blush

 

“You’re fired.”

 

Wonwoo blinks cluelessly as he stares at his manager. The clock strikes ten o’clock, the first hour of his shift. He’s not late, not as early as Daehyun, his coworker, who’s giving him a look which he cannot recognise, but he’s definitely not late. 

“I’m sorry?” He says, unable to process the words that come out from Mr. Song’s mouth.

 

“You should be. Daehyun told me everything. I’m very disappointed, Wonwoo.”

 

Mr. Song has never been a strict person but at that exact moment, his tone and face takes Wonwoo back to when his dad used to scold him for getting anything below a B on his finals. And Mr. Song isn’t old, he didn’t look a day over thirty but Wonwoo is suddenly reminded of the disappointment present on his dad’s face and how bad it made him feel. He reflects on whatever wrong thing he’s supposedly done but he doesn’t come up with anything. He’s never been late, he’s never stolen anything, he’s never been drunk during a shift and he’s never made attempts to spit on a customer cup no matter how aggravating they were. It’s hard to be sorry when he doesn’t even know what he did wrong.

 

“Told you what?” He asks with genuine curiosity which Mr. Song must have mistaken for a sarcastic retort as his face turns stoic. 

 

“Don’t act dumb with me. You’ve been giving your friends free drinks from this cafe and not charging them a single penny.”

 

Wonwoo is dumbfounded. He’s never been this confused in his entire life, but one glance at Daehyun’s smirking face tells him everything he needs to know. While he wants to shout at Mr. Song for being so gullible and believing whatever Daehyun’s manipulative, evil self is telling him, he knows it’s the time to act respectful, maybe he’ll trust Wonwoo and fire Daehyun’s lying instead. “With all due respect sir, but I have never given anyone a free drink. My friends come here and they pay for whatever they bought.”

 

“Stop lying. A customer saw you red handed. Now hand me back your apron. You can keep the badge.”

 

Wonwoo reluctantly reaches to his backpack and takes out his apron, shooting Daehyun a glare the entire time. He hands Mr. Song his apron. It’s just a piece of clothing but Wonwoo feels just the slightest feeling of sadness as Mr. Song grabs it from his hand. He’s gotten attached to it from all the times the apron keep his clothes clean and dry from all the frequent liquid spills. 

 

Mr. Song just sighs and returns to his office. Wonwoo immediately strides to Daehyun and gives him the harshest glare he can muster. “What the did you tell him?”

 

Daehyun shrugs. “A lady called to inform him that one of the workers were giving their friends free drinks. I just told him it was you and the fact that your friends do come visit often didn’t help you very much.”

 

Wonwoo grits his teeth. “My friends come often because our university is literally two blocks away.”

 

“Well, sorry.” If he was, he definitely sounded like he wasn’t at all. He didn’t even look like he was guilty. “My friend is broke and I need the money.”

 

“You think I don’t need the money too? I have bills to pay too, you selfish er.” Wonwoo almost yells but remembers there are customers present so he takes a deep breath before spitting out, “you’re a ing bastard, you know that?”

 

“Doesn’t bother me,” Daehyun replies nonchalantly before going behind the cash register to take an order. 

 

Wonwoo sighs and storms out of the store, gripping the straps of his bag quite tightly. As he walks back to his dormitory, he thinks of possible ways he can kill Daehyun and jobs he can take so he can pay his bills. When he reaches his dorm, he sees all his roommates sitting on the sofa in the living room. They all look at him surprisingly and he dumps himself down beside Soonyoung. 

 

“I thought you were supposed to be at work.” 

 

“I got fired,” he murmurs, glaring at the carpeted floor.  

 

“What? Why?” His friends sound as shocked as he first felt when Mr. Song told him the unfortunate news. 

 

“Daehyun told the boss I was giving my friends free drinks,” he deadpans. They all knew it was a lie. Wonwoo is the last person to be giving his friends anything for free, especially if he knew his job was on the line. “He was all like, ‘I’m so disappointed in you, Wonwoo. Daehyun told me everything’,” Wonwoo says, imitating Mr. Song’s gruffly voice. If it weren’t for the situation, he would be impressed at himself for sounding exactly like his boss.

 

“What?” Soonyoung exclaims incredulously, “bull! I’ve been asking you since you’ve started working but I’m pretty sure you’re charging me extra.”

 

“Maybe they’re overpriced,” Junhui suggests, chiming in from beside Jihoon who was busy on his phone playing some game he got into a week ago. Wonwoo’s pretty sure it’s the same game Jihoon’s playing when he heard shouting and cursing coming from Jihoon’s room the other night.

 

“I am not,” Wonwoo huffs. “Anyways, Mr. Song believed Daehyun so he fired me right as I walked into the café.”

 

“Well, at least you can sleep when you had your shifts.” Soonyoung shrugs.

