Chapter Text
Choi Seungcheol prided himself on being a lone wolf: completely fine on his own, completely content with himself.
And being a lone wolf, he decided that he was more than capable enough to move homes by himself, not bothering to inform his friends or to ask for their help in managing his things.
Thus, there he was, lugging a heavy box of books from the trunk of his car and up the front steps of the apartment building. He was doing alright. In fact, he had already lugged up the other boxes to his apartment on the second floor. Just a few more were left in his car and he thought that it would only take him two or more rounds before he could completely settle in his new apartment and get to sorting his belongings.
Cheol marched up the steps, huffing as he carefully took each step, looking down at the ground to make sure that his feet landed where they should. Hence why he didn’t notice when an oncoming force was about to hit him and topple the box to the ground.
Just as Cheol made it to the landing, someone shouted, “Wait—hold on!”
Before Cheol could ever manage to step aside, a man bumped into him hard, causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground along with the box which flew open. Books began flying out of it and settled in a heap around him.
“Hyungjae! Wait up!” another man said, running after the perpetrator. “Fine! Just…call me!”
“Ow…” Cheol murmured, feeling his butt hurt from the impact.
“Oh, shit,” the man said, looking down at Cheol on the floor. “He bumped into you, didn’t he? Oh, God. I’m sorry.”
The man who had a head full of blond hair, crouched down and helped Cheol in putting the books back into the box.
“I’m so sorry,” he said again.
“It’s fine,” Cheol replied, still trying to get up so he could help the man in packing his books. “Wasn’t your fault.”
When Cheol got up, he dusted himself off with a slight wince. Oh, his ass might need some cold compress later, he thought.
“You don’t need to pack up everything. It seriously wasn’t your fault,” Cheol said.
The blond man paused, holding a book mid-air and looked up at Cheol.
Heavenly . That was how Cheol began to describe the man before him. Soft-looking hair illuminated by the morning light, dark-brown eyes that blinked up at him, a high nose that looked like it was sculpted to perfection, and thin pink lips parted as though to say something.
God’s own angel.
Cheol had to swallow a lump in his throat.
“It’s kind of my fault, actually,” blondie said and then grinned. “I kind of chased him out of my apartment.”
Taking his eyes off of the man, Cheol bent down to get a hold of some books and to distract himself from the other’s beauty.
“It’s really no problem. I’m sure your boyfriend didn’t mean to bump into me,” Cheol managed to say.
“Oh, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s just…someone,” blondie said with a wider grin. Then, he turned to Cheol, “My name’s Jeonghan, by the way.”
Cheol looked over at him and tried hard not to squint—the early morning sunlight was literally illuminating Jeonghan’s face, making him look nothing short of ethereal.
“I’m Cheol,” he muttered with some effort.
Jeonghan smiled at him, his eyes turning into cute little crescents. “Hi, Cheol! Welcome to the neighborhood!”
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
Much to Cheol’s chagrin, Jeonghan managed to convince him to help him move the other boxes up to his apartment.
Just this early on and he had already charmed me into letting him have his way, Cheol thought with a grumble.
“Where should I put this?” Jeonghan said as he carried a smaller box containing Cheol’s plates and other tableware.
“Just set it on the breakfast island, thank you,” Cheol said, setting down his box of clothes.
After putting down the box where Cheol told him, Jeonghan dusted his hands off and looked around Cheol’s apartment full of boxes and plastic bags.
“I should probably help you unpack,” Jeonghan said. “You have too many boxes. I think you could use a hand.”
“I’m fine. Thank you. You’ve done enough,” Cheol rushed out.
“Nonesense! I don’t have work today so I can totally help!”
Before Cheol could even answer with insistence, Jeonghan was already marching to the small living room where an empty shelf was placed and began opening the box of books.
“Do you have any preference on the arrangement of the books?” he asked, already holding up one book.
“Nope. You can, uh, arrange them any way you like,” Cheol replied meekly. He turned to the box of tableware and began unpacking it.
