Oh sometimes the truth
Oh hurts more than lies
Oh we're scared of getting hurt
We turn away from the truth

"Hey." "Hey." I smiled over to him. He comes here every Friday. His smile is sweet but confident. His straight white teeth seemed to glow in the dark red light but his eyes sparkled even more. "The same as always?" He nodded his head and I grabbed a glass and poured gin into it. "Why only one glass?" And Tonic water on top. I looked up. "What?" "I want two." "Oh, do you meet up with your girlfriend?" "If you want to..." Quite confused I poured another gin tonic. "It's for you I mean." "Oh." Should I take it? I looked up at him smiling at me. "Normally I'm not allowed to drink at work but..." "But you have 100 guys a night wanting to buy you drinks and you can't bear these guys hungry eyes and drink till you don't care anymore and..." "Wow, wow, wow. All I wanted to say is that I'm not allowed to but I'm making a exception for you sir." "Sir... Sounds good." I rolled my eyes while chuckling silently and washed up some stuff and came around the bar to sit next to him. "Why do you make an exception for me?" "Good question... You're always here and I wanted to know why. Plus you look very sympathetic." "How often do you tell that guys?" His face changed from sweet and nice to arrogant. "I never did this before actually." "I don't like it when you lie to me." "One time before." "Carry on." "He always gave me a big tip and I didn't wanted to seem impolite." "And then?" "I feel like I'm in an interview..." I took a sip from my drink and carried on. "He tried to do stuff to me and after I said no 5 times I called the security on him and since then I own 100 bucks less a month." The man chuckled. "I would say I'm sorry but you shouldn't be in the same place with a guy like that so I'm glad he's gone..." I smiled. "Now you. Why do you buy me a drink?" "You're pretty." "Thank you." "Can I hold your hand?" "If you promise me not to touch anything besides that, yes." He smiled softly and intertwined his hand with mine. "Your hands are so tiny." "What did you expect? I'm 1,59m. I don't have..." "You're that short?" He stood up and towered over me. I stood up too and was barely able to reach his chest. The free hand that didn't hold mine covered his mouth now. "Oh my God... That's so cute. Sorry, does that hurt your feelings?" "Nah, I like being short and cute, thanks." "I thought since you're a foreigner you may be tall." "I'm even one of the shortest here in Korea..." "Since when do you life here?" "2-3 years I think." "Ahhh. Cool. Where do you come from?" "Germany, Europe." "Ah! Guten Tag!" I giggled. "Guten Abend." His thumb caressed the back of my hand and I blushed. "Do you feel uncomfortable? Should I stop?" I shook my head. "No. But I'd like to know your name." "Oh my... I didn't tell you? Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol." "Pretty name... Sounds somehow familiar..." He swallowed. "Ahh, maybe I heard it on TV, doesn't matter." His smile was back and I blushed. "What do you do here every Friday night?" "My job is kinda stressful... I need some time on my own from time to time. Or with you. I don't mind spending time with you. I like it." "Where do you work?" "Oh, I work for a big company... Nothing to exciting." "So you're something like a manager?" "Yeah. I think so." "Oh, cool." "I like my job a lot but I just need a break..." "Why don't you take done days off?" "It's not that easy..." "Sounds like a stressful job..." "I don't want to waste my time with you talking about that kind of stuff... So tell me: What's your favorite dish?" "My real favorite dish or the thing you tell somebody if you just met them?" "Your real favorite dish." "Normally I'd say diet water with 2 grams of salad but let's be honest: pizza ramyun." "This is carbs on carbs." "This is incredible." "You're right. Carbs are everything. So when do we have a pizza ramyun together? Next Friday?" "Is this an invitation?" "Yes, to a date." "Next Friday, yes?" His smile was so warm that I couldn't say no. I didn't even want to say no. "Where can I pick you up?" "At my apartment. At 6?" He nodded his head and I stood up to get a pen. I wrote the address onto his hand with my phone number. "Gosh, that's like in a bad teen movie." "I don't have anything against teen movies. At least it isn't a k-drama and you're not my long lost sister or a vampire. Or are you?" "Neither. And if we would be in a k-drama you would have to be the son of a rich CEO that is engaged with another woman. Or basically a K-Idol. I mean you have the looks for it, not lying." Okay since when am I this open and flirts? He laughed nervously. "What music are you into then?" "I listen a lot to girl groups. Do you know Red Velvet?" "Of course! They are super cool! But how about boy groups?" "Oh, totally not. I get easily into fandoms. And they only set standarts that the normal man could never fulfill." "I feel insultet." I laughed. "I said that you have these boygroup aesthetics. Now be quiet. Or die your hair and become a rapper." His laughter was music in my ears, I couldn't deny that. "Well then." He took out his wallet and tipped me very well. "Ah, that's too much honestly." "You didn't serve any other customers while you hang out with me. That's just right. And now hush and put that away." I blushed and took the money from his hands. "Well then... I'll text you! See you next week!" He waved me goodbye and I was low key disappointed. He really took that "don't touch me anywhere besides my hand" thing way too serious. Looking down on the counter again I was confused. He didn't want to get out of my thoughts. I threw the dish rag into the corner and opened my hair the apron wandered into the washing machine and I got into my casual clothes again. I left through the back entrance and saw a tall man standing outside waiting for me. His breath turned into white clouds. My steps became faster without even wanting it. He opened his arms and I wrapped mine around his upper body. "Don't call the police on me okay?" I laughed. "No. I won't." "It's late. I can walk you home." He grabbed my hand and we walked side to side in a comfortable silence. "How do you know the way to my apartment?" "Honestly: Google maps." He chuckled in a low voice that gave me chills. "I know you don't want to hear that and that's the dumbest saying and I hate saying it but 'normally I don't behave like that.'". He laughed. "I'm serious! I've never done this before and I know that it's super ridiculous but..." "I know. Your heart is beating so loud that I could not not believe you. And you don't seem like that kind of girl." "Are you that kind of guy?" "You think so?" "No, actually not." "But you're scared that I am?" "Not really..." "But a little bit." "Yeah..." Chanyeol stopped walking and pressed my hands against his chest. His chest was warm and his heart was beating in a fast pace. I blushed and looked onto the ground and smiled. "See?" I nodded my head and a few minutes later we were standing in front of my door. "Thank you for walking me home Chanyeol..." "It was late. Of course I do that. You shouldn't walk home alone past 10pm." I smiled softly. "Yeah, that's probably right." "Okay, I'm a bad liar. I would have walked you home even if it would have been 1pm with the sun shining brightly. But well... I'll text you as soon as possible. Have a good night." He gave me a soft peck onto my head and ran away faster than a lightning. What a day... I stripped off my jacket and threw it onto the ground while I was walking up to my bedroom just to fall onto the soft matress and fell asleep seconds later.

