Café Bisco II Chapter 1 [3/3]
Since Yunho didn’t have classes until three, Jaejoong suggested they visit a department store smack-dab in the middle of Seoul’s downtown shopping square that Yunho had never gone to before.
They compiled a list of things to buy after Jaejoong unpacked his personal belongings (taking up half of Yunho’s floor space in clothes alone, one giant suitcase full), things that Jaejoong wanted to buy as housewarming gifts.
The futon was for Yunho, who refused to let Jaejoong sleep on the couch.
A new frying pan was added the list because Jaejoong had gone through his kitchen and decided not only was Yunho in great need to restock his fridge, but he could seriously use replacement utensils and kitchenware.
The apron was for Jaejoong, though. That way, if Jaejoong was still insistent on cooking for him, Yunho would at least feel better about the amount of effort Jaejoong was putting into being his roommate for the week.
“Then buy me an iPod touch, too,” Jaejoong laughed, “since we didn’t get to win that gift certificate at that one electronics store in the mall.”
He was about to accept this request when a strange jingle rang out behind him-immediately followed by a sudden weight pressed sharp onto his back, lean arms scrabbling at his shoulders as he and this new warm body tumbled forward.
Jaejoong almost didn’t catch them in time.
“Jung Yunho! Yunnie!” That breathless trill, the chime of a set of bells attached to a collar necklace - Yunho knew who was clinging to him now. “Oh my God, is it really you?!”
Chuckling, Yunho pried the flailing limbs of the slim young lad off of him, turning around.
“I don’t know…you’re the one that attacked me without making sure first, Heechul.”
Jaejoong stared at this odd spectacle of a man before them: a thin oval face highlighted by delicately curled lips painted in a soft smirk, tousled mid-length dark tresses pulled back in a loose ponytail, and curiously bright pink spectacles. What was more, he was looking right at Jaejoong, taking skipping steps forward.
Moving towards him.
“Hi.” Blinking once fast mere inches from Jaejoong’s face and breaking into a wide grin immediately after. “I’m Heechul.” Then, as though it were an afterthought, Heechul fidgeted with his red store apron and nametag. “Kim Heechul.”
I can see that, Jaejoong almost said out loud - but he had more pressing concerns gnawing at his stomach, and beside that, Heechul held out his hand for Jaejoong to shake. “Kim Jaejoong. It’s nice to meet you, Heechul-sshi…”
“Heenim is fine.” To Jaejoong’s questioning look, Heechul explained, “It’s my nickname. Hankyung says it suits me.”
“Umm.” Without thinking to question who Hankyung was, Jaejoong asked the only thing that was came to him: “Heechul-sshi…are you and Yunho-yah close?”
Yunho at last returned to Jaejoong’s side (the impact from Heechul crashing into him made him drop everything in their shopping basket and he had spent the past minute gathering the fallen items again) and looked from Heechul back to Jaejoong.
“We’re good friends from high school, actually.” He handed Jaejoong a small food sample that a passing deli cart gave him extras of. “Back in Kwangju-”
“Correction, Yunnie!” Heechul huffed, wrapping an arm around Yunho’s arm. “We were high school sweethearts! Practically, anyway.”
Jaejoong promptly choked on his miniature sandwich.
“H-High school…sweethearts?” Jaejoong slowly gasped.
“Oh-no, no, no, NO!” Waving his arms about, Yunho flailed for a good three seconds before thinking to pat Jaejoong encouragingly on the back to alleviate his coughing. “H-Heechul didn’t mean it like that, Jaejoong-ah! It was an inside joke between Donghae and his girlfriend back in high school! B-Because that one picture made us look like a couple…”
He sent Heechul a reprimanding look, to which Heechul met with a small pout and a meek, “What?”
“Aish…” Shaking his head. “And you always said your ‘good looks’ were a blessing?”
“They are.” Heechul didn’t waste any time with his response. “But this face is a curse, too.” Pressing a hand to his chest with a grossly-exaggerated pained expression. “My beauty frightens some people, apparently. It makes life so lonely~”
“He says that,” Yunho murmured with a slight grin to the still-recovering Jaejoong, “but his cell phone memory’s always full with contact numbers.”
Heechul flinched, throwing his arms up in the air.
“That reminds me! Yunnie, Jaejoongie - quick, a picture!” He yanked the bewildered pair closer to the jewelry counter where he worked. “For commemorative purposes! This is going on my Cyworld for sure…!”
They spent nearly ten minutes with Heechul after that, sharing one rambunctious story after another on their high school years (or, in Jaejoong’s case, the lack thereof) after getting in a good picture following much insistence on Heechul’s part. Yunho was glad to see Jaejoong’s unease fading with each passing second, exchanging jokes with Heechul about Yunho’s occasional “head in the clouds” syndrome and phone numbers at Heechul’s request.
For a while, he worried the two of them wouldn’t get along - and that would have left him feeling very hard-pressed, indeed.
