Jaebum had worked so hard to get here. Born in a small single parent family, he and his Mom had struggled to make ends meet. But that had never stopped him dreaming big. Jaebum was going places, he had a plan. He was going to build a better life for himself, get a degree, a career, own a car, date a good looking successful person whom he could cherish.

He had finally gotten out of his one bedroomed apartment when he got accepted to do Creative Media at University. He moved to the big city, and into his own studio apartment. It wasn’t much, in fact it was nothing at all compared to some, but he kept it clean and tidy; always making sure the wooden floors were pristine and that the cushions matched the red rug in the middle, that his multicoloured mugs were hanging from their pegs on his kitchen table. He’d always ensure the room was filled with daylight, and he began to grow plants on every windowsill. It was everything his childhood home wasn’t. Even better than that, however, was that moving out had allowed his Mother the freedom to begin dating again and before his first year was complete she was seeing someone whom Jaebum would later become very fond of. University also created a group of friends for him. They’d meet up for coffee, go on road trips, talk until the sun came up. He felt like he belonged. But that still wasn’t quite enough, something was still missing.

And then he met Jinyoung.

Jinyoung had come from everything he wasn’t, he’d come from money and a big family. He’d gone abroad for his holidays and wore clothes that cost more than Jaebum could even consider paying for a piece of fabric. He was studying law and was an avid reader, and an even more avid thinker, and Jaebum was captivated by him from day one. Swallowing his doubts, he pursued him anyway and sure enough, despite Jinyoung’s forever busy schedule, Jinyoung agreed to go on a date with him.

They graduated the same year and were moved in together the year after. Jinyoung got a job as a lawyer, and Jaebum landed himself a job with a website developing company. Once they were making enough money, they moved to a bigger apartment with huge windows and a balcony, more space for Jaebum’s plants, and adopted a little black cat. His Mom and Step-Dad would come over for dinner every Sunday and every Christmas they’d buy a new bauble to mark another happy year.

That’s what they were doing today, but Jinyoung had gotten caught up at work so Jaebum had ducked out of the cold into the golden glow of a coffee shop to sit down with a book. Sliding off his thick jacket, he poured steaming tea into the white china and took a slow, relaxing sip. The speakers were playing happy Christmas songs and he couldn’t escape the feeling he was in a big dream. Sometimes it felt as if he was an imposter, that any minute Jinyoung would find out that this wasn’t the world Jaebum was meant to be in and he’d have to go back to where he came from. Like a child who had walked into class only to find out he had accidentally walked into the advanced set and he should have been in the beginner.

But as the door opened and Jinyoung came in, Jaebum knew this was it. He was in the right place.