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Hyunjin didn't know Kim Seungmin. He just knew of him. He had seen him around campus, always with a bright smile on his face, no matter what he was doing. The smile stayed with him when he was with his best friends, Yang Jeongin and Seo Changbin. It stayed when he worked out the maths problems that their teacher had assigned them. It even stayed when he occasionally waved at Hyunjin from halfway across the room.
Maybe it was that smile, maybe it was his random personality, maybe it was his diligence in school, but all Hyunjin knew was that he had developed the fattest crush on Kim Seungmin. Yes. He did that.
But that wasn't a bad thing at all. It was just a crush. Sure his heart did skip a beat when Seungmin recognized him and waved at him, sometimes even struck up a conversation with him. But it was just a crush. He would repress his feelings until they went away. Because that's how crushes worked.
Hyunjin had even been succeeding in the plan (of repressing, not forgetting) but that's when his friend and his greatest enemy, Han Jisung, somehow figured out that he liked Seungmin. He spent the entire day teasing Hyunjin about it, telling him to go and ask Seungmin on a date, even forcing him to text him after he got his number from Changbin Hyung. But Hyunjin had been too much into the repressing phase to pay heed to him. And finally, finally it seemed like Jisung gave up.
Things returned to normal, Hyunjin attended classes, spent Math and English subtly looking at Seungmin, went home and played with his dog and went to his part time job at the on campus coffee shop.
It was just a normal day with Hyunjin and Jisung alternating between taking orders and making them, when who should step into their workplace other than Kim Seungmin.
He was apparently attending a study group, as was evident with all the books he and his group were carrying. One of them was Daehwi, who was a regular at the shop and a close friend of Jisung. Hyunjin guessed it was his idea to make everyone assemble here since he had hardly ever seen the rest. In fact, he was quite sure this was the first time Seungmin had entered the shop.
Daehwi, Seungmin and Jaemin came to place the orders for the group. They recited the orders as well as the name, before heading back. But Seungmin managed to catch Hyunjin's eye and let out a tentative smile before following his friends.
Jisung, like any rational 8 year old would, started wiggling his eyebrows at Hyunjin before passing down the cups. Hyunjin sighed, not for the first time questioning his choice in friends, before he started making the 6 cups of coffee.
He kept thinking of the teeny tiny possibility of him actually asking Seungmin out and Seungmin not panicking and running away. He ran through several arguments which amounted to the same negative they always did whenever he tried. Shaking his head, he put the cap on the last coffee and called out everyone's names.
"Orders for Jaemin, Soyeon, Daehwi, Eunwoo, Seonghwa and Segwin are ready!" Wait. What did he say. He glanced down at the cups again. In Jisung's scrawly handwriting he saw everyone's name was correct. Except Seungmin's.
He whipped up his head to scream at Jisung before remembering that there were customers there. When he looked to Seungmin's table, he saw everyone laughing and Seungmin looking down at his hands with a very red face. He grabbed Jaemin's hand and dragged him to get the coffee before anything could go worse.
Hyunjin started apologizing right away. "Seungmin, I'm so sorry! Jisung wrote your name that way," he said glaring at Jisung, "I am honestly so sorry." When Seungmin looked up he was still a little red faced. He just mumbled an "it's okay" before stumbling out of Hyunjin's vicinity and to his table. Jaemin stopped to exchange high fives with Jisung, smiled at Hyunjin and walked away.
As soon as they left, Hyunjin sank to the floor, hiding his face in his hands hoping the floor would open up and swallow him into the ground. Jisung sat down next to him since there were practically no other customers left to attend to. "Hyunjin, I hope you're not angry. Think of it as my payback for you embarrassing me in front of Changbin Hyung the other day," Jisung said laughing at how miserable Hyunjin looked.
"Jisung," Hyunjin started, "sometimes you really need to remind me why I am still friends with you when it's just an invitation to be embarrassed in front of others 24/7."
"Because you're too worried about everything and you need some fun and spontaneity in life Jinnie!"