“Hmmm. Actually, I get off work at six,” Heechul announced at Yunho’s offer to meet them at the apartment for dinner, beaming at Jaejoong. “And if Jaejoongie’s cooking, then I’m definitely coming.”
“Then we’ll see you later, Heechul-sshi.” Jaejoong gave a soft laugh, nearly falling backwards when Heechul hugged him in earnest farewell. “We’ve still got a lot of shopping to do, and you have to get back to work.”
“Work, smork.” Heechul rolled his eyes. “There’s nobody even here! Besides, I got a new job secured at this cute little café in Uptown Seoul, so I’m quitting tomorrow!” Giggling. “Café Bisco, get ready for Kim Heechul!”
It was Yunho’s turn to make a kind of strangled noise in the back of his throat. “Café-!?”
“Heechul-sshi.” Jaejoong tittered. “That’s where Yunho-yah and I work.”
It took the next ten minutes to calm Heechul down, who promptly exploded the moment these words left Jaejoong’s lips.
At that point, Yunho consigned himself to missing at least his first class at the rate they were moving towards finishing shopping. But he couldn’t find it in himself to be upset, seeing how happy Jaejoong seemed to have someone new to talk to. And he would have been quite content to watch the two of them prattle on for the next few minutes if his cell phone’s text alert hadn’t interrupted him in mid-observation.
Upon seeing the displayed name, Yunho opened the message immediately to view its contents
“It’s Yoochun-ah.” Jaejoong lifted his head at the very mention of their friend’s name, diverting his attention from the designer Cartier rings on display to Yunho’s puzzled countenance. Yunho looked at Jaejoong, who rested his chin on the taller man’s shoulder with a confused hum. “He wants us to meet him at Café Bisco…but I thought he didn’t have work today?”
“He doesn’t.” The expression on Jaejoong’s face was just as perplexed as Yunho’s. Heechul, curious as always, huddled beside Jaejoong and put on his best meditative face. “Which makes me think there’s a good reason for all this…”
“Ahhhhh, b-but what about the grocer-?”
“Groceries can wait.” Without waiting for Yunho to try and protest again, Jaejoong urged Yunho along toward the cashiers with a not-so-gentle push, sending him a brief flash of teeth and twinkling eyes to Heechul (and later Yunho) in apology. “You’ll hear from us later, I promise.”
“Don’t worry!” Heechul called to the retreating couple. “I’ll call you when I’m done around here! Good luck~…!”
A few incessant waves and a cheeky smile later, they lost sight of Heechul in the throng of shoppers walking past.
++++++++++
They settled into the small booth of a street side diner a block away from Café Bisco, Yoochun dispersing their anxious-looking waitress with a brief glance and request for tea.
“I really am sorry for calling you out like this.” Yoona tugged at russet strands of hair curled around her cheek distractedly; a nervous habit, Yoochun assumed. “If this was any other day-”
“I would have been busy.” Yoona blinked. “It’s fine. Like I said when we got in here, better late than never.”
“Late, indeed.” Yoona’s wry smile was mirrored in equal force by Yoochun. “We really are too late, aren’t we? Even talking about this now…there’s nothing we can do to change what’s already been decided.”
“You keep saying that,” Yoochun pointed out, “but I haven’t seen any proof that we can’t turn this thing around.”
Yoona began to worry her lower lip, digging in her purse to extract a manila folder.
“These are copies of the papers Father gave me.” Yoona’s gaze was tearful as she handed the folder to Yoochun. “I-I couldn’t believe it myself until I saw it, but…”
When Yoochun got a good look at what was scrawled at the bottom, his eyes stung with the abrupt sensation of burning moisture.
“No way.” Yoochun’s voice grew hoarse and his hands shook as they gripped the documents tightly. His emotions were going haywire - anger, betrayal, disbelief. “They forged our signatures at the office? But we weren’t even there!”
“They probably blamed it on our ‘busy schedules.’” Pressing her palm into the side of her face and sighing, Yoona leaned forward a bit - looking more and more exasperated by the whole ordeal (and more relaxed) as a result. “Granted, I was in school at the time, but *really*…” Shaking her head again and again. “I can’t believe my father would do such a thing!”
“I can’t believe the notaries took his word for it.” Yoochun’s eyes narrowed. “Unless…he gave them a little pocket change to go home with.”
Yoona suddenly slammed her hands onto the table, startling a couple of bored-looking teenagers at the next table.
“This is ridiculous!” Yoona’s voice shook, unable to even look at the shell-shocked Yoochun. He hadn’t been expecting that reaction from Yoona at all. “Are we just pawns to them? Is that how Father sees this marriage? As a…as a business arrangement?!”
Yoochun dropped his gaze, frowning. “Apparently.”