 

“Better yet, you can now stay up all night playing video games without any restrictions,” Jihoon says, eyes still glued to his phone the entire time. His eyes narrow in concentration before he winces, muttering a curse word under his breath. He leans back and closes his eyes.

 

“Sure, I’ll do that, but you guys have to pay for my bills,” Wonwoo says nonchalantly, a small smirk sliding onto his face.

 

Soonyoung shakes his head rapidly. “No. Okay, we need to find you a job.”

 

“Why not work where I work?” Junhui brings up and all the three boys look at him with confusion.

 

“You have a job?”

 

“Yeah. Seungcheol gives me money whenever he tells me to do something.”

 

The three boys roll their eyes in unison. “That’s not a job, Junhui,” Jihoon grumbles.

Wonwoo sighs in defeat, body sagging and leaning back against the sofa, letting it swallow him. “I’ll have to find one soon.”

 

Soonyoung smiles at him. “We’ll help you.”

 

“Thanks,” Wonwoo replies. As if hit by a sudden struck of thought, he groans. “Thinking about him makes me so angry. That little .”

 

“You should take revenge,” Jihoon says. “You’ll feel much more satisfied.”

 

Soonyoung hums in agreement. “You should do something simple, evil and effective.”

 

Wonwoo frowns. “Wouldn’t that make me seem like a petty person?”

 

Junhui rolls his eyes. “Everyone in the world is petty, they just don’t want to admit it.”

 

Soonyoung suddenly snaps his hand, mouth forming an ‘o’. “You could prank call him!” he exclaims excitedly. 

 

“Prank call?” Wonwoo asks, frown still evident on his face. 

 

“That’s so childish, Soonyoung,” Jihoon comments, now leaning towards his friends, phone forgotten on his left side.

 

“You think lying isn’t childish?” Soonyoung retorts rather childishly and Jihoon just sighs. Soonyoung grins in triumph as if he won the argument but everyone can see that Jihoon didn’t reply because he was not going to argue with him pointlessly anymore.

 

“What would I say?” Wonwoo asks. 

 

“I have an idea,” Soonyoung says and they all crowd over him, coming a little bit closer. 

“You should pretend to be your boss and tell Daehyun his shifts changed cause you were fired. It won’t get him fired, just a little scolding from your boss.”

 

Jihoon snorts. “That’s a stupid idea. Why would Mr. Song call from an unknown number? And he’d definitely know it was Wonwoo from caller ID.” 

 

“Actually, he didn’t save Mr. Song’s number but he did save mine.” 

 

“C’mon!” Soonyoung insists, “It’ll be funny. Even if he doesn’t believe you, it’ll be a good laugh. It’ll cheer you up.”

 

Wonwoo hesitates for a while. 

 

“It does sound fun,” Jihoon agrees, “and we need to get back at him somehow without being violent.”

 

“Which is a shame,” Junhui chimes in. 

 

“Okay,” Wonwoo says in the end, albeit begrudgingly. “Let’s do it.” Although Wonwoo was never one to act on feelings or do things based on revenge, just the idea of Daehyun getting a mouthful from Mr. Song made it all too tempting. He imagines the scene from the morning, only with their positions switched, instead of Wonwoo standing in front of Mr. Song, it was Daehyun, flinching with every stressed syllable his boss spits out.

 

Soonyoung smiles widely and Wonwoo wonders for a moment if his friend is that bored or if he finds happiness off of silly things like this. He whips out his phone and unlocks it. “Use my phone. Tell me his number.” 

 

Wonwoo pulls his phone out from his pocket and scrolls through his contacts until he finds Daehyun’s number. He recites it and Soonyoung taps it on the number pad on his phone. After the last number, Soonyoung presses the green button then puts it on speaker and shoves it to Wonwoo’s hands whose eyes widen. 

 

The phone rings and Wonwoo looks at his friends with panic in his eyes. “What should I say?” He exclaims and throws it to Jihoon who rolls his eyes and throws it back to Wonwoo. 

 

Before any of his friends could reply, Daehyun picks up. “Hello?”

 

Well, that doesn’t sound like Daehyun at all. The voice is familiar and Wonwoo ponders hard on who it could possibly be. Unlike Daehyun’s light and thin voice, the voice that comes out of Soonyoung’s phone is smooth and deep, almost alluring. Wonwoo mimics Mr. Song’s voice, making his own voice rough and deep. “Hello. Is this Daehyun?”

 

“No.” The voice sounds confused and Wonwoo feels just as confused. He looks up at his friends who are all looking at him with furrowed eyebrows. 

 

There’s a pause, admittedly a bit awkward, until Wonwoo asks, “who’s this?”

 

He can hear the other male snorting. “You’re the one who called me, but I’m Mingyu.” 

