#hryisoo

After moving to Hwaryung, Jungrin quickly found that Maindong was her favorite area of the city. With the large amount of shops the area had to offer, it gave her plenty to explore. Dal Cafe quickly became a favorite of hers, the drinks they serve there having become a popular feature on her Instagram account. At this point, the cafe warranted nearly a daily visit from her. 

She steps into the café early that morning, intending on simply grabbing some coffee to-go before she gets her day started properly. After ordering a nonfat white mocha latte with 2 pumps of sugar free hazelnut syrup, she patiently waits by the counter, gaze focused on her phone as she scrolls down her Instagram feed. Normally, she would be looking to strike up a conversation with someone next to her, attempting to form a new friendship, but it’s simply too early in the morning for her to function properly yet. First things first, she needs her caffeine fix.

Finally, her order is announced. Jungrin mindlessly grabs for it, not looking up from her phone as she does. It’s not until she takes a sip from it that she realizes there must be a mistake. The liquid in the cup tastes like warm milk, with a slight aftertaste of coffee. She turns around to face the counter again, intending on letting the barista know they’d definitely gotten her order wrong, when she sees someone else standing there, a cup in his hand that has her name on it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she quickly apologizes. “I must’ve grabbed the wrong cup. I’ll buy you a new of... whatever this is.” Giving the cup she had been holding one last suspicious glance, she places it back down on the counter. 

seungwoo was not particularly looking forward to this. he should be, but he guessed a part of him was afraid of what he might see. who he might see, rather. would he see a complete stranger, or the same chubby-cheeked boy with a penchant for mischief he knew all those years ago? the former was more likely. he hadn’t a clue what yisoo looked like now, just that he was poised to open a new store in hwaryung soon, right as he was done settling into the neighbourhood. this, he knew through a phone call between them, awkward as it could’ve been. yisoo was fine, chatty even -- seungwoo was the problem, really, having been caught off-guard and not completely sure how to react to his estranged childhood friend calling him out of the blue.

he pushed the doors to the restaurant, searching around for yisoo. seungwoo instinctively shoved his hands in his pockets as he made his way through the hustle and bustle of the lunch crowd. his stomach grumbled in response to the wafting smells of the food being served in the restaurant, but his nervousness overcame any sort of hunger he was experiencing. he had enough trouble with interacting with people in general, let alone with those he’d had a close relationship with, only to be separated unceremoniously for years without a single bit of contact. it’d left him bitter, to say the least. but maybe it was time for a fresh start, so he hoped that he’d somehow find himself at ease at one point of this meet-up.

seeing a muscular bulk of a man sitting in a booth alone, seungwoo frowned. yisoo hadn’t changed that much after all -- though he’d evidently put in a lot of work into turning the baby fat that had made him so distinct as a kid to impressively sculpted muscles, tattoos adorning them in certain places. his face, meanwhile, was pretty much just the adult version of the kid seungwoo once knew. 

i did, was the simple answer to the other man’s inquiry.

of course, it’s not like he saw an actual ghost. it was the mere act of stumbling into bang yisoo at the park of all places, whilst yujin was out on his morning run. the frequency of said runs have decreased through the years, due to his own incapability to take care of his health (sad truth), but recently he had decided to exercise a bit more.

nevermind that it was winter, and four in the morning was one of the coldest hours of the day. after all, yujin loved the icy bite of the wind as much as it loved to sink deep into his bones; it was this mutual relationship that allowed him to move at all, with his only protection from the elements being his thick windbreaker and his resolve.

he had no idea why yisoo was out in the park that same day, in the wee hours of the morning when the sun barely peeked from the horizon. he was aware that they lived in the same neighborhood—in the same apartment building, even—but yujin could never have predicted this.

and so, with an awkward wave of his hand, he slowed to a stop in front of the younger man.

“ah, hey,” yujin managed to puff out in between breaths, “it’s just—i’m very pale. i guess.” i just saw my one-night-stand-turned-client how would the blood not drain from my face

“What?! Where?” Rosalee looked all around her. Of course, she didn’t see anything. It was quite dark anyway. “Yah, is it a joke? Are you trying to scare me? I don’t see a single thing here!” she said, a bit annoyed, more by the situation than by Yisoo. 

@hryisoo

it’s been a rough week.

perhaps, out of the many people in this particular establishment, bang yujin was the only one afflicted with the saturday blues—which, as he could attest to, was the strong feeling of missing work, and wishing things to be as hectic as mondays and as busy as fridays, if only for the mind to be preoccupied with something other than intense melancholy.