4 Aftermath Incident

Kwan laughed at his classmate's joke together with the others. They were currently walking towards their university's entrance gate as it was now time for them to go home. They had an early dismissal because apparently, their professor has an important meeting to attend to. The class snickered at this response since everyone knew that it has his wedding anniversary because almost all of his students follow him on social media.

He waved them goodbye as he was heading in a different direction. He wanted to buy some food for him and his favorite dongsaeng to eat later on. He hurriedly caught a bus that stops at the nearest grocery store so he could cook meals for Eungoo. Upon grabbing an entry cart at the entrance of the store he couldn't help himself but overhear a conversation.

"Yah! Did you see the live stream earlier of Anika?" A girl asked with a tone of excitement.

"I know right! I can't believe she got to hotseat a manager to fire an employee at that instant!" Girl number two answered

"At the end of the stream when she said 'OOPS'. You know for a fact that she caused the scene!"

"Damn! Must be nice to be that pretty and rich to get away with it."

"Yeah… What was the name of the restaurant again?"

"Oh! It was Pastranni. She said the food tasted divine though."

"Oh, I'm not much of a fan of knowing her review of the food but drama? Guuuuuuurl…"

They both laughed it off and proceeded to get in line at the cashier. Kwan cleared his throat as he felt a little uncomfortable for some reason. His insides were feeling funny which means there's something wrong. His instinct never lies but he wants it to fail him.

He sighed and gripped the handle of the push-cart that wasn't even carrying a single thing. He banged his fist against then which startled some of the customers a little. He clicked his tongue to the side and left the cart on the aisle and began walking towards the exit door. Soon his pacing grew faster and faster.

He knew who this Anika bitch was. He had somehow encountered her along the way during his shift as a salesman at a department store at an elite mall. He got to witness how Anika purposely said the wrong shoe size to his co-worker and made him fit her the shoe because she was insisting that she was a smaller size. Long story short, he got fired because of allegedly harassing a customer.

"TAXI" Kwan yelled as he called over a taxi. The white service car pulled over and he didn't waste any much time as he opened the car door and told the driver the address. His palms were sweaty and his leg was shaking rapidly at how nervous he was. He always knew that Eungoo could get easily bullied but he tried his best to keep off anyone who tried to harm him.

He then quickly pulled out a hundred not wanting to know if it was short or not; the place was a little far away from the grocery store. Before he could barge in a hand held his wrist. And by instinct, he quickly retracted his hand and threw it back before launching a punch.

"M-M-Mr. Lee!" Kwan said as he was startled. He bowed a 90 degree and apologized for his hastiness.

Mr. Lee smiled. "You're Eungoo's friend right?" he asked with a little tender.

"Yes, Sir! I'm his hyung." Kwan answered. The other smiled and placed a hand on Kwan's shoulder guiding him to the side because they were blocking the entrance.

Mr. Lee hesitated and luckily saw the ice cream parlor across the street. "let's go get an ice cream." He said before heading out and carefully crossed the street before the young man could even protest. He then sat on the stool bar by the counter and ordered a strawberry flavored ice cream on a cup. "What would you like to order, young man?"

Kwan sighed and seated himself beside the chef and said, "I'd like minty flavored ice cream on a cone. Thank you."

Mr. Lee chuckled at how well mannered the young man despite how he dresses. He was silently reading the younger in his mind. He saw how fit he was, sharp eyes that have known pain, a few cuts on the brow, and on the lip. He even saw a tattoo peeking out on the man's neck.

'An Alpha' he thought. An alpha is a leader of a gang… But he wasn't sure what gang he was a part of.

"What's your name, young man?"

"It's Min Kwan, Sir."

The man nodded to himself. "So you're Eungoo's idolized hyung. He must've been looking up to you so much huh."

"Not at all. He sees me as his friend… His equal." Kwan calmly stated, impressed as of how much he is being nice and calculated.