 

Wonwoo freezes. Holy . There were probably hundreds of people in the country named Mingyu but Wonwoo knew it was him. His memory takes him back to the first time he saw him.

 

He still remembered the first time Mingyu entered the café and came up to him with a smile that has Wonwoo swooning. Wonwoo felt himself heat up right to the tips of his ears. Once he could find his voice again, he asked him for his order, then for his name. 

 

“Mingyu.”

 

Wonwoo wrote his name down with a smiley face right next to it. He’d never done anything like that before but then again he’d never seen a man that gorgeous before. 

 

Ever since then whenever Mingyu comes into the café, Wonwoo wished Mingyu would come up to him instead of Daehyun and every time the man smiled at him, Wonwoo felt his heart swell and it makes him want to smile until his cheeks hurt. 

 

Wonwoo found himself thinking about him whenever he’s at the cafe, glancing at the door and waiting for him to come. 

 

“You like him,” Soonyoung had said teasingly. 

 

Wonwoo frowned, shaking his head. “No,” he replied, although there is no other explanation for the things Mingyu does to his heart or the blush that spreads to the tips of his ears whenever he writes down Mingyu’s name on the cup. 

 

“Mingyu?” Wonwoo stutters. He feels the familiar butterflies in his stomach.

 

“Yes. Who’s this?”

 

“I really like you,” Wonwoo blurts out all of a sudden, “bye.” 

 

He presses the red button rapidly and tosses the phone to Soonyoung. Wonwoo groans and sinks into the couch, pressing his eyes closed as if by doing so he can pretend whatever happened didn’t happen. The embarrassment eats him alive and he can’t even bear to open his eyes to look at his friends. It’s not that his friends didn’t know about his crush but it was the most impulsive thing he’s ever done and he wishes the ground could open up and swallow him alive.

 

“Uh,” Junhui begins, “what just happened?”

 

“,” Wonwoo groans and opens his eyes to see Soonyoung smirking. Jihoon has on a blank face but upon closer inspection, the edge of his lips are curled up and his eyes look amused. Junhui looks concerned and just the slightest confused.

 

“Congrats, Won,” Soonyoung whistles, “didn’t know you had it in you.”

 

“Shut up,” Wonwoo grumbles. “Give me your phone.” 

 

Soonyoung hands him his phone and Wonwoo matches Daehyun’s number on his own phone with the number he just dialled on Soonyoung’s phone. As expected, the numbers didn’t match; the last two numbers were switched. Wonwoo sighs and gives Soonyoung back his phone. At this moment, Wonwoo feels like dying. He’s never felt this embarrassed before. But there is really no use crying over spilt milk so he decides to try to forget this whole thing happened and curl up on his bed. 

 

He leaves his friends dumbfounded and goes into the room he shares with Soonyoung. They stare at his back with confusion. 

 

—

 

Despite being in the same Pop Culture class, Soonyoung never really paid too much attention to the tall boy who sits at the back of the class. He has definitely heard a lot about him from a few of his friends and with a height that tall, he sticks out like a sore thumb. He’d call them acquaintances after a few conversations they held about the class but nothing more than that. 

 

He didn’t even remember Mingyu’s face when he found out about Wonwoo’s crush. (He wasn’t very good at being subtle. It was just too obvious.) So when Mingyu approaches him and Jihoon minutes before the class starts in front of the campus, confusion is all he feels.

 

“Soonyoung, right?” Mingyu asks. He seems to be out of breath. 

 

Soonyoung frowns. “Yes? Something I can help you with?”

 

Mingyu hesitates. “I got a call the other day from an unknown number,” he begins. 

 

Jihoon chokes on the water he was drinking and Soonyoung eyes widen as they realise the situation.

 

“I asked around to see if anyone could recognise the number and Minghao told me it was yours,” he explains.

 

“No no no,” Soonyoung repeats, again and again, shaking his head. “I do not like you.”

 

Mingyu raises a thick eyebrow, his face is covered with suspicion. “If it wasn’t you, how do you know what the unknown caller said?”

 

Soonyoung struggles to answer and he stutters out an incoherent reply. Jihoon rolls his eyes at the sight. “Our friend used his phone to call someone and accidentally called you.” 

 

At the look of confusion on Mingyu’s face Jihoon explains even further. “Our friend has a crush on you and when they realised it was you they accidentally blurted out they liked you. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re late for class.” Jihoon pulls Soonyoung away from Mingyu and inside the building.

 

“,” Soonyoung exclaims. “What do we do.”

 

“Relax. It’s not like Wonwoo’s our only friend. He’ll have a hard time finding out who it is. And even if he did find out, we would be doing Wonwoo a favour.”

 

Soonyoung nods his head. “Okay.” Only because it was Jihoon, the most rational person Soonyoung knew, he feels reassurance. 

