wonwoo's entire group was seated in seungcheol's cafe, long after the place had originally closed. the fair moonlight peeked through the large windows and completed the already cozy atmosphere they created. it was one of those nights that wonwoo treasured and wanted to last forever, which was unfortunately, impossible.
"how about you invite your friends over too?" seungcheol offered just when mingyu was done with telling a story about his and wonwoo's vacation and about the quite awkward way they had met.
"i mean, sure?" mingyu replied, getting out his phone to text them the address individually, as they didn't have a group chat like the toe cult.
lucky for them, it didn't take long for junhui, chan and hansol to arrive all at the same time as chan had picked them all up in his car. which became quite habitual as he loved showing off the beautiful vehicle. to wonwoo's surprise they were all oddly relaxed, even with the unfamiliar company they were about to spend the rest of their evening with, which only made the atmosphere better in his opinion.
"wonwoo! man! how are you?" hansol gave him a brotherly pat on his shoulder before grabbing a seat next to him, both chan and junhui following his example. "i'm good! how are you?" wonwoo replied, eyeing hansol's wide gummy smile which only seemed to stretch out more.
"i've been good!" hansol then proceed to look beside wonwoo, noticing the pout on mingyu's face.
"so wonwoo's everyone's new favorite now, huh? what happened to us!" mingyu dramatically exclaimed, crossing his arms in a childish manner. "mingyu shut up! how about we get to know each other?" chan was quick to change the subject, averting his attention from a grumpy mingyu to the group of boys who had been silently watching them in fascination.
"is it just me, or do you look extremely young?" jeonghan bluntly asked chan, who seemed visibly offended. "well, excuse me?"
wonwoo couldn't help but to laugh about their first interaction, that ended up in a playful but heated discussion soon after. the entire group started introducing themselves to each other, a connection being made in just a matter of seconds. "how about i get you all some coffee?" seungcheol offered as he got up, dragging jeonghan along with him by his upper arm so he would stop arguing with chan.
"i like anything with whipped cream!" chan exclaimed happily, sitting straight on an instant as he wiped the wrinkles from his perfectly matching designers outfit that had to cost at least a few hundred dollars all together. "i told you! you act like a little kid!" jeonghan snickered as he saw chan's level of annoyance rising up again.
"shut up! you look like an outgrown toenail!"
"toes?" soonyoung's head peered up, toes yet again being his first impression to the practical strangers, which made the occupants around the table burst out in laughter.
the whole atmosphere was so delightful and uplifting. this all until mingyu received a certain text saying 'i'm outside, where are you? x' which went unnoticed by everyone except of mingyu himself of course, who got strangely tensed by the simple buzzing of his phone.
"if you could excuse me for a second! i think i left my car unlocked." mingyu hurriedly got up from his seat, which finally called some suspicion to wonwoo, who knew exactly that it was one of the last things mingyu would forget on a daily base. and beside that, he double checked it right before they walked inside. but he decided to leave it unmentioned, accepting the fact that there was a chance that mingyu still smoked as a stress reliever.
wonwoo could understand like no other how stressful a large amount of company could be.
before anyone had the chance to say something in return, mingyu had already walked over to the door and disappeared out of sight. it was hansol who got up out of a sudden that caught everyone's attention. "excuse me for a second as well." he spoke without giving a further reason, hurrying himself to the door as he followed mingyu's exact footsteps.
unfortunately hansol feared what mingyu was up to, knowing that someone's behavior couldn't possibly change so drastically out of a sudden. knowing mingyu, his bad habits wouldn't have vanished by now. he'd caught him several times before he met wonwoo, and he feared the worst; that mingyu was still up to bad things..
which only got confirmed when the warm summer evening breeze hit his exposed arms and he hid away behind a wall, spying on mingyu and yet another unfamiliar girl that had her arms wrapped firmly around his neck, their lips locked together in a tight kiss.
it was all just a matter of seconds before she disappeared, leaving an utterly fazed mingyu in the alleyway behind, with a stack of dollar bills in his hands. the boy was busy with counting how much money he'd made with just the few minutes they had spent together, when hansol's sudden appearance scared him.
it wasn't his first time being caught, though hansol could tell by the look in his eyes that the boy was frightened. of course he knew mingyu for a long time already, but cheating was unforgivable in his opinion. especially after the way he spoke about wonwoo, as if he finally found his soulmate.
yes, perhaps mingyu had a valid reason to do things like this, but it was still wrong in hansol's opinion.
"you filthy bastard." hansol hissed through gritted teeth, his face showing nothing but disgust and aversion. "how long are you going to keep this thing up?"
mingyu's hands, that were buried in the pockets of his skinny jeans, were trembling so bad even hansol was able to see it. yet still the tall boy remained silent, having absolutely no clue himself.
"you know what, i'll give you one day to tell wonwoo. if not, i'll be the one who he's going to hear this from." hansol threatened, making mingyu's head peer up on an instant, his eyes screaming panic.
"hansol please.. you can't do that to me.." mingyu pleaded, tears threatening to fall. but still hansol remained expressionless, turning his back against mingyu as he left the boy standing alone in the alleyway right outside seungcheol's cafe. there were no more words needed for him, as he knew his threat had made enough impact on the boy.
"i'm just saying that right now, you're the biggest asshole i know. i really thought wonwoo had made a difference to this behavior of yours. and you know what, i'm siding with him when you're going to hurt him. he doesn't deserve to be cheated on." he spoke his final words before turning back to the cafe, acting as if nothing ever happened between him and mingyu.
while mingyu sunk to the floor, hansol's words were echoing through his mind. but he knew the partly american boy was right, he couldn't keep his act up forever. he had to tell wonwoo eventually.
and if tomorrow was that day, there was no other option left but to confess everything to him before hansol had the chance to.
