Chapter Text
“Your boyfriend is here. I can go now right?” Chanwoo waves at Jiwon.
“Uhhh… no… don’t go…” Junhoe whines. He spins the champagne bottle and gets excited when it points towards the bartender.
“Man, I wanna go home.” Yunhyeong, the handsome bartender, takes the bottle away from Junhoe’s weak grip. Sure it is still early for a bartender to go home but he has errands to run so the manager allows him to go early.
“Baby…” Jiwon picks up the leather jacket on the floor with his arm around Junhoe’s shoulder. “Thanks, Chanwoo.”
“No problem. Please… whatever happened, I hope you two talk about it.”
“I keep trying but this big head…”
“Who do you call a big head you big head?” Junhoe protests to escape but obviously he is weak.
“Me. Jiwon is calling you big head.”
“Good luck taking care of this big baby.” Chanwoo chuckles. He leaves the couple behind after paying for his drinks. He glances at his motorcycle. “Not gonna take a risk.”
While waiting for Jiwon to come to the bar, he accompanied Junhoe so he somehow drank quite a lot. He is not drunk /yet/ but his head is dizzy. He wants to live long enough to see if Disney decides to make The Incredibles 3 so he decides to take a bus instead.
He waits for the bus.
Jinhwan is getting the stares the moment he gets on board. Some are either mesmerized by his beauty while some are just judging him for looking like a woman. Great. He hates the stares. Can people just chill? Halloween parties are everywhere now at clubs and at homes. Get a life, he shouts inside his head.
He sits at last row on the bus, avoiding every stares and whispers. Suddenly a tall figure takes a seat next to him. He sighs. The bus is quite empty now that it almost reaches his place so why this man chooses to sit next to him? Is it because he is a woman now? He knows he looks gorgeous but he doesn’t want to catfish anyone with this look.
Chanwoo is instantly attracted to the woman sitting on the last row on this bus. He carefully makes his way to sit next to her without looking like a creep considering how it would only take 3 stops before reaching his house and how there aren’t many passengers on the bus.
He takes a seat next to the pretty woman but of course he distances himself. Note. Don’t look like a creep just because you are attracted to this woman.
He wants to initiate conversation but he notices the woman is staring outside with earphone plugged in.
‘Oh no… what if she thinks I’m a creep?’
Chanwoo can’t help it especially how only the two of them are left on the bus. What if she thinks he follows her? What if she runs straight to call the police? What if she is ready with pepper spray in her hand so she could spray right to his face later?
“Last stop.”
Chanwoo gets up. He notices that the beautiful stranger has fallen asleep.
“Err… give me a second. She is sleeping.”
His hand is shaking as he slowly taps her shoulder to wake her up. She whines, hugging herself to sleep some more.
“Excuse me miss. This is the last stop already.” He gathers his courage to pull the earphone out.
“Hmmm…” Jinhwan responds softly. He rubs his eyes, returning the gaze of the handsome stranger. He keeps nodding as he quickly gets off of the bus.
“Well, you are welcome.” Chanwoo talks to himself. He understands. She is probably scared of him now.
He notices that the woman enters the same building as his. Perhaps they live at the same apartment. This makes Chanwoo anxious.
Jinhwan could feel the stranger’s presence behind him. Guess they stay on the same building, the same block, and apparently on the same floor. He realizes that after the stranger presses the same button then smiles awkwardly knowing he already pressed the button.
“I’m not gonna hurt you or anything… if that’s what you are thinking right now. Not that I assume but I guess I assume. I mean it is kinda normal for you to feel like that I think. Like unsafe and I’m uhmmm… I swear I live on the same floor. This building also. Did you see I high five the guard? Wait. Like uhmm… I should keep quiet.” Chanwoo turns his body around, lightly knock his head against the wall. What was that?
Jinhwan tries to suppress his laugh as he listens to the stranger’s blabbering. He finds that cute. Also he feels bad for confusing the stranger with this look although even men could be victim of robbery or assault. The stranger actually thinks that he is a woman. Partly his fault also for not saying a single word to the stranger.
They finally reach 15th floor.
Chanwoo walks so slowly behind the woman. He doesn’t want to look extra creep after he uttered whatever nonsense in the elevator just now. He glances around, almost screams when he notices the woman actually lives next door! Funny. He doesn’t remember seeing a woman but then the next door was just occupied last week and he has been busy with work lately, he never gets the chance to meet new neighbour.
He watches as she enters the house.
“Wow. She is a quiet person?”
Chanwoo immediately plops to the couch. He was having a nice sleep when he received a call from Yunhyeong telling about Junhoe. He said he was tired and let Junhoe rot at the bar but he knew he won’t do that. Now forget about Junhoe for a moment.
Let’s think about the pretty noona he met. He assumed she is older. She is so cute, so small, perfect fit if he was to embrace her. She did not smile but he falls for the lips painted with red lipstick. She smells nice too.
Since tomorrow is Sunday, he thinks it would be nice to break the ice with his new neighbour.
Meanwhile, Jinhwan is sitting at the edge of his bed, wiping off the make-up. Losing a bet is only funny when you are not the one having to face whatever penalty your friends make you do. He bet with his friends and he lost, so he had to dress like a woman.
“Cute…” He whispers to himself.
The stranger really thought he is a woman and looked so afraid to walk behind him. The best thing is the stranger lives next door. He guesses especially how he heard quick footsteps approaching his direction and the door leaf opened then closed just right next to his unit.
