First Date (1)
Light in My EyesSunggyu was too thrilled for the date, he sped up everything he had to do and when he was finally done, there was still 30 minutes left until the time to meet Lily at the carpark. He checked his bag for the things he wanted to bring along, he also checked himself at the mirror again and he couldn't help to smile to his dashing reflection. After that, he checked for the movie tickets with his phone again. He thought for a while and did some calculation, then he decided to do a few more transactions. It was their first date, he wanted everything went smoothly.
When everything was done, there was still 15 minutes left, but he thought it was better to be early than late, so he carried his bag and started walking to the carpark since he already had the car key. He never paid attention to Lily's car, he needed some time to get familiar with it so that he could drive smoothly later. He ignited the engine to life and got it warmed, he also adjusted the seat, the rear mirror, the side mirrors...... He was obviously nervous, it was their first date after all, he just couldn't help it.
Sunggyu looked at his watch again and it was about time, then he saw a pendrive plugged onto the music player, so he switched it on tried to figure what songs Lily usually listened. To his surprise, other than some Mandarin songs that he didn't know and some other English songs, she mainly listened to Infinite's songs and his own solo songs. He shook his head a few times for disbelieving and yet couldn't help to smile with the fact that Lily was indeed a big fan of Infinite and of course a supportive fan of him.
When he rose his head and looked through the windscreen, he saw Lily walked towards her car, and he couldn't help to feel fluttering when she was getting nearer. He never paid attention to her wearing so he couldn't remember if he ever saw Lily wore any short skirt before, and now she was wearing a blue jeans short skirt and it was nicely matched with her cream oversized knit sweater, her navy canvas and her khaki sling bag. With him already feeling nervous, his just managed to look at the walking Lily until she knocked the window lightly asking him to unlock the door, he finally 'awaken' and quickly unlock for her.
After got in the car, Lily looked at the smiling Sunggyu, he was looking at her skirt, smiling. Lily smiled shyly and looked at her own skirt, "Well... it's a date....." Sunggyu smiled even sweeter after hearing that. "Unless... you don't like it...?" She looked at him again and Sunggyu quickly shook his head, but realised it might mean differently with a 'head-shaking', so he quickly nodded and said, "I mean yes... uhh, I mean, you look very nice with it." Lily looked at her skirt again and murmured shyly, "Thanks..." When she looked at Sunggyu again, she realised something was missing, "No hoodie?" He pointed at his bag which laid at the back seat, "I'll put it on when we get down later." Lily turned to see his bag, it looked stuffy and she wonder what else was inside his bag.
"Ready to go?" Sunggyu asked in the excitement tone, and Lily replied as instant, "Yes please, I'm starving!" Sunggyu felt amused with her reply because he had never heard Lily said hungry or saw her looking for food. "Let's get something nice to eat!" They left the carpark and headed to an Asian fusion restaurant because Sunggyu wanted to eat rice and he didn't want to narrow Lily's choices of food. After they parked their car, they walked in the restaurant one after another and sit at the furthest corner table to avoid the crowd. Of course, Sunggyu had put on his grey hoodie and a mask before he got out from the car and he took the seat where his back facing the main door.
Sunggyu ordered teriyaki beef rice set for himself while Lily ordered Tom Yam fried noodles. He wasn't really into Thai food because he thought it was too spicy, but after tasting Lily's noodles, he started to like it and he wanted to try some Tom Yam food next time when he had the chance. They left the restaurant with the satisfying stomach and headed to the cinema. They were going to watch Antman.
They went in the cinema one after another again with their separated QR code and walked straight to their seats which were at the last row in the cinema hall. Sunggyu said the last row was the safest seats because they didn't have to worry for behind, they only needed to be alert for the front and both side seats. When they finally sat down, Lily noticed there were only a few people inside the hall and all of them were sitting at the front rows which were far away from them. Maybe because of that, she started to feel cold even before the movie started. She pulled her sleeves down and rub her hands to get warm.
Sunggyu noticed it, he pulled something out from his bag and handed it to Lily and to her surprise, it was a shawl. She looked at Sunggyu curiously, "How did you..." The lights went off before she finished talking, so Sunggyu took the chance to put the shawl around her shoulder and wrapped her hands with the remaining part. "Your hands are always cold..." He spoke softly to her then returned to sit straight and looked at the big screen again as if nothing happened.
Lily looked at the shawl wrapped clumsily around her hands, she never expected Sunggyu would prepare anything like a shawl to keep her warm. Now that she realised why his bag was stuffy, if was full with his hoodie and the shawl which purposely prepared for her. Warmth spread from her hands to her heart, she decided to pull one of her hands out from the shawl and went searching for Sunggyu's hand under the armrest. Sunggyu held her hand tightly as instant their hands touched one another, he smiled sweetly to himself and dropped his gaze to look at their holding hands.
