Embarrassed

Just One Chance

A/N: yes, this one's dialogue-heavy, but there's a good reason for that, which you'll see as you read :P

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke late the next day, my alarm already having shut itself off after the obligatory hour of attempting to rouse me. After the excitement of the concert, I had slept like the dead and had a brief moment of trying to remember what I had done when I got home. It didn’t take long for the conversation to jump into my mind, though, and I rolled over, picking up my phone. Sure enough, there was a message waiting.

Good morning, butterfly! Hope you slept well

I smiled, shaking my head with a chuckle. One conversation and already the guy was leaving me wake-up messages? He must be either desperate or nuts. Or maybe just creepy. Or nice. I frowned, putting the phone down and rolling out of bed. I was spending way too much time thinking about this guy.

My bath was calling me and I filled it as deep as I could with water as warm as I could stand. As an afterthought, I grabbed my phone, setting it within easy reach before climbing into the tub, rationalising that it was always wise to keep it handy in case of an emergency. Closing my eyes, I leaned back, smiling as the warmth eased my muscles, sore from an evening of bouncing in time to the music.

I had lost track of time, almost falling back asleep, when the familiar beep made me nearly splash water on the floor as I bolted upright in shock. *Mental note: play music next time so a simple sound doesn’t nearly send you into cardiac arrest.* Drying my hands, I reached for my phone and opened the message, rolling my eyes when I saw it was from him.

Not even a good morning for your favourite Pokemon?

Ha! Joke’s on you, Pikachu’s not my favorite :P

Whaaaat?! My heart! Then which?

Squirtle or Eevee, if you must know. Maybe Fennekin

“….I may be in love

Why? Because I like Squirtle?

No, because you know more than Pikachu, even if it’s only Squirtle :P

Only? I’ll have you know Squirtle’s probably the most adorable Pokemon ever! And tough too

And you just tricked me, didn’t you?

Maybe a little

Grrr

And she growls, y

Creep

You know you love me

I don’t even know you

Don’t be so sure ;)

I stared at the last message, suddenly *not* so sure. It was one thing to claim he knew me, but to claim I knew him? That wasn’t a stalker move. I switched to my contacts list, trawling through it to see if any names triggered anything. Someone who knew Pokemon. That narrowed it down a lot. Not many of my friends were Pokemon fans. Even so, nothing jumped out at me. Who was this guy? I couldn’t think of anyone I might know who wouldn’t show up under their name in my phone.

Do I?

And now she asks!

Don’t evade

You could say you do. You could say you don’t, too

What are you, the Caterpillar?

I’m your Pocket Monster ;) *

I groaned. This guy was as obnoxious as they came! Okay, so he had a little charm to him, but that was only a little. Mostly, he was just driving me up the wall.

Well, you established you’re *a* pocket monster

You’re adorable when you’re cranky, you know that?

I’m not adorable, I’m just cranky

Prove it

Prove I’m cranky? You really wanna open that can of worms?

Nope, prove you’re not adorable. I won’t believe it until I see proof

Proof?

A picture

I rolled my eyes.

You want me to send a picture when I don’t even know what you look like?

I’ll send you one in return. Promise

Not a chance. You might be a ert

I am, but not that kind lol I’ll go first

A picture came through almost immediately after of a face from the nose down, a bright smile almost jumping out of the screen at me in its vibrancy. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make my breath catch for a moment. The lips were…well, they were pretty darn near perfect.

Did I scare you off?

I realise I’d been staring at the picture for nearly a full minute. I decided as he had been true to his word, I could be kind. Snapping a quick picture in the same style as his, I took a deep breath and sent it before I could back down. A minute later and I was getting ready to send a similar text to him, when one arrived.

You have a stunning smile

I rolled my eyes and was about to set the phone down when there was another beep.

Nice tub btw ;)

I frowned, staring at the text, then it suddenly dawned on me. Scrolling back up, I screeched in embarrassment as I tossed the phone away. I had forgotten I was in the tub and there, in the background, was the edge of it. I was mortified. Vowing not to speak to him again, I checked to be sure the phone was covered before climbing out of the tub and drying off. I dressed in my favourite black skirt and high-tops, never one for fashion, and threw on a tank top and sheer blouse and grabbed my bag. After what had happened, I needed to unwind. Stuffing my phone and a few other necessities into the bag, I headed out, wandering along the street to my favourite place.

