The cold wind came howling up the streets bringing with it dead leaves and autumn smells through the park. Youngjae closed his eyes and lifted his head a bit, inhaling the strong aromas of pumpkin spice and cinnamon. Who knew the air could smell so wonderful in the city. 

Oh wait. It was just his latte that he happened to get a whiff of. Of course there was nothing beautiful about the city. 

Stealing the words sung by Alicia Keys, Youngjae liked to call this place the concrete jungle. The looming skyscrapers stood around the city like soldiers keeping guard. The people were always so vile and angry, especially on a Monday morning since the weather had become cooler. 

The entire place seemed to run on a fixed schedule. Every morning, all the workers got up for work around the same time, hustling to catch trains and running onto the roads, risking their lives trying to hail a taxi. Every afternoon, they all filed out of their offices and did the same thing, trying not to miss the last bus or get stuck waiting around in the five o’clock afternoon traffic. It was all automatic and it was like they never took a break to stop and smell the flowers. 

Well, seeing as how this was the city and there were no flowers to smell, they would probably be inhaling a lung-full of toxic fumes, but still, at least they could try. 

Youngjae felt like none of them tried. None of them really lived, and that was what got Youngjae so bothered when he would be sitting on the park bench with his warm drink cradled in his palms, watching them all stride by, looking quite polished and proper, but never with a smile.

Maybe Youngjae just wasn’t adjusted to city life yet. After all, he had only been here about a month now, having moved from his home in the countryside because he wanted to experience city life with all of the excitement and ‘dreams coming true’ business that Alicia Keys sang about. 

But oh how Youngjae doubted her words now. So far, he had seen nothing beautiful. The modern architecture was too dull and stiff. There were no peaceful smells or calming sounds. No one looked happy and Youngjae had yet to meet one friendly person besides the high school boy that lived next door to him. 

The day he did happen to find that one shining smile in a sea of scowls and frowns was the day he met Bang Yongguk. 

The man had been walking up the street on a wednesday morning, blending in perfectly with all the other adults dressed for the morning. He had on his tie and was swinging a briefcase gently at his side. He would have never caught Youngjae’s attention if it hadn’t been for his slow, steady walk and the beautiful smile adorning his face. 

To everyone else, the man probably looked like a lunatic, walking around by himself with such an expression, but all Youngjae saw was a ray of light between the clouds. 

Since that day, it had become a habit of Youngjae’s to sit and wait for this mysterious stranger who always looked as if he was headed off to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and Adam and Eve’s lost garden. 

Every week day, the man would walk up the street and pass by the park where Youngjae would be on the look out, holding his steaming cup close to his chest, feet tapping impatiently against the ground as he waited for his smiling stranger. Even if it was only for a moment that he happened to catch a glimpse of him, Youngjae would be satisfied for the rest of the day. 

Youngjae refused to call what he had for the man ‘attraction’. After all, he didn’t know the other and it had just become a routine to sit there and wait for him. 

The day the man came up the street with heavy steps and a frown was the day Youngjae’s heart ripped a little at the sides. His beautiful smiling stranger was no longer happy.

Youngjae’s eyes followed the man and was surprised when he saw his stranger trudge into the park, making his way onto a bench not far from Youngjae, slumping onto the seat and lowering his head into his hands, briefcase leaning pitifully against his leg. 

He sat there for a while, unmoving and unnoticed by everyone else out for a morning jog or taking a shortcut through the park to the nearest bus station. 

Youngjae was the only person who paid the man any heed, staring at him, not so discreetly, waiting for something Youngjae wasn’t even sure of. 

Maybe he was waiting for the courage to go up to the man. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t find any that day, and after sitting in the park for about ten minutes, the stranger up and left, leaving with the frown still embedded on his face and a drag in his step. 

This had become the new routine; Youngjae would get his pumpkin spice latte and then head to the park as usual. The only difference now was that he was no longer wearing just a sweater, but had to be bundled up in a couple of layers so that the cold wind wouldn’t give him frost bite on his toes. And he was no longer looking for a ray of light between the clouds, but rather, a rain cloud among the empty, dull sky. 

