CUPID (hyunho)

SIXTEEN

"You're so weird you know?"  Hyunjin just ignored Jisung and sip on his Iced Americano as he continued sketching on his sketchpad.

"You don't go to Levanter Café anymore. Everytime we go there together, you always insisted on waiting outside and let me order for us. Do you think I haven't noticed? Are you avoiding someone?"

Hyunjin almost rolled his eyes on his friend's question.

He stopped sketching and looked at Jisung who's laying on his bed. 

Twirling his pencil between his fingers, contemplating how to reply in order to allay his friend's suspicions.

"I just...i just don't feel like going there." Hyunjin answer doesn't convince Jisung but he still continued. "...and who do you think I will avoid there?" 

"I didn't know maybe—" 

The loud sound of the doorbell interrupted Jisung before he could finish his words.

Saved by the bell . 

"It's them, go open the door." Hyunjin said then pushed Jisung off his bed.

Hyunjin was thankful that Jisung's interrogation stopped when their friends arrived. It's Felix and Jeongin. Felix brought a gift for Changbin to Hyunjin's unit so that Changbin wouldn't see it if he ever visited Felix place. 

They decided to just have a sleepover at Hyunjin's place and spent the night discussing what would be a good thing to do for Changbin's party. Everyone seems so excited even it's aren't their birthday, they just can't wait to see the rest house in the middle of the forest that Felix mentioned before. 

Felix playfully pouted about the reason for their excitement, but they just laughed it off and said they were also excited about Changbin's birthday.

When morning came, Felix and Jisung had to leave first for work. Hyunjin, on the other hand, had completed all his projects ahead of time before Changbin's upcoming birthday which is in two days because he wanted to set his mind free from work even if only for a little while.

Hyunjin asked Jeongin to help him find Felix's boyfriend a gift for his birthday, Jeongin agreed so they are now currently in the mall looking for something that Changbin's might like.

Hyunjin only knew Changbin through Felix, and while they had become friends, he didn't know much about Changbin except that the boy was deeply in love with Felix.

"Should I just give Felix to him?" Hyunjin sounded like he was ready to give up on the gift search, having spent nearly an hour wandering around the mall.

Jeongin already have a gift for Changbin and it's only Hyunjin this time having a hard to find a good gift.

 "But Changbin hyung already have Lix hyung." Jeongin replied, which made Hyunjin sigh and scan the area where they were.

"Why don't you just—" 

"Wait," Hyunjin stopped Jeongin in his tracks as they passed a perfume shop. "I think I know what to give to him."

Jeongin followed Hyunjin's gaze and asked, "Perfume?" Hyunjin nodded as his replied.

"Why this thing didn't come in to my mind earlier aish." Hyunjin whispered to himself as he entered the perfume shop alone, as Jeongin had gone to the restroom.

The shop staff welcomed him as soon as he entered and offered their assistance. Unsure of which perfume to choose, he decided to ask them for a recommendation on a perfect scent for men.

"Can you give me a moment, sir? I'll just get the perfect perfume you're looking for." 

Hyunjin roamed his eyes around the shop while waiting for the staff who disappeared behind the counter.

A few minutes later, the staff returned with three bottles of perfume in hand but faced Hyunjin at the counter with an apologetic look.

"Sorry for the wait, sir, and I apologize for recommending an item that just sold out. Instead, I have these three kinds of men's perfumes, which are just as good as our best seller." The staff show off the three bottle perfume and spray some of it on the testing strips.

Hyunjin was about to pick up the testing strip to smell the perfume when another staff placed a small card on the side of the counter. The card featured an image of the perfume and had "sold out" written in red at the bottom.

Hyunjin just ignored it as he smell the first strip, it smells good but too manly and so far from his liking but the perfume isn't for him anyway. When he is about to pick the second strip another staff came to the counter and put the perfume similar to the image of perfume on the card. 

The staff placed the perfume inside the shop's paper bag and handed it to a familiar person who had just arrived at the counter. Seems like this person is the one who bought the last piece of the shop best perfume. 

Hyunjin's eyes widened as the person who had bought the perfume turned his head toward him, seemingly aware of Hyunjin's gaze.

"Hyunjin?" The moment Minho said his name, Hyunjin's heart went crazy. He doesn't like to admit it but he missed the older's face even it's always stoic towards him. 

"Sir?" Hyunjin didn't realize that he held his breath while looking at Minho until he snapped back to reality when the staff called him.

Hyunjin looked at the staff and placed the testing strip down on the counter. "Sorry," he said and then dashed outside. He could hear Minho calling his name, but he didn't look back anymore.

He saw Jeongin walking back near the store, so he held his wrist and pulled him along. Jeongin looked at him with confusion, and Hyunjin noticed it.

"Let's go home for now, my stomach aches." Jeongin just nodded his head as answer and let Hyunjin drag him.

While Minho remained inside the store, he was left confused by the way Hyunjin had acted.