Sweet Rejection | seongjoong

Fifteen

The next day, Seonghwa made sure to get him some flowers.

He also made sure to bring the expensive necklace he had bought for him a few days ago. He wanted to give it back to him.

Once he gets to the coffee shop, he looks around and sees he's sitting at a table, wearing a hoodie, and his back is turned to him.

Seonghwa rushes towards him and gives him a hug from behind. "These are for you." He tries giving him the flowers.

But when he doesn't take them, Seonghwa finally stops in front of him, finally seeing his face.

"Wh-what are you-" He ends up dropping the flowers to the floor, shocked that he's seeing him right in front of him after so long.

Yeosang takes his hood off and looks up at Seonghwa with tears in his eyes. "I-I didn't think I'd ever see you again." He stands up.

"B-but where's Yeosang?" Seonghwa looks around. "Why isn't he here?" He asks, making Yeosang's heart break into pieces.

"I'm the real Yeosang, Hwa." He says, which makes Seonghwa's eyes widen.

"What are you talking about? I've been going on dates with Yeosang and that's not you. You're Logan and-" Seonghwa stops himself. No more words are able to come out since he's so shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not gonna lie... it hurts." Yeosang tries to smile through the tears. "We hadn't seen each other in so long and this is how you react when you see me again."

"I'm just so shocked. What do you mean? What's going on?"

"Sit." Yeosang sits down and Seonghwa hesitates but then sits down across from him. "I know you know me as Logan, but my birth name and korean name are Kang Yeosang. I'm the real Yeosang and the reason you thought my friend was me-"

"Yeosang? You're Yeosang?" Seonghwa asks, not believing what he just said. "So then... Who was I seeing?"

"My best friend... I asked him to go on that date. I never knew you were the one my father was trying to set me up with." He sighs. "I was so tired of my father setting me up with all these rich guys, so I asked my friend if he could do me a favor and he went instead of me."

"Where is he right now?" Seonghwa stands up and Yeosang quickly stands up as well.

"Please don't get mad at him. It's all my fault. He's just a really good best friend and did me a favor. If you're going to blame someone, put all the blame on me. I deserve it!" Yeosang starts sobbing in front of everyone at the coffee shop, earning weird looks from people around them.

Seonghwa looks at him and sighs before slowly wrapping his arms around him. "Don't cry." He rubs his back. "I'm sure you two had your reasons. I'm not mad."

-

Since Yeosang couldn't stop crying back at the coffee shop, Seonghwa offered to take him home. The car ride was silent, but once they got to Yeosang's house, Seonghwa stopped the car and finally spoke up.

"So where's your friend right now?"

"He's working." Yeosang tells him. "I think his shift just started."

"I'm really not mad." Seonghwa fakes a smile and tries to convince himself he's not mad.

He knows how much he hurt Yeosang in the past and he doesn't want to make him shed anymore tears.

"Do you like Hongjoong?" Yeosang asks after a while.

"Hongjoong?" Seonghwa quickly turns to him.

"Yeah... my friend."

Seonghwa thinks for a while. Where has he heard that name before?

"I don't know, Lo- Yeosang." Seonghwa answers, not wanting to hurt him. "We only met a few days ago after all."

"Do you have any feelings left for me?"

Seonghwa sighs and looks down at the steering wheel. "Please don't ask that."

"Why not, Hwa? Do I not have the right to ask? Do I not have the right to also be angry?! You broke up with me because I had no money! And now you'll probably do the same to Hongjoong because you seem to care so much about people's social class." Yeosang wipes his tears away. "So if you're going to end up hurting him like you hurt me, you better leave him alone... Because I don't want him to go through the hell I went through." Yeosang takes his seatbelt off and opens the car door before getting off.

"Yeosang!" Seonghwa gets out of the car and tries catching up to him, but he goes into his house before he can.

Seonghwa gets back in his car as so many thoughts fill his mind. It's really hard for him to process everything.

Yeosang was right. Would everything that happened in the past just end up repeating itself if he were to be with Hongjoong?

Would Seonghwa still be that same coward he was back then and let his father make decisions for him?

As he's driving around, he remembers he told San he'd go to his workplace. He has so many things in his mind, but his best friend is extremely important to him.

"San!" Seonghwa smiles when he sees him behind the cash register.

"Aww, you had such a busy day today and you still came? Looks like you love me so much." San puts his hand on his chest and smiles.

"I will pay for this, sir." Seonghwa jokes and grabs two bottles of juice, then puts them on the counter.

"How did things go, by the way? Did he say yes?" San takes the money from him and puts it in the cash register.

"We'll talk about that later, okay?" Seonghwa tells him, not wanting to talk about it right now. He still hasn't processed everything that's happening. "That one's for you, by the way." He takes one of the bottles and leaves the other one on the counter.

"Aww, thanks." San opens the bottle and takes a sip from it.

"Looks like you learned fast."

"Yeah, my co-workers are really nice and taught me everything. Plus, I learn pretty quickly."

"Oh, you mean the co-worker you said was cute?" Seonghwa asks him. "Where is he, by the way?"

"Shh..." San puts his finger on his lips. "He went to fix some things on the shelves... Oh look, he's coming." San whispers and Seonghwa turns to where he's looking.

Hongjoong?