taste of desire - woosan

14. escape

as soon as work let out the next day, san rushed to eclat. yunho tried to catch up with him but san was successful this time in closing the doors of the elevator before anyone had the chance to reach it. he had no reason to go to the restaurant. his part of the work was done and all he had to do was wait until the day of the event to make sure all the food came. but still, he went.

like yesterday, san planned to stay as long as wooyoung and yeosang were there. that way, he'd know seonghwa would be fast asleep by the time he got to the apartment. going to eclat after the work day was a nice break for san. he wouldn't have to come home to seonghwa asking him about how he was when it was clear he was worried about san because of jiyeon. he also kept himself occupied at work so he wouldn't be able to talk to yunho either.

there was no reason for san to avoid seonghwa or yunho. after all, they were only looking out for him. but it was nice to go to a place with people who knew nothing about him, much less his current predicament. he also had yet to contact jiyeon about having a conversation. they hadn't spoken since their last argument and san was feeling anxious about having to talk to her. he knew they had to talk, but at the same time, he didn't want to do it.

san walked past the hostess, who glared at him. she was quite familiar with him by this point, but it seemed she harbored negative feelings towards him, considering their back-and-forth the first time he came here to talk to wooyoung. using his memory from yesterday, san walked towards the kitchen and was surprised when the door suddenly opened, causing someone to run into him. they both fell to the floor and the tray that the other person was holding fell with a loud clanking sound.

san groaned at the impact but got up to help the other person up, "wooyoung?".

"san? what are you doing here?" wooyoung grunted as san pulled him up.

"i wanted to watch again" san responded.

wooyoung let out a frustrated sigh at the sight of the tray that fell, along with the food that was on it. "was that for someone?" san asked nervously, feeling guilty. "yeah. and now it has to be remade" wooyoung coldly responded while he picked up the tray, "there's a mop in that closet" wooyoung pointed to a closet near them and san went to grab it.

"sorry" he sheepishly said while passing wooyoung the mop. "shouldn't you clean it?" wooyoung said blankly. san looked at wooyoung baffled,  "what do you mean? i'm not cleaning it, you're the one who bumped into me!" san exclaimed and wooyoung huffed, offended at san's response.

"you're not even supposed to be here" wooyoung spat, "i have to go remake the food. the least you could do is clean up".

"remake what?". san and wooyoung both turned towards the kitchen door to see a very unamused yeosang looking at the spilled food behind them.

"seriously, wooyoung?" yeosang grumbled, "you need to get your act together". san frowned, confused at yeosang's comment. "it was my fault" san quickly said, "i bumped into him". san grabbed the mop from wooyoung and began to clean. he noticed that there was some sort of tension between wooyoung and yeosang. he saw it yesterday while they were cooking. for the most part, yeosang did all the work and that puzzled san. if wooyoung was the head chef, how come he wasn't cooking?

"you're here again" yeosang mentioned, "was there something you wanted to discuss?". san shook his head, "no. i wanted to watch like i did yesterday". 

"i don't know if you've noticed, but this is a busy restaurant" yeosang said sternly with his arms crossed, "you can't be here, you're just in the way" he nodded his head towards the mess san was mopping.

san stopped and looked at yeosang, "i didn't mean to, it was an accident". yeosang narrowed his eyes at san, "doesn't matter. if there's nothing to discuss and you're not dining here, then you can't be here". san's shoulders slumped in disappointment. he didn't intend on being a bother, he just didn't know where else to go. he couldn't go home now, seonghwa was for sure still wide awake.

"you can stay" wooyoung muttered softly and san's eyes immediately brightened. "wooyoung" yeosang said in a warning tone. "it's fine, yeosang. it's my restaurant anyways". san looked back and forth between the two men. it was obvious that yeosang was more than just wooyoung's sous chef, they seemed a bit closer, like they were friends. but it was also apparent that yeosang held some power.

"you're in the way too" yeosang scowled at wooyoung, "just go. both of you" he lifted his head up and turned away from both of them, heading back into the kitchen. san scratched the back of his neck in awkwardness and wooyoung pressed his lips together and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"i'm really sorry, wooyoung. i shouldn't have come" san said with his head down. he heard wooyoung sigh but he didn't respond. san took that as a sign that he needed to get out of there. "i'll just go" he said as he turned on his heel to walk out.

san walked out of the restaurant in shame. he had come to escape his problems but ended up causing problems for others. he realized how much of a burden he had become and felt especially apologetic towards wooyoung. eclat was very busy and on top of that, wooyoung had to stay late to prepare san's order. he saw how exhausted wooyoung was yesterday. come to think of it, everytime san saw wooyoung, he looked tired like he hadn't slept for days.

as he exited the restaurant, the evening breeze blew in his face. he looked around the downtown area, watching people pass by. friends, families, couples all strolling together. san couldn't go home, he dreaded facing seonghwa knowing that it was only a matter of time before questions about jiyeon and san's next steps started coming. he knew it was childish to run away from his problems rather than just facing them, but what could he do? he had no idea how he was going to form the words out of his mouth to talk to jiyeon.

san sighed and trudged to the park that was across the street. he sat on the bench and stared into space. this was indeed the same park and the same exact bench san got drunk on.

"san!" he furrowed his eyebrows and looked towards the voice calling his name. he was surprised to see a frantic wooyoung rushing towards him. "your phone" wooyoung gasped, out of breath as he handed his phone to san, "it must've fell out". he grabbed the phone from wooyoung and offered him a small smile, unsure if he was upset with him or not, "thanks" he muttered and shoved it into his pocket.

wooyoung nodded and hesitantly turned to head back to the restaurant. san noticed his hesitation, "are you okay?" he asked, looking at the chef. "fine" he replied but it was so obvious that he was anything but fine. this wouldn't do. san hated this atmosphere, it was the exact one he wanted to escape.

he suddenly stood up and wooyoung looked at him confused, "wooyoung" san started as he shoved both his hands in his pocket, "do you wanna go on a walk with me?"