Chapter Text
Korn shakes out his umbrella as he walks through the door of the bar, putting it in the big bucket they had near the door for patrons to use.
“Why are you here? It's your night off.” Says Wai,cleaning glasses at the bar
It’s a Wednesday night only the regulars are here, hence why it’s just Wai, Jom and Mark working the bar, along with Ken, Kai working the kitchen tonight.
Korn gave him his usual smirk, “Wanted a change of atmosphere and a drink, that a crime now? Plus it's my bar too ya know. ”
“Ridiculous” Wai mumbles before gesturing to Korns favorite table which happens to be empty.
It's tucked away in a quiet corner of the bar, with big comfy leather chairs, and a low table near a bookshelf overflowing with donated books ,customers and graduating college students alike drop off yearly.
Korns favorite activity had always been sorting through all of them to pick out the ones best suited for the bar, before donating the rest to charity shops in the area.
“Korn..it's a bar, people don't really come here to read” Wai sighed, as Korn was neglecting his actual tasks in favor of debating with Jom how many copies of Wuthering Heights they really need to have.
“Just cause you stopped reading after college doesn't mean everyone did!!”
Pinching the bridge of his nose Wai yelled, “1 is the max amount of Wuthering Heights copies this bar needs Korn!”
“But…what about book clubs?”
The look Wai shot his way decidedly ended that discussion for the day.
Tonight was slow, which is good, that's what Korn was hoping for, ever since he and his fiance Peam, had called it quits 3 months ago, Korn had sort of dreaded being alone.
She was getting her masters in Japan, their schedules never aligned to talk, and they both felt they had drifted apart. It was amicable but still utterly shattering. He had imagined a future with her, they had made plans, but in the end he knew it was the right call. Even if he had to contend with a new level of loneliness now. Which is crazy, cause it's not like he was coming home to her every day, they weren't talking daily by the end anyway, so it's more the knowledge that the absence is there, than a break in routine.
So, Korn’s been at the bar more as of late, not even drinking his troubles away, more just to be around people.
Wai sympathized, He’d broken up with his ex 3 months earlier. This was less amicable, since he caught her cheating on him, with a bus boy, AT HIS OWN BAR, He’s fine, he’s over it. Totally. Over it.
A silver lining to all of that, had been the two hanging out a lot more. Sure they ran a business together but the last 2 weeks have been filled with late night dinners, and video games, lots of movies, along with some drunk venting mostly on Wai’s part.
It was nice.
As the night went on, Korn settled into his spot, Jom brought him a beer and some snacks, and every so often he and Wai would make eye contact, and it all felt lighter, he felt himself relaxing more into the atmosphere of the bar, the music playing, it was comfortable.
So of course something had to go wrong.
Wai came by his table to sit on the arm of his chair and chat as the last of their regulars left. The Bar was still open for another hour, but since it's winter and the college is on break, it's not uncommon for those to be the last customers they see for the night.
Eying the napkin covered in pretzel crumbs and seeing the empty beer bottle to his right ,”should we get real food after we close?”
A soft smile makes its way to Korns face,”mm yes please, i wanna try that new place that just –”.
His statement remained unfinished because of course, OF COURSE, Wai’s horrid manipulative ex had to walk in with Jared the bus boy (who smartly quit after the Incident ™)
Wai tenses.
“You can sit over here, but we're closing in 45 minutes, and the kitchen is closed.” Jom monotones, not making it a secret how he felt about the woman and the idiot she’s with. They don't pay that guy enough.
“Hey you good? Korn asked in a hushed tone, "I can take over if you don't want to deal with that tonight.” Korn says while reaching for Wais' hand.
“No, it’s fine, but could you help Jom close, I wanna be done once they leave.”
Standing up and giving his shoulder a squeeze “Sure, man.”
Korn slips behind the counter as Wai goes over to Jom to tell him to go help in the back.
10 minutes later, they hear silverware clattering to the floor, and a second later Korn's making his way over to the table from hell.
The vibe is uncomfortable to say the least.
Jared's on one side of the table sipping away on his virgin mojito, with not a thought in his head, on the other side of the table however is Wai’s awful ex girlfriend Nin, drunk and falling all over Wai, asking why he broke up with her, like she didn't bring the reason with her to the bar.
Korn is livid, because he knows Wai isn't fully over it. He knows this is killing him.
God and that just pisses Korn off more, cause he didn't like her from the start, she was constantly flirting with other guys right in front of him, she would complain Wai was never doing enough, never good enough, but then in the next breath would be waxing poetic about how much she loved him.
So when he told Korn she had cheated, he wasn't all that shocked, the circumstances of How and Where she had cheated? That level of audacity had surprised even him. Who sneaks around on their boyfriend at their own bar, WHILE HE'S WORKING?
So, in Korns defense it felt like a brilliant idea at the time to yell out,
“Babe wanna take off early? Everything's pretty much done and Jom can handle closing out the final tab.”
Wai’s face went through a rotating cast of emotions, in a very short amount of time before landing on understanding of what Korn is trying to do.
Prying Nins hands off of him and taking two huge steps towards Korn.
“Uh, yeah, lemme..” then he's booking it to the back to get his bag and check that Jom is actually okay with them leaving him to deal with her and lock up.
That just leaves Korn, Nin and Jared staring at each other.
Nin was in complete shock and seemed to be straining to fit the pieces together of what she just heard.
It must have clicked, cause soon shes turning on him ,yelling “Korn, what the fuck was that suppose to mean?”
“ It means I'm taking my boyfriend home, because his cheating harpy of an ex doesn't understand that she's no longer welcome here. “
“Boyfriend? Be fucking real, you expect me to believe that you two are dating? Korn you’re literally engaged! What are you trying to pull?”
“Why did you even come here? Who brings their new boy-toy to win back their ex? What is wrong with you?”
"Please, Wai’s clearly still in love with me, he understands deep down that I'm just having a little fun for now, I still love him, obviously..” Her slurred words and blaise attitude for what she’s doing, was infuriating. Who did she think she was, treating Wai this way, talking about him like this at his work? in front of his staff!
Luckily for her Wai’s back by his side before Korn can respond.
He looks pissed off , really pissed off, like sophomore year of college pissed.
Did he hear what she said? Or Is he fuming because he has to explain why Korn is now pretending to be his boyfriend?
Shit this is a mess, of course Wai would be pissed that he elected to announce a fake relationship as a means of getting out of this situation.
“Nin, 1. He’s clearly not engaged anymore if I'm dating him. 2. You lost all right to know about me and my life when you decided to fuck Jared while I was in the building! which was a huge health code violation too by the way ! 3. Believe it or don't, we’re going home now.”
Grabing Korns hand Wai gave him a look,walking out of the bar, on to the mostly empty street.
“Well fuck.”
“Yeah I might not have thought that one through.“