Daehyun was practically running once he knew he was out of Jongup's line of sight. He had panicked and punched the poor boy in the face. He soon reached his apartment and ran through the building until he got to his door. Fumbling with his key and the doorknob, he finally managed to unlock the door and threw himself inside, slamming the door and collapsing against it to the floor.

He sat there staring straight ahead with wide eyes as he panted. Why did Jongup kiss him? Why did he kiss back? He tried to push the event from his mind, but the episode continued to replay in his head.

Daehyun was sitting alone at the end of the dock. Suddenly Jongup startled him and he panicked. Eventually, he cried to Jongup who tried to comfort him. Before he knew it, Jongup had kissed him and he returned the kiss. He kissed back for a few seconds before his thoughts were rampant.

'What is this?' he thought to himself. 'Why is he kissing me?' Although he had these thoughts, Daehyun couldn't stop himself from kissing him back. Then he thought about it even more. 'Why am I kissing Moon Jongup?'

Daehyun panicked and shoved Jongup away before punching him and knocking him into the river.

He realized what he did; it felt horrible. He always reacted before putting much thought into situations. He grabbed his hair tightly with both hands and groaned in frustration. Sometimes, he really hated himself.

......

Daehyun woke the next day to his phone ringing on the nightstand. He peeled the blankets off his body as he sat up, rubbing his eyes as he pouted slightly. How had he managed to find himself in the bed? He couldn't even remember getting in his bed, much less going to sleep. His phone continued to ring gaining his attention once more. He glared at the device before picking it up, squinting as he read the name on the caller ID.

Moon Jongup.

He stared at the phone for a few more rings before deciding to just take out the battery and ignore the call. He didn't want to speak to him right now. He didn't know what he would say and didn't want to say something he knew he would later regret; he already regretted the previous night's incident.

He tossed the pieces of his phone to the nightstand once more and got up from the bed to go to the bathroom. Once, he was finished, he made his way back to his bed and threw his body under the blankets, wanting nothing more than to just relax for the day.

......

The next day, Jongup clocked in at Sweet Notes and began working as usual. But something wasn't right. He had just begun carrying fresh baked goods to the front when he stopped and looked around.

'Where is Daehyun?' he thought to himself as he began to worry a bit. Jongup couldn't stand that Daehyun hadn't answered his call the previous day. He had wanted to apologize. He hadn't meant to kiss him so suddenly. As he stood there thinking about the situation, his face twisted in confusion and worry, a hand waved in his face. Jongup shook his head as his attention shifted to the pink-haired boy in front of him.

"Jonguppie-hyung, are you okay?" he asked as he pouted slightly.

"Neh, Zelo, I'm fine."

"Hyung, I can tell something's bothering you," the maknae persisted. Jongup's face flushed as he avoided Zelo's gaze. "You can tell me, you know."

Jongup shook his head and, without another word, walked through the swinging door. Zelo knew something was going on and was definitely determined to figure it out. He started looking for Daehyun, the only person he could really talk to about anything, but was unsuccessful. Noticing that his second favorite Hyung wasn't there made him pout. He immediately ran to Yongguk to ask him if he knew why he wasn't at work.

"Zelo, Daehyun called in sick; said he can't come in for a few days, that's all," Yongguk said as he sat at the desk in the office staring at the paperwork he had in front of him. He just wanted him to go away; his heart was racing and the small office space kept him closer than he would have liked.

"But Hyung~" Zelo whined as he threw his long arms around Yongguk's shoulders. His face was mere centimeters away from Yongguk's. "And Jonguppie-hyung isn't well today either. He was standing in the middle of the kitchen earlier with all the breads and stuff spacing out and making a weird face." Yongguk felt his cheeks heating up the longer Zelo stayed there wrapped around him. He barely heard a word Zelo was saying as he just thought about the fact that Zelo was underage. He tried to shrug him away, but he just wouldn't budge. He continued to whine a few moments longer until Yongguk finally had enough and peeled his arms away and forced him to get back to work.

"Fine then," he pouted. "I'll go." Zelo shuffled slowly as he exited the office, staring at the floor. Yongguk let out a sigh of relief as soon as Zelo was gone. He could finally breathe again.

Just as he had turned himself back to the paperwork, Himchan popped his head around the door frame and startled him.

"Hyung!" he said as Yongguk gasped before placing his hand over his chest as he caught his breath.

"Himchan, what in the hell do you want?" he finally replied a few seconds later as he frowned. "And don't you know you should knock first instead of scaring the out of me?" Himchan chuckled.

"I'm sorry," he began. "I was just letting you know that I'm going out for my lunch break." A grin spread across his face practically from ear to ear as he thought about his lunch date. "I'll be back in about an hour." Himchan then walked away, still smiling like an idiot, as he hung up his apron and walked out the front door to the cafe. Once out the door, Himchan was greeted by a smiling Youngjae who poked his face.

"Yah, why are you so happy?" he asked as he poked him again. Himchan grabbed his hand and continued smiling.

"Can't I be happy without a reason?" Youngjae shook his head.

"Nope, you certainly can't." He was teasing Himchan and trying to get a response from him. He already knew what was making him so happy, but he wanted to hear him say it. He poked Himchan with his other hand. Himchan took that one too before leaning down a bit until their foreheads touched.

"Well, obviously, I'm having lunch with you," Himchan finally replied before standing up straight again; Youngjae now blushing as a group of people walked past them and into the cafe. Himchan released one of his hands and held the other firmly in his grasp before pulling the young boy away from the building.

