` (    FightMe  HongJisoo♥    )

Chapter seven :
"Why are the staffs from Jisoo's Cafe here- YOU ARE WHAT?!"

Weeks had pass since Seungcheol’s little meeting with the pink haired boy whose name had been engraved into Seungcheol’s brain; Jihoon, Lee Jihoon - don’t ask how he got the other’s last name.

‘Ayo, ayo, Seungcheol in the house~’

‘What’s up with him?’ Wonwoo raises his eyebrows, wiping the coffee machine as he stares at the new comer (more like late comer.)

‘I don’t know,’ Seungkwan shrugs his shoulders, leaning against the table as he lets out a small chuckle, ‘I heard he went to Jisoo’s cafe yesterday to see his son. But hey, at least we don’t have to hear him complain about Junghan hyung stealing Chan from him anymore!’

‘I heard that, Boo Seungkwan.’

‘Love you, hyung~’ Seungkwan turns to the older, sticking his tongue out playfully before jogging back into the kitchen.

Though what they didn’t notice is a gloomy Junghan, sitting on the floor by the cashier and staring at blank space. Seungcheol wouldn’t have even notice the other is there until he almost trip over Junghan’s legs.

‘Junghan? What the-‘ Seungcheol stops, noticing the fact that Junghan now has his head on his knees, ‘Junghan? You okay there-‘

‘No!’ Junghan suddenly shoots up, shocking Seungcheol as the older almost fell backwards if not for the counter supporting him from behind. ‘I… I don’t know what to feel anymore.’

Now Seungcheol can see the other’s face clearly; face red with anger and glossy eyes, Seungcheol’s scared the other would burst into tears and Seungcheol would get all the blame for it.

‘J-Junghan.’ Seungcheol stutters, flustered as to what the am I supposed to do now?!

‘He… He said we would see each other again…’ Junghan lets out, desperate and broken, ‘I even gave him my phone number! And guess what, not even a single text!’

.

Junghan’s anger is showing now and , why am I involved.

Seungcheol gulps loudly, scared of Junghan taking out his anger on him because all he wants to do now is relax and think about J- no, I want to work peacefully.

Yeah, all he wants right now is to have the day pass by peacefully so he can end the day at Jisoo’s cafe, definitely not to stare at Jihoon.

‘I even gave him free cakes! How could he, I swear I’m gonna kill hi-‘ Seungcheol looks at the other, confused as to why he’d stopped. ‘Oh, who am I kidding? I can’t kill him, he’s so cute and that cat eyes of his and-‘

‘Oooooooooh, so you’re talking about Joshua?’

‘Yeah, I’m talking about Joshua! Who else would I be talking about?!’

, wrong move.

‘Man, Seungcheol, how long have you known me for?! Who else would I fckin’ give free cakes to except for you idiots?!’

Crap.

God dammit.

Stupid Joshua, whoever you are, you for getting me into this.

I’m going to get you for this!
 

~<*~*>~

‘Jisoo hyung!’

‘Jun, for the nth time, just let Dino taste your cake-‘

‘This isn’t about the cake!’ Jun lets out a frustrated sigh. ‘It’s about Junghan hyung.’

‘.’ Jun can hear Jisoo mumbles under his breath and for a second, Jun thought the world is ending because Jisoo Hong never swears.

Man, he must’ve screwed this up bad.

‘U-Um, what about him?’ Jisoo asks, frowning when he realizes the fact that he just stuttered.

‘Have you talked to him yet?’

‘No…’ Jisoo sighs, eyebrows furrowing and Jun gives the older a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, knowing how conflicted the other must be feeling. ‘I don’t know… It feels wrong lying to him, even though I’m not really lyin-‘

‘Liar!’

‘Shut up, Chan!’ Jun chuckles; Chan is fine with Jisoo now, letting the other off the hook when Jisoo had promised him to tell Junghan the truth within a month from then. ‘But hyung, you’ve gotta let him know soon! You can’t just cut off contact with him like that; he’s going to think you didn’t enjoy your little date-‘

‘It’s not a date!’

…

..

.

‘Okay fine, it was kinda like a date-‘

‘I told you so! Seokmin hyung, you owe me 10,000 won.’

‘Can you not, Vernon?!’

Jisoo chuckles, shaking his head as man, he really needs to teach these kids about respecting your elders (‘Hyung, you’re only 3 years older than me, what do you mean ‘elder’?!’ ‘Shut up, you impolite brat.’) 

‘Uh… Anyways…’ Jun continues, waving the others off, ‘Um…’

The two stands in silent for a moment and Jisoo is just appreciating this when Jun jumps up with a clap, excited as he smiles brightly as his hyung.

‘You know what, we’re going to Junghan’s cafe tonight!’

‘Wait, what-’

‘And you’re going to tell him who you are, right there and then.’

