Chapter Text
This is, most likely, the worst day ever for Kim Seungmin. And nothing could change his mind.
Well, for short. His parents are heading out today to visit a few clients. Having being throned one of the future family's successors, Seungmin had to follow along. The bad news was that the meet up location was in the city. Of all places! Seungmin's family literally owns a garden with a resting spot in it and a silver fountain! Couldn't they pick that as a convesation spot instead of a incredulous restaurant? And why did they need to go all the way as to the city's restaurant to have a conversation over lunch. Seungmin seriously thinks this is a joke. These clients must not be that serious about business if they want to have a discussion about their company's franchise in the city. Not to mention, Seungmin's family literally owns a personal restaurant as well? And a personal chef.
This situation was just getting on Seungmin's skin more and more. Seriously, how can some people.. Ugh.
Anyways, the chauffeur opened the door the the family car. Not the usual limousine that Seungmin always sat in. His father said this time they needed to appear more casual, that didn't stop Seungmin from wearing his much neccessary suit that the stylist tailored for him though. Seungmin refuses to wear anything else, he believes this is his best outfit when it comes to going outside of the mansion.
He watches as the chauffeur open the passenger seat, bowing as his father gets in and closing it before walking towards the back seat and doing the exact same thing for Seungmin, his step brother of ten years, Changbin and his step mother, their conceirge and secretary slipping in the furthest back seat.
Changbin was wearing something fancy as well, just more toned down. He was just wearing a plain white dress shirt and some long formal pants. He wears this on a regular outing as well, nothing different. Fashion should not be seen as a casual thing for such an event, they believe.
However, Changbin wasn't as irritated as Seungmin. Truth is, before their parents both married each other. Changbin was from the city Busan. Busan wasn't really considered a poor city considering that's where the mansion is located. But to Seungmin it was so-so.
They were going to Seoul, the name itself makes him cringe a little. Seungmin knew nothing about Seoul. Changbin claims that it's nearly the same as Busan, but what does he know. Changbin's head is probably still stuck in a Busan train.
The car had started a move on, every red light felt like a threat to Seungmin as it radiates off of his black framed glasses. Seungmin knows it means that they're getting closer to Seoul, even though it was a four hour drive. Even though Seo Changbin was asleep and slowly tilting towards Seungmin's shoulder, Seungmin manages to place a hand right in between Changbin's hand and his own shoulder, successfully pushing Changbin's head away before he even manages to lay on his shoulder. Without a fail, it always startles Changbin awake, but of course, he falls asleep right after.
Seungmin lets out an exasperated sigh, finally letting Changbin lay his head down since his unconcious body refuses another option. He reaches for his phone in his Burberry handbag, his airpods as well. Snapping them open and placing both airpods into each ear, the noise cancellation instantly coming into effect once they connect to his phone.
He pressed into Apple Music and played his favourite playlist. Mainly consisting of Frank Sinatra's songs and some of Michael Bublé, a classic. Seungmin hums a silent satisfaction through his lips as he finally allows himself to relax. Theres three hours and fifty-two minutes left of this hell of a ride, and Seungmin woke up way too early to his liking today. Hence, he shall reward himself with a nap. He knocks his head against the headrest and removes his glasses, folding them up and placing them on his lap before slowly closing his eyes, his eyelashes tickling at his eyebags.
"We're here, young sirs." Seungmin hears the secretary call out.
It seems they had both fallen asleep for the whole ride, and thankfully the secretary's voice managed to cut through the noise cancellation. Usually, Seungmin wouldn't be able to hear anything at all, seems like the conversation awareness mode was on this time. Thankfully.
He quickly scrambles up, ignoring the fact that his shoulder nudged straight into the back of Changbin's head and knocked him awake. Seungmin reaches for his glasses and puts them on before doing anything else, a necessity. He keeps his airpods back into the case and flicks it shut, shoving it into his bag, his phone following with.
"You done?" Changbin calls out, already outside of the car, holding the door open as he bends down, staring straight at Seungmin with his hand held against the door. "I'm gonna close this on you if you ain't." He teases. Seungmin scoffs before rolling his eyes as he scoots over to the exit, Changbin places his hand at the top of the door frame as Seungmin gets out, making sure he doesn't bump his head on his way out before saying a quick word of gratitude to the chauffeur and slamming the door close, watching as the car drives off.
Seungmin slings his bag over his head, bringing his hands up to his ribs as he flattens his suit down. Only after does he finally look up, taking a good look at the city. Seoul City.
He grimaces at the sight of the messy crowd. It's the afternoon and Seungmin sees many other people walking in said crowd, all wearing dress shirts and suits and formal dresses. But all of them look cheap, Seungmin notices the wrinkles on one of the passerbys, the loose thread on a woman's floral dress, the fold in the old man's suit. Seungmin notices every flaw. He already knows that he hates this city, everyone is trying too hard to look rich and failing miserably, they only seem like a pass because of the propaganda of everyone looking the same.
