A/N: Yeah… It’s been two weeks… Sorry for making you wait so long… *bows* Hope you can enjoy this and tell me your thoughts… :D

This chap is dedicated for myshinhwafic and emulsifier! Laura unnie and Jen, please accept my poor gift… <3

“Ok … Ok … Minwoo-yah …  I know … I’m leaving right away … Sorry Sorry … See ya!”

Although he could imagine the angry face of Minwoo from the other side of the phone, he cut the call while grabbing his wallet and

car keys before wearing his sneakers. “Being late” was his middle name and this time was not the exception too. Oversleeping in the

morning when he had the appointment with his best friend slash his only partner in jewelry design was the common thing happened

between him and Minwoo. Minwoo would call him and yell at him like hell while he would bring the coffee or some snacks to make

him feel better like nothing had happened and the day would go on like that. Not a serious case at all.

After opening his apartment door and getting out, he noticed something hanging on the outside handle of the door. Grabbing it and

detaching from the metal handle, he found out it was a phone strap made with white and black silk threads together with a small

post-it note.

“Thanks for yesterday.”

That was all being scribbled on the yellow post-it and after being blank for a few seconds, an idea of who it was dawned upon his

mind.

“Seriously? Maybe someone else?”

He talked to himself in half-confusion and half-amusement. It had never crossed his mind to receive a gift from that strange guy

downstairs for his yesterday action. He still remembered how he had stared at him with blank expression when he had asked for a

word of “Thank You”. But now in his hand, there was a possibly hand-made phone strap as a thank-you gift. A smile crept onto his

face while he raised his hand to get a better look of the simple phone strap.

“Hyesung … I can’t understand you at all …”

Mumbling to himself, he put the strap and the note into his pants pocket carefully before dashing towards the elevator recalling

Minwoo’s furious voice.

“Where did you get that?”

Minwoo’s voice shook him from being too immersed in tying the new strap on his phone. After Minwoo’s custom yelling session, they

went straight to the work until lunch and now they were in their usual eatery, having the late lunch together. Then, he suddenly

remembered the strap he got from Hyesung and tried to tie it on his phone, not being aware of the curious eyes of his best friend.

“Ah? This?”

His rhetorical question did not seem to be favored by the short one and only a snort came back as a reply.

“Is there something else in your hands?”

Sensing the upset tone in Minwoo’s voice, he just gave a grin after successfully tying the strap on his phone. That black and white

strap really went well with his white phone and it was simple and good enough for a man’s phone.

“I got this from my new neighbor … I told you about Hyesung guy … right? He gave me as a gift …”

“What? That weird guy? He gave you this?”

Nodding back at his friend’s shocked question, he still could not shift his eyes away from that black and white strands of silk hanging

along the side of his phone. He did not know why but he could not help feeling that it was a hand-made craft by Hyesung. It felt kind

of strange to imagine a cold and mysterious guy like Hyesung making that small craft in patience. It was like something was out of

place.

“Why so suddenly? You said he’s not comfortable around people and … you … and out of nowhere, he gave you that?”

Minwoo gulped down his water after shooting the question, eyeing him carefully. Since he could feel Minwoo’s curious eyes on his

actions, he stopped staring at the strap and put the phone back onto the table.

“Don’t ask me … I also don’t know what he’s thinking about … Yesterday, I helped him a little bit and this morning, I found this

hanging on the handle of my apartment door with a post-it note “Thank You” … That’s all …”

Shrugging his shoulders, he ended his words to stuff some jjajangmyung into his mouth. But then, his friend did not seem to be

satisfied with his answer because he could still feel his eyes on him.

“What again? I answered your question … I don’t know what he’s thinking … Ok?”

Stuffing more noodles to his mouth, he gave a glare to the one sitting in front of him while the other even did not seem to be

bothered by his glare, unfortunately.

“But why do you keep grinning looking at that strap …? It’s like you got it from your girlfriend …”

A low mumble from the other made him almost choked with noodles. After gulping down the water quickly, he made sure to give

Minwoo a snap to the head for his imaginative mind.

What the hell with girlfriend? Nonsense.

“YAH! Why am I doing like that? Are you crazy? I’m just feeling good to get a gift from an unexpected one … in the morning …

Think about it … When you open the door in the morning and find a gift out of nowhere, you’ll feel good the whole day, huh?”

However, his long explanation could not erase the playful smirk on Minwoo’s face although he just got a snap to his head. Assuming

that ignoring was the only way to escape, he went on eating quietly like nothing had happened.