They worked in silence for a while until Jeonghan decided to break it first.
“Oh, you have a lot of Choi Seungcheol’s books! You must be a fan!”
Cheol pursed his lips before answering, “I guess you can say that…”
“I’ve read some of his books myself, you know.”
“Really?” Cheol piped up. “You have?”
“Yeah,” Jeonghan nodded sagely. “My favorite’s ‘Nine Steps to Seduction’.”
Cheol looked down at the box and busied himself with unloading the forks and spoons, doing anything at all to appear nonchalant. “And…how was the book for you?”
“Great! Pretty hefty stuff. I learned a lot, actually,” Jeonghan said, putting more books onto the shelf. “Although I think he could’ve delved more on the psyche of the seduceé—is that a word? Anyway, it was good, just needed a little tweak.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Cheol said, finally taking out the last of the tableware from the box.
Meanwhile, Jeonghan continued placing the books on the shelves, arranging them by color, until he picked up a worn-down copy of “The Little Mermaid”.
“Ooh, Little Mermaid! This is my favorite children’s story!”
Cheol looked up from setting aside the now-empty box. “Is it?”
“Yeah! I used to read it a lot when I was a kid. Even stole my kindergarten’s copy of it!”
“What?”
“That’s how much I loved it!” Then, thinking that Cheol might take his words the wrong way, Jeonghan quickly added, “I swear I’m not a klepto!”
“I wasn’t thinking you were.”
“Just want to set the record straight,” Jeonghan grinned. “Mind if I open it?”
“By all means,” Cheol said.
And Jeonghan did flip the book page to page, admiring the old copy’s worn-out pages and its intricate drawings. He continued on in silence until the last page, and then—
“You say you like Choi Seungcheol’s books?” he looked up from the book.
Cheol, too, looked up from lugging the box of clothes to his room. “Yeah. Why?”
“You like him enough to have his name stamped on the last page of this book?”
Jeonghan held up the book and presented the last leaf which, indeed, had “Property of Choi Seungcheol” stamped on it.
Cheol gulped. Moving places, he was never intent on letting any of his new neighbors know who he was, and yet there was Jeonghan, standing across the room and looking at him like he was a weirdo.
Cheol paused for a moment, contemplating whether or not to tell Jeonghan that he was, in fact, the writer Choi Seungcheol. But, then again, even if he lied there was a strong chance that Jeonghan would know his name anyway, especially if he planned on staying in the apartment complex for a long period of time.
“That is my property,” he began as he put down the box carefully. “I’ve had it since I was young.”
“Then why is Choi Seungcheol stamped on the last leaf?” Jeonghan asked.
Cheol supposed there was no other way out of this if he didn’t want his neighbor to think that he was some sick, obsessed Choi Seungcheol fan.
He sighed in resignation. “Fine…I’m, uh, Choi Seungcheol.”
“As in the writer Choi Seungcheol?”
“Yes…”
“No freaking way!”
Cheol bit his bottom lip, cheeks burning hot. “I can show you my driver’s license if you want.”
“Perfect!” Jeonghan stalked closer to him with intent. “Yes! Lemme see it!”
Cheol fished out his wallet from his jeans pocket and opened it to reveal his driver’s license. And, sure enough, there was his face on the plastic card with “Choi Seungcheol” printed on it.
“Holy smokes…” Jeonghan murmured, just above a whisper. “And just right after I grilled your book.”
Cheol closed his wallet and shoved it inside his pocket again. “You didn’t grill it. You only said what you thought. And it’s not like I don’t hear the same things from the critics.”
“I am so sorry,” Jeonghan stepped back, face truly apologetic. “Your work is amazing! I love them—really, I do!”
“Relax, Jeonghan,” Cheol stammered. “No, uh, no offense taken.”
“Great! Still, let me help you unpack more of your stuff as penance!”
Without letting Cheol protest, Jeonghan whipped around and went back to his work on the shelves. After that, he helped Cheol unpack his figurines and vases and helped him put them around the apartment where they should be.
