Height of Temptation

"Careful with the boxes, will you?" Juhyeok scolded as he watched Donghyuk attempting to carry one of the big boxes with the heavy stuff from the trunk of the pickup truck. “I’d prefer having my stuff intact and placed in alphabetical order, please and thank you.”

“Oh, my goooood. They have labels on ‘em. You’re doing too much!” his friend, Donghyuk, whined exasperated, throwing his head back, but ended up putting the box containing the cutlery on the pile with labels starting with the letter C.

“It’s called being organised, Donghyuk. Try it.” Juhyeok replied, passing him another box.

“Be grateful I sacrificed two hours of my beauty sleep to help your short ass move in,” Donghyuk retorted sassily.

Juhyeok’s face turned red with embarrassment. “I’m not that short!”

“Bro, you have boxes twice your size and height. Why else do you need me, your tall and handsome friend, for? Surely it’s not for aesthetics. But then again, I wouldn’t blame you if that was the reason.”

“Keep talking shit and you’ll lose your short person privileges, mother fucker. Good luck trying to grab stuff you can’t reach under your bed with your human flagpole having ass.”

“Please, I can dress you up like Pinocchio and fit you inside a suit and succeed in convincing people that you’re a realistic-looking puppet.”

“Eat a dick, Donghyuk,” he growled, flipping the bird at him, before offloading the last of his boxes from the truck.

“Love you too, Juju.” Donghyuk playfully blew him a kiss, closing the door to the trunk of the truck.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the two of them moving back and forth, bickering with each other as they were moving Juhyeok’s stuff up to his new studio apartment.

“You'd better pay me extra for this, Juhyeok,” Donghyuk groaned as they exited the elevator.

“For what? Being a pain in my ass?” he arched an eyebrow.

“For all this labour. I’m busting my back over here when I should be playing Overwatch.”

“You could have just said no when I asked.”

“I know. I just love complaining and making it your problem.” Donghyuk said, batting his eyes, feigning innocence, which made Juhyeok roll his eyes.

They grabbed the last of Juhyeok’s boxes and made their way back inside the apartment building.

“But out of curiosity, why move to Seoul?” Donghyuk’s playful tone now turned serious but laced with curiosity. “I mean, you could still practise teaching back on Jeju Island without moving your entire life here.”

Juhyeok pressed the button on the elevator, his expression in deep thought. It was true that he could have pursued teaching back on Jeju Island. After all, there were some good and reputable colleges he could have gotten into. He was even offered a full-time lecturer position at the college he attended, but ended up turning it down. So many options, but he opted to move to Seoul instead.

“I’d been thinking about leaving Jeju for quite some time,” Juhyeok answered. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Jeju. Home is home, but…” he trailed off into a brief pause. “I dunno. I wanted a change in scenery and to find better opportunities. Plus, I’ll get to specialise more in literature. Staying in Jeju would feel like I’m settling on staying stagnant.”

Donghyuk nodded, conceding to his explanation. “Sounds on brand for you. You’ve always been the perfectionist. From grades down to your looks.”

“It’s not being a perfectionist if you have standards and refusing to settle for mediocrity.” He rolled his eyes. “And I love being presentable. People take me seriously that way.”

“Yeah, but not enough to get you laid.” Donghyuk reminded him.

“Hey!” Juhyeok kicked his ass, his face already flushed.

“What? It’s true. Mark is a socially awkward mess, yet somehow he got more girls than you since freshman year.”

“Okay, first off, I have had sex. Second, even if that were true, I want something long-term and sustainable. Not a quick fuck just because I don’t have the patience to not stick my dick in anything that breathes and has a vagina like someone I know.” Juhyeok gave him a pointed look. “Besides, most women prefer dating someone they can look up to. Not the other way around.”

The elevator finally opened, and they both stepped inside.

“So in other words, the girls are not girling,” Donghyuk concluded.

“That’s not even a real word,” Juhyeok deadpanned, glaring over the edge of the box.

“You’re not even a real word.” Donghyuk stuck his tongue out at him while pressing the button to take them to the sixth floor, where Juhyeok’s apartment was.

Right when Juhyeok was about to throw another retort at his friend, the doors slid open again, and a young woman slipped inside, brushing past him with the faint scent of vanilla and something floral. She stood between him and Donghyuk.

She was tall. Tall enough to make Juhyeok instinctively stiffen his shoulders and become self-conscious. His gaze flickered towards her side profile, taking in her doll-like features, her long, sleek, dark hair, and the nonchalant way she scrolled through her phone, as if she hadn’t just disrupted the air in the cramped elevator.

They both shared a look. Donghyuk raised his eyebrows and mouthed a silent bro, but Juhyeok’s only response was adjusting the heavy box in his arms and looking away, ears burning.

“Sixth floor?”

Juhyeok looked up and saw that she already had her gaze fixed on him.

Oh God. She’s staring. She’s staring. She’s staring.

“Yeah,” he internally cringed at the way his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “Yeah. That’s where we’re heading.”

“Same,” She smiled, showing her perfectly straight and white teeth.

Donghyuk feigned a gasp, giving Juhyeok a shit eating grin. “Same floor? What are the odds?”

The girl gave a polite smile before turning her gaze back to her phone. They spent the rest of the ride in silence. Juhyeok tried not to stare, think about the fact that she smelled better than anything he owned, and definitely tried not to think about how fast his heart was racing for a person he had just met.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence, with the tall lady occupied on her phone and the two guys standing like a bunch of statues on either side of her. Donghyuk signalled Juhyeok to make a move on her, but he stood beside her, frozen, eyes fixed on the floor indicator like it held the secrets of the universe.

Finally, after what felt like forever, they finally reached the sixth floor. As soon as the doors opened, Juhyeok scurried out. Donghyuk gave the girl an apologetic smile before chasing after his overly flustered friend.

By the time he caught up with him, Juhyeok was already at his door, fumbling his fingers against the keypad.

By the time Donghyuk caught up with him, Juhyeok was already at his door, fumbling his fingers against the keypad.

“Dude, relax. You’re acting like a teenage boy seeing and talking to a girl for the first time,” Donghyuk drawled, leaning against the wall with a smirk already plastered on his face.

Juhyeok cursed under his breath when the keypad beeped red, indicating that he had messed up his passcode. He put down the box to wipe off the sweat on his jeans and tried again.

“What happened, Mr Standards? All that talk about not settling, but one look at a hot chick and one whiff of vanilla perfume and you’re malfunctioning and rebooting your systems.” Donghyuk chuckled.

“Piss off,” Juhyeok flipped him off, finally punching the right code, and the door clicked open and started bringing the boxes inside.

“Come on! The set-up was perfect! Classic elevator proximity trope. You could have recreated the elevator scene from 50 Shades of Grey. And you just stood there looking like you were going to pass out.”

“Hell no! That shit will end with me getting a black eye, my nuts kicked, and me ending up on a sex offender registry!”