Despite it being a match making sight that was reknown for their success rate, Qiu Hui was pretty clear about her expectations and to the extent of what she was looking for.

"Dang, you really think your parents would be the type to be upset you're still single?" Taecyeon asked, cutting into his food. They were on one of their now weekly dates, trying to get used to being 'together' and making sure they were both on the same page.

Qiu Hui sighed, "Honestly, I'm unsure. But since it's my younger sister, I'd just rather not take the chance, you know?"

Tacyeon nodded "Gotcha. My parents have been much more agreeable since I've told them about you. My friends are looking forward to meeting you this weekend too." 

Qiu Hui nodded. They had decided to do a test run of how they interacted in public with a group through Taecyeon's friends, who knew of the situation they were in. They'd be able to tell them what went wrong and if their story wasn't believable enough.

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask about this," Taecyeon took a sip of water before continuing, "But I've noticed you're not overly fond of physical contact with others. Is it simply because we're not really dating or because you're uncomfortable?"

When she hestiated and shrugged silently, Taecyeon could see that she was anxious about something. "Hey," He said gently, "Just so you know, I'm okay with limited physical contact or affection. It sets boundaries and I want you to be comfortable with anything we might do."

Seeing her visbly relax made him smile. "Thank god," Qiu Hui sighed aloud, making him laugh, "I'm just not a PDA type of person. I'm okay with hand holding, hugging, and the like but I can't see myself kissing you right now, no offense."

"None taken. Oh, what about me holding onto your waist or putting an arm around you?"

"That's fine too." She nodded, chewing her food politely afterwards.

"So kissing is a no go, but if it were appropiate, and obviously I would want you to consent to it, would it be alright if I were to kiss your forehead, hand, cheek?" Taecyeon asked. Qiu Hui paused. Would it be okay? The thought sort of made her uncomfortable, but she felt more at ease since he was being thorough.

"I'll let you know?" She offered, and Taecyeon nodded. "Sure, I get it. At some point you may be okay with it, other times not so much. I'll be sure to ask in a nondiscreet way." 

They continued eating in silence for a while, but it was far from uncomfortable. Qiu Hui felt better about this arrangement than ever before. Taecyeon was understanding. Maybe he would be different...

No, no. That's silly. Qui Hui mentally scolded herself, Slow yourself down.

They set up a few more questions as dinner went on. They settled on Aejin and work being where they met, after all, it made sense and since they weren't in the same department, it wasn't seen as "using each other to get what you want" types of relationships. Qiu Hui doubted that either her or Taecyeon would ever do that. They also both agreed that six months would be the perfect length of dating (since that would be the amount of time they would have been together anyways through Heaven's website by the time the wedding rolled around). Not too serious, but it was getting serious enough that it made sense to start bringing them to weddings or family events.



The date that weekend was again, just a test run. However, Qiu Hui would take this as seriously as possible. She could have fun, but she wanted to make sure that they were both ready for unexpected situations. And from what Taecyeon told her of his friends, they definitely were good at coming out of nowhere with a curve ball.

"Whatever, Jay!" At the moment, though, they weren't exactly focused on the overal group date. The boys were ragging on this guy named "Jay" because he was "Mr. Hot Shot with the Record Deal" and was spending time with his girlfriend before leaving the country instead of hanging out with them.

It was kind of funny, but she felt bad for whoever this Jay's girlfriend was. She must be annoyed that they're taking up the available time that Jay had before leaving. Qiu Hui laughed despite that, because the boys were really hilarious with them. It was obvious they were close and meant nothing mean or rude by their words.

"They're always like that with Jay." She turned to see Nickhun's wife, Tiffany, rolling her eyes. "Jay's schedule is always busy, but they act like he's the only one that can't come to these meetups."

As the boys yelled their goodbyes and started head back over, Qui Hui smiled. "Seems like a handful."

"Hey, one of them is your handful now." The woman teased, nudging her as Taecyeon came over to Qui Hui's side, laughing about something Wooyoung said. 