They continued on their tasks until all of Cheol’s boxes were stowed away and his apartment looked virtually less of a storage unit and more of an actual home. He supposed he really did need Jeonghan’s help, after all.
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
The next morning, Cheol awoke to the insistent knocks on his door.
He got up and felt the earth tilt a little—a byproduct of him skipping dinner the previous night in place of going to sleep.
Groggily, he made his way to the door, not even bothering to look through the peephole to check who was on the other side. He opened the door just the slightest bit and was immediately welcomed by Jeonghan’s smile.
If it looked too bright and sunny for the early morning, Cheol wasn’t about to tell him.
“Hi, Cheol!” Jeonghan said, voice an octave too high. “I made baked mac!”
“Morning, Jeonghan,” Cheol replied, opening the door wider and stepping aside to let Jeonghan in.
“I made too much baked mac last night so I thought why not share it with the new neighbor? A welcome gift, sort of!”
Without waiting for Cheol or needing to be told what to do, Jeonghan padded to his kitchenette and took out plates and forks for them to use.
Cheol, meanwhile, was still trying to rub off the remaining sleep from his eyes, totally unable to stop Jeonghan.
“Come sit,” Jeonghan said, gesturing to the chairs at the breakfast island as though he owned the place. Cheol just let him as he sat down.
Jeonghan placed a plate in front of him and took his right hand and shoved a fork into it.
“Let’s eat!” Jeonghan exclaimed merrily.
He forked out some gooey macaroni and placed it on Cheol’s plate. “Eat it while it’s hot! The other tenants say I’m really good at baked mac, you know! So dig in!”
Still a bit too sleepy, Cheol could do nothing but oblige. He forked a small amount and brought it to his mouth. Instantly, the savory flavor filled his senses and abruptly made him feel more awake than ever.
“Holy smokes…” he said. “This is so good…”
“See?” Jeonghan said, watching Cheol as he chewed and swallowed, his own chin perched on his hand. “Told you I’m good.”
“Thank you for this,” Cheol said, eating another forkful. “So you’re a cook?”
“Nah. I’m bad in the kitchen. Making baked mac is the only exception.”
Jeonghan proceeded to fork out his own serving and eat. Cheol ate in silence for a while, savoring the food and allowing Jeonghan to yap and complain about the apartment complex’s rules while listing down the names of the tenants Cheol should meet as soon as he was completely settled in.
“I just remembered, I never asked you why you moved,” Jeonghan asked after a while.
“Because,” Cheol said around a mouthful and then swallowed. “My previous apartment building was so old that it no longer passed the city’s safety standards so they had to tear it down.”
“Ah, I see…” Jeonghan said. “Hey, mind if I fix us some coffee?”
“Sure. The pods are in the cupboard to your right.”
“Got it. Thanks!”
As Jeonghan went about grabbing the nearest pods of coffee for the Nespresso machine, Cheol busied himself with watching him move around. Even this early in the morning, Jeonghan looked so put together, so lively. Cheol thought he could never be like him.
And so, he decided to ask something in order to keep his mind from thinking of Jeonghan, Jeonghan, Jeonghan.
“You said you chased down that guy from your apartment?”
Jeonghan whipped his head toward him. “You can say that.”
“Why was he running away from you?”
“Well he farted while we were kissing,” Jeonghan said way too casually.
Cheol choked on the baked macaroni and cheese. “What?”
Jeonghan shrugged, noncommittal. “I guess that was like social suicide for him so he ran off.”
“Right…right…” Cheol said, finding the conversation so weird.
When their cups were filled with steaming hot coffee, Jeonghan carefully carried them back to the breakfast island.
“Oh, God. That smells wonderful,” Jeonghan said, setting down the cups. “You have good taste in coffee pods.”
“Thanks,” Cheol said, taking his own cup. “Although, I should be the one serving you coffee.”
“Nah, we’ve hung out enough yesterday that there’s no need for formalities!”
Jeonghan took a sip of his coffee. “Ah, so good…” then, after a while, “So, what’s it like being a writer?”
