“Thanks.” Jessica sat as Onew pulled out the chair for her. He sat opposite her with a nervous smile on his face. “This is a nice place. I’ve never been here before.”

 “Yeah, I came here a few months ago for Sunny’s parents’ anniversary,” said Onew. They fell into an awkward silence and quickly averted their eyes to the menu.

 “I notice you always order chicken. Favourite food?” asked Jessica curiously.

 “Mhmm. It’s been with me for 24 years,” he said with a straight face.

Jessica laughed. “Now that’s dedication. Chicken would be proud.”

 “What’s yours?” he asked.

 “Hmm… anything that doesn’t contain raw fish. Or cucumbers. I hate cucumbers,” she said with a disgusted look.

Onew looked at her in surprise. “You don’t like cucumbers? Me neither!”

 “Oh my god, seriously? That’s funny. I thought I was the only one.”

 “Yep, I eat everything except for cucumbers.”

 “Well I’m a bit pickier though. It’s anything cucumber-like, you know watermelon, Asian pears, squash…” she said bashfully. “But it’s only with those that I’m picky with. I swear I’m not high-strung.”

He chuckled. “I’ll take note of your preferences.”

They continued chatting over dinner; Jessica laughed at Onew’s lame jokes (What’s it called when a king falls over? King Kong) and Onew found that she was actually quite funny in her own way. Before they knew it dinner was over and next up was dessert. And he had planned a little surprise for this.

***

 “Onew?! Hi!” A girl with bleached blonde hair waved at Onew.

Onew froze as he came face-to-face with the girl. “Yeeun… “

 “It’s been so long! How’ve you been?”

 “Good. You’re in Korea…?” Onew asked, slightly confused.

 “Like 2 weeks ago. Business meeting. Y’know how it is.”

 “Oh um. Cool.” The three of them stood around awkwardly.

 “So are you going to introduce me to this beautiful woman you have here?” Yeeun asked cheerfully.

 Onew realised that Jessica was still there. “Oh I’m sorry. Yeeun Jessica, Jessica Yeeun.”

Yeeun smiled and stuck her hand out to shake Jessica’s, “Park Yeeun, nice to meet you.”

 “Jessica Jung, pleased to meet you too.” She smiled in return, trying to make sense of this situation.

 “Don’t worry I’m not his stowaway girlfriend. Onew and I go way back. We’ve  been friends since forever. Since like…” she turned to Onew, “was it first year of high school? Sometime around that. ”

 “Middle school,” Onew murmured quietly.

 “And it’s so good to see a familiar face! I’ve missed you so much!” Yeeun chattered excitedly, touching Onew’s arm affectionately. “We should catch up. I’m here for about 6 months since my latest project is based here.”

 “Yes. We… should. Yeeun-ah, we have to go,” he said hesitantly. Honestly he didn’t want to leave. He had so many questions but he was so confused at the moment, the best thing to do was leave. “I’ll pass you my number and you can call and meet up sometime OK.”

 “Oh sorry didn’t mean to interrupt your date! How rude of me,” Yeeun apologised hurriedly. “Jessica, you take care and Onew call me!” With a quick wave she left.

 “So, is this how the date ends?” Jessica joked lightly, trying to lift the atmosphere.

 “Oh shoot! Jessica I’m so sorry,” Onew replied flustered. “No the dessert shop down the corner… I reserved a place and…”

Jessica shook her head with a smile, “I have a better idea. Let’s go back to that place by the Han River. I quite liked that place.”

 “Are you sure?” Jessica nodded and pulled Onew along with her.

***

Jessica breathed in the fresh air, her eyes closed. She could feel the soft breeze around her, and the aromatic scent of coffee wafting through her nose.

 “I might just be breaking the rules of first dates and Tiffany is gonna kill me, but Yeeun, she’s the girl?” Jessica asked carefully.

Onew nodded slowly. “It’s been 2 years since I last saw her.”

 “She seems nice.”

He sighed. “Yeah.” He shook his head. “Why are we talking about her? This is supposed to be our date.”

