Chapter Text
6:48 A.M.
Jake locks his phone and pockets it, lets out a deep sigh, and proceeds walking in the direction of Rodic’s Diner. His first class starts at 10:30 A.M., but Heeseung, the chairperson of their college’s student council, decided to call for an emergency meeting at around 8 A.M. He would’ve gotten up later if it wasn’t for Sunghoon’s loud grunts and “words of affirmation” disturbing his sleep.
The walk from his residence hall to the diner is fairly short, covering only two or three blocks the opposite direction of his college’s building. Needless to say, this is one of Jake’s go-to places to eat in whenever he gets sick of the food at Area 2.
However, Jake would be lying if he said that that’s his only reason.
“Uy, hello!”
A cheery voice greets him the moment he steps in the establishment. By the window at the farthest side of the room from the door sits Sunoo, an education sophomore focusing on primary education whom Jake met at the beginning of the school year. With Jake being a junior taking up Chemical Engineering, one would be surprised as to how he knew someone from Eduk.
“Hi, Sunoo!”
Jake responds as he begins walking towards the younger boy. He takes notice of the paperwork laid on the table beside his unfinished tapsilog.
“Ang aga natin kumayod, ah.”
“Ay, hindi naman. Mga backlogs ko lang.”
Jake cheekily remarks, to which Sunoo shyly responds. The former sets his things on the seat across from Sunoo and takes a seat beside him. The diner is empty except for them, which is quite a surprise given that this is one of the most affordable and delicious places to have silogs on campus. There are a few people that walk by outside the window; most of them are drowsy-looking students who look like they are currently regretting their life choices by taking up 7 A.M. classes. Aside from them, the streets remain vacant, looking as if they could breathe the morning air and share that moment with the trees that sway just as freely.
“Ah, I thought council work niyo na agad eh.”
Jake mentions this as he leans forward with his arms resting on the table. Closeness with Sunoo, to Jake, is something that he often forgets he earned rightfully until he is already in the boy’s vicinity—pulled in and embraced by his warmth. In all honesty, Jake tried so hard before to articulate how Sunoo makes him feel, but he couldn’t. All he knows is that the soft-skinned boy with whisker-like dimples has a soft glow that surrounds him everywhere he goes.
Jake doesn’t believe in God or in the existence of a supreme being, but whenever he’s around Sunoo, he always has to remind himself of just that.
“Grabe naman kung ganon! Hindi ako ganun ka sipag masyado.”
Sunoo replies as he laughs lightheartedly, the sound effortlessly opening up the gates of Jake’s heart and unknowingly letting in the little cherubs that he claims do not exist. Jake just nods, trying to find the proper words to tell Sunoo that he’s wrong, that he’s actually one of the hardest-working people Jake has ever met in his entire life (arguably, but Jake stands by it firmly), and that he’s actually very fond of the boy.
Jake wants to tell Sunoo so badly that he’s one of the most endearing things Jake has ever come across and that he undoubtedly makes Jake want to melt into a puddle at times with how soft he makes him feel.
Instead, he just settles for this:
“Not true, but okay.”
Sunoo laughs at this again before grabbing a spoonful of tapsilog and stuffing it in his mouth. Even if Jake knows how uncomfortable it would feel if someone watched him eat, he couldn’t help himself but stare at Sunoo’s puffed cheeks and rosy lips. It makes Jake’s innards itch from something he couldn’t put a name on, but he doesn’t necessarily dislike the feeling. In fact, it makes him feel like his insides are vibrating, shaking in utter satisfaction at the sight of Sunoo eating so well and so comfortably right in front of him.
Call him a dork, but Jake’s heart expands at Sunoo’s little pleased noises every once in a while—a clear sign that he’s enjoying his food.
“Hindi ka ba kakain ng breakie?”
Jake hears Sunoo ask, which breaks him out of the trance he unconsciously was in a few moments ago. For some reason, the older boy feels his heart expand at the little name Sunoo has for “breakfast.” He wonders how many people know of its existence.
He wonders how many people get this close to Sunoo.
“Ay, oo nga pala. Order lang ako saglit.”
Scratching the back of his neck, Jake shamefully stands up and takes out his wallet from his backpack. Then, he remembers.
“May hinihintay ka bang kasama? Na kakain? Kasi pwede naman akong lumipat ng seat—”
“Ay, wala! Dito ka na lang.”
At this, Jake feels his cheeks warm up. He sees how Sunoo’s eyes curve as he smiles, something that always made Jake’s knees feel like jelly. To be fair, everything that Sunoo does makes Jake feel weak in the most positive connotation of the word. He always had this breathtaking effect on Jake that the boy could never explain; all he knows is that Sunoo seeps into his skin, into his muscles, into his bone, and settles on his marrow as he takes his time, slowly but surely, taking over Jake’s very esse.
Ask Jake what Sunoo is to his body, and he’d ridiculously make up a word like “a love tumor” or “a chimerical concussion.”
Ask Jake what Sunoo is to him, however, and Jake would just smile as he revels in the fast-paced dance his heart performs—a reminder that this feeling, whatever it may be, makes him feel alive.
Something that he wants to feel for a very long time.
7:18 A.M.
Jake walks back to his and Sunoo’s table with his usual—a tapsilog with hot Milo on the side. He used to be ashamed of not being able to stomach coffee, but something changed about him (something involving Sunoo, but he doesn’t want to admit that) and his perception of his “unique” order as a college student. As he puts his plate on the table, he notices that Sunoo paused eating as he works on some of the papers.