Cheol looked at him, not really knowing the right way to answer so he settled with saying, “It’s cool.”
“I bet you get all the girls…” Jeonghan asked and then caught himself “...and boys.”
“Not really. First of all, I don’t go about telling people I’m a writer—”
“A best-selling author—”
“Right. I don’t tell them I’m that. Also, I don’t really date.”
Jeonghan hummed. “Too busy writing hit after hit?”
Cheol chuckled, just a short bark of laughter. “That…and because I don’t have the energy for it.”
“You don’t go out much?”
“Nope.”
“Oh man…so you are a recluse,” Jeonghan said matter-of-fact as he leaned back on his seat.
“I’m not going to try to deny it,” Cheol replied.
“So you’re a sigma male?” Jeonghan asked, grin wide and teasing.
“What the heck is a sigma male?”
“You know…” Jeonghan gestured vaguely with his hands. “A strong but silent type. You’re like an alpha but emo .”
“That’s a strange description, but I don’t think I am.”
“Oh, come on. Best-selling author of multiple novels but insists on being a recluse? Totally sigma material.”
Cheol furrowed his brow, not entirely sure what Jeonghan was getting at. “Let’s just say I am, for argument’s sake.”
“I always liked sigma guys,” Jeonghan said before he could stop himself. “I mean—they’re really cool guys! They’re chill!”
“Right,” Cheol said, shaking his head slightly.
“So, when are you planning on meeting the other tenants?” Jeonghan said by way of shifting the topic.
“Not sure…Actually I don’t think I need a proper introduction. We’re all going to meet at some point in the laundry room anyway.”
“I guess you’re right,” Jeonghan hummed thoughtfully. “But, then again, it’ll be nice to get to meet them properly, you know?”
“What—knock on their doors with bags of cookies?”
Jeonghan nodded enthusiastically.
“Nope,” Cheol said. “I don’t do well with people.”
“And that, my friend, is why you have me ,” Jeonghan grinned once more.
“I’d rather just meet them in the laundry room, really.”
“Ah, you’re such a killjoy!” Jeonghan lamented.
“Nope, I’m a sigma male,” Cheol replied cheekily and turned back to eating his baked mac.
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
It had been a full week since he moved and Cheol settled in pretty easily in his new apartment—ordering food and groceries online and avoiding any unnecessary human interaction.
Yes, he was comfortable. Alone, but comfortable.
At least alone during times when Jeonghan didn’t knock on his door with fresh batches of cookies—which Cheol was convinced were bought from a local bakery—and gists from the latest gossip he heard from the laundry room.
Although he was quiet and reclusive by nature, Cheol couldn’t say that Jeonghan’s presence didn’t bring him much-needed comfort. In spite of the blond’s continuous flow of yapping, Cheol found that it was nice having someone else’s voice fill up the still-somewhat-foreign apartment.
It was Saturday then, and Cheol planned to head down to the local hardware store to purchase a few things he would need to set up a new bookcase when Jeonghan suddenly knocked on his door.
“Dress up! Put on some nice pants!” he said as soon as Cheol opened his door.
“What for?” Cheol asked, stepping aside to let Jeonghan in.
“Seungkwan and Hansol just got home from their Jeju trip and you need to meet them!”
“Who’s Seungkwan and Hansol?” Cheol closed the door behind himself.
“The married couple two doors away from here!”
“And why do I need to meet them?”
Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “Because they live two doors away from here!”
“Again, why do I—”
“Oh, come on, Cheollie!” Jeonghan whined and Cheol tried hard to ignore his use of a cute nickname. “You’ve been cooped up in here for the whole week! It’ll be nice if you could get out and stretch those legs!”
“I stretch my legs well enough, thank you.”
“That’s it!” Jeonghan said way too loudly. “You’re coming with me, whether you like it or not!”
Before Cheol could register what was happening, Jeonghan was already pulling his arm and dragging him out of his apartment, the slam of the door behind them echoing through the halls.