When he turned to look at Lily, she was still looking at him adoringly, he couldn't help to pull off the mask and leaned in for a kiss. It was a quick and soft peck but a very expressive one. Sunggyu put on the mask again but Lily saw his tender smiling gaze as if he was still smiling sweetly behind the mask. They returned to sit properly and tried to focus to the big screen, but they never let go of their hands. At some moment, Sunggyu even held Lily's hand with his both hands and caressing her fingers playfully and lovingly. He also rubbed her hand if he felt coldness from her hand.
The movie was decent, with them both feeling delighted, they enjoyed the movie and even laughed cheerfully at some scenes. When the movie was ended and the lights went on again, their hands finally broke away, Sunggyu pulled up his hoodie again and kept the shawl into his bag again too. He took the lead and walked at the front while Lily followed behind him until they reached her car, he took off his mask immediately when they both were covered inside the car. "Where should we go now? Anywhere you want to go?" Sunggyu asked with his excitement tone again. "I feel like having some ice cream, but I don't think we can go to any ice cream shop..." Lily said after she thought for a while. "We can take away and eat at somewhere else, like a park." Lily's face lit up with hope and they both spoke in unison, "Han River Park!"
Coincidently, there was a famous ice cream shop nearby, Sunggyu drove to the shop and waited inside the car while Lily went in to buy the ice cream. He looked at the walking Lily from inside the car, he couldn't tell how much he loved the way she dressed up today and wondered how she could be looking so young and lovely. She looked like those fresh graduated and no one would actually believe that she was already at her 30's. When she came out from the shop and walked towards the car, Sunggyu couldn't help to feel fluttering again but this time he remembered to unlock the car for her and helped to take over the bagful of ice cream and shoved it at the back seat. After that, they headed to Han River Park.
Lily switched on the music player and sang along whatever songs that popped up, she even sang Sunggyu's songs and didn't really care of how he would think of her singing. She was simply happy and wanted to sing out loud and Sunggyu was very pleased with the cheerful Lily, he sang with her at some chorus parts too. When they reached the park, Sunggyu hopped down the car after he had put on everything. He carried his bag together with the bagful of ice cream and took the lead again. Unlike last time, Lily just followed behind him casually not worrying of lost track of him because she knew he would slow down the speed and waited for her if their distance was too far apart.
When they finally reached their very own special area where no one would actually came to this far, Sunggyu turned around to Lily's direction and held up his hand waiting for her. Quickly, she sped up and took his hand without any hesitation, then they walked carefully onto the slightly slope lawn hand in hand until they reached the specific spot where they usually sat and laid on. Sunggyu put down his bag and the ice cream onto the grass, then carefully sat down onto the grass together with Lily. They only loosened their hands after they had sat down, but Lily adjusted her sit a few times because she was wearing a short skirt.
Sunggyu noticed it too, he pulled out the shawl again and folded it a few times into a suitable size, then placed the shawl onto her thighs so that she was covered well and able to sit comfortably in any posture she wanted. Lily looked at the shawl speechlessly, she pulled the hen of the shawl for the best covering then turned to look at Sunggyu, he just nodded a few times and smiled shyly, but he avoided her gaze and busied himself with the ice cream. He took the whole box out from the paper bag then took each cup out from the box and took off the lids too. There were vanilla flavour, chocolate flavour, strawberries flavour and green tea flavour.
"I didn't know which flavour to choose and I didn't want to keep you waiting, so I took the 4 cups ready-pack, luckily they have your favourite..." Lily handed Sunggyu the strawberries flavour but he didn't took the cup, he just smiled and merely looking at the ice cream, "You know... I've always seen people doing this... but I've never tried before..." Still smiling very shyly, he handed Lily a spoon and when she took it, he finally looked to her eyes and opened his mouth widely as if a baby waited for feeding.
Lily broke down into laughter and as expected, Sunggyu joined her in laughing too. From the mindful and well prepared Sunggyu to the waited for feeding Sunggyu, she had too much to handle for today. She wonder how many more surprises Sunggyu would show her until the date ended, and then he started to protest with his roaring voice, "Stop laughing!!" They both laughed even harder for this but Lily quickly sent a spoonful of strawberries ice cream into his mouth. With a mouthful of ice cream, Sunggyu smiled happily and satisfyingly, he then took a spoonful of vanilla ice cream and held up to Lily, he wanted to feed her too. Like Sunggyu, Lily opened and leaned in for the ice cream, he nodded satisfyingly while Lily just smiled to the awkwardly shy Sunggyu.
