A/N

After sneak some times here and there, I'm able to finish this chapter.. ;p

I hope this chapter worth your wait.. Enjoy! :)

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“I knew I will regret this.” I groaned at his words. Not again.

“Are you for real, Shin Hyesung?” I almost yelled at him. This guy was impossible!

“I knew I shouldn’t come here. I knew it even before I drove here.” He said slowly, still hiding on my shoulder.

“Then why’d you here?” I asked. For the first time, I was angry at him. “What the hell are you after to pull this stunt to me?”

I grabbed his arms and made him to face me. His face was flushed and his eyes were wet. “Hyesung-ah, are you crying?” I cupped his face and caressed his cheeks slowly. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

“No, it’s not that.” He shook his head lightly. “I tried to think it over by myself, Eric. And it was killing me.” He held my hands and put it away from his cheeks. My heart sunk at his action. Again, another rejection.

“Think about what?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.” He buried his face in his hands. I felt a déjà vu. Hey, that was my words.

“Hyesung-ah?” He stood still in silent and refused to answer me. I knew the wisest thing was not force him. So I waited. I noticed him took a deep breath and exhaled, then shook his head. He did the same sequence again and again, but no word spoken of him. Eventually, he straightened his body and began to talk.

“The day after we— you know, in the car— I met up with my girlfriend and we’re kissing and all.” Okay, why he was talking about his girlfriend here? “But then it hit me, that she was all wrong. She smelled wrong, tasted wrong, moved wrong.”

I didn’t know how to respond that.

“Then strangely I can’t stop thinking about you, for days.” He said very very soft I barely hear it.

“So the kiss we had just now, what it means?” I asked him puzzled.

“She was all wrong because she wasn’t you.” He whispered shyly. “I’m so screwed.” He continued still burying his face on his hands.

I blinked at that. But after a second I grinned widely, now understanding what he was saying all this time. I tried to embrace him but him reflexively going backward. “No, no, no. I’m not in my right mind now.”

“Hyesung-ah, listen to me.” I tried again to touch his arms.

“This scared the hell of me!” He persisted to push me away and almost cried now. “What happened to us?” I noticed his voice was shaking now.

“I fell in love with you, that’s what happened to me.” He stopped struggling at my words.

“This is not right, Eric.” He looked at me and began to trembling all over his body.

“But this feeling was real, Hyesung-ah..” I moved closer to him. “You know it.”

“This feeling will only cause trouble for us.” He scoffed bitterly. “I don’t know what to do, Eric.” But he slowly grabbed my sweater and hugged me. I took it as a good sign.

“It’s gonna be alright, Hyesung-ah..” I returned his hug and his back to assure him.

“What would we do now, Eric?”

“We’ll find out.” I placed a soft kiss to his forehead. “So tell me, did I smell right, taste right and move right?” I .

“Shut up!” He slapped my back immediately. “. I feel like I cheated from my girlfriend.” He mumbled as he buried his face on my shoulder.

***

I woke up the next morning and the first thing I do was checking my phone. Nothing. I heard Minwoo knocked my door while shouting, “Breakfast!”

I found Minwoo singing happily while setting the table. “Ah, there you are, Eric darling.” Minwoo chuckled and pulled a chair for me. “Sit down, please.”

“What day is today? Why you’re so happy?” I asked him.

“Paycheck Day!” He raised his hands in the air triumphantly and laughed heartily. “Want to go shopping with me later?” He lifted his eyebrow expectantly.

“No.” I shook my head. “What’s for breakfast?” I nodded at the pan in the stove.

“Oh, kimchi fried rice. My mom sent some kimchi yesterday.” I just nodded. He continued to serve the breakfast, still singing all the way.

Until suddenly he stopped his singing and hissed, “Stop staring at it!”

“Huh?” I startled and looked up at him. I didn’t even realize that I was staring at my phone all along.

“You’re waiting for a call?” He asked patiently.

“Maybe.” I gave him a smile.

His eyes lit and he hurriedly sat in his chair, “Tell me everything!”

I only scoffed at him. This guy had annoying ahjumma-personality in him, so fast at catching things and eager to gossiping it.

“Later.” I waved my hands at him uninterested.

