Work Text:
Everyday feels like a Monday to Seungkwan.
In the aspect that Monday meant the dread of waking up from such a nice, relaxing Sunday off from work and a slap back into the reality of constant routines that consisted of getting ready for work, working, and getting off from work. He was in no rush when his alarm rang at the side of his bed on the desktop he would eventually clean. The annoying and constant beep were what motivated him to turn it off and sit up in bed.
Seungkwan left the coffee machine on with the mug his best friend, Choi Hansol, gifted him for his birthday as he was humming to himself in the shower. After the quick rinse, he dressed up in his usual work attire—white dress shirt, black dress pants, Oxfords (with brogues), and his messenger bag. With his coffee mug finished and in the sink, he headed out from his quiet, little abode to the loud, large city that surrounded him.
He took his usual route as he checked his phone with his left hand as his right one was shoved into his pocket. Jihoon emailed him that there was a meeting this morning at ten o’clock sharp, making the Jeju boy grimace as he quickened his pace a bit. He wasn’t used to cities and their fast pace, they were nothing like his hometown. Seungkwan couldn’t do anything about it though, there was no point in complaining. He had no time to complain anyway.
With his foot through the meeting room of his company building in the nick of time, Jihoon nodded as he motioned Seungkwan to sit down while he started his presentation.
He sat down next to Hansol as he shuffled quickly to open his laptop to the page of notes that he had made—bullshitted— the night before about the last customers with the problems and solutions he had encountered.
“You’re usually not this late,” Hansol whispered as he kept his eyes on his own laptop while he was typing what Jihoon was saying. “Subway jam?”
“Backed up more than usual,” Seungkwan sighed quietly as he began typing as well. “How were your clients last week?”
“They were alright,” Hansol shrugged. “I had to reboot this one therapist’s whole hard drive and that took me the whole day on Wednesday.”
“Yikes.”
“It wasn’t too bad. He paid for my lunch and even offered to buy me dinner, which, of course, I gladly accepted. I can’t deny free food.”
Seungkwan rolled his eyes.
“Oh, shush. It wasn’t a date. You know I’m not into that scene.”
With Jihoon quickly wrapping up his presentation—which was surprisingly only twenty slides compared to his usual thirty—he assigned his employees their clients for the week. Seungkwan left to go to his desk as Lee Chan, one of their newer employees, complained about one of the clients. Jihoon sighed and nodded before patting Seungkwan’s back at a job well done for last week’s performance.
“Keep it up,” Jihoon whispered with a smile before he continued to walk.
Seungkwan sat at his desk and looked at his client’s name for a moment of silence before pulling up his email and proceeded typing up an introduction before listing the appointment times.
Kim Mingyu
Cookbook Developer
Surprisingly, the client replied to the email within the next ten minutes. (Seungkwan’s previous client was rather bad at responding to emails, hence his need to call them to realize that they were unable to attend to their emails because of their computer. He made sure to attend to the client immediately.)
They scheduled for an appointment the day after tomorrow, giving Seungkwan enough time to ready himself as he began scheduling two other appointments following it. They were minor problems since he could access the computers’ remotely, but he preferred to do it days apart and one at a time.
Mingyu’s problem seemed more severe than usual, a case of a virus that infiltrated the user’s hard drive and deleted all the files. Though it was not uncommon, Seungkwan rarely had such cases.
He whined when Hansol threw a piece of paper at him over the cubicle. He pouted and threw it back over as he stood up to look at Hansol. “First of all, that’s rude,” Seungkwan scrunched his nose. “Second of all, why?”
“One, I’m your best friend, I do this all the time.” Hansol grinned as the other rolled his eyes. “Two, this client just emailed me again asking if I wanted to join him for lunch—what do I do?”
“Don’t you always accept free food?”
“When there’s nothing attached.” Hansol stood up as he watched Seungkwan sit back down at his seat. He leaned over and watched his friend type away, still waiting for a solution.
“You’re basically friends with benefits but the benefit is a meal.”
“True, that sounds very accurate. But… I feel bad making him pay again... especially since I know that it’s not because I just rebooted his driver.”
“Well,” Seungkwan stopped typing to look at his dumbfounded co-worker, “let’s just discuss this over lunch.”
“So you two already did it…” Seungkwan glared at Hansol as the spoon fell from his right hand and slipped into his bowl of soup. He grumbled as Hansol just rubbed the back of his neck and tried to reason it out while trying to grab the spoon out of the broth.
