Usually, she had it together. She knew what she was doing, after all she was 31 and a mom. But when it came to dating...Haejin hadn't a clue about what to expect from this evening. It's been a while. For some, 'a while' meant a couple of years. 

Seven. It's been seven years since she's been with anyone. After Minchul past, she wasn't ready to date for obvious reasons. She was in mourning and had a baby girl to take care of. But after seven years, Sandara had convinced her to at least attempt dating again. She had even paid the fee for the matchmaking service she wanted Haejin to use.

Which led up to Haejin being here, at her mother-in-law's house, holding her daughter's hand as she spoke with Sungmi.

"Mom, are you absolutely sure it's okay?" She asked for the hundredth time since she had told her mother-in-law about the date. 

Sungmi rolled her eyes, holding her hand out to little Jinhee, "Yes, can I have my granddaughter now?" At this, Jinhee laughed and let go of her mother's hand to cling to her grandmother.

"Hello my dear!" Sungmi smiled fondly at the young girl. Haejin let out a sigh. She could trust Sungmi, she's been there since the day Jinhee was born and promised not to go anywhere even after Minchul left.

"Okay Jinhee, you're spending the night with grandma." Another cheer from her daughter managed to create a small smile on her face. "Be good, okay?" 

"Okay!" Jinhee promised, linking pinkies with her mother. Sungmi bent down a little, "Sweetheart, why don't you go pick out a movie for us to watch after dinner while I say goodbye to your mother. Give her a kiss first!" 

"Bye bye mommy~" Jinhee kissed her mother on her cheek, giving her another hug before disappearing into the house. Haejin couldn't help but feel alittle proud. She raised an obedient girl. 

Sungmi waited until her granddaughter was out of sight before turning to Haejin, crossing her arms. "Haejin, you're not showing your feelings again. Talk to me, dear." 


 Haejin was hestiant, she wasn't good at talking about feelings, but maybe it'd help calm her before meeting her date tonight. "I'm just really worried." 

"I'd be too, you're going to have no idea what to do after seven years." Sungmi's joke was half-hearted in an attempt to lift the conversation.

"You know what I mean, mom." 

"I know," Sungmi sighed, placing a hand on Haejin's arm, "But it's time."

"I know. Minchul would've wanted me to be happy and have someone to help me and love Jinhee." Haejin admitted. Her late husband was a kind man, and wouldn't have wanted her to stay single for his sake now that he was gone.

"That's exactly what my son would've wanted." Sungmi nodded, "And you'll always have Sandara and I."

"Yeah...." She nodded, checking her phone and ealizing she had a message from her date. 

Meet me at the jongnosam-gu station!

She paused to think about how far away she was. Yikes. She didn't want to be rude and make him wait so she might as well warn him. Okay. it'll take me a while to get there though.

His reply came only a few minutes later. I'll wait for you, it's no problem.

Well, that's a line that made Haejin smile and her heart calm down. It was a first date, though, so of course he was going to be this nice. And with that, she headed towards the train station.


She had missed a connecting train to call Sungmi and make sure that Jinhee was okay, with Sungmi ended the call with a half-joking threat to block her until the next morning to make sure she didn't spend the entire night checking in, so Haejin was a little later than she would've liked. 

But she was here, and she opened her phone to pull up this guy's profile to make sure she knew what he looked like... Only to find she had no service. 

"I have no idea if he has any service, so what if we're both wandering around this station aimlessly trying to find one another with no picture reference?" She asked herself, looking around the station's platform to see if there was anyone who looked like they were also looking for someone else.

Ten minutes later and still no sign of her date. She sunk down on a bench, running her hand through her hair as she tried to come up with a plan. 

"Ahn Haejin?" A male voice came from in front of her, and she looked up, hoping that it was her date and not a co-worker.

"How old are you?" Oops, well that slipped out. Haejin blushed, she had meant to say hello, but her date just looked so... young. He had bleached blonde hair pushed back, a dimpled smile and not a wrinkle in sight. Either he was young or had a great plastic surgeon.

"I'm 23." Haejin just wanted to scream, but settled for wide eyes and a startled "Oh." 

After composing her thoughts, she shook her head to restart, "I'm sorry, it's just I wasn't expecting you to look or be that young because I'm..." She trailed off, looking up at him sheepishly. 

He laughed a little, "Older?" Haejin nodded wordlessly, unsure of what to say. An eight year ? When she was graduating high school, he was still in primary school!

"Is that... a bad thing?" He looked nervous after Haejin was quiet for a while. She shook her head.

"No, no, age isn't really a factor for me, it was just... Caught me off guard." 