"It's not that bad, come on Seung." Changbin brings a hand up to Seungmin's shoulder. Usually, Seungmin would let him do so, but he isn't in the mood for friendly moves. So he tuts and shoves Changbin's arm right off. Getting rid of the additional heavy weight on his shoulders, Seoul is heavy enough. "Damn. Someone's grouchy." Changbin sighs, rolling his shoulders before tailing after Seungmin.
Thankfully, the chauffeur dropped them off at the destined restaurant that their parents were supposed to go in and hold a conversation at with the clients. Judging their first encounter, Seungmin is positive that said clients are already inside the restaurant, seated and patiently waitinig for them to enter.
Suddenly, his father turns around, facing both Seungmin and Changbin which stood behind them.
"You both can go around freely while me and your mother head into the restaurant." He smiles, eyes flickering between Seungmin and Changbin, a nervous little laugh leaving his throat.
Seungmin is going to start a fight.
"You're joking." Seungmin gapes. His father starts to panic.
"It's just for a little while Seungmin-ah. Please? I promise we'll head straight home right after and I'll get the chef to prepare you your favourite mint chocolate ice cream with black tea leaf waffles!" His father smiles, trying to convince the unconvinced.
Seungmin wants to be angry, but he doesn't want to do this in public. And he knows how hard his father is trying to make Seungmin happy. After all, Seungmin kind of just has to accept that not everything revolves around him anymore the way it used to. Seungmin isn't ten anymore. He hangs his head with a sigh leaving his lips and he hears his father let out a little flustered squeak, probably thinking of a bigger bribe.
"Fine." Seungmin says.
It surprises nearly the whole family, their concierge and secretary included. Seungmin's been known for being a bratty child despite him already being nineteen, a basically labelled adult. So hearing Seungmin agree to something he dislikes so easily shocks the majority.
"Thank you, Seungmin-ah." His father smiles, patting Seungmin's head and running his hand down his hair, fixing the messed bits at the back of his head from his nap.
"Let's go, Seungmin." Changbin starts, a hand reaching out for Seungmin's. "I have a few places I could bring you to." He smiles, cheeky.
Seungmin doesn't really like the sound of this, but he rather follow someone who had been here before than be lost and sit on this stinky road until his parents are finished with their adult talk.
He doesn’t take up Changbin’s offer on holding his hand, but he does end up following him. Changbin accepts that. Their concierge seems to be tagging along, just in case.
Seungmin ends up following behind Changbin, step after step as Changbin walks like he owns the road, like he’s been here a million times, that may be true. Seungmin had never been here before so his steps are more cautious, almost like there are mines all over the concrete. "Man, it's been forever since I've stepped into Seoul. I hope the place is still open!" Changbin says, Seungmin has no idea what he's talking about.
Changbin leads him to a new alleyway after cutting two corners, Seungmin supposes that it’s completely opposite of the restaurant that their parents are at, so it’ll be an effortless walk back. Changbin finally stops, causing Seungmin to halt and look up again, properly this time.
“We’re here!” Changbin grins. A little too happy for someone walking in the city. Seungmin feels unsafe, very.
Seungmin scans the building in front of him with furrowed eyebrows. ‘Collision Coffee.’ A big board with baby blue neon lights lit up. A coffee shop? Cafe? A coffee testing place? It doesn’t look very fancy, nor expensive. Seungmin sees the couple by the window dressed in uni qlo. Someone like them wouldn’t be able to enter a rich place, so he thinks. He feels a shiver run down his spine, no way someone like Seo Changbin would come to some place like this, right? This has got to be some kind of joke. And Seungmin doesn't like this one, it isn't funny.
His face sours as he watches Changbin happily reach for the metal door. Soon changing to relief once he realises the concierge stopped Changbin. Perhaps the concierge had the same mindset as Seungmin? That they shouldn't be going to some low level cafeteria for a resting spot?
No, Seungmin was wrong. Him and the concierge did not share the same mindset. To be fair, nobody really does if it's Seungmin's brain they're against. The concierge ended up moving Changbin's hand away because he wanted to open the door for the both of them. Guess being insanely rich pays a price, they can't even open their own doors because everyone believe the metal will damage their porcelain skin.
The concierge ends up being the one to open the door, Seungmin watches as he yanks the door made of pure glass, too heavy to be considered a door, Seungmin wouldn't be surprised if the metal handle broke right off the pane. But thankfully it doesn't, the concierge manages to pull the door to its maximum, staying by the side of the door as he allows the two of them to enter first. Changbin gives the concierge a bow as he enters, Seungmin copies it.
Nobody talks about how cold it is down in Seoul. It wasn't this bad over at Busan, maybe because their mansion is basically a walking campfire when it comes to winter season. So Seungmin's naturally not used to the freezing cold. He brought his hands up to his blazer-sleeved arms and started rubbing aggressively. Trying to warm himself up. Thankfully though, the cafe seems to have a heater, probably just hot boiling water shoved down a humidifier.
The cafe instantly welcomes them with a warm, toasted smell of pasteries. It didn't smell like the usual aroma of buttery crème brûlée cream puffs that would flood the kitchen by midnight. It smelled like plain wholegrain bread and cheap butter. The smell was too much for such a cold afternoon, it was still winter after all. Speaking of, Seungmin's really craving a hot chocolate right now, he wonders if they serve them over here. Do they even know what a hot chocolate is? What could possibly be so good about this particular cafe that Changbin just had to come here for—?
