Never Said

8. CLICK [Aof, Gan]

.oOo.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he stood in front of the nondescript door. So non-descript, in fact, that he checked the number on the wall just to be sure he was where he wanted to be. He wasn't one for roaming the apartment building when he was bored, so when the elevator opened to a hallway that looked exactly the same as his hallway, he did a double take.

Dark carpet, light walls, pale yellow doors. "Not creepy at all," he muttered to himself as he exited the lift.

Actually, every floor in the building probably looked the same, but it was still a little unsettling.

He cleared his throat and shook his head, one dark lock of hair falling out of place with the gesture. All of that was beside the point. He was there for a reason, and it made him oddly nervous. His grip tightened on the folded top of the paper bag he held.

And he knocked for a third time.

The barista noticed his favourite customer had gone over a week without a single affogato, completely breaking routine–and that hadn't sat well with him.

The first day Gan wasn't there, Aof missed teasing him and felt kind of low energy all evening.

The third day he hadn't come by, the tall fellow made the sweet coffee drink in advance, just in case the small fry showed up in a rush. He watched the beverage slowly melt into a monochromatic mass as he waited for the other guy until the shop closed.

On the fifth day, his shorty didn't show, the barista went through his workday distracted–completely unable to concentrate. After repeatedly getting orders wrong, ruining the pastry display, misfiling video returns, and breaking several dishes, his coworkers offered to cover the end of Aof's shift so he could head home early. (Effectively, they kicked him out of the café in an effort to save the storefront from further destruction.)

And on the seventh day, Aof did the unthinkable: he called out of work. He'd never done that before, but something was bothering him.

After running a few errands in the early morning, he found himself standing in front of Shorty's door. It was unplanned, like his body was working on instinct. It felt like the right thing to do, though. He had to know what was going on.

But the longer he stood there, the more anxious he became. His mind was spiralling with possible reasons the other guy had suddenly stopped visiting him at the café.

What if there was an incident?

What if he needed help?

What if he was hurt?

"Oh...what if...what if he had an accident...?" Aof huffed and ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it. He knew the guy lived alone, they'd talked about that more than a few times with all of his movie marathoning rentals, but then again...

What if he was on vacation?

Or what if he had company?

But then again, what if he was just taking a break from his routine to recharge...? Aof worried his lower lip, brow furrowed.

Should he stay?

Should he go?

Should he knock again?

As he sat in his usual place on his balcony eating breakfast, he hadn't seen Shorty leave for work in at least a week. Not at his regular time, anyway. They were on opposite schedules for the most part, but Aof could set his watch by how punctual his neighbour was, with only a handful of exceptions.