If it had not been for the pressing need to satiate his appetite and the variegated company cafeteria that promised the satisfaction of all sorts of palates, Hoseok's chances of running into Mirae would have probably thinned out to nonexistence. He had already, unwittingly, ended up keeping track of the waxing moon for two nights, while an interluding balmy day also coalesced into their murk in the meanwhile, and yet failed at being fed the female's whereabouts. So the element of surprise was not merely that, but coupled with relief too. Because although Mirae had never struck him as one who would flee at the slightest of inconvenience, Hoseok was on the brink of assuming just that had she remained untraceable for another day.

Hoseok's lips had curled into a pleasant grin as soon as Mirae's eyes got locked on his. The former must have concluded that she felt equally delighted upon having finally met him, innocently brushing aside their previous encounter that had cast that one whole night in a bad light for the both of them. Truthfully though, Hoseok could not piece together much of it. It was too hazy for him to solemnly follow through and determine what exactly had happened back there. So after a while of beating himself up about it, he just kind of dropped the task, and all that stuck by his side from then onwards was a bitter aftertaste. 

He knew that he had done something— something enough to upset Mirae so irredeemably. And yet when it came to puzzling out that mystery, he was as clueless as a goldfish. 

It was thus natural that he mistook Mirae's attention as a friendly one, because he did not remember a dime's worth of what went down. Or how hellish it seemingly was for her to endure. So when the female tore away her gaze unannounced, the smile on his face wilted, giving way to a mild frown.

"Wait, are you still angry with me?" He asked, his words an almost-incoherent mumble.

"Me? Angry with you?" Mirae scoffed. "You're right, actually. What made it so obvious? I thought I was doing a good job."

"Come on, Mirae, you can't be serious." Hoseok elicited a resigned sigh. "You know it's been two days since we last talked, right? You can't simply ghost me. At least tell me what about me disappointed you so much that you decided to be done with our... friendship so easily? Enlighten me, what did I even do for you to act like this?" 

"Easily, you say? You think I'm overreacting, don't you, Hoseok? Well then, I apologise for being so lowkey about it all this while. I'm gonna start exaggerating now, so if you're of opinion that I'm a highhanded bitch based on how I've been behaving from the past two days, I'd rather you braced yourself." Glimpsing at the cup of americano otherwise resting still in her tray, Mirae did not dare second-guess before splashing it all onto Hoseok. "Instead of pointing the gun at me, why don't you try reorganising your thoughts and put your brain to work? You've been oiled enough now, haven't you? Thank me later for the smooth functioning." She raised the empty cup in the air before tipping her head to signal her departure.

Smothered gasps and piercing stares rippled through the crowd, and Hoseok felt thankful that they did not transform into mordant comments eventually. Despite so, inferring that his fate had been sealed, would be a massive understatement. He was to be the locus of every group's conversation by the end of the day, it was confirmed, and yet he was not a tad concerned regarding it. After all, every individual is a paparazzi hiding in plain sight. Why must he feel disconcerted over the inevitable as if that would yield him anything?

"What ever was that..." Hoseok whispered incredulously, but his face did not cooperate. "You're making it harder for me correct things between us, Mirae." Mustering the courage to call was already unnerving enough that he got waved at dismissively by her on top of it all. 

And that was how he figured out that his fuck-up was a royal one, if anything. To fix it would unarguably require more efforts than he had estimated, but how was he to accurately calculate the direction in which he must place them? There remained no other resort for him apart from racking his brains now— an activity which he loathed from the bottom of his heart.

"So you're at it again. Pulling me out of my comfort zone is what you do best, it seems," his lips stretched in a nostalgic smile.

✧

Hoseok dragged in a deep breath of air as he gaped at the late winter sun. The rays emitting from it still had a prismatic touch to them, which the screen of his phone perfectly reflected when he fished it out from his pocket to check the time. However, as he peered at the device, every evidence that it was indeed a sunlit day just a few minutes prior, was obliterated. And before he could manage to notice the change in the affairs of the weather, a single— albeit voluminous— drop of water wound up landing on his phone's screen.

So he hastily whisked his line of sight towards the dimming sky, which was slowly getting occupied by smoky clouds floating across it, and could not help but sneer momentarily at the unpredictability of it all, drawing analogy between the current and that embarrassing moment he had to live in the cafeteria. Though he had to cut it short before he could ultimately laugh at his own self, for the leaden clouds up there were giving the impression of bursting anytime soon, and he did not possess an umbrella in order to safeguard himself against the downpour. 

