Leeteuk hurriedly crossed the street when the light for the pedestrians turned green. Many people seemed to be in a rush as it was time for workers to get off work; the same went with him. For a mere second, he glanced upward and noticed that the sky was darker than usual. He smiled—autumn rain was different. It brought so much peace to his heart although it sometimes beat faster out of nowhere when he smelled the ground freshly hit by the pours. It was as if something inside him was washed away along with the downpour. But he could not name what it was.

"Is this the right place ?"

Leeteuk mumbled to himself when he arrived in a crowded cafe down the street. He took out his phone and matched the sign with the one in front of him. The Kims. He threw his phone to his bag and took off his worker's ID as he got into the place. Indeed, it was packed, and if he was unfortunate, there seemed no seat available. He was reluctant to enter farther.

"Teuk!"

He was not reluctant when the man behind the cashier waved his hand at him with a breathtaking smile blooming on his face, the weigh he carried from the tough life he had was momentarily lifted. And all he could and would do was to step closer.

"You found me."

Heechul's heart stopped beating the second the words came out of his mouth. He did not know why it sent shiver down to his spine but it did. And it seemed that he was not the only one because Leeteuk also stopped in his track and only stared at him widely. Nothing was wrong. He was well aware that what he said was a simple greeting. But it sounded so heavy that he almost fell.

"Yeah. I found you," Leeteuk replied, breathless. He quickly shook his head and sobered. His steps were slower than before and he did not know why. But at last, he managed to approach him.

"This place is nice. It seems that business is great here."

Heechul cracked a smile, noticing the grogginess lacing Leeteuk's voice.

"Yeah, my sister owns it but I help her with the cafe at the moment. Hopefully, my mom's health is already better the moment I get a job call."

Leeteuk moved closer and patted his shoulder, "You got this, Heenim."

The hand... was warm—Heechul glanced briefly. He nodded and found Leeteuk a seat.

𝟘𝟙𝟙𝟘

Heechul knew it. 

He just knew it. 

He freaking knew that Leeteuk kept stealing sneaky glances at him every now and then, pretending to drink his coffee. Silly. He was about to approach the latter—intending to keep him a brief company for a couple of minutes because Leeteuk said that he would wait until the closing time—when a woman whose table was in the corner of the room walked to the ordering area. He sighed and had no choice but to put his work first. He hoped Leeteuk would understand.

"Hi. May I take your order?"

Heechul was ready with the tablet menu. But the woman seemed wary and kept looking at another direction.

"Are you—"

"Oh, sorry. Yes. I'm ready to order, but..." she paused and signaled the table across them of a man who just came in not to long ago, sitting in a table beside Leeteuk's. He started to get the gist.

"May I... May I know whether he also ordered a dessert?"

Heechul smiled and shook his head. And spot on, her