"Oh?" Changbin points at the counter, hooting as he gets closer. The cashier seems mortified. For someone seeing Changbin for probably the first time in at least a couple of years, that isn't a very pretty expression to have. "If it isn't Channie-Hyung!" Changbin beams. And said Chan..nie? Looks irritated.
"Changbin." Chan smiles at him, finally. Must've been a long day or something, maybe that face wasn't meant to be directed at him. "How you been man?" He asks.
"Pretty good, pretty good." Changbin nods, an arm resting on the counter. "Pretty rich. Have a step brother as well over there." He points, looking over his shoulder straight at Seungmin. Channie seems to take the invitation and looks over Changbin's shoulder as well, he tries his hardest to smile at Seungmin, bowing his head to greet him, pretending to ignore the fact that he's in a suit and the other bigger elephant behind him—the concierge. "So you're working here now huh." Changbin asks.
"Mh, part time." Chan says. "I'm goin' to uni, need the money for tuition."
"Ah, got it." Changbin smiles. Clearing his throat and straightening up before getting his order. "Can I get black coffee? Iced." He looks over to Seungmin, calling the boy to come over. "Come here Seung-ah!" He waves.
Seungmin flinches, quickly yet awkwardly waddling over to Changbin's side. Changbin looks at him expectantly, and so does Channie—Ah, his nametag says Christopher Chan. Must be Chan then, not Channie. Guess the poor uses last name honorfics just like them, interesting. Seungmin does take those stares as an indication to state his order though, so he quickly sputters out his craving, because who needs a menu anyways when you're rich. "Does this place serve hot chocolate?" He asks.
"Yes, we do." Chan smiles, "Would you like that?" He asks.
"Yes, please." Seungmin nods. Though, his eyes does widen a little. Seungmin didn't expect them to serve hot chocolate over here, let alone know what a black coffee was.
"Would you like anything?" Chan looks to Seungmin's right, their conceirge standing right by them.
It startles Seungmin and the conceirge as well. Usually, the people they interact with would always ignore the conceirge, maybe it was a normal thing to acknowledge everyone in a group over here, unordinary.
"A latte, please." They reply, Chan nods along as he taps at the screen in front of him.
The concierge pulls out cash from a black Lauren Ralph continental wallet, handing it over to Chan. Chan takes it with a bow, his dimples popping out with his smile.
Chan nods as he taps his finger around a screen, looks like a big ancient television, but a television doesn't click open with a compartment at the bottom which has money in a specific order per slot. So that does surprise Seungmin as well. The Seoul citizens have so many things Seungmin has never seen before. It's rather... intriguing.
"Your order will be served to you shortly." Chan says before grabbing the automatically printed reciept, ripping it off by the ridges and handing it over to Changbin before heading to the kitchen. Seungmin sees another worker inside. The back of his hair was long, a khaki dyed color, a pretty shade, Seungmin likes that.
"Shall we go find a seat?" Their conceirge starts, looking in between Seungmin and Changbin. "I see one over by the window, I'm sure you would enjoy it, young sirs." The conceirge smiles sweetly.
Seungmin nods, and they soon get lead to the said spots that the conceirge had been eyeing.
It was three seats facing the window. Side by side, Seungmin did in fact like that seat. He always preferred it when his back would face away from others, Seungmin didn't really like staring straight at people. Just wasn't his thing, he didn't like talking to other people after all.
He takes a seat by the seat at the furtest right of the vacant ones, Changbin sits right next to him and the conceirge opts for the remaining. Changin irritably nudges at Seungmin's elbow as a tease while Seungmin tries his hardest to stay focused on the view of Seoul right in front of him. Nothing special, dirty roads, cracked concrete by the corners, people running back to work, or maybe to work because they're late. Seungmin doesn't like the sound of tardiness.
Also, the drinks were taking a rather long time. Seungmin could close an eye to this considering this was a public space, but seriously. Does it take that long for a drink to be made?—
"—Apologies for the wait." A tray clinks right by Seungmin's side.
Seungmin gets startled, nearly jumping out of his seat as an unfamiliar voice that definitely isn't Chan's starts to speak, a hint of white musk coming from the stranger's attire. Seungmin is quite fond of that scent, it was one of the scents he had recently been into lately.
The sound of glass cups starts planting down on the table, echoeing into Seungmin's ear as he hears each and every order get called out, the sound of a cup being placed down follows after. Seungmin looks up, at the waiter who is too close to him to his liking, Seungmin also isn't a fan of people being close to him unless they're a family member.
His eyes soon widen once he does look up, the sight of long khaki hair is the first thing that Seungmin notices. Truly, a beautiful shade. However, the second thing he notices seems to be way more beautiful than the khaki hair. The waiter's face.
His jawline was very sharp and his eyes looked even sharper, like a fox of some sort. Fennec, Seungmin would say. The boy smelled of his recent favourite scent, had a hair color that he liked, and he had a beautiful face. Seungmin seems to be rather interested. To say the least.