"Unfortunately so." Qiu Hui shared a small giggle with Tiffany before Wooyoung's wife, Seyoung, spoke up.

"So, speaking of new couples," She poked at Taecyeon and Qui Hui, "Did either of you tell your parents?"

They both told their parent's reaction, but honestly, Qui Hui had to admit that her story was boring in comparison to Taecyeon's, whose parents were estatic that their wayward son found his way to love, because honestly they thought that he'd be lonely forever and become a crazy cat recluse.

Changsung decided to ask a question, "So, anything... physical in the meantime?"

"Dear god no." Qui Hui was quick to answer, but found her face burning over her blunt and obviously negative response.

Junho laughed, slapping Taecyeon on the back, "I don't blame you, I'd wait to see if he's clean too!"

"Yeeeeah..." She let out a nervous laugh, allowing the conversation to evolve into making fun of her date, to which he was extremely embarrassed and tried correcting or overexplaining to Qiu Hui.

It was cute, almost like she was an actual date meeting his friends for the first time. She smiled. Maybe she could allow herself to think a little further... even just for now.

_________________________________________________________________________

Aejung still wasn't used to this...whatever it was, but the fact that Jay was willing to put a lot of effort to see her even with his strict and busy schedule was nice. He had simply texted her, asking for her address and then saying "here" an hour later. When she opened her door, there he was.

"Sorry to keep doing this to you," Jay apologized, ducking into the door as Aejung closed it, "I'm leaving for the airport today, but I wanted to see you before I left."

"Oh!" Aejung blushed. She could definitely get used him saying more things like that. "How long will you be gone?" 

He sighed, hesitating before he answered. "About three weeks."

Oh. Aejung nodded, "That is a while, but that gives a bit of cushion time for the production right?"

Jay simply smiled brightly at her, and she couldn't help but smile back. They didn't need to fill the space with more small talk about work, they had gotten into that through late night phone calls and early morning texts.

Aejung led Jay to the couch, and soon enough they were sitting and talking, mostly about his time in America. Aejung knew that she had talked about almost everything in her life, since that what he tended to steer the conversation towards. It was sweet, but she definitely wanted to know more about him too.

"So our county was called Snohomish," Jay had repeated this name at least twice, but Aejung couldn't take it seriously.

"There's no way." She shook her head, laughing. He grinned. "I am serious! Look it up," He gestured towards her phone. Aejung did so, and laughed even harder when she found it was real.

"I can't, oh my god." She doubled over, leaning on him as she tried to control her breathing. Jay just looked down on her, smiling and gently pushing the hair out of his face.

As she settled down, she realized how close the two were, "O-oh, sorry," She tried to sit up, but he casually draped an arm around her, allowing her to settle close to him.

"I'm okay with it with you are." Oh, she definitely was. She blushed, allowing herself to relax.

Jay continued to talk about his past, talking about Edmonds Underwater Park (which sounded magical, honestly), his interest in music which brought him to where he was today, and how he decided to attend a Korean university. Once he hit that area, he started getting more vague and less specific about the details. She knew he was in music production in some way and travelled for it, but honestly, this didn't bother her as much. 

So what if he didn't want to tell her everything just yet? It's not like she's been exactly crystal clear about her life either. They'll come to these bridges when they're both ready or when it's necessary.

Her phone buzzed (probably a text from Qiu Hui about her date) and she managed to glimpse at the time. "Oh my god!" She jumped up, shocking Jay out of his own words. 

", what?" He cursed, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Babe, you gotta go!" She shoved the phone in his face, not even realizing what she called him. It definitely didn't go past Jay, though. He just smiled, putting on his coat and mask as he headed for her door.

"Wait before I go..." He stopped short of the door, making Aejung turn to look at him. 

"Babe?"

Immediately Aejung turned bright red. "Oh god, I didn't mean to, it just slipped out --"

His laugh stopped her, "I like it. I do have to go, but I'll call you later... babe." And with a cheeky wink and wave, he was out of the door and on his way, leaving Aejung a red, flustered mess.

God, she was so glad she stopped dating white boys.
 

Author's Note