"Good morning ~ did you sleep well? It's Chanyeol oppa!"

"Oh, you're really texting me... Good morning!"

"Oh, did you really think I wouldn't text you after yesterday?"

"I don't know... I didn't think I would be this lucky..."

"Ahhh... Lucky... Yeah. Of course."

"Hey, don't downgrade yourself! I'm definitely a lucky girl meeting you!"

"Haha, if you think like that... Then I'm happy. I have to go to work now. I'll text you tonight, yes? Have a happy day!"

"Don't work too much oppa~"

Wow. He really texted me. I stood up with a happy face and jumped under the shower. Time to get fresh! I need perfect skin for next Friday... I started to apply a lot of skin care and was feeling refreshed and as good as I haven't felt in a long time. I packed my bag walked to work. "Oh, you're in such a good mood... Is it because of that hot guy? He looked like a K-Idol... Did you... Did you hook up with him?" I laughed loudly. "No, we didn't do it. But I have his number and we'll meet nex weekto go out and eat something." "Wow, seems like you must have really catched his eye... Fighting!" I laughed and brushed with my fingers through my hair. This guy... He must be a really busy man. While I was cleaning my workplace I just couldn't get his handsome face and his deep laugh out of my head...

It was about 4am when I took the bottle of gin and placed it back on the shelf. I cleaned the whole bar and the last guests were gone since 30 minutes. And still I couldn't think of something else than him. "Don't you want to go home? I'm getting worried. It's so late and... Are you okay?" My boss came out of his bureau and have me a worried look. "Oh, sorry. I did just forget about the time..." "If there's something you need to talk about... You know where you can find me, right?" "Of course Mister Chae!" He nodded his head and was about to close the door when he said "Excuse me, but we're closed." I turned around and saw Chanyeol standing there. "I think he's not here to drink something, are you?" "I just wanted to see you..." "Oh. Okay. I'll be in my bureau. If you need help just scream." I nodded my head again and ran around the counter and hugged the tall man. "Did you miss me?" I hesitated for a second. "Yes. Yes I did." "So did I... Can we talk a bit?" I looked into his eyes. They weren't too happy. "Are you okay?" "Okay yes but nothing more." "It's 4am... Come with me." I grabbed his hand and walked outside with the tall man. He was silent bus his hand holding mine was warm and comforting. It didn't take a minute till I found us an empty uber. In the back of the car we sat next to each other, still holding hands. He closed his eyes and looked down. Looking at him was almost painful. I just held his hand tightly and quickly payed the driver via kakao pay. Chanyeol left the car and I quickly opened the door to my apartment. "Come in... Do you want a coffee? Or tea?" "Coffee would be good..." I gave him a sign to sit down on my bed in the small apartment. He closed his eyes and let himself fall into the sheets. I was getting nervous whole brewing the coffee. "Now tell me... What's on your mind? You're worrying me..." I placed his coffee on the bedside table.

