Chapter 2: You always come first

You always come first

✿

Closure.

A step closer.

That’s all Beomgyu could think of. From the moment he woke up, Yeonjun’s words kept echoing inside his mind (along with a very terrible headache, how was that even possible? He didn’t even drink much), he couldn’t understand what the elder’s intentions were for the closure, does it mean they’re friends again?

He didn’t know why but he felt a pang in his chest, friends? Beomgyu sighed and got ready for work. The little one went inside the shower, allowing the water to soak him as he held his chin high with his eyes closed. The water was warm today, he liked it.

“So, we’re friends now?” Yeonjun asked with his smile not fading away.

Beomgyu was hesitant. He stared at Yeonjun for a while, contemplating his answer. Friends? Was he fine with that? To be friends with someone he’s been in love with for years? He thinks it would be fine now, they needed to move on anyway. Too many things have happened, they need a fresh start.

“Yeah…” a string of breath, “friends,” he smiled.

Beomgyu heaved a sigh as he leaned against the tiled wall with the water still running down. “Friends,” he mumbled with heaviness, Beomgyu brushed his hair up and nodded, “Yeah, friends.”

However, the boy still felt awfully frustrated right now. Something itchy was scratching his chest, he didn’t like the feeling of it. He wanted to sigh over and over again, or maybe scream, or punch the wall—anything to get rid of this annoying feeling.

That annoying feeling brought by only one person that has been bugging his thoughts ever since last night.

“Choi freaking Yeonjun!” Beomgyu screamed out of frustration and turned off the shower with his breathing loud and deep.

While Yeonjun, who was inside a café, sneezed out of nowhere while ordering a cup of hot coffee. “Oh my god,” Yeonjun rubbed his nose. The lady behind the cashier looked at him with worry, “You good?” she raised a brow.

Yeonjun nodded awkwardly, “Yes, thank you.” Someone must be talking shit about me right now, what the fuck?

✿

After dressing up, Beomgyu immediately took his bag and left. He didn’t have the appetite to eat breakfast right now, his head was still throbbing with pain. Guess he couldn’t handle alcohol that well even if he would only drink a glass or two.

Beomgyu walked his way to the building just like any other day, he felt a bit dizzy but he could manage it all. In no time, he finally reached the building and went straight to the office to check some details and maybe read the script again. God, he already felt even more dizzy just by the thought of working.

The office was not empty, there were even some artists inside to check their scripts or to just stay there since the place was quiet. Beomgyu groggily sat on his chair and leaned against the backrest of his seat, perhaps skipping breakfast was a bad idea. He massaged his temples with a groan.

“Woah,” Hyunjin approached him, “You look terri—” the boy was cut off when Beomgyu glared at him. Hyunjin awkwardly chuckled, “You look… different?” he scratched the back of his ear. “You good, dude?”

“Do I look okay?” Beomgyu raised a brow and rolled his eyes, “You look like you weren’t a drunk mess last night,” the little one said while resting his arms and head on top of his desk.

Hyunjin’s eyes sparkled as he smiled, “Seungmin took care of me,” he hummed as he recalled how Seungmin bought him breakfast while telling him how irresponsible he is for drinking during a monday night. The boy was quite savage and brutally honest, nonetheless, Seungmin was a sweetheart.

Beomgyu scoffed with his eyes closed, “Whatever.”

While the little one slowly drowned in silence because he really needed more sleep, someone suddenly held Hyunjin’s shoulder—making the boy flinch, “You startled me,” Hyunjin rolled his eyes at the pink-haired boy.

Yeonjun shushed him and carefully placed the cup of hot coffee on Beomgyu’s desk, Hyunjin’s eyebrows raised as he grinned at the elder.

Hyunjin wiggled his eyebrows in a teasing manner, Yeonjun grimaced and smacked him on the chest, “Shut up,” he whispered and walked away.

When Yeonjun left them and approached their other friends at the far corner, Hyunjin tapped Beomgyu’s shoulder but the boy just groaned and mumbled a small, “Go away.”

The elder shook his head while chuckling, “Here’s a cup of coffee for you, drink it.” He gently patted Beomgyu’s shoulder and left to approach Yeonjun and the others.

Beomgyu raised a brow and sat up, he saw the cup of coffee beside him; still hot and he could smell its delicious aroma. Did Hyunjin give it? Beomgyu asked himself and searched for Hyunjin inside the room.

He was supposed to be looking for a brush of blond hair, yet instead, Beomgyu’s attention was grabbed by a tall boy with pink hair; his back was facing him though, and he was talking with Hyunjin and his other friends.

Could he…? Beomgyu trailed off as he faced the drink again, but he soon brushed away the thought. Instead, he pulled the coffee near him and examined it. The boy heaved a sigh and took a sip after blowing it.

Yeonjun looked back at him and watched as Beomgyu took a sip from the coffee—forming a small smile right after drinking. Yeonjun couldn’t help but smile at this.

“You,” Hyunjin pointed at Yeonjun, the elder looked at him with a raised brow, “What now?” he sighed.

“You bought him coffee,” Hyunjin squinted his eyes as he teased the elder, Yeonjun just pushed his hand down and flicked Hyunjin’s forehead—making the younger hiss and rub the spot where Yeonjun hurt him, “What the hell, Hyung? What was that for?”

Yeonjun glared at him as he pouted, a habit he’d developed, “You talk too much.”

Hyunjin continued rubbing his forehead as he mumbled, “It’s true though, why are you so mad…?” he pouted and Wooyoung just laughed at him.

Yeonjun rolled his eyes at him and looked back at Beomgyu again. The boy was starting to work now,  taking out pieces of paper, and clicking his pen while scanning the paper.