Just then, a man had exited the apartment two doors away from Cheol’s and was on his way to the elevator.
“Seungkwan-ah!” Jeonghan yelled, his voice bouncing off the walls. “Meet our new neighbor!”
The man, Seungkwan, whipped around quickly and plastered on a wide grin. “Hyung! Hi!” he said. “Who’s this you’re dragging around?”
“This is Choi Seungcheol,” Jeonghan said when they were standing face to face with Seungkwan. “He just moved here last week while you guys were away.”
“Oh, I see,” Seungkwan smiled at Jeonghan then shifted his eyes to Cheol. He extended a hand. “Hello, Seungcheol-ssi. I’m Seungkwan.”
“H–hello,” Cheol stammered, taking the proffered hand. “Seungkwan-ssi.”
“Oh, please. Just call me Seungkwan.”
“Righ, uh, Seungkwan. You can just c–call me hyung.”
Jeonghan watched the painful exchange before stepping in to rescue Cheol. “Seungkwan, he lives in 208. You should come say hi sometimes.”
“I will,” Seungkwan smiled politely, bowing his head slightly at Cheol.
“So, how was your trip to Jeju?” Jeonghan asked.
“Great!” Seungkwan suddenly piped up. “Actually, we brought home some tangerine-infused beer. Do you wanna come try them with us?”
“Totally!” Jeonghan exclaimed.
The two turned their gazes to Cheol as though waiting for an answer, and Cheol had never felt more under the spotlight before. Thus, with much hesitation, he replied, “Sure. I’d love to.”
“Awesome!” Seungkwan said. “You guys can come in. Hansol’s inside, just sorting out some of our souvenirs.”
That was how Cheol found himself inside Seungkwan and Hansol’s apartment. It was surprisingly bigger than Cheol’s and had more light in it. Cheol was, for a brief moment, envious.
But then this envy was overpowered by a sense of awkwardness. He had never been invited into someone’s apartment before. How was he supposed to conduct himself? What was he supposed to say? Should he be the one to begin small talks?
Thank God for Jeonghan.
The man seemed to know the married couple well enough that he was able to ask them the important questions and was able to have them tell stories about their recent anniversary trip.
Still, that left Cheol silent for long moments, just nodding along to what Seungkwan and Jeonghan animatedly said while Hansol drank his alcohol in silence.
Should I spark a conversation with Hansol? Was what Cheol began thinking while Seungkwan was painstakingly telling them about the juiciness of Jeju oranges compared to those in the supermarket.
“Oh, I forgot!” Jeonghan suddenly said. “I’m supposed to water my plants!”
“What?” Seungkwan and Cheol said at the same time.
“I have to water them every 4 PM so they won’t wilt! I got to go!” Jeonghan took one last lone swig of his alcohol and made a run for the door. He opened it but before he stepped outside, he turned back to Cheol. “Cheollie, don’t forget to tell the love birds about your anime toys collection!”
And then he was out into the hallway.
The door clicked shut and Cheol sat frozen, wide-eyed while Seungkwan grinned at him.
“So,” Hansol finally said. “Anime toys, huh?”
Cheol considered passing out. That seemed like the least embarrassing option then, wasn’t it?
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
In the last week and a half of Cheol’s stay in the new apartment, he’d been able to list down the top three most important rules if he wanted to stay sane in the apartment complex:
One, avoid small talks at all costs.
Two, time his laundry runs at 2 AM.
And, three, avoid Jeonghan whenever he said “Trust me”.
But then there was Jeonghan again, barging into his apartment that Sunday afternoon, a glorious but shit-eating smile on his face.
“What now?” Cheol asked, looking up from his place on the carpeted floor of his living room, his laptop, where he was surely writing a new bet-seller, lay open in front of him.
“Jun is home.”
“Who’s Jun?” Cheol asked, adjusting the glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.
“The cat dad who lives in 301. I ran into him in the lobby and told him that I’ll introduce the new guy.”
“No,” Cheol said curtly, looking back down to his laptop and typing furiously.
