Seunghyun lets the citrusy liquid coats his tongue. The burst of tangy flavor evokes a pleasant memory in his brain. It was the sound of birds chirping on a cold Seoul morning, the sound of a busy house preparing for a feast. His father waking him up in the morning of Lunar New Year. He always woke up to the smell of his favorite food being prepared in the kitchen. Seunghyun would still be half-asleep and his father would carry him to the bathroom, starting his bath. Being the only son, his father would pride him in front of relatives and friends and wherever they went to visit, people would serve him oranges. Until today, oranges still remind him of intimacy, family and home.

He's sitting on the ledge of the huge window in his apartment, drifting in childhood nostalgia as he devours the sweet morsels of oranges. Gazing outside, he is observing the small road in front his building- it is already quiet even though it is only 10PM on a Saturday night. Seunghyun peels another orange, he actually prides himself for being able to peel the fruit without tearing the skin- he considers it a rare talent actually, one that his sister very much disagrees upon. He smirks at the memory of his sister; he’s starting to miss home already. He shifts his vision to the table on his dining room (again, he must thank Daesung for helping him lifting the table earlier today, wedging it inside the elevator and literally squeezing it through his small apartment door)- and sees the mountains of containers and other oddly shaped packages on it.

Daesung's family stopped by earlier. They wanted to check up on how he's settling in his new place. It’s only his third night in Seoul but his uncle’s family has brought him food and other household items that instantly fill up his living space. His aunt is a wonderful cook- that much he remembered, but he just found out that she is an extremely generous person too. Albeit it's most likely because of "Your mother will blame me if you lose weight the next time you see her." But still, more than 7 containers of mouthwatering home-cooked dishes that will easily last him for the next 2 weeks, Seunghyun can’t help but to feel overwhelmed.

He sighs as he chews on another piece of orange, allowing the quietness envelops him. And just as he’s about to lost himself in nostalgia once again, a car stops in front his building. Seunghyun blankly observes as the driver goes out from his car, calmly walking toward the passenger side and opening the door. A red-haired man comes out from that door- Jiyong. Seunghyun stops chewing, his body tensed slightly at the sight of his neighbor.

He hasn’t thought about Jiyong the whole day and now, his full attention goes to the man who’s wearing a black turtleneck, black leather pants and a crème-colored jacket. His striking red hair makes his facial features stand out- especially that smile, the smile that he’s giving to the other man, maybe thanking him for opening the door for him. He watches closely how Jiyong slides away, allowing the other man to close the door and then slowly, Jiyong shifts closer- running his hand through his red hair, as the other man slowly brushes his lips against Jiyong’s. Seunghyun’s heart stops at the sight. He is watching Jiyong kissing another man. Instinctively, Seunghyun looks away. He shouldn’t be spying on what his neighbor is doing. He can feel his cheeks flushed, he coughs- as if someone just caught him observing Jiyong secretly.

Seunghyun walks away from his window. He shouldn’t be thinking about Jiyong like this, even though his heart skips a beat when he saw Jiyong kissing that man- Jiyong kissed another man. He restrains his lips from curving up; suppressing the mini somersault his heart wants to do.

Seunghyun busies himself in the kitchen- putting the containers in the fridge, throwing away his orange peels, making himself a cup of hot tea as he tries not think about Jiyong’s lips. But after 10 minutes, he cannot help it. He walks back to his window again, one peek and that’s it- he warns himself. Seunghyun sees nothing but the quiet road once again, but the car is still parked in front of his building. He assumes they’ve gone into his building, into Jiyong’s apartment, doing god knows what.

“Stop. Seunghyun, stop,” he mumbles to himself.

He turns on the television, a random talk show is playing. He just needs the sound to distract his imagination from going too far. Seunghyun continues to do chores around the house. Unpack the random items he’s bought for his kitchen earlier today- place mats, a few extra plates and mugs, some cutleries too. Thanks to Daesung and his family, he doesn’t really need to buy anything for his place. He literally has got everything that he needs already.

Minzy, Daesung’s little sister, got him a huge box of detergent- she told him that it’s the only thing she could afford with her pocket money, “I wanted to buy you something useful. Daesung oppa suggested a washing machine but I could only afford this.” Daesung chuckled when he saw Seunghyun’s perplexed reaction. But the laughter didn’t last long, Minzy threw a mean right hook at her brother’s arm when she found out that Seunghyun cannot install any washing machines in his apartment- there’s a communal laundry room downstairs. Seunghyun smiles as he stores the detergent underneath the kitchen sink- makes him miss his sister even more.

