We stayed in touch after our first meeting. A little while after that I ran into him and a couple of his friends in town. I actually hadn’t run into him he kind of ran into me while I was working one of my jobs after school. I was working in a candy shop after my job in the pawn shop didn’t pan out. And when he walked in I wasn’t even surprised in the slightest, he however couldn’t believe with my looks that I was working in a fluffy little candy café shop.

“You-you work here” he laughed a little too hard

“Ha ha. Let it be known that me and the owner are quite close, so if you’re here to make fun angel I won’t let you have one piece”

“Oh really?” he said cockily

“Yes really cutie” I said leaning in

“Bang Yongguk!” I shot up like a bolt and turned around to face the owner behind the counter

“Yes ma’am?”

“You better not be flirting again boy! I’ll have a law suit on my hands and I’ll have you on your before you start running”

“Of course Unnie”

“Don’t play with me boy” she said eyeing me before she went back to the back of the shop

I sighed with relief.

“So you flirt a lot?” I heard Junghong ask in a flat tone

“Uh well-” I started to say as I turned around to see him with an unamused expression on his face.

At that point I thought that I had already screwed my chances and then it came to me.

“Are you jealous cutie?”

At the very question the boy froze in surprise and then the same cute shade of pink arose from his cheek and then began to powder his entire face.

“W-why would I be?” He asked looking away

“Exactly” I said egging him

“There’s nothing worth being jealous over”

That was not what I was expecting so I decided to stop playing with him- a little.

“Aw that’s mean. Y’know I would flirt on occasion” I said taking a step closer “But it’s because this little place needs the customers and I need the paycheck”

“Okay” the boy said crossing his arms, but I knew better the puffiness in his cheeks was the key sign he was completely dissatisfied

I sighed and then held him in a big hug “You are absolutely adorable”

“W-what are you doing?” he said his arms weakly pushing into my chest “People’ll notice”
“And?” I asked engulfed and the pure embarrassment the kid had, I ruffled his hair “Y’know if you stay this adorable all the time I’ll never flirt with anyone ever again”

“What?” he said

I looked at him to see the small smile that played on his lips “I didn’t ask for you to do that”
“So you don’t want my deal?” I said letting him out of the hug

He cocked his brow and smiled at me “Well I never said that, now did I?”

After that I convinced the shop owner to let me take a break. And his friends who hadn’t witnessed our little run around left after he told them that he ran into a friend. We sat outside the shop talking about ourselves while eating some ice cream. We talked about our lives to each other and completely understood what the other would say. The funniest thing about it was that the kid would look at me with those eyes of his and I felt like he just knew what he needed to know. His eyes secretly told me that he would understand what I told him regardless of what I’d say to him. I think we got the point where I was telling him about this time a girl I had convinced to try the shop’s-correction-the owner’s worst dish, because she was talking about one of the girls that used to work with me, when he said that he was going to be late for his curfew. I remember thinking the curfew was really at an unreasonable hour - like too early wise, because I knew Himchan’s friend Jongup had a curfew at like 11. I didn’t have a curfew or anything so I wouldn’t really know how parents would act if you’re late for one so I told him not to worry about it. But there was a look of complete desperation to leave, so I let him go. We said our goodbyes and he left. After he disappeared down the road I realized I hadn’t even noticed that it had gotten dark outside. He texted me a little later and told me that he had gotten home a little late and his parents chewed him out for it. I apologized but he said that he wasn’t angry at me just frustrated that he had such an early curfew.

Once we started texting each other we had hardly stopped. From saying goodnight to being the morning text we were really in sync. He would try and remind me to not text him in class but I would on occasion just to mess with him.  

“Hey what’s with the constant texting?” Himchan asked “Some girl harassing you?”

“No. Just someone” I mumbled trying to focus on

“Hey” Jongup appeared and sat next to Himchan “What’s up?”  

“Yongguk is constantly texting some chick and doesn’t want to tell who it is”

“Our Himchan is being nosy per the usual”

“I am not nosy Yongguk”

“Yes you are Himchan”

“No I’m not”

“Yes you are”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really,” I said looking up to Jongup “Am I wrong dongsaeng?”

Jongup gulped as he peeked next to him to see Himchan looking at him with a questioning raise of the brow.

“Well Jongup?”

 I looked back at my phone I figured that I had just started an argument between the two so I just continued to text Junhong.

“Himchan you’re not nosy per say-” Jongup began only to have Himchan stand up because knowing Himchan all he heard was Jongup call him nosy, and Jongup did something that made my old friend sit back down “Himchan-“

“Himchan?” I asked the younger pointing out the fact that he was calling Himchan by his first name

“Himchan hyung you aren’t nosy per say-you just notice things out of the ordinary. You’re observant you notice things that people don’t pay attention to-the little things and you get curious when something is out of the norm and that’s a good thing”

“Nice cover” I said under my breath

“Well hyung do you not believe me?” Jongup asked Himchan in a low tone

“W-well” there was a pause “Yeah I guess I believe you” he said in quietly begin to play with his food

“Okay” Jongup said beginning to fiddle with Himchan’s hair “Anyway Himchan hyung I already know who Bang-ssi here is has been associating with as of late.”