“Ah, you know I don’t do well with your refusals, author-nim…”
“Jeonghan—”
“Come on!” Jeonghan pulled Cheol’s arm, willing him to get up from the floor. “It’ll be fun! He has three cats and they’re all lovely. Well, at least they are when they aren’t trying to claw the skin off my bones.”
“They don’t sound lovely at all!” Cheol whined.
“Just meet them. Come on,” Jeonghan said but, being bulkier than him, Cheol pulled his arm back, causing Jeonghan to crash into him on the floor.
Jeonghan fell right into Cheol’s space. Like that, they were suddenly face to face, just a hair’s breadth away from each other, and for a moment it was like the world paused.
Cheol could hear his heart suddenly beating loudly in his ears as he looked into Jeonghan’s eyes, while Jeonghan’s cheeks immediately burned red hot as he met Cheol’s gaze.
Then, a second too soon, Jeonghan pulled away, straightening up on the floor beside Cheol. He cleared his throat. “Jun isn’t around much because of work, so you got to meet him today. He’s a great guy.”
Cheol, clearing his own throat and mentally shaking off the image of Jeonghan’s stunned face, said, “Sure. Fine. Let’s go.”
And with that, the two of them climbed the stairs to the third floor and marched to Junhui’s apartment silently.
Jeonghan, giving Cheol one bright smile, knocked on the door thrice. Not a moment later and Jun was opening the door with a smile.
“Jeonghan hyung, hi!” he said, holding a white cat to his chest who sneered at the sight of Jeonghan.
“Hi, Junhui! Hi, Open!” the cat hissed. “This is Seungcheol. Our new neighbor.”
Junhui smiled at Cheol and extended a hand, which Cheol took. During the process, the white cat suddenly jumped from Junhui’s arms and landed on Cheol’s shoulder, purring as he did so.
“Sorry,” Junhui said. “Usually, he’s hostile to new people, but I guess he likes you.”
Cheol’s brain short-circuited. He was still calculating how to gently remove the cat without losing an eye when two other cats, one black and one gray, came to the door and brushed their torsos against Cheol’s legs.
“Close and Lock!” Jeonghan giggled. “This is great! Jun’s kids already love you!”
Jun chuckled along with Jeonghan, bending down to pet his cats. “I guess they do.”
“Well, “ Jeonghan said, patting Cheol on the back. “I’ll leave you two to bond now. Jun, call me if Open hisses or if Cheol faints. Bye!”
Just like that, Jeonghan sashayed away from them with a grin, while Cheol stood there, cats purring around him and a stranger looking at him amusedly.
He seriously considered passing out.
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
It was a lazy Thursday afternoon and Cheol had just finished a chapter of his new book. He’d been in his most comfortable hoodie and was enjoying his cozy day so far. He had a cup of warm coffee in his hand and an anime paused on his wide TV screen. It was definitely a good day.
Until Jeonghan came barging in through his door.
“Emergency. Put on some shoes,” he said.
“Why? Is the building about to crash?”
“Worse,” Jeonghan fixed him with a serious look and for a moment Cheol thought that there was actually something going on in the building. “Seokmin and his boyfriend Jisoo are home and you still haven’t said hello.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Cheol closed his eyes in mild frustration. “Not again!”
“Cheol! This is serious!” Jeonghan strode toward him and took the cup out of his hands and placed it on the coffee table. “Jisoo and Seokmin are my apartment besties so you really gotta meet them!”
“I don’t need to,” Cheol pouted. “They probably enjoy not knowing me.”
Jeonghan rolled his eyes and ignored Cheol’s complaint, choosing instead to run to his windowsill and grab whatever plant he could find.
“Here,” he said, shoving the small pot of succulent into Cheol’s hands. “Housewarming gift.”
“Aren’t they supposed to give me a gift instead of the other way around?”
“Just trust me! Jisoo adores plants!”
About five minutes later, Cheol and Jeonghan found themselves in front of apartment 304, with Cheol gripping the pot tightly like a life raft.