He frowned but then he stood up arrogantly, “Fine, be that way. Forget my kimchi fried rice!” He turned around dramatically.

“He said he would call!” I exclaimed. I mentally strangled myself for giving up so easily over food.

“When?” He turned his face to me and smiled mischievously.

“Last night.”

“How?”

“He came.”

“Here?”

“Uh hum..”

“And?” Minwoo lifted his eyebrow in anticipation.

“He said he would call.” I felt my face heated as I recall our kiss last night. But Minwoo didn’t need to know about that detail.

He rolled his eyes impatiently and said, “You’re not telling me everything.”

“That’s all you need to know. Now give me my food, I’m hungry.” I glanced once again at my phone just to find it’s blank screen.

***

“Eric, I have to go home.” He tried to pry my fingers from his wrist, but I only held tighter. No, I couldn’t let him go. He might disappear again. The last half hour when I had him in my embrace was like a dream. I would hold onto it as long as I can.

“I’ll call, okay. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He smiled and squeezed my hand. I released him and watched him closed the door.

***

You said you will call. I sighed for the umpteenth times since I arrived at my office. It was almost lunchtime and he hasn’t called. I scanned the paperworks in my desk with not much interest because my mind was wandering away. If my father ever saw me work like this, I was sure he would fire me right away, didn’t even care about me was his son. Focus, Eric.

But only a second after, I heard my phone buzzed. I grabbed it quickly and smiled to see the caller name.

“Finally.” I said to him with so much relief.

“Hello, Eric.” He answered and chuckled. “Umm.. Do you have any appointment for lunch?”

“No. Do you want to have lunch with me?” Oh my, we talked like a clueless teenager!    

“Yeah, sure.” I could imagine he blushed. “Actually, I’m at your restaurant parking lot.” Now I was sure he blushed as he said that.

“Really? I meet you at front door.” I jumped immediately from my seat.

“Okay.” He laughed nervously before hung up.

I ran down from my office and head straight to the front door. I didn’t see him. I nodded to the doorman and nervously waited for him. Good thing he wasn’t here yet, so I could recheck my hair and my tie and my shoes and calmed my breath. A few customers walked in and I bowed at them. Not long, I saw him walking towards me. He walked slowly and shyly touched his hair, but his eyes fixed on me.

“You don’t need to wait for me here.” He whispered shyly as other customers walked past us. They smiled and looked at him curiously. They must be thinking he was an important person that made the CEO himself to welcome him.

“But you are VIP customer.” I grinned widely at him. If only there were nobody but us here, I would jump at him right now. But, sadly, we had faces to maintain. I invited him to come inside and led us to our table.

We made our orders and after the waitress left, we laughed awkwardly. “Oh my God, this is embarrassing.” Hyesung covered his mouth when he laughed. He continued when he saw me frowned. “I can’t believe me actually sitting here with you.”

“Well, I’ll say this is less awkward than our first lunch.”

“Oh, please don’t remind me of that.” He shook his head then muttered, “I was so harsh to you back then.”

“Let’s forget it. Let’s take it as today is our first lunch together?” I suggested to him because I could see him moving uncomfortably in his chair. Easy, Eric. Don’t push it.

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

During lunch, we were talking about everything and nothing. I noticed how he carefully avoided matters about his girlfriend and I didn’t mind that. But he also avoided talking further about us. It was concerned me much, so I kept remind myself not to force it.

***

“Ric!” Minwoo shouted at me right when I opened the front door.

“I’m home.” I said while kicking my shoes off. “What?” I asked when I saw Minwoo ran towards me and stopped right in front of me. He folded his hands on his chest and frowned.

“I thought we are bestfriend!”

“Huh? Can we talk while walking? I’m thirsty.”

“And I thought you promised to tell me everything.” He followed me to the kitchen.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I continued to drink my water.    

“About you dating Hyesung. Duh.” I choked. Minwoo hurriedly approached me and tapped my back with much concern.

“Who said that?” I managed to ask and kept coughing.

“Nobody. It just someone mentioned that you had lunch with Hyesung today.” He shrugged, “But I know if that involving you and Hyesung, there’s no such thing called ‘just lunch’.” Today, Minwoo worked all day at the other restaurant. So yeah, lucky me, he didn’t see Hyesung came. But I never counted that someone will eventually spill it to him.

