In Dreams | Jayhoon

Page 34

"Everyone was rushing around today." Jungwon spoke while grabbing his lunch tray. He had stuffed half of his tray with side dishes, rather than the actual main dish. "I feel like I finally ripped my tibia today," he exaggerated. "Uh huh, sure," Jay nodded, "you sure are walking fine for someone who broke their leg."

"Well, it's my muscle keepin' me up, and I'm holding onto you." The younger boy latched himself onto Jay's left arm, both walking to their usual table. Jungwon sat beside the older, digging into his food immediately. "You were with Mr. Park today, was he terrifying?" He spoke while stuffing his cheeks with kimchi. Jay nodded immediately, "oh yeah. I wouldn't wanna be around him anymore. He was committing murder with his eyes." The older said, pointing chopsticks in front of his eyes. Jungwon fell into a fit of chuckles, dimples poking out from his cheeks. "Like father, like son."

Although Jay wanted to disagree with that, he stayed quiet patting Jungwon's hair. Even after all these years—growing apart, growing closer, Jungwon had stayed the same; the same adorable dimpled boy that Jay had fallen for once, but he wouldn't make the same mistake again. He adored him, a lot. He was like a little brother to him. So everytime he saw him, he just felt the need to either poke his dimples or pat his hair as a habit of his.

"I asked some other workers about him. They just said he sometimes just shows up to check on his son," Jungwon spoke, adding a piece of kimchi in Jay's platter. "I don't know about that. It seems like he's more concerned about the building than his own son." Jay hummed while chewing, mixing the kimchi with rice. "Yeah well he's pretty aggressive towards his son. All he does is command."

"As if Sunghoon or Heeseung isn't any different. Mr. Lee doesn't even bother explaining anything, he just hands me the fucking files and tells me figure it out. Sometimes I just wanna!" Jungwon stabbed the chopstick in the rice, "god he pisses me off!"

Jay chuckled, shaking his head. "Corporate life won't be as easy as you imagined, Jungwon."

"Yeah, yeah. I know, don't start lecturing me again."

Right behind them, Sunghoon and Wonyoung entered the cafeteria to "eat together" as directed by his father. Everyone in the lounge went silent, staring at the two who obviously were shining amongst everyone. Since Jay and Jungwon were facing the front, they didn't really notice, engaged in their conversation. It wasn't actually quiet, just a few hushed murmurs arose amongst the crowd for a few seconds, then everyone got back to eating.

"Jay, look at the two." Jungwon pointed out, peeking from the corner of his eyes. The latter turned his head slightly, only to notice Sunghoon pulling the chair out for Wonyoung. What a gentleman, Jay scoffed.

"Why did you scoff?" Jungwon asked, "you jealous?" Jay mentally rolled his eye at the question. This played a familiar memory inside his brain, heat rushing to his cheeks. "Nothing, just eat your food wonnie..." The other just shrugged it off.

"Ah by the way, you wanna come over to my apartment this weekend? It's my birthday. We could celebrate like we used to before." Jungwon said, taking a sip from the warm soup. "You still remember that?" Jay asked pensively. "Of course, I do!" Jungwon exclaimed, "We would spend all my savings on ramen and snacks and binge watch horror movies. I missed doing that. We should do it again. Whaddya' think?" Jay nodded, "Sure, I have so many movies I haven't watched yet."

Jay nodded excitedly, resting his head on Jay's shoulder. "I remember watching Charlie the Chocolate factory and going insane for a whole month."

"You watched that movie—like 5 times every 3 weeks. I remember you yapping about it all day long." Jay chortled, poking the younger's cheeks. "We were kids at the time; stupid and crazy. Who knew we'd be dying at the ripe age of 23." Jay stared down at the younger, exhaling a shuddered sigh. "Yep. Don't worry about it too much. It'll be alright," he said, moving his arm up behind to pat the younger's head. "Wonnie, you won't leave again. We're matured adults now, we can do things on our own."