 

In the next week, Mingyu does not stop coming up to Soonyoung every chance he can get to ask about his “friend”. In order not to expose Wonwoo, Soonyoung has to change the subject every time Mingyu brings it up. What Soonyoung didn’t expect was to become actual friends with the boy. He had to admit, Mingyu was probably one of the friendliest people he knew. He could see why Wonwoo likes him. 

 

“Are you sure you can’t tell me who he is?” Mingyu asks Soonyoung quite desperately. 

 

“Yes,” Soonyoung answers. “He’ll kill me.”

 

“At least tell me what his major is,” he pleads. 

 

Soonyoung doesn’t get it. Why was Mingyu so desperate to know who Wonwoo was. From what Soonyoung saw, he had quite a lot of people crushing on him. It definitely wouldn’t be hard for him to find someone who liked him to date. He’s probably got people lining up to confess to him so why was he so persistent on finding out who this specific confession was made by. 

 

“Literature,” Soonyoung blurts out.

 

Mingyu grins in triumph. “Alright. Thanks, Soonyoung,” he says before running off. 

 

“!” Soonyoung shouts. Wonwoo is going to kill him.

 

Wonwoo doesn’t kill him but instead looked like he was going to move halfway across the country. Jihoon managed to calm him down by saying that there were thousands of people in his major. It’d be hard to single out a person with what little knowledge Mingyu knew. Even though Wonwoo was not reassured, he forgave Soonyoung, but only because Soonyoung promised to buy him ice cream. Junhui pointed out that while it may not be positive, it was still attention from Mingyu. Wonwoo left the room.

 

— 

 

Although they were in different majors and took different classes somehow, the four boys manage to have the same free time for lunch together. They’d meet in front of the huge fountain right across the library and walk around to find the perfect spot under the shade. It was usually one of the many wooden tables under the trees to protect them from the sun.

 

“I’m going to the restroom,” Wonwoo tells them after they had met in front of the fountain. 

 

By some kind of coincidence or luck in Wonwoo’s part, just as Junhui, Jihoon and Soonyoung found a table, Mingyu approaches them and starts questioning Soonyoung who rolls his eyes upon seeing the taller boy.

 

“What do you want?” 

 

Mingyu grins. “What? I can’t sit here?” 

 

“Do what you want but for the last time, I can’t tell you who he is.”

 

Mingyu nods like a kid receiving instructions from their parent. “Got it.” He leans towards Junhui. “Hey. What’s your major?”

 

Soonyoung groans and Junhui looks at him puzzled. “Uh, architecture. Why?” 

 

“Makes sense. You don’t look like a literature major,” he comments.

 

Junhui furrows his eyebrows. “Yeah, I don’t. But our friend is a literature major. His name—“

 

Jihoon’s quick reflexes allow him to cover Junhui’s mouth. Mingyu frowns and narrows his eyes, almost glaringly at Jihoon. 

 

“Who?”

 

“No one,” Soonyoung quickly says. “No one is a literature major. We have no friends in that department.” He laughs nervously. “I lied to you, sorry.”

 

Soonyoung has only gotten to know him for the past few weeks but he has never seen the look of disappointment that deep on his usually cheerful face before. It almost makes him pity Mingyu and tell him who the unknown caller was. But he couldn’t do that. Wonwoo would probably kill him or worse, never speak to him again. 

 

“You guys really can’t tell me?” 

 

Soonyoung shakes his head. “Sorry, Mingyu. We really can’t.”

 

Mingyu leaves with head hung low in disappointment. Not a second later Wonwoo shows up looking around warily. “I saw Mingyu come here so I had to wait for him to leave.”

 

“Poor Mingyu,” Jihoon says, looking at Wonwoo accusingly. 

 

“You’re breaking him, you know?” Junhui says. 

 

“You should just tell him,” Soonyoung chides.

 

Wonwoo feels attacked and he scowls in return. “No way. If he found out it was me, he’ll be disappointed. I’m not ready if that happens.”

 

Soonyoung frowns. “You shouldn’t say that. Sure you may not have the best personality, sure you may have a bad temper and sure you may have—“

 

Wonwoo grits his teeth. “Okay. I get it. Your point?”

 

“I mean you can be mean sometimes but other times you can be cute. And maybe sometimes people may consider you handsome.”

 

Wonwoo laughs. “Are you trying to tell me something, Kwon?”

 

“No,” Soonyoung snaps, “see, this is what I meant. You are so annoying.”

 

“Anyways, what he’s trying to say is that,” Jihoon continues, “how do you know he’ll be disappointed? He seemed pretty disappointed not being able to know who you are. He looked pretty desperate, too.”

 

Jihoon and Soonyoung look at Junhui who immediately nods his head. “Yeah. You should just tell him. Who knows maybe you both will hit it off and get married and have two babies.”

 

Wonwoo groans. “You guys are so embarrassing.”