“It… just one thing led to another—”
“I really thought you just got food and then he fell for you. But, no, you made things more complicated by actually sleeping with him? Hansol Vernon Choi—”
Hansol whined as he picked his bowl up and slurped it loudly as an attempt to tune out Seungkwan’s lecture. There was no use though since Seungkwan paused and continued when Hansol put the bowl down. “I just wanted to vent, I didn’t want a lecture…”
Seungkwan rolled his eyes as he continued to swirl around the noodles in his bowl that was reaching room temperature. “You need a lecture, you dumbass.”
“Well, what do I do then?”
“Do you like him?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did you say to him in the email?”
Hansol blinked. “Huh?”
“You replied back to the lunch email… right?” The silence and blank expression on Hansol’s face was enough for Seungkwan to stand up and flick his friend’s forehead across the table. “You really are an ass. You should make it up to him.”
Hansol grumbled as he rubbed his forehead and nodded. “Fine, fine. I’ll see if we can do dinner tonight… what about you, Boo?”
“What about me?”
“Anything going on in that part of your life?”
“My love life is dryer than the stale bread I found under your couch last Saturday.” Hansol snickered even though that was a direct attack at him and Seungkwan shrugged. “Guess it’s not my time yet?”
Hansol shrugged back. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll have a thing with your client too.”
-
Seungkwan arrived at the client’s address the next day five ‘til noon. Walking in quietly, he was surprised by how brightly lit the hallway and foyer were, compared to what he was used to with his dimly lit apartment and office. The assistant at the desk led him down the hallway filled with various pictures of whom appeared the be his client with chefs.
He eventually was on his own after the assistant knocked on the door and left, leaving Seungkwan a bit uneasy being so deep in a building he was unfamiliar with. His body jolted when he heard the gears of the doorknob turn and it opened as a man about the same stature as him stood before him and pushed up his glasses over the bridge of his nose.
They greeted each other formally with a polite bow and handshake before Seungkwan was invited into Mingyu’s workspace. Just as the rest of the building, it was brightly lit, something Seungkwan was beginning to envy. The natural light from the window that stretched from the ceiling to the floor lit the books sprawled over Mingyu’s desk as he unlocked his desktop for Seungkwan to see the problem.
“I haven’t been able to access my files since three days ago,” Mingyu ruffled his hair before coughing and fixing his glasses once more. “It’s a good thing the book draft isn’t due anytime soon but, y’know, the sooner the files can be recovered, the better.”
Seungkwan nodded as Mingyu stood up from his seat and Seungkwan sat down, scooting the chair much closer than originally. Mingyu leaned in with his left hand on the desk as Seungkwan placed a thumbdrive into the monitor and began installing the company’s software. Mingyu nodded as Seungkwan explained what the software does with its algorithms that look into every piece of information left on the hard drive to see where the files were physically stored.
But he wasn’t paying much attention to that. His eyes were caught by how the sun that filtered into the room lit Seungkwan’s hair to a soft beige, much like latte photos he shot last week. The way the worker’s hair swirled reminded him of the caramel swirl that was also prevalent in the photoshoot. It was a habit that only photographers in his field could relate to, but Mingyu’s comparisons had him entranced to Seungkwan.
“So, what exactly do you do?” Seungkwan coughed as he kept scrolling through the coding on the screen in front of him to break the awkward silence.
Mingyu shook his head to fall back into reality as he coughed in reply. “Oh, I’m a cookbook developer.”
Seungkwan glanced over and blinked in confusion, the two of them sharing a quick glance, before he quickly looked back at the screen. “So… you take pictures?”
“Not only that. I work with chefs, try their food, and watch them create their recipes step-by-step in order to make it easy to follow for average kitchen experimenters.”
“You sound like you’ve answered that question before,” Seungkwan snickered as Mingyu smiled back and joined in. “That sounds pretty cool though.”
“Yeah, it’s not a common job to have. But it is pretty nice.”
“Seems nicer than my job,” Seungkwan sighed.
“But you make a good amount of money, right? I bet you have a lot of clients as well since you guys are a software company.”
“I suppose. It puts bread on the table, but it isn’t anything exciting.”
Mingyu tapped the pads of his fingers on his thigh as he leaned over a bit more, close enough to properly observe the monitor and computer technician but far enough to keep a respectable distance. He wasn’t really sure why, but there was a comforting aura that Seungkwan emitted that filled Mingyu’s office space with something undeniably yet unknowingly serene.
