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The delicious smell of freshly toasted bread surrounds Junhui when a breeze of wind sneaks through the kitchen window while he dances happily to the rhythm of the melody that is heard throughout his apartment. His hands move animatedly as he spices up his sweet and sour pork, which he is already dying to enjoy.
He has not finished frying the crispy pork pieces when a clinking diverts his attention to the living room door. Jun stretches his neck trying to see what caused the sound. Colorful ears peek out from behind the furniture and Jun lets out a sigh, amused by the image of his cat trying to climb onto the sofa. "Dada" he calls her. The kitten looks back at him and walks in his direction, taking a while due to her short paws.
Junhui smiles as he sees her approach his legs before stopping and sitting on his feet. A habit she has had since she was little. She throws him a curious look with those huge and adorable eyes. Jun turns off the stove and starts serving breakfast. "Dada, I need you to get off my feet" he says when he can't reach the cutlery drawer. She keeps looking at him, but shows no indication that she was going to move. "I really need those chopsticks Dada," the human tries to stretch as far as he can until he manages to brush the drawer handle with the tip of his index finger.
Letting out a sigh, Jun straightens up and sets his most serious gaze before making eye contact with his stubborn daughter. "Dada, I need you to move. It's time for breakfast." Seeing that she doesn't seem to give in, he squats down, holding on to the counter to not lose his balance and strokes her little head. "Ñam Ñam?".
He notices how Dada's eyes light up in because of this words and lets out a little laugh when she runs out on her way to the plate of food, she throws a meow in his direction when she notices that he did not follow her. "Okay, I'm coming."
Dada eats happily and Jun keeps his eyes on his cell phone as he approaches the table, ready to have breakfast. His mind is focused on the scene of the new series that he discovered two days ago while surfing the web without interest.
A light knock on the door causes both of them to divert their attention. Silence. And it sounds again. Jun leaves his plate on the table before standing up and heading for the door.
When he opens the door, he finds a handsome young man on the other side. Jun's mind is lost in those big and dark eyes for a few seconds until he notices that the stranger is talking to him.
"... it's a sweet potato" he listens only to the last part of what the man said, and clears his throat before speaking.
"Sorry, I got lost for a second"
The boy makes a gesture with his hand before apologizing in the same way. "I'm sorry, I spoke too fast, my name is Choi Seungcheol and I just moved to the apartment next door."
"The one with the light blue door?"Junhui questioned quite surprised, that apartment had been empty for almost a year after his former tenant moved to Jeju Island to live 'with the love of his life' Junhui remembered what he used to say every time he talked on the phone with his friends. The walls in those apartments were not very thick, but they were not so thin either. The boy who had once introduced himself as Mingyu used to scream instead of talking, his tone of voice was 3 times louder than anyone else's, and when his boyfriend went to visit, they were both an explosive combination. Jun had sometimes wondered if any other neighbors had filed a noise complaint.
"Well, the door is light blue but I'm trying to look for a new one, I was thinking mahogany... maybe..." the man was thoughtful and Jun couldn't help but notice the amount of dust and sweat on his clothes. His T-shirt stuck to his torso almost as if it didn't exist. He definitely had to do a lot of exercise to have such a marked abdomen and such strong arms. "Sorry for introducing myself like this, I was cleaning the apartment and it seems that the place had a lot more dust than I expected"
Coming out of his dream land Jun noticed that it was very disrespectful of him to stare so intently at the handsome stranger when he had not yet introduced himself. "Oh no, it's okay, I'm sorry, my name is Junhui."
"Junhui," Seungcheol smiled, "It's a very beautiful name. Are you Chinese?".
Jun nodded his head, "I've been in Korea for 10 years, my Korean name is Moon Junhwi but my real name is Wen Junhui, you can call me Junhui if you like it that way."
"Wen Junhui, I like it" Seungcheol seemed to think for a few seconds. "Very fitting for someone so handsome, if I may say so"
Jun's cheeks felt a little warmer, "Do you know the meaning?"
Seungcheol nodded "A co-worker is Chinese, he was giving me some classes a few years ago, but sadly I have already forgotten almost everything..."
