Only one more week, then Sungjae could quit after that. He would reunite with his beloved mattress for the whole Saturday morning, hang out on an arcade or PC room in the afternoon with his friends, and treat each other for dinner in the evening. Only one more week, so let’s bear it a little more.

Sungjae could not forget –how could he forget?– the behind scene of how he ended up sitting here, watching a stranger stabbing chopsticks into a medium bowl of spicy race cake and stuffing that red-colored chewy food into his mouth. Flattening his lips, a light sigh escaped from Sungjae’s nose and his right hand landed on the back of his head, scratching it.

“Why are you not touching it? Soy milk noodles are originally cold, don’t let it get even colder!” The person, who was sitting next to Sungjae, garbled with his mouth full of food, and sprayed a mini drizzle of gochujang sauce on Sungjae's left arm.

 LOVE DELIVERY 

It was not even fifteen minutes ago when he got off of his motorcycle, two transparent plastic bags were on his left hand, while the other was occupied by his newly cracked phone. Reading the text from a certain food delivery app, Sungjae sighed at the black spot covering almost one-third of his phone screen, making him hard to see the keyboard. He had to activate the auto-rotate feature to see the address written in it.

Raising his head, his eyebrows automatically went down as he reacted to the views in front of him. It was a stretch of land, with green grass and deciduous trees towering on the edges. Let’s say it was a park, a park that Sungjae never knew its existence in this crowded and polluted district. But what made him even wonder was the thing that the customer asked him to deliver the order here instead of a building called house, or office, or anything like they usually told him.

His head turned to the left and right looking for the customer. Ah how stupid he was, how would he spot anyone behind this order, without being told which one is her/him. Sure this job was getting more frustrating, maybe quitting would really be a nice choice. Sungjae kept on walking anyway, passing some children riding their tricycles, a guy sleeping on a bench, and an old man fishing on the bank of a small pool. Were there any fish there?

He would usually use a ‘dear customer’ card when he wasn’t sure of the address, but with this broken phone, it was difficult to do. Struggling with the hardly visible letter on the screen, it took him longer than usual just to complete the first sentence.

“Excuse me!”

Sungjae raised his head, searching from where that familiar voice came from, neglecting his unsent message.

“Here!” It was from a guy before, the one who previously lied his back on the bench. “A complete package of spicy rice cake, a bowl of soy milk noodles and two bottles of soju?” the guy asked, lowering his voice for the last phrase since there were some kids around. Yeah right, who the hell had a drink during day time, in a park, alone.

“Lee Changsub?” Sungjae asked, receiving some nods from the other.

The guy, who was still in his suit, waved his hand in the air, motioning Sungjae to come. Ah finally found! Sungjae thought. Why he didn’t say it earlier before Sungjae used a quarter of his energy and patience to wander around the park? Was the guy really did doze off that he didn’t notice his arrival? Well, judging the not-so-chilly early autumn breeze and under the shadow of yellowish katsura trees, the park bench would be a perfect bed for napping.

“Everything will be eighteen thousand won, how would you like to pay, sir?” Sungjae asked, after putting down the bags on the bench.

“Eh? How is it that expensive?” The guy, who already took out his wallet suddenly shrieked, rounded his seemed-sleepy eyes widely.

“You ordered a lot, and I’m sure it also showed on the app before you checked out.”

The guy sighed, finally took out the said amount, maybe trying to be responsible with something he had ordered.

“But…” he stopped halfway when he was about to hand Sungjae the money, “Can I return the soju and the noodles? I was gonna eat with a friend here but he told me suddenly he couldn’t come, so…,” he said, sounded nervous.

“Err no,” Sungjae simply answered. He should have noticed how suspicious the order was since the first time the delivery destination popped out on the dialog box on the app. Feeling that it would be troublesome to deal with him longer than necessary, Sungjae thought it would be better to finish it quick.

“Then,” The guy spoke again. Sungjae, who was trying to snatch the money from the guy’s loose-looking grip was forced to give him that ‘customer-friendly’ smile his boss always asked him to do. “Then, could you stay for a moment and help me finish the soy milk noodles?”

 “What did you say?” He inquired, aiming to confirm what he just heard.

“I can’t eat that and it may be such a waste to throw it so…” he explained, fidgeting and showing his teeth.

That memory was still as warm as the spicy race cake the guy was now chewing, not easy to swallow and leaving a burning sensation on the tongue. Sungjae, once again, let out a small sigh while his eyes landed on the soy milk noodles’ bowl beside him, still tightly wrapped. He then looked at the other guy with his narrowed eyes, stringing up a suspicious scenario in his mind. Who knows maybe the scene of the guy making Sungjae eat the food was a motive to pay half the bill?

“It’s my fault that I called my friend during these busy hours, he got a sudden meeting so he can’t have lunch with me,” he unexpectedly said, confiding his unimportant stories while gaze was fixed somewhere in the middle of the park. “And now I have to pay for the food I can’t even eat,” he continued before taking another bite of the rice cake.