He remembers what the stranger said in the elevator. Cute. It really was cute. He feels awful so he decides to pay his neighbour a visit tomorrow.
SUNDAY
9.00 A.M.
Chanwoo is fucked. He keeps thinking of the pretty noona living next door. He has always been sure that he likes men more but this noona suddenly exists and snatches his heart? His parents are going to get confused again.
He gets himself ready to take his motorcycle back. He hopes to meet the pretty noona again. He purposely takes his time to put on his sneakers and to lock the door but there is no sign of the pretty noona.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to go out today.”
He walks slowly again, glancing at the door but it is still shut tightly. He just smiles, feeling like a school boy walking in front of his crush’s classroom so he could look at his crush.
He bumps into a stranger at the lobby.
“Oh you.”
“Me?” Chanwoo points to himself.
“Yes. You. The man on the bus.”
Chanwoo widens his eyes. He is confused.
“Are you free right now?”
“Kind of…” Chanwoo blinks his eyes. He is confused.
“Oh well. If you are not free then maybe later.”
“No wait.” He looks at the stranger. “Are you…”
Jinhwan pursed his lips. “Yes. I was that lady.”
Chanwoo looks at him from top to bottom. Same height. He knows because she or he now, was not wearing heels. Same scent. Same features. The mole on the small face. Same person. This man is actually pretty even without those make-up and wig.
“Ahhh… I thought… you are a woman.” Chanwoo scratches his head. “Wait… then why didn’t you say anything last night? Do you know how scared I was? Like… like you could report to your boyfriend or to the police whatever. Ahhh.” He groans. Embarrassed? Yes. “And the elevator!”
“I’m sorry!” Jinhwan realizes it has been his fault also. He should have said something last night. “Look. To make it up for you… I say… come to my place. Just next door right? Let me cook something for you.”
“Uhh… okay… I guess.” Chanwoo can’t wait to tell this to Yunhyeong. “Uh let me take my motorcycle first. I left it because I drank last night.”
“That explains the alcohol smell.” Jinhwan smiles. “Okay. Just… ring the doorbell later. See you.”
“See you.” Chanwoo bites his lip.
After about an hour, he finds himself standing against the wall in the kitchen of his new neighbour’s unit. Neat. Still have a few boxes left to be opened. He learns that Jinhwan just moved in 3 days ago.
“Sorry. My place is a bit messy.” Jinhwan wipes his sweat.
“That’s okay. You should have seen mine.” Chanwoo smiles.
“How is the tea by the way?”
“Nice.”
He helps Jinhwan to prepare lunch for the two of them. It does feel like a date. Jinhwan is making steak with mash potato and salad. In the short span of time, Jinhwan knows so many things about Chanwoo. His hobbies, his job, his friends, the bar where he usually hangs out but secretive about his family.
Chanwoo learns a few things from Jinhwan also. Apparently the latter is in the process of moving on, transferred back to Seoul because he wants to leave the memories behind, hates horror movies, loves wine, a fan of Usher and cries when he is drunk.
“So… about the…”
Jinhwan shrugs. “It was a bet.”
“A bet? Ahhh… well that explains.” Chanwoo smiles. He takes a bite of the steak. “You lost the bet and…”
“My annoying friends made me like this. One is a make-up artist so it made a whole lot easier for me to do this.” Jinhwan chuckles. “I hate them but they are the best people in my life.”
“They can’t be called as friends if they aren’t annoying that we hate them.” Chanwoo pauses. “Why were you so quiet last night? You could have said something.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Part of me was just tired but part of me find…you…very cute. I was shy... and I don't want to scare you with my man voice.”
Is he lowkey flirting?
“Oh…” CUTE. Did Jinhwan just called him cute? Maybe. “Uhm… thanks. Hmmm… so I am not a creep right?”
“Creep?” Jinhwan laughs. “No. No. You are definitely not a creep and I’m… I felt safe last night. Thank you. Somehow… because I was in the girly outfit and make-up then you were there… I felt safe. Anyone could have harmed me. In a way… hmmm yeah. I felt safe.”
“Glad you felt that way.”
Chanwoo’s voice is soft. It makes Jinhwan smile even more. The younger man has big, round eyes and cheeks like a baby. He would bite the cheeks if they are dating.
“You know… I thought I was going to have a pretty noona as my neighbour. I… like the noona I met last night.” Chanwoo blushes upon confessing.
“Oh…” Jinhwan licks his lips. “Hmmm… the noona can be here anytime if you want.”
Is he lowkey flirting? AGAIN?
Chanwoo feels his blood rushes all over his body. The thought of Jinhwan wearing skirt with wig suddenly excites him. Did Jinhwan just say that like he doesn’t mind dressing as a girl again? He gulps.
“You gonna make other men fall for you.”
“And? I like men anyway.”
“I won’t allow that.” Chanwoo almost whispers.
“Ohhh…” Possessive?
Jinhwan’s flirtatious smile makes Chanwoo nervous. The younger man avoids eye contact, pretending the whole conversation did not happen.
Did he just agree to dress like a girl again? He hates that although he looks pretty. He admits that. But to dress as a girl again? He doesn’t mind the make-up but the skirt? The g-string? The wig? But what was that? He agreed to his new neighbour?
This is an interesting start of a friendship.
