@wsjeongmin // "sorry about that. i didn’t see you there."
The impatient young man tapped his fingers against the glossy surface of the table he now draped himself over. There was a slight tinge of guilt ㅡ knowing full well it would need to be wiped down in a matter of minutes. His weak attempt to make up for the smudges was to pluck a number of fallen petals from the wood and place them in his open palm. Not yet wilted, vibrant, still plush, and full of life. Tears from a thoughtful bouquet he purchased from the florist ㅡ one he was too shy to gift to the person he intended.
He wanted to insist that he wasn’t being thoughtful. That he just thought they looked nice as he was passing by … coincidentally on a path he rarely took. A scenic route traveled by one who consistently claimed to abhor nature. It didn’t matter, in the end. The flowers would be left to whither in the shadow of his reluctance.
Hyunsoo released a sigh dripping with regret as he peeled himself from the seat, only to feel the collision of someone else’s against his knuckles. Then, a quick apology.
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t really but he found himself disgruntled with his own inability to muster up a verbal apology from his own end ㅡ as if doing so would surrender some part of himself. He glanced down at the small red mark on his index finger with nothing more than a frown, however.
Inhaling, he finally mustered up the courage to glance in his direction ㅡ although his eyes averted every now and then. “You should sit here. It’s got a better view.”
He glanced out the window, taking in the soothing sight of an empty street, only overhanging decorative trees outside the café obscuring the perfect picture. Uncharacteristically, a small smile began to crack on Hyunsoo’s usual stone-like expression. He visibly tried to suppress it, biting into his lips so as to not bear his teeth.