Sungjae remained silent, still patiently waiting for this unique customer to give the money already so he could finally leave. Besides, he didn’t know how to respond to the guy’s lament, he wasn’t supposed to listen to this anyway.

As if he was able to read Sungjae’s current thought, the guy put the exact amount of bill on top of the plastic bag, resulting in a crackling sound.

“I’m sorry for asking you to deliver it here and making you wait for the money.”

Sungjae stared at the money for a moment, then to the guy beside him. An inaudible ‘aishh!’ was kept under his tongue as he knew well that he could never turn down that magic word.

“Oh and for staying while you may have another work to do, sorry for that too.” They finally faced each other, one with his apologetic eyes and the other with his subsided annoyance.

“You said too much sorry, I’m sure two minutes after this you will apologize for existing,” Sungjae said.

He finally took the money, together with the untouched soy milk noodles and a pair of wooden chopsticks. After putting the cash inside his back pocket, Sungjae decided to open the plastic wrap, revealing a bowl of milky white soup with noodles and sliced boiled eggs. Now he could eat it without having to worry about being asked to pay for something he delivered. He had been imagining what was inside the bowl while bearing with his watery mouth. He hadn't had lunch because he had to deliver the food here.

Both who were not able to open a talk as they still consider each other as strangers chose to focus on their foods instead. The muffled sound of Seoul City and whistling wind boosted. A bored old man fishing by the pool and children breaching the pile of autumn leaves with their tricycles were their spectacles. Sungjae blinked his eyes, thinking this situation would only exist in that romantic TV drama or novel from a melancholy worshipper writer. It would be perfect if he had a girlfriend to enjoy it together. His mother had encouraged him to find one, saying that his heart might be stiff if it hadn't been tickled for a long time. But, one more fall living his life being a single old university student.

Taking time to remember, it had been years since he has been enjoying his free life without being involved in any romantic relationship. The last one he could recall was during his freshman year, in a welcoming party to be exact. It was unexpected that he would hear that confession from his female opponent right after their mini-drama performance. Sungjae thought it won’t be bad to dating again, she seemed to be a nice girl, not to mention that she was the cutest among his major mates. But of course it didn’t work, Sungjae knew he shouldn’t have given it a try because that attraction never existed and nothing from that girl could tickle his chest, all that remained was only guilt.

“For how long will the old man sit there?” Sungjae said, obscuring his foregoing muse.

“Uh?”

Lee Changsub, the guy sitting beside him, turned his head to Sungjae. Perhaps, he was slightly shocked with the sudden talk after two minutes or so being silent. He then followed where Sungjae’s gaze pinned.

“He knows he won’t catch any fish there, he’s just watching over his granddaughter. She doesn’t like him watching her plays, so he pretends to do something else. An over-protective grandpa.”

“Do you come here often?” Sungjae asked.

“No. His house is just one floor below mine. We meet and talk sometimes.”

Sungjae nodded, unsure of how to respond. He picked the noodles while looking for something to maintain the conversation. Just sitting and eating would sure be really boring, in addition, it was with a stranger. Imagine how awkward it would be.

“So what are you doing here, sir? I mean, lunchtime is over since an hour ago.” Sungjae finally said.

Five seconds, ten seconds, and fifteen seconds passed but nothing came out from Changsub. Sungjae turned his head to him, finding the other bowed his head facing the cake bowl. Sungjae tilted his head, trying to see his face.

“Sir?”

“Waah, I think I just found a heart-shaped rice cake.” Changsub raised his head and showed him the said thing.

Sungjae could only stare at the other oddly, eyes twitching as he witnessed the grown man smiled like a kid who proudly showed his mother the painting he made in an art class. Sungjae, who didn’t cringe in disgust as he usually did to one of a certain similar friend of him, thought that it was actually cute. Weirdly cute. From his pale skin, eyes smile that resembled a macaron, nicely saturated red lips and to the less noticeable details like the point under his chin, Sungjae couldn’t help but feeling feverish on both of his cheeks down to his neck when he saw him.

He turned his head after that, inhaling and exhaling air to cool down himself. How was that guy real? Sungjae didn’t remember meeting someone that… that gorgeous before, which was indeed actually never until today. How can a guy be so pretty? Even Sungjae, a guy too, got his face reddened. Realizing that he just admitted the guy’s beauty made him feel more embarrassed.

“I didn’t expect it to be this complete. It came with many vegetables too. Waah!”

“Yeah, but the sauce was the best. Isn’t that what makes the taste different from one store to another?” Sungjae said, coughing at the end of almost every utterance he made.

“Correct! It’s the tastiest among those I’ve ever eaten.” And I could drink it as if it was ramen broth. Which he really did.

Sungjae looked at the guy beside him who was lifting the bowl and bringing it in front of his mouth. Sungjae’s eyes grew wide as he watched him drink the sauce like water. Did Changsub forget that the food had ‘spicy’ as its first name?

“Sir, I think you shouldn’t do that,” Sungjae said while he extended his hand to prevent him from drinking it even more.

