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잊을만하면 (Bittersweet) - Chapter 4

#4 “Summer is in the Air”

Summer was already hot, especially that summer's year. It didn't help that Seungyoun was anything but shy in showing off some skin.

Seungyoun's ideal summer night was supposed to be hanging out in pubs near the campus area but that summer was too hot and he got an experiment to do until the weekend. He whined at his bad luck, but he was fine because he found that Wooseok would be staying at the dorm too.

"Dammit." It was Friday night and Wooseok just came back at 7 pm, cursing.

"What is it?" asked Seungyoun absentmindedly while scrolling through some shopping website to check some portable fan.

"Jinhyuk asked me to take care of his sample tomorrow. Seriously, how much he gonna ask me? First, he bought me my favorite drink during lunchtime just to ask my help for the analysis for today." Wooseok put off his socks and went to his bed straight away.

"But you like it, right?" Seungyoun was aware that Wooseok admired a senior in his lab, a Ph.D. candidate. Wooseok described him as an eloquent and considerate senior. He didn't have prior working experience in a microbiology lab, so when this senior sort of took him under his wing he was grateful. He was told to learn many things by the PI but he wasn't given any particular task so he had to follow and learn from the other senior lab members. Jinhyuk was all Wooseok wanted in a partner. He attended school abroad until he came back to Korea for his undergraduate study. He was enrolled in the best national research university and he continued working in the same lab until now. Wooseok somehow felt small because Jinhyuk was only two years older but he was already in his second semester of doctoral study while Wooseok was just a mere intern. The difference of expertise between them, however, didn't make Jinhyuk acting all high and mighty. Jinhyuk taught him basic lab techniques with great care. Whenever he asked Wooseok for a favor, he asked in such a manner that Wooseok couldn't help but say yes. As if Wooseok was some highly sensitive microbalance that you couldn't put much load in a rough manner. Wooseok chuckled by himself at how adorably cute Jinhyuk was. How could he resist his favor?

"Yeah... I like that I get to learn things from him but I hate that I have to work tomorrow while he's with his girlfriend..." Wooseok's voice got smaller as he covered his face with a pillow.

"He asked for your help because he's going for a date? Wow, what a considerate senior, huh?"

"He said he's got a wedding to attend, that's why he can't cancel it..." Wooseok was unconsciously explaining his senior action to make it sound like it wasn't Jinhyuk's fault.

"Yeah, sure, you already fell head over heels for him, Wooseok. He could ask you to do all his preliminary experiments for his thesis and you would still appear to be grateful in front of him while throwing a rant when you're with me." Wooseok didn't want to put too much expectation when he first met Jinhyuk. Since the beginning, he always wore a ring, after all. He didn't want to be that person who ruins other people's relationship and Jinhyuk was too smitten by his girlfriend. He never thought he had a chance, so he tried not to develop his crush further. But again, he could not resist Jinhyuk's charm whenever they were working together. Maybe he could escape his feeling if only their lab was not so packed with instruments that they often brushed their shoulders while doing analysis.

"Seungyoun-ah, for god sake!" He scolded Seungyoun. He knew Seungyoun got a bunch of tattoos on his body. Seungyoun was anything but shy in showing off some skin that Wooseok had to beg him to at least wear his pants before he goes outside of the bathroom.

During weekdays, Wooseok could restrain himself from looking at Seungyoun's body and his particular gun tattoo pointing suggestively at something inside his pants by taking a bath earlier than him then going down to the kitchen for breakfast. During weekends, Seungyoun didn't have any particular time to take a bath: Wooseok wondered whether it was a blessing or a curse since he got to take a peek for a while. But on this hot summer day, particularly this weekend when they had to stay at the dorm, this torturous moment would last even longer.

"Look, you can't expect me to cover up, okay? Have you seen the news? It's freaking 38.9 centigrade! We're lucky we're not living in Seoul." Wooseok sighed. They already blasted the air conditioner, but since they were living in a dorm, it was centrally controlled so there was not much they could do to make the room cooler.