The man came everyday at the same time, always forcing himself into the park and onto he same bench not far from where Youngjae sat. Everyday, Youngjae would be hoping that somehow that beautiful smile would return and once again give him hope in the cold city, but everyday, his hopes would be weighted down by the heaviness of his stranger’s unhappy expression. 

He waited for weeks, and eventually lost all hope in the concrete jungle. And on that day, he found the courage he was looking for. 

It was a Thursday morning when the stranger had come to his usual place in the park, but Youngjae couldn’t take it anymore. He left. 

He left the park and went to the little shop across the street where he always bought his pumpkin spice latte and got another one, even though his first was still clamped in his hands, chilled and half finished. 

He brought the new cup of steaming hot liquid and went back into the park, calling forth all the courage he could before taking timid steps over to where the man was sitting. Youngjae took a seat on the same bench and sat there quietly, not sure how to proceed. 

After a while, he just opted to give the man a nudge on the shoulder. 

Surprised, the man glanced up from his slumped position and straightened up, looking confused as he eyed the cup Youngjae had pushed up in front of his face. 

“Take it,” Youngjae mumbled out, not really looking the man in the eye, but instead staring at his tie that was tucked away beneath his long, black coat. 

The man furrowed his eyebrows, but slowly eased the cup out of the other’s hand, although resting it in his lap, not taking a sip like Youngjae had hoped.

And then the awkwardness came. The two sat there, occasionally sneaking glances at one another, but never speaking a word. After his ten minutes were up, the man got up hesitantly, carrying the still filled cup in his hand and his briefcase in the other, turning back to look at Youngjae. When he did, the man saw the other looking back at him with a scrunched up face, staring at the untouched cup in his hands.  

He didn’t want to be rude but he didn’t really know what to say. So he just chose to nod his head in the younger’s direction before he was on his way, leaving Youngjae alone on the park bench. 

That didn’t go at all how Youngjae had hoped. But then again, he wasn’t even sure what he was expecting. 

This went on for a couple of days.

A week later, Youngjae was waiting for the man again, and this time, he already had two steaming cups in his hand, waiting impatiently on the bench. When the man came, Youngjae was surprised to find he was carrying his own cup in his hand. 

Thinking that the man probably didn't want to be bothered and that’s why he’d gotten his own cup today, Youngjae put his head down and felt a frown form on his face. He wasn’t expecting the man to take a seat next to him, and when he looked up, his stranger was smiling. “Sorry. I thought I might as well get my own since I didn’t want you spending your money on me, but I guess it didn’t work out,” he let out a deep chuckle and Youngjae felt his cheeks color and a smile of his own make it’s way onto his face. 

The two sat in silence like always, but now, it wasn’t awkward, but somehow comforting and peaceful. The trees had all shed their leaves by now and there were hardly any people in the park these days, but the two sat on the bench, contently sipping at their warm drinks, still occasionally stealing glances at each other. 

Ten minutes passed and when the man got up, he turned to face Youngjae. “I’m Bang Yongguk, by the way. Thanks for the coffee before,” he said lightly. 

Youngjae fumbled out that it was no problem and managed to get his name out somewhere in between there. 

The man, or now Yongguk, smiled at him and before leaving said, “I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.” And then he was one his way, once again leaving Youngjae by himself on the park bench, but this time, both were wearing a smile, looking forward to the next day. 

And so, this had became the new routine. Eventually, they started conversation with each other, not really talking about themselves but about more casual things, like the way the small shops and retail stores were already stocking up with christmas supplies even though it was only the middle of november, and about how the four o’clock bus now came at a later time due to downtown traffic. 

Over time, it became too cold for them to sit in the park. Yongguk had caught Youngjae shivering ever so slightly and offered to take the younger to a little cafe near to his apartment the next day, which happened to be a saturday. 

Youngjae tried not to think of the outing as a date, but it was really hard not to. In the weeks that they had their little ten minute coffee chats in the park, Youngjae had grown fond of the man and now he could admit that what he had for Yongguk was indeed ‘attraction’. Youngjae was almost positive that the man didn’t think of him as anything else besides a coffee buddy and so he tried to shoo away any developing feeling. But it was a little too late for that because Youngjae was sure he had already lost that battle.