Romeo

In the crowd of thousands, I only see you

 

They decided to drive to Tottenham area for breakfast so that Sungmin could have a feel of his working area. 

"Wow, this is a good car! So comfortable!" Sungmin praised their Ford Kuga SUV.

"I choose it, that's why" Jaehyun felt proud.

"No, I choose it!" Kyuhyun said out loud, while driving.  "You choose the colour, I choose the car..." Kyuhyun turned sideways to Jaehyun and smirked at him. 

"Okay okay, we choose together!" Jaehyun gave up, and Kyuhyun punched one hand in the air because he won, making Sungmin laughed and Jaehyun laughed too.

Earlier, they have decided to have their breakfast at Crepes, Coffee and Chai, at 260 Tottenham Court Road at Bloomsbury.  Along the way, Jaehyun pointed to Sungmin some landmarks and where the tube station was. 

Sungmin found out that Tottenham Court Road is a significant shopping street, best known for its high concentration of consumer electronics shops, which range from shops specialising in cables and computer components to those dealing in package computers and audio-video systems. There were more Asians and middle eastern people here as they were generally good in electronic products. 

"Okay we are here!" Kyuhyun announced. He managed to find a parking lot as it was quite early in the morning. 

They stepped into the cafe and the smell of crepes could turn a man crazy! It was deliciously smelling and they felt that their stomach already started grumbling! 

They got a table and looked through the menu. There was an order list paper-note and a pencil, and as it was nearest to Sungmin, so he took it and started to write their table number. 

Jaehyun, wetting his lips, said "I want 2 crepes nutella banana, with skinny cuppacino"

Kyuhyun said "For me, 2 crepes with goat cheese, and Oat Flat White" 

Sungmin ticked 2 strawberry crepes with nutella for himself and hot chai latte. He never try chai latte before so it should be worth a try! 

"Okay, Sungmin, go and order!" Jaehyun said, giving his card. 

Kyuhyun looked at him "What?!! Jae.. !!". Obviously Kyuhyun was scared that Sungmin was still not used to London. 

"It's a good chance for him to speak in English. Am I wrong?" Jaehyun turned to Sungmin. He just wanted Sungmin have self-confidence when facing the locals. 

"I agree! I will take up the challenge!" Sungmin said confidently and stood up. Jaehyun passed his card to him. 

"Min, I go with you" Kyuhyun was about to stand up but was pushed down by Jaehyun. 

"Ok I will go, but I let Sungmin do all the talking" Jaehyun said. 

"Okay!" Sungmin smile at him. Both of them started walking to the counter. The Englishman at the counter was tall, middle-aged and big size. Sungmin started to lose confidence but he told himself that when he started working, he will be alone. So this would be a good start! 

At the counter, customers were supposed to say out what they wanted to order. The order list was supposed to speed up ordering otherwise customers would waste a lot of time thinking what to order in front of the order counter. 

"Take a deep breath..." Jaehyun whispered to him. 

Sungmin followed his advice and took a deep breath "Err.. Two slices of nute....."

"How many sets?" the guy asked.

"Huhh.." Sungmin was stump as he didn't quite get what the man mean, but didn't say it out loud. Then he remembered that there were 3 of them, means 3 sets! He said "3 sets"

The guy nodded and waited for Sungmin. "Err.. 1st set, 2 Nutella Banana crepes, with skinny cuppacino" and he looked at Kyuhyun's order and started saying it "2nd set, 2 crepes with goat cheese... " 

The guy interrupted him "glazed with?"

"Glazed???" Sungmin started to get panicky.

"He meant anything to spread on top.." Jaehyun whispered again. 

"Ohh, no, no need. And oat flat white" and for himself "3rd set, 2 crepes of strawberry with nutella, and hot chai latte" 

"Any sides?" the guy asked. 

"Ermmm... no, that's all" he said and wanted to pass the card to him. But the guy gave him the receipt instead.

"Are those correct?" he asked 

Sungmin checked the receipt "Yes, that's correct" 

The guy pushed a POS payment machine to him and gestured for him to make the payment. 

"Ohhh, I need to tap the card.." he told himself.  He tap it and the machine started to beep and the receipt got printed. 

The guy tore the receipt and gave it to him together with a buzzer.  Sungmin said "Kamsahamnida, Ooops, I mean, thank you!" he laughed and bowed slightly and turned around to pull Jaehyun to walk because this damn guy was controlling his laughter. 

