the penthouse

34 | a lot of concerns.

ten took a bite of his sandwich, as he waited for yuta to enter the building. judging by his outfit, yuta had gone on a run, and was stopped by an accquaintance, for them to talk. when ten saw that yuta walked away, a smile appeared on his face.

" hello there, i did not get a chance to say hi when i went on a run. you were not at the reception. " yuta let out a laugh, walking up to ten. instead of joining the laugh, ten raised his eyebrow. " i went on a run very early. " he said.

" well, i am at the reception from seven in the morning, and it is.. approximately eleven. " ten looked at his watch. " there is no way mr. nakamoto yuta went on a run for exactly four hours. teach me your ways, and i shall start working out. "

" back in my good days, i used to be able to run even more. nowadays, i take breaks and drink some coffee. now, i stopped and talked to a bunch of different people. " yuta replied to ten, who tried to hold in his laughter. " i feel old now. "

" there is no reason for you to feel that way. you are an amazing athlete, yuta ! though, you suffered a terrible injury, so it is normal for someone to feel like taking breaks. " ten explained to his friend, who smiled at his words.

yuta knew that he was never going to return to the man he once was. but, hearing someone like ten's encouraging words, he was able to understand that maybe he should continue to focus on what brought him joy once.

he did not have a family to take care of. he did not have children, not ones he knew of, he only had himself to think about and consider what was best for him. there were his parents, who called him often and wished the best for him, but right then, it was only yuta.

" have you ever considered the fact that you are quite literally better than some of the younger players ? they are so irresponsible. i sometimes see them drinking, from my apartament. " ten told yuta, " they should look up to a man like you. "

" that is not how times are nowadays, ten. we have to understand how the youth looks up to rather questionable people. " yuta replied to ten's words. he laughed, and looked down at the counter. " we used to be like that once, so i can not blame them. "

ten raised his eyebrow. " well, speak for yourself. i have always looked up to well-mannered people. i never went to clubs, never drank.. i was the child parents dreamed of having. " he smiled, proud of himself and what he was.

yuta replied by nodding at his friend. but, it got ten to wonder, what was yuta like back when he was younger ? from what ten was able to guess, yuta seemed like a put-together young man, who did not get into trouble.

but, maybe, he had also gone to parties. for sure, he had not been like kim doyoung, a man notorious for causing a lot of problems and doing whatever he wanted, but it did not mean that all partygoers were like that.

" well, that sounds amazing, for you. i was not much into partying back in the day, but i occasionally went to one or two. " yuta said, looking at the clock. it was getting closer and closer to lunch time, and yuta was extremely hungry.

" i can already tell you would like to eat something. go, before your stomach starts letting out those weird noises. i am not a huge fan of those. " ten laughed. he turned over to the back of the reception, " i need to wait for ji-yoo to come. "

yuta nodded. he walked over to the elevator, waiting for whoever was in it to get out. when a younger boy and a woman who seemed to be nanny walked out, yuta smiled towards the boy. it was kaito, irene's son.

" hello. " yuta said. if he could remember well, irene once told him that kaito had become a huge fan of his. well, he did give the boy an autograph. " kaito, right ? where are you heading off to ? " he asked.