Jeonghan knocked and the door swung open to reveal a man with reddish brown hair and doe-like eyes.
Behind him, the apartment was in chaos—half-open boxes were everywhere and a ceiling light was dangling by a wire while another man with paint stains on his cheeks was holding a hammer.
“Hi, Jeonghanie,” the doe-eyed man said. “Sorry, Seokmin and I are in the middle of not electrocuting ourselves.”
Jeonghan grinned. “Perfect! Jisoo, this is Seungcheol and he’s going to help you with whatever that is your boyfriend’s doing.”
Cheol whipped his head to Jeonghan way too quickly. “I will?”
“Yep!” Jeonghan smiled cutely then turned to Jisoo again. “He’s good at fixing things, he’s basically a handyman! And—” he glanced down at his watch. “Oh, no, I think my laundry’s done! I gotta go!”
Thus, Jeonghan ran down through the hall and down the stairs, leaving Cheol holding a succulent in the doorway of a disaster zone.
Jisoo beamed at him like he was salvation personified.
“So, you’re good with wires?” he asked.
I’m going to kill Jeonghan, Cheol thought.
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
In the past month that Cheol had been living in the apartment complex, Jeonghan had been well-acquanted with the fact that Cheol was quiet…the textbook definition of a recluse. Yet he never knew that Cheol could malfunction.
It was Friday afternoon and Jeonghan had managed to pull Cheol out of the apartment and actually step into the outside world.
They decided to go to a nearby Italian restaurant, one that Cheol chose because it served delicious complimentary bread.
They sat at the table by the window, with Cheol quietly observing the passersby and Jeonghan gossiping about the neighbors when—
“Oh, no,” Cheol muttered silently, loud enough for only Jeonghan to hear.
“What’s wrong?” Jeonghan asked, following Cheol’s line of sight.
“It’s her…” Cheol muttered.
Jeonghan spotted a waitress with ash-blonde hair making her way toward them, smiling brightly as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She had the casual kind of charm that could make a romcom director sigh.
Cheol gripped his phone hard as he turned into a furious shade of pink and mumbled something incoherent to nobody in particular.
Jeonghan blinked slowly as realization dawned on him. “ Oh my god. You like her.”
Cheol whipped his head toward him too abruptly. “What–I mean, no—she’s just, just…nice.”
The waitress came over with a small basket of complimentary bread and asked the two of them, “Hi. Can I take your order?”
Cheol completely short-circuited. He stammered “Bo–bolognese for me, p–please,” and said thank you three times even when the waitress had turned to Jeonghan for his order.
Jeonghan had never seen him quite like so and he found the guy amusing…adorable, even.
The minute the waitress walked away, Jeonghan leaned over the table and quietly said, “This is actually dangerous…you get pathetically adorable around people you like.”
Cheol flushed hard. “W–what do you mean? I don’t—”
Jeonghan leaned away with a smirk that challenged the Cheshire cat. “I’m weaponizing this.”
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
The next time Jeonghan had the chance to drag Cheol out of his apartment, it was to go to the local gym with the reasoning that Cheol should “touch some grass.”
When they arrived at the gym, however, it was empty, save for one other man using the treadmill on the far side of the place.
Cheol froze mid-step, eyes boring holes into the man. He was petite, almost as petite as Jeonghan and had his hair tied in a ponytail.
Jeonghan followed Cheol’s eyes once again and found the man. Without another thought, he waved at him and yelled, “Hi, Sunghoon! I see you’re working out, too!”
The man turned to Jeonghan’s voice and waved back. “Hi, Jeonghan! It’s leg day!”
The moment the man smiled, Cheol felt all choked up. He gripped his water bottle tightly while his ears turned pink.
Jeonghan turned back to Cheol and instantly, almost instinctively, he clocked the situation. “Hold on a second…you like him, don’t you?”
Cheol shook his head adamantly. “N–no. It’s just that…the treadmill looks dangerous!”
When Sunghoon glanced over at them again and waved, Cheol attempted to wave back, dropping his water bottle which rolled all the way across the gym floor.