“Done ka na?”
Sunoo looks up at Jake, then at his plate, and back at him with an endeared smile.
“Ay, nope. Hinihintay lang kita para may kasabay kang kumain.”
Right there, right after Sunoo says this, it almost feels like the Book of Revelations coming to life for Jake. It almost feels like he has been handpicked by God to be one of the first people to enter paradise, something that only a very few percentages of the population would get to experience.
Of course, Jake doesn’t believe in that. He’s agnostic.
But still, just because he doesn’t believe in that kind of stuff doesn’t necessarily mean he would never get to experience something holy, something sacred, something divine.
Something like Sunoo.
“Ah, sige.”
That is all that Jake can muster saying before he takes a seat. Though it may look like Jake is functioning normally, with him getting into his tapsilog and taking spoonfuls after spoonfuls, his head is all over the place. He allows his body to go full-on auto-pilot as he attempts to properly process just what Sunoo told him and what he felt at the moment.
Sunoo, who now gets back into eating as he reads something on his papers;
Sunoo, who now sits right next to him with his body slightly leaning towards Jake;
Sunoo, who smells faintly like raspberries and vanilla—something that Jake has associated with Eden;
Sunoo, who Jake wanted to so badly kiss a few minutes ago for what he said about waiting for him.
At this, Jake begins choking on a piece of tapa.
Hard.
Embarrassingly hard.
Jake feels like he’s dying, and he immediately turns to Sunoo for help.
Except, Sunoo begins rubbing and slapping his back as he hands Jake his bottle of water.
Jake wants to smack himself so bad, but he can’t help the flow of his thoughts at that moment.
He tells himself that if this was his time, he’s glad that Sunoo is his angel.
“Jake?! Ayos ka na? Oh my god, Jake?!”
This pulls Jake out of the water again, and he stops coughing and begins to breathe properly.
“Sorry.”
“Grabe, akala ko kailangan kitang i-Heimlich eh!”
Sunoo breathlessly laughs as he scans Jake’s face for any sign of discomfort. Jake notices this, takes a deep breath to show the other boy that he’s alright, and settles his hand over Sunoo’s.
“I’m fine na, Sunoo. Thank you.”
Nodding at this, Sunoo’s body visibly relaxes. He turns his hand and holds onto Jake’s, an innocent gesture that says “I’m here,” “I’ll always be here.”
“May kasalanan ka ata sa baka na kinain mo, eh. Naghihiganti.”
Sunoo jokes around as he pulls his hand away. Jake’s heart aches at this for a moment, but he masks it with a soft chuckle.
“Baka nga.”
Jake comments as he stares at Sunoo. Sunoo, seemingly entranced, is looking right back at him. There’s a glimmer in his eyes—there always is a shimmer in Sunoo’s eyes, but what he has now is different. It shines brighter under the muted fluorescent light of the diner and the gentle sunlight by the window.
Ayan na naman, Jake thinks. That yielding rush all over his body that makes him want to be one with the ground and just look up at Sunoo for the entire time.
7:47 A.M.
The pair in the diner finishes eating. They already closed their plates and are now currently packing up their things. Until now, they are the only people in the place, which Jake finds a little odd, but he brushes it off as he watches Sunoo stuff the papers into his bag.
“May class ka na ba?”
Jake asks, to which Sunoo shakes his head.
“Mamaya pang hapon. Kailangan ko lang ipasa ‘to sa prof ko before 10 kaya maaga-aga ako dito.”
Jake nods at this and feels another question sit at the tip of his tongue.
To be fair, this question has etched a place on the insides of his cheeks as he always had this question for Sunoo but never found the courage to actually ask him. It seems to have given Jake mouth sores and sensitive gums as it prolongs its stay inside Jake’s mouth.
He thinks about just drinking water to down it again, but today feels different.
For some reason—probably the choking incident he had earlier—Jake feels like he has nothing else more to lose.
So, bowing his head to the ground, he just lets the question glide on his tongue and out of his open mouth:
“Gusto mo bang magdinner mamaya with me?”
There’s an Ikot Jeepney that passes by outside. The door of Rodic’s opens. More people—students, based on their lanyards—enter. There is a hushed noise that occupies the once silent space.
As the scene unfolds around them, Jake begins to wonder how silly his question is. He thinks about how he should’ve asked Sunoo first if he is free later. He thinks about how he should’ve asked sunoo first if he had plans later. He thinks about how he should’ve asked Sunoo if he’s single—something that is a significant information that Jake should’ve acquired in the first place. It is, then, safe to say that Jake feels like an idiot.
However, his thoughts are silenced when he looks up and meets Sunoo’s eyes.
Out of nowhere, Jake’s phone begins buzzing.
8:00 A.M.
He thinks about the alarm he has set earlier for the student council meeting. Hurriedly, he takes out his phone and presses his down volume button long until the alarm turns off. Jake will deal with that later.
For now, he exists at this moment, in this space and time.
Jake continues to look at Sunoo,
Sunoo continues to look at Jake.
And then, a smile.
No words are spoken, and yet two hearts begin the fast-paced dance they know both of their hearts perform—a note that this moment, right here, is the start of something.
Something that both of them have wanted for a very long time.