Suddenly, the boy smiles. The brightest one Seungmin had ever seen today, so bright that Seungmin felt the light radiating from his lips, right onto Seungmin's eyes. He felt it shimmer and glitter, someone must've said something to him, probably Changbin. Seungmin has to thank him after this, if it wasn't for Changbin, Seungmin may have never been able to see that and miss out on such huge beauty. The waiter starts to open his mouth, responding to what Changbin has to say. Seungmin spots it right away, perfect, white and straight teeth. The boy must have gotten braces when he was younger, Seungmin used to have them as well.
The boy seemed to have noticed Seungmin staring, because he finally looks down and stares right back at Seungmin. This time his smile disappears, a confused look plastered on his face almost instantly, an eyebrow raised. Only then does Seungmin finally look away, mumbling a soft apology for being so indecent. Staring for so long.
Thankfully, the waiter shrugs it off, grabbing his wooden tray and heading back to the counter. Seungmin feels his face heat up, that was so embarrasing, he can't believe he got caught staring for too long.
"Someone has a crush." Changbin coos, knocking at Seungmin's elbow again.
"Shut it." Seungmin snarls, giving Changbin a nasty side eye before reaching for his hot chocolate.
It looked incredibly basic, not like the usual cup he has back at home where it's served in a vintage floral mug, whip cream in a perfect swirl and sprinkled with chocolate shreds, topped with a cherry from a local farm. It was served on a white circular short mug with a matching plate. No cream, nothing. Just plain chocolate. It's ordinary, but it tasted pretty good when Seungmin took a sip. He blowed gently at the top layer of the thick drink before taking another minute sip.
Seungmin also couldn't help but turn his head around after placing the cup down, taking a peek over at the counter that was thankfully semi-visible from where he sat, thank god he chose to sit at the furthest seat.
The khaki haired boy seemed to be at the register this time, perhaps him and Chan chose to switch roles.
Seungmin also heard the sound of Changbin's chuckle coming into his ear, irritating, but he'll pretend he didn't hear it.
"You know." Changbin scoots the chair closer over to Seungmin. It makes Seungmin cringe as the chair makes a screeching sound against the ground. "You could always just go up to the counter. Ask him for his number." Changbin says.
It didn't sound half bad. But Seungmin had never talked to anyone before. And he's sure Changbin was aware of that as well, because the next thing he knows. Changbin's speaking again.
"Could be a new start for you and your socialising." He mentions.
Seungmin refuses to believe that his first ever encounter with Seoul citizens and communicating with the rather poor is by asking someone for their contact information. "No way." He rejects. "He's probably like, a minor. Hyung." Seungmin shakes his head. It would be pretty bad if the boy actually was a minor.
"He's eighteen this year, weren't you listening? Or were you too busy looking at his face?" Changbin teases. Seungmin sucks his teeth and it makes Changbin let out a soft laugh "He mentioned it earlier." he pats at Seungmin's shoulder. "Try it out, hm?"
Maybe, Seungmin should try it. He wasn't going to come back to Seoul any time soon anyways, so if this were to fail. Then nothing would really change, after all, Seungmin doubts anything would happen. Maybe he'd just get a Seoul friend at most, nothing more.
So he musters up as much courage as he can, ignoring the ‘You got this!’ from Changbin and the confused hum from the concierge, Seungmin trusts that Changbin would hold the man back if he tried to disrupt Seungmin’s plan.
Seungmin tugs at his collar and pulls his blazer down until it’s flat and nicely placed at the shoulders before walking towards the counter.
Unfortunately, there was a queue, of two people. Seungmin hoped that by the time it reaches him the cashier would still be the same man.
The first person was doing an order for probably their whole office, and the other barely spoke Korean and knew even lesser of English, so that was a struggle. Either way, Seungmin finally made it to the front of the register, and thankfully the cashier remained the same.
The khaki haired boy looked up from the register before he blinked. “Oh, it’s you again.” He says, a polite smile tugging at his lips. “How may I help?”
“What’s your name?” Seungmin asks instantly, it causes the boy to be taken aback, his eyes increasing in size.
“Uh, Jeongin.” Jeongin points at the badge attached on his apron. “Yang Jeongin.”
“Yang Jeongin.” Seungmin repeats. Jeongin nods and so Seungmin sticks a hand out over the counter to shake Jeongin’s hand. “My name is Seungmin, Kim Seungmin.” He says.
“Nice to meet you.” Jeongin takes Seungmin’s hand and shakes it. “Kim Seungmin.”
“So.” Jeongin gets them back on track once Seungmin retracts his hand. “What can I get for you?”
“Your num—number.” Seungmin stutters, his confident mask faltering. “If that’s alright with you.” He gulps.
Jeongin’s eyes widens. This definitely wasn’t the right time and place to be asking someone for their contact, but nobody was behind Seungmin anyways, he wasn’t holding up a line. This should be okay, right? “Wow uh. Yeah, yeah let me write it for you.” He replies nonchalantly, he rips an abandoned receipt from the counter and grabs the closest pen before bending down, his body hidden from Seungmin’s view.
