(Taec)

The airport was in an absolute chaos. Absolute insane chaos. A good thousand passengers were frustrated over the sudden cancellation due to the unforeseen typhoon that had conveniently casted itself over the shores of Hong Kong. Passengers were screaming, shouting, pushing, venting out their frustrations on my colleagues and myself.

‘Could you please calm down?’ I shouted at the large crowd, hoping to get their attention and getting them to calm down.

‘We have a meeting to attend!’

‘We were supposed to be in Hong Kong having our holiday right now!’

‘How can you do such a last minute cancellation?!’

Shouts, curses were furiously hurled at us. But we couldn’t do anything, we just had to face and accept whatever the passengers’ decided to throw at us. Wooyoung, Minjun and a couple of others were really lost, not very sure of what to do, aside from the simple crowd and noise control. Just when the crowds could not get anymore, louder and rowdier, vibrations at my startled me. Without even looking at the caller ID, I already had a rough idea of who was on the line.

-‘Eh,’ his morning voice croaked, ‘are you bus-’

‘Extremely busy,’ I was about to explain the chaotic situation I was in, but the circumstances in front of me didn’t allow me to do so.

‘Those behind,’ I hollered before ending the call and slipping it back into my pocket, ‘please don’t push and squeeze.’

‘I understand your frustrations and anger, due to the unforeseen typhoon, the company had to cancel the flight for your safety. In line of the cancellation, the airlines has offered two options, for those who are rushing for a meeting, we will let you get on the next flight if the weather permits, as for those who are going to Hong Kong for a holiday, I would strongly encourage you to take the flights that are scheduled for tonight or tomorrow morning.’

One by one, the passengers’ grumbles lessened, they became more cooperative and understanding after hearing the given options, and gradually the peace and tranquillity returned to the airport.

After using up the entire morning trying to take care of the passengers, I plopped myself down on one of the chairs, intending to seize the opportunity to grab some sleep before attending to the next batch of passengers.

‘You’re really tired huh?’ Woo approached me, with a neck pillow in one hand, and a bottle of water in another.

I nodded, simply too exhausted to even reply him.

He let out a soft giggle and passed the items to me.

‘Thanks,’ I managed to mumble before falling into deeper sleep.

*

(Khun)

‘Oh? You’re here? Aren’t you suppose to have a meeting with the big boss?’ Tiffany asked, surprised as to why I was half-sitting on my office desk, reading the reports.

I smiled, ‘he postponed it to tomorrow.’

‘Oh damn, and I woke you up so early for nothing,’ she pouted apologetically as she walked towards me.

‘Hey, it’s alright! I was supposed to come in this early as well, so don’t feel bad,’ I daringly pinched her cheeks, displaying affection towards her. My heart was thumping, every single cell was jumping around in nervousness. I didn’t know if she would receive such sorts of affection well, but I had to try, I couldn’t be the one that allowed her, a girl to continuously hit on me without getting hit back on.

I stopped breathing for a moment as she grinned, taking a step forward, bringing herself closer to me, before my thighs felt her warm hands, with a single layer of cloth separating our skins. It seemed as though the heat from her hands transferred to my thighs and blood was racing all the way up to my cheeks and my ears. Oh why did she have to make me such a bashful person at such an age?

‘Hey Khunnie,’ her angelic voice sounded, her thumb drawing circles on my thigh, which was really distracting.

‘Y…yeah?’ I coughed, my heart was stuck in my throat and my mind was just blank with plenty of hearts dancing around.

‘I was thinking….’

And my phone rang. I jolted up from my sitting position and raced to my drawer. Whoever the caller was, you’re both my lifesaver and the person who had the best timing to interrupt my perfect moment.

And oh, guess who. Ok Taecyeon. Perfect.

‘Hello?’ I answered, glancing towards Tiffany.

-‘Hey…. Sorry about the call just now, the airport was chaotic,’ Taec apologised.

