it was nearing midnight when wonwoo recieved a call. the boy was seated on the couch in the tiny living room of their bungalow where only a small light lit up the surroundings, being just enough for wonwoo to read the pages of the romance that lay in his lap.
his parents and sister were long asleep, so with a silent huff he got up from the couch to take the call outside. this way the others in the house could continue to sleep peacefully since the walls weren't exactly soundproof.
the hoodie he was wearing was warm enough for him to go out at this time of night, so he hurriedly wore his sneakers before walking outside through the front door, clicking it back in its lock ever so silently before taking the call.
"jisoo? why are you calling at this time? aren't you supposed to be asleep?" wonwoo spoke as a chuckle was heard on the other side of the line.
"how ungrateful! you could have answered the phone with oh hi jisoo! i've missed you! but instead i get this!" jisoo scolded him in a playful way, making wonwoo laugh as well.
"as if. stop bothering me and continue your anime or something." wonwoo huffed in his usual cold tone, which jisoo was familiar with and didn't take as offensive no longer.
"you got me there.. i just finished one, and i didn't exactly check the time before calling you. i assumed it was still early but i see now that it's later than i thought!" jisoo excused himself, making wonwoo's lips curl up in a small smile. it made him somewhat happy to realize how well he knew his friends. "anyways, the reason i'm calling you, since you're awake anyways! how is everything there? you're at the beach i heard?"
"it's, quite okay." wonwoo admitted, his tone lacking enthusiasm like usual, "we're staying at one of those bungalow type of houses so i don't exactly have my privacy, meaning i'm taking trips to the beach more often."
"jeon wonwoo, is that even you? taking trips on your own intention? that's not the one I can remember." jisoo joked on the other side of the line, sarcastically messing around with his friend, "or is it mingyu you're meeting on the beach, huh?"
wonwoo could imagine the sly expression jisoo pulled when their conversation happened face to face and he had to admit, he missed his friend.
"oh shut up!" he defended himself, not wanting to continue on the current subject, "how is everyone there doing?" wonwoo asked in curiosity, although he could guess the answer.
jeonghan would probably be way too busy with his boyfriend seungcheol, who were still quite new to their relationship (separate - jeongcheol). soonyoung didn't do anything else than dance all day, and bombard the group chat with texts written in caps lock. showing off his obnoxiously energetic self. and jisoo himself, easy. too busy binge watching anime's he just discovered. his parents were barely at home, so he got the extremely large led television in the living room all for himself.
wonwoo had often mistaken the living room for some type of private cinema as the gigantic screen on the wall gave off that exact ambiance. even jisoo himself joked about it on a regular basis.
"seungcheol is officially opening the cafe next week! he will run the store by himself for now, together with jeonghan since he isn't expecting it to be exactly crowded yet, but the place really pulls public in my opinion and he needs to hire employees soon!" jisoo sounded so enthusiastic about it, making wonwoo's regret about going on vacation rise up again.
memories about how he had helped building everything up for the past couple of weeks flooded his mind, making a foolish smile display on his face. they planned out an interior, placed the tables and matching chairs, installed the equipment such as coffee machines and several other things.
they had all done that together.
and now there was a high possible chance he wouldn't be there when the official opening would be.
"that sounds great!" wonwoo faked an enthusiastic tone in his voice, trying his best to convince jisoo, "i wish i could be there as well."
"that's okay wonwoo, soonyoung won't be there too. he goes on a trip with his parents that day so you really don't need to worry! we'll let you know how it went." jisoo's words got followed by the sound of him yawning, making wonwoo chuckle about how tired he sounded.
"you should go to sleep, it's getting late." wonwoo scolded him, knowing how jisoo took barely any rest as he tend to forget about the time whenever he was caught up in the storyline of an anime.
"you should too! don't stay up for too long won! see you later!" and when wonwoo whispered a small 'bye' he had already hung up the phone, ending his conversation with jisoo.
it was only then he realized his feet had unconsciously led him back to the beach again. here he was, standing at the beginning of the narrow path through the bushes before the landscape switched to something the complete opposite.
when he checked his phone he saw it was just after twelve, meaning it was indeed getting late. but did that matter? wonwoo felt like taking a walk on the beach and besides, his parents were fast asleep. they wouldn't notice his absence in a million years.
and so he did. he walked down the small path and set foot on the pitch dark beach, the loud sound of distant waves crashing on shore hitting his ears, together with a sharp gust of wind. the rustling of the leaves combined with the sounds of the peaceful night beach worked calming on wonwoo, who allowed himself to relax and breathe freely.
he let his eyes get used to the little light by constantly looking at his surroundings, seeing if he could make out shapes or anything else. until his eyes landed on something.
at first he wasn't quite sure if his eyes tricked him, it being dark and his eyes still not used enough to the low light. but after staring at the familiar frame for a bit longer he realized that he indeed had seen it right.
shall i walk up to him?
what is he even doing on the beach at this time?
but with all the doubts and questions racing through the back of his head, he confidently made a step forwards, approaching the person he was starting to feel comfortable with.