By the time he finishes his chores and tidying up around the place, his apartment feels somewhat more comfortable. There is ample food in the fridge, so that’s good.  The coffee maker that his uncle got him is adorning the kitchen counter, all set up and ready to be used. And his aunt got him several cushions for the sofa. It is starting to feel like home. He looks around with a satisfied glee on his face. The only thing he needs to do now is getting rid of the discarded flattened boxes and torn plastic wrappers. Seunghyun doesn’t like leaving the place messy. He picks up the rubbish and heads towards the door. The trash chute is located right next to the elevator doors; thankfully he doesn’t have to go all the way downstairs. Seunghyun slowly shoves the unusable items into the ‘Recyclable’ chute, making sure nothing clogs it.

Suddenly, he hears Jiyong’s voice and another voice replies; it’s the other man. “The one he was kissing earlier,” Seunghyun’s brain bitterly reacts. Seunghyun can hear Jiyong closing the apartment door and then walks to the elevators. Seunghyun tries to stay calm; he puts the last of his trash down the chute. Just wave and walk back calmly. Just be a ‘normal’ neighbor. Seunghyun notes to himself before turning on his heels to walk back into his apartment.

Seunghyun turns; his eyes meet Jiyong’s. They both smile and nod at each other politely. And just before he enters his own apartment, Jiyong calls out to him from inside the elevator, “Hey, it’s Songhyun, right?”

Seunghyun turns around; smiles and nods. Jiyong smiles back at him while his friend already has his hands around his waist, his lips branding kisses on Jiyong’s neck from behind. And then the elevator door closes.

“It’s Seunghyun, actually. But it’s okay, you can call me whatever you want,” Seunghyun mumbles while still staring at the already-closed elevator door and then he curses at himself before slamming his apartment door shut.

***

Seunghyun shifts his arm; it gives out a loud crack. He is lying down on top of something leathery, and it sticks on his cheek. His neck feels slightly strained. His eyes squinting, the sunlight is blinding his eyes. In front of him, a friendly-faced man is reading the morning news. Seunghyun fell asleep on his sofa last night. His throat is groggy and his head is spinning, just a little bit. He sits up- trying to stretch his stiff arm. Rubbing his neck as he slowly moves his shoulder, trying to get rid of the muscle tension on it. Seunghyun blames the empty bottle of soju on the floor next to the sofa- he’s never been that tolerant with alcohol to begin with.

His back protests, as he stands up- trying to limber up the muscles. Seunghyun has now learnt the hard way that his sofa is only good for sitting down. And that Jiyong was with another man. Seunghyun groans weakly at the thought, he sits back on the sofa- staring at the ceiling.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” Seunghyun whispers. He barely knows the man yet his head is already filled with the smiling images of the kind stranger next door.

The thoughts are not helping his headache and it’s too early in the day to be this miserable. Based on experience, only one thing can help him makes sense of his mornings and bless his uncle for getting him that coffee maker.

Seunghyun treads lazily to the kitchen, he knows his way around the place by heart by now and that’s exactly what he’s doing. His eyes are practically closed as he’s walking towards the kitchen. He grabs a mug from the shelf, puts in underneath the spout on the machine and then flicks the button labeled ‘black coffee’. Seunghyun waits patiently as the machine whirs; making wheezing noises and the spout lets the warm dark liquid drip steadily into his mug. As soon as the warm substance touches his lips, slowly his common sense returns. Coffee is making him feel slightly more human, but that doesn’t mean his head stops pounding.

Seunghyun is making his way back to the sofa when he notices something on the floor, near his front door. Seunghyun picks up the foreign object- it’s a folded paper. He continues walking as he reads what’s written on it.

Hey neighbor! I tried knocking but no one answered. I still want to show you around if you’re still up for it. I’m going to be home all day so just knock when you’re back. Jiyong.

Seunghyun folds the paper back and puts it on the desk. He’s not sure what to think now. Jiyong kissed a woman. Jiyong kissed a man. Jiyong wants to show him around. He’s not sure that coffee will help him makes sense of anything anymore. Not when Jiyong is around at least, that much he knows.

***

“Hang on!” Even his muffled voice from behind the thick door is making Seunghyun smile.

He’s decided to take Jiyong up on his offer. Seunghyun even managed to convince himself that he cannot afford to be rude to his new neighbour by ignoring his offer- well, he doesn’t want to be rude to anyone- especially not his neighbour. Particularly not this neighbour. That’s what he’s been telling himself for the past hour- as he rummaged through his closet, trying to find something nice to wear, how to look casual but memorable, with or without beanie, red jacket or black coat. He just wants to look presentable and, maybe, just hoping a little bit that Jiyong will like what he’s wearing. Just maybe, just a little bit. Seunghyun studied his reflection on the mirror one last time- a red hoodie sweater, skinny black jeans and his favourite pair of white vintage Adidas. He’s not trying to impress anyone, he just wants to be memorable. To Jiyong.

