A/N: I lied again.  The fourth chapter will be the last one for sure.  LOL.

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            Daehyun takes a sip from his mug of coffee before setting it back on the table and flipping the page of his book.  He sits upright on the café’s chair with half his face tucked under the red scarf wrapped around his neck.  It’s nearing Christmas, the weather is freezing, and the heater wasn’t helping Daehyun’s cold skin one bit.  Neither were the countless layers he had put on that morning.  It is Saturday morning and Daehyun had decided to bring a novel to the café and just read his time away.  The bell that is hung over the door rings faintly and Daehyun takes no notice of it because he is too engrossed in the book’s plotline.  It is not until he feels a warm breath on his ear that Daehyun recognizes a presence.

            “What’re you reading?” the familiar voice questions him and Daehyun turns only to have his face just mere inches away from Jongup’s.

            “A book…” Daehyun replies as he closes the novel and sets it on the table.  “You’re late.”

            “Sorry, I had to translate some papers for my parents,” Jongup states as he takes a seat across from the other.

            “Someone sounds like a good son,” Daehyun teases.

            “Who?” Jongup asks, turning around jokingly to look behind him.  Daehyun laughs, causing Jongup to stare back at him and just listen.  Daehyun notices this and his laughter gradually fades away.  To avoid the awkward silence, the singer picks up his mug and quietly takes another sip.

            Jongup calls the waitress over and orders a latte for himself before focusing his attention back onto Daehyun.  “So… what are your hobbies?”

            “Singing…” Daehyun responds, and Jongup knows that he the other is currently questioning his ridiculous inquiry.

            “How many siblings do you have?”

            “One…”

            “What’s your pet peeve?”

            “Arrogant people.”

            “What don’t you like about arrogant people?”

            “Their arrogance?”

            Jongup just nods in confused acknowledgement because he has run out of things to ask.  The silence drags on and the two are extremely grateful when the waiter comes with Jongup’s drink, lightening up the strange atmosphere between them.  Jongup holds the warm cup in his hands and his eyes rest on the coffee below him.

            “You know what, why don’t you ask the questions?” Jongup suggests and Daehyun hesitantly agrees.

            “Umm,” Daehyun stops to ponder for a bit, looking out the window while he is thinks.  Jongup finds it amusing.  “Have you ever found any of the girls who fawn over you cute?”

            Jongup raises his eyebrow at this unexpected question, but returns to his normal expression when Daehyun his head back to look at him and wait for an answer.

            “To be honest, I don’t believe so,” Jongup says and he takes a sip before resuming.  “I guess the fact they were crazy made them look unattractive?”

            “Then what’s your ideal type?”

            “Daehyun, why are you asking me these ridiculous questions?”

            Daehyun laughs, “No, your question about my hobby was ridiculous.  You already knew what the answer was…”

            Jongup falls silent because he knows Daehyun is right, like always.  He then remembers that he still had a question to reply to.  “I’m not sure, but I tend to admire people who have a passion toward what they do best?”

            Daehyun mouths an “o” and sips his coffee.  However, when he sets the mug down, he notices the wide smile on Jongup’s face that is just waiting to crack into a series of laughter.  Daehyun furrows his eyebrows at the other male, which breaks the barrier and causes Jongup to chuckle without end.

            “What?” Daehyun asks.

            “Nice mustache,” Jongup barely states before shattering into another fit of laughter.  “You look like Mr. Kim from history class.”

            Daehyun is quick to wipe the drink off the top of his mouth before laughing too at the image of his teacher’s mustache.  The laughter is all they need to ignite an hour of conversation with no awkward atmospheres.  Unfortunately, a phone call from Jongup’s parents asking for further assistance on translations causes the boy to bid goodbye and leave, but Daehyun doesn’t really mind because he is glad that Jongup is the type to put his family before his friends.

            Their next encounters occur on the following week of school.  Daehyun had agreed to spend every other lunch with Jongup on the rooftop.  The younger had tried to convince him to come every day, but Daehyun had turned him down only because he did not want the fan girls to question Jongup.  A few suspicions have already begun to rise after Jongup had been seen being nice to Daehyun more than once during class time.  But no one had bothered to confront him about it.  Daehyun wanted to keep it that way.

            It is not until Thursday’s lunch in which they both have arranged a meeting on the roof that matters start to intensify.  It is the day before Christmas and Daehyun had just finished getting his lunch from the cafeteria—which had been generous enough to provide Christmas tree-shaped cookies—and was heading to the stairs that led to the rooftop when a group of girls had stopped him in his tracks.  Daehyun, being the smart guy he was, knew what they wanted to discuss and so he was quick to change his path from the stairs to the nearby restroom.

            “Daehyun, you’re not supposed to bring your food into the restroom,” one of the girls mentions, not even bothering to use any honorifics.  But Daehyun is used to it.  “We know you’re going to the rooftop.”

            “And we know Jongup-oppa is up there, too,” a second girl chimes in and the group of four advance toward the vocalist.

            “What exactly do you have with him?” one of the girls with a fish tail braid asks.  “Why does he keep talking to you?”

            At the moment under the pressure, Daehyun doesn’t know exactly how to reply.  So he backs up until his back hits the lockers.  The boy silently curses to himself.