Jaehyun closed his mouth as they walked and only burst out laughing when they reached their table. Sungmin laughed too and controlling it by hiding his face on Kyuhyun's shoulder. 

"What's so funny?" Kyuhyun asked smiling. 

Sungmin told him how the guy's questions caught him off guard, and because of that, he forgot that he was un London, and said "kamsahamnida" to the guy when he passed him the buzzer and the receipt. 

Jaehyun added that he laughed because he saw the guy's face who was had that expression "???" on his face when Sungmin said 'thank you' in hangeul! 

Kyuhyun laughed and patted Sungmin's shoulder "You did well, anyway!" 

When their crepes came, they ate happily and still laughing here and there about the counter guy. 

They left the cafe feeling satisfied. Kyuhyun checked the location of Oseyo TCR supermarket and said "Ohhh, it's just a 5 minutes walk. Shall we just leave the car here and walk over?" 

"Yeah, it's better that we walk, at least we can show Sungmin the Tube station"

"Which line that I can take from Victoria station?" Sungmin asked them. 

Kyuhyun said "You take the light blue line which is the Victoria Line towards Seven Sisters, then on the 2nd station, alight at Oxford Circus, then change to red line which is the Central Line towards Epping, and alight at that station there, Tottenham Court station. Just 1 station from Oxford Circus"

"Ahhh okay, so it's not so far away from Victoria" Sungmin noted. 

"Yeah, it's just that when we drive, it's one way, so it seemed like it's further" Kyuhyun held his arm to cross a lane. 

They reached Oseyo TCR supermarket which of course it was still close since it was a Sunday, and Sungmin took note of the distance from Tottenham Court station. "So overall, I should reach here within 30 minutes, just for the journey". 

"Yeah, about there, but it's better to leave slightly early because of the train timing and the crowd" Jaehyun told him. 

"I can't send you in the morning because you will start work later, but I will pick you up in the evening" Kyuhyun told him. 

"He'll be working on Saturday mornings, so we can send him on Saturdays" Jaehyun told Kyuhyun, who nodded. 

They walked around the area and saw some eating places owned by Asians. So Sungmin should have no problem finding food. 

Somehow, Sungmin loved this place. He felt comfortable and he hoped that his working colleagues would treat him well too. 

They walked back to their car and Kyuhyun drove to Borough market While finding a car park lot, Kyuhyun turned to Sungmin "Min, we usually come here to get our groceries stuff, which is relatively cheaper than supermarket, and t's fresher too. We buy fruits, eggs, bacon, ham, meat, cheese...." 

"I see, that's good, I can cook breakfast for us since I haven't start work" Sungmin said happily. 

"Wow!! Okay, we can buy home-made bread too, and it's softer. Just that it's normally last about 3 days only" Jaehyun said, and then spotted one vacant parking lot, and he pointed it to Kyuhyun. "Kyu, there..." 

"You two had just bought a car but it seems like you are veterans!" Sungmin said, seeing how easy Kyuhyun drove and Jaehyun knowing how to find a vacant slot. 

"Haha, we always rented cars, so for me, I'm already familiar with the roads" Kyuhyun laughed and completed his parking.

"By the way, Sungmin, this coming Friday, we are driving to Manchester, so you don't cook. Kyu and me have applied leave on Friday, so we can set off in the morning. And you pack for a 2 nights stay okay" Jaehyun told him while walking to Borough Market.

"Wow! I haven't been to Manchester yet!" Sungmin said excitedly.

"It's mostly old buildings but what is good is, they preserved these buildings so that we could feel that we are in the 1800s" Kyuhyun told him. 

"And it always raining, so much so that I wonder whether did they ever got to see the sun!!" Jaehyun laughed.

So Friday morning, they left home and excitedly on their way to Manchester, after a mouth watering breakfast at Spring Gardens.
 
Kyuhyun used M40 highway and it would take approximately 3 hours and 55 minutes to reach Manchester. 

They stayed at Premier Inn again, at Sir Alex Ferguson Way, and it was only 5 minutes walk to Old Trafford. The last time they stayed there was a year ago. Kyuhyun jokingly told Sungmin that the reason why Jaehyun kept wanting to stay here was because he liked one of the reception girl, called Kate! 

"Kyu, you are horrible! It was the distance to Old Trafford, you moron!!" Jaehyun playfully punched him. 

They broke intova laughter when they stepped into the hotel and saw that Kate was the one at the reception. And she recognised Jaehyun! 

