seonghwa woke up bright and early monday morning, unable to believe an entire week had passed since he moved into his new apartment. excitement overshadowed his tiredness as he made his way to the kitchen, an unusual pep in his step.

san was already awake and brewing coffee, the smell of coffee beans flowing through the kitchen air.

"good morning, san," seonghwa said as he took a seat at the island counter.

san poured two cups of coffee and slid one over to his friend, "good morning, hwa. how did you sleep?"

"good. i'm excited for my first day in the office," seonghwa's smile beamed, his pearly white teeth on full display.

"i'm glad! you're in the office today?" san asked as he knew his friend's job was hybrid.

"yeah, i'll be full time in the office for my first week. starting next week, i work from home monday, wednesday and friday," seonghwa replied as san shook his head.

"i'm so jealous of you. i don't understand why my job is fully in person," san replied with jealousy causing seonghwa to chuckle.

"man, you're making like double my salary and are working on wall street. don't complain," seonghwa replied back. seonghwa's marketing job was high paying, but nothing close to what san made working in finance.

"i guess it has its perks," san rolled his eyes, "anyways, i want to walk to the bakery next door to get breakfast. down to come with?"

seonghwa typically skipped breakfast, but decided to walk with san to the corner bakery on their block. the two threw on crewnecks and sneakers on before heading out, making sure to bring a key as jongho was still asleep inside.

the two friends walked the short distance and stepped inside the shop. it was decently busy for six in the morning, mainly filled with businessmen and women clearly
on their way to work.

"you know, i love coming to this bakery," san said to seonghwa as they waited in line.

"what's your favorite pastry?" seonghwa asked and san shook his head.

"it's not really for the pastries. one of the employees is a total smoke show. he works monday, wednesday and thursday, so i always make a point to come those mornings," san replied, causing seonghwa to chuckle.

"which one is it?" seonghwa asked as he scanned the employees working hard behind the counter.

"he's the one with black hair. his name is wooyoung," san replied. seonghwa found the boy as he handed over a slice of crumb cake to a customer, nodding his head in agreement.

"he is cute. have you ever spoken to him?" seonghwa asked, earning a laugh from san.

"well, if you count 'thank you' or 'can i have some more sugar,' then yes. otherwise, no," san shrugged.

"what the hell! what happened to my confident san?" seonghwa retorted, finding it hard to believe his friend had not tried flirting with the boy.

"i don't know man, i'm nervous! also, he's always flirting with the customers. so i don't know if he's interested in a relationship. i think he's still in college, so he might be in his hookup phase," seonghwa understood san's predicament.

"i get it, but it also doesn't hurt to try," seonghwa replied as he continued looking at the boys behind the counter.

as his eyes looked around, his breath hitched a bit when he noticed the blonde that had been facing away from him the whole time. the man had small, but prominent features. he was petite and looked exhausted as he handed a customer some sort of iced drink. he wore simple jeans with a crewneck and an apron with coffee stains on the front of his body.

"you didn't mention anything about the blonde," seonghwa said as he looked at the man with doe eyes.

"oh yeah, he's here almost everyday. must work full time. very quiet, i never really hear him chatting," san answered, "you think he's cute?"

"hell yeah," was all seonghwa could muster up.

seonghwa knew he had to make more trips to the bakery, regardless if he wanted something or not.

——

seonghwa walked onto the apartment building's elevator to make his way to work. he was scared, but excited to start his first day of work.

"oh, are you in apartment 4b?" a tall man who entered the elevator asked seonghwa.

"yeah, i just moved in last week," seonghwa replied sheepishly.

"i just moved into 4c! my name is yunho, by the way," the man held out his hand to shake seonghwa's, the shorter putting his hand out to connect.

"oh, so you moved into my friend's old apartment! cool, my name is seonghwa." 

"it's great to meet you, seonghwa. yeah, my fiancé and i just moved to manhattan from long island. we both work in the city and we recently got engaged, so we wanted to move in together before the wedding," yunho informed seonghwa as they descended.

"awesome. yeah, i worked upstate for a while. born and raised in manhattan, though. i'm glad to be back," seonghwa said as the elevator doors opened, signaling they made it to the first floor.

"nice! well, i hope to see you again, seonghwa. maybe if you're free this weekend, you and your friends can come by my apartment for drinks?" yunho asked hopefully, wanting to make friends in the new city he called home.

"totally, that sounds great to me! i think we're free, so let's exchange numbers," seonghwa pulled out his phone, handing yunho the device to put his name in. he sent the man a message so his number would not get lost.

"cool, we'll talk soon, seonghwa. have a great day at work!" yunho exclaimed as they walked out of the apartment building, heading in the opposite direction as seonghwa.

seonghwa could not be happier with his first week back in manhattan.

i feel like these beginning chapters are kinda boring so i'm sorry about that, but they're necessary for the character building aspect of the book😭

-vic