"I invited you out here for ice cream and not a drink because… well… I stopped drinking a long time ago. Ice cream is my go-to now when I'm sad… There's something you need to know." He started. He then told Kwan what happened earlier at the restaurant.

Kwan's fists were clenching and unclenching as he tried to keep his anger in check. If only he could ruin that Anika bitch's life then he would do so. Easier said than done since she was a girl after all. If he was a guy, Kwan could easily call the person out for a fight but that wasn't the case, unfortunately.

"What my brother did was unacceptable. He should have known better than to do such a thing to Eungoo. The poor boy always worked so hard. He didn't deserve this…" He then smiled at the waiter that brought them their order. He sighed as he began to scoop some ice cream and nibbled on it feeling guilty that he had to bring the news on the person that ever cared about Eungoo. Mr. Lee knew the situation at his former employee's home since the guy shared it with the chef at ease.

"That fucking bitch!" Kwan hissed as he began licking off the ice cream he ordered. He didn't complain of not drinking any alcohol since he enjoyed eating ice cream as well; it's ice cream for Kwan any day, any time.

"Ah… This is why I don't like girls."

"Yeah, me ne-" Kwan slowly turned his head to see a smug look on Mr. Lee's face. Embarrassed, he began gobbling on his ice cream.

The older man laughed heartily as he guessed it right; Kwan's definitely gay. "Definitely my type" He added.

"Nope! I don't date older men and I don't date at all."

"So how are you going to say you don't like it if you haven't even tried it?"

"I don't care! I just don't"

"Or are you perhaps scared?"

Kwan sighed and narrowed his eyes. This chef was not only spot-on but also sharp in the eye. He didn't want to answer seeing that he was already embarrassing himself in front of the other.

"It's okay to be scared. You'll find the right one, eventually."

"Says the man asking me on a date."

"Why you little…" Mr. Lee gritted his teeth and scoffed. "That mouth of yours will cause you trouble if you don't watch out. Anyway… here…" he handed Kwan out a white sealed envelope. "It's Eungoo's pay. He disappeared five minutes after I yelled at my brother. I don't know his phone number and it's a good thing you're here. You give it to him."

"He doesn't have a phone. And don't worry, I'll make sure he receives this." He promised as he accepted the envelope and placed it in the inside pocket of his leather jacket.

"You tell him if he still needs to look for a job you can give him this number. It's my personal contact number." Mr. Lee then began scooping the last melted remains of his ice cream.

"What kind of work?"

"A waiter… My waiter to be exact. I'm opening up my own goddamn garden café. I just quit a while ago and I'm never returning at that shitty place."

Kwan smiled and wiped off the stickiness caused by the melted ice cream using the tissue provided by the ice cream parlor. He then started fishing out his wallet only to be stopped by the chef and told him that it was on him. He then bowed and hesitated a little before exchanging numbers seeing it might be useful one day.

He bid his goodbye and got on a bus. He wanted to see Eungoo and order Chinese takeout for them to enjoy in the evening. he started humming as he was feeling a little relieved that there were people like that chef Eungoo used to work with. Upon coming up the stairs, he got a little bolder and started singing out the lyrics of 'Magic Shop'.

The song always warmed his heart as it was about hurting and healing. It's a beautiful song that always cheered him to keep moving forward. One of the reasons as to why he loved taking care of Eungoo was because he could somehow see himself on the guy and gave him a purpose, to protect him at all cost. Before he could finish the line, it felt like his voice got stuck in his throat as he saw the eviction notice attached to the door of Eungoo's apartment, Eungoo's medal lying on the floor, and a wrinkled torn letter sent for his dongsaeng.

His heart shattered as he read the words over and over to the point that it replayed itself at the back of his head. His vision became a little blurry as a wave of anxiety, shock and weariness flooded his entire system.

'Please forgive us but… I believe his men are on their way to this apartment. Again... We're truly sorry….'