Seungkwan leaned back in the seat as he watched the monitor restart and Mingyu gasped in excitement as he saw his desktop appear back to normal with the files present as if they were never deleted.
“Wow, thank you so much!” Mingyu gasped in relief as they traded spots again, Mingyu scrolling through, making sure every single file he needed was located. Seungkwan nodded as he pulled his jacket from the back of the chair and began putting his arms through his sleeves.
Mingyu smiled to fill the awkward silence as he led Seungkwan out of the room towards the exit. They walked somewhat side by side, Mingyu a step ahead as he was the one who mastered maneuvering through his building with Seungkwan following him. As Mingyu glanced back, Seungkwan’s gaze was glued to his phone as he looked up slightly to follow Mingyu’s shoes against the hardwood.
“Am I your only client today?” Mingyu asked, an attempt to start a conversation.
Seungkwan looked up and nodded. “Well, the only client who scheduled an appointment. I might be assigned someone else when I get back.”
“Why don’t I treat you out to lunch?” Mingyu offered. Seungkwan looked up and the two made eye contact, the younger holding a surprised facial expression.
“Oh, you don’t really need to, I can just grab a bite to eat nearby.”
“No, please, let me. It’s the least I could do for what you did for me. Plus, I know a great restaurant. Believe me, I personally know the chef.”
He knows better, Seungkwan definitely knows better since this is how Hansol’s love life ignited. He kept his eye contact duration at a minimum as he did not want to spark any interest in Mingyu. But it was free food, he would be a fool to throw that offer out the window.
It was one lunch date with a client. It was barely a date, it was just an outing. A professional outing with a purpose of gratitude. Surely this couldn’t lead to anything more serious to Seungkwan.
But surely, Seungkwan was wrong.
The following week, Seungkwan had Thursday off and decided to pay a visit to Soonyoung who relocated to Mapo for a job promotion. He knew he could trust him with these thoughts of Mingyu that raced through his head, especially since he had too much pride to admit to Hansol that they were in a similar situation. It has only been less than a week and yet Seungkwan can’t get the lunch date—he admits it being a date now— with Mingyu out of his mind.
During the lunch date with Mingyu, Seungkwan made a promise to himself not to allude to any future meetings with each other, which was quickly broken when him and Mingyu started to talk about themselves.
Seungkwan was surprised that Mingyu opened up to him—a data recovery employee he had just met a few hours ago. “I really love to cook,” Mingyu smiles as the two of them were waiting for their food to arrive at their table. “I’ve always been interested by it, it’s fascinating how I could combine a few ingredients together to create something new—a totally new creation.”
Mingyu grinned and Seungkwan couldn’t help but smile back. “Sounds like you’re really passionate… but, then, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you become a chef?”
“Money,” Mingyu sighed. Seungkwan nodded in understanding. The taller one sipped his water and placed it on the table gently, sliding it back to its original position as he pulled his hand back and rubbed it on his thigh. “Plus, I lived with my grandma when I was younger so she couldn’t really afford to pay for culinary school… but I enjoyed my time cooking with her when she was alive.”
Seungkwan pouted. “Condolences.”
“Thank you, but she’s in a better place.” Mingyu smiled. “I got a communications degree at university and somehow ended up being hired by a company that develops cookbooks.” He chuckled a bit. “It’s pretty ironic, isn’t it?” The two nodded before Mingyu blinked and shook his head. “Oh, gosh, sorry. I’m talking too much about myself— what about you?”
“Me?” Seungkwan blinked. He shrugged before putting his water down. “I… there isn’t much really. I like computers and went to university with my best friend for it and now we work for a software company.”
“That’s pretty exciting,” Mingyu nodded. “I’m pretty bad at computers… hence, why we came into contact in the first place.” They shared a laugh before their waitress came over with their plates of food. Seungkwan oohed at how ornamented the food was displayed when it was set down on the placemats. They thanked her before Seungkwan grabbed his fork excitedly. “Wait!” Mingyu gasped.
Seungkwan blinked up and froze in his position and watched as Mingyu took out his phone while standing up before reorganizing their plates as he began shooting photos. “Um…” Seungkwan coughed, still in position, “what are you doing?”
“Oh, sorry,” Mingyu hummed as he walked around the table for a better photo angle, “this is something I do a lot… I appreciate the aesthetics of food as much as the creation of it.”
As intriguing as it sounded and as attractive as Mingyu looked while he was passionately taking photos of Seungkwan’s pasta, Seungkwan’s stomach had a mind of its own as it kept rumbling. He continuously rubbed it before Mingyu sat down and they could proceed eating. Sighing in relief, the younger one started eating and his eyes widened at how delicious the dish he ordered satisfied his taste buds.
