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( song of the day :
lowkey - niki )

[ friday ]

ahn's office looked modern. the whole setup had a brown theme, tracing from his organized desk table to the bookshelf behind the leather office chair he currently was seated in. you'd hear how your shoes meet with the vinyl wood floor upon entering, with a fragrance of coffee roaming the room's air. cream blinds covered the window that transmitted the bright rays of the afternoon sun.

this instance with doyoung was so peculiar. no one would probably believe it if he says they met by coincidence during wednesday of last week, without knowledge that they'd actually be colleagues. they bought desserts, took strolls around the park with meaningless conversations, and kept arguing about what happens to the payment of a broken phone, thinking they'd never see each other again.

they didn't even care to know each other's names at that time.

"you didn't come to the ramen place we agreed on," doyoung told him as he recalled their agreement after their ice cream rendezvous. those certain words were : i have to go. let's meet at the gas station's ramen shop tomorrow at eleven. we'll get to know each other by then!

"sorry, i had schedules," he replied apologetically, his lips secured in between his pearly teeth. "but i'm completely free this sunday. wanna continue the plan? same place, same time?"

"just don't back out."

"trust me, i won't." he raised his right hand as if it was some sort of an oath. "you know how to drive?"

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[ sunday ]

doyoung was the one to drive the both of them to the gas station.

ahn wore something that literally covered him up. there were numerous layers in his current outfit. a gray scarf, a trench coat, a white hoodie with a shirt of the same color underneath, loose pants, checkered vans, an army green baseball cap, and a black face mask. the clothing layers were quite unnecessary, since the only thing that made him unrecognizable was the mask. nothing else.

what a nice way to treat his laundry woman.

they sat at the chairs next to the glass wall, their view being the different models of parked cars and the various bright colors of the gas station itself. what brought him back to a sense of realism was doyoung's slurping sound as he devoured the noodles.

"why must you eat so loudly?"

doyoung glanced at him as if he had deformity in his facial features, swallowing the bunch of noodles that we had left in his lips. "it's more enjoyable. try it!"

"no thanks." ahn looked away for a short period of time, observing the people entering as he took off his face mask. once he tipped his face back to doyoung, he faced a big surprise.

he could feel doyoung's breath trickle towards their milky skin like smooth rain. their distance was only about a pinky apart, to the point where he was able to perceive the aroma of the spicy ramen he recently ate.

a sudden flash from the outside made his dreamlike state fade immediately.

"did you see that?"

"did i see what?"

"the flash," he explained while cautiously scanning the outside to see if there was anyone familiar. "i think it was from a camera or something."

his colleague snickered at his consciousness, turning his face back to the half done ramen bowl. "you're just growing paranoid because of those rumors. it's nothing."

still, worry filled ahn's heart.

he didn't want doyoung to be pulled into rumors, but it was seemingly starting to happen. a simple flash of a camera could result into something so damaging.

shit.

"i really have to go." he rushed towards the door without a proper goodbye, leaving an untouched ramen bowl and a confused doyoung who carried a frown.

doyoung whispered to himself, "i thought you wouldn't back out."

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♤ gabrielle's note

it took me three days to finish this chapter AHAHAH,, maybe I enjoyed writing it a little too much (I used it as an interval while I did the two previous chapters) 🥴

have a nice day/evening <3