The little café was somewhere I had discovered when I had first moved to Seoul, in the hopes that it would assuage the loneliness I had experienced at the separation from Alice. We had known each other all her life, and when she had taken a job in a school four hours away, it had been a massive change. To go from seeing each other just about every day to every couple of months was a strain, and I had needed something to fill the time I would normally have spent with her. So, one morning, I had gone out exploring and stumbled on a French-inspired café in a back-street. I had almost discounted it as another dump when I had smelled something divine and, following my nose, found myself nestled into a booth in the back corner of the place, chocolate banana crepe in front of me and hot chocolate in hand. It had become a ritual now that, whenever I felt stressed or sad or lonely, I came to that little corner of heaven to treat myself to something sweet and a warm drink or refreshing lemonade.

Today, as I ducked under the little beaded curtain and smiled at the ahjumma who ran the café, I could feel the familiar calming aura already easing my mind. I headed for my favourite booth, empty as it always seemed to be, as if she kept it especially for me. Sinking into the seat, I plucked the menu from its stand and began to flip through it. There was such a variety that I could hardly decide, partly because I had tasted nearly everything on it and knew it was all delicious, but I finally decided on my most frequent fallback – crepes with strawberries, bananas and chocolate sauce, accompanied by a peach smoothie, something the ahjumma had utterly mastered.

I ordered and rested my head on my hand as I felt in my bag for my phone. The screen showed at least 3 messages, all from him, and I put the phone away. I couldn’t face him after that morning, and I didn’t want to deal with explaining why, so I opted instead for avoidance. I began to daydream, thinking about what had happened at the fanmeet. Namjoon had been so nice, and Alice had been amazingly supportive. I couldn’t help wondering whether he had had a chance to view the message I had recorded, or if he had even bothered. Did they ever read those letters that fans handed them? Were they just stuffed into a garbage can after the meets were over? My mind wandered in tangent after tangent until finally my food arrived. There was a scoop of ice cream slowly melting on top of the crepes and I looked at the ahjumma in confusion. She said nothing but gave me a small wink, patting my shoulder heartily before hurrying away to tend to another customer. I must have seemed more stressed or sad than I thought. I smiled to myself and began to tuck in. It was delicious as always and I spent over an hour leisurely eating, glad that this was one place where savouring food was not only appreciated but encouraged.

Finally, it was time to return to the real world. I paid, giving the ahjumma a tight hug in thanks for her kindness, and slipped back out into the slowly fading sunlight. The day had passed a lot more quickly than usual and it was already nearing 5pm when I unlocked my front door, closing it behind me and heading over to the couch to flop onto it. One of these days the rickety thing was going to collapse from my doing that so often, especially considering it had been given to me second-hand by a neighbour to save me having to buy one, but I loved the old thing, and I was determined not to let it go a minute sooner than I had to. Rolling onto my side, I fished my phone out of my bag and pressed the button, cringing when I saw the series of message alerts. I supposed I would have to bite the bullet sooner or later. Unlocking it, I opened the messages and began to scroll through them.

I went too far again didn’t I?

Please don’t be mad

I know I said too much, but it was just teasing

Please forgive me

I really screwed up, didn’t I?

I’m guessing you’re really mad, these aren’t even getting read. I’ll leave you alone for a while

As I was reading the last one, sent over an hour earlier, I saw the ‘typing’ symbol appear and a few moments later, another message arrived.

You read them! I really am sorry Robin. I know that came across as really creepy, but I’m not all that great with talking to people normally. Please, can you forgive me?

I bit my lip, trying to decide how to answer. As I was preparing to respond, another message came through, this one almost making me drop my phone in surprise.

Why don’t we meet up? Everything will make more sense then.

I didn’t know what to say. Alarm bells were ringing like a million police cars had shown up, but something made me want to trust this guy. I made up my mind.

Okay. But in public. My choice of place and time.

Deal!

The response was almost instant and I chuckled. I texted back with the location of the café, knowing I would be safe there, and suggested the next day at 10am. He agreed and I set my phone aside as I prepared for bed. When I was finally ready, I grabbed the phone and climbed into bed, plugging the phone in and setting it on my bedside table. As a last thought, I picked it up again, typing in a quick message.

Night Pikachu

It didn’t take long for a response to arrive.

Good night angel. Sweet dreams <3

I smiled, somehow feeling touched by the gesture, and set my phone down, closing my eyes and soon drifting off to sleep.

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
No comments yet