Therefore, realising his vulnerability, he hovered his bag above his head, and sprinted towards Sunghyung's restaurant without bothering to look around and/or back. And that was how the person placing bets on Hoseok's next move ended up intrigued and decided to follow him. 

Not to mention how they had an umbrella and were thus spared the stress of being soaked in the rain, unlike the carefree man who had taken off relying solely on his tattered bag.

✧

"What are the odds that he's not a fucking phantom?" Mirae muttered, breath unstable. "I don't remember his feet ever tapped against the ground. Unbelievable." She swayed her head exhaustedly, peeping at the street ahead from behind a lamppost.

Nevertheless, the exasperation fogging her mind eventually tended to part and usher her towards the epiphany that stood across from her— quite literally. The repercussions of her vain attempt to be at Hoseok's heels were glaring, and were possibly what had altogether blindsided her from identifying the very blessing in disguise. But now that she had recognised a set of oh-so-familiar front decor, suffused in its emblematic garish red tones, and the easily-distinguishable pair of pirated Nike shoes left at its threshold in a fastidious manner, Mirae identified the aspect that she had been neglecting all along.

That Jung Hoseok, in spite of his expression marked with a certain capriciousness, had always stood at the farthest corner of that spectrum. He would be predisposed towards playing the same-old, safe game until the very characteristic that had made it harmless all along, wore off, and he was left with no alternative but to forage for another refuge. Mirae's analysis would also explain why it took him a couple of years in order to finally take a detour from his routine failures and try his hand at something else. Something that was as much of a gamble as was his previous career, but just because it did not extend sugary promises, he skirted around it for as long as he could afford to.

Jung Hoseok was an extremely uncomplicated person, in every sense of the word. And yet instances where people would misunderstand him never seemed to abate. 

Now that Mirae had performed her redundant zeroing in into Hoseok's state of mind, she could fathom why the male would desire to pay Uncle Bae a visit. With the exception of her own self, Bae was most likely the only person with whom Hoseok could establish a connection. So wanting to escape from his everyday-miseries— and the glum-looking weather specifically— and seeking solace in a friend's company was only human of him. More so when the one who was in his closest proximity must have felt to him to be lightyears away from himself, after what had occurred earlier in the day.

Guilt had now successfully clenched Mirae's heart in its spiky grasp.

A shuddery gasp was let out by her as she climbed across the doorsill, eyes still downcast. Perhaps she was expecting Hoseok to spot her first and thereby provide a spark to her otherwise-defunct conversational skills. Or maybe she was simply steeling her mind to forward a genuine apology without making it awkward for the both of them, and hence the aversion of gaze. Whatever she had swirling in her head could not come to fruition anyway, for it was not Hoseok who occupied her vision when she attempted to steal a quick peek at the bar table. 

If the entire restaurant was vacant of even an echo of Hoseok's presence, and nor was he sat at the slick counter table that exclusively dealt with the serving of drinks, did the man somehow got swept away in the wind? And that too when his shoes were still at the threshold and the wind could not possibly have spirited away only him while doing no damage to the restaurant?

"It's not making sense at all," her bewildered eyes searching for answers as her voice faltered.

"Long time no see, Mirae! How you doin'?" Sunghyung chirped from behind the counter, instantly garnering her regard.

"Good that it's just me whom you said it to. You could get booked for this, y'know?" Mirae's brows furrowed contemplatively. "Anyway, did Hoseok come in? I'm pretty sure those out there, are his shoes. But he's also nowhere to be seen in here, and that's making me doubt my observational talent. Help me out there a bit?"

"He..." Sunghyung craned his neck to scan the door. "He didn't... Didn't come here."

"And you're saying that after quite visibly checking the very shoes I referred to?" One of her brows arched, depicting that she was not buying any of it.

"Yeah. Because those are mine." Sunghyung paused when Mirae did a swift verification of his claim by alternately staring at him and then the shoes in the picture. "Why? Can't I have the same shoes as him? Does only he have the right to look cool? He's already got a nice appearance so I wonder if he even needs an accessory to enhance it. But I do. So I bought those. They really suit me, I'm telling you."