‘Mhmm, it’s alright. What’s up anyway?’

-‘Wanna have dinner together or something? Unless you already have plans then it’s fine.’

‘Dinner eh? Yep sure~ what are we gonna have?’

-‘How about Japanese? The one that is two streets away from your restaurant. Meet you there at 7.30? How does that sound?’

‘Yeah, sure. See you,’ and the call ended.

‘Dinner date?’ Tiffany quizzed.

‘Mhmm, yep dinner date. Oh and what were you saying just now?’

‘Nope, nothing. Was wondering if I could meet you to discuss about the quality of the new supplier tonight or something. But since you’ve got a date so….’

I bit my lips, feeling really terrible right now.

‘Would you be okay if we discussed it tomorrow? Before my meeting with the big boss?’

‘Hmmm… actually I wouldn’t mind meeting you after your dinner date… since you don’t really like to wake up early to have meetings. What do you think?’ she suggested.

‘Ah… well… if you don’t mind then yeah, we could do that. And I’m really sorry Tiffany, I didn’t expect you to want to discuss the details over dinner tonight…’ I said apologetically.

‘It’s alright, so… I’ll see you tonight?’

I nodded in reply.

*

I downed a shot of sake and hissed at the burning sensation in my throat.

‘Just when I thought there was no longer anyone in the kitchen, she appeared at my office door. And she was perfectly fine with the whole shouting incident back then and she gave me a self-made, not instant, but self-made tumbler of hot chocolate! Can you believe that?’ I exclaimed to Taec.

‘Er… okay so?’ Taec looked at me, confused about my whole excitement.

‘Like hello, it’s so not often I get hot chocolates made by people plus she was flirting about me being an angel chef and all, how can my heart just not flutter?’ I picked my chopsticks up and snatched the salmon sashimi piece he was about to pick up. Taec glared at me and pouted.

‘Don’t tell me you think I’m really ignorant or something…’ I mumbled.

‘I’m not!’ Taec defended himself, ‘I was about to say wasn’t that just nice of her?’ ‘You haven’t even started to put in much effort to woo her and yet she has already caused your heart to flutter, making you all bashful and whatnot. So, I really don’t get why you’re so frustrated.’

I scoffed, ‘that’s the whole point Taec! I don’t even know if she views me as her supervisor or as a man she wants to date… and my heart is already fluttering. And what if… you know, if she just sees me as a supervisor… wouldn’t it be horrible?’

‘Well, then just tell your heart to stay calm and not to flutter randomly for an unsure reason,’ Taec suggested, ‘and then use your big brain instead, to evaluate and analyse the whole thing impartially.’

‘Tsk, do you think I didn’t do that?’ I sighed. ‘Do you know how tiring it is for my poor weak heart to keep beating like this every single day?’ ‘But… let’s say she really treats me as her supervisor, then, what she does every day isn’t it a little overboard?’ ‘But if she really treats me like as a man, why can’t I even feel her nervous trembles or expectations or any sort of ‘falling in love’ signs?’

Taec leaned forward towards me and crossed his arms on top of the table ledge.

‘What’s the rush Khunnie boo?’ ‘How long have you guys known each other for huh? One month? Two months?’

‘Hey, but sometimes love is really a matter of ‘That Moment’. If you missed it, then it’s gone forever.’

‘Nonsense.’ Taec remarked.

‘You don’t understand!’ I shot back, snapping my chopsticks in his face and went back to eating my sushi.

Taec sipped his sake and swirled his drink.

‘Moment…’ he cleared his throat, ‘then you and that… Donghyuk, what kind of moment was that?’

I chewed my sushi and kept quiet, ‘Donghyuk eh…? I don’t know, it’s just that he had really nice looking hands and such.’  

‘Ha? Hands? For real Khunnie?’ Taec looked at me in disbelief.

‘So, that’s why we broke up, isn’t it?’