‘What no-‘

‘Hyung, it’s now or never.’ Jun smiles; it isn’t the smile Jisoo loves to see on his friend’s face, it’s the sinister smile Jun always puts on whenever he’s up to no good. ‘But hey, if you want to be called ‘liar’ for the rest of your life by your so-called son then-‘

‘Ok, ok! I’ll do it, gosh.’ Jisoo sighs in defeat. ‘But you’re coming too, right?’

‘Even better, let’s all go there tonight.’

Well this is not going to turn out well.

It’s already past 8 and Jun can’t get anymore excited; the boy had already finished baking over five cakes and it’s more than enough (‘Are you baking for tomorrow too-‘ ‘Shut up unless you want me to slap you with this spatula, Vernon.’) 

Jisoo had promised the younger to wrap up and close the cafe early tonight and Jun is determined to make it happen, no way in hell was he going to let his hyung chicken out of this. Everything is going great; all is following the plan and there are only 5 minutes left.

4 minutes.

3.

2-

‘Joshua who ever the you are, get out here right now!’

What the f-

All eyes turn to a fuming person standing by the counter, hair messy and face drained. Jun raises his eyebrows as he stares at the male, wondering where he’d seen the other from-

‘Hi, is there a prob-‘

Oh poor, innocent Joshua.

Suddenly, Jun’s brain lights up as the boy lets out a silent ‘Ahhhh!’; the angry customer is no other than the male who’d been obsessed over Jihoon for weeks now; all of the staffs in Jisoo’s Cafe had noticed and they swore to never let Jihoon off because Lee Jihoon giggled.

What had Jisoo do this time?

Jisoo doesn’t even notice the anger fuming out of the other’s ears when he had greeted the other.

‘You!’

The next second, Jisoo is already meters away from the other, his collar gripped tightly and for a second he’s scared for his life.

‘You fckin’-‘

‘Seungcheol?’

Oh shoot.

‘J-Jihoon!’ Seungcheol lets go of Jisoo’s collar, turning to where his name is just called as he scratches his head awkwardly, not knowing what to say about what he’d just done. ‘I-I…’

‘C’mon, I don’t care what you guys are doing,’ Jihoon sighs, rolling his eyes as he gestures to the kitchen, ‘Just do it in there, we still have normal customers you know.’

‘Right…’ Seungcheol mumbles, glaring at Jisoo who’s now frozen with fear, cursing Jihoon for not saving him from the mess. ‘Let’s go, Joshua.’

The two head to the kitchen, not caring about the chinese male occupying it (‘Where the hell is Vernon when I need him?!’)

‘You. I don’t know what you and Junghan did that day, (‘So that’s why he’s so familiar! He works with Minghao too!’)’ Seungcheol starts, ‘Whatever the hell you do, give him a fckin’ call.’

‘I-‘

‘I don’t care if you didn’t like your date. Just give him a call, or text him and tell him you don’t like him.’ Seungcheol utters every word with anger, still angry for having his peaceful day ruined. ‘I don’t care, just do it. I swear if Junghan rages about you to me again, I’ll come back here and drag you back to him.’

Jisoo trembles, shrinking under the other’s stare; he really does feel bad though, he didn’t think Junghan would be that affected by him not contacting the other, he definitely did not think someone would try to kill him for it.

‘O-Okay…’

‘Good. If you don’t within 2 hours, I’ll…’ Seungcheol stops, blinking slowly as he tries to come up with something threatening enough. ‘I’ll steal your cashier.’

‘You’ll what-‘

‘Not ‘cause I like him or anything. I mean I do like him, but just as friends. Because you know, why would I like him?! Well, he does have nice hair, and his smile, and-‘

Man, this is going to be a long night.

After Seungcheol left, Jisoo is left frozen for the next 10 minutes, still trying to get his breathing back to normal because he swears his life was so, so close to disappearing in front of his eyes. 

Man, I’m gonna be scared of all their staffs now.

‘Hyung! You ready?’ Chan chirps, unaware of his hyung’s fear.

‘C-Chan…’

‘Hyung?’ Chan runs to the older, staring at the other with big eyes. ‘Hyung… Don’t tell me… Don’t tell me you’re chickening out now!’

Jisoo looks up at the other with guilt, sighing as he really doesn’t want to go anywhere near Junghan’s Cafe right now.

‘You liar!’

‘Chan!’

‘Jun hyung, he’s chickening out again!’

Shoot.

‘What do you mean you’re chickening out?!’ Jun storms into the room, his uniform already folded up neatly in his hands. ‘I will drag you over there with my two bare han-‘

‘Why does everyone want to drag me around today?!’ Jisoo lets out, shocking both Jun and Chan. ‘I mean, I know I was wrong, but do you all have to be so hard on me?! It’s not that easy to me either, okay?!’

