Jeonghan stood behind the counter, his elbow on the black counter while his head leaned on it, his hand holding it comfortably. The scent of coffee and freshly grinded coffee beans lingered in the air. Occasionally, the door which led into the small café would open, and the fresh wind blew into the warm room.
The male stared out of the window, his eyes following the pink blossoms which fell to the ground. The blossoms were blown away by the wind, danced in the air and made the whole street look magical; It was the start of spring. Spring meant new life was born, lives change and people transform. Whenever the cherry blossom trees bloomed, Jeonghan knew that his life was about to change– to the better or worse, he did not know.
His eyes hovered around the coffee shop, taking in the peach-colored walls, the pictures which hung on the walls and the well-matched furniture. Even though the café did not change over these last couple of days, it gave Jeonghan the feeling, that everything about it was new.
The doors opened, the chiming of the bells hanging just above the doors signaled that a new customer entered the small café. Jeonghan looked up, ready to assist his next customer, but to his surprise, it was no other than Kim Mingyu who walked through the doors. As he entered the café, a wind blew into the coffee shop and his hair tousled. Along with the wind came the cherry blossoms, which made Mingyu look magnificent, as if he wasn't real.
The few girls who were inside the café and ordered their drinks already, all started to squeal at the sight of the male. He just ignored them and walked to Jeonghan, a bright smile on his face as he waved like a lunatic. "Jeonghan, isn't today beautiful?" he questioned once he was behind the black counter and putting on his apron.
The male nodded in agreement, adverting his eyes back to look out of the window. The streets were crowded with people who either looked busy or way too comfortable. Jeonghan wanted to finish his shift as soon as possible, so he could go home and relax.
"You know, it's a pity that we have to work today. I thought it would be a perfect day for me and my boyfriend to hang out, but sadly, work is calling me. I should just quit, really." Mingyu murmured the last part, starting to clean the already-clean counter again.
"Boyfriend?" Jeonghan questioned, turning his attention back to his coworker. He had never mentioned anything about him being gay. In fact, he never talked about himself.
Mingyu's eyes widened as he realized what he had just said. "Oh- um... You aren't homophobic, are you?"
Jeonghan shook his head furiously. He felt no hate towards anyone who liked the same sex. The male didn't care about it. To him, it was just an ordinary thing. "No, don't get me wrong. I don't care who you like, but I was just a little surprised when you said boyfriend. I had no idea you were gay." Jeonghan replied, hoping that Mingyu wouldn't get offended.
To his luck, the tall male just smiled at him and nodded. "Well, I am. I have probably never told you because it never came up, but whatever. Now you know. I'm actually really open about it. My boyfriend and I have been dating for more than four years now, and we have a best friend who is gay but denies it. I think he's just confused. That, or he just spent too much time with Wonwoo and me."
Jeonghan bit his bottom lip at the mention of Wonwoo. Suddenly he saw Seungkwan's face in front of him, saying something about a rapper called Jeon Wonwoo when he talked about his favorite rappers. Again, he felt like his coworker was hiding something from him, and it wasn't the fact that he was gay.
"I haven't talked to my best friend for a while now. He went to New York and just before he went, he swapped phones with some guy. We can't contact him because of that, but he'll be back soon, so I'm excited to see him again." Mingyu explained.
"Wait what?" It all sounded so familiar to Jeonghan. It was strange that his coworker had a friend who was in New York and swapped phones with someone. It was also strange that Seungcheol, the guy who was in New York right now and swapped phones with him, knew a barista called Mingyu.
"I know, it sounds crazy," Mingyu said with a chuckle. "The guy he swapped phones with has the exact same model as him, and the two didn't seem to notice until Seungcheol was eventually gone."
"Seungcheol?" Jeonghan repeated quietly. This time he was sure that the two knew each other. Something about it was odd. It wasn't only the fact that they seemed to know each other, but the fact that every girl stared at the giant dreamingly. There was much more Mingyu was hiding, and Jeonghan just didn't know what.
Mingyu walked over to the other, wanting to grab a cup. He was just about to say something, when he accidentally dropped his chewed on gum on top of the older's head. "My gum is stuck in your hair! Let me try to get it out, oh my." Mingyu freaked out, touching his hair. His words surprised Jeonghan, so he moved a bit to look up at Mingyu, which was a huge mistake.