"Yeah, let me just lie peacefully on my bed and read my Kindle, dammit Seungyoun." Wooseok added, 'and quietly glance at the other side of the room every time I finish one page, you son of the devil.' while letting out a frustrated breath.

"Hey, Wooseok, do you want some watermelons? I got some from the guy on the first floor." Wooseok came to the dorm three months earlier, yet it seemed that Seungyoun knew half of the people. That was just how Seungyoun was. He was bright, sociable, a good cook, and had 'such a luscious body...'  Wooseok thought to himself. 'Oh shit, I can't concentrate if I continue like this.'  Seungyoun snapped his finger at Wooseok.

"Are you still thinking about that Jinhyuk guy? While you're being down like this, he's probably having fun with his girlfriend."

"Tsk, I know that very well, thanks for reminding me." Wooseok answered sarcastically.

"Now, now, here is your favorite fruit," Seungyoun already chopped the watermelon into smaller pieces. Yes, food was what brought them together: Seungyoun as the cook and Wooseok as the assistant. It had been a month since they started cooking together. It still surprised him that despite their character differences, they matched very well. They had a different circle of friends during undergraduate, but somehow they agreed on many things. The taller guy naturally gave the bigger piece to Wooseok then bit the smaller one as he continued watching something on this phone. It was another quality of Seungyoun that he found out after living together: he was selfless.

Seungyoun was eating and watching a football match on his phone with his back touching the bedside and his head stooping forward. The water from his watermelon started to dripping onto his bare chest.

"Ah shit. Could you wipe this? I can't be bothered to drop my phone, it's the penalty!!"

"?? The hell you think you are doing?? Wipe it yourself!" Wooseok threw a tissue box, maybe a little too hard, which made the box corner coincidentally scratch Seungyoun's skin near the damned gun tattoo. Wooseok gasped with his eyes wide opened, Seungyoun looked at him in disbelief.

"Wooseok-ah... You... Hhhh... How are you going to take responsibility?" Seungyoun surely loved to tease his roommate. He made a fuss about the scratch and demanded Wooseok to apply an ointment and put a band-aid on the scratch. At this rate, Wooseok didn't know which one was better for his sanity: wiping the dripping watermelon water on Seungyoun's broad bare chest or putting an ointment on the scratch while touching Seungyoun's gun tattoo. He secretly wished the scratch would not heal before the weekdays came, so he had an excuse to wait for Seungyoun to finish his shower. Because he wanted to know how does it feel to be near Seungyoun, touching his skin, with the scent of his tangerine body wash filling his nose.

[rendangkalengan]

잊을만하면 (Bittersweet) - Chapter 3

#3 “Chicken Soup for the Lonely Soul”

Wooseok had had some episodes of toothache since his undergraduate days. Wooseok never treated the toothache, he felt that taking some mefenamic acid tablets was enough. Thanks to his ignorance, his tooth problem got bigger and finally took a toll on him years later when no family member could take care of him. Except there was Seungyoun.

It was on Friday night when the pain started. Wooseok felt he could bear the pain until he went to the dentist the next morning so he just took some pain reliever and slept the pain away. However the pain disappeared the next morning, so he thought there was no need to visit the dentist. This was just typical of Wooseok: he didn't like something troublesome. Little did he know that when the night came, the pain came back and became even more intense than before. No dentist worked on Sunday so he had to wait until Monday, which he felt like the longest twenty-four hours in his life.

Seungyoun was out of town on that weekend and when he came back to the dorm on Monday morning, he was surprised to see Wooseok's swollen face on the left side.

"Ohh.. what to do... Wooseok are you okay?" Seungyoun looked worried.

"Mmmhm... I already took some medicines but it still hurts.." Wooseok answered half asleep.

"Do you want me to go to the dentist with you?"

