For quite a while, Hyunjin sat in the locker room, thinking about how to smuggle the flower into Chan's room, without anyone noticing.

Once he had appeared with them in the common room or at the base, the topic was eaten.

With a faint feeling in his stomach, he decided to sneak into Chan's room and bring him the flowers before he even started his shift.

The door fell close loudly behind and the echo echoed through the entire stairwell, causing him to stop and looked around in panic.

But no one was to be seen and he could hear no steps on the stairs, which was why he ran up to the first floor as fast as he could.

He carefully opened the door and peeked into the hallway, but there was no one to be seen here either. Which didn't quite help Hyunjin to feel better, because he had to remain undiscovered for two more corridors.

With quick steps, almost rushed, he walked across the corridor and at the same time tried to keep an eye on his surroundings and to listen if anyone was nearby.

At the last moment he avoided a therapist who came out of a patient's room, but fortunately went in the other direction and didn't notice him at all.

With bated breath he went around the corner and could already see Chan's room door.

The probability that Chan was not in his room at all had not occurred to him at all, which he was now all more worried about.

Not that it really mattered that Chan knew that the flowers came from him. But somehow it was important to him that the older knew that he had kept his promise.

He hurried down the hall, the last few meters to Chan's room and pressed his card on the sensor to open the door.

Panting, he pulled the door open just as wide that he and the bouquet of flowers fit through.

"Hyunjin?"

For a terrible moment, Hyunjin thought he had been discovered, but it was only Chan who sat up sleepily and looked at him in confusion.

"I... uhm hey...", angry about himself, Hyunjin shook his head barely noticeably. He had to give a nice picture, so sweaty and stumbling. Without thinking about it any longer, he simply held out the bouquet wrapped in red paper to Chan. "I brought you flowers."

Surprised, Chan pushed his duvet aside and stood up. Only when he was already standing in front of his bed, he realized that he was only wearing boxer shorts. A soft red shimmer lay on his cheeks, but he was too curious about the flowers to put on a pair of pants beforehand.

With a soft smile, Hyunjin held out the flowers towards him and could see how Chan's cheeks began to glow more, but also how an honest smile appeared on his lips.

Carefully, in order not to break anything, Chan opened the red paper and freed the flowers from it.

"I... wow I... they're beautiful," he muttered, sniffing the flowers. Surprised, he looked at Hyunjin after inhaling the intense fragrance. "They smell insanely good!"

Hyunjin smiled satisfied. "Then I chose the right ones."

Chan nodded, carefully placed the flowers on his bed, and hugged Hyunjin.

For a moment, Hyunjin stood there frozen, but then wrapped his arms around Chan and gently caressed his back.

"Thank you," Chan muttered as he pressed his face into the younger's shoulder.

"Gladly! I didn't want you to think my promises mean nothing!" Hyunjin said softly, allowing himself to enjoy the hug for a moment longer before gently pushing Chan away. "I'll come and bring you a vase or at least a mug of water later. But now I have to go to the hand over."

Chan nodded smiling and wanted to let him go, but then something else occurred to him and he held Hyunjin back by the arm. "But... you will be there for the visit of my best friend, will you?"

"I'm trying! Probably will be helpful when meet him outside, might be easier to get to you then."

He smiled at Chan again and then disappeared, quietly and secretly, like a thief, from Chan's room.

Who looked behind the younger one amused and then shook his head with a smile on his lips.

With a smile on his lips, which could easily have been interpreted as fake, Hyunjin walked into the common room and almost ran into Yuna.

"I thought you were running late. I was just about to call you."

"Sorry, I lost track of time," Hyunjin murmured and pushed past her. Stuffed his backpack into his compartment and poured a cup of coffee, while Yuna watched him critically.

"Everything okay? You seem kind of turned up?" she asked, sitting down next to him. Their colleagues would come right away for the handover, so they could just stay here.

"Yeah, really. I just had to hurry to get here. And I still feel a little sick because I stuffed a waffle with strawberries and cream into me before," Hyunjin muttered and hid as well as he could behind his cup.

Yuna looked like she wanted to say something about that, but their colleagues from the morning shift, as well as the other colleagues for the afternoon shift, showed up and there was no more time for questions.

Hyunjin couldn't really concentrate on his work. He always had in mind that Chan's best friend would show up soon and he had promised the older to be there.

Which meant that he wasn't really at work with his thoughts.

He had just done the first round over the station with Yuna and knew very well that she would go for a coffee break, which was why he tapped her on the shoulder before they left the base.

"Can I go to the garden and be part of the supervisors? I could use some fresh air."

Amused, Yuna turned to him and looked at him thoughtfully. "Sure you need fresh air and don't want to go out because a certain resident is about to get a visitor?" she asked and Hyunjin heard the grin in her voice, even if she tried to stay serious.

"No, really because I need fresh air. It's really stuffy in here," Hyunjin muttered, trying not to blush.

Now Yuna had to grin and nodded. "Be back for dinner supervision." She turned around and made her way to the kitchen.

Hyunjin looked after her in surprise. He had expected to encounter more resistance. And that Yuna didn't want to leave him alone with Chan. But since there hadn't been another real incident, Yuna's concerns seemed to be limited.

Somehow a little excited and curious, he made his way to the exit, which led to the garden.

It was a beautiful autumn day and the sun was shining down gracefully on them. Let the remaining leaves of the trees glow yellow-golden and it almost smelled of summer.

Some of the residents were sweeping the fallen leaves together and drove them with wheelbarrows to the compost. Others were busy preparing the vegetable bed for the winter and plucking out some weeds, while some were just walking in the garden.

Hyunjin let his gaze wander across the garden, but Chan didn't seem to be there. Which didn't mean much, because he couldn't see the pond from where he stood anyway.

He strolled through the garden, his eyes attentively on the inhabitants. However, more to pretend that he was in the garden as a supervisor than that he was really paying attention to them.

Slowly he steered his steps to the pond and could see from afar that Chan was there. Next to him a dark-haired young man and a small dog, who was excitedly running through the grass and jumped up to Chan again and again and was licking his hands.

For a moment, Hyunjin thought about whether he should even go over to them. But just as he took a step back, Chan turned around and it took him only seconds to spot the younger. At the same moment he raised his hand and waved to him.

A gentle smile appeared on Hyunjin's lips and he went over to the two. Until he stopped abruptly because he recognized the young man next to Chan.

"Jisung."

"Oh... I never expected to meet you here," Jisung replied amazed, bowing slightly to Hyunjin, who returned the gesture.

"You... you know each other...?" Chan asked softly, suddenly looking incredibly insecure.

Hyunjin quickly took a step closer and put a hand on the older's arm. "We met when I bought the sprinkles for baking. And then we met again at the pet shop, where Jisung works. But that's it."

"He looked like a helpless puppy, in front of the baking shelf and you know, then I can't hold back but help," Jisung added and had to giggle.

Chan exhaled audibly and finally nodded. He didn't know why at all, but somehow the thought of Jisung and Hyunjin being in some sort of
relationship made him incredibly nervous.

꧁⟢ ⍭〄⍭ ⟣꧂