Sixty-Four

It had started raining out of nowhere. I had not carried an umbrella because I was not expecting it but thankfully, I had made it into the building just in time to avoid getting completely drenched. By the time I had gotten off the elevator on the top floor, I had taken off the coat and beanie that had gotten wet and slung them over my arm. I walked up to the pleasantly smiling lady at the front desk immediately after entering the big double doors of the restaurant.

"Welcome, sir. Table or reservation?"

"Reservation. Under the name of Yoo Changmin." I answered with a smile.

"Alright." She checked her register and stepped out from behind the desk. "Yoo Changmin-ssi is already here. If you will follow me-" She motioned to a door off to one side.

I had never been to this place before. It was a high-end place that was frequented by some high-profile people. The reservations were also difficult to get and they were very carful about the crowd that they served because of that very fact. Even up till the previous year, I would never have thought of ever coming up here for dinner, let alone on a date. I guess we were one of those high-profile people now.

"It's here." She stopped outside the door, opening it and letting me in. "Have a good evening, Choi Jeongwoo-ssi."

"Ah. Thank you." I returned a bow when she bowed to me and then entered the room as she shut the door behind me.

"You're late." Changmin said from the chair that he was seated at, eyes on the screen of his phone. I had noticed how his hair had grown long when we had met earlier during the day too but just then, he had pulled the top part of it into a neat bun.

It was hot.

"By three minutes." I sighed and approached the table. He was also wearing semi-formal clothing. His trench coat lay neatly over the back of the chair next to his.

"I was here early." He set his phone down on the table and raised his eyes, turning his body towards me. That looked like an invitation.

"I had informed you that I would come here only after going home and changing. It's your own fault if you had to wait." Reaching out, I touched the bundle of hair atop his head. Squishy. I chuckled. "Didn't realise that it had grown this long."

"It's only the top part." He caught my hand and moved it from his head, smiling when I dropped my eyes from his hair to his face.

He was asking for it.

"You look good." I smirked and leaned in, taking advantage of the private room he had gotten us to drop a decent kiss on him, as I had been wanting to do since I saw him earlier.

Welcome home, Hyung.

A hand at my waist, he pulled me in for another kiss before letting go. Satisfying ourselves with just that much, I moved to the chair on the other side of the table.

He sat forward and pointed at his bun. "So, I take that you like this."

"It earned you a kiss." I shrugged.

"This is the first time I'm trying it."

"It suits you." But then again, everything suited you.

He smiled, then let out a heavy breath. "I wish we could have gone to the dorm like last time but everyone is there. This was the next best option."

"I understand. This is good enough for tonight though. I'm just glad that you're back." I left my belongings on the chair next to mine.

"I am too." He nodded. "How's that Japanese track doing?"

"Jaehyeon Hyung's done. Hanseol's almost done too." I replied. "We're still trying things and we have a few days' work left on it. This is only our third Japanese track too."

"We were also having a discussion a while back." He offered up. "We've released four Japanese tracks and they have all done well. Why not release an album?"

"An entirely Japanese one?"

"Yup."

"That would be nice, I guess. 04:00 am is very popular in Japan." I nodded.

"Mm. Oh, speaking of popular, I finally got to watching your Beach Adventures and Rooftop Conversations."

I chuckled. "And?"

"It looked fun. You looked happy." He shrugged.

"I was happy. That stay at the beach was very enjoyable even though we have a lot work to do. The tents at night were the best though." Just thinking about it brought back a nostalgic comfort. It will forever be one of my fondest memories with my members.

"You could have toned down the flirting a bit." He pressed his lips into a thin line and narrowed his eyes at me. "You and YoonJae."

Just as I had thought. "Why? It's just fan-service."

"At least knowing that I would watch." He pouted. "Go easy on me, Jeongwoo-ya. YoonJae doesn't anyway. I don't want you doing this too."

"Jaehyeon Hyung doesn't what? Go easy on you?"

