Leeteuk wiped down the reflective surfaces, working obediently as he bussed the tables, stopping momentarily to retie his loosening hair.

His eyes sometimes stole swift glances to a distant table, he reached over as he took the plates from another table into the bin. His hand pausing momentarily as he stared moments longer than he should have.

"Hurry before that snitch tells the manager we were taking our sweet time." A co-worker murmured swiftly before rounding up the next set of plates from the tables.

Leeteuk nodded and did as told, it worked for at least five of the tables around the restaurant, but the next one was particularly close to the table he watched out for.

His eyes betrayed him for another glance, he watched as the guest smiled wholeheartedly at his date, mostly in a subtle flirtatious manner.

It was as if the guest had reserved his best smile for his date, one he hadn't given the entire time.

He hurried to finish the table as he balanced it in his arms, pacing to the back as he placed it near the hot water. For the moment, leaning back against the wall as he closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths until he felt his tremors calm down.

"Are you alright?"

Leeteuk opened his eyes to meet his worried co-worker, he held back a ragged sigh as he pulled away from the wall. "I'm fine."

"Did a customer yell at you?"

"No." Leeteuk replied. "Nothing like that, I'm just... I'm just overwhelmed a little bit. Can you take the tables instead?"

"That's fine."

Leeteuk smiled as he bowed and began cleaning the dishes in the back, reaching his bare hands into the hot water as it scathed them repeatedly.

He later said goodbye to the workers inside, walking to the nearest bus station, he focused too much on the walk there that he barely noted the annoyingly loud honks of the car beside him.

He stopped momentarily, recognizing the car and silently debating whether to ignore it. He was seconds too late to making a decision when the car window rolled down, revealing the driver behind the wheel.

"I'm working," Leeteuk insisted.

"Then why were you paying attention so intently at our table?" Kangin asked tauntingly, a dark glint in his eyes.

Leeteuk didn't reply to his questions, deeming it better not to. He turned his head away as he placed his hands in his pockets. "I'm asking you not to come around anymore, please listen."

"Even now you say it with such formalities, you never show enough anger to convince anyone."

"It's been mo-" Leeteuk shut his eyes as he cut himself off, those words wouldn't matter either. "Please, don't come again."

With that he turned away completely as he hurried his pace, his eyes looking up from the floors to see his bus nearby. He bolted to a run and barely jumped inside to make it, paying the small fee as he settled into a side seat.

All the while, doing his best not to look back, knowing the driver who still remained there, waiting.

-

It was futile.

Leeteuk tried endlessly to avoid the man, but he knew his every move, his every job and the places he frequented, simply moving away was a costly solution. That and he felt it was too cruel to do so.

"Should we call the police for you?" One of the workers had asked in concern.

"No, he's not a threat." Leeteuk replied, it still didn't appease their uneasy expressions, he said nothing more as he handed the beers to the man behind the counter of the bar.

His eyes easily ignoring the man beside his customer who gazed at him freely.

Leeteuk stepped outside, putting on his jacket when he turned his head and as always, was Kangin standing at the same spot. Rather than ignoring him, Leeteuk stepped towards him with brash determination as he stood before him.

"The workers think you're harassing me, I'm trying to convince them otherwise but you're making this difficult."

Kangin scoffed, shrugging off his concern. "Right, make me into the enemy. Yet if they heard both sides, I wonder if their sympathy would shift towards me?"

Leeteuk swallowed the lump in his throat, his eyes still unable to look at him directly.

"No one could possibly think that you were the one who ended it first." Kangin said with a constrained smile.

Leeteuk lowered his eyes as he clutched his jacket. "I had no choice..."

"Yes, breaking up with me because I helped your family must have left you horribly distraught."

"You know that isn't entirely the reason." Leetuek interjected, his hands clenching tightly.

"Honestly, I don't care about those reasons. If you had stopped liking me, then maybe. If you lost interest, that's fine. But your reasons make no sense to me at all." Kangin reasoned. "Wouldn't it be simpler if you had just lied to me with justifiable ones?"

"I can't lie to you," Leeteuk insisted. "That wouldn't be fair to you."

"As if you know what's fair." Kangin countered as he placed a hand on his own neck, Leeteuk knew this meant he was calming himself down.

His eyes trailed from the gesture to his hand, to the object on his wrist hidden behind cuffs, was a watch.

Kangin's attire noted money. His suit was easily a top brand and expensive, like the car he drove, the house he owned, everything around spoke of high class and cash easily estimated at the thousands.

The watch he wore costs fifty dollars.

Leeteuk closed his eyes, his hands nearly tearing into his jacket at the thoughts.

"I'm not the right type for you." Leeteuk murmured out loud, trying to find any reason at all he could use to stop all of this. "You need someone in your class, someone with the right background."

"You're too ordinary for me?" Kangin scoffed. "That's far from it."

Leeteuk felt his resolve strengthen, although only slightly. "Everyone knows what you did for my family, they see you as a way to solve their problems."

"And somehow my good deed becomes a crime against me." Kangin said offhandedly.