Jun sighed "I understand, it's a little hard to learn a language if you don't tend to use it often." Seungcheol nodded with a small pout.
After that they both fell silent. A light atmosphere passed between them as they looked at each other curiously.
Jun noticed that an adorable dimple was forming on Seungcheol's left cheek and felt an immense desire to touch it, but he restrained himself with all his might.
Seungcheol took a leap that scared Junhui a little "Oh! I'm sorry, I just remembered why I came here so quickly. By any chance won't a three-colored cat with a pink collar that says 'Dada' be yours?"
"Yes, she's my kitty." Jun looked inside the house, where she was still eating quietly.
Seungcheol whispered, "Oh, it's a girl," and continued to explain the situation.
"I accidentally dropped my Kkuma's stuffed toy, but when I tried to pick it up your kitty already had it in her mouth and ran out of my apartment, before I could reach her she came through your door"
Jun opened his door a little wider trying to look everywhere. "a stuffed toy?"
"Yes, it's a small sweet potato stuffed toy, about the size of a fist"
Jun apologized before entering again "One moment, let me see if I can find it"
"Sure," Seungcheol smiled.
Jun pushed the door a little closer before scanning the entire room with his gaze. If his memory was right, after entering the pet door, Dada had tried to climb the sofa. So if she was carrying something in her mouth, it must have fallen around…
"Got it! Jun exclaimed when he saw the small sweet potato under the largest sofa in the living room. He bent down to pick it up and noticed how Dada was looking at him with an innocent expression.
'I have to seriously talk to her about stealing stuffed toys'
He ran to the door and opened it to meet Seungcheol again, who was trying to shake the dust off his arms a little.
"I found it," Junhui said, getting his attention.
Seungcheol's face lit up and he stretched out his hands to take the stuffed toy. "Thank you very much, my Kkuma can't sleep without it"
"Is Kkuma your kitty? Jun asked watching as Seungcheol put the stuffed toy in his pocket. Flexing the muscles in his arms.
Seungcheol shook his head slightly "No, Kkuma is my little dog. My ex roomate was allergic to cats, and I really liked dogs so when we found her looking for food outside our building in the middle of the rain, we thought it was fate and decided to adopt her"
Jun noticed the affection with which Seungcheol spoke and commented "Well, she was very lucky to find such a sweet father"
Seungcheol let out a slight giggle and Jun could swear he saw a small blush on his cheeks.
"Again thank you very much, I should be leaving by now, sorry for interrupting so early, I bet you haven't even had breakfast yet"
Jun changed his position a little, leaning on his other leg. Trying to look as calm as possible. "No, no problem, I'm glad I helped. Anyway, welcome to the building, I hope we can be good neighbors" he stretched out his hand and Seungcheol pressed it against his.
"I was carrying some old furniture so you might want to wash your hands after this... but thank you very much, I'm delighted"
Laughing a little while releasing his hand Jun asked "Excuse me?"
"I-I mean… nice to meet you." Seungcheol dodged his gaze a bit but his cheeks started to turn pink.
Junhui thought that maybe he could try his luck with this cute guy, so he took a breath and before Seungcheol entered his apartment he made him an invitation. "Well, I know we just met but... would you like to come in the afternoon for a coffee or something?"
"Like a date?" Seungcheol looked at him curiously.
With a nervous laugh Jun replied "Well, I was thinking more of a chat to help you get to know the other neighbors but that can work too. If that's what you want..." he looked at Seungcheol and the other nodded.
"I would love to"
"So it's a date, at 7?"
"7 o'clock. I'll be here." Seungcheol waved goodbye before disappearing through the next door.
With his heart beating very fast, Jun entered his apartment and did not hesitate for a second to let himself fall against the door. "I have a date with the new and extremely sexy neighbor" he said breathlessly. Completely ignoring that in the other side of the wall Seungcheol tried to lift boxes as fast as possible while whispering to himself "Date at 7 with the cute boy next door, Choi Seungcheol, tell me if today is not your lucky day" with a big smile on his face.