Seeing the reaction, Mingyu grinned as he began eating his own food. “Good, huh?”
“Really good!” Seungkwan exclaimed with a mouth full of food. Mingyu snickered, Seungkwan blushing in embarrassment but also from Mingyu’s adorable expressions—which he didn’t admit until hours later.
The second Seungkwan stepped back into his apartment, it quickly dawned upon him that his routine had been broken. The Monday vibes that followed him throughout the week came to a halt when he finally realized it was only Wednesday afternoon and he had just came back from a lunch date with his client.
“It wasn’t a date,” he kept mumbling to himself as he set his bag down in its usual spot as he walked to his closet to change into more comfortable clothes. He came out in jogging pants as he went back to the kitchen, catching himself off-guard when he searched on his phone for pasta recipes for tonight’s dinner. He knew his usual routine of ordering jajjangmyeon is unhealthy but it was his routine. Cooking was not his routine. Neither was thinking of someone—whom he just met that day—the entire day.
Mingyu was not part of his routine.
But he could be.
When Soonyoung heard about his younger friend’s intuitive thoughts he gasped happily and hugged him tightly. “A-ah, hyung—” Seungkwan heaved as he felt the oxygen being squeezed out of him.
“Sorry, sorry!” Soonyoung giggled as he pulled back and fixed Seungkwan’s shirt. “I’m just really happy for you.” They continued their conversation at a nearby cafe as Soonyoung was on an hour break anyway. “You should stay the night,” Soonyoung hummed as he offered a spoonful of the bingsoo to his friend. “The subway ride isn’t that bad here, right?”
“It’s only an hour.” Seungkwan nodded as he opened his mouth and let his hyung feed him.
“Perfect! I’ll pull out the couch for you. So this guy, Mingyu, right?”
“Y-yeah that’s his name… Hyung, it’s weird though… I shouldn’t fall for someone so fast, right? Shouldn’t it take some time?”
Soonyoung paused with the spoon hovering over his tongue as he smiled cheekily. “So you admit you fell for him?”
Realizing the words that had just escaped his mouth, Seungkwan dropped his own spoon on the table and rubbed his cheeks. “Shit… Hyung, I’m really new to this.”
“I can tell. Do you want to talk to Junnie about it? He’s better at this sort of thing than me.”
Seungkwan shrugged. “Ah, maybe… but I’d rather just keep it between us. I don’t really want anyone else to know. Hansol doesn’t even know.”
Gasping, Soonyoung held his shirt dramatically as his chair scooted back a bit. “Really? I know before your best friend?” He pretended to sniffle and dabbed the napkin over his eyes. “I’m so touched, I really am your favourite hyung.”
“You’re about to be second after Jihoon hyung,” Seungkwan grumbled as he picked his spoon back up and kept eating. “Should I ask for a second date?”
“Do you have his number?”
“I have… his email.”
“That’s a bit weird, don’t you think? Shouldn’t emails be, y’know, professional?”
“It’s all I have.” Seungkwan pouted. “What? Should I personally ask him at his work building?”
“That’s a good idea!”
“Wha— no, Hyung that’s a terrible idea! And I’ll tell you why!”
“I’m listening,” Soonyoung leaned over and grinned to tease Seungkwan. Seungkwan pouted in response. Before looking down and silently admitting defeat. “I know you’re shy and emailing seems like the best way to handle this, but maybe you should do it in person. It shows you’re more interested too.”
Seungkwan never really believed in pep talks, especially ones to himself, but he constantly gave himself pep talks the whole way back to Gangnam. From his subway stop to the next subway line towards Mingyu’s building, with the five minute walk in between before reaching the actual address. He stood in front of the door, just like the first time he had, and took a deep breath before marching in with the plan of walking straight to Mingyu’s office.
He forgot about the front desk as soon as he stepped in and sheepishly walked over to her to ask for Mingyu. She replied that he was out of the office and at a restaurant working with a chef at their restaurant as they currently speak. A bit discouraged, Seungkwan was about to give up but he boldly asked for the location address, which she kindly gave to him.
It took another forty-five minute subway ride as Seungkwan attempted to casually walk by the restaurant before he almost lost his balance when he saw Mingyu through the window plating a dish with cameras and lighting surrounding the table. Thankfully, Mingyu spotted him and waved him to come inside so Seungkwan wouldn’t make a fool of himself.
