23 days. 17 hours. 13 minutes.

And Hyukjae meets Jongwoon again, a few days later. He's better, not truly smiling but he's not that's awful and he doesn't wish to die every single day. Jongwoon doesn't seem any better, though. He is wearing sunglasses and his face looks way too red. Still, Hyukjae barely notices, and keeps up his facade.

“I wonder when I'll be able to see you truly smiling.” Jongwoon tells him, and Hyukjae stares at him wide-eyed. “Even if I don’t know you that well, I know this is not how you usually are. These tight smiles you give to people around you isn’t enough to fool me.”

“I'm surprised you noticed, Jongwoon-ssi.” Hyukjae mutters and frowns. How can he be so observant? “Please don't pay too much attention to me. I don't like it.”

“Sorry if it seems that I'm doing on purpose, but I'm not.” Jongwoon smiles, hands playing around with a cup of coffee he was drinking minutes ago. “I just tend to unconsciously look at your direction a lot.”

“Jongwoon-ssi.” It is a warning and Jongwoon notices quickly, muttering a low apology. “I'll ask you one more time.. please, don't. Don't pay attention to me, don't try to get closer to me. It is not going to make you any good, Jongwoon-ssi.”

Hyukjae's tone is cautious, yet gentle. It sounded like a threat, but Jongwoon isn't deaf – he noticed how hurt his voice sounds, and he knew there was something else that Hyukjae isn't willing to share.

He wants to kno