When he arrived at work, he realized that he was early, but decided to change anyway.

He had made friends with some of the caretakers in the first week, but hadn't seen most them because of his night shift.

But when he arrived at the base, there was a lot going on, which was why he didn't had the chance to talk to anyone at all.

And since it seemed as if he was just standing in the way anyway, he finally decided to pass the time until the handover in the garden.

The air slowly finally cooled down and a pleasant breeze blew.

Nevertheless, the air smelled seductively of the different flowers of the garden and transformed the atmosphere into something almost magical.

Unconsciously, he went in the direction of the pond with the night bloomers.

Only when he heard a quiet "Hello Hyunjin" he looked up and realized where he was.

Chan sat on a stone by the pond like the day before and dipped his fingers in the cool water.

"Hello Chan."

He sat down a bit away from him and watched him. Chan seemed strangely calm and a soft smile played around his lips.

Worried, Hyunjin let his gaze wander around and then saw one of the caretakers from the late shift sitting a little away on a bench and relaxed again.

"How are you?" Hyunjin finally asked quietly, but only got a shrug in response.

Hyunjin suppressed a sigh and fished a torn water lily leaf out of the water.

"Did your flowers survive the day?" he made the next attempt.

That finally made Chan smile and he nodded. "Yeah.. they are still beautiful. Thank you!"

"That's good," smiling, Hyunjin put the leaf back into the water and pushed it to drift away. "Could you eat something today?"

Chan fished out the leaf before it could swim past him. "Mhm.. but I'd rather eat the brownies again.. They were better," he said quietly.

Smiling, Hyunjin looked at him. "I ask Felix if he can bake new ones."

That was the moment when Chan looked up and looked at him directly. "Felix... the lucky one.. no wonder his brownies taste so good."

For a moment, a sad, almost tormented expression scurried over Hyunjin's face, which led to Chan wondering why.

"I.. uhm would probably rather say the lucky charm.. because he is an absolute treasure.. but is far from always lucky.." Hyunjin murmured so quietly that Chan wasn't sure if he had understood him correctly.

Just when he wanted to say something, the caretaker from the late shift came to them and Chan immediately fell silent.

"Hey, my shift is over now and unfortunately we have to go back in."

"It's okay," Hyunjin said, stood up and held out his hand to help Chan get up.

He hesitated for a moment, but then grabbed Hyunjin's hand and let him pull him up.

With a little distance, they followed the caretaker inside, but no longer talked to each other.

Hyunjin took on the task of bringing Chan to his room, where it still looked bald and boring. Apart from the flowers.

"We.. we'll see each other...," said Hyunjin, because he didn't really know what else to say, but also didn't want to just go without saying anything.

Chan turned to him again and a gentle smile appeared on his lips.

"Thank you.. You make the whole thing here a little more bearable," he said quietly and finally went to his room.

When Hyunjin finally went to the base, Yuna was already waiting for him and smiled when she saw him.

"Hey Jinnie. Slept well?"

That made Hyunjin smile immediately. "Very well. Felix was there and I didn't have to sleep alone."

Sighing, Yuna leaned against him for a moment. "I also want a best friend who sleeps with me in bed so that I'm not alone," she said theatrically.

"Yu... You have a fucking fiancée! I think he wouldn't think that it's funny," Hyunjin said with a giggling.

"But I still can like the thought," she said laughing and pushed Hyunjin out of the base. "Let's go, first round for today."

The shift was incredibly boring. Absolutely nothing happened.

Not that Hyunjin would have liked to have it dramatic or chaotic again, but it really didn't happen anything at all.

Just when he was about to fall asleep, Yuna shook his shoulder. "Hey Jinnie, maybe you should go look at Jeongin? I had the feeling that it was quite good for him to talk to you."

"But he's not part of our round? And it's in the middle of the night?" Hyunjin asked tired.

"I know from a reliable source that he is often awake at night. And apart from that, we have nothing to do right now. Go if you like to," she said with a smile, drank a big sip of coffee and then turned back to her files.

Yawning, Hyunjin stood up, stretched out and made his way to Jeongin's room.

After knocking softly, he opened the door and then hesitantly entered the room.

Jeongin lay on his bed, had his headphones on and read a book.

When Hyunjin stepped to the end of the bed, he looked up in surprise and immediately put the headphones and the book aside.

"Hyunjin," he said smiling, jumped off the bed and hugged the older one almost stormily.

"Hello Jeongin," he said with a soft smile and patted him on the back.

"Say Innie please. And sit down. It's nice that you're here," said the younger with a big smile, sat back on the bed and patted on the spot next to him.

They talked for quite a while. About the weather, the cruel food in the cafeteria and what kind of things they liked.

"Did you bring brownies again? They were incredibly delicious," Jeongin asked and his eyes were shining.

"It seems like everyone here just likes me because of the brownies.. maybe I should bring Felix here. If you like his brownies so much, then maybe him too," Hyunjin murmured and sighed theatrically.

"No, no! That's not how it was meant at all!" said the younger one with his eyes torn open.

"Everything is fine, Innie. It was just a joke because I heard almost the same thing earlier," said Hyunjin and stroked Jeongin's hand.

"Oh... ok.. I'm sorry..." he murmured.

"Don't apologize... I have to apologize for scaring you so much.. I'm sorry! I just wanted to make a joke and not that you feel bad...," Hyunjin said quietly and felt terrible.

"It's okay.. I.. uhm, don't get along so well with rejections...," Jeongin whispered and nervously bit his lower lip.

"If you want, I can ask Felix for the recipe. And if I have day shift again, maybe we can bake some together?" asked Hyunjin and finally managed to put a smile on the lips of the younger one again.

"Sounds like a nice idea," he said quietly and leaned against the headboard of his bed.

Yawning, he rubbed his eyes and slid a little deeper. "I think I can sleep now," he said and smiled tiredly at Hyunjin.

"Sleep well!" Hyunjin stood up smiling, turned off the lights and quietly left the room.

He wasn't completely satisfied with himself, even if he had managed to make Jeongin smile again in the end, but he decided to be more careful with his words.

Sighing, he rubbed his hands over his face.

It was just two o'clock in the morning, which meant that his shift was still four hours long.

On the way back to the base, he passed Chan's room and it was incredibly difficult for him to just go on.

He had the feeling that Chan was slowly opening up to him, which only made the desire to get to know him better even stronger.

The rest of the shift went just as slow and boring as the beginning. They spent the time cleaning up the employee kitchen and refilling all the necessary materials in the therapy rooms.

And yet they were infinitely happy when it was finally six o'clock and were finally able to make the handover.

꧁⟢ ⍭〄⍭ ⟣꧂