"Are we really matured adults, though? I still feel like an eight grader," the dimpled boy laughed, "I forgot everything I learnt in Algebra class." Jay shook his head is amusement. "I knew we'd never use that shit in life, who the fuck would use quadratic formula in real life." They laughed about it, making jokes while eating. But someone else in the room seemed to be quite fazed by the younger throwing himself onto Jay. He could see Jungwon entangle his hands with Jay, playing with his fingers while talking, sometimes even staring at him with "stars" in his eyes. Anyone with common sense can tell there's something lingering in the air between them. I mean, just look at them.

"Are you just gonna bore holes into the back of his head entire lunch?" Wonyoung muttered while staring down in her plate, separating the meat from the rice. Sunghoon turned to her, face morphed in confusion. "What?" he questioned. "You're not supposed to be so obvious, you know."

"Just eat, Wonyoung and do what you're supposed to do." Sunghoon spoke droningly, turning his attention to his tray. His eyes fell on Wonyoung's tray for a second, noticing her only picking at the vegetables. "Stop forcing yourself not to eat. You know what that will do for you."

"Don't tell me what to do." She dismissed his remark, feeling the bitter itch lurk inside her mouth, clogging her throat. Sunghoon sighed, adding kimchi to her dish. "At least eat this. Starving yourself won't make you any prettier, you're already enough. Stop trying so hard, you've done enough."

Wonyoung's hand paused in the air as she stared down at the kimchi, slowly poking it. She gulped before picking up a small piece and stuffing it down. The boy smiled lightly, turning to finish his own food. Sunghoon knew Wonyoung hated eating in front of others, and though he had never really liked her, he pitied her. Though they differed in personalities, they were the same person by heart.

"Do you—do you like him? Your secretary?" She mumbled. Sunghoon stared ahead of him, staring at Jay's back. "I...I don't like him."

"Your actions speak otherwise."

"Yeah, well I've never had a friend before. You know that; don't think anything of it." She decided not to intrude anymore, eating in silence. But Sunghoon had other thoughts racing inside his mind.

I don't like him, right? There's no way—No—I've just never had a friend before that's why I'm feeling so weird about it. There's nothing wrong with seeing you like with someone else, as a friend. I'm pretty sure. Dragging this out will do nothing but ruin everything for me. But then his mind wandered back to the day when Heeseung had invited everyone out to the restaurant. He remembered how Jungwon engulfed Jay, telling him, "I love you, hyung," multiple times, and how that riled Sunghoon. He just watched—glared—as Jay just laughed it off awkwardly, holding Jungwon close to him.

Sunghoon sighed.

"I'm done eating," he spoke, standing up. "I'll see you in Heeseung's office."

★

"Ah, I saw Heeseung in the elevator this morning. He didn't to speak about it. He just dismissed me, telling me good luck." Jay finally brought the topic up, causing Jungwon's face to turn pale.

"Shit, he's gonna fire me, is he?" he panicked, eyes gaping at Jay. "I'll be so cooked if he fires me. My mom's basically gonna kill me."

Jay sighed, running a hand through his hair, "You have to speak to him about it or its just gonna be awkward—even though—even speaking about it seems like a headache. I'm sure he'll understand, maybe."

Jungwon slammed his head on the table, but not really since Jay had slid his hand under his forehead before he had done so. He was pretty used to Jungwon feeling this way, so it had become a habit of his. "Ha...I'll figure it out..."

"You will, Jungwon. You always figure it out." Jay said with a genuine smile, "I'll always be here if you need me. Don't forget about me, alright?"

Jungwon snorted, poking Jay's nose. "You look pretty fucking intimidating until you start talking, hyung." The other just hummed, "pretty sure I look stupid rather than intimidating, but alright."

They both bid each other goodbye, heading to their respective offices. To his acknowledgment, Sunghoon was supposed to be with his father in Heeseung's office. That meant he had to manage the office for a while now—and reply to Sunghoon's emails. Fuck my life...

-- Short chapter again, but I'm uploading and fixing all my drafts so it'll be hectic XnX