“Great.” Seungmin nods, gulping and rocking back and forth on the balls of his heels as he waits for Jeongin to write down his contact information on some scratchy paper, Seungmin isn’t really a fan of the sound that’s coming out of the pen and paper, but knowing that what’s being written on said paper is Jeongin’s number makes it a little bit more tolerable.
“Here.” Jeongin looks up again, handing the folded up receipt over to Seungmin’s side.
“Thank you.” Seungmin nods. “Uh, I’ll—Contact you soon.” He staggers.
“O—Kay.” Jeongin nods slowly.
“Mhm! Uh—” Seungmin inches closer towards the counter, getting on his tip toes and reaching over to Jeongin before grabbing the boy’s face and turning it to the side, planting a quick kiss on his cheek.
Jeongin freezes. His mouth left agape, his eyes barely even staring back at Seungmin, did—did Seungmin just kiss him?!
Seungmin gets back down on his heels, tugging at his collar again as he tries to force a smile out, the anxiety washing over him. “I’ll—I’ll see you. Yang Jeongin.” Was all Seungmin said before hurriedly walking back to his seat.
Jeongin finally processes again, a hand coming up to wipe at his cheek, right where Seungmin kissed him as he looks down at his hand.
“Ooh.” Chan says with a sultry tone. “Jeonginnie just got asked out.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“Shut up, Hyung.” Jeongin flushes, a bright pink dusting on his cheeks.
Jeongin tried his best to look as nonchalantly on the outside, his face blank, forcing himself to forget and forget.
But the truth is, Jeongin was screaming like a little girl in his mind, his spirit self running miles in the cafe as he illusions it all. Jeongin wanted to jump out the cafe ceiling if he could.
He rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to wipe and push down his blood flow so that the blush would stop coming up to his face, stay down his neck. In his throat, anywhere but his face.
“Holy cow Seungmin!” Changbin whisper-yells the moment Seungmin sits back down. “You totally did that man! Good job, good job!” He says, patting at both of Seungmin’s shoulders.
Seungmin wants to die in his seat, why did he even kiss Jeongin’s cheek? Something must’ve possessed him, Seungmin should probably visit his stepmother’s private shaman and get a cleanse.
“Can we please get out of here?” Seungmin whines. But definitely not before slotting the paper into his breast pocket, making sure it’s kept safe. Seungmin tries his hardest not to slam a fist down onto the table like he usually does when Changbin teases him, because this is a public space and his father nagged in his younger days' ears for years to not cause a nuisance by throwing a tantrum. He bites down on his bottom lip and squeezes his eyes shut before rubbing his face aggressively over his face. "Please." The words come out in a muffle.
"Alright alright, let's get a move o—"
"—Young sirs, you both have not finished your drinks." Their conceirge easily cuts Changbin off. "Wasting food is not very ideal, hm?" He smiles at the two of them, piercing. Seungmin doesn't really like that look.
Seungmin swallows down the words that he wants to say, nodding his head as he looks back at his hot chocolate, probably turned warm. "Let's finish them and go." He says instead.
Changbin nods silently, picking up his iced coffee.
Thankfully, their father seems to have texted the conceirge, because the next second they're being called and escorted out of the cafe.
Seungmin takes one last look at Yang Jeongin as he makes an exit. He stares straight at the register, and Jeongin was already looking right at him. Waving at him with an awkward sealed smile tugging at his lips. Seungmin waved back, a brighter smile on his own face. He noticed it all, fought the urge to not spit it all out at Jeongin. His lopsided apron, his sweater's collar having lint, his hair disheveled. The way his index finger's nail appeared shorter than the middle.
But, it was weird.
Usually, Seungmin would hate every scar and flaw, but when he noticed every single one on Jeongin, he thought it was rather.. cute, than it was irritable. And usually, Seungmin would have never thought that way about anyone. Not Changbin, not his childhood friend that was a year older than Changbin, Minho. Not on anyone.
Was this.. what they called love at first sight? Seungmin had only heard of such things in fairytales.
He quickly shook that thought off before his face started reddening again, he could already feel his ears getting hot.
The cold air of Seoul blew instantly once the conceirge opened the door for them. Seungmin felt his skin grow tight, goosebumps all over his arms and legs. He quickly stepped out as he noticed a black car stopping right by the cafe's entrance. The family car that chauffeur was driving earlier, the same one Seungmin sat in on the way to Seoul.
The conceirge stepped forward and pulled open the back door, revealing their step mother already in the car, smiling sweetly at the two of them.
As usual, Changbin makes his way in first, slotting himself in the middle seat because Seungmin whined one too many times about how he hated the middle seat when he was younger. Seungmin basically ran into the car right after Changbin. His skin slowly feeling warm, every bump leaving his body with a shiver down his spine.
Heading back felt different. Seungmin had always moved from place to place, going down to the main city of Busan every once in awhile since their family company tends to circle around Busan. Seungmin always dreaded home whenever he was in the car, even before his foot touched Busan's street. This time, Seungmin didn't really want to go. He hoped the tire of the car would just burst and they'd be stuck by the front of the cafe. Seungmin wanted to see Jeongin again, or for longer. Seungmin wanted to keep seeing him. Weird.