            “What do you want from me?” Daehyun asks.  “I d-didn’t know Jongup was on the roof.”

            “That’s bull,” the first girl states simply before knocking Daehyun’s tray of food onto the ground.  “Just like you and your reputation, Jung Daehyun, so why don’t you just stay away from Jongup and we’ll all be happy?”

            Daehyun is so used to ignoring these people’s hatred toward him that he refuses to reply.

            “C’mon, Jung.  You know her words pierce through you,” the fourth girl taunts Daehyun.  “And you know your parents have taught you too well to fight back.  You’re just so good, aren’t you?”

            Daehyun sighs.  “Just let me go and I won’t go up there.”

            “You’re really not bothered enough to do anything?” the one with the braid questions and Daehyun tries his hardest to avoid eye contact.  “Well, I don’t care about that… just don’t go home crying to your -faced parents about it.  And stay away from Jongup-oppa, because we all know that he doesn’t want to hang out with a dog like you.”

            Daehyun bites hard on his bottom lip as he clenches his fist.  All hesitances vanishes from his mind at that moment as he raises a hand and harshly pushes the girl away from him until she is on the floor.  Daehyun feels no shame.

            “Well, look here.  Jung Daehyun has finally decided to stand up for himself,” the first girl chuckles darkly and Daehyun is about to slug at her as well when they all notice a presence at the bottom of the stairs.

            “J-Jongup-oppa!” the girl with the braids calls out from her position on the floor.  “I think he bruised my leg…”

            Daehyun stares in panic at Jongup, whose expression doesn’t seem to change as he observes the scene in front of him.  The first girl who had spoken takes Daehyun’s distracted phase to her advantage.

            “Jongup-oppa would never like someone like you,” she whispers for only the vocalist to hear, gritting her teeth before following her statement with a slap onto Daehyun’s cheek.

            “How dare you hurt my friend, you sick bastard!” she then screeches before kneeling down to help the girl with the braid up.  Daehyun stands expressionlessly, too sick of the bullying to really take another stand.

            Jongup scoffs from his position at the stairs.  He strides over to the two girls on the floor and pulls them both up harshly by the backs of their collars.  They turn to face him with bright and sparkly eyes, waiting for him to tell them what a good job they have done.  However, Jongup does the opposite.

            “Stop being fake,” Jongup states coldly.  “No one likes people like you.  I don’t like people like you.”

            “But Daehyun punched me until I fell!” one of them retorts, but Jongup just shoves them away before hurrying to the singer, still standing at the lockers in silence.

            “That physical pain he brought you is no match to the mental pain you’ve caused him,” Jongup says before he grabs Daehyun’s hand and walks away with the vocalist.  “I can’t believe you would commit such an act on Christmas eve.”

-

            The following day is Friday and Jongup had immediately scrambled to the rooftop during lunch.  Daehyun had appeared not long after, with no obstacles for him to overcome at the bottom of the stairs that day.

            “I thought you’d come today,” Jongup smiles warmly as Daehyun approaches him and leans against the rail beside him.

            “I didn’t come yesterday so I figured I’d come today,” Daehyun returns the smile, his eyes forming crescents onto his once infallible face.  Jongup notices the bruise that had formed on the singer’s cheek and he mentally cringes at the memory from the day before.

            “Is it okay?” Jongup asks, referring to the faint purple smudge on his skin.

            “It could’ve been worse,” Daehyun says, his breath forming puffs of smoke in the cold winter air.  Daehyun looks down at the ground below the rail for a while before muttering a small “thank you” toward the other.

            “For what?”

            “For just being there for me.”

            Jongup smiles.  It feels good to have made someone like Daehyun feel better about himself.  At that moment Jongup removes his backpack and kneels down on the ground with it as he tries to fetch something from inside.  Daehyun observes him quietly until Jongup returns to eye level with the other and a box in his hands.

            “I got something for you,” Jongup says as he places the box into Daehyun’s gloved hands.  “I noticed your red scarf at the café last weekend and I found something that really matched with it.”

            Jongup opens the box in Daehyun’s hands, revealing a pair of white earmuffs with red earpieces.  Jongup was quick to place it onto Daehyun’s head.  The white had contrasted perfectly with the singer’s black hair and the red fluffy circles on his ears were ridiculously cute to Jongup.

            “Merry Christmas, Dae,” Jongup grins and decides to just take the box back and shove it in his backpack to relieve Daehyun from the trouble.

            “Thank you,” Daehyun says, a faint blush evident on his face.  Jongup liked the fact that the pink was taking over the purple on Daehyun’s cheek.  “I got you an mp3 player.”

            The singer retrieves the unopened package from his hoodie’s pocket and hands the box to Jongup.  “Now you can bring your music wherever you go… and maybe the music blasting through your ears can block out those fan girls’ squeals.”

            This follows with a chuckle and a thanks from Jongup.  Daehyun wishes the dancer a merry Christmas as well, but they are interrupted by the bell.  Lunch was over.  Jongup rushes to arrange another meet-up with Daehyun at the café the next day at the same time as the previous meet-up’s, claiming he had something important to bring up.  Daehyun nods quickly before rushing to his class on the other side of campus.