"Huh.. no... no need, Seungyoun. I can go by myself, don't worry,"

"But you look very swollen! Will you be okay?"

"I'll take a taxi there. I think I'm going to take a day off today."

"Okay, I'll tell the lab admin about your condition today. See you later!"

"Bye.."

After Seungyoun left, Wooseok could feel tears falling down his cheeks. He missed his mother, he missed his grandma who would take care of him and cook for him whenever he was sick. He was not used to living alone yet. The pain made it hard for Wooseok to fall asleep; he would be awakened by the pain every several hours. The pain also made his teeth sensitive to touch so he could barely eat during the weekend. Thankfully he still had some milk left so he didn't need to use his teeth to chew.

After his visit to the dentist, Wooseok bought some bananas and another bottle of milk. He also bought a carton of boiled eggs because he was THAT lazy to cook. When he was back in his room, he threw himself on the bed and had another sleep.

He finally woke up at 7 pm. He thought that Seungyoun might still be in the office because the room was still dark. With a dizzy head, Wooseok stood up and reached for the light switch. He could see there was a bowl of chicken soup and a bowl of porridge on his table.

'Oh...' Wooseok felt his heartstrings tugged. Seungyoun must had cooked this before he continued his work back in the office. He ate the food in silence. It wasn't the first time he tried Seungyoun's cooking. In fact, Seungyoun often shared his cooked food, but it made Wooseok felt like he was leeching off his roommate. He admitted that Seungyoun's cooking was what made him not feel homesick whenever his family asked about his life in the new city. He would brag that he got a roommate who was so great at cooking that he didn't miss his mother's food.

After finishing his food, he went back to his bed for another sleep.

At around 9 pm Seungyoun just got back from work. It looked like Wooseok was sleeping so he didn't turn on the light.

"Wooseok... Are you okay now?" Seungyoun whispered while hovering Wooseok, checking whether Wooseok was sleeping.

"Hmm yeah, I guess... By the way, thanks for the food.." Wooseok answered faintly. He was relieved that the light was off because he could sense his ears became red.

"You don't sound good to me, though." Wooseok could feel Seungyoun's palm suddenly rested on his forehead.

"Ahhhh stop it, I'm burning!" Wooseok pushed Seungyoun's hand away, covering his face with his blanket. For the second time, he was relieved that the light was off.

"You still have a fever. I think you shouldn't use your comforter, it's too thick. Let's change to a lighter blanket, here, you can use mine."

After they exchanged their blankets, Seungyoun took a shower and prepared to go to sleep. Wooseok was trying to sleep when suddenly Seungyoun called,

"Wooseok-ah,"

"Hmm"

"I've been thinking about this.."

"What,"

"I think we should cook together,"

"Hmmm?? Suddenly? Like, right now?"

"No, I mean, I think eating instant chicken every day is not good for you,"

"Seungyoun, I'm thankful that you cooked for me today, but are you going to make me paying you to be my nutritionist?"

"No you cynical little brat, of course not. I mean we can make meal plans together and buy the groceries together. I'll make sure we only eat wholesome food."

"And why is that? Do you forget that I can't cook, like, AT ALL?"

"I'll teach you, Wooseok. Don't worry!"

"I can't cook, I don't know what I should do once I'm in the kitchen. I'll only slow you down so you should better cook by yourself."

"You can do many things, in fact, I'm sure I'll need your help with the preparation."

"Hmmmmmm..." Wooseok pretended to think deeply. "You know what, I guess I'll pass, it will be too troublesome for me,"

"Oh my god Wooseok, I'm so gonna force you to move your lazy ass. You'll need this as a basic skill when you're living alone, come on!"

"Yeah yeah.. whatever.. I'm dizzy right now so don't make me agree to any of your weird suggestions. I'm sleeping now!"