Seungmin looked out through the window, kept staring at Jeongin through the glass door and for once appreciated that heavy waste of melted sand. Jeongin continued to stare, this time with his hand down and no longer waving. He was just, blinking. Cute.
Seungmin was going crazy.
Unfortunately, Seungmin's wishes didn't come true. The engine started buzzing the next second, and before he knew it. Jeongin was out of his sight.
Seungmin was a little pouty about it. He sulked in the car until Changbin noticed again and nudged his shoulder. This time no tease, just a heart warming smile.
"I'll bring you to Seoul again soon. Okay?" He reassured. Before leaning closer, whispering into Seungmin's ear so that only the two of them would be able to hear his next few words.
"I know you want to see him again." He grins. Seungmin is going to kill him.
Well, Changbin was right.
They were halfway through Seoul and home. Seungmin couldn't close his eyes for even a second, he wondered how Changbin managed to even knock out cold the moment the car moved. Seungmin wanted to see Jeongin again. He missed that khaki hair colour and his white musk smell that definitely would've went well with some bee's honey. Seungmin wanted to look up and see his jawline all over again, he wants to go back into the cafe and look at him for the first time again and watch as he serves him a hot chocolate that Seungmin found too bitter.
Maybe this time, Seungmin would point out his messed up sweater collar and uneven apron, maybe he could gather the courage to adjust the apron strap for him and lean close enough until he could smell Jeongin's sweet cologne as he picked off the link from the ridged collar.
Seungmin felt like such a mess just thinking about it. Jeongin was running in his mind non stop, and to make it worse, Seungmin wasn't even irritated about it! Seungmin barely even knew anything about that brown haired boy yet seeing him once felt like a long lost lover. One that Seungmin wanted to see everyday.
Then he remembered, his eyes lit up as his hand came up to pad at his chest, digging into the breast pocket as he finds it's sewn fabric piece with the tip of his fingers. Pulling out the neatly folded piece of receipt paper.
My number:
1123 0325
Yang Jeongin :)
So not only was Jeongin cute, but so was the way he wrote. It had a little cursive ends to each word and number.
Seungmin blinked at the numbers, once, twice before finally reaching for his phone in his Burberry bag, fishing it right out and instantly opening Kakaotalk. Seungmin was going to instantly add Jeongin and talk to him. Or so he hopes, Seungmin wonders if the number is even real. Scams are rather normal nowadays, aren't they?
Thankfully, there was a verified account in Kakaotalk with that number written on the paper. With the display name '양정인'. That name sure rings a bell.
Seungmin saves it, using his default name because he doesn't want to add anything special. Not yet. Well—Maybe just a little something..
양정인🦊
김승민:
Hello.
It is Seungmin.
:)
Seungmin's heart was pounding, too loudly. He could feel it knocking against his ribcage, bustling into his ears and bouncing around in his chest. All he did was say hello and introduce his name one more additional time. So why was he so scared? Jeongin probably wouldn't even reply now anyways. He has work. Seungmin literally saw him at the counter—
양정인🦊
양정인🦊:
hi Seungmin, it's Jeongin.
:))
Oh goodness.
Seungmin was going to explode—Or his heart was going to. Something was going to explode, definitely not the car tire. But something in Seungmin would blow up today. Oh gosh.
He swallowed dryly, his hands shaking as he brings the phone up closer to his face, just to double confirm that it was real, that it was Jeongin. Yang Jeongin. His fingers vibrated across the screen as he tried to type the next message, it would be rude if he didn't respond instantly. Seungmin was in a rush, and the shaky car ride wasn't making it any better.
양정인🦊
김승민:
Hi.
Sorry.
I wanted to stay llonger but my father was finished witgh his busineess in Seouk so I had to go.
I apologise.
Seungmin had never made this many grammatical errors in his life. Not even when he was in middle school, or elementary. If his private tutor were to see this, Seungmin would surely not walk out the doors alive.
To be fair, he was texting a pretty boy and his hands were shaking. Seungmin may look prim and proper but he had never talked to anybody out of the mansion in his life. And knowing this was his first, he was driving insane. Not to mention, but Seungmin even kissed him out of instict. Seungmin was a stupid man, stupid, stupid. Stupid.
Jeongin was already typing the moment Seungmin looked down at his phone again. Someone who was working should not be replying this quickly, unless it's different over there in Seoul. Usually, his family's workers—The maid, butler, barista, hair and clothing stylist, everyone except their conceirge and the chauffeur were rarely ever using their phones during working hours. And they worked for nearly the whole day. For a part timer, Seungmin's positive they don't work as hard as his personal workers.
Ah, Jeongin responded. Enough complaining and judgement.
양정인🦊
양정인🦊:
I see..
Did you want to talk to me longer?
Was that it?
Seungmin was caught red-handed. Was he always that easy to read? Why didn't anyone say anything about this? Although, Jeongin wasn't wrong, not one bit. It made Seungmin blush to an extent, his ears were hot while his cheeks felt warmer than usual. Seungmin had to place a hand up to cup at his cheek to feel it for himself to make sure he wasn't just feeling a little motion sick from the drive.