The gum was stuck in Jeonghan's hair, his bangs were all sticky and just by looking at it, you would know that he would have to cut his hair. It would be impossible to get the gum out of his hair in any other way. And if there was something Jeonghan wanted right now, then it was to die, because he didn't want to cut off his precious hair. It had taken him two years to grow it out.
"I am so sorry, I didn't mean to spit my gum on your hair. It happened on accident. I understand if you want to kill me right now, but I hope you won't do it. I will pay for any damage done. Please forgive me." Mingyu apologized, bowing down nervously.
The whole café looked at them, curious to what had happened. Girls who had their cameras out were taking pictures of the events, making Jeonghan flush red. He would rather not have anyone know about this incident, but he knew that if he would scream at the customers, his boss would fire him. He couldn't afford being fired before even receiving his first paycheck.
"Would you mind covering the rest of my shift? I gotta go and take care of... this." Jeonghan said, pointing at the mess which was his hair.
"Of course I'll do that. I am so sorry, Jeonghan. I didn't mean for it to happen. I-"
"It's okay, Mingyu. I gotta go now." Jeonghan interrupted the other as he grabbed his belongings and rushed out of the café, avoiding all the cameras which were fixed on him. It was Mingyu's fan club, so why were they suddenly so interested in him?
Once he was out of the café and away from all the cameras, he made his way to the nearest hair dresser. As he looked at his reflection in a mirror which belonged to a fashion store, he knew it was hopeless to try and wash the gum out. It was stuck everywhere, which saddened him. He let out a heavy sigh, making his way to the hair dresser.
Once he arrived, he was surprised to see Seungkwan along with Seokmin seated there. Seokmin was coloring his hair a shade darker and Seungkwan chattered endlessly, like always, about some useless and random stuff.
His friends eyes were set on him with surprise written all over their faces. "Jeonghan, what are you doing here?" Seungkwan asked, the surprised tone in his voice visible.
"I got gum stuck in my hair." Jeonghan whined.
One of the hair dressers who had eavesdropped to their conversation looked at Jeonghan with a sorry expression on his face. "Let me take care of it, sweetie. I feel sorry for you." the woman said, seating Jeonghan down on one of the chairs. When he did so, she put an apron around him. "Is it okay if I cut it short? I don't think there's any other way out of this hell." the hair dresser told the long-haired boy.
"I guess so, yeah." Jeonghan murmured sadly.
"I also feel sorry for you," Seungkwan stated, walking over to his friend. "That is why I just bought us two tickets to see S.Coups live in five days." Seungkwan said excitedly, a proud grin plastered on his face.
"You only bought two tickets because you didn't want to go alone." Seokmin said, making Seungkwan glare at him.
"S.Coups? You are so lucky. I wanted to buy tickets to his secret concert too, but my sister is getting married on the day he is holding his concert. And what is the worse, is the fact that Jeon Wonwoo and Kim Mingyu will be there too!" the hair dresser complained.
These two names made Jeonghan look up at them. He was 100% sure that his coworker was called Kim Mingyu. And just moments ago, he had talked about his boyfriend, Wonwoo. "They are dating, aren't they?" Jeonghan questioned.
The hair dresser nodded. "Sadly, yes. Jeon Wonwoo really is a piece of eye candy. If he were straight, I would do anything to be his girlfriend. But hey, the two of them are cute together."
"I totally agree with you. They are like the cutest couple to ever exist. Back to the concert though. S.Coups will hold a concert in New York today, and apparently he'll perform his new rap with Vernon there. I've heard from S.Coups' fan club president that Vernon will also be a special guest for his concert in Seoul." Seungkwan smiled widely.
"That's it, I won't go to my sisters wedding. Sweetie, I will make you look perfect for his concert. If you meet all of the rappers, you have to look as handsome as them. It's literally a blessing to be around them." the hair dresser said as she started to cut his hair eagerly.
Jeonghan's mind was on one thing only though, S.Coups. "Seungkwan, what did you say was S.Coups' real name again?" he questioned.
"Choi Seungcheol, why?" Seungkwan answered uninterested as he typed something on his phone, probably a text to one of his friends he met through S.Coups' official fan club.
