, just maybe, for this one time, Jeno was willing to take a risk. Maybe it was time he finally let somebody in. 

But that's enough emotion for about five years.

As Jeno's eyes closed, he faintly heard a voice whisper, “It'll be okay.” Before he drifted to a dreamless sleep.

Somewhere out in the city of New York, a boy with silver hair and piercings was talking to, or rather, arguing with someone over phone, “I don’t care. I'm going to meet him. Even if it means losing him forever, even if it means I can’t ever go see him again, I'm going to go. After everything that happened, he at least deserves an apology.” The other person on the line was quiet. When he finally spoke, his voice was harsh, “Do whatever you want, Taeyong.” And the line went dead.

Taeyong sighed and leaned on the wall for support. The cars were rushing past him without sparing him a single glance. Taeyong knew soon enough, he'd be just another person on the missing list. Soon enough, he'd be gone.

He looked at the sky and whispered, “I'm coming home, Jeno.”