The hug—the warm and secure hug—that Mingyu greeted Seungkwan with was surprisingly pleasant and left him dazed as Mingyu pulled back. “Funny seeing you here, I’m just getting ready this plate of food ready for its shoot.”
“I thought you just write cookbooks.”
Mingyu shook his head before shrugging. “Well, I do do that, but I also do this on the side for another company. Funny, my whole life revolves around food,” he chuckled. Seungkwan blushed a bit and nodded.
He took a deep breath before sighing. “Actually, I was wondering… are you… when… um… I… what are you doing after this?”
“Um… probably going to just head back to my place and edit these pictures… why, do you have plans?”
Seungkwan shook his head. “I… do you want to go to dinner? I mean— out to dinner? Or maybe into dinner? If we decide to go to my place… oh gosh—” he turned his head and coughed as Mingyu smiled.
“I’d love to have dinner with you. Actually, maybe I can cook something for you and bring it over? I love cooking for people.”
“I love eating other people’s cooking,” Seungkwan joked, smiling when Mingyu laughed at his at attempt of a corny joke. They exchanged numbers and Seungkwan sent him his address before he waved at Mingyu to leave him to his business. “I’ll see you at seven?”
“Seven’s good for me,” Mingyu grinned.
-
“You usually don’t call this early,” Junhui snickered into the receiver as Seungkwan grasped on the other line. “Soonyoung’s still asleep and he left his phone in the kitchen to charge.”
“Ah… Hyung… I was just—”
“Dont worry, he told me everything. You know your Hyung.” Seungkwan groaned but accepted it as Junhui hummed. “So? How was your home dinner with Mingyu, was it?”
“Yeah, his name is Mingyu,” Seungkwan nodded before sighing. “Hyung, I think he’s too perfect for me.”
“What do you mean?” Junhui asked as he unplugged the phone and walked back to the bedroom and smiled when he saw Soonyoung sprawled across their bed. “I don’t think anyone can be too perfect, Seungkwan.”
“Hyung, you haven’t met Kim Mingyu. He can cook, he can clean, he’s tall, he’s handsome, he’s—everything.”
Junhui chuckled. “I don’t think that’s everything , Seungkwan,” he replied as he fixed the blanket and pulled it up to Soonyoung’s shoulder as he sat down next to him. “But it seems like you really like him.”
Seungkwan whined as he lied back down on his own mattress as he turned his head to look at the kitchen where he remembered when Mingyu taught him how to cut tomatoes properly the night before. “I just… maybe I need to slow my roll.”
“Did he spend the night?”
“No, he has another restaurant photoshoot thing in the morning. I would have let him stay though otherwise. Or is that moving things too soon? Oh my gosh, Hyung, this is so hard.”
“Just breathe, Seungkwan,” Junhui suggested as he continued to stroke Soonyoung’s head as he scooted closer to Junhui on the mattress. “Are you guys official yet?”
“What does that mean?”
“Y’know, you’re actually dating? An official couple? Though, I take it from that question that you two aren’t.”
“We… aren’t.” Seungkwan sighed.
“Do you want to be official?”
“I don’t know, Hyung. I just… don’t know.”
“Still no response?” Seokmin asked, pouring a cup of tea in the kitchen as Mingyu leaned back against the couch and sighed before locking his phone.
“Nothing. Won’t even respond to my texts even though I know he read them.”
Seokmin walked over with the two mugs to accompany his friend. Mingyu pulled out the coasters before Seokmin set them down on the table. “Maybe he’s busy?”
“I don’t think it’s possible to be busy enough to ignore someone’s messages and phone calls for practically a month.” Mingyu sighed and blew on the tea before sipping it carefully, feeling the warmth distribute throughout his entire body. “I think… he got over me.”
“Mingyu, don’t say that,” Seokmin frowned as he held his own cup of tea, keeping his palms warm. “I’m sure there’s more to this than you think.”
Sitting up and placing the mug back on the coaster, Mingyu shook his head. “You’re giving him too much benefit of the doubt, Seok. I wanted to tell him so much, I thought we… I thought we clicked really well, but I guess the feelings died down on his end.”
“Well,” Seokmin sighed as he rubbed the taller one’s back, “what about that job interview you have next week? What if you get it?”
“It’s my dream job. I want it more than anything,” Mingyu exhaled before turning his head to look over at his friend’s sympathetic expression before smiling. “If I get it, it’s surely meant to be. But… I just wish that I’d get his opinion on it. It would mean a lot to me.”
