Seungcheol couldn’t remember the last time he had been this nervous. Jihoon had stayed in silence for what felt like an hour before he accepted meeting him again and only three days after, he was sitting in his favorite café waiting for the other’s arrival.

Jihoon had refused to give him his phone number, so for respect to the other he hadn’t asked around for it. And maybe it was for the best, because he had chickened out at least ten times before he decided to come inside the café.

The last time he had seen Jihoon, the other remained serious all the time and his words had stayed engraved in Seungcheol’s head. The other had made it really clear he was in a relationship, and Seungcheol was reminded again of his engagement.

He couldn’t say he hadn’t played with the idea of breaking up with Jeonghan before. There were several reasons for it, but when he met the other it always seemed like the wrong time to talk about it, and now it could be the worst time for that. And it’s not like he could say to Jihoon that he was breaking up his engagement because of him. All those confusing thoughts were making him even more nervous about the meeting. But he didn’t regret asking the other too see each other again.

He had come to the conclusion that his relationship with Jeonghan had fallen out of physical and emotional attraction and after thinking what could be the reason to his reaction to meeting Jihoon, everything fell into place. Jihoon was attractive, they shared a teenage memory that made him feel excited when he saw the other again in Busan and they had shared a pleasant time by the beach. Seungcheol knew he was oversimplifying things, but he wanted to start again. To see Jihoon as more than an illusion by the beach, and meet Lee Jihoon as the music producer he was bound to keep encountering in the future.

He wanted to be objective about this meeting and had tried to structure it all in his mind, but he couldn’t help the smile on his face and his racing heart when he saw the other entering the café at the exact time they had scheduled.

Jihoon looked nervous and a bit underdressed for the fancy café, but Seungcheol’s smile only grew when the other finally noticed him.

“It’s nice to see you again, Jihoon.”

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Jihoon wanted to run, he had decided to leave the café and call Soonyoung so the other could scold him and he could forget all about this; but then he noticed Seungcheol had already seeing him and decided to stay. The café was fancier in comparison to the places Jihoon liked to go, and his choice of clothes made it obvious, after all he was dressed up for working at the studio.

He approached the table and responded to the other’s greet politely before he sat down. He felt awkward and excited at the same time and almost sure he had made a mistake by accepting the meeting. But then, he couldn’t deny he was a bit interested in knowing what the other wanted to talk about, as it seemed they would end up seeing each other again for work in the next few weeks.

“I listened to the collaboration song, it is really good! Maybe you could show me more of your past works.” Seungcheol said after the waiter brought their orders and the silence started to turn unbearable.

It seemed Seungcheol wanted to keep the conversation work-related and Jihoon could deal with that.

“This is my first time working for Korean singers, all my previous works were in Japanese.”

“Oh~ So you used to live in Japan?! I love Tokyo, I went there with my brother when I was in college, but since then I have only been there for work.” Seungcheol said frowning at the last part.

“Yeah, I-” Jihoon started, thinking what could be the best way to keep the control of the conversation. “I went there to finish high school, and met Mingyu in university. We have been living together since we were freshmen.”

Seungcheol was about to say something, but stopped himself like thinking what he should say next. And suddenly Jihoon felt nervous.

“So…you went to Japan just after the Busan beach festival?”

Jihoon was surprised about the other’s assumption and nodded slowly.

“So…both of us never returned to the Busan beach festival until the last month edition.” Seungcheol said with a smile and Jihoon gulped.

They were not supposed to talk about that day. About the kiss. About the-

“My grandmother lives in Busan, but I’m from Daegu. Are you from Busan?”

And Jihoon had to smile at that. It was almost the same way Soonyoung had introduced himself before he ‘forced’ him to be friends.

‘Hi! I’m Kwon Soonyoung! I just moved with my grandparents that live here, but I’m from Namyangju. Are you from Busan?”

“Is a nice place to live, though I enjoyed hiking when I was younger, nowadays I prefer going to the beach.” Seungcheol said with a smile still present in his face.

And Jihoon thought maybe this wasn’t that bad. Seungcheol seemed to be the same person he had met at the beach, even when now he knew about him being an heir; and as he had promised, he was keeping the conversation out of the complicated things and feelings that happened in the beach festival. And Jihoon could do that too.

“I definitely prefer the beach, and the food in Busan is the best.” Food was Jihoon’s second favorite conversation topic after music.

And as they kept talking Jihoon felt like he could relax; it was as easy as when they were in the festival. But there was something inside that kept reminding him to mention Mingyu every now and then, just to keep control of the conversation. Because it was so easy to fall into the contagious excitement of Seungcheol’s bright smile when he found about more things they both liked.

And in one moment, they just found themselves smiling at each other in silence.

“Cheol Hyung?”

A voice said, making Jihoon jump in his seat and Seungcheol drop his spoon to the floor.

“Chan! What are you doing here?!” Seungcheol said, his voice showing his shock.

“I’m here to grab some coffee before returning to my after school classes.” The younger finished his statement with a pout.

Jihoon stayed quiet not sure what to do, or if Seungcheol would even introduced him. But he didn’t have an option, because Chan started.

“I’m Lee Chan, Seungcheol hyung’s younger brother. Nice to meet you.” He said with a bright smile and a bow.

“I’m Lee-“

“Lee Woozi! He is a music producer.” Seungcheol said rapidly trying to call Chan’s attention and Jihoon didn’t know what to think about that.

Was Seungcheol trying to hide him, hide their…’friendship’?

“Oh! Are you working in a project now?” Chan said with a curious expression.

“Yes…but you better go to class now, you don’t want to be late, right Chan?” Seungcheol said standing up to pet the younger's head.

The youngest of the three nodded with a pout, and with a bow to Jihoon and a wave to Seungcheol he left the café.

And then the silence returned, but it had turned awkward, with Jihoon avoiding Seungcheol’s gaze.

“I’m sorry, is just that…”

“You are right, we are just work acquaintances and he shouldn’t get any other ideas.” Jihoon said with a serious expression, but somehow the idea didn’t sit well within him. “Anyway, I have to go.” He said standing up.

“Jihoon, wait! I…”

Jihoon sighed. Maybe this was a mista-

“Can I have your phone number?”

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Someone stop Seungcheol please >.<