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Chapter 12

The next day, Seonghwa and Hongjoong went out on a date to a nice little café around 12 PM. Seonghwa talked about the time he, Wooyoung and San went to an indoor trampoline park. Wooyoung and San were goofing around with each other―as usual, those two are always doing something silly―when Wooyoung lifted his leg, pretending to kick San in the head but ended up ripping his shorts. Seonghwa and San were on the ground losing their shit laughing while Wooyoung was struggling to tell them to shut up through his giggles.

Hongjoong laughed, almost choking on his drink and he covered his mouth, coughing which caught a few people's attention. Seonghwa covered his face, laughing at the memory.

"Oh my god, it was the loudest rip," he lowered his hands, showing his wide smile and cheeks dusted pink. "People were looking at us and Wooyoung was just standing there like a Sim waiting for a task. San and I could not stop laughing for a solid 10 minutes."

"Oh my god, poor Wooyoung," Hongjoong giggled.

When they were getting ready to leave and had to pay, they both fought over who was going to. "Hongjoong, I'm the one that brought you out on this date."

The worker behind the counter watched the two in amusement.

"And that doesn't mean you have to pay. Shove love," he hip bumped Seonghwa and he paid.

"Shove love?" Seonghwa smiled as they left the restaurant and Hongjoong's face was flushed a soft pink. He briefly glanced at Seonghwa, feeling a little shy under his gaze.

"It's something my mum says," he muttered.

They made their way to Seonghwa's car and got in. Hongjoong hooked his phone up to Bluetooth and played his music. They sang along, Seonghwa singing badly on purpose just to make Hongjoong laugh and at a red light, he scrunched up his face as he headbanged along to the heavy metal song which only made Hongjoong crack up more. His harsh movements caused the car to rock.

A lady in a car next to them was giving the two a strange look and Hongjoong covered his flushed face. He had tears in his eyes from how hard he was laughing.

"Stop! I can't breathe! My stomach hurts, oh my god!" He struggled to get out through his giggles. "The lady―" he laughs more and glances at the woman just as the lights turn green. The car takes off, going straight ahead. "The lady next to us was giving us the weirdest look!"

"She must have been amazed by my awesome dance skills and my beautiful singing."

Hongjoong could not stop laughing for the next 5 or so minutes.

When they arrived at their apartment, Hongjoong went into the kitchen to grab strawberries from the fridge and bars of chocolate out of the pantry. Seonghwa shut and locked the front door. He watched Hongjoong with an eyebrow arched and he moved over to sit on one of the barstools.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna make chocolate-covered strawberries. You wanna help?" Hongjoong placed down a wooden chopping board and he grabbed a knife from the block.

"Sure."

Hongjoong grabbed a pot and filled it with hot water before setting it on top of the stove then lit it. He broke up the chocolate and placed them in a glass bowl while Seonghwa cut the green parts off the strawberries. He chucked them in the bin and stuck the strawberries on the skewers.

"I think I put too much chocolate in. I don't think we're gonna need all of this," Hongjoong said as he mixed it. Seonghwa peered over at him then at the bowl.

"If there's some left over, we can use it for something else."

Hongjoong nodded.

Once it was melted, he turned the stove off and grabbed oven mitts so the hot glass didn't burn his hands when he grabbed the bowl. They both took a skewer and got a spoon to pour the chocolate over the strawberries. They held them above the container to let the chocolate drizzle back into it and then set them on a tray. Once all the strawberries were coated and placed on the tray, Hongjoong put them in the fridge.