Chapter Text
"No, I'm serious New" Tay said turning towards the latter, "you should definitely try growing a mullet. I'm positive it's going to look amazing on you- anything would look great on you actually."
New looked away blushing. Tay smiled looking at his reaction. Pride written all over his face knowing that he was the only one who could bring that slight tint of red to New's cheeks. After a little pause he continued,
"Actually no, now that I think I think about it maybe the whole 'growing a mullet' idea isn't a good one after all"
New looked at him in confusion. Tay moved closer to him, "I'd have to do extra work to chase all those men and women away."
New slapped Tay's hand that was trying to sneak inside his shirt under the table.
"you're disgusting" he said rolling his eyes at Tay. But the blush still evident on his cheeks, now redder than ever.
"I agree" a very tired voice said breaking Tay and New's little flirting session, "I am in fact very disgusted."
Both Tay and New looked at their friend who was sitting on the opposite side of the table facing them , and was looking at them both with a mixture of both annoyance and disgust. He looked extremely tired with his hand over the seat and taking up the entire space for himself thanks to his long arms and legs.
"Off...." New said with a sigh, "don't forget that you were the one who wanted us both to join you here."
Off removed his arm that was over the seat and leaned forward on the table, "Yes I did" he replied, annoyance clear in every single syllable he continued, "but did I want to watch a fucking low budget high school musical ass rom-com with shitty ass lines?! No, the fuck I didn't??"
New let out a laugh at the look in Off's face and his words
"A what?" Tay said with a confused chuckle.
Off stared at them both in disbelief. He was starting to get more and more annoyed with the fact that not only was he sitting in some random café that was playing some of the most generic garbage pop hits , waiting for the food he ordered God knows how long ago, he also happened to be third wheeling for the longest ten minutes of his life and here his so called 'friends' were finding his situation funny.
"So you two find it funny huh? All my suffering is fucking hilarious to you. Me doing shit like this that's totally out my character and comfort zone is fucking top tier comedy to you two?"
Tay lowered his head, knowing that if he looked at Off again, he wouldn't be able to suppress his laughter that was threatening to bust out.
"Off" New started, putting on the most serious face he could muster, "well you could've had your own rom-com if you invited Mild too"
Off let out an exasperated sigh, "New..." he said as calmly as possible, "The whole point of me doing this is to ignore her and that shit cult."
"But it's not like you can keep avoiding her like this Off, she's your girlfriend after all" New explained, "and stop being so extra about a little group assignment"
"Yeah and remember Professor Mok is serious about the whole bonding and building friendships and practicing leadership qualities stuff" Tay added.
"Bonding? Building friendships? Leadership qualities?" Off asked letting out a laugh, "what are we? middle schoolers?? We are university students for God's sake"
"Plus, he specifically looked at you when he was talking about the whole 'being responsible' part" Tay continued, ignoring Off's dramatic ass.
"No he didn't" Off said with a scoff, "You're just exaggerating."
New gave him a look
Off leaned back with a sigh "Okay alright, I'll just join them the next day dammit- just not today cause...cause I'm not in the mood"
Tay and New looked at their friend with disappointment. But despite consistently not being in class, partying ever night, jumping from one bed to another, Off was still an exceptionally good student. He was Tall and slim with pale skin and his pride was his jet-black hair which he showed off at any given opportunity. He had an incredibly irresistible charm to go with his bad-boy-heartbreaker reputation. God had gifted him with almost every single trait that he could use to steal the heart of quite possibly any woman he desired, but that was exactly the start of the one single flaw in Off Jumpol's life.
His love life was a complete disaster. His longest relationship lasted two months and fifteen days. His explanation for his catastrophe of a love life as a response to Tay's " what the fuck is wrong with you?" less than three months ago was, "I don't know man, she wanted us to meet every single fucking day and expected me to call her and check up on her each hour of the day, and I was fucking done with pretending to be interested in her grandma's cat's stomach ache and all that bullshit"
"Dude..." Tay said, tired of having the same exact conversation every month, "being in a relationship is about caring each other, and sharing moments together"
"But isn't it supposed to be fun? Enjoyable? And bring you happiness and all that sappy shit? Cause if what you said is the idea of being in a relationship then it's all stressful as fuck" Off said and reaching out for another shot.
"yes" Tay said, "relationships are stressful and sometimes exhausting, but you want to know the reason why people stay?"
The music was deafening, the entire place reeked of alcohol, sweat, and cigarettes, people were either dancing, passed out drunk or making out in every corner of the room but something in the tone in his friend's voice made Off turn to him and look at him.
"It's because you won't be able to picture your entire future without them, you would do anything not to lose them, you'd do anything to see them smile, hell you would laugh at the worst jokes in the world for them"
Off watched as his friend let out a contented sigh "It's called Love dude, you'd understand it better once you find the right one"
Tay remembered the look on Off's face after he said those words that day. He could've sworn he saw something flash in his friend's eyes, maybe it was sadness, disappointment or longing or maybe he had too much to drink cause the next second Off was back to his usual self, joking about how New has turned Tay into some lovesick teenager.
"Alright I'm done where is the fucking food I'm starving" Off said sitting up straight.
"It hasn't even been that long since we ordered dude calm down" Tay said leaning back, "and just look around, the place is packed"
"And stop swearing so much God, there's a literal kid behind you" New hissed.
Off looked back and was met with the face of a very angry mother. He gave her a smile in hopes of annoying her more and turned around to face his two friends.
"Do I look like I give a shit? I'm done flattening my ass over here, I'm going to see what's up and get that damn pizza" Off said standing up.
"Off NO"
"Sit.down."
Off ignored their words and started making his way up to the counter. New started massaging his temples muttering about straight men and Karens. Tay just shook his head in defeat knowing it was pointless trying to stop Off from whatever the hell he was trying to do.
As Off was already preparing an entire speech about the results of lousy customer service and low efficiency, suddenly the sound of windchimes that were hung at the entrance of the Café which signaled the arrival of a customer made him stop. He knew he had already listened to that sound for at least ninety-four times today but for some reason this time, his body refused to continue walking and to continue what he had originally planned to do. His brain forced him to look at the person entering the café instead.
Off suddenly felt as though he was underwater, each and every single one of his senses more alert than they've ever been. He could have sworn the café glowed with the sunlight that was sweeping through the curtains. Off was suddenly aware of the smell of freshly brewed coffee that was hanging in the air, he was surprised at how he hadn't realized it before. People were moving around him, the curtains were blowing in the wind, but he felt as if though suddenly the world had switched to slow motion mode.
And that's when he saw him.