Five

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'Why is getting rejected so hard?' Hongjoong thinks to himself.

He thought it'd be way easier since he has no experience when it comes to dating.

He and Yeosang had talked about ways to get him rejected and so far, none of those things have worked.

Hongjoong ordered three meals like he had told Seonghwa and now that the food is in front of him, he has no idea how he's going to finish even two of these.

"I thought you had a big appetite." Seonghwa tells him when he notices he hasn't even finished one meal.

"I do." Hongjoong stabs the big steak with his fork and starts biting around it.

"Cute." Seonghwa mumbles and smiles, then looks down.

"Huh?" Hongjoong asks since he didn't hear.

"Nothing." Seonghwa shakes his head. "Keep eating your steak."

Once Hongjoong is halfway done with his second meal, he can't continue eating anymore. He's too full.

"I guess you didn't have such a big appetite today." Seonghwa tells him.

"It's because I went out for breakfast this morning and ate a lot." He lies.

"It's okay." Seonghwa calls the waiter over. "Please pack this to go."

The waiter nods and takes the plate of food before walking away.

"Do you want to take the food for later?" Seonghwa asks him and Hongjoong quickly shakes his head.

"No no, I can just order something else later at home if I get hungry."

"Alright."

-

Once Seonghwa pays, he takes the bag of food and they both walk out of the restaurant. Hongjoong notices Seonghwa looking around, but ignores it.

"Can we go shopping?" Hongjoong asks him, making his last attempt to get rejected.

"Shopping? All of a sudden?" Seonghwa asks and Hongjoong nods. "Sure." He smiles.

'This is impossible.' Hongjoong mentally sighs and starts walking towards a store.

Once they get there, he starts looking around for something he can make Seonghwa buy him, but feels guilty when he sees the prices.

"Why is it so expensive? It's just a wallet." Hongjoong mumbles, hoping Seonghwa didn't hear him.

"Yeosang, you can pick whatever you like. I'll pay."

"Sure, thanks." Hongjoong gives him a fake smile and tries finding the cheapest thing in the store.

As he's looking for something, he ends up seeing a beautiful necklace. He has seen Yeosang wearing jewelry from this brand and has always seen ads online of it.

Seeing jewelry like this makes him sad. This is nothing like the jewelry he makes. This one is way better than the ones he makes and sells.

He looks at the price tag and sees this is one of the most expensive things he's seen in the store. This makes him feel even worse.

'I guess the wallet was the cheapest thing after all.' Hongjoong thinks to himself as he picks up the wallet. "I want this." He tells Seonghwa.

Once Seonghwa pays, Hongjoong feels terrible that he made him pay for everything today, but it's not like he has the money to pay for any of this.

All he wanted was to get rejected, not to make him pay for anything. He thought Seonghwa would reject him as soon as he'd start acting like a gold digger, but that didn't happen.

Hongjoong is so lost in his thoughts as he's walking that he doesn't notice Seonghwa's holding a small bag in his hands.

"I-" Seonghwa starts but stops when he sees who he was looking for earlier. "Hello, ma'am." He bows as soon as he sees the old lady.

"Oh, Seonghwa. How've you been?" The old lady smiles at him. "And hello." She greets Hongjoong and he greets her back.

"I've been good, thank you." Seonghwa smiles back. "Here, this is for you." He hands her the bag of food from the restaurant earlier. 

"Oh, thank you so much. You didn't have to." Her eyes start watering as soon as she sees it's food.

"And please... buy yourself anything you want." He takes her hand and puts some money in it.

"N-no... th-this is too much."

"Ma'am, I had told you to call me if you needed anything, but you didn't. This is the least I can do. Please take it."

Seonghwa's phone then starts ringing and he excuses himself before walking away from them to answer the call.

"Is he your boyfriend?" The old lady asks Hongjoong and he quickly shakes his head.

"Oh no, we just met today actually."

"What's your name?"

"Ho-Yeosang." He quickly corrects himself.

"Seonghwa's a great young man." She tells him. "I'm all alone in this world. Sometimes I had nothing to eat. But ever since I met him when he was volunteering at a nursing home, he's made sure I'm alright."

"Oh... you met him there? So then-"

"Why am I here now? That's what you were going to ask, right?" She smiles. "I'm aware that maybe I would've had a better life at the nursing home. At least I wouldn't have had to worry about whether I had enough food to eat or not... But I didn't have the best experience when I was there."

"Oh..." Hongjoong doesn't know what to say. He doesn't want to ask what exactly happened since maybe it's something personal.

"I'm honestly okay like this... how I am right now. But I do feel bad for Seonghwa. He shouldn't have to take care of me. He shouldn't have to waste his money on me. I feel like a burden. Not even my own kids care about me so why should he?"

"No, don't say that." Hongjoong shakes his head. "I'm sure he does this because he cares about you."

"Yeah... he's a great young man."

Hongjoong looks away from her and looks at Seonghwa who's walking back to them with a big smile on his face.

All day Hongjoong had been so focused on trying to get rejected, that he didn't realize what a great guy Seonghwa is.

_________

I hope you liked this chapter <3 Please leave your comments on what you think of this story so far :)) And thank you for 800+ followers! ❤️

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