"Alright, that's enough socialising for today..." Mirae rushed her speech, ensuring that her self-address was not intelligible to the old man. "See you around, uncle. I'll be off now." She immediately pedaled backwards towards the exit, dashing out of it in a flash. 

Just when Sunghyung had begun to recover his lost breaths, someone's hand reached for his shoulder from behind, startling him to the extent that he ended up smashing his own body against the high counter table. His widened pupils lapsed into normalcy only when he could ultimately ascertain who was that most detestable person on the earth, rubbing his back while wincing every now and then.

"That must've hurt badly." Even Hoseok's sympathy felt despicable to Sunghyung at the moment. "Was there a customer, though? And if yes then how are you already done with them? I was in the back rooms for barely ten minutes, if my watch hasn't stopped working."

"It wasn't a customer," Sunghyung clarified, and Hoseok's brows involuntarily intertwined at that. "Mirae had come looking for you. Apparently, she recognises those shoes you wear. Girlie's head over heels for you, I can bet on that."

"That's one wild theory considering how she doesn't even wanna look at my face currently." Hoseok snickered, lips twisting in amusement. "Anyway, there's something I need to discuss with you. It can't actually be called a discussion, though, because the decisive authority rests with you. Am I being too illogical for hoping that you'd understand where I'm coming from—"

"Oh, just spill it already." Sunghyung groaned in frustration.

"Will it be possible for you to hand me my payments on a weekly basis? I'm sorry if I'm being too demanding. But a week has passed and I haven't come to know how my sister's been doing. I can't just shrug off my responsibility as a brother, you know. And I don't wanna visit her empty-handed either so..." Hoseok trailed off, wishing for Sunghyung to put two and two together.

"Tell me one thing, Hoseok," Sunghyung started, but his tone was not objecting whatsoever. "What are you so afraid of? What even was the big deal in asking me this? Did you not toil away your free time in here for a week? Or am I only valorising you and you didn't pitch in as much labor as I think you did? If that's the case and you merely idled around behind my back, then the intimidation is justified. But you didn't do any of that, did you?"

Hoseok could only part his lips in awe. The response had unequivocally caught him off-guard.

It had been around two days since he was confronted with an insolvable amount of irresolution. The subject matter being how to demand his own time's worth of pay without appearing to be spoiled to the old man. The belief was paradoxical, as plain as day, but the magnitude of it was making it difficult for him to plainly dislodge it from his head. As much as it felt grueling to march forwards alongside it, it was also ridiculously impossible to just purge himself of it. On that account, there were not precisely ample options for him to hand-pick from. To disregard the existence of the very conundrum was a colossal and yet the only wager, so when his audacity did not wind up backfiring, it lent him inexplicable relief.

Such a substantial reassurance that he exhaled audibly, surprising Sunghyung who now clutched a sand-colored envelope between his fingers.

"Your hardwork," he smiled amicably, offering it to Hoseok. "In a form in which you can actually exploit it." He winked mischievously. 

"Thank you so much, Uncle Bae, I'll never forget your kindness." Every word that Hoseok spoke was dipped in sincere gratitude, so Sunghyung's displeased visage made no sense to him at first.

"Of course," the older one mocked. "It's just this weekend that I'm letting you enjoy. You're coming in again from Monday."

"No doubt in that." Hoseok broke into a wide grin. "Alright, see you then. Monday it is," gesturing a salutatory adieu before finally trooping away through the front door.

However, when the bells that signaled a fresh arrival into the structure chimed again, regardless of Hoseok's departing footsteps sounding as keenly as ever, Sunghyung's curiosity got fueled. Consequently, he did rotate around towards the same direction, only to have his eyes peeled open as if he had just encountered a ghost.

"So Hoseok never came in, huh?" Mirae gritted her teeth, but the cloying affection that laced her voice was definitely far more daunting if someone was to ask Sunghyung.

✧

a/n

hiya again! what have y'all been upto these days? as for me, i finished reading the folk of the air series (10/10 recommended), writing these 2 chapters that you read just now, and completed watching the glory (goddamn what an intense show)🥹 and currently, studying for the sem-end exams that i have in under a week😔 life's busy these days huhu. but that doesn't mean i won't try to clear the backlog of updates. expect them soon <3 and make sure to leave your votes and comments for me hehe🤗