The Long Game//XiuChen [UAU II]

XVIII / I Don't Know Why, But I Love You

WARNINGS: Tobacco use; mentions of date rape drugs and alcohol

-Day 49; Tuesday, July 18th, 2017-

Kim Minseok found Kim Jongdae on the front steps of the house when he returned from work, soaking up the last of the day's summer rays.

He had a cigarette in one hand, the ashtray and box of cigarettes placed beside him. A simple black baseball cap was placed atop his head, and he wore nothing on his feet except a dull pair of sliders. He wore an old, bland tee shirt and a pair of tattered, faded jean shorts.

"Hey, Love." Minseok greeted as he made his way up the front, approaching Jongdae.

Jongdae looked up at Minseok, patting the spot on the porch beside him. He tapped the last of the cigarette ash into the tray before putting it out, and moving the box of cigarettes and ashtray away completely.

Minseok sat down beside Jongdae gingerly, the cold of the cement immediately seeping through his dress pants and tickling his skin.

"How was work, Min?" Jongdae asked, Minseok leaning his head on Jongdae's shoulders.

"Fine." Minseok fibbed. It was bearable. Jongdae was right- Minseok should've never of returned to work so soon. He should've waited longer- he would still be able to go to Russia. That job was done and under his belt.

Minseok found himself plagued with a feeling he could only describe as shame and guilt when it came to his coworkers.

Whenever he looked at them, he could only think of taking that drink from Park Miyeon and the other few, fleeting memories he had of that night.

He mainly remembered the warmth of Jongdae's hand clasped in his, the vague smell and taste of the alcohol, shouts and cries of anger and happiness, the hauntingly beautiful artistic blurs that night was.

He felt targeted, exposed in his own workplace, as if they were all coming after him.

"Kim." Heo Minjin said earlier that day, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead. Both she and her sister, Heo Minseon, peered down at him.

Heo Minseon and Kim Minseok had such similar names that with the foreign and native tongues that licked the office, they both melted into one, the shout for one of the Minseo's unclear on who it was for.

And so the office quickly took to calling Minseok 'Kim', the only other Kim being Kim Namjoon, who had already established the nickname Joon.

Kim turned his attention away from his work, paying attention to the prying girls.

"Are you feeling okay?" Minseon asked, finishing her sister's thought.

Minseok gently pushed Minjin's hand away, nodding. "I'm fine." he fibbed. "Just tired."

"Conferences are boring." Minjin agreed. "But seriously, you don't look all that well."

"Just stressed."

"Because of Russia?" Minseon asked.

"Because of Miyeon?" Minjin asked.

"Because of both." Minseok admitted, growing irritated from the constant prying of the girls. This was just one of the many reasons Minseok was gay. Boys didn't pry.