But Wooseok couldn't sleep. He closed his eyes with a smile on his face. 'Eating Seungyoun's food every day doesn't sound bad at all,' He was smiling ear to ear just because he imagined walking the alleyway to the mart every week with Seungyoun as if their time together when they had dinner and movie wasn't enough. He imagined him being a trainee in the kitchen, with Seungyoun as his supervisor, teaching him all the basic things about cooking.... 'Wait, what was that?' He could feel his cheeks burning that he had to take a deep breath, only to fill his nose with Seungyoun's smell coming from the blanket.

"Seungyoun-ah,"

"What? I'm not answering you unless you agree to my suggestion before,"

"What's the brand of the softener you're using?"

[rendangkalengan]

잊을만하면 (Bittersweet) - Chapter 2

#2 “W4 Building, Room No. 412″

Spring, 2019.

Wooseok had never lived by himself. He did live separately from his parents since high school but he was staying with his grandparents so it didn't count as living alone. Now for the very first time, he had to live far from his family and share the same space with a stranger. The room was provided by the institute he was working for, with a dirt-cheap rent of only forty thousand won a month. There was simply no incentive for him to rent a room outside so he guessed he could bear sharing a room.

His roommate, who turned out to be his classmate in undergraduate, came three months later after Wooseok entered the dorm. They said it's best to be roommate with someone you don't really know because if you're roommate with your best friend, there's a bigger chance for your friendship to go south. Wooseok didn't mind to share a room with Seungyoun although they barely talked to each other even though they were in the same major. In fact, he preferred his roommate to share at least one similar thing, this way he wouldn't feel completely estranged from his roommate.

As expected, it was awkward for them in the beginning. Seungyoun didn't talk much, probably he was still adjusting himself. It was hard for Wooseok to start a conversation until finally one day he asked for Wooseok's help.

"Hey, umm... Do you know where can I buy any vegetables around here?"

"Yeah, of course. It's fifteen minutes' walk from here," Wooseok took out his phone to open KakaoMap.

"Umm... Can I join you when you're going out to that place?" asked Seungyoun while scratching his neck.

Wooseok stopped scrolling the map and glanced at his new roommate who suddenly turned into a puppy. Wooseok rarely cooked; he mostly ate cereal and some instant chicken he ordered frozen from an online store.

"Yes, I'll be glad to show you around," Wooseok smiled. He was going to share the map so that Seungyoun could go by himself. 'I guess helping a fellow roommate isn't a bad idea'

Seungyoun smiled widely. "Thanks, I'll cook you something for dinner,"

"Wow... Are you.. good at cooking?", Wooseok asked. It's not unusual for men to be good at cooking, but still, it amazed Wooseok.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good, actually.."

"Oh," Wooseok could notice Seungyoun's red ears. 'Cute', he thought to himself.

"So... what are you planning to cook?"

***

Being a trainee in the same department, Wooseok and Seungyoun quickly became closer. They could talk about how 'pushy' their department head was while they were lying down on their bed before sleep. Or they could talk about some lab techniques during their mealtime. They occasionally went out for movies and meals together, sometimes only two of them, sometimes with other grad students. But it was Seungyoun most of the time who asked Wooseok to go together; Wooseok preferred staying in his room but he didn't mind going as long as it was with Seungyoun. He would ask Wooseok to accompany him to watch some movies or just hanging out at a cafe.

"During university days back then, I really had no money and time that I rarely hung out with my friends. Now that I'm earning some, you should be my partner!"

"Huh, it was your fault to be so obsessed with studying back then, why do you have to drag me?"

"Pleaasee? I really want to relive how does it feel to be a normal university student," Seungyoun was pouting.

"How? Should we go for some movie date or something..?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!"

Wooseok's heart skipped a beat.

"And don't forget study date at a cafe. We can bring some journals for the next lab meeting to read there!" Seungyoun added.

"What-"

'Oh never mind, Cho Seungyoun, you're such a tease, my bad for taking your words seriously' Wooseok sighed.

