II

"Hi, Chris," Hyunjin greeted him, visibly stifling a yawn.

"Good morning," the man smiled at him. "How are you?"

"It's fine, thanks. Listen, Seungmin said you're good at English."

"Pretty much, why?" raised one eyebrow at Christopher.

"I need help," Hyunjin gave him a sad puppy look. "I've been catching up until now, but we've started discussing some new things and I'm completely lost. Could you help me, please?"

"Sure. How are you this weekend?"

"I should have time," the taller man smiled.

"Sounds good. We'll talk more later, it's only Wednesday."

The younger one nodded with a grateful smile.

"Hi! Sorry I'm late, I missed the bus," Seungmin apologized as he ran up to the two. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing happened, Hyunjin just asked me to help him with his English."

The boy with the braces nodded.

"Where is Minho anyway?" Hyunjin asked.

"Looks like his class is starting an hour later today," Christopher mused.

"Treason," the tallest covered his mouth and yawned. "I'd appreciate that extra hour of sleep today."

"I think we all would," Seungmin remarked with a broad smile.

Hyunjin laughed softly and nodded. "That's right. Can we go in slowly? I'm getting cold."

***

"Do you want to go out this weekend?" suggested Minho when they were all gathered in the dining room.

"I'm tutoring Hyunjin," Christopher said as he finished chewing his bite.

"Oh, that sure won't last the whole evening," Seungmin grinned broadly.

"Dude," the oldest laughed, trying his best to hide the fact that he was blushing.

"I hope you're not jealous," Hyunjin chuckled and put a piece of vegetable in his mouth.

Seungmin's face was horrified, though he was visibly holding back his laughter, as were Minho and Christopher. "Who are you and what did you do with Hyunjin?"

"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you," the tallest one said cryptically, his face unmoving. The others couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing.

"But seriously, shall we go somewhere, even for an hour? We haven't been anywhere since exams," Minho pleaded when everyone had stopped laughing.

"We can," Seungmin agreed. The others eventually nodded as well.

***

It wasn't long before it was Saturday. Christopher was busily running around the apartment he had made in his parents' basement, cleaning everything he could. He knew that Hyunjin wasn't the hygiene control, but he really didn't need to have a mess reminiscent of the aftermath of the atomic bomb explosion here.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he finished washing the last plate, flopped down on the sofa and reached for his phone to check the time. It would be 2:00 PM in a few minutes, Hyunjin should be here soon. He put his phone back down and closed his eyes, then covered them with his hands.

He remained in that position until he heard the doorbell. He climbed the few steps to the front door and opened it.

"Hi," he smiled at the newcomer and moved out of the way to allow him to enter.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Hyunjin apologized and walked in, then immediately took off his shoes.

"Please, you're only about two minutes late, you don't even have to apologize."

The taller one nodded with a grateful smile. "Okay."

"Come on, let's go downstairs."

Hyunjin followed him with another nod.

"Did you move into your own place?" he smiled as they found themselves in the basement apartment.

"Well, sort of," Christopher scratched the back of his head. "When I'm doing school stuff, sometimes I stay up late, and I don't want to disturb my parents, especially when I'm doing music."

"Right," he hummed, looking around. "It's cosy in here."

"Thanks. Sit down," he gestured with his hand towards the sofa. "Would you like something? Tea, coffee...?"

"Coffee, and if I may ask with milk and honey," Hyunjin smiled at him as he sat down on the sofa with his jacket on his lap. Christopher thought that it was kind of cute.

"Sure, no problem. And you can throw that jacket over the sofa."

The elder soon came to him with two cups. He placed one in front of Hyunjin and the other in front of himself.

The younger one reached for his mug with thanks and took a sip, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. "It's great."

"I'm glad," Christopher smiled, moving a little closer to his new friend. "So tell me, what's your problem?"

"Tenses," Hyunjin grumbled as he scavenged in his bag for his textbook along with his notebook. "I understand the basic ones, but once we started doing the advanced ones, I kind of got tangled up in it."

"I get it, but maybe I can help you untangle yourself, at least a little," the elder smiled.

"I hope so," laughed the younger man. "No, sorry," he patted his shoulder with an apologetic smile.

"Nothing happened. You know you don't have to keep apologizing, right?" The older man looked up at him.

Hyunjin, on the other hand, lowered his gaze, though he nodded, and Christopher had a strange urge to hug him at that moment, but he didn't. He hadn't known him long enough for that yet.

As the taller man spread his notes out on the coffee table, Christopher moved a little closer to him. A subtle scent tickled his nose. Was it jasmine...? He immediately regretted not taking the five minutes to shower that morning.

***

Half an hour later, Hyunjin was beginning to understand the topic, and at the same time there was a knock on the door of Christopher's makeshift apartment.

"Yes?" Christopher said, straightening up, as did his friend.

His mother, a petite middle-aged woman with a warm smile, entered the door. She had a few silver strands in her black hair, but it didn't add to her age. "Hi. I just finished cooking some rice cakes, so I thought I'd bring you some here," she looked down at the tray she held in her hands.

"Thanks, mum. You can put it down here," the older of the boys got up to make room on the coffee table.

"Hyunjin, right?" She looked up at her son's visitor as she set her tray down, holding out her right hand to him.

The person addressed nodded. "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Chan," he said, and smiled at her, then took her small hand and bowed.

"So am I," the woman returned the kind smile, and after a few moments she let go of Hyunjin's hand. "I won't distract you. You're going out in the evening then, right?"

Christopher acknowledged it with a nod. "I'll be home later today," he chimed in.

"I'd hope so," laughed his mother. "I'm going. See you around."

"Your mum is great," Hyunjin said to Christopher.

"I know," the elder nodded. "Help yourself," he nodded his chin towards the cakes, popping one into his own mouth.

Hyunjin hesitated for a moment, but finally took one.

It didn't take long and there was no sign of the ten cakes.

***

Christopher was so preoccupied with tutoring that he jumped in fright when the phone next to him beeped to announce the message.

"Who is it?" Hyunjin asked, leaning a little closer to him. The older man smelled the light scent of jasmine again.

"Minho. He says they're on their way."

"Has it been that many hours?" He checked the time on his phone. Indeed, it was almost six o'clock in the evening.

"It went by so fast," Christopher said. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's not make them wait for us."