CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

four years later

“good evening, what can I get you sir?” the young cashier smiled brightly towards jeonghan.

“good evening to you as well, can I get one medium sized iced coffee, sweetened and extra creamer?”

the cashier punched in his order and requested his pay.

he took a seat near the window and watched as the sun set. making the streets turn a deep shade of brown.

it was fall now, and jeonghan eyes took in the gorgeous scenery of the pale yellow, deep red, and soft orange leaves slowly fell to the ground. piling up only to be swept away by the winds.

the leaves floated in the air, going in all different directions.

a waitress soon came and left jeonghan's coffee in front of him before leaving him, alone. as he sipped the coffee, the sweetness followed by the subtle bitter after taste caused his mind to wander.

yes, it has been so long. but, no matter the time length nor the time of day, jeonghan frequently thought of seungcheol. and what could have been.

in some ways, the boys were like the coffee.

it was sweet in the beginning, their love. each of them found that they felt full in each others presence, they were content.

and then soon, too soon, the bitterness attacked them. their hearts broke and tears were shed.

but what they didn't calculate was that even after the bitterness, you still drink the coffee because its sweet and fulfilling.

jeonghan shook the thoughts of him out of his mind and grabbed his cup. he placed one hand in his pocket and exited the cafe and walked towards the park where he was to meet soonyoung.

the park was not crowded but there were lots of people. there were couples walking hand in hand, kids jumping into leaves, elderly people reading, bike riders and so fourth.

they all wore thick coats and other attire that would keep them warm. it was a nice picture, and nice colors.

this felt nice, but it felt lonely.

he sighed before sipping the coffee once more. smiling as the sweetness filled his taste buds.

jeonghan closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of fall, the chilly air tickling his nose.

and then he felt something sharp poke his stomach and a muscular body clash with his, this caused him to spill his coffee all over the stranger.

he opened his eyes immediately, “oh my god I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have had my eyes closed. I could buy you a new sweater.” jeonghan rambled on a bit longer before he realized that the stranger had not said a single word.

he looked up, only to find that it was not a stranger he spilled his coffee all over.

it was choi seungcheol.

the olders face had widened eyes and a slightly parted mouth. while jeonghan's was frozen with the last sentence he had said.

the wind flew past the two of them, ruffling their hair.

leaves floated past them as they stood in the middle of the park. they had stopped, but the world didn't.

“j-jeonghan..” the younger boys heart clenched as he said his name. but it felt nice when seungcheol spoke his name in his deep muffled like voice.

“hi.”

its been so long, what were the two supposed to say?

jeonghan studied seungcheol's features, he looked taller and more muscular. more mature and like an adult.

where as jeonghan had not changed much, only his hair now had a light lavender ombre.

seungcheol stared at him. taking in all of jeonghan.

“would you like to walk?” jeonghan offered, still in shock seungcheol agreed.

at first the walk along the faded brown brick path was silent between the two of them. they passed others, carrying on conversations while they avoided eye contact and stared in different directions.

“how, uhm, how have you been?” jeonghan attempted to break the atmosphere.

“good, I guess. yourself?” seungcheol stared down to the ground, watching as his feet moved. one in front of the other.

“good...I guess..” he imitated seungcheol, out of habit.

again, it was silent. their thoughts were the same as they began to reminisce about their past together. all the good and all the bad.

there was so much to be said then, but now were they able too?

jeonghan cleared his throat, “im sorry.”

“for?” the older boy tried to play dumb, but it was hard. because he was standing next to yoon jeonghan.

“everything back then, especially for what I did.”

again, it was silent. the wind being their only noise as they walked next to each other.

after awhile, seungcheol finally spoke; “im sorry too....I shouldn't have let you go...I regretted it a lot..but I was dumb and young.”

“we were young and dumb.” jeonghan corrected, earning himself a soft chuckle. that sound melted his insides just like it had always done.

he wanted nothing more then to just feel seungcheol's hand around his or be embraced by him and smell his familiar scent. but he pushed those thoughts far into the back of his mind because there is no way it could happen.

they've been through too much.

“you know jeonghan, I kind of hate this.” jeonghan looked up, he hated walking with him? hated him?

“well, I..I mean I can...I can go?”

seungcheol shook his head, “no that isn't what I mean. I hate this,” he placed his hand over his chest. “even after so long of being away from you...my heart still beats as if its running a race... ”

jeonghan looked up to seungcheol, finally meeting his eyes.

“for four years, somehow you always managed to slip into my thoughts. I hated that too..” the raven headed boy sighed. “even now standing here, I figured that I'd hate you enough to walk the other way...but I can't...”

“seungcheol...” the way he breathed his name sent shivers down seungcheol's spine.

“maybe its because I realize now that you were the only one I genuinely felt happy around..maybe it's fate or maybe its just the regret...”

jeonghan's vision was blurry as they stood in the middle of the path.

“maybe...maybe we can start over...” jeonghan choked out. he felt a little pathetic, what if seungcheol didn't want to start over?

seungcheol was going to answer, when the ringing of a bike speeding it's way towards them caught them off guard.

it was coming so fast seungcheol tackled jeonghan out of the way. seungcheol landed flat on his back, his coat touching the crunched up grass. where as jeonghan had landed right on top of him.

his cheeks turning a bright pink as he looked up at seungcheol who had his arms wrapped around jeonghan's small body.

“doesn't this seem like a fresh start...?”

the boys chuckled, smiles plastered across their faces as they recognized the familiar scene.

it did seem like a fresh start, like a second chance they would not pass up.

a chance to love each other with their all.

THE END

wow im crying. a lot. thank you for reading y'all are bomb asf and I love you and I am greatful for you all :')). I am working on a few other fics, I'm not sure which to post first, we'll see. love you lots.