Captive (JiKyu)

16. 못했던 말

"I really miss him." Junkyu said, playing with the food on his plate. It was a typical morning, him and Jihoon were having breakfast together. Just the previous night, Doyoung had left for his place, since his vacation ended. To no one's surprise, since he grew a loving bond with Junkyu in the meantime, the latter definitely felt his absence after coming to have breakfast only with Jihoon.

"That shows." Jihoon chuckled. Of course, he missed his cheerful cousin too, but Junkyu was a bit too emotional.

"Yeah, like- imagine if he'd been here. He'd make corny jokes about this butter- saying probably that he's smoother than that with his flirting skill."

Jihoon laughed. "That's so true! I'll tell him you're missing his corny jokes. Bet he'll start sending you pickup lines."

"Do they ever end??" Junkyu joined in, "I wonder, how many does he know!?"

"Way too many." Jihoon took a mouthful of food, chewed that down as the other had remnant of his glorious smile only. "You can't fall for him though." Said the elder, pretending not to care, yet, added, "In fact, don't fall for anyone else, okay?"

Junkyu felt his heart racing. He was too timid to even ask why, so he got back to his food, fighting the fearful anticipation. A while later, though, the other male changed the topic. "By the way, Kyu, are you free after this meal?"

"Um.. why?"

"I've asked Doyoung, and he found you a new student." Said Jihoon, "I told him to come here after breakfast."

"You did?" Junkyu looked a little worried, "Is he already on his way?"

"I don't know, why?" Jihoon asked, "Do you have any other plan?"

"Yeah.." although hesitant, the younger said, "I actually asked to meet Ruto, to- you know, tell him that I can't tutor him anymore."

Jihoon's stiffened jaw talked for his utter dislike about the proposal. However, he didn't react. "Oh, well, then I'll call Doyoung and-"

"I can reschedule!" Junkyu quickly said, "I'll ask Ruto to have lunch with me instead, so.."

Lunch? Meeting for a meal is worse than meeting after breakfast. Jihoon didn't wanna take that risk. So he said, "No worries. You already made that plan. Go talk to him first. I'll ask Doyoung to reschedule the tutoring session."

"Um .. okay then. Thanks Ji!" Junkyu was beaming. The other male took the radiance that warmed his heart, then called his cousin. Junkyu finished the meal meanwhile, a bit worried as to how the younger would react, but happy to meet him nonetheless.

Of course, Haruto was over the moon, being able to meet his tutor slash crush aside from a tutoring session. He greeted Junkyu from a few feet away, rushing with a wide smile on his face, "Hyung!" He happily said, "Did you wait long??"

"No." Junkyu smiled back, "I just got here."

"Thank God!" Haruto left a sigh of relief, "When you told me not to bring my books, I got worrird but seeing you I feel so better!"

Junkyu gulped. He hated telling the younger the truth, but for Jihoon's sake, for returning him the favour, he had to.

"Where shall we go?" Haruto asked. His eyes were constantly moving on Junkyu's unoccupied hand. He was dying to take a hold of that, the whole 'meeting outside a cafe in a free morning' made it look like a fine date. He couldn't think otherwise.

"Shall we get inside?" Junkyu asked in return, although he had breakfast already, talking over a cup of coffee sounded nice. Haruto liked it too, as he nodded, following his hyung inside the cafe. They sat facing each other, Junkyu ordered chocolate mocha with lots of whipped cream for both of them, since neither of them liked plain, black coffee. Once he was done, the younger asked, "So what's the reason we're meeting like this?" He felt chills when he asked, "Is it a... date?"