chapter 23 | coffee shops and unwanted encounters

Sungyeol is surprised when he first sees Sunggyu return with no shirt on. He notes Sunggyu’s flaming cheeks and his and Woohyun’s interlocked fingers and understands. He thinks that maybe Woohyun really is the right person for Sunggyu. Maybe he can trust Woohyun.

            “What’s wrong?” Myungsoo asks, giving Sungyeol a questioning glance. They’d been chatting ever since Sunggyu had sent him off and Sungyeol had briefly stopped paying any attention to Myungsoo when Sunggyu arrived.

            Sungyeol turns back to Myungsoo and shrugs. “Nothing.”

            And the day continues until twilight breaks through the sky and drenches the world in orange and yellow. Hoya drives everyone home, stopping to drop off Yongguk first and then Myungsoo, followed by Woohyun (who very sneakily mentions that no one is home and Sunggyu can stay the night, to which Sunggyu refuses as he hides a raging blush) and finally Sunggyu and Dongwoo before heading to his own home.

            Dongwoo opens their front door and they step in, Sunggyu closing it behind them. As they remove their shoes, Dongwoo lets out a sigh. “Anything wrong?” Sunggyu asks. Dongwoo only sighs like that when he’s thinking about something.

            “I think I like Hoya.”

            Sunggyu blinks. It takes him a minute for Dongwoo’s words to sink in. He likes Hoya? Sunggyu is slightly confused – Dongwoo’s never really showed any signs of liking Hoya romantically. He didn’t even know Dongwoo played for that team. “Wait a minute. Like as in like like?”

            “Like I want to kiss him and touch him.”

            Sunggyu’s not sure what to say. He knows Hoya likes Dongwoo (he’s liked him for so damn long) and he feels this relief that Dongwoo actually likes Hoya back but should he tell Dongwoo how Hoya feels? Or should he leave it up to Hoya?

            “He probably doesn’t like me that way, though. He probably sees me as a little brother or something.”

            “You never know. I think you should tell him. See what he says.”

            “But if he doesn’t like me back then it’ll be all awkward and it’ll ruin our friendship. I don’t know. Maybe I should just get over him. It’s probably better that way.”

            “I don’t think you should give up. You never know, Hoya might feel the same way.”

            “Isn’t he into girls?”

            Sunggyu shrugs nonchalantly, although inside he’s celebrating because finally Dongwoo has someone and at least he trusts Hoya. He wonders, though, if he should say anything to Hoya. He needs one of them to confess. Perhaps he should get Hoya to do it first.

            “He’s never really said anything specifically. Just see how things go. You never know, Hoya might like you more than you think.”

--

            “Why did you suddenly ask to hang out? And without Dongwoo? We haven’t hung out like this since we were kids.” Hoya asks as they get their coffee and sit down at a table near the window. Sunggyu shrugs, sipping his steaming hot coffee, immediately spitting it out due to the heat. Sunggyu sticks out his tongue and frowns. “Hot,” he mutters.

            Hoya bursts into laughter, his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking. “Oi, it’s not funny. It hurts.”

            “It’s pretty funny,” he says in between laughs.

            “Jerk,” Sunggyu grunts, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away with a pout. “Oh, don’t pout. You’re acting like a child, Gyu.”

            “Why do you have to be so mean to me?”

            “Oh, because I love you, of course.”

            “Which reminds me! I wanted to talk to you about Dongwoo.”

            Hoya tilts his head in confusion. “Dongwoo? What about him?”

            “You should confess to him.”

            Hoya blinks and doesn’t think he’s heard Sunggyu correctly. “Eh?”

            “Confess to Dongwoo.”

            “Why would I do that?”

            “Because he likes you. And you’ve liked him for so long; this is finally your chance.”

            Hoya’s eyes widen, startled. “Wait, he likes me? How do you know?”

            “He told me last night after you dropped us off.”

            Hoya contemplates his options for a moment before speaking again. “But what if he didn’t mean it? What if he was just joking? If I confessed and he rejected me, then I don’t know what I would do. Everything would change and I don’t think I could handle that. I don’t think you could handle that.”

            “No, I think he’s being genuine. I think he likes you; Dongwoo doesn’t lie… most of the time,” Sunggyu mutters the last part under his breath.

            “I don’t know, Gyu. I don’t know if I want to risk it.”

            “You should think about it—”

            “Ah, Gyu! What a coincidence.”

            Sunggyu whips his head around and gulps when he sees Woo Bin approaching. He glances over to see Hoya with an unpleasant frown. “Sunggyu—” Hoya starts, but has no time to say anything else because Woo Bin is pulling up a chair and looking at Sunggyu with a smug expression that makes Sunggyu uncomfortable.

            “What are you doing here?” Sunggyu asks, attempting to sound fierce but only ends up whimpering like a lost puppy.

            “I was out for a walk when I saw you in this coffee shop. It would be rude if I didn’t say hi.”

            “I think you should leave,” Hoya says, successfully sounding as fierce as Sunggyu hopes he could sound.

          Woo Bin seems to only notice now that Hoya is there, which makes Sunggyu annoyed. “Oh, Hoya. Why so hostile? I only want to have a nice chat with my little hamster.”

            Sunggyu flares. “Y-yours?”

            “Don’t sound so surprised, love.”

            “Why are you here Woo Bin?”

            “I’ve already told you. I came back for you. Oh, Hoya, could I borrow Sunggyu for a moment? It’ll only take a minute.”

            “What makes you think I would ever leave you alone with Sunggyu—”

            “Hoya, it’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’d like to talk to him, too.”

            “See? You’ve got nothing to worry about. Gyu’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

            Hoya looks at Sunggyu who nods. “Don’t worry. I’ll call you so just wait here.”

            Hoya nods reluctantly and watches as the two stand. Sunggyu follows Woo Bin out of the quaint coffee shop and down the block to a fairly vacant parking lot. Woo Bin whips out his keys and unlocks what Sunggyu assumes is his car. They get in and Woo Bin turns to Sunggyu, resting his arm on the steering wheel. “Now we have some privacy.”

Oh my, it's been a while. I'm sorry for that. 

I've been busy with summer school (god damn it someone remind me why I thought it was smart to sign up for this) and I'm so freaking done with school. 

Shoot me now.

But I'm back for a little bit and I'll probably release another chapter before I go on vacation in a few weeks. We'll see how it goes. I've been having a bit of writer's block so I've been watching shows and animes and reading shojo mangas to get inspired. If you've got some romance animes or mangas you think I should check out, please tell me! It would help a lot (and I'm kind of a er for cliches, if you haven't already guessed)!