After their friendly greetings, Jaehyun checked in for them and collected their keys. He practically hooked his arm around Kyuhyun's neck in the lift because Kyuhyun was laughing so hard at him! 

They walked over to Old Trafford after they had rested for a while in their room. Jaehyun pointed to Sungmin the famous statue in front of the stadium and the jersey store. 

"We'll go to the store tomorrow okay, since it will be crowded today coz it's match day" Jaehyun told Sungmin, who gestured an okay sign. 

"Let's have lunch at the Red Cafe!" Kyuhyun told them as they walked nearer to the stadium. 

"Oh wow, I heard about the Red Cafe at the stadium but I never imagine that I will have my lunch here itself!!" Sungmin said in awe as they stepped into the cafe on the 2nd floor. 

Kyuhyun smile and wrapped an arm around Sungmin "Let's sit near the window so that you can see the stadium area!"

They settle down and ordered their food. While eating, Kyuhyun noticed that 2 guys at another table kept looking at Sungmin with interest, especially one of them. 

"What the heck" Kyuhyun was telling himself and purposely put his arm behind Sungmin's chair. After a while, the 2 guys left and Kyuhyun breathed a sigh of relieved. 

As the match was going to start soon, they proceeded to the entrance gate. Jaehyun gave the ticket to each of them and they climbed up the stairs excitedly, especially Sungmin. Never in his wildest dream that he could imagine that he would be watching a match live at the stadium!! 

The match ended withba win for Manchester United and the fans were all talking excitedly as they climbed down the stairs after the match. 

It was then that the same 2 guys approached them. "Heyy pretty guy, want to join us for a drink?" the taller guy approached Sungmin directly. 

Kyuhyun turned and looked at the guy and pulled Sungmin closer to him. He said politely "Heyy bro, he's with us. And we have our own plan. Thanks for the offer but no thanks". 

"I'm not asking you, you moron! I'm asking him. Move aside!" the guy demanded. 

"Heyy heyy, no trouble okay. My friend already said that he's with us, and we have our own plan, so..." 

"I'm speaking to him!" the taller guy said loudly and stepped forward towards Sungmin. Sungmin became scared and held on to Kyuhyun's arm. 

A few security guards looked at their way and Kyuhyun just wanted to walk off and didn't want to cause any trouble. 

"Heyyy, I'm talking to you!" the guy practically pulling Sungmin, and it made Kyuhyun so furious. 

"Get your hands off him!" he told the guy off, shielding Sungmin. 

Suddenly, the guy punched Kyuhyun hard on his cheekbone, causing Kyuhyun to stagger backwards. Sungmin screamed with fear and Jaehyun alerted the security guards who quickly ran towards them.  It created quite a commotion and 

The 2 guys ran off and 3 security guards gave them a chase whereas  one security guard attended to Kyuhyun. 

Kyuhyun was on the floor touching his cheek and Sungmin was crouching next to him and holding him. 

"Are you okay sir? Do you need a doctor?" the security guard examine his bruise. "I'll call an ambulance" 

"I'm okay.... I don't need an ambulance. Thank you very much much sir" Kyuhyun told him, eventhough he felt excruciating pain. 

"Kyu, your bruise is bad, let's go to the hospital" Sungmin said, nearly in tears. 

Jaehyun examined Kyuhyun's bruise too and said "Hey Romeo, your bruise is really bad. You'll have a swollen face soon. Let's go to the hospital. 

Kyuhyun felt his cheek burning, so he gave up and nodded. The security guard took out his walkie talkie and called for an ambulance. 

 

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lindatan #1
Chapter 20: Dun get it wrong Minnie , u shld hear Kyu explanation before anything
lindatan #2
Chapter 18: Glad tat Min enjoying to be in London
lindatan #3
Chapter 17: Kudos to Min for being so brave
lavendertwice #4
Chapter 17: Brave min! Now kyu has a serious contender for ming's heart
lindatan #5
Chapter 15: Omg I hope they be ok
lindatan #6
Chapter 14: Min be fine for his job , he’s great in anything
lindatan #7
Chapter 13: Get well soon kyu . Min wil be fine
lindatan #8
Chapter 12: Romeo Kyu , dun make Min worry abt u . Hope the police could arrest the 2 guys
lindatan #9
Chapter 11: Tats was great seeing them back together
lindatan #10
Chapter 10: U be fine in London Min