Back at Sweet Notes, Jongup continued having episodes of spacing out and thinking about what happened at the river. He had even pulled out his phone to see if maybe Daehyun had called him back. But there was nothing. No messages, calls, and Daehyun never showed up that day. After staring at his phone for about ten minutes, he finally decided he would try to call him again. He opened his recent calls and pressed the number with Daehyun's name on it before placing the device to his ear, hoping he would pick up. The phone rang a few times before going straight to voicemail. Jongup sighed heavily as he pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at the screen a little longer before sliding the red bar across it to end the call.

Yookwon was wiping a table and stopped just long enough to see Jongup's depressed phone call. Zelo walked up behind him, startling him.

"I think something's wrong with Hyung," he said as Yookwon looked up at the tall boy. "He won't tell me what it is, but I think Daehyun might know...maybe."

"What makes you think that?" Yookwon asked as he again began wiping the table in front of him. "I mean, why would Daehyun know anything? He isn't even here. How would that make sense?" He glanced back at the maknae's face.

"I don't know, Hyung, I just do. I know they're always fighting, but I think they have a lot in common. He's bound to know something, even if it isn't exactly what's wrong." Zelo shrugged as he walked over to the next table to take the orders of a couple of girls who just sat down. Yookwon thought about what he said as he stood up and walked to the next recently emptied table before shrugging himself.

"Maybe he's right," he mumbled as he cleared the table and wiped it down before walking through the kitchen to the break room.

Jaehyo was once again back to texting and smiling like a mad man every time he got a message from Zico; Hoik continually rolling his eyes at his hyung.

"Really, Hyung?" he said as he received yet another one. "Give me that thing." He snatched the phone from Jaehyo and stuffed it into his own pocket, Jaehyo reaching for the object as Hoik glared at him. "I'll give this back to you AFTER work." Jaehyo couldn't believe how aggressive Hoik was so suddenly; he'd never spoken so many words at once nor gotten so angry at him before. It was practically unheard of. He stared at him with wide eyes for a few seconds as the tall boy began kneeding the dough on the kitchen island before Hoik turned to look at him.

"What are you waiting for? You're supposed to be cooking that," he pointed at the bowls of ingredients in front of Jaehyo before bringing his eyes back to Jaehyo's. Jaehyo stared in disbelief for mere seconds before finally preparing the dish he was so slow to start. Apparently, Hoik was tired of him wasting time with his precious phone. While Jaehyo was finally busying himself, Hoik took it upon himself to text Zico from Jaehyo's phone to let him know that he was working and that his phone had been temporarily confiscated. Once the message was sent, he turned off the device and took out the battery before placing the battery in one pocket and the phone itself in the other. 'No more interruptions,' he thought to himself.

Daehyun finally dragged himself away from his bed after waking up about five times throughout the day. He lazily walked out of his room as he scratched his head, hair a complete mess and going in every direction possible. He'd never felt more anxious about missing a day of work. He noticed his phone on the coffee table as he sat on the couch. Staring at it for a few seconds, he reached out for it and it rang just before his fingertips could touch it, startling him. After recovering from the initial shock, he reluctantly picked up the device and looked at the caller ID; it was Jongup again. His brow furrowed as he debated on whether or not to answer the call. In the end, he pressed the button to ignore it before placing it back onto the table just to stare at it again.

After a few hours of watching TV, Daehyun began thinking about the last time anyone ever kissed him. It was during his second year of high school. He had moved to China that year thanks to his mother and was enrolled in an all boys school. The memories cascaded on him as he sat there, still staring at the screen.

There was a boy in his class who never laughed at him when he couldn't speak any Chinese. He just watched him carefully for the first few days and then approached him at the end of class one day. The boy had asked Daehyun to go with him to get ice cream, which was cute, considering the language barrier. His Korean was no better than Daehyun's Chinese, but he understood him enough to smile and nod his head. After about a month, they became best friends, practically inseparable. They taught each other their respective languages and were always going out to eat; both of them loved food. One day, it was close to the boy's birthday and Daehyun decided to buy him a cake since his family never seemed to be around. After placing the cake on the table in front of his best friend, Daehyun sat beside him and smiled. Suddenly, his face was grabbed with both hands and pulled into a kiss that startled him. At first he pulled away, in near panic, but the boy refused to let him go and kissed him again. This time, he returned the kiss. After what seemed like hours to Daehyun, the pair heard a loud thud and the kiss ended as their heads jerked up in the direction of the noise. What Daehyun found was his mother and her fiance staring at them. Realizing that the boy's hands were still on his face, he quickly pulled them away and placed his own in his lap before looking at the floor. Not even a month later, they moved back to Busan. His relationship ruined before he really had a chance. 

Daehyun sighed as he shook his head of the memory. He looked at the clock and realized it was getting late. His stomach gurgled and he realized he hadn't eaten anything all day. He got up and walked into the kitchen to get something to eat, only to realize he hadn't bought any groceries yet. After coming up with nothing when he checked the refrigerator, he decided he would order out. He walked back to the living room and picked up the phone from the coffee table. When he the screen he found he had three messages from Jongup. He explained that he wanted to apologize and that he wanted to talk to him in person. Daehyun stared at the messages for a little longer before closing them and dialing the number to the noodle place.

The next day, Daehyun again missed work. He didn't think he was ready to face Jongup just yet. The day played out just as the previous one had. He sat around lazily and daydreamed about two years ago. He didn't know why he kept thinking about that night in his past. Later that night, his phone rang once more, and before he looked at the ID, he knew exactly who it was. He picked up the device, staring at it for a few seconds before finally pressing the button and bringing it up to his ear.

"H- Hi...Jongup..."

------------------------

A/N:

yay really long chapter again :D

2494 words ^^

anyone wanna guess who the Chinese boy was? ;D (it'll be revealed in my oneshot i'm writing....need to finish that so i can title it appropriately :/ and give it a proper description & stuff....)

and poor Jongup for being worried...but hey, Dae finally answered the phone ^^
what's gonna happen next?.........