Rental Boyfriend ; Meanie

Chapter 9

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The semester dwindles down to the last couple of weeks before finals, a period of bliss for Wonwoo punctuated by frequent dates with Mingyu. Sometimes they would take spontaneous day trips, but the dates that Wonwoo likes the most are the ones that involve napping in Mingyu’s arms.

Just before reading period begins, Soonyoung persuades Wonwoo to sign up for a coffeehouse event for students to perform music and poetry.

“You can play that song you’ve been working on all semester!” Soonyoung encourages him. “I bet it’s great, I’ve been wanting to hear it for a long time.”

“I don’t feel like it’s ready yet, but I guess I could give it a shot,” Wonwoo says hesitantly.

“That’s the spirit! And who cares if it isn’t finished in your eyes? I promise, nobody else will even notice.”

“Are you performing at the coffeehouse?” Wonwoo asks.

“You bet I am,” Soonyoung says with a suspicious looking grin.

Wonwoo has never heard of Soonyoung singing or playing any instruments, so he figures that Soonyoung will be performing slam poetry or something. But even then, he can’t imagine Soonyoung taking the time to sit down and write a poem. It just doesn’t fit his personality.

They’re accompanied to the coffeehouse by an entourage of laxbros, Soonyoung’s teammates coming to support him. They’re a rowdy group led by their captain, a senior named Park Chanyeol, who’s the rowdiest one of all. But they quickly quiet down once they reach the venue, a cozy cafe with a makeshift stage set up in the corner.

A man with dark hair pushed back from his ivory forehead is sitting on a stool in the middle of a stage, chatting with audience members. He tilts his head back as he laughs with a crinkly eye smile and a mouth full of big white teeth.

“That’s Joonmyun, a PhD student here,” Soonyoung explains to Wonwoo. “He’s the emcee for the event. He’s also Chanyeol’s boyfriend, they’ve been together since Chanyeol was a freshman.”

For some reason, it lifts Wonwoo’s heart to find out that someone close to their age is in a long term, committed relationship with another man. It makes him feel like anything could be possible.

Wonwoo scans the crowd for Mingyu before he takes a seat next to Soonyoung and his teammates. He had invited him without hoping too much for him to make it. As a professional athlete and an entrepreneur, Mingyu is very busy, and Wonwoo knows that he can’t expect too much of him. But he’s still a little disappointed that Mingyu won’t be there to hear him perform his song for the first time.

When it’s Wonwoo’s turn to go onstage, he picks a few notes and adjusts the tuning pegs before introducing himself.

“Hey everyone, my name is Wonwoo. I’d like to play a song I wrote, it’s called….” Wonwoo pauses when a familiar figure enters the cafe and quietly slips into a seat near the back of the audience. It’s Mingyu, who gives him a thumbs up. A smaller man who Wonwoo doesn’t recognize is sitting next to him.

Wonwoo clears his throat lightly and continues, “It’s called 20 . Hope you guys like it.”

He closes his eyes and croons the lyrics as his fingers strum the wistful melody. When he opens his eyes again, he vaguely registers that the audience is cheering for him, but all sounds are muted by a rush in his ears from the excitement of performing in front of Mingyu. The grin on Mingyu’s face stretches from ear to ear as he applauds for Wonwoo with almost an embarrassing amount of enthusiasm. The man sitting next to him is clapping too, nodding in approval.