I sat in defeat. Since when Minwoo turned into a professional spy? Nothing was gone beyond his observation. The truth is, I didn’t want to tell Minwoo. Not now. Whatever we had between Hyesung and me was as feeble as feather. It could crumble down in any moment. And most importantly, because I wasn’t sure if Hyesung wanted me spill so much about us. As much as I wanted our relationship to work, I also wanted it to be a secret.

But then I remembered the many times Minwoo tapped my shoulder or my back to encourage me during the past days. Or how Minwoo practically shoved the food under my nose when I was too gloomy to eat. The many nights he would sit with me and listened to my babbles. And I realized, he might deserve to hear it from me.

“I won’t tell you everything, just the outline.” I said finally. Minwoo nodded happily like a little kid. His eyes disappeared into thin line in an instant.

So I told him about how he came here the night before, what he said and swiftly told him about the kiss (“He came here and kissed you? Daebak! Oh, sorry. Hey, you never say that I can’t interrupt.”) And about he promised to call and of course he did call to have lunch together (“Woah, so you two are serious? Sorry, I won’t interrupt again.”) And of course about he avoided talking further about the two of us and how much it concerned me.

“Well, we agreed that this is not a simple matter, Eric.” Minwoo said after eyed me, asking if it was okay to talk. “You can’t expect him to instantly start anew with you when he was still attached.”

“I know.”

“Do it one at a time. You’ll figure it out. Don’t push it.”

“I know that.” I sighed. Did I ever mention that I hate it when Minwoo was always right?

“So, you finally made your mind? You will go to him?”

“It was more like that Hyesung made the decision for me. Even from the beginning, I had no choice but go for him, Minwoo. But he was the brave one, came here and all.” Ah, I missed Hyesung already.

“I never thought Hyesung had this side of him. Impulsive. And careless.” Minwoo touched his chin and nodded seriously.

“Yah!”

“Eric, I’ll ask this once again. As Hyesung’s friend, I have to make sure if you’re serious about this.” Minwoo turned to me and looked straight to my eyes. “I mean, are you really really really really certainly and definitely serious?”

“I never have been this certain before in my life.”

“The world will start crumbling down around you.”

“I’ll stay with him.”

Suddenly Minwoo jumped at me and circled his arm on my neck. He planted his kiss on my cheek while suffocating me. “That’s what I want to hear! Good boy. Fighting, Eric!!” He shouted and ruffled my hair.

I pushed him hard and kicked his legs when he was still laughing on the floor. I snorted at him and turned to my bedroom. Just when I was about to open my bedroom door, Minwoo exclaimed, “Oh, did I tell you that the contractor for your apartment called this morning?”

I turned around to face him. He already got up but still grinning. “What did they say?” I asked.

“Your apartment is ready. You can move anytime next week.”

***

I parked my car and got out of it in rushed. I glanced at the flashing lamp in front of the building. This was the place. I paced through the door and got inside the bar.  Once inside, I looked around to search for him.

Fifteen minutes ago Hyesung called me and only said, “Come fetch me” before hung up. What the hell!

I remembered two days ago, when we had lunch together, everything was okay. Until yesterday, we talked in the phone and texted each other. Nothing seemed off. But this morning, I received a message from him that said, ‘Don’t call or text me. I’m okay. I’ll call.’ And of course after that, he turned off his phone all day. I almost crazy worried him. I was pacing around my room all day and waited for his call. This Shin Hyesung was seriously having bipolar! He finally called at midnight, only said three words and hung up. Not even cared to tell the address. Thank God we lived in the age of smartphones and GPS System.

I walked to the bar and asked the bartender where I could find him. He pointed the private booth in the corner. I muttered thank you and walked towards it. And I found him, slumped in the couch with his eyes closed. Was he sleeping? His glass of alcohol tilted dangerously in his knee because his hand was too weak to grip it. I noticed his eyes were puffy and his cheeks all red. And for the first time, I saw that his hair was messy.    

I took the glass slowly and put it on the table while touching his shoulder. “Hyesung-ah, let’s go home.”

He opened his eyes and focused them to see my face. “Oh, you.” He said dryly. He straightened himself in his seat before looked up and faced me. “I hate you, Eric Mun.”

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