“So.”

Donghae glanced at Siwon as the Dean continued swirling the wine in his glass. The older man had been rather quiet throughout the short trip to the fancy restaurant they were having dinner at. Donghae tried making up for the silence by pestering the Dean to tell him which restaurant they were headed for, but aside from a blunt reply (“French”), Siwon barely said anything else to him.

Which was why Donghae finally perked up when Siwon seemed as if he was finally ready to talk.

“So?” Donghae echoed softly. He grabbed his glass of sparkling grape juice and gently clinked it with Siwon’s glass before taking a small sip. “What’s up?”

Siwon smiled bitterly and set his glass down. “I see Hyukjae has been treating you better.”

Donghae smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah. He knows I’ve got a best friend who wouldn’t hesitate to beat him up if he ed around with me again,” he tried to joke. When that only managed to pull a disheartened chuckle from the Dean, Donghae bit his lips and quickly changed the topic. “How’s the experiment coming along?”

“Good. The report is still waiting to be written, but Joy’s already done most of the data compilation. Should be ready for the third round according to schedule.”

“That’s a relief,” Donghae answered softly, taking another sip of his juice. “What’s the third one about again?”

Siwon stared at Donghae with a soft frown on his face until the latter got rather conscious about it. But before Donghae could say anything else, Siwon broke out in chuckles. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make things awkward between us.”

“Mmh, yeah, I guess,” Donghae said with a relieved sigh. “You haven’t found anyone else to shower your monetary love upon yet?”

Siwon grinned. “Why, do you want me to continue being your ‘sugar daddy’?”

“No,” the professor said at once, “But maybe then he or she would be able to make you happier than I ever could.”

“You’ve been a very good buddy, I’ll admit,” Siwon said with a chuckle. “It’s hard to find someone to replace you since you raised the bar so high.”

Donghae just rolled his eyes and set his glass back down. “Do you want me to set you up with someone or not? My offer still stands, you know?”

“I know,” Siwon smiled bitterly. “But I’m going to have to reject it again, babe. I don’t think I can move on from you that quickly.”

The professor laughed and rolled his eyes again, just as the waiter arrived with their appetizers. Donghae waited until the waiter left before saying, “Weren’t you completely over me, like, within the first few months of our relationship? When we were actually together?”

Siwon smiled and said nothing, choosing instead to dig into his garlic butter escargot. Seeing that Siwon didn’t look like he was going to answer, Donghae shrugged and started to eat as well.

After their appetizer plates were cleared away, Siwon finally picked up their conversation again. “We were ‘together’ together for such a short period of time that I sometimes forget we actually dated in the past.”

“How dare you,” Donghae asked with a fierce pout. He pointed at Siwon with his fork and said, “I’ll never forget the cruel way you dumped me right before my hyung’s birthday. My eyes were so swollen in his birthday photos from that year!”

“I’m sorry,” Siwon answered. “I’d never do it again if I had a second chance.”

“Second chance?” Donghae echoed with a soft frown. “Won, if you’re thinking—”

“I meant if I could turn back the time and had a second chance to do things right, I’d never have broken up with you,” Siwon quickly interrupted, taking another gulp of his wine. “I’m not making a move on you or anything. I know where I stand.”

“I hadn’t said anything yet,” Donghae mused, finally setting the fork down. “By the way, you said that I could pick a fight with you over dinner.”

Siwon’s eyes grew so big they nearly popped out from his face. “I did?”

The look in Donghae’s eyes was stern, and Siwon knew there was no use running around in circles anymore. 

“You did.”

Siwon nodded in defeat. “Yeah… I guess I did.”

Donghae folded his arms across his chest. “So, is there something you ought to explain about the peach roses someone sent me the last time, hmm?”

“It was me,” Siwon said matter-of-factly. “I was the one who sent you