"Just because." Jeonghan lied. He curled his fingers into fists, feeling angry at himself for not noticing before. It was so obvious. If he had just listened to Seungkwan talk about S.Coups more, and if he would just asked why the hell girls followed Mingyu into the café, he would have known sooner that Seungcheol is in fact no other than S.Coups.
The crowd was moving their heads to the beat, their hands moving up and down as they rapped along to the lyrics of the last song Seungcheol was performing. Even during his first song he performed, people started to rap along even though they did not know what a word meant. It was at times like these, where Seungcheol realized how much of an impact he had.
Once the song was coming to its end and the lights went out completely, Seungcheol thanked the crowd for such an amazing night and for liking his collaboration with Vernon. Even though he talked in broken English, the New Yorkers seemed to understand him. And even if they didn't, there was a translator there who wouldn't mind translating his words into English.
The rapper ran off of stage, seeing his manager eagerly waiting for him. He gave Seungcheol a high five, a huge smile on his face. "You did a great job!" he called out.
The two walked into the changing rooms together, both relieved that his concert didn't turn out bad. New York was one of the best crowds Seungcheol had, and he knew that it was partly because of the young rapper he collaborated with. Many of his fans appeared at S.Coups' concert to support Vernon, and as Seungcheol stared at Vernon during their performance and saw him looking at his fans with complete adoration in his eyes, he knew that he enjoyed what he was doing.
Seungcheol grabbed Jeonghan's phone, hoping that the male texted him, but sadly, he didn't. It saddened him to know that the other would not contact him first. All this time, it had been Seungcheol who had done the first moves. He would always ask Jeonghan about his day, start making conversation or would just talk about useless stuff since he wanted to get closer to the younger.
It was like Jeonghan did not think about Seungcheol at all. He would probably want to break off all the contact they had once they swapped phones again, and surprisingly, Seungcheol didn't want that to happen.
"Everything alright, mate?" Hansol said from behind Seungcheol, surprising him by his sudden presence.
"Where's Jongsuk?" Seungcheol questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Left to do some business," Hansol replied. "Are you still texting that Jeonghan guy?" Hansol wanted to know as he caught Seungcheol glancing at the black phone once again. He had been doing that for days now, and Hansol was completely sure that the other had feelings for Jeonghan.
"No. He's not texting me, which kind of bothers me. Do you think something has happened to him?" Seungcheol didn't want to think that Jeonghan ignored him. But he didn't want Jeonghan to be hurt either.
"Maybe he's just busy, calm down." the young rapper who had grown incredibly close to Seungcheol in such a short time muttered, sitting down on the worn-out couch.
The rapper shook his head, not knowing what to believe. The more he thought about it, the more he came to the realization that he probably annoyed the other. The only reason why they talked was because they had no one else to talk to while their phones were switched. Once Seungcheol gives the phone back to its rightful owner, it would be weird to contact Jeonghan.
He started to change into dry clothes, since the clothes he was wearing were drenched in sweat. After that was done, he sat down besides Hansol and fished out Jeonghan's phone, finding himself scroll through Jeonghan's camera roll again. It was what he did when the stranger would not answer any of his text messages or when he felt lonely in his hotel room. Knowing that he would see him face to face soon, made him incredibly nervous.
"Seunngcheol, could it be that you like Jeonghan more than you intend to? Not just in a friendly way, but in a romantic way." Hansol would ask him the same question repeatedly.
As always, Seungcheol would deny it and call him crazy, but this time was different. This time he stayed silent, biting his bottom lip as he thought about all the different possibilities of his feelings for Jeonghan. He wasn't sure if it was love he felt towards him, but it was more than just liking him as a friend. His intention was to befriend Jeonghan, but now he wanted more than that. He knew it was dangerous to think that way. For all he knew, Jeonghan might not even be gay. But so is Seungcheol. He never liked a boy before.
"I don't think it's love yet, but I think I might have a crush on him," Seungcheol admitted. "How could this happen, Hansol?"
Hansol smiled weakly at his friend. "Love has no boundaries." he told him, happy that the rapper had finally admitted his feelings for the other.
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I reread this whole story and I'm honestly not satisfied with it. It didn't turn out how I imagined it would 😕
Well anyways, thanks for supporting this story and it's Seventeen's comeback on Monday so make sure to support them 💕