They didn't say a word for the rest of the time, just fed each other the ice cream until all four cups were empty. "Thanks for suggesting to buy ice cream, I didn't know that eating ice cream could be this happy and satisfying." Sunggyu said while handed Lily some tissue paper provided by the ice cream shop, then he asked again, "Which flavour do you like most?" "Green tea." Lily answered without thinking. Sunggyu was surprised with her reply, he thought girls usually liked strawberries, "Really? We shall buy more green tea ice cream next time." Lily quickly added, "And more strawberries flavour too." They both smiled and started to clear the unwanted things and put them all into the paper bag, prepared to throw away when they went back later.
The weather was really nice and the blue sky was full with clouds, Sunggyu laid on the grass and look up to the sky, remembering the last time they came when he was very stressed and moody. He looked at the sitting Lily and asked in the soft tone, "Remember the 'short-ear-rabbit?' " Didn't look at Sunggyu, Lily just smiled and looked up to the sky too. "I know... it was a bear." Sunggyu said again and this time Lily turned to look at him, "You knew?" He nodded and continued, "I was too desperate to get it right at least once, and you were so kind hearted to agree to whatever I said." She smiled and reached out to brush his hair gently, "You were so stressed...... " Then, she ruffled his hair like how she did to him last time, they both remembered and smiled, Sunggyu reached out for her hand and gently planted a kiss onto it.
Still holding her hand, Sunggyu looked at Lily and said, "Tell me something about you..." Lily saw his curious eyes, "What do you want to know?" He kissed her hand again and took some time to think for it, "Anything, everything." Lily knew everything about Sunggyu, the members in Woollim hardly have any privacy because the company has to know everything about them for career planning and for problems solving, but no one really knew anything about Lily except for Jung Yeop, the CEO that brought Lily to Woollim.
Lily spoke softly, "You ask, I'll tell." Sunggyu thought for a while, "Tell me about your hometown." "It's a very hot and humid country, like summer in Korea but it's a summer for the whole year long, can you imagine?" He tried to imagine and asked, "So no one needs to change wardrobe follow the seasons?" She shook her head, "We mostly wear T shirts and shorts or jeans when outing, and slippers too. Very relax and casual, that's why I don't put on makeup, we'll be sweating very easily." He nodded, "Food?" Lily's face got lit up, "Aww... Food! We have plenty of delicious local food, I really miss them so so much! I can't really get those food in Korea."
Sunggyu nodded again, then continued, "How about your family? You don't... miss them?" Lily dropped her gaze and smiled to herself, "I'm all alone now." She caught his confused gaze, so she explained, "We were on our way home from a vacation, a truck lost control... my parents and my brother couldn't make it... I'm the only survivor..." Sunggyu quickly sat up and held Lily's arms, "I'm really sorry... I didn't know..." He felt very regret to have asked her this question but he didn't know what to do and what to say. "Don't worry, it was a long time ago, like... more than 10 years from now, so... yeah..." Then she looked to the sky, "They are staying up there looking after me now, so... I'm good."
Sunggyu followed her gaze and looked to the sky, as if he really saw her parents and her brother up there. He held Lily's hand and returned his gaze to her, "You have me now." She dropped her gaze to mid air and blinked once, as if she was thinking of something. Without turning to looking at Sunggyu, she smiled weakly but her gaze looked unsure. Sunggyu wouldn't have noticed it if he wasn't looking at her, because very quickly, she looked to the sky again as if nothing happened. However, he saw it. He knew it how Lily felt insecure to their relationship caused by her dreadful experience and their . He really didn't know what to do to gain her trust and have a little confident in him, or at least to believe in what he believed.
Desperately, Sunggyu looked to the sky again hoping for her parents and her brother to be there for real to hear him, and wished them to send Lily more strength to feel secure and be more confident with him, he even wished for blessing from her parents too. He knew this sounded really silly but he was desperate. When he was about to sigh, the clouds around the sun moved by strong wind caused the sunlight shot straight to them. Sunggyu noticed it, he also remembered the sunrise in Taiwan when they finally being honest to their feelings for each other. Without looking away from the sky he asked quietly in his mind, "Is this... a blessing?" He knew this was insane, but, as if an answer to his question, soft breeze blew to his way seconds later. He closed his eyes enjoyed the breezy moment and smiled, he felt utterly happy and couldn't help to murmured "Thank you", totally forgot that Lily was right next to him.
* * * * * * * to be continued * * * * * * *
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