‘What about that Hyojin? Her legs were really nice?’ Taec mocked, only earning himself a punch on his chest.

‘She was really cool and pretty alright! Very straightforward. She pulled my hand and asked if I wanted to go out with her.’

‘Hmm then what about Henry?’

‘Well, that was when I was on a rebound. After that, he was like a little boy and kept on chasing after me, wanting to claim me as his own.’

‘So you took him as Victoria’s scapegoat huh?’

Victoria. The name that I didn’t want to hear at all. I raised my head up to give him my death glare. Taec’s eyes widened at my reaction and bit his lips.

‘Okay, sorry. Let’s not talk about her then.’ Taec mumbled. ‘What I’m trying to say is that those moments you have had, didn’t result in anything. Then, are you still going to continue to blindly believe in that sort of thing?’

‘Aren’t you the same?’ I retaliated. ‘After analysing and evaluating for so long, yet with that Choongji guy and Daeyoung guy, you didn’t have any good outcomes either. Still talk about me?’

‘So, even though we broke up, didn’t I learn my lessons then?’

‘You better,’ I muttered.

‘But…’ a sudden realisation hit me, ‘thinking about it, seems really interesting. It’s as though when I’m dating someone, your love life’s empty. And when I’m broken hearted, it’s then your turn to fall in love and date.’

‘Hmmm… seems so eh.’ Taec nodded in agreement.

‘No wonder nothing ever happened between us,’ he joked. My eyes widened and the atmosphere around us became awkward. Did Taec honestly just said that?

*

(Taec)

Just when it couldn’t get any more awkward, the waitress appeared and placed two bowls of noodles on the table, ‘your yam noodles.’

Khun stared at the bowl and the ingredients stared back at him. Yam noodles. He never liked such things even though he was a chef.

‘Come let me save you,’ I laughed and reached out for his bowl to transfer the food into mine. I looked at the portion with much excitement before feeling the stares from Khun.

‘What?’ I looked up at him and smirked. ‘Is your heart fluttering?’

He flashed an annoyed look and threw a punch at me again. ‘I was just observing. Food like yam… that is not entirely clean, how could someone swallow that?’

‘Says the oh so mighty chef Nichkhun.’ I teased. ‘Come let me tell you, it’s just like love. Some people like neat and clean answers, while others prefer the process.’

‘You sound like you know how to love,’ he sneered, still pretty disgusted over how I’m enjoying yam noodles.

‘Mmmm,’ I hummed in delight. And then my phone rang. I chewed and swallowed the noodles before putting the bowl down to pick up the call.

‘Hello?’ I answered.

-‘Taecyeon hyung! Where are you right now?’ Woo’s syrup sweet voice asked.

‘Er, I’m having dinner with a friend.’

-‘Ok! I’ll go find you then!’

‘Er, I don’t think that’s very convenient. We’re talking about some stuff right now though.’ I tried to dissuade him.

-‘What matters? Are those so important?’

‘Taecyeon hyung~’ Khun jokingly whined, causing me to raise my index finger to shush him.

-‘Who’s that? A guy?’ ‘You can’t talk now?’ I could hear his disappointment and his virtual pout.

‘It’s not that I can’t talk. It’s just that…’

‘Tell him to come over,’ Khun suggested, looking at me with that set of mischievous eyes. ‘I’ll conveniently help you evaluate him,’ he added on in a whisper.

‘Where are you right now?’ I asked Woo.

‘I’m inside your heart~’ Khun teased. I glared, really tempted to throw my chopsticks at him. you Khun.

-‘He… what did he say?’ Woo asked in confusion.

‘Ah, no. that was the person at the next table.’ I tried to cover up, only having Khun giggle at how terrible I was at lying.

‘If you want to come over, you can. I’ll text you the details.’

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A/N: Do you think Woo would come over? kekeke, next chapter would be up soon, hopefully~ Comments are golden!! :D