"Being embarrassed in front of your crush is not the kind of fun I aim to have," Hyunjin groaned.
"Wait you finally admitted you have a crush on him, gosh finally," Jisung replied.
Hyunjin just facepalmed before getting up and trying to face anywhere but Seungmin's table. When he saw from the periphery of his eye everyone getting up from that table, he told Jisung, "I have class so I will be heading back okay," and ran out without waiting for an answer. He hid in the changing room for a good 20 minutes before Jisung made his way in too glaring at him.
"First of all, thank you for leaving me to deal with all the customers while you hid here-"
"Jisung, there are no customers at this time," Hyunjin interjected, rolling his eyes.
"But you still abandoned me! We are supposed to be best friends," Jisung replied which only earned him another eye roll from Hyunjin.
"Now I don't want to tell you but because I'm your best friend I will. Seungmin asked about you before leaving."
Hyunjin's eyes widened, "what?!"
Jisung went on, looking satisfied at the reaction he had elicited from Hyunjin, "he asked if he could talk to you, I said you already left. Not gonna lie, he looked kind of dejected when I told him that."
"Oh. Okay," Hyunjin said, looking dejected.
"Hey! It's okay, Jinnie," Jisung replied sitting down next to Hyunjin and putting an arm on his shoulder. "You will get plenty of other chances to talk to him. Just actually talk to him the next time you see him, okay?"
"I'm afraid I'll mess up," Hyunjin mumbled.
"There's no way you could mess up asking how the weather is, but anyway you should just give it a try this once, Hyunjin," Jisung replied with him eye rolling this time. "Repressing your feelings will not work forever and it will most certainly not guarantee you happiness."
"I'll think about it."
Jisung certainly looked relieved before replying, "Just wait for me outside and maybe order a cheesecake in thanks for me being such an amazing friend?" Hyunjin started laughing before nodding and heading out. He greeted Felix, who was on duty now and ordered a blueberry cheesecake and two iced Americanos before finding himself a seat.
He was scrolling through his Twitter feed when he suddenly got texted from an unknown number.
[Unknown Number]: is this Hwang Hyunjin?
[Hyunjin]: Yes, who is this?
[Unknown Number]: Oh, hi Hyunjin! It's Seungmin here.
Wait what? Seungmin was texting him?
[Hyunjin]: oh, hi Seungmin! What's up?
[Hyunjin]: (if this is about earlier, I'm really sorry again, I swear it was Jisung's fault TT)
[Seungmin]: Nooo what?
[Seungmin]: it's okay don't worry! We all had a good laugh over it haha
[Hyunjin]: then it's okay I guess, if you say so..
[Seungmin]: trust me, it is!!
[Hyunjin]: btw where did you get my number from?
[Seungmin]: changbin hyung had given it to me a long time back, saying I should be friends with you since our social circles overlap so much
[Seungmin]: but I guess I never really had the courage to text you before
[Seungmin]: I wanted to talk to you more but our interactions became restricted to waves and smiles I guess haha
[Hyunjin]: yes it doesn't make sense that we know each other's friends but not each other
[Hyunjin]: its nice talking to you!
[Seungmin]: same here!
[Hyunjin]: wait wdym earlier, courage for what?
[Seungmin]: oh right umm
[Seungmin]: I wanted to ask if we could meet up together and get some coffee or something
[Seungmin]: just the two of us
[Seungmin]: or you could call your friends if you feel weird hhh it's no problem
[Hyunjin]: omg I would love to
[Hyunjin]: just the two of us, I mean.
In a burst of confidence, he added another text.
[Hyunjin]: wait, is this a date?
[Seungmin]: do you want it to be 👀
[Hyunjin]: ...yes?
[Seungmin]: I want that too, so guess its a date!
[Seungmin]: are you free on Saturday?
[Hyunjin]: yess
[Seungmin]: okay then, can't wait to see you again Hyunjin!
[Hyunjin]: likewise!
[Hyunjin]: oh, and Seungmin?
[Seungmin]: yes?
[Hyunjin]: I never had the courage either so thank God you made the first move