‘Hyung…’

‘Fine, I’ll go ever there! I’ll go and tell him I’m Jisoo, I’m the person he’d been hunting down ever since!’

‘Hyung, you don’t have to-‘

‘I’m going to freakin’ do it.’

Yeah, I’ll do it.

Yeah…

Yeah.

Please don’t make me regret this choice, God.

‘Jihoon?!’

‘H-Hi.’

God dammit.

Jihoon stands at the cashier, fiddling with his fingers as his cheeks turn red from stuttering; the seven teenage boys are seated across the room, faces beaming with excitement as they encourage their eldest hyung. Jisoo is sat still, looking around to look for the very reason he’s here for and as the boys become distracted due to their hunger, Jihoon is pushed off towards the oh-so-familiar cashier (remind Jihoon to never talk to a normal customer for more than 10 seconds ever again.)

‘Why are you here- I mean,’ Seungcheol pauses, thinking of the right words that won’t embarass himself. ‘It’s great to see you here.’

The smile on Seungcheol’s face makes Jihoon feels like he’s melting, the smile so bright and shiny, Jihoon is convinced there are beams coming off of it. Jihoon stands frozen for a moment, eyes big as he looks up at the older and Seungcheol finds the kid so damn adorable.

‘Jihoon? Earth to Jihoon~’ Jihoon snaps back to reality with a cardboard menu 2cm away from slapping him in the face.

‘Sh-‘ Jihoon jumps back, hands over his face as protection.

The pink haired male has his eyes shut tight, unaware that Seungcheol had now moved to be in front of him, not just behind the counter.

‘Cute.’ Seungcheol mumbles as he ruffles the other’s hair, amazed at how soft it is (Soonyoung’s hair definitely isn’t as soft.)

‘Wh-‘ Jihoon opens his eyes only to meet with Seungcheol, lips cms away from his. ‘F-‘ Jihoon takes a step back and .

The younger trips over his own foot, preparing himself to fall backwards until he feels a pair of arms, wrap protectively around his body.

‘Hey, if you’re this clumsy, how can you live without me?’ Seungcheol winks and Jihoon feels like slapping the male with his wallet.

Jihoon coughs awkwardly as he stands up straight, eyes focusing on his feet as he mumbles quietly, ‘C-Can we have 3 chocolate cake, 3 strawberry cheesecake and 1 tiramisu?’

‘Is the tiramisu your order?’ The flirtation in Seungcheol’s voice irritates Jihoon now, making the younger suddenly aware of every single thing he’s doing; the unbalance breathing, the fiddling fingers, everything is making Jihoon cautious now.

‘Shut up and just bring us our order.’

‘I’ll take that as a yes~’ Seungcheol chuckles, leaning down to be face level with the other, ‘Come over more often, yeah? My wallet is dying going to you every night.’

And with that, Jihoon is left dumbfounded, staring at Seungcheol’s back as the older goes back to his workspot.

Seungcheol defnitely didn’t forget to wink at the other before leaving though.

I hate you, Choi Seungcheol.

You make me feel ‘things’. Weird, weird things.

‘And here’s your… tiramisu!’ A cheerful Wonwoo announces, placing the last plate onto the table; the boy is only confused as to why, why is there a chocolate heart on this tiramisu plate?! ‘Enjoy your meal- Mingyu?!’

‘Hey there, stalker.’

‘For the last time, I was not stalking you!’ Wonwoo thanks God the other 6 boys on the table are all too focused on their cakes. To make sure he won’t draw any unwanted attention, the latter leans down, lips inches away from Mingyu’s ear. ‘Say that again and I’ll burn your wristbands.’

Though Mingyu isn’t even slightly fazed by that.

‘It’s fine, I don’t really need them anywa-’

‘I’m going to burn tosun.’

‘ okay, I’m sorry, please don’t hurt my tosun.’ Wonwoo laughs at Mingyu’s panicked state, hand going up to cover his face as he laughed.

Mingyu pauses when he hears the other’s laugh, mesmerized as he smiles, reaching out to hold Wonwoo’s wrist, pulling it down. The older is completely taken back, staring at Mingyu as if the other had just commited a murder.

‘Don’t cover your face, you’re adorable when you laugh.’ Mingyu smiles in victory when he sees Wonwoo’s cheeks turning pink, ‘And I love it when your nose crinkles.’

‘Min-’

‘I’ll talk to you later~’ Mingyu smiles, giving Wonwoo’s hand a gentle squeeze. ‘Now get back to work, I’ll wait for you~’

God dammit, Kim Mingyu.

Stop flirting with me, please. My poor heart can’t take this no more.

‘A-Alright.’ Wonwoo gulps, retracting his hand as he turns away, hand on his chest as he feels his heart beating faster than ever.

I’m going to have a heart attack tonight.

‘Minghaooooooo.’

‘Xu Minghaoooooooooo!’