“Ah! Too spicy!”

That was expected, Sungjae sighed as he saw Changsub’s face turned red, mouth gaping like a fish, begging for some water. Forget it, Yook Sungjae! Changsub was indeed cute but he was an idiot. And he could make sure of that as he saw Changsub grabbed the soju bottle, opened the cap in a hurry, and drank it until it was half empty. And took a moment to breathe and drank it again until not even a single drop left.

“This man is scary,” Sungjae said under his breath.

“My tongue is still burning.”

Sungjae snatched the last remaining bottle from the guy’s grip. “You could have just asked me to get you some water from the nearest store.”

“And let me dying while waiting for you to bring it here?”

“Sir, you could make yourself drunk.”

“Yah! I’m not old okay! I just graduated. Now give me that. It’s hot and my head is dizzy like it was about to explode.”

Too late, Yook Sungjae. He was already drunk. Sungjae put the green bottle away from Changsub who tried to take it from him. However, Sungjae regretted it soon after. Keeping the bottle away from Changsub’s reach only drew Changsub close to his body. The more he stretched his head the more he could feel Changsub moving even closer to him. Avoiding Changsub by turning his head, Sungjae knew it didn’t help as he still could feel the other’s breath against his cheek. From that, Sungjae could estimate how close their faces were at the moment.

But Sungjae could not figure out how much of his own spit he had gulped, how many meaningless hits Changsub released, and how many times had passed as they stayed like that. It was a few seconds after when Sungjae felt something heavy fell on his side. It was Changsub’s head.

Changsub was leaning his body against Sungjae’s, motionless. His eyes were closed and his chest was moving up and down steadily.

Scratching the back of his neck, Sungjae was feeling a bit hesitated as he tried to approach the old man near the pool, leaving Changsub sleeping on the bench alone. He could have just get out from here and returned to the restaurant he worked at, Changsub was a grown man after all. But he thought it would be nice to help someone out of the sense of pity. Well, maybe more than that, Sungjae didn’t want to part just like that and he couldn’t understand why.

“Ah, that young boy? He lives in the same building as mine. It’s only two hundred meters away from here. There, you can even spot it from this place. Just wake him up and leave him alone, he can go home by himself.” That answer didn’t help at all. The old man, after giving his last words to Sungjae, turned his gaze back to the distance where some young children play.

As if I didn’t try, as if it was easy to wake him up. Sungjae grumbled silently.

Now sitting back at the bench, Sungjae could spot the red stain on Changsub’s light blue shirt as he stepped his hand on the bowl earlier. And damn, it looked expensive. Sungjae couldn’t imagine how furious Changsub could be if he was awake.

“Phone!” Sungjae exclaimed when he saw something inside Changsub’s shirt pocket.

Carefully taking it out, an unknown nervousness suddenly hit him. Changsub, who closed his eyes peacefully with his lips parted slightly, was beautiful as the wind blew his brunette hair. It tickled, somewhere inside Sungjae’s chest felt tickle.

“Excuse me?”

Sungjae jumped at that voice. Raising his head, he saw another man standing in front of him smiling nervously.

“Umm, what are you doing?” the guy asked.

Feeling his heart thumping three times in every single breath he took, the answer came out as a stammer, “Ah, th-there is a leaf on his head.” Lie! But better than telling him that he was actually trying to take out the phone.

The guy unpredictably nodded his head, eyeing Changsub for a moment then turned his gaze to Sungjae, “Seems like he got himself drunk before I came.” He said, shoulder shook as he giggled, showing his neat teeth. That made his gentle appearance became more attractive.

“So, you are his friend?”

He nodded once again. “Thank you for taking care of him and sorry on his behalf for putting you in this troublesome situation.”

“Ah, it’s okay. Then, I’ll leave.”

Sungjae finally stood up, grabbed his belongings and left the place. He didn’t forget to take a few seconds to check, looking back after some steps to see the guy trying to wake Changsub up.

“Yah, how long will you let the phone ring like that? Don't let any money just pass by, you brat!” Sungjae blinked his eyes after that yell, putting down his chin he rested on his palm. He glared at the kitchen direction, from where his boss shouted. Now he was treating him worse as today was Sungjae's last day working here.

Sungjae should really stop his behavior of sighing at everything before it became worse. He might draw the customer away from the restaurant. But who cares? It was his last day anyway.

“Yes, how may I help you?”

“Yes, hello. Sorry for ordering over the phone, I can’t find your restaurant on the delivery app anymore. Could you please deliver one order of spicy rice cake? I’m here at Danpung apartment building, but could you deliver it to the park near the building?”

Both of Sungjae’s lip tails went up, forming a curve. His ears turned red as he could feel a strange sensation in every word he heard. Sounded so vivid, he couldn’t be mistaken. It was the voice he had ever heard before. It couldn’t be someone else. It must be Changsub, Lee Changsub.

What a title, I know haha. I hope you like it and thank you for reading so far. Should I make another one?