Jeonghan nearly choked from keeping his laughter at bay.
Sunghoon promptly stepped off of the treadmill and went to pick up the bottle. He strode across the room and handed the thing to Cheol, who was blushing and stammering his thanks.
Jeonghan watched, delighted. “Wow,” he whispered under his breath when Sunghoon walked away. “I’ve definitely found your weak point, author-nim.”
˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊
Jeonghan burst into Cheol’s apartment again one Wednesday morning, a month-and-a-half since Cheol had settled into his new abode.
“I have just the plan for you!” Jeonghan announced into the room.
“How do you keep barging into my apartment?” Cheol looked up from his laptop, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.
Jeonghan shrugged nonchalantly. “Your new passcode’s your birthday, it wasn’t hard to guess.”
“You remember my birthday?”
“I remember so many things about you, author-nim, you’d be surprised. Anyway—”
Jeonghan padded to Cheol’s kitchenette and helped himself to a pod of coffee.
“I’m gonna give you a makeover!” he said, starting up the Nespresso machine.
“No, you won’t,” Cheol yelled from the couch.
“Oh, come on! You need one!”
“What do I need it for?”
Jeonghan didn’t answer for a while, busy with watching the machine pour coffee into his mug. When that was done, he returned to the living room nursing the steaming cup in his hands.
“You need it to lure in the people you like,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at Cheol.
Cheol frowned. “What the hell are you even talking about?”
“The girl from the restaurant? Sunghoon from the gym? Ring any bells?”
“I–I don’t l–like them!”
“And yet you s–stutter!” Jeonghan chided. “Come on, you can’t just sit here in your apartment writing best-sellers! You gotta get out of here and find love!”
“For your information,” Cheol punctuated each word. “I am more than content with writing. I don’t need to date. I thought I told you that before?”
“Yes, you did and I’m not convinced—ah, fuck!” Jeonghan sipped his coffee and it burned his tongue.
“Blow it before putting it in your mouth!”
“That’s what he said,” Jeonghan chuckled, to which Cheol rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” Jeonghan set his mug down. “I’ve decided that it’s my duty to change you.”
“Change? Me?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t need to change.”
“As much as I like you for who you are—”
“Gee, thanks—”
“—you need a total makeover. A 360, so to speak. To make your crushes like you back.”
“What, like I’m your little project?”
“Exactly!”
“Nope. I’m not gonna be your guinea pig.”
“Don’t think of it that way! Think of this as me being your fairy godmother.”
“And I’m Cinderella? I thought your favorite tale’s Little Mermaid?”
“Stop distracting me from the awesome thing I’m trying to say!”
“Look, Jeonghan,” Cheol said, closing his laptop on his lap. “As much as I want your help…sort of…I’m really, genuinely content with what I am right now.”
“Are you a hundred-percent sure about that?” Jeonghan gestured at Cheol’s outfit. “You’re forgetting, I’m a fashion designer. I can totally make something work for you.”
Cheol crossed his arms on his chest like a peevish child. “This is comfortable fashion and I’m very comfortable.”
“Right. Of course you are,” Jeonghan said, totally disbelieving. “Listen,” he put his hands on his hips. “I know I always kid around but—seriously—social skills are crucial for effective human communication, building strong relationships and navigating through various social situations in life. And you won’t be able to evade social situations for life.”
Cheol was dumbfounded for a moment. “Wow, that sounded profound.”
“Thanks. I read that on WikiHow before I got here.” Jeonghan winked playfully. “Seriously, though, you gotta learn to be social, Cheollie. You need a change. Do it for yourself.”
Jeonghan picked up the mug once again and took a long swig. Then, finishing it halfway, he set it back on the breakfast island before he spoke. “Think about it, okay? When you’re done figuring things out, you know where to find me.”
Cheol watched Jeonghan smile then promptly pad across the foyer and step out of his apartment.
He heard the door softly click shut and sighed.
“I’m alright like this…I really am,” he mumbled to himself.