I looked up to glare at the younger who was smirking at me “Oh really?” I asked with a twitch in my brow

“Who Jongup?” Himchan asked

“It isn’t some girl, it’s his own cute little dongsaeng he’s been texting”

The thing about these two was that they were like a two piece puzzle and they fit only each other. Himchan needed to know the dirt on anyone and Jongup knew everything about everyone. The kid practically made it his job after he met Himchan. If there was one thing I had to say about Jongup was that the kid was dedicated.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah I heard that the little prodigy is really smitten”

“Really?” I said proud of my effect on the younger when something had caught my attention “Prodigy?”

“Oh yeah, kid’s a genius apparently. He goes to that fancy visual arts high school near the better side of downtown”

“Really?” I said very proud of the boy

“Yeah, he got in on a scholarship I think, but that is as much as I know”

Jongup didn’t need to tell me anything else. Junhong was perfect smart, adorable, kind and sweet. But you he had that kind of air around him.

After school I did the usual and went to work. Junhong met me at the shop as usual and I brought up the whole prodigy thing.

“Oh so you know about that?”

“Yeah. So what’s it like being at a fancy school like that?”

He shifted on the bench and then looked at me with eyes that were trying to say something that I couldn’t hear.

“How about a different question?” he said using the most adorable puppy dog eyes that almost made me not notice the diversion of the question. Almost.

“Okay. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

His eyes fell to his lap and I scooted closer into my side. I had to force myself to not cradle him.

“How about I go first? Hmm?” I he nodded as he put his laid head on my shoulder “So this is going to be short. Let’s see; to be honest I don’t know. Maybe I’ll own a little shop, or my own company, or even if dreams come true I could make it big by selling some music”

Junhong shot up “ Y-you write music hyung?” the kid asked

“Yeah. Do they have you do stuff like that in your school? It being all visual arts based and stuff?”

“Yeah, writing music can be considered the ‘and stuff’ of visual arts” he said with a chuckle

“So I assume you write music?”

“Yeah” he exclaimed then crossed his arms “but all classical. Classical?! Do you know the life of Beethoven because I do, and let me tell you this knowledge will never-and I do mean never benefit me any in way” he said huffing

“Hey y’know that couldn’t be entirely true, what if you’re held at gun point and they’ll shoot you if you didn’t recite his life? That could be a thing.” He looked at me so dully I couldn’t suppress my laughter

“Thanks” he said with a small warm smile returning to his face

“No problem gorgeous” I said putting my arm around his shoulder pulling him closer to my side

We sat there a while and I remember it vividly. His blonde hair on my shoulder, it smelling of vanilla shampoo was cotton soft on my shoulder. And the sun was beautifully warm on his skin it was perfect until my boss called me and it scared him off my shoulder to the other side of the bench.

“I’ll be right back.” I told him

“Sure” was all he said as he nodded vigorously with his cheeks blaring red

I went into the store and walked up to the boss “Yes noona?” I asked batting my eyes at her smirk

She uncrossed her arms to reveal a phone and she held it out to me “Telephone. Your house apparently”

“Why didn’t you just ignore them like I asked?” I said growling a little at her

“Because you told me if your brother was even mention in the slightest I was to give it to you”

I sighed and went into unit in the back so no one would hear the conversation-or yelling match I was probably going to have.

“Hello?”

“Yongguk you didn’t bring home your paycheck last week” my mother said

“Hello to you too hag”

“Don’t get smart. Your father decided he’s not going to stay out tonight so you need to buy some liquor to keep him occupied”

“Why don’t you buy him the goddamn liquor?”

She mocked me and continued “I have other things to buy. I can’t afford it”

“Bet your boyfriend can”

She chuckled “What are you talking about Gukkie? I only love your father.” She said innocently enough to have me literally gag

“Y’know I can’t actually see you getting a man with the money that would just give you the money to buy the liquor but I can see him having his actual woman give him the money and pay you for whatever he has you do and you using that to buy the liquor” I said into the phone with a smirk and there was silence I felt victory but of course she wouldn’t savor it.

“Now now Gukkie you best find some way to come into some money cause I have a feeling your father is going to get some crazy notion that you have access to high grade liquor you can afford on your salary”

“What?”

“And I’m sure if you don’t produce he’ll find some way to entertain himself while your twiddling away at work since Yongnam gets home before you”

I had to force myself to not throw the phone at the wall

“Y’know ” I said chuckling in pure rage “I know that there is a special place in hell for you but all I want you to do is remember that your son, by no fault other than your own, is going to be glad to put you there”

“I love you too Gukkie” I hung up the phone and sighed

That was a very calm version of conversations I’d usually have with my mother. Let’s just say that there is a special place in hell for her. I believe that entirely and won’t believe any different.  Everything she said was to get my goat, and she would do everything she said she’d do. I knew that nothing good would come from what my mother was going to do but I hadn’t known how far she’d go, at that time, for money. I ended up asking my boss for an early shift so I’d get home earlier and I sent Junhong away. I saw the younger disappointed but I could tell he knew I wasn’t very keen on parting either. He even texted me asking what had happened as I walked home alone, since I had refused to let him walk me home just to have him walk back all the way alone, and I found the ability to smile until I got home.

You should comment please~ if you saw the last chapter and read the thing tell me how it was. If you liked this chapter tell me how it trust me I would look forward to them. So thanks for reading~ （〃・ω・〃）