He rubbed the back of his head, "Ah, well, you don't look your age either... and b that I mean you look young!" He stumbled over his compliment, making Haejin smile.

He was cute and well meaning, so he couldn't be a terrible date unless the venue was awkward. "Alright then, where are you taking me...?" Crap. She forgot his name. Not good, not good --

"Oh! There's a new international artist named Aaron Fowler that's debuting a few of his gallery pieces at the PKM venue. I thought we could check it out." He smiled, extending a hand to help her up. She took it, hoping that he'd somehow mention his name so she wouldn't have to awkwardly ask for it.

"Well that's unique, I'm looking forward to it!" She smiled, noticing that his hand lingered on hers before he blushed, taking his hand away and leading her towards the exit. 

As soon as they were above ground, Haejin quickly whipped out her phone, "Ah, sorry, I have to check my email for work... I totally forgot." She apologized as he noticed her sudden movement. He nodded, "Of course! Not a problem."

She opened Heaven's email again, reading the name 'Kim Namjoon' as her match. Namjoon. okay, she could remember that. 

"Okay, Namjoon," She used his name, "Everything's good." And with that, they entered the art gallery. 

Haejin hadn't really ever been to an opening of a gallery before, but she was really enjoying herself. It wasn't too busy, so she and Namjoon were able to take their time looking at the pieces and really think about them.

Namjoon seemed to be really into the intellectual aspect of art, always talking about the philosophy or intention of the artist and asking her opinion. To top it off, he actually listened to her and would compliment her thought process. It was kind of attractive, honestly.

"What's this piece called?" Haejin asked, unable to see the words. Namjoon leaned a little closer to get the title, "It's called Tough Love." They looked at it in silence for a few minutes, gathering their ideas and feelings on the piece.

"Mind if I start?" Namjoon asked, looking over at her. Haejin nodded, she wanted more time to really look at the piece. "I think it might represent the struggles of an abusive relationship. While the abuser is the one to be seen to have physical signs of abuse, there's always apart of the abuser that might be hurting as well, signified from the slight drips of red coming from the one who's stabbing the other."  Namjoon tilted his head, "Though I'd have to disagree if that was the case. An abusive person isn't someone you should try and sympathize with. The one who's been abused is affected for the rest of their life because of their actions."  

"Actually," Haejin spoke up, and immediately Namjoon turned his undivided attention to her, "I think it represents the pain of losing a loved love -- it feels like they were killed in front of you, but you had no idea how or why -- it almost can come to a point where you believe you were the one at fault for their death... Which is why the lover's face is blurred. The red drips represent the tears shed from the living lover."

Namjoon was genuinely interested, but cautious with his phrasing, "Have you lost someone you loved?"

"My mother and my late husband --" Haejin's eyes widened at the last point. While her mother was something that she thought fair game to share, she was pretty sure that dropping the 'my first husband has died' bomb on the first date was a big no-no.

"Oh." Namjoon's tone turned apologetic, "I'm sorry for your loss. How long...?"

"Seven years, since my daughter is nine and --" Oh wow. So her mind and mouth decided just to screw her over by dropping all of that baggage on the first date. Great.

"What's her name?" Namjoon didn't even seemed fazed by the new information, however. Haejin had to say, if he was panicking, she was genuinely impressed.

"Jinhee." Her mood instantly brightened when she thought of her child, "She's beautiful and I'd do anything for her."

Namjoon smiled, "I'd be concerned if you didn't. You must be a great mother." 

"I try my best." Haejin admitted. Their conversation died a bit, only speaking when commenting about art, and when Namjoon noticed the time. "Oh, we should probably head out." 

It was about 10 p.m. and Haejin didn't know if that was a bad thing. The gallery was open for another hour, but she agreed and they headed to the station together.

As they made their way to the platform, he revealed he had to go home a different way than her, and Haejin started reeling with assumptions. The date must've gone terribly, since they didn't stay out until the gallery closed, she must've scared him off when she let it slip about Minchul and Jinhee --

"I'd like to see you again, if that's okay." Namjoon looked sheepish as he stood before her, blushing. 

Haejin blinked, "Oh?? Oh, yeah! I'd.... I'd really like that." 

Namjoon smiled brightly at her, "Great! Message me when you get home safely, okay? I'd love to stay later, but you must want to hurry home to Jinhee." Is that why he decided to call it a night? Haejin felt her heart flutter.

"We'll talk about another date when it's conveinent for you." Namjoon awkwardly held his arms out, offering a goodbye hug.

Haejin took it, squeezing him a little and smiling back at him. "Thank you, I will. I had a really great time tonight."

"Me too." 

Both couldn't help but be really happy about how the date went, and were looking forward to the next time they'd see each other.
 

Author's Note