"Hi, uh, so." Wooyoung desperately tries to shake off the blankness that washed over him as soon as the pretty receptionist looked up from his laptop and smiled at him. "Do you have a phone?"
A moment passes. Wooyoung wants to facepalm.
~~~
Growing...
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After the door has fallen shut behind Wooyoung, San continues to stare at it. He feels... conflicted. He's relieved and at the same time disappointed that Wooyoung already left. It feels too early, but also too late, in a way. San wants Wooyoung to turn around and come back and knock at his door again. With a start, he realizes he's grown attached to Wooyoung—to someone whose attention he originally only wanted for Mingi to notice.
He startles again when the phone in his desk drawer chimes loudly with the incoming of a new SMS. Hastily, San pulls the drawer open to check.
Mingi: hey san-ah, im texting with park seonghwa. are you free tomorrow evening? he mentioned he has time and asked about the coastal road you mentioned
Mingi: did wooyoung leave?
San: Yes he left
Not even half a minute later, there's a knock on his door. San opens it to an excitedly grinning Mingi who promptly announces: "Let's do a biking trip tomorrow," and waves his phone screen that shows his chat with Seonghwa.
Mingi and Seonghwa seem to get along well—among the text messages they've sent, San can see one where Seonghwa told Mingi to call him hyung. San hopes he will get along that well with Park Seonghwa, too.
"Okay..." San opens his door wider for Mingi to invite him in, but Mingi stays where he is. "I have tasks to finish downstairs," he explains. "I just wanted to check in on you. Should we meet Seonghwa-hyung tomorrow evening?"
San contemplates. He really wants to meet Park Seonghwa and spend time with Mingi, but his evening is already occupied. "I'm meeting Wooyoung in the evening," he reveals hesitantly. "But what about late afternoon?" It will be difficult to manage with the eight hours of hotel work he has to integrate in his day, but San doesn't want to not meet either of his friends as well. Well, or whatever Wooyoung and Park Seonghwa are to him.
"I'll ask." Mingi types something on his phone. Then he pauses, looking up to San with a furrow between his eyebrows. "That'd be a busy day for you, San-ah."
"I know." San lets his shoulders slump a little bit. It will be alright. It's true that he is always drained after finishing up with work. Still—he should make the most of times like this. "It'll be fine," he tries to quell Mingi's concerns about him. "I can rest the next day, I only have reception and cleaning."
Mingi continues to muster him until a chime from his phone makes him look back at the display. Another text from Seonghwa, apparently. Mingi's face splits into a grin. "Seonghwa-hyung says 5 p.m. works, and that we can have pizza restaurant afterwards."
San feels his lips lifting into a grin in response. A moment later, though, another thought comes to his mind: "Wait, won't it be dark by five? We won't be able to see much of the landscape then."
Mingi takes a moment to think, then shrugs. "We can try. And if it's too dark, we can just eat pizza before going to the bar in town instead. I've heard that they have live music on Thursdays and Fridays."