“You don’t have to be strapped down for someone, you know that.”
“I know that. I definitely know that. But… I just… Seok, I would stay for him.”
“Wow, this is really something, huh?” Seokmin asked, smiling when Mingyu shyly nodded before rubbing the back of his neck. “You know normally, I would have texted Minghao to come over and smack sense into you, but I think he would be behind me when I say that if you really like him, then let’s see what happens then.”
“You mean—?”
“I mean, if you get the job and he answers your call and convinces you to stay, then we won’t stop you from staying for him.”
“—and for you guys—”
“No, you know we’d always stay in contact with you,” Seokmin grinned. “If you and Seungkwan are meant to be, then let’s wait until after that interview.”
“You’re awfully quiet these days during lunch, even for you,” Hansol observed as he nudged Seungkwan by kicking his ankle under the table. Seungkwan shook out of his train of thought and shrugged as he went back to eating his food. “And you don’t really eat anything except salads either… Are you… okay?”
“I’m peachy,” Seungkwan responded with a mouth full of lettuce in his mouth.
Hansol snickered and offered a napkin when part of the dressing dripped from Seungkwan’s fork. He watched his friend wipe it before he pouted a bit. “You’re not telling me something.”
“I tell you everything.”
“Except whatever’s on your mind right now, apparently.”
“There’s nothing on my mind now.”
“You ignored my whole spiel of how Seungcheol Hyung and I are official.” Hansol pouted before jumping when Seungkwan dropped his fork on the floor and his eye twitched. “Something’s definitely going through your mind, Boo.” He offered to help clean up but frowned when Seungkwan nudged him not to as he cleaned up the spill and fork off the floor. “Seungkwan…”
“I fell in love with a client too,” Seungkwan confessed.
Hansol blinked. “Oh, you did? That one you had like two months ago?”
“Yeah, that’s the guy. Kim Mingyu. Mr. Perfect. He’s so perfect, Hansol, oh my gosh—”
Processing the information, Hansol gradually smiled. “Well, I’m happy for you—”
“We haven’t talked in three weeks,” the other sighed. He began eating his salad once again as Hansol pushed his plate of pasta on the side before leaning his elbows on the table.
“Why?”
“Did you not hear what I said? He’s so perfect… I can’t fall in love with someone like that. Not someone like me.”
“Whoa whoa, slow down,” Hansol leaned in closer and patted his best friend’s arm. “Nobody said anything about falling in love yet. Just if you like him and he likes you back.”
“That’s the problem… I think we like each other but I don’t think we should fall in love with each other.”
It was silent for the rest of the lunch break. Hansol didn’t want to push Seungkwan too far with questions and Seungkwan didn’t want to vent that much about the subject. This was new to them, being quiet to each other, but they began to open up into conversation again as they headed back to the office.
“Has he been trying to talk to you?”
“I’ve been ignoring his texts and calls…”
“Seungkwan… that’s not how relationships work.”
“I know—no, actually no. I don’t know how relationships work. I don’t know how any of this shit works!” Seungkwan ruffled his hair as Hansol patted his back. He sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you earlier but… it might be too late now.”
“You know it’s never too late to fix this, right? And, who knows— maybe he feels the same way about you.”
He took a long and thoughtful look at his best friend before Seungkwan shook his head back to reality. “I’m sorry, I’m just surprised that you actually gave me good and legitimate advice.”
“Oh, fuck you too,” Hansol grunted before the two of them laughed together. “Let me stay over, it’s been awhile since I have and I want to be there for you when you talk to Mingyu.” Seungkwan raised an eyebrow at Hansol’s kind gesture before his friend sighed. “Yeah, okay, Seungcheol might be out of town for the weekend and I might need company so—” Seungkwan snickered as Hansol’s cheeks turned red out of embarrassment before smiling when Seungkwan offered his place.
“That’s strange,” Seungkwan grumbled as he was brushing his teeth in the bathroom while pulling the phone away from his left ear.
“What strange?” Hansol asked loudly from the living room, causing Seungkwan to jump surprised.
“He isn’t picking up. His phone leads straight to voicemail.”
“Why would you call him while brushing your teeth?” Hansol laughed. “Were you really going to talk to him with all that foam in your mouth?”
Seungkwan spit out the toothpaste in his mouth before rinsing and walking out with a pout towards the couch where his best friend was settled with a blanket and extra pillow. He sat down and whined. “I can just spit out the foam, you know…” He sighed. “He really didn’t pick up though.”
