Even when the first few times Jihoon hadn’t answered, or did it after a few hours, Seungcheol had found out the best way to get the other to answer his messages was to ask about food or music recommendations.

He could see Wonwoo giving him suspicious glances every time he smiled at his phone, but he knew the other would never ask personal questions.

A week after they met at the café, Seungcheol had convinced Jihoon to take him to his favorite restaurant since Seungcheol had chosen the last time. And after bickering about who should pay the bill, they decided that Jihoon would pay and the next time Seungcheol would do it.

And it was definitely a win for the older, because since then, Jihoon had accepted to go to eat with him many more times. Jihoon seemed more relaxed each time and they had even shared a dinner with Chan.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Jihoon asked him, a spoon full of rice in front of his mouth.

“I’m just happy….to be here with you.”

He could see how Jihoon’s expression turned serious and he sighed. Sometimes he forgot that saying things like that would only make the other recoiled. So he decided to change the topic to a familiar one.

“We ordered all this meat, why are you only eating the rice? You should eat more meat if you are going to return to the studio.”

Jihoon ate the rice that was on the spoon and quickly gave a semi-hug to his bowl of rice.

“I’m paying this time, so I can eat all the rice I want.” He said with a small pout and Seungcheol couldn’t help but smile at that.

‘You are cute.’ He wanted to say, but he didn’t want the other to leave.

“Well, more meat for me.” He said using his chopsticks to grab a piece of pork.

And they ate in silence for a moment, listening to the rerun of a music show in the TV and the restaurant ajumma cleaning the other tables.

“You know, the magazine issue for the collaboration has been our bestselling issue of the year till now.” He started, wanting to keep Jihoon’s attention on him.

“Yeah, I bet Seungkwan bought half of the sold copies.” Jihoon said with a smirk making Seungcheol snort.

“His manager actually called me to ask for some copies.”  Seungcheol said and Jihoon starting laughing.

It was the same laugh he had heard the first time he saw the other, so pure and full of happiness. And Seungcheol couldn’t believe his luck, to be able to see Jihoon like this was a blessing. But there was a part of Jihoon he really wanted to see. The other talked so passionately about music, but never let Seungcheol visit his studio after the last time they talked there.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Back when he was in high school and stayed overnight in Soonyoung’s house or the other came to his house, they would end up eating in the middle of the night. It was nice tradition and Jihoon felt like he could sleep better after that. But after he moved to Japan, things started changing. He wasn’t up to eating alone and Mingyu avoided eating late because he wanted to keep his weight due to his modeling career. So Jihoon started with his caffeine addiction.

But after he arrived to Seoul and started working, he had managed to convince Soonyoung to eat with him what he called a ‘late dinner-early breakfast’. So the other had noticed when Jihoon stopped asking him out.

“Should I scold you for returning to your caffeine addiction or are you going to tell me with whom are you eating with?”

Jihoon sighed. He other rarely visited his studio that late, but since he had entered, he had that intense expression in his face making Jihoon feel he was up to something.

“What do you want me to say?” He asked suspecting the other already knew the answer to his question.

“I can’t believe you Lee Jihoon! We already talked about it. You can’t be going on dates with him! What about Mingyu?!”

“He knows about Mingyu. We are just hanging out as…friends.” Jihoon cut the other’s rant.

“As friends? If then, why have you been so secret about him?”

Jihoon didn’t know what to answer to that.

In the last few weeks he had been eating out with Seungcheol and their shared moments had made him happy. He had debated a lot in his mind before giving the other his phone number, but knowing the other, he would probably be asked again for it. After all, they had been seen each other passing by in the company. And by now, he had gotten to know the other better and he liked to believe they had a developed a nice friendship, yes a friendship, as long as they avoided everything that happened before their meeting at the café.

On the other hand, he had tried to keep the messaging at the minimum, because for the moment it was his way of communicating with Mingyu. He was so proud of the other. He had received a signed copy of a European magazine in which Mingyu was in the cover with other Asian models. And the other had been on the TV walking down the runway for a famous designer.

It hurt to admit it, but sometimes he felt like his relationship with Mingyu was better off being a long-distance relationship. As the other progressed in his career, he got the resources to do the things he truly enjoyed, like hanging out with models and photographers, trying fancy clothes and going to parties, while Jihoon still preferred staying in bed watching movies, wearing his comfy clothes, and eating at unconventional hours. Long-gone were the days when both of them stayed in because they had to save money for their tuition and the days they changed their schedules so they could eat breakfast or dinner together. And yet, Jihoon was sure that sleeping in Mingyu’s arms was the safest place on Earth.

“Jihoon?” He could see Soonyoung’s concerned face.

Telling Soonyoung his thoughts about his relationship with Mingyu would only make the other think it was because of Seungcheol.

“Do you want to meet Seungcheol?” Jihoon said with a nervous voice.

“I just want to see your songs.” Soonyoung’s expression turned serious.

“I haven’t written anything about him.” Jihoon said feeling self-conscious.

He had fought his everything not to write every word that crossed his mind when he was with Seungcheol and how his fingers were itching to play the notes in the piano that sounded just like the other's laugh.

Soonyoung stayed silent for a moment and sighed.

“You are just fooling yourself Jihoon. But now I do want to meet him, because I bet he has not introduced you to any of his friends either. I told you he is playing with y-”

“I know his younger brother.” Jihoon couldn’t let the other think badly about Seungcheol.

Keeping it low-profile was something both of them had silently agreed on.

“I bet Chan would love to meet you, he loves to dance.” Jihoon said with a smile on his face and Soonyoung sighed again.

“I’ll meet them both.” Soonyoung started, putting his hand on Jihoon’s shoulders. “Just don’t let him break up your heart.”

And Jihoon let him leave the studio in silence, because he had started thinking that maybe all this denial about his “dates” (as Soonyoung had called them) with Seungcheol was only to protect his heart for when the other finally gets married, because surely he wasn’t going to see Seungcheol again after his wedding.

But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted when his phone vibrated and an incoming message appeared on the screen.

“Are you free now? I really need to talk to you.”