‘What the-’

‘Minghaooooo~’

‘Jun hyung?!’

‘Hi~’ Jun smiles, his eyes disappear as he gives the other a big hug.

‘What- Why- How did you even get in here?!’

‘Wonwoo let me~ Why, do you not want me here?’ Jun pouts as he fakes a hurt expression.

’N-No!’ Minghao might’ve said that a little more excited than he should’ve, ‘I mean… Um, it’s great to have you here? If you want to hang, wait for like, 30 minutes, I’ve gotta finish this cake first or Junghan hyung will kill me.’

‘Speaking of Junghan…’ Jun smirks, ‘Where is he?’

‘I don’t know? Probably moping around somewhere outside. He doesn’t seem very happy today…’ Minghao’s voice trails off, lost in thoughts as to why his hyung is so depressed the whole day.

‘Jisoo hyung’s here-‘

‘What?! Jis-’

‘Shushhhhhh!’ Jun covers the other’s mouth, afraid someone would hear them, ‘Don’t scream! If Junghan hyung knows, he’s going to kill him.’

‘He does remember his face thou-‘

‘I know that, Jisoo hyung’s here to tell him the truth.’

…

..

.

‘Minghao?’ Jun waves his hands around, staring at a frozen Minghao, ‘Min-‘

‘Are you sure about this?…’ The look on Minghao’s face scares Jun; the kid looks like the world is ending in seconds.

‘Yeah, I mean, what’s the worse that can happen-‘

‘Junghan hyung will kill him! That’s what!’ Minghan throws his hands up in the air, surprised with Jun’s answer, ‘You don’t know him, he’s literally going to kill the guy. Worse, he could kill us for lying to him! Hyung, he’s going to fire me and I’m going to be broke and-‘

Minghan words got cut off as they are muffled in Jun’s shirt; Jun has his arms wrapped tightly around the younger, hand the other’s head lovingly as he whispers, ‘It’s okay, Minghao, nothing’s going to happen.’

‘How do you know that-‘

‘I’m here for you, alright?’

Minghao freezes, feeling his heart skip a beat as only now does he realizes how close the two are to each other now. Minghao’s head is rested on Jun’s solid chest and oh no, what if he hears my heart beat?!

‘You’ll be alright~’ Jun smiles, lifting Minghao’s chin so the other could look at him. ‘Now shall we get back to your cake?’

Wha-

‘C’mon, I’m a baker too, remember?’

Minghao lets out a light chuckle, grinning as his hyung as he nods, pulling the other by his hand as he leads Jun to where all the ingredients are.

Please God, please make this plan work!

‘Please don’t kill me, please don’t kil-‘

‘Jisoo hyun-‘

‘I’m Joshua! Unless you want me to die, it’s Joshua!’ Jisoo hands shoot up to cover Seokmin’s mouth, the other frowning as he tries prying the hands off.

‘Okay, okay.’ Seokmin sighs, eating his cake as he pokes the older’s cheek. ‘Just saying, but you’ve been chanting that for 30 minutes now.’

‘What would you do if you were in my shoe-‘

‘Definitely not that.’ Jisoo frowns, flicking the other’s forehead as he earns a small groan. ‘No, but seriously hyung. Just go look for him and tell him the truth, it’s almost closing time anyways.’

‘I know, it’s just… What can I sa-‘

‘Joshua?!’

Shooooooot.

‘Is that him-‘

‘H-Hi Junghan!’ Jisoo gets up from his seat, jogging over to the other as he waves awkwardly.

‘W-What- Why are you even here?!’ Jisoo feels his stomach drops when he sees the annoyance on Junghan’s face; though truthfully, Junghan can’t feel any happier right now.

‘I… I’m just…’ Jisoo gulps, sighing before making up his mind as he pulls the other to a corner of the cafe.

‘What’s wrong, Joshua?’ Junghan tilts his head, staring at the other as he’s half worried at what the other has to say. ‘Are you ok-‘

‘Junghan…’ Jisoo mumbles, head hanging low as he can’t face the fact that his life is on the line right now. ‘I… Okay, I’m going to tell you the truth now but can you please promise not to kill me?’

‘Wha-‘

‘Just promise me.’

Junghan raises his eyebrows, confused as he nods slowly, wondering what it could be for the oh-so-cheerful Joshua to be so worried about.

‘I’m… I…’

‘Just say it, Joshua.’ Junghan places his hands on the other’s shoulders, giving Jisoo a reassuring smile as he urges the other to continue. ‘I promise I won’t kill you.’

Looking up at Junghan, Jisoo feels even worse for lying to such an innocent soul; whether or not Junghan decides to kill him, Jisoo’s sure he’s going to hell for this. Taking in a deep breath, Jisoo sighs before looking at the other’s brown orbs.

‘I’m Jisoo. Jisoo Hong.’

…

..

.

I am so going to die tonight.