 

—

 

What his friends said stuck on his mind for a couple of days. Wonwoo found himself contemplating whether it was a good idea to tell Mingyu his little secret. Maybe he should just tell him. He really had nothing else to lose except for his dignity and pride and self-esteem. 

 

He leans on the window of the bus. Taking the bus wasn’t something he did daily but he had to in order to buy the novel needed for his class. He would usually buy the books his professor told the whole class to bring from the bookstore right across his dorm but unfortunately, they had no stock of it and after searching high and low he found a store located an hour from his dorm selling it. So he had no choice but to take the bus. 

 

His earphones are playing songs from his love playlist. Inside were songs that reminded him of well, love and sometimes the lyrics would remind him of his situation with his crush. They were mostly ballads and songs from OSTs. He really felt like a hopeless romantic whenever he listened to these kinds of songs but he couldn’t stop; the songs were too good.

 

Wonwoo closes his eyes and sighs. He didn’t know what to do. 

 

Right then, the bus stops and a group of people enter. Wonwoo feels someone sit next to him and he opens his eyes to look at the person. To his total surprise, he faces a very familiar face. Mingyu smiles at him and coincidentally, the song coming from his earphones reaches the chorus. Wonwoo feels his heart skip and his breath falter. The entire atmosphere with the song makes him feel like the protagonist of the cheesy romance drama Soonyoung and Junhui binge watches. 

 

Mingyu moves his mouth but Wonwoo couldn’t hear what he says so he quickly pulls on his earphones. “Sorry?” 

 

“Can I sit here?” Mingyu asks.

 

Wonwoo looks around at the empty chairs around him before nodding. “Sure.”

 

“Hey, I know you.” 

 

Wonwoo eyes widen and he feels himself paling. “W-what do you mean?”

 

It’s over. It’s over. He knows. Wonwoo repeats in his head.

 

“I remember. You work at the café near the university.” Mingyu grins and Wonwoo calms down.

 

“Oh yeah. Not anymore, though. I got fired,” Wonwoo replies with a frown.

 

“Well, that . What happened?” 

 

Even though his heart was beating fast and hard against his ribcage and he could feel the palms of his hand start to perspire, he tries to keep a calm facade. 

 

Wonwoo sighs. “Long story. My coworker is a . He lied to our boss and got me fired.”

 

Mingyu scrunches his nose in distaste. “What an .” 

 

The two stop conversing but Wonwoo doesn’t want the conversation to end. With what hidden courage he has, he asks Mingyu, “do you go to K University?” 

 

Wonwoo knew the answer. Of course, he knew. Ever since he saw Mingyu for the first time in the café, he couldn’t forget the other boy’s face. While it didn't come as a shock, as the café was really close to the university, Wonwoo was surprised to see Mingyu on campus. All it took was Soonyoung telling Wonwoo he and Mingyu had the same class together to confirm his thoughts.

 

“Yes. Do you?”

 

Wonwoo nods. 

 

“What were you doing in this side of the town?” Mingyu asks, his tone warm and friendly, making Wonwoo fall for him all over again. 

 

He shrugs. “Bought a book,” he replies, waving the book in his hand. 

 

“I’m Mingyu, by the way,” he says with a smile that sends a swell into Wonwoo’s heart and butterflies into his stomach.

 

“I’m Wonwoo. Nice to meet you.”

 

For the rest of the ride back to the dorm, the two talk just about anything they had in common from classes to their favourite coffee drink. It was impossibly hard not to like Mingyu. He had such a nice personality that was literally begging to be liked. Wonwoo silently wondered how many other people liked Mingyu just as he did and who would be the lucky person that Mingyu would fall in love with. 

 

Life for Wonwoo seemed to be filled with coincidences. It just happened to be that Mingyu was living on the same exact floor he was living in. Just a couple of doors down the hallway. How Wonwoo didn’t know this was beyond him. He blamed his anti-social self for staying inside most of the time and only going out to go to classes or whenever his friends dragged him outside.

 

The two part into their own rooms after bidding the other goodbye. Wonwoo goes straight into his room and lays on his bed. Luckily, Soonyoung wasn’t there to bother him and for once Wonwoo didn’t bother finding out where the other is. He had other things to worry about. Like how fast his heart was beating and how no amount of air conditioning can cool down the red on his face.

 

—

 

The next time he comes across Mingyu is not even twenty-four hours later. It’s the next day while he is walking into the building with Soonyoung beside him. Mingyu approaches them and Wonwoo feels his heart beat a little faster than it’s supposed to. 

 

“Hey, Wonwoo. You know Soonyoung?” He asks, hands on the straps of his backpack. 

 

“He’s my roommate,” Wonwoo says rather flatly. “Unfortunately.”

 

Soonyoung frowns and elicits a ‘hey!’. “You two know each other?”

