Bittersweet - |Pepigyeom|

2 • Barely A Smile, Almost A Laugh

Hello my lovelies!

I am back with another chapter, finally! January is packed with exam schedules, so I'm always grateful for free time to write~

Thank you for all the positive feedback for the last chapter! We didn't have that much Pepigyeom interaction in Chap.1, but in Chap.2 we will be getting a whole lot of it! <3

I hope you enjoy reading this chapter! Keep yourself warm during those cold days, take some time off for yourself, and treat yourself well <3

Love,
Aki

PS: I have a playlist for this story on Youtube now. It's called "Bittersweet - Pepigyeom (@Akiko-chaan on Ao3)". I will keep adding songs that I listen to while writing!
(Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyntIMFmD8Hnwh-gaD04K0JZUR2lzAwfJ )

_____________________________________

Chap.2 – Barely A Smile, Almost A Laugh

The 17th of December is a Friday, and Yugyeom is late for work.

Which is unusual, because Yugyeom is never late for work. In all those months of working at Cotton Candy, he has only once been late, and that was because Lollipop had been feeling sick all night long and Yugyeom had barely slept in worry; and the first thing he had done as soon as the clock stroke eight a.m. was to put on his coat and rush her to the vet.

But that had been the only time in more than two hundred. Not rain, not even snow or thunder or storm can stop Yugyeom from coming to work on time.

So when Yugyeom does come to work late, everyone knows something's up, something very extraordinary, if not a reason for worry. Bambam knows it, and Mark knows it, and Jackson knows it, too. Which is probably why Yugyeom is bombarded with concerned glances and questions as soon as he enters the shop.

"I even texted Bambam to ask him if Yugyeom said anything yesterday about –"

Both Mark and Jackson look up as the bell above the door rings, and when they recognize Yugyeom, their eyes widen in surprise until they look like they saw a ghost. Yugyeom drags himself over the doorstep, proceeding to take off his coat as Mark and Jackson are both still almost comically blinking at the boy in front of them. As soon as he's caught his breath from running so fast, he chants: "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Where were you?" Jackson is the first to come back to his senses and rushes over towards Yugyeom with a step or two, as to see if he's actually alive, blood and flesh and all, whereas Mark stands still, looking as if he's afraid of coming nearer, like Yugyeom is some kind of scary creature.

Yugyeom sighs. "Sorry, I ... I overslept and ..." He doesn't even know what he wants to say, his head feels like it's wrapped in clouds and cotton.

"We were just worried." Mark finds his voice again. "You're never late. We had to use the spare key."

Yugyeom nods, guilt taking over him. He bites on his lip as he tries to look for an excuse. "I'm so ... I'm so sorry, really. I didn't mean to make you wait, I ran here as fast as I could, I should have ..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Jackson tries to calm him down; he has that soothing look in his eyes that Yugyeom has always been grateful for. Everything is less scary when Jackson looks at you like that. "God, you look like hell. Hand me that coat and let me give you some water."

In fact, Yugyeom does not only look like hell, he also feels like hell. He threw on the first sweater he could find laying around, almost put on two different shoes and barely remembered to lock the front door. He's actually surprised he managed not to get runover by a car on his way here. Most definitely, he's more glad than ever his brain has memorized the way from his apartment to the shop by now so he can run down the streets without having to think about where to go, because that's probably the only reason he's even here right now.