If This is Rock Bottom, Why am I Seeing Angels? | Seongjoong

It Sure is Hot in Hell

Hongjoong knew what it felt like to be uninspired, and he knew what it felt like to be scared, but he never knew what it was like to have everything in his life come crumbling down until a few weeks ago. It all started when the professor for his upper division painting class announced the final project to the class. The theme for the project was love through my lens, the portrayal of love or something one loves through the eyes of the artist. At first, Hongjoong thought the theme wouldn't be a problem for him, but after the pile of thrown-out sketches began to spill over his trash can, he realized this wouldn't be easy. There were many things that Hongjoong loved: art, music, fashion, his friends, and family, but none of these seemed to be good enough to inspire his art. This wasn't just an art block he was facing, this was a full-on crisis for Hongjoong. Hongjoong had a month left to come up with something to submit for his final, but until then he would force himself out of bed to attend classes.

It was Monday, and Hongjoong had woken up before his alarm went off, an occurrence that had become common in the past few weeks. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep anyway, so he got dressed and headed out of his apartment. It was 7:00 a.m. and he still had an hour left before his first class of the day. The cold winter air turned his nose red, and his hands were shoved deep into his pocket. He decided to head to his favorite coffee shop, Aurora Cafe, which was close to campus. Hongjoong discovered the shop during his second year when he stumbled into the first place he could find to seek shelter from the unannounced downpour. The shop was cozy, with a welcoming vibe. Few people were in the shop, but Hongjoong remembered the sweet scent of baked goods paired with brewed coffee immediately hitting his nose. A person at the register noticed his arrival and welcomed him in.

The man at the register spoke, "Welcome to Aurora Cafe, my name's Yeosang. What can I get for you today?"

"Uhm, can I get an iced Americano and a chocolate muffin?" Hongjoong replied sounding unsure.

"Great! Your order will be out soon. Feel free to sit wherever you like." Yeosang gestured to the empty tables in the cafe. Hongjoong promptly looked for a place to sit down after paying. As he sat down he looked around and noticed the simple layout of the cafe, but what really stood out to him was the rows of vinyl records on display. A while later, Yeosang brought him his order, but in addition to what he ordered, there was a chocolate chip cookie.

Yeosang, sensing the confused look on Hongjoong's face explained, "It's on the house, we haven't gotten a lot of customers recently and you seemed like you could use it."

That marked the beginning of Hongjoong's long journey to befriending Yeosang. During the following times that Hongjoong returned, he got to know that Yeosang was a first year at KQ University after he spotted the younger sporting a university jacket. When he asked Yeosang about it, Yeosang revealed that he was a first-year in the modeling department. Everything was history from there.

In current time, the minute he stepped into the cafe he was greeted by the sight of Yeosang seemingly saying something that made Jongho blush. Luckily for Jongho, Yeosang noticed Hongjoong and waved him over to the counter.

"Still not able to sleep?" Yeosang asked.

"This project is going to be the final nail in my coffin. Do you know how many trees I've killed trying to come up with a good sketch!?" Hongjoong began to rant. Yeosang and Jongho could only give him a sympathetic look.

"I know this is probably a bad time to mention this, but Wooyoung wanted to know if you were still down to go to watch his dance recital," Yeosang mentioned whilst handing Hongjoong his usual order, on the house.

"Yeah, I'll be able to make it on Friday. I know how important these showcases are to him. Plus it's a good way to get my mind off the final," Hongjoong explained.