 “It’s OK. At least I learned a little something. Kinda,” she said optimistically. “Still comes under getting to know each other right?”

 “This was not how I planned a first date to go,” he said, feeling slightly guilty.

Jessica shook her head. “Nah, I like this. It’s… relaxed.” She smiled. “So I hear you play football. I used to play too back in high school.”

 “Really? You don’t strike me as the football type.”

She chuckled. “What did strike you then?” She asked curiously.

 “Somewhat… mysterious I guess. I honestly had no thoughts when I first saw you,” recalled Onew. “That look you gave me. That’s what I remember most.”

 “What look?”

 “That look. I was searching for a seat and then there you were staring at me with these eyes. Like a lion circling its enemy.”

 “I so did not do that!” argued Jessica.

 “I found it very courageous of me to actually sit next to you,” he teased. “But I’m glad I did. And what did you think? What was my first impression?” He waited expectantly for her answer. Technically this was officially his first date ever, excluding all the blind dates his mum had set him up with. This time he actually liked the girl.

 “Comfortable. I hate awkwardness, so I was glad that you started the conversation,” Jessica replied honestly. “I’m not very talkative you see. I liked our first meeting, it was memorable.”

 “That’s fortunate.” He heaved a sigh of relief. Suddenly Jessica’s phone rang.

 “Hello? Oh hi. No I’m still on my date. Mhmm. Yes he’s still here,” she faced Onew with a scrunched face, then giggled. “I’ll call you later OK? It’s rude to interrupt a date. Alright, see you. Bye.” She ended the call. “Sorry about that. It was Doojoon. You know him right?”

 “Yeah, we’re on the same football team. I met your sister Krystal too.”

 “Ahh yes, she mentioned that to me. Along with your Hi,” she grinned. She glanced at her watch. It was 1.30 am; 5 hours had passed. She stifled a yawn.

Onew checked his watch as well. “Oh wow, no wonder you’re tired. It’s late.”  He held his hand out, and she reached out to get off the bench. “Let’s go Miss Jung.”

***

 “Soooo, how’d it go?” asked Krystal. She waited up for her sister, dying to know the details.

 “It was… interesting,” started Jessica, with a whimsical smile. “He’s a really nice guy. Friendly, funny-”

 “And?”

 “What? It was a good date. We got to know each other a bit-“

 “OK I get it. What else? Any intimacy? No, not like that unnie! Gawd, I meant like did you guys hold hands or like… sneak in a kiss,” rattled Krystal impatiently.

 “No, we had no intimacy but I held his hand for a second when he helped me off the bench.” It was a brief moment, but the feel of his hand was soft yet firm. “We did have this one moment where it seemed like we were gonna kiss though,” Jessica blushed as she thought of that moment. He walked her to her door and she turned to thank him, but instead was caught staring into his eyes. Unfortunately her mum chose that moment to open up the door.

 “Hmph, trust mum to ruin the moment. So I’m guessing there’s gonna be a second date?”

Jessica shrugged. “I don’t know. We didn’t get to that yet… but I don’t know how he felt about the date. Just cos’ I enjoyed it doesn’t mean he did.”

She was sceptical and unsure. Maybe I was too boring and he just did well to look like he was enjoying himself.

 “Unnie, you’re generally a boring, untalkative person. The fact that you’ve been out for 5 hours, says that he had a good time too,” concluded Krystal. Honestly, sometimes her sister was so dense. She got hit with a pillow. “Oww! Just saying~.”

Jessica’s phone pinged. You’ve got a text.

From Onew:

I’m sorry we didn’t have proper dessert. I’ll make it up to you next time! 7pm Saturday? :)

She quickly typed a reply.

To Onew:

Saturday sounds perfect :) Good nite~

 “Looks like my Saturday is filled.”

***

Thank you to the readers and new subscribers!  Thoughts on Jessica's acting? I find the lead actress' acting a lot more.. annoying. I thought Jessica would be awkward but no she's doing pretty well!  Yes this could be my bias speaking. ANDDD B.A.P! SO impressed! Way to debut into 2012 boys! Love :)