cafe la fleur | skz

[15]

"you know," hyunjin piped up, breaking the peaceful silence, "my birthday's coming up. next week, in fact. would you like to come to my party?"

"party?" seungmin looked up from the book that he was currently reading, "really? you are inviting me? why?"

"do i need a reason to?" hyunjin chuckled, placing his pen down as he swiveled his chair around to face seungmin, "because. you're cool. and i want you to come to my party."

"but i'm awkward and shy though. i'm not cool," seungmin mumbled, "and i've never been to a party before."

"really? i mean," hyunjin laughed, gently poking seungmin's ribs, making the other squirm, "i'm not really that surprised. why don't you invite your friends? the ones i always see you hanging out with."

"can i?" the younger's face brightened, "there's three of them though."

"no problem!" hyunjin brushed it off, "i'm already having hundreds of people over. three more won't make a difference."

"oh..." seungmin hesitated for a moment before shooting hyunjin a shy smile, "i'll come."

-

jeongin walked down the stairs slowly, eyes glued to his handphone, earphones plugged into his ears as he watched his kdrama intensely.

all of a sudden, he felt himself bump into someone, and then the sound of something heavy toppling over.

jeongin immediately looked up and pulled out his earphones, only to see a curly-haired blonde look back at him.

"oh no..." the blonde sighed in english, an australian accent lining up to his voice, looking dismayed as he stared at all the fallen papers and books.

jeongin eyes trailed over to the books and papers scattered across the staircase and gasped, "i'm so sorry!"

setting his bag down, jeongin quickly ran over to the fallen books and started stacking them up, the blonde professor beside him picking up the sheets of paper. 

"thank you," the professor smiled at jeongin gratefully as the younger helped him carry the books up the stairs.

"no problem. i wasn't looking where i was going. i'll help you carry them up to your office," jeongin returned the warm smile.

-

minho studied the text message on his screen. it was a text from changbin, asking him to deliver a rose to dorm room number '458'.

minho didn't really question it though. changbin always seemed to do different kinds of weird errands, and being the supportive best friend he was, minho always tried to help out whenever he could.

minho looked for the rose in the desk drawer as changbin had instructed and found a fresh bloomed rose, it's petals red and lively.

and more interestingly, there was a note attached to its stem, held by a thin white string. but to respect changbin's privacy, minho chose not to read the note.

maybe it's for his crush, that australian boy. 

minho thought to himself as he picked up the rose and headed out for the door.

and he's just too shy to give it to him.

minho walked the two blocks, music playing softly in his ears with the wireless air buds hyunjin had gotten him for his birthday.

he ignored all the looks from the girls he had passed by. something he had long gotten used to from sticking with hyunjin for a long time.

swinging his arms, he smiled as he felt the evening breeze brush against his face, the faint sound of leaves rustling mixed in with the music he was playing.

he missed this simplicity. ever since he had started college, everything was just about parties, girlfriends, best friends, grades, and more parties.

he missed the simple times in life.

once arriving at the right block, minho, being the athletic person he was, decided to take the stairs, climbing up two at a time.

opening the door and entering the hallway, minho walked down, scanning both sides for dorm number 458.

"here it is," minho smiled once he had found the correct dorm room, knocking on the door gently.

however, to his utter surprise, it wasn't the aussie boy that opened the door. in fact, it was jisung.

there he stood in his oversized plain white tee, with beige shorts, as he stared up to minho with large sparkling eyes, "can i help you?"

"umm..." minho mumbled, shyness suddenly overtaking him, causing his brain to malfunction as he quickly shot out his arm to give jisung the rose, "here."

jisung blinked, obvious surprise painting over his face, "for... me?"

"well uh..." minho chuckled nervously as jisung received the rose graciously, "it's from changbin. i think. i was told to deliver it here."

"huh. strange," jisung answered, eyes full of admiration as he stared at the rose, "maybe it's for seungmin. do they... do they know each other?"

sniffing the rose delicately, he let a happy sigh slip past his lips, "but this flower is so lovely. i love roses."

minho felt a smile tug on the corner of his lips, but he fought to keep it down as he cleared his throat, "well then... i'll be going."

but just as he turned around, he suddenly remembered something. whipping back around, he quickly caught jisung's arm before he could turn around too.

"sorry," minho smiled apologetically before dipping his hand into his pocket, only to take out the squirrel keychain the younger had forgotten to take with him two days ago at the café.

"i think you left this," minho took the keychain and pressed it into jisung's open hand, giving it a gentle squeeze and turned to go, "okay, now i'll get going."

"wait!" jisung called suddenly, and before minho could even blink, jisung wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him tightly, "thank you so much."

"oh you're welcome," minho replied, a little stunned from the hug, hands awkwardly patting jisung's back, even though he wished he could run his fingers through his hair.

he was wondering how soft his hair would be when out of the corner of his eye, he thought he had spotted the tip of a familiar shoe poking out from behind a wall.

frowning, minho stared hard at it, but when he blinked, it disappeared.

he decided to not think too much of it.

jisung pulled away, a blush now dusted across his cheeks, "thanks again."

"hey, no problem," minho rubbed the back of his head and bit his lip, "well... bye then."

"yeah... bye bye," jisung flashed him a grateful smile and a small wave, as minho walked away and out of his sight.

as jisung returned back into his dorm and closed his door behind him, two boys hidden behind a wall not so far away stood, quietly rejoicing.

-

a/n: it's my birthday today :D one year older, one year closer to the grave 🤠👊

edit from the future: everyone who is expecting jeongchan in this fic, there is a nice comfy spot in jail for you /j