"Yes. He doesn't hold back with the things that he says and does. It's like he's trying to make me jealous."

There had been a few instances when I too had felt that Jaehyeon was being a little inconsiderate but… "He's just teasing."

"Even so. Our circumstances are a tease already. He need not remind us of how hard this can be."

He really did not like that, did he?

"It's okay. Hyung. We're managing somehow, aren't we?" I said reassuringly. "We'll make it through somehow."

That nasty feeling that I had gotten when Jaehyeon had asked me about how long we were planning on going like this resurfaced but I pushed that thought out of my head.

We ordered the food and drinks shortly after. It was already past 09:30 pm when we started eating and sharing stories from our tours. That did not make us feel like hurrying it along though. We took our own sweet time. For me, that was a simple attempt at locking our circumstances and worries outside the private room's doors for as long as I could. Eventually, it all felt so good that the subtle flirting was enough to satisfy me. It was very different from the restlessness and desperation that had gripped us that night at the hotel. That was most likely owing to the fact that we knew that we had only that one night. Knowing that he was going to be around here for a while was comforting, even if we couldn't meet every day.

It made me think of how unexplainable emotions were. You grow greedy when you get to enjoy something too much but end up satisfying yourself with little when you get starved.

"Hyung." I spoke up when the thought occurred to me. "During the break, if we do end up going somewhere together, let's rent a place or something and not stay at a hotel."

"Rent a place?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yeah. A place where we can be left to ourselves and no one will need to look after us. We can manage a place by ourselves for a few days, can't we? I can take care of the food too."

"Jeongwoo." He stared at me. "That sounds good." His eyes twinkled when he smiled. "We can do whatever we want."

I laughed at how enthusiastic he seemed all of a sudden. Yes, we could do all that we wanted and not have to worry about where we were or when. More than all that though, we could escape- just the two of us- from everything making us sit so formally on the opposite sides of the table.

By the time we had finished dinner, split the bill and left the restaurant, it was already past midnight. I had ended up staying longer than I had intended to but it did not bother me at all. I was actually feeling so agreeable that, in fact, I might have even consented to staying out the whole night had he asked me to.

… That was a bit too much, wasn't it?

"Ah. I really wish one of us had a car." Changmin said as I got into the taxi and shut the door on my side. "I should consider buying one."

"Just for our sake?" I asked and proceeded to instruct the taxi driver. My dorm came first.

"That and in general." He shrugged. "Won't have to count on Manager-nim for everything."

Cabs were the most that we could make use of when it came to public transport if we wanted peace of mind. It made sense to get a car. "That would be nice."

"Yeah." He nodded and turned to look at me when the taxi started moving. Laying an arm over the backrest of the seat, he watched me suggestively. Understanding what he had meant, I frowned towards the taxi driver. We weren't alone in the taxi. He spoke soundlessly. "It's okay. He won't see." I was still unconvinced though. Especially after having been told off by Jaehyeon the previous time, I had gotten cautious about these things. Changmin probably realised my hesitation because he moved a little closer and tapped on his cap, pulling it down a little so that it covered his face decently well. "He won't recognise us."

I was wearing my beanie and a mask. He had pulled his mask down to his chin earlier when we had gotten into the taxi. Taking a couple of moments to think about it and eventually giving into the way that he was looking at me, I scooted up to him and pulled his mask up to cover his face too, just to be on the safe side. He laughed softly and wrapped the arm that had been on the back of the seat around my shoulders. Leaning against him, I got comfortable against his shoulder, hoping that the taxi driver would not pay us any heed.

It felt good. And we said nothing more to each other after that. He rested his cheek on my head and looked out the window. If this was all that we were going to get just then… I took his free hand in both of mine and held it at my lap. He glanced at me but went back to staring out the window again, this time with a satisfied smile on his face, visible from the crinkling of his eyes.

It was one of those moments of bliss that made you wish that time would stop, just to allow you to revel in it a little longer.