With his eyes still closed he started to tell me. I sat down next to him while looking down at the tall man with the long black hair. "So you have to know that I live together with some of my co workers..." "Oh, something like a shared apartment?" "Exactly. We all work together since so many years now. In the beginning we were 12. We graduated from business school together and were like a big family... Over time 3 of them left us because the company just wasn't fair to them..." "Oh, what did they do to them?" "They weren't Korean and so they payed them less..." "Oh... That's really not cool." "Yeah... But now another friend of mine has many jobs in China and he won't be able to live with us anymore..." He looked like a child that lost his favorite plushie. His long arms and legs hung down on the sides of the bed and his face looked exhausted. I didn't know what to say in that moment. "Sorry for throwing all my problems at you... You probably don't even want to hear them and..." "Hey! Don't say things like that! I just don't know what I should tell you now... I mean it must be terrible when someone you lived with for years has to move out... But maybe he's done with his job soon and can come back earlier?" "You're probably right... But we have a big project coming up and he can't be with us and that just sucks..." He stood up, drank his coffee and sat down next to me again. "Thank you for listening... Maybe I'm just overreacting..." "Hey, you're not..." I leaned over to hug him. "Please don't be too sad anymore..." His head dropped onto my shoulder and I felt how tiny hot tears ran down my back. "Ahhh~ Chanyeol!" I buried one hand in his black fluffy hair and caressed his back with the other. "He wouldn't want you to be so sad about it..." I caressed the back of his head and slowly his sobbing became more quiet. "Shhh... Calm down and relax a bit... I'm worried about you." He sighed and let himself fall down with the back on the bed wiping his tears away. "I have to get up at 7am again... Can I stay with you till that? I will behave well, I promise." I looked down at him being kinda worried about being alone at night with him in bed... But his red swollen eyes and his puppy look just killed me. "Get under the blanket puppy. I'll make you a tea and you'll be fine." I put the blanket over him and walked over to my kitchen counter. He looked so done with the world. While pouring the hot water I looked over my shoulder, somehow being worried that he'd just dissapear if I wouldn't look at him for a second. Of course the hot water didn't just go into the cup and decided to burn my skin too. Silently I sweared. I jumped over to the sink to cool my wrist with cool water but the skin already had some burns. "Did you say something?" "No, nothing! I'm just making your tea! Wait a second." I clenched my teeth and dried my hands with the towel. I rushed over to the bed and placed the cup on the small tabe next to the bed. "I hope you like peppermint tea." "Oh, yes. Of course. Thank you a lot... not just for the tea. But for everything. I didn't know what to do anymore but you just seem like... I don't know. Like my calm anchor..." His hand reached out to mine and I pulled it back instantly in pain. His red eyes seemed wet again. "I'm sorry if that was too much... or did you..." He grabbed my hand. "You burned yourself! Why didn't you tell me instantly?" Chanyeol jumped out of the bed and dragged me to the bathroom. "That must hurt so bad... next time you have to tell me!" "Honestly looking at you was more painful than the burns." "Aiish. Be quiet." He carefully put some burn ointment on the burned parts and caressed the back of my hand. "At least I was able to do something for you tonight too." His smile seemed tired and his eyes were still sad. "You should sleep a bit." "You too." It was silent for a moment. "If you don't want to sleep with me in one bed it's fine. I can sleep on the couch. I just want to know your around." I looked up to him just shaking my head. I looked down on the floor and took his hand. Under the blanket it was freezing cold but as soon as Chanyeol buried his head on my neck I were getting warmer. His arms were softly wrapped around my waist and his breath was warm and regular on my skin. But still... the tiny little tears running down his face hurt more than any burning...

To be continued.