It wasn't illness, it was just the power of Yang Jeongin.
Jeongin was texting again before Seungmin could even respond. His mistake, Seungmin must've left Jeongin on delivered for a longer time than he was supposed to.
양정인🦊
양정인🦊:
Seungmin?
김승민:
Sorry.
Yes, I did want to talk to you a little longer.
Do you think we could do that some time?
Preferably alone. Jjust us?
양정인🦊:
ㅋㅋㅋ
you're stuttering in your texts, cutie
Seungmin was going to faint.
His face was so hot he was sure it burnt red, black even.
Was this flirting? Seungmin doesn't know much about this, only the definition. His teacher taught him it, then proceeded to tell him it wasn't relevant to his future, that he had more to focus on.
Flirting, to behave amorously without serious intent.
Maybe Jeongin wasn't serious about them, about being friends? Maybe Jeongin didn't want to be friends. Was that what this was? Flirting?
양정인🦊
김승민:
I'm sorry. I won't bother you any more.
양정인🦊:
Huh?
Was that too far of me? I'm sorry Seungmin
I'll tone it down if you're uncomfortable.
김승민:
No, no.
You're not serious about this, correct?
You don't want to be friends?
Seungmin wasn't even done yet, but it seemed that Jeongin was a faster typer than him, perhaps he was more decisive on the things he had to say. Seungmin liked that very much.
양정인🦊:
양정인🦊:
what? No!
I want to be friends Seungmin.
I'm interested in you, romantically.
Couldn't you tell?
김승민:
I underst
Oh.
I apologise for the misunderstanding, Jeongin.
I, too, am interested in you.
Romantically, If that wasn't obvious.
양정인🦊:
it's fine
and, I think we can agree it was pretty obvious?
You kissed me the moment you got my number.
김승민:
Ah...
ㅠㅠ
That wasn't very nice of me was it..
I truly apologise for my misbehaviour.
양정인🦊:
No worries, I was okay with it.
Liked it, that I won't lie.
;)
If Seungmin were to die any time soon, it would be due to a heart attack. He was sure of it.
Seungmin was going to burst and his guts would turn into confetti while his blood made glitter.
His heart was right next to his ear, beating double than usual. Seungmin had never felt this way before for somebody, he had never wanted something so much in his life.
Seungmin wasn't going to give up so easily. He was sure of it, Jeongin was a challenge for him to socialise more. Seungmin would take it up.
He wanted to talk to Jeongin more, to know him instead of just his name and his light coloured hair.
Seungmin wanted to get closer to Jeongin, to hang out with him one-on-one, to bring him over to his mansion and eat Salmon En Croute, his favourite. He hopes Jeongin isn't allergic to seafood, else they'd have a rough relationship.
He had never been in a relationship before, knew nothing about dating and courting since he never gave it an eye of interest. Yet Jeongin made Seungmin so interested in this 'dating' agenda. It made Seungmin want to try it out, though he may not understand it's importance or significance considering Seungmin was always fine alone.
Although, he doesn't really know when he'll get to go to Seoul again. Maybe soon, he hopes. Changbin promised to take him back again, so potentially it'll be during then. But it would be impolite if Seungmin were to leave Changbin alone to see Jeongin, wouldn't it? Would Seungmin have to bring Changbin along to their date? He doesn't really enjoy the sound of that, it makes Seungmin frown.
Well, Seungmin could ask the chauffeur to drive him around anyways, it's not like they have plans with clients every single day. Just once every two weeks. Seungmin may get bored in the mansion during the free periods, as if he hasn't been living there for his whole life, relying on his pet koi fishes and his personal garden of Juliet roses that he works hard on growing every day. Seungmin's small little habit that he started after graduating too many years early.
Thanks to money and him being a gifted young soul, Seungmin managed to skip many, many years of education.
Speaking of education, Seungmin wondered if Jeongin was studying, a university student like Chan, perhaps. Do eighteen year olds study in university? Seungmin isn't quite sure. That was going to be a question that he would ask during their first date.
First date.. Seungmin should plan one, right? As an initiative?
Would Seungmin have to pay for everything? Plan everything? He could do that. Yeah, anything for someone as perfect as Yang Jeongin. Even his name was gorgeous.
양정인🦊:
김승민:
Would you be interested in going on a date with me?
양정인🦊:
planning a date already?
you're speedy aren't you
김승민:
Seems I got too excited, shall we wait a little longer?
Would you prefer if we just kept our conversations over the phone?
양정인🦊:
No.. ㅋㅋ
I was just joking, Seungmin.
I would love a date :)
김승민:
Ah.
I am relieved.
How does tomorrow sound?
양정인🦊:
TOMORROW?
That's rather quick..
김승민:
Sorry.. Too early?
양정인🦊:
No.
Just caught me off guard, I suppose
Tomorrow is fine.
Is dinner alright? I have classes until 6 tomorrow..
김승민:
Dinner is alright with me.
I will reach there by 6:30, sharp.