“Well, maybe his phone died,” suggested Hansol. Seungkwan sighed and nodded, mumbling how he’ll call in the morning before Hansol looked over and saw the voicemail icon on the status bar. “Have you not checked your voicemail.”
“You know I never check my voicemail.”
“Do you see how much voicemail you have?” Hansol gasped as he picked up Seungkwan’s phone. “There’s so many! These are all probably Mingyu Hyung too, I think you should listen to them. He probably wanted to tell you a lot… It would also be polite to when he picks up the phone tomorrow morning.”
“Y-yeah… I guess that’s fair,” Seungkwan nodded as he picked up his phone and put it to his ear to hear the messages. He felt his heart melt at the sound of Mingyu’s voice, but that smile began to fade with every message he heard.
“Hey, Kwannie. I had a really fun night cooking for you at your place last week. I’m really sorry I couldn’t stay over. I would have loved to. Maybe we could do it again? I was thinking this weekend. Let me know!”
“You’re pretty bad at responding these days,” Mingyu chuckled. “I hope you’re doing well. Anyway, I was really inspired by all of the encouragement you gave me the other night and, well, I decided that I was going to pursue cooking again. Not only for my grandma, but for you as well. I’ve been talking to the chefs I work with to help me see what I can do. Ah, I just wanted to thank you again for that. I hope I can repay you for this.”
“Are you doing okay? I don’t really hear from you as much. Or at all,” Mingyu mumbled. “Anyway, I have an interview in two days and, well, it would mean a lot if I could get your opinion on it? The job, I mean. It’s just that, if I get it then it means that I would leave the country to pursue culinary school. The chefs put in a good word for me too, so I might actually have a chance but I don’t want to make a decision before I hear your input because, well, it means a lot to me. I hope you call me back.”
Seungkwan never bothered hearing the last message in his inbox as he threw his phone onto the loveseat adjacent to the couch, making Hansol squeal at the action before he saw Seungkwan sniffling, tears dripping onto his thighs.
“Kwan?” Hansol softly called out as he frowned and saw Seungkwan burst into tears. He quickly scooted over and threw the blanket over the crying one’s shoulders and pulled him closer. He rubbed his shoulders and let Seungkwan lean on his own. “Kwan, what happened?”
“I’m such a dumbass… he… he really felt the same way.”
He couldn’t stand seeing his friend like this. “Then, l-let’s camp out of his company building tonight!” Seungkwan looked up, shocked, while wiping the continuous tears rolling down his cheek. “I’m serious! Since you don’t know where he lives, at least you know where he works, right? We’ll just wait there until he comes to work! And then— then, you two can work things out, okay?” Seungkwan couldn’t speak but just nodded as Hansol stood up and pulled the blanket off the two of them and went to get their shoes. “We’ll make it work, Kwan.”
Seungkwan was surprised to wake up to the front desk worker nudging him as he leaned against the building, sitting on the concrete floor covered in a blanket with Hansol sleeping on his shoulder. “Oh good,” she sighed in relief. “I just came to open up and— are you looking for Mingyu?” Seungkwan’s eyes quickly widened after he rubbed his eyes to adjust to the bright atmosphere before he felt his heart drop as her smile changed. “He doesn’t work here anymore.”
“W-what?” Seungkwan asked in disbelief. “B-but— w-what happened?”
“Did he not tell you?” she pouted as she kneeled down to his eye-level. “He got a new job—his dream job—so he resigned here and moved just this morning.”
From the conversation, Hansol woke up and was also surprised to see the worker in front of them. He pouted when he looked over at Seungkwan and saw how much his hands were shaking while gripping his legs tightly close to his chest.
“W-where did he move?”
“Paris.”
Hansol blinked. “Mingyu moved to Paris?”
“That’s right. One of the chefs here gave a recommendation to his alma mater about Mingyu and they accepted him just two days ago.” Before Seungkwan could ask where Mingyu went, she stood up when her alarm went off as she bid the two farewell and entered the building. Seungkwan sat completely still, processing what had just happened before he frantically pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Mingyu’s number.
The number you have reached is unavailable as it is no longer in service.