It was true that Seungyoun spent most of his time studying during his undergraduate. Wooseok heard that Seungyoun was one of the students who were granted a scholarship so he had to maintain his grades throughout the year while taking part-time jobs here and there. He thought of Seungyoun as selfish because he skipped most of the activities organized by the student association. 'We all have to earn a good grade, it's not just you', that was what Wooseok felt about those students. Wooseok never knew how bad it was for Seungyoun that he couldn't afford to go to the cinema back then. He felt kind of sorry to Seungyoun.

"Let's look at what's in the cinema tonight..", Wooseok gave in.

"Awwwright!"

That eye smile. Wooseok would do everything Seungyoun asked only to see that eye smile.

[rendangkalengan]

잊을만하면 (Bittersweet) - Chapter 1

Tags:

Cho Seungyoun / Kim Wooseok; Light angst; Depression; It might be one-sided idk lol; Roommates; Wooseok-centric; Graduate school AU?

Summary:

From friends to roommates to almost strangers. After some incident, Wooseok realized his feeling for his friend, Seungyoun, a hopeless romantic who likes to cook. However, this was also the very incident that turned their friendship sour.

Notes:

This is my first fic, part of it is inspired by real-life events lol. I didn’t really have names for the main character but I decided to put Seungyoun - Wooseok because they are same age friends.

#1 “Long Weekend”

Wooseok had marked Children’s Day holiday on his Bullet Journal. This might be his chance to meet Seungyoun and have a proper talk. He had always wanted to know how Seungyoun was doing but too afraid to ask. Is it too selfish of him to try knocking the door to Seungyoun’s heart and wait for his answer?

***

Spring 2019.

Seungyoun had shown some signs of depression but Wooseok blurted out things he shouldn’t have said when he was supposed to console Seungyoun.

Wooseok regretted it. Maybe he was too engrossed in his own life to actually listen to his friend’s problem. Maybe he never really cared because he thought Seungyoun was too troublesome.

Then Seungyoun silently moved out of the city.

Then they just stopped talking to each other.

***

Early Summer, 2019.

Wooseok was aware that his friendship with Seungyoun was never a kind that allows him to call Seungyoun out of the blue. Wooseok thought it was cringe and awkward. They lived in the same building and worked in the same place for almost two years so he thought it was unnecessary to text each other, let alone have a phone call. Seungyoun was also all touchy with other friends but not really with Wooseok since he never reciprocated the affection.

Now that he was thinking about it, for months after Seungyoun suddenly moved out there was no closure between them, he wondered how he could live like that.

Because they weren’t in a friendship where Wooseok can even ask about Seungyoun’s day, he had to find an excuse. After three months of no contact, Wooseok tried to catch up with Seungyoun, asking rather cautiously while trying to be casual,

Seungyoun~ it’s a long weekend tomorrow. Do you already have any plans?

- 12.32 PM

Message sent.

Seungyoun moved to Seoul to enter another grad school while Wooseok stayed in the same city, a smaller city four-hours drive from Seoul. Back then during long weekends they always went to Seoul and stayed the night there simply because Seoul is livelier. Wooseok was using the same excuse this time to meet Seungyoun and drop by his place.

Hi, Wooseok. I might be going out with my friends on Sunday

- 6.23 PM

‘Oh, he’s got a plan already with his new friends’, Wooseok was both relieved and bitter.

If it’s okay with you, can I stay at your place?

- 6.25 PM

Wooseok took a deep breath. Did he sound too pushy? Wooseok knew very well that Seungyoun might had some work during the weekend because he was also working as a student research assistant. Back when they were working in the same lab, they barely had the chance to go out of town on weekends.

Yeah sure, please come!

- 9.17 pm

Wooseok’s heart dropped. ‘Doesn’t he have any grudges against me? Why would he agree so easily? Am I just overthinking?’

He booked a bus ticket to Seoul right away.