양정인🦊:
I can't really go anywhere far though, I hope that's okay.
I have school the day after.
김승민:
No worries, I will go to Seoul for you.
양정인🦊:
That's very sweet of you, Seungmin.
See you by the cafe entrance at 6:30 tomorrow, then?
김승민:
See you for our date tomorrow, Jeongin.
Just us.
양정인🦊:
Mhm, see you tomorrow Seungmin.
Just us. :)
Seungmin couldn't wait at all, his knee was starting to bounce up as the car moved at a faster pace than before. Seungmin was going on a date, an official, one-to-one date. One that he organised on his own.
This was going to be amazing.
Fortunately, Seungmin knew how to use the internet well, he could plan a reservation at a restaurant. And Jeongin mentioning not being able to travel far was no worry for Seungmin, this was exactly a chauffeur's job.
Tomorrow, there wasn't any plans tomorrow. Seungmin would ask his father in the morning for the chauffeur to be with him during the evening to night. Wait for him while he went on a date with his potential, hopefully future partner. Nothing could go wrong. Seungmin always did things effortlessly, flawless.
The moment the car stopped in the front of the mansion, Seungmin exited enthusiastically and basically sprinted upstairs to his room. He heard his father shout out a worried 'Be careful!' as he tripped on the highest step. Seungmin didn't have such time to worry about whether he'd fall or not, he had to make a reservation to a restaurant.
Or, he could ask his father for that help. Perfect timing to ask for the chauffeur as well, good thinking.
Seungmin quicly changed out of his suit and into his nightgown as he ran down again, skipping down the steps as he approached the living room where his father usually sat.
"Father." Seungmin called out with a bright, cheery tone.
His father seemed to be happy whenever he heard it, he smiled in a split second to Seungmin's calling and looked straight at him.
"Seungmin-ah." He sighed fondly. "Be careful when you're on the stairs, you could get hurt—"
"—Could you book a reservation at Tamayura for two?"
"Eh?" His father's face drops. "That's located in Seoul, my dear."
"I know." Seungmin nods. "I would like to go back to Seoul tomorrow, if that was alright.." He asked bashfully.
Seungmin looks up, taking a peek. He instantly sees his father's eyes, wide and glowing. "Of course it is! Is this for you and Changbin?" He asks.
Seungmin shakes his head. "No. It's for me and my date."
"Your date?!" Seungmin looks over to the other side, his step mother chokes. Seungmin was unaware that she was there.
"Hello mother." Seungmin bows, a quick greet. "And yes, my date."
"Our little Seungmin is all grown!" Seungmin's father speaks in a gentle, soothing and happy tone. "Who's the lucky girl?"
Seungmin swallows. That's right. Stereotypically, a date would be between a man and a woman. That explains why Seungmin felt a little uneasy earlier.
"It's.. a boy." Seungmin lightly sweeps at the floor, looking down with his hands behind his back, swaying side to side. "Is that okay. Father, mother?" He asks, looking up and flickering between the two of them.
Seungmin's parents does take awhile to process it, his mother gapes while his father's smile is just frozen on his face. But soon enough, his mother smiles at him and says "Of course."
The words. "As long as you're happy, then that's all that matters." soon come from his father next.
Seungmin honestly could've cared less if his parents didn't support it. But it did feel a little better knowing that at least now the both of them knew he was out seeing somebody, be it just hanging out or whatever.
Anyways, his father did end up booking him a reservation for two people after that at Tamayura, and he even offered Seungmin to fetch a ride by their chauffeur and take his date along to the location. Seungmin smiled and nodded before greeting them goodnight a little earlier than his usual greeting. Because even though the date was in the evening, Seungmin wanted to make sure he was prepared.
When Seungmin reached the room, he jumped on his king sized bed, laying on the silk sheets and rolling around, kicking his feet like an excited little teenager falling in love. He could squeal if he wanted to, but it was too late to do so.
The ride to Seoul would take four hours, so Seungmin would have to leave in the afternoon. Preferably two, perhaps a little earlier in case of a jam. He'd wait for the chauffeur to call upon him.
Seungmin considered telling Jeongin about their date location, but it would possibly be better to be kept a surprise for Jeongin. Should Seungmin prepare a gift as well? Would that be too much?
Nothing is too much, Seungmin would also buy Jeongin a bouquet of a dozen roses, dark red roses. A mental note to go to their florist before leaving for Seoul tomorrow morning. Seungmin would get the freshest of flowers, right out the garden.
Seungmin was so excited he could barely contain himself. But he had to get to bed early, else he would be late and miss the date. Though, the date wasn't even the priority to Seungmin. He really just wanted to see Jeongin again.
Still, he had to get to sleep. Seungmin had a big day tomorrow.
A really, really huge one.
And that was only because Seungmin would be seeing Jeongin again. He hoped that would be the case. Always.
Seungmin hoped for his days to always continue ending like this.
To only think about how he would see Jeongin, his khaki hair and messy outfit again the next day.
Seungmin wishes that this would always be the case.
To think solely of Jeongin every night before he fell asleep.
Seungmin couldn't wait.