Taemin changed out of his PJs into a jumper and trousers, shut down his laptop, then walked out of the suite. He was giddy in all honesty. His steps towards the games room were both heavy and light - as if he was approving the idea of spending time with Minho although he knew they’d be bickering halfway (or all the way) through. Still, that didn’t deter Taemin’s willingness to get to know him better.

Minho was in charge of the booking. Since he was the manager of the resort, Taemin thought it would be sweet if he handled the place and reserved the board, not the other way around. Furthermore, if it was Taemin who did it, they might’ve said the games room was not available or something to avoid post-visit cleanup. With Minho, however, they couldn’t con him. If he said he wanted the room for himself, he got the room for himself.

“Tch, good to be rich. So good to be rich~” Taemin sang as he pushed the door open and made his way inside, placing the small box on the small board next to the huge billiard table. He came early. The room was empty, but the lamps were readily , casting enough lights for people around the addressed, booked table. The preparation was clean and smooth, and the lad nodded satisfyingly, not expecting anything less than that. “Not bad. I like it.”

He then took a swift glance at his wristwatch. Minho had 18 more minutes before he would be announced late. As for Taemin, it was not his original plan to arrive on time. Frankly saying, he wanted to be the opposite just to tick Minho off, but the excitement was so overwhelming that he felt like throwing up if he stayed stationary in the room, confined all alone. Being the early bird wasn’t so terrible, after all.

Plopping down on the leather couch, Taemin opened the box carefully and brought out the plastic fork. He’d bought some chocolate cake from the café earlier—yeah, the one that Minho gifted him with the other day, the very same one that he refused to eat—and he wanted to devour the dessert in the suite. Nevertheless, it was Minho’s fault that he didn’t get to enjoy it on his own and now, he needed to finish it before anyone came in. Especially Minho.

“Tae?”

“Yep?” Taemin took another bite of the cake and looked up, blinking blankly when his gaze fell on a figure that was clearly not the one he was so dying to meet. “Jongin…?”

Goddamn. What was he doing here?

“Hey,” he approached Taemin on the couch as the older one between the two stood up, hands dusted clean from the cake crumbs. “I saw you yesterday at the café, but I didn’t get to say hi. You seemed busy with work.”

“I was. I wasㅡyeah, swamped with work. Totally. What are you doing here?”

He was not in the mood for talking. As Jongin explained and justified his sudden appearance at the resort, Taemin’s eyes remain glued on the main door just in case Minho barged in. It was almost 3, so he should arrive anytime soon. He didn’t know why he’d get so worried over the mere prospect of Minho catching him with another guy in that room, but he did. And it felt strange for him to feel guilty over something like that. Something that was enough to provoke an unwarranted terror in his or Minho’s life.

Because little did Taemin know that Minho had always been there, waiting and watching behind the barrier of the thin glass wall.

He was standing close to the back door. Technically, he only got to stare at Taemin’s back, but that was enough to give him full access to look at the other man’s face. ‘Who’s that,’ he pondered quietly and held the doorknob t