“Hello!” Jiyong finally opens his door, beaming a smile already knowing that it’s Seunghyun knocking.

“Hey,” Seunghyun feels his heart rate speeds up. Jiyong is wearing a worn out grey sweater and an equally comfortable-looking fleece pants. He cannot help but to think how comfortable it would feel to snuggle up to Jiyong on his sofa, sharing lazy kisses on a Sunday morning.

“Come on in. Sorry about the mess though.” Jiyong leads the way inside his studio apartment- Seunghyun shakes his head, not the right time to be dreaming about the man gracefully walking in front of him. He follows Jiyong into the kitchen area.

“It’s fine. You should’ve seen my place. It’s a mess,” As easy as that, Seunghyun lies. There’s no mess in his apartment. There’s almost nothing in his apartment. Jiyong’s place is filled with paintings decorating the walls- mostly are splashes of vivid hues of red and orange. The kitchen is decked out with the latest kitchen appliances- Seunghyun assumes that Jiyong likes cooking. The living room has a fluffy crème-coloured rug settled just underneath a pristine white sofa. The small table next to it has books- a lot of books.

Seunghyun can imagine Jiyong sitting on the sofa, in that grey sweater, reading a book while Seunghyun rests his head on his lap- letting Jiyong’s fingers through the strands of his hair as he’s falling asleep. Seunghyun lightly shakes his head again. He immediately concludes that he just misses to have someone around, he’s always been surrounded by his sister and mother- he just misses his family. And Jiyong just happens to be an attractive neighbour. That is all.

“Oh god, I can imagine. I remember when I first moved in here. Chaos for weeks.” Jiyong grabs a tin from one of the shelf and then proceeds to fill the electric kettle with water.

Seunghyun just smiles. Trying not to fix his gaze on Jiyong, his heart rate hasn’t slowed down. He observes the hardwood floors underneath his feet instead.

“I’m usually not this messy, Seunghyun. I just got in this morning. I need to talk to my brother about this.”

And that’s when Seunghyun notices it- Jiyong is blonde. He dyed his hair again? And he said he just got in this morning?

“You just got in? Then who was-“ Seunghyun’s puzzled look instantly draws a bemused smile from Jiyong’s face.

“I’m guessing you’ve met Jaeyong,” Jiyong says apologetically.

“Jae…yong?” Seunghyun is even more confused.

“My twin brother. Red hair. Face similar to mine. Wears black a lot.”

Seunghyun is sure that his heart has never beaten this loud before; he can almost hear it in his ears.

“Twin brother.” Seunghyun repeats, letting the fact simmers in his head.

“He said he saw you the other day. He asked for your name actually,” Jiyong casually turns on the kettle.

“Okay,” Seunghyun is still digesting. He blankly observes Jiyong setting two mugs on the kitchen counter.

“Tea or coffee?” Jiyong offers.

“Coffee. Black, please.” An automatic response comes out from Seunghyun.

Jiyong moves around the kitchen once again while Seunghyun sits himself on the stool near the kitchen bench. Putting the puzzle pieces together- no wonder the other Jiyong looked surprised when they first met. No wonder he called him Songhyun.

“I should’ve told you, shouldn’t I? Did he do something bad to you?” Jiyong’s tone is concerned, his face apologetic. He knows what his twin is capable of.

“No. He didn’t do anything. To me.” Seunghyun has a good guess of how Jaeyong is like; purely basing his judgement on the two nights they’ve met in a row.

“To you,” Jiyong chuckles as he pours the hot water into the French-press kettle. Seunghyun smirks.

“Is he here?” Seunghyun is suddenly curious.

“His bag is still here but I don’t know where he is,” Jiyong sips his tea.

Seunghyun nods, keeps his eyes on the brewing coffee in front of him. Suddenly aware of the close distance between Jiyong and himself. It is too easy for him to stare back at the pair of captivating eyes in front of him, but it will be too hard to restrain himself from grabbing the other man and do un-neighbourly things.

“So, where are we going today?” Seunghyun changes the subject. Distracting himself from behaving like an easily aroused teenage boy who just hit puberty.

“Ah, yes!” Jiyong set his tea down, literally runs to his bedroom while screaming, “You know what to do with the coffee right? I have to change or we will be late!”

Seunghyun is amused, watching the other man scrambles frantically from his kitchen. He takes the kettle and pours himself a cup of coffee. The steady sound of the caffeinated liquid filling his cup is strangely soothing, somewhat calming his nerves. Or maybe it’s because of the newfound fact that he just heard. So, Jiyong didn’t kiss that woman. He also didn’t kiss that man. Suddenly he’s excited to see more of Seoul, suddenly he can’t wait to get to know Jiyong more.

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