“And you’re just going to stand for this.” Rounding on the defeated Yoochun, the lass trembled with the effort to withhold her rage. “You’d let this happen, even though you have someone you love!” Once more, she gave the wooden surface a sound hit - this time with her fists. “What about that, Yoochun-sshi? Did you forget-?”
“Yoona!” Yoochun barely managed to shout without raising his voice too much and scaring the middle schoolers already watching them, intrigued. “Just…l-listen to me, okay? What I told you that day…that was a lie.” He saw Yoona’s stunned visage and had to swallow before continuing. “When I told you I had someone in mind already…I really didn’t.” It took every bit of his strength of will to keep himself from crying from the way Yoona’s face fell at that moment. “I didn’t have anyone in mind.”
{ But…to be honest, now it’s different.
Now
I have someone- }
“T-Then…you have someone in mind now.” She obviously had caught the subtle nuance of his words. “You love someone…and you feel so strongly about them, you don’t want to go through with this.”
“Yoona.” Yoochun shook his head. “Listen to me-”
“No. Yoochun-sshi. Please. Answer the question.”
His eyes widened. At the time, he hadn’t realized her earlier statements were actually things she felt obliged to know. Her lacquered nailed gripped his sweater sleeve from across the table, dark lashes falling shut. And Yoochun realized, surely, there was someone out there for this very pretty girl to fall in love with and be happy with - because there was a kindness reflected in her eyes that made it hard to turn away. She wouldn’t leave someone alone that was in need. Someone that was searching for kindness would surely deserve someone like her.
But he wasn’t looking for her kindness.
“Tell me, please.” After pausing to bite down on her lower lip again, Yoona held on tighter to his wrist. “Just tell me yes or no…is there someone is your heart already? I just want to know for my own sake…just so we can be honest with each other.”
{ “Pinky swear we’ll stay in touch and stay friends?”
“Okay, okay. Pinky swear. We’ll be friends ‘til one of us croaks.”
“How about ‘til one of us finds a new best friend?” }
It was a promise, he remembered - a promise he made with Junsu long ago when they first met. Of course. It was a promise he intended to keep.
But there was only one problem.
“I know,” Yoochun slowly exhaled. “You’re a good person, Yoona.” In spite of all his reservations, his free hand reached out to gently tap hers. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do from here, but…”
{ Junsu.
We’ll probably have to change that promise now.
…It’s probably my fault, too. }
“The answer to your question,” Yoochun slowly said, “is yes. I do have someone in mind. Now.”
{ I’m not planning on leaving my best friend.
Not that I ever expected to. }
“…That’s all I wanted to know.” Her hand left Yoochun’s wrist - but the space between them was comfortable now, enough to make Yoona slowly break into the tiniest of warm smiles. “Thank you for your honesty.”
-Especially not when my first best friend
Became my first love. }
++++++++++
Yunho stumbled out of the cab with Jaejoong at the front of Café Bisco to find Yoochun on the bench poised right outside fiddling with his cell phone.
“Yoochun-ah.” Jaejoong ran to Yoochun, enveloping him in a warm embrace at once. “What’s up? Yunho-yah and I were out shopping before you called-”
Instead of answering, Yoochun clung to Jaejoong’s shoulders, shivering all the more. Yunho felt his heart sink to see a bit of Yoochun’s wet cheeks past cropped bangs. What had he been crying about?
“’Chun-ah…” Jaejoong pulled away from him, fretful, hurrying to wipe the salty remnants of his melancholy from his face. “You didn’t get into a fight with Junsu-yah, did you?”
But Yoochun shook his head fervently, looking up at Yunho who knelt beside Jaejoong to comfort Yoochun as well. “H-Hyung…I just-I can’t believe they’re actually making us do it…”
“Do what, Yoochun-ah?” Yunho coaxed him further, stroking the younger man’s arm. “T-This isn’t…” There was apprehension laced in Yunho’s tone; Jaejoong turned around to see Yunho’s brows furrowed in concentration. “…this isn’t about the engagement, is it?”
“Don’t-!” Yoochun could barely speak, but past his heady sniff, they both understood. “-God, don’t…don’t tell Junsu! Please. Please. T-The last thing I want to do is-”
Yunho couldn’t help but recall a scene quite familiar to this (though it was further uptown, and Yoochun was absent from it entirely) when he and Jaejoong were witness to something similar: Junsu breaking down after fighting with Junho, small hands clinging to Jaejoong’s back, crying and giving in to a much needed emotional release.
Catharsis.
Yunho knew the feeling all too well.
“We’ll keep quiet.” Jaejoong let Yoochun sob into his shoulder, and Yunho held the both of them close (when Jaejoong entwined his fingers with Yunho’s, he gave them a firm squeeze back just to let Jaejoong know he would keep the same promise). “Your secret’s safe with us.”
He felt Yoochun nod, the weight heavy on their chests, and Yunho knew he wouldn’t - couldn’t - possibly be able to concentrate in his classes today.
[ Part 1 // END ]