“Eric-ah … Tell me if there’s any progress later, ok? Don’t keep it to yourself … It’s natural … You’re at the age of finding someone

as your partner anyway … I understand …”

With a light pat on his shoulder, he received those words from his friend who was seemingly too caring for him. Lifting his head to

give a glare, he found out that this time, it was Minwoo’s turn to play dumb and eat while ignoring him.

“Bastard!”

Feeling thankful to be able to finish up the work and come home before rush hour, he parked the car at one of the vacant slots and

got out of it while whistling. Then, suddenly, he remembered something while heading to the elevator.

“Ah! There’s no ramen at all … Aishh … How could I forget that?”

Cursing at himself, he got out the parking lot on foot to pay a visit to the corner supermarket for his ramen supplies. As soon as he

entered the store, he rushed to the ramen counter, picking 5 or 6 random packets before going to the counter to settle the bill.

There, he saw the familiar guy in front of the counter, waiting for the cashier girl to calculate the bill.

As they first time met, from head to toes, there was clothes covered, no skin showing and of course, there was his trademark mask

on his face. Somehow, he started to think back the face he had seen without the mask the day before.

“It’s a pity to cover that good-looking face under a mask …”

Thinking by himself, he stared at Hyesung from behind while the other did not seem to notice his existence yet. After the cashier

girl told the bill to him, Hyesung put his hand into his coat pocket, probably fishing out his wallet. Then, he started being panicked

although he could not see his face and after a few seconds, he realized what was going on with his weird neighbor.

“Use this card …”

Handing over his card, as expected, he earned a questioning look from the girl and the shocked pair of eyes from Hyesung who

abruptly turned his head to see who his savior was. He just flashed a quick smile to him before placing his ramen packets on the

counter.

“You can pay me back later …”

He added those words to make sure that the other would not feel any burden for his help. Anyway, it was just a few thousands of

Won. But knowing the personality of Hyesung, he was 100 percent sure that that guy must be thinking like millions of Won.     

Even after being paid by him, Hyesung was still standing there frozen, not taking his bag from the counter. He chuckled in his mind

and took both plastic bags from the counter after paying the bill, handing one to the frozen one.

“Here …”

Taking the bag silently from his hand, Hyesung turned to exit the store, leaving him trailing along his behind. Once they were

outside, it became like they were walking side by side, each with a plastic bag from the store. The road was still empty since it was

a few minutes away from the rush hour. After walking in awkward silence for a few seconds, he decided to break the ice.

“Hey … Thanks for the phone strap … I like it … Here … I already put it on my phone …”

Waving his phone to let Hyesung see, he gave a grin to the other at the same time and luckily, he earned a slight nod from the

quietly walking Hyesung. Then, they were back in awkwardness, each concentrating on the road in front of him like it was the most

interesting thing on the world.

But, for him, he was stealing glances from the corners of his eyes for a proper look at the side profile of the other. He could see the

glimpse of sweat forming on the temple on Hyesung’s face: it was no wonder since he was wearing thick clothes under the sun of

summer. He could not help but wondered why the other was making his own life difficult without any visible reason.

“Why is he doing all of these? Seriously?”

Then, they got back to their building and stood in front of the elevator, waiting for it to come. Strangely, Hyesung looked calmer

than before to take the same elevator with him although there was still an awkward atmosphere inside the elevator.

“Did you do it yourself? Hand-made?”

There, he could not hold his tongue again and let out the question for his curiosity. Hearing his question, Hyesung tilted his head a

bit towards his direction to give a slight nod and a whisper of “Yes”.

“Wow! It’s great … To do something hand-made by yourself … You’re really good at it …”

Maybe because of his a little over-the-top amused tone, he thought he caught a smile forming in Hyesung’s eyes for a second. But

after that second, his eyes went back to the usual blank ones with a strong grasp of air and he also noticed the suddenly tensed body

of the other.

“It’s nothing really …”

That was all he could catch in Hyesung’s whisper-like voice before he left the elevator in 11^th floor. Still recalling the smile in

Hyesung’s eyes, he somehow came to feel warm inside. Although all he could see was a pair of eyes above the mask, he could feel

the happiness in those eyes, the feeling that he had never seen together with the other.

Maybe they became closer a bit … he guessed …

Opening the door for the start of a new day again, he found out something in front of his door, like the day before. It was a few

notes of Won together with a yellow post-it note. Being puzzled for a moment, finally, he got the situation.

It was Hyesung again … Giving back his money …

Then, reading the scribbles on the note, he felt a sting forming in his chest and at the same time, loads of questions appeared in his

mind together with a slight bitterness.

“Thanks for your help. But don’t care about me from now on. We’re strangers after all.”