He’s always so stressed, I can tell.

✿

Just like the every day, never ending cycle of life; the sky morphed from bright blue, to orange spreading across the sky with birds splattered around, and finally, to tucking the sky with black and small sparkling stars that looked like the lights hanging around a Christmass tree.

The city was still as loud and as busy as ever. Nothing ever changed. The city might be drowning in orange leaves, or freezing from the cold, or when it’s painted in pink and decorated with flowers—the city was still the same, only, it was cloaked with different colors and temperatures.

Beomgyu was one of the three people left inside the office. It was already past eight in the evening, he was working straight for the past hours. He even almost forgot to take his lunch and snacks.

The boy sighed as he turned off his laptop and stretched his arms and legs. The other two workers already stood up and said goodbye to Beomgyu, “Take care,” he told them with a smile.

And now, the office was awfully quiet. The lights were still on, the glass wall showing the ocean of lights brought by the buildings and cars from the city. The night sky drowning them in darkness. Beomgyu stared at the city for a while, his chest still feeling a bit heavy.

Meanwhile, the two other workers who had already left stumbled upon a pink-haired boy outside their office; leaning against the wall while using his phone. Yeonjun looked at them and bowed, the two smiled at him and said, “Take care, Yeonjun-ssi.”

Yeonjun peeked through the small glass window beside him and saw Beomgyu packing his stuff. This caused him to panic and quickly walked out of that hallway before Beomgyu would catch him.

Beomgyu turned off the lights and walked out of the building, the hallway being quiet resulting in his footsteps echoing and bouncing against the walls.

As soon as he stepped out of the entrance, loud noises and cars welcomed him. He breathed in and looked at the lineup of trees beside him. Their leaves falling off the branches and dancing their way down on the streets. The city was painted in orange, it was pretty, Beomgyu thought.

Slowly, he took out his phone and opened his camera. The scenery was too beautiful for him to miss a chance to take a picture. With his one hand inside his pocket, his bag hanging around his shoulder; his other hand that held the phone focused on the lineup of trees to take a picture.

But suddenly, a tall boy stood in front of the camera and Beomgyu took a picture of him instead. Beomgyu furrowed his brows and shoved his phone inside his pocket, “Come on, you ruined the scenery.”

Yeonjun snickered while looking at Beomgyu, he was wearing his black coat with his hands buried within his pockets, “What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve been told that I always make the background look extra beautiful,” Yeonjun pouted then breaks out a proud grin.

Beomgyu rolled his eyes, “Dummy, you can’t detect lies? You are so naive.” The boy pouted and looked at the picture of Yeonjun in his gallery.

“Seriously?” Yeonjun gasped dramatically when he saw the picture, “Don’t you take good pictures? Why is that so blurry?” He raised a brow.

Beomgyu was in disbelief, “You’re so unbelievable. It’s because you weren’t the one I was planning to take a picture of, stupid,” he scoffed and turned his phone off.

“Don’t get so upset, at least the picture is better,” Yeonjun winked with a smile. Beomgyu brushed his hair and raised a brow at Yeonjun, “No, it looks ugly now. Yeonjunnie Hyung ruined it,” he crossed his arms above his chest.

Yeonjun had his lips in a thin line, he faced the road, the atmosphere was getting heavy again.  It was quiet, only the sounds of cars and people chattering were to be heard—although they were being muffled away.

Beomgyu sighed, Yeonjun did the same. They looked at each other at the same time, this made them blush and look away immediately.

Yeonjun pouted as he tried to think of a possible conversation. Then he remembered what he wanted to tell Beomgyu since this morning.

“Anyways, dummy,” Yeonjun looked at Beomgyu. “I’m guessing you’ve been really stressed because of work,” the elder said, which made Beomgyu look at him with his lips slightly parted.

Beomgyu shrugged and pouted, “It’s always been frustrating, though. I’m used to it.” He answered before sighing and looked at the road, watching the cars and buses pass them by.

“Really?” Yeonjun chuckled, “You almost forgot to have lunch earlier,” he raised a brow at Beomgyu.

“How did you know?” asked Beomgyu while looking at Yeonjun who kept his eyes on the road. Yeonjun gulped.

“Heard it from… Hyunjin,” Yeonjun blinked and continued to ignore Beomgyu’s stare. Besides the fact that Beomgyu’s eyes were so doe and pretty, he still couldn’t look at them because he knew his eyes were judging him right now.

Yeonjun cleared his throat, “I think…” he tilted his head, “you should take a break, too.” He finally looked at Beomgyu, the younger one’s eyes widened and he sighed, “I can’t bring myself to rest when I know that I still have lots of works to finish.”

This made Yeonjun look at the ground, “That isn’t enough reason to overwork yourself,” he grabbed something from his pocket.

“No matter how busy you are, your health comes first,” Yeonjun walked closer to him, the younger one just looking at him with those pretty eyes, “You come first, don’t forget that just because of work,” and he placed a piece of paper on Beomgyu’s hand.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Yeonjun smiled, “and eat.”

With a chuckle, Yeonjun waved goodbye and crossed the street—leaving Beomgyu standing there with wide eyes, Beomgyu looked down on his hand and unfolded the paper.

Beomgyu chuckled and looked at Yeonjun’s fading figure with a smile.

He shook his head and shoved the coupon for a restaurant inside his pocket and walked away.

“Does he really think a coupon will make me want to eat?” Beomgyu shook his head as he chuckled.

Then he stopped, he grabbed the coupon from his pocket and bit his lip, “Well... what’s best in line next to free stuff is discount.”

And he took a turn that leads to the restaurant where he can use the coupon that Yeonjun gave him.

✿ Bloom Again ✿

[a/n]: how is it so far? ^^