“Fuck, no,” Seungkwan’s voice trembled. He redialed at least four times, persistently hearing the same message before Hansol grabbed the phone out of his hands. Seungkwan covered his face and began to sob. “I’m… too late…”
“No, no don’t say that. We’ll find a way, Kwan—”
“I don’t think... there are anymore... ways around this, Sol,” Seungkwan shook his head while still covering his face, both of them paying no attention to the increasing number of bystanders that kept glancing at them as the morning rush came around. “We really weren’t meant to be…”
Hansol frowned before gripping onto Seungkwan’s shoulders and shaking him. “Kwan, listen to yourself, you sound like a complete fool!”
“I am a fool!” Seungkwan wailed. “A fool who was in love and a fool who let that all slip away from such stupid and foolish thoughts!” Hansol let Seungkwan cry on his shoulder, rubbing his back as an affectionate sign of solace—the only thing he could offer at this time. The two headed back to Seungkwan’s apartment, thankful that they both had the day off.
Looking over, seeing his friend mumbling to himself—of probably negative thoughts—Hansol nudged him. “Seungkwan…” the other looked up as Hansol sighed. “We’ll find a way, okay?”
“Okay…” Seungkwan replied hopelessly.
“Hey… if you two were really meant to be, it’ll happen. It was just the wrong time.”
Seungkwan sighed. “Sol, I told you before. I don’t think we’re meant to be together.”
“Yes, Hyung, I heard you loud and clear,” Seungkwan rolled his eyes as he was filing through paperwork on his desk that Jihoon handed him just this morning. “I’m almost done with this and then I’ll go grab the other files from the third floor after lunch.” After Jihoon gave more instructions, Seungkwan sighed in relief as he hung up his phone. He checked his watch and grumbled how he had to meet Hansol downstairs in a few minutes for lunch.
He rushed down after going through all the papers, thankful that Chan was his assistant now so that he could finish the job for him. After being promoted two ranks, Seungkwan’s focus from work transitioned from client work to paperwork. He didn’t mind though, he didn’t have to run in and out of the building every other day, but he shifted between the third and fourth floor constantly. It was less of a demanding task to his mind and body though.
Seungkwan managed to walk out of the building just in time as Hansol showed up outside the door. “Hey, wow, look at you with your cool pin Jihoon hyung gave you,” Hansol snickered as Seungkwan pushed his face away.
The two walked to the new restaurant that had just opened last week that became a local favourite to their little pocket of town. Hansol managed to squeeze a reservation last minute thanks to Seungcheol for knowing the management. They both oohed at the sight of the building’s interior as the host led them to their table.
“Shit,” Seungkwan whispered, “the food here must be really expensive then.”
“Good think you’re paying then, huh?” Hansol snickered as they both sat down. After looking over at the menu and ordering their food, they began catching up as Hansol was complaining about graduate school. “Yeah, it’s been rough,” Hansol sighed as he rubbed his neck, “but Cheol hyung has been a really good support line… I mean, you know, besides my best friend.”
“Yeah, you better not forget about me!” Seungkwan rolled his eyes. “Leaving me and going back to school to pursue a master’s degree? I mean, who does that?” Hansol raised his hand and laughed when Seungkwan kicked his leg under the table before sighing. “I’m happy for you though, Sol. You two seem serious too, huh?”
“Thank you,” Hansol smiled. “Yeah, Hyung and I moved in together just last month. It was a big step for the two of us but… we’re happy. I’m happy for you too. You’ve been doing alright, right?”
Seungkwan shrugged, eyeing the food coming over to their table before smiling. “Yeah, more or less. Same old, same old.” Before eating, Seungkwan told Hansol to freeze, causing him to squeal, only to sigh and chuckle when he watched Seungkwan take his phone out and stand up, rearranging the plates before taking multiple pictures.
“Wow, you still do this?” Hansol snickered.
“Old habits, I guess,” Seungkwan hummed before he sat back down and Hansol started scarfing down his food. Just by the mere smell of the food, Seungkwan felt a sense of comfort, a sense of familiarity, a sense of love. Then again, he was probably just hungry. With that first bite, he paused. Hansol looked over while wiping his mouth and blinked at his friend’s blank expression. Seungkwan, shaking out of his trance, called over their waiter. “C-can you send my compliments to the chef? Or can I… possibly see the chef?”
“Well,” the waiter hummed, “since this is still considered opening week, let me call him out for you.” Seungkwan smiled thankfully as the waiter left, leaving Hansol puzzled.
The second those double doors opened and their eyes met, Seungkwan’s heart started racing just as it did before. Hansol, still confused, turned around to see the sous chef— fitting a familiar description of someone Seungkwan had met and grew fond of years ago. Hansol snickered and nudged Seungkwan under the table. “Great timing, huh?”