[ Chapter 3 ]

“So…you and Joshua, huh?”

Jeonghan spluttered as he slurped his phở, quickly grabbing a nearby napkin to wipe the liquid from his chin and the table. Wonwoo and him were taking their lunch break at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. Apparently, it was the perfect time for Wonwoo to begin questioning Jeonghan’s burgeoning relationship with Joshua.

“M-Me and Joshua what?”

Wonwoo wiggled his eyebrows in response, and Jeonghan scoffed and tried to hit him from across the table, though the other boy avoided the smack.

“I heard that you two talked for like six hours last week! And that he stayed until the salon closed.”

“Since when are you so up to date on work gossip?”

“Since it now involves your love life.”

“I-I don’t have a…l-love life…”

Wonwoo gave him the look that meant I-don’t-believe-any-of-your- before diving into his own bowl of phở. They then sat in awkward silence for a bit, the sounds of slurping customers and American pop music the only noise between them.

While Jeonghan had tried to keep his high spirits around Wonwoo so as not to worry his friend, the fact was that since Joshua’s last visit, the longhaired man had started to feel pretty down. He’s pretty sure that was the reason why Wonwoo dragged him out to lunch today; his friend probably noticed his mood despite his best efforts to hide it. As Jeonghan sat in embarrassed silence, all the thoughts he’d been thinking over the week started to run through his mind. He could feel the corners of his lips pull down and could even feel when his shoulders started to slump in sadness. He swirled his chopsticks around in the half-eaten phở as thoughts of Joshua and of imperfect English danced around in his mind.

He must have been staring at his phở for too long without eating it, for Wonwoo eventually piped up with a, “Hyung, you okay?”

While Jeonghan prided himself in a great many things, keeping his emotions hidden from his best friend was not one of them.

“I’m…worried.”

Hearing his friend’s serious tone, Wonwoo put his chopsticks down and sat up a little straighter. He also quickly wiped off the broth that had splattered onto his cheek before giving his undivided attention to the other.

“I like talking to Joshua, but I…don’t speak English very well. What if we…? There have been times I haven’t said something because I didn’t know how to say it in English. And I just nod and look at him and it’s a little awkward until he picks up the conversation. Someday…someday we’re not going to have anything to talk about. A-And how do I know that he always understands me? Or will always understand me? What if he gets tired of my broken English? How can we…”

Jeonghan bit his lower lip and looked away before saying anymore, not sure if he should admit it or if Wonwoo would even understand. What he was holding back was the singular thought that was causing him the most anxiety.

“Are you worried about not being able to date with a language barrier?”

When Jeonghan looked back at Wonwoo, the other could tell that he’d guessed right. There was hesitancy and fear in Jeonghan’s eyes, characteristics he rarely saw in the friendly, confident man.

Jeonghan let out a heavy sigh before he said in a voice barely above a whisper, “Yeah…”

“Oh Jeonghan…have you been thinking about this all week?”

“Maybe…”

“Ah, it must be hard on you, huh?”

Wonwoo ran a hand through his hair and gave Jeonghan a sympathetic smile.

“I’m not really sure what to say or how to help you, but…Joshua doesn’t seem like he’ll get tired of talking to you anytime soon. I mean, do you see the way he looks at you? You’re like a ing angel in his eyes. He’s completely lovestruck, hyung.”

“Even so…I just want to tell–”

“ONE ORDER OF SPRING ROLLS ON THE HOUSE FOR THE TWO IDIOTS OVER THERE who are having a deep conversation without me.”

A boy in a server’s outfit weaved his way through tables and other passing waiters before plopping a plate of spring rolls in between Wonwoo and Jeonghan. As this was a common occurrence, the two boys didn’t even flinch at the loud and poorly timed intrusion.

“Oh hey Seungkwan.”

“ ‘Sup, dudes.”

“You know if you keep giving us free food, the restaurant’s going to start loosing money,” Jeonghan jokingly chided while grabbing a free spring roll.

“This coming from the guy who keeps giving free manicures to cute boys.”

At that statement, Jeonghan ended up dropping half of his spring roll into his phở, causing Seungkwan to fall on top of Wonwoo as they both burst into uncontrollable laughter. The longhaired male was torn between trying to get them to stop and trying to cover up the intense blush that had appeared on his cheeks. He ended up doing the later, in addition to mumbling about his cruel fate that everyone in their mother now knew about his attempts at having a love life.

“So anyway, what were you two talking about?” Seungkwan said once he recomposed himself.

“The terrors of speaking English,” Wonwoo responded.

“Ah, yes, yes. Is Jeonghan having English troubles with his boyfriend?”

Neither heard Jeonghan try to emphasize that Joshua was not his boyfriend yet.

“Yup, he’s scared of dating with a language barrier. It’s probably why he hasn’t asked the boy out yet.”

Turning to face the flustered Jeonghan, Seungkwan’s face changed from teasing to an attempt at moderate seriousness as he directly addressed the longhaired boy.

“I’m sure it’s not as big of a deal as you’re making it. But if you’re really stressing out over it, how about taking extra English classes outside of university? I’m sure there’s plenty around here to choose from.”

Seungkwan smiled and patted Jeonghan’s shoulder before heading back to work after spotting the stink eye from his supervisor. Wonwoo playfully stuck his tongue out at the younger as he walked away.

“We have such an interesting group of friends, hyung. For us, it’s never a dull day in LA, is it?”

“…Are you proud of yourself for making that rhyme, Wonwoo?”

Wonwoo didn’t need to respond; he just kept giving that -eating grin to Jeonghan that was explanation enough.

“Let’s see, we have Joshua that causes the drama, Seungkwan that dramaticizes the drama…”

“Seriously, are you guys only going to talk about Joshua to me all the time?”

“Yeah basically.”

Jeonghan smacked his head on the table and let out an exaggerated groan. He stayed in that position for a bit, thinking, as Wonwoo finished slurping the rest of his phở.

“But actually,” Jeonghan started, “Seungkwan’s idea isn’t that bad.”

“If that’s what you want, I say go for it. It’ll be hard, especially on top of university, but I think it will help. At least, it’ll help with your confidence.”

With the side of his head still pressed against the table, Jeonghan closed his eyes and thought about Joshua. He really, really wanted their budding friendship to evolve into something else. But honestly, above everything, he just wanted to talk to the other boy; to make him laugh, to make him smile, and to get to know him more. And if Jeonghan wanted to do that, he would need to improve his English.

For Joshua, it was worth it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Again, Joshua came back two weeks after his last visit, looking fine as hell…although Jeonghan would never admit that to Joshua. The longhaired male could feel his heart pounding as if it wanted to burst from his chest, but he did his best to reign in his nervous excitement.

“Joshua! Long time no see!”

The boy chuckled at Jeonghan’s actually poorly concealed excitement, and said, “But it’s only been two weeks, Jeonghan.”

“I know! I just want to use new phrase you taught me.”

“Alright, well next time you use it with someone, make sure it’s actually been a long time since you’ve last seen them.”

Jeonghan nodded in understanding before grabbing Joshua’s wrist to lead the other to his nail table, already set up with the necessary manicure materials. Joshua commented on how the other must have been expecting him to come today, and Jeonghan teasingly hit him on the shoulder while saying, “Of course!” with faint hints of a blush forming. Joshua thought it was absolutely endearing.

They engaged in their usual small talk and language exchange while Jeonghan did Joshua’s nails. They talked about how their classes have been going, about w