 

“We met on the bus. I recognised him cause he works at the café. Or well, used to,” Mingyu pauses before turning to Soonyoung with a hopeful look on his face. “Can you tell me today?”

 

Soonyoung groans loudly. “No, kid, how many times do I have to tell you?” 

 

“Tell you what?” Wonwoo asks curiously. 

 

”Who Soonyoung’s friend is,” Mingyu explains, “the one who likes me.”

 

.

 

Wonwoo feels his brain go into overdrive. The rate of his heartbeat starts to increase and his palms start to sweat. He’s nervous. He’s torn between wanting to tell Mingyu and never wanting to let Mingyu know. 

 

“Oh,” he replies quietly instead.

 

“Alright. Bye, Mingyu,” Soonyoung says, stepping forwards. 

 

“Wait.”

 

Wonwoo and Soonyoung stop and turn back to look at Mingyu with confusion. 

 

“Wonwoo, what’s your major?”

 

Wonwoo’s eyes visibly widen and he blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind. “History.”

 

He can see Mingyu frown and nods rigidly. “Okay. Thanks.” And he walks away from the both of them, leaving Wonwoo stunned.

 

“See,” Soonyoung says, “you’re killing him. He’s so desperate he asked every single person he sees me with what their major is. You should consider telling him. I mean, what’s the worse that could happen, right?” Soonyoung raises his eyebrows and Wonwoo takes in his words.

 

He’s right. What is the worse that could happen?

 

—

 

The weekend arrives pretty quickly and Wonwoo takes the time to contemplate whether or not he should tell Mingyu. Jihoon told him bluntly that he was being a little too dramatic but Wonwoo didn’t care. He was nervous and honestly, a little scared too. Telling Mingyu would mean confessing his feelings for him. And Wonwoo wasn’t quite that ready to do so. He’s a little bit of a coward and he knows that. He’s scared of being hurt and even though he knows Mingyu would probably let him down the nicest way possible, he’s still afraid of his heart breaking. 

 

But at the same time, his entire being is itching to just tell Mingyu. He wants to know what would happen if Mingyu found out. Would he like Wonwoo back? Or would they start becoming closer? Maybe they’d date? Wonwoo couldn’t finish his trail of thought and ends up blushing and shaking his head.

 

He groans aloud, ruffling his hair. “What should I do?”

 

“About what?” Junhui asks, looking up from his desk that had papers covering its every inch and to his bed where Wonwoo lays.

 

“About Mingyu,” he mutters. “I don’t know what to do.”

 

He is currently in Junhui’s room which is a single-bed room, just big enough to fit in a small bed, a desk and a wardrobe; an exact copy of Jihoon’s room, only cleaner. Soonyoung and Wonwoo were the unlucky two who lost in a game of rock, paper, scissors for the single room and ending up having to share the master bedroom. 

 

“That’s up to you, Wonwoo. If you want to tell him then you should but If you don’t want to then you shouldn’t. Who knows what will happen? If worse comes to worst, he’ll probably just ignore you. How bad could it be? If it wasn’t meant to be in the first place then it won’t happen.”

 

Wonwoo lets his words sink in. “What would you do if you were me?” he asks quietly.

 

“I’m not you,” Junhui reminds, “but if I were,” he pauses, thinking about his answer, “I would just tell him. Your life is so boring. Wouldn’t it be exciting to have something happen?”

 

Wonwoo ignores the insult and thinks about it some more. By now, he already had his answer. He’s going to do it.

 

He is going to confess to Mingyu. 

 

—

 

Monday rolls around the corner and Wonwoo is a nervous wreck. Soonyoung has to force him to get out of bed and go to his classes.

 

“This is getting ridiculous,” Soonyoung snaps. “Wonwoo, hurry up. We don’t have all day.” 

 

“Just go without me. I’ll stay here.”

 

“Stop being a coward. Let’s go. You don’t even have a class with him. There’s like less than fifty percent chance you’ll meet him,” Soonyoung shouts from the door with annoyance lingering his tone. 

 

“Fine,” Wonwoo grumbles, trudging towards Soonyoung and sliding on his shoes. 

 

He goes to class with careful steps, eyes darting everywhere in hopes that he doesn’t run into Mingyu. He decided that the next time he runs into Mingyu, he’s going to tell him. He’s going to confess to his crush, and it scares him so he’s dreading the very moment he’ll see the taller boy. When he doesn’t see the other boy on the way to class, he slumps down on the chair and heaves out a big sigh in relief. 

 

In class, he tries his best to pay attention but it’s hard when his mind on something else. Someone else. And by the time he directs his focus on the board, the professor dismisses the class. He makes a mental note to ask one of his classmates for notes. 

 

He leaves the class the same way he enters. Anxiously. He waits for Soonyoung outside of his class because he doesn’t want to walk alone.