"...I'm grateful, I really am." Leeteuk said, his hands whitening from the tight grip he kept. "But when everyone sees you, they only see money and-"

"I don't care what everyone else sees." Kangin interjected, raising his eyes to meet his. "When it's only you," He tilted Leeteuk's chin, forcing him to look straight at him. "What do you see?"

He wanted to look away, but the strong grip kept him from doing so. Truthfully, all he saw was a shattered man before him, but he didn't dare speak that thought out loud.

"I've forgiven you, if that's what you're asking."

"I didn't think that required forgiveness." Kangin uttered. "Despite your protests, I would do it again if need be, whenever you needed me."

"No... I used you once to help my family, I won't do it again." Leeteuk stated.

"You make it sound as if you've manipulated me to do so. Are you saying that I can't do anything to help you?" He asked as he weakened the hand that held him in place. "I don't like to see you suffering and if I have the means to care for you, I'll do it."

Kangin moved his hand, placing it on his cheek. "Why do you have to worry about what other people think of me?"

Leeteuk stayed quiet as Kangin stepped closer, just as his arms were moving to pull him into an embrace, Leeteuk pulled away from his hands.

"We can't."

He stepped back, his breath caught in his throat, he tried to speak as clearly as he could through that muffling winter.

"I'm sorry."

He rushed past him, out of the place as he ran through the streets. He held back the struggled yell, the one that wanted to scream 'I'm sorry' constantly to the streets.

He couldn't do it, not to Kangin of all people, he couldn't leech onto Kangin's side. He didn't want anyone to see their relationship as a means to live in wealth. He didn't want to be seen as a weakness to him.

He couldn't leech onto Kangin's side, he didn't want everyone to see that. In the end, that was all that mattered.

-

Yesung rubbed his temples, growing increasingly frustrated as he faced the man before him in the small cafe.

"He cares for you, dare I even say, loves you." Yesung stated. "You may not feel the same, but you were close to, is that why you rejected him? Is that the real reason you broke it off?"

"No!" Leeteuk hushed. "I've told you my reasons long beforehand."

"I know, but it's understandable why Kangin doesn't believe them. I can't help but wish these aren't the only things bothering you."

"They are, they can become huge issues for him if I don't end it now."

"He's obviously not seeing what you're seeing, he may be blinded to those initial differences between you two, but you're worse. You only see the problems and not everything Kangin is offering to you, and that's basically the world if you dared asked."

Leeteuk stiffened, knowing that with every crisp word, the wound in his chest deepened.

"He goes on dates, plenty of them, but it's painfully obvious how much he's not focused on the topic at all, all his thoughts are only about you. His brother tells me how often he stares at the phone, like clockwork, waiting for that phone to ring." Yesung uttered as he tapped his fingers on the wooden table. "You're the only one constantly on his mind."

Leeteuk traced his fingers over the hot surface of his cup of coffee. "He'll move on."

"He won't, and you know that." Yesung retorted. "Admit that you're just as miserable."

He said nothing, not daring to assume his familiar false smile, the one he knew no one truly believed.

He disliked the constant wrenching feeling that tore through his chest. The hope that Kangin would still return to see him and not completely give him, even when he demanded it, but wanting to see him move on just as much. Crushed when he sees the dates he brings along, watching as Kangin's underhanded attempts to get him noticed also dashed his own hopes as Leeteuk stepped away from him. Having to say through nearly clenched teeth until those lies sounded so rehearsed that they were almost close to the truth.

If this was misery, then he admitted to it.

Was it wrong to pull away?

He had kept his troubles quiet, not once bringing it up to him, not daring to ask for help but when danger lurked about, he was forced to ask, but only a small amount.

Kangin learned how much his family truly owed and paid it all off, clearing their debts, and for that he was forever grateful.

"This is how you repay him?"

It was cruel.

He took out his phone from his pocket, walking closely by the edge of the sidewalk as he stared at it.

Maybe Yesung had been right, it was never Kangin that bothered him, but everyone else. Everyone who wouldn't stop hounding him for Kangin's connections, who wouldn't see him as a way out, a human lottery ticket.

Their statuses always bothered him when he realized how different they were. Their clothing, their tastes, but he downplayed their importance, reminding himself often, like now, that he didn't date Kangin because of the money. Unlike what the world saw, it was never the reason.

He glanced at his phone, his finger brushed against the green dial button.

Admittedly, Leeteuk knew his worst faults was his inability to be aware of his surroundings, emotions, of anything.

He didn't realize the saddened look Kangin held whenever he was confronted, behind his tough and sarcastic demeanor. That with every accusation hurled against him, beneath those words was a plead for him to stay.

How his grip tightened considerably on his hands, as if terrified to let him go.

Unable to even now see anything around him, of the man he pushed aside, of the friend who did his best to change his mind.

Unaware of the screams that warned everyone to run, barely aware of the screeching tires.

He took a single step onto the road, his thoughts completely focused on one action.

He was too focused on the name on the phone dial that when he finally took notice and turned around-

Too late.

He was always too late.