 

“Wonwoo? What are you doing here?” Soonyoung asks when he goes out of the class and sees his roommate outside. 

 

“Picking you up,” Wonwoo replies as-a-matter-of-factly, “Let’s go.”

 

Soonyoung looks at him suspiciously. He’s never done anything of this sort before. It’s weird. 

 

“Sorry, Won. I can’t go with you today. I have to go to Seokmin’s to work on a group project,” Soonyoung says, shooting him an apologetic look. 

 

Wonwoo frowns. “Okay. See you.”

 

“Good luck,” Soonyoung cheers before running off to Seokmin.

 

Alone, he walks outside the building. Groups of people laughing pass him and some even wave at him but he puts his head down and hurriedly walks towards the exit of the campus. When he reaches the fountain, the heart of the university, he looks up and squints when the sun glares at him. The sunlight is warm and nice on his face but his body tells him to walk faster as perspiration start to bead on his back. That’s what he got for wearing long-sleeved shirts when it's not even autumn yet and the leaves are yet to fall. 

 

Suddenly, a figure blocks the sun and a shade covers Wonwoo. His eyes widen from the squint and he looks up at the person looming over him. It startles him when he sees Mingyu with a nervous smile on his face. Even though he’s just a couple centimeters shorter than the other boy, Wonwoo feels so small all of a sudden.

 

“Hey, Mingyu,” he greets, putting on a fake smile. “Just finish classes?” 

 

Coward. Wonwoo whispers to himself. Stop delaying and tell him.

 

“No. My class starts in 15 minutes,” he replies before scratching the back of his head. “Can I talk to you about something?” 

 

“Uh, sure.” 

 

Wonwoo can hear his heart pounding heavily and he hopes Mingyu can’t hear it. It’s ringing in his ears as he follows Mingyu to the shade underneath a tree nearby. 

 

“So, what is it?” Wonwoo asks anxiously, shoving his hands inside the pockets of his jeans. 

 

Mingyu stares at him for a while before saying, “You know the story of how Soonyoung’s friend accidentally called me with his phone and basically confessed his feelings for me?”

 

Wonwoo is ed. The panic washes over him like a wave. 

 

When Wonwoo doesn’t reply, Mingyu continues. “Well, I think I found him.”

 

“Who?” Wonwoo blurts out and Mingyu raises an eyebrow.

 

“He’s standing in front of me.”

 

“How do you know?” 

 

Wonwoo wishes the ground could open and swallow him up. He feels the heat rush to his neck then his cheek and ears. At the very least, he thinks, he doesn’t have to do it since Mingyu already found out by himself. 

 

“First of all, when we met on the bus, you bought a book and it didn’t make sense why you would go all the way there just to buy a book. And the cover looked similar to the book one of my friends majoring in literature was going through hell to find.

 

“Second of all, I have a friend majoring in history and he doesn’t know anyone called Wonwoo in his major but he does know a Wonwoo majoring in Literature.”

 

Wonwoo laughs nervously, refusing to look at Mingyu. “I’m undecided?”

 

“Last of all, your voice is very similar to the person who called me.”

 

“Oh.” Wonwoo is speechless.

 

“So?” Mingyu an eyebrow in anticipation. 

 

Wonwoo sighs and looks up at Mingyu in the eyes. “Yes,” he says, finally, “it was me.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” 

 

Wonwoo laughs bitterly. “As if I could just come up to you and say, ‘hey, Mingyu, I really really like you’.”

 

“So you do?” Mingyu asks, a small smile on his face. 

 

“Do I what?” Wonwoo asks, puzzled.

 

Mingyu takes a step forward and while the space, or rather the lack thereof, between them is overwhelming, Wonwoo doesn’t step back. “Really like me?”

 

He gulps and looks down at their shoes. Nodding, he replies with a soft ‘yeah’.

 

Mingyu laughs softly. “You’re cute.”

 

Wonwoo cheeks pinked and he finds himself unable to form words with his mouth to give a solid reply. 

 

Bells ring from the other side of the campus signalling the passing of another hour and Mingyu looks anxiously at his wristwatch. “Hey, I gotta go. Here, give me your number.” 

 

A phone is handed to him and he types in his number quickly. Without even checking it twice, he hands the phone back to Mingyu. 

 

“I’ll call you,” Mingyu says and then he’s gone. 

 

Wonwoo returns to his dorm with relief coursing through him. He’s never felt this elated before in his life like his heart could burst. He must have done something great in his past life, Wonwoo thinks, because everything is turning out to be great for him. 

 

Now all he needs to do is find a job.

 

—

 

The call comes right as he enters his room after taking a shower. He immediately runs to his phone and slides to answer.

 

“Hello?” he replies, a little breathless.

 

“Wonwoo? Hey, it’s Mingyu.”

 

“Hey.” 

 

“I wanted to ask,” Mingyu laughs, “who were you calling when you accidentally called me?”

 

“I was going to prank call my of a coworker. But obviously, it didn’t work out. Soonyoung stupidly put in the wrong number,” Wonwoo huffs, turning around and laying on his bed. 

 

“I guess it’s faith then that brought us together.”

 

Wonwoo’s heart skips a beat before he replies, “yeah, either that or your perseverance. Why didn’t you ever give up?”

 

“I don’t know.” Mingyu’s silent for a few seconds. “It was the first time somebody sounded genuine when they said they liked me.”

 

“Really?” 

 

“Yes.” Mingyu chuckles. “I guess you really like me, huh?”

 

“Shut up.” Wonwoo’s cheeks turn red as he hugs his pillow tight around his chest.

 

“So, what was it that I did to make you all flustered for me?”

 

Wonwoo huffs in disbelief. “I can't believe you. I’m hanging up.”

 

Mingyu’s laugh fills his ear and with every second, Wonwoo gets more infatuated. “Sorry, I’m just teasing you. But seriously, what was it?”

 

“I don’t know,” Wonwoo trails off. “I don’t think it was anything in particular. When you first came to the café, you caught my attention and I guess I’ve been secretly hoping you’d come back every time I go to work.” His face flushes bright red, grip tightening on the phone.

 

Mingyu is suddenly reminded of how glad he is he never gave up looking for the boy who made his heart beat faster through just a few words over the phone. 

 

They talk until Wonwoo falls asleep to Mingyu’s soothing voice. 

 

—

 

“I’ll meet you tomorrow at 12 at the same exact place we last saw each other.”

 

“I can’t eat lunch with you today. You guys go on ahead without me.”

 

Soonyoung raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

 

“I just have to meet my professor to ask some questions. No biggie,” Wonwoo lies smoothly.

 

Soonyoung doesn’t look convinced, but he let it slide. 

 

When class is over two hours later, Wonwoo rushes out of class even though the clock doesn’t strike 12 for another half an hour. He walks to the place they agreed to meet up at and sits on a bench nearby. Wonwoo is excited, of course, but he’s also nervous and it is clearly visible from the way his leg bounces and the way his lower lip is red from all the biting. 

 

With absolutely nothing to do but wait, he whips out his phone to pass time. But even as he scrolls through his instagram timeline or look at his friends’ snapchat stories, he can’t seem to focus. His eyes will always drift to the clock. He even clicks on a game he never deleted even though this was the first time he’s played it in years. Funny enough, he gets so immersed in the game he doesn’t notice the chimes of the bell that resonates throughout the campus grounds.

 

“Hey.” Somebody sits beside him. 

 

Wonwoo jumps in surprise and his hand slips. The words ‘Game Over’ show up on his screen, but he doesn’t care. Quickly turning off his phone and putting it aside, he faces Mingyu with a smile.

 

“Hi.” 

 

Last night’s conversation floats inside his mind and he blushes. Mingyu smiles at the sight of Wonwoo’s cheeks turning into a pretty pink. He decides it’s his new favourite view.

 

“Just got out of class?” Mingyu asks.

 

Wonwoo nods. “Yeah.”

 

“I just wanted to confirm,” Mingyu begins, “You are a lit major, right?”

 

Wonwoo laughs. “Yes.”

 

“No more lying, okay?” 

 

“Okay.”

 

Mingyu brings his hand out with his pinkie upright. “Promise?”

 

“Promise.” Wonwoo brings his own pinkie and links the two together. Their pinkies unlink, but Mingyu takes Wonwoo’s hand and holds it, thumb Wonwoo’s soft skin. Wonwoo smiles at their hands. 

 

“Hey, you have something on your hair,” Wonwoo says as he looks up. “Here. Let me get it for you.”

 

He leans in closer and with his unoccupied hand, he brushes the object off of Mingyu’s hair and it flutters to the ground. Before he could go back to his previous position, Mingyu places both his hands on Wonwoo’s cheeks, cupping his face.

 

“Can I kiss you?” Mingyu asks softly.

 

Wonwoo finds himself not being able to reply so he just nods. 

 

Mingyu closes the space between them and presses his lips against Wonwoo’s. Their lips fit perfectly with each other. Wonwoo’s eyes close and he melts into the kiss. He sighs blissfully as Mingyu kisses him deeply. 

 

And then, as if a cold bucket of ice water drenches them, Wonwoo hears the annoying voice of his best friend shout, “What the ?”

 

He pulls away from Mingyu like he touched fire and whirls around to glare at Soonyoung. 

 

“Hey, Soonyoung! I found out who your friend is!” Mingyu shouts, grinning, waving his and Wonwoo’s hand around. Wonwoo feels the stares of the other students and turns bright red.

 

“No !”