Once the man was close enough, he spoke up by asking, “I’m not too late to see the exhibit, am I?”

Jiyong stared at him for a few seconds until he felt Soran elbow him slightly in the ribs. His throat had dried up the moment he saw him, but somehow Jiyong found his voice and muttered, “Um… No Vick. It’s not too late.”

“Great, I was worried that I would be. My flight was delayed, but I came as soon as I could.”

“What? But… Why did you come?”

A flash of pain went across Vick’s face as Jiyong said those words. He didn’t think anyone else could tell what it was, but since the shoot last week, he knew Vick’s emotions and what they looked like.

Soran whispered to herself, “Well that was rude.”

Jiyong realized what he said and tried to explain himself, “No, sorry. I mean… I thought you in Japan. Well obviously you’re not now. But why-“ he stopped himself from rambling on and looked around to see that all the people who were still left over from the event were watching them have this conversation.

Heat started to rise in his cheeks from embarrassment as he cleared his throat and looked over at his assistant for some help. Seungri jumped into action and started asking people if they could please start making their way out the door, wishing they would enjoy the rest of their night and so on.

Soran, Vick, and Jiyong all stood in the middle of the room as it started to clear out. Soran leaned over to Jiyong and said, “I didn’t know you were actually on talking terms with him. How long have you known him?”

“About a week.”

“Wow, you move fast don’t ya.”

Jiyong cut his eyes to the side and glared at her, but all she did was give him a little eyebrow raise. She giggled faintly and then turned to Vick and said, “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Soran, Jiyongs friend.” She bowed and waited for his response.

“Nice to meet you as well, I’m Vick.” He bowed and then held out his hand to shake hers. She looked at her phone again and then quickly said, “Well it’s getting late so I’ll be on my way.” She turned to Jiyong and gave him a kiss on the cheek and quickly whispered, “Enjoy yourself.” As she pulled away, still facing him, she wiggled her eyebrows and then skipped off towards the door.

Jiyong gawked at her as she left and then noticed that Vick was staring at him. His heart started racing as more color rose to his cheeks.

“I hope you don’t mind, I kind of invited myself.”

 “No… No its ok…”

“I didn’t mean for everyone to leave.”

“It was getting close to ending anyway,” Jiyong mumbled.

Vick stepped closer to him and said, “I was just hoping you could show me around.”

Jiyong looked up at the man, flustered at his sudden advancement and stuttered, “Oh...ok.”

Seungri walked up and told Jiyong that mostly everyone had left and that he was leaving too. As the young man walked out, Jiyong looked at Vick who had not taken his eyes off of him the entire time. Jiyong adjusted his tie a little and smoothed down his coat front not knowing what to do, until Vick cleared his throat and asked, “So. Where are we going to start?”

Jiyong perked up and said, “Oh right. Um…” he looked around the gallery as his mind drew a blank on where to start.

“Can we start with that one?” Jiyong looked over to see where Vick was pointing. It wasn’t anything special, just a picture of a street market. But he was glad for the suggestion because he was still in shock that Vick had showed in the first place.

“Sure.”

Vick took the lead with Jiyong walking behind him toward the picture. After moving down a couple of pieces, Vick couldn’t take the silence any more so he asked, “Aren’t you going to ask why I came?” Jiyong jumped slightly at the sudden sound of his voice but was glad that Vick’s back was to him so he didn’t see it. He replied, “Yeah, I thought you were in Japan.”

“I was, but the meetings ended yesterday.”

“But why come here?”

“I don’t know.” Vick moved to the next picture. “Daesung told me about it and I was curious. Ever since last week, you’ve been on my mind, got me thinking about things.”

And that’s how the conversation started. Vick told Jiyong about how much the photo shoot affected him last week, how he wanted to see his other works, and how he basically wanted get to know him better. Jiyong was taken aback at the man’s forwardness but deep down inside he became excited.

As they moved to the next room of the gallery, one picture in particular caught Vick’s eye. It was of a little boy sitting under a tree reading a book. As soon as he saw it he walked right over and took in every detail. A small smile spread across his face as he thought back to this past week and how he remembered Jiyong from his childhood. Vick let out a small “huh” as Jiyong came up behind him.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes. It reminds me of a friend I used to have growing up. Except he would always draw instead of read.”

As Vick continued to look at the photograph it gave Jiyong a moment to study the man. He had worn a classic black suit with a skinny tie but worn deep crimson shoes for that wow factor he’s always known for. Jiyong had to admit that Vick looked good in that outfit, but what really got his heart racing was the peacefulness that seemed to have taken over his face. It was something he didn’t get to see last week. The more he looked at Vick the more he realized that something was different from the last time they met. But he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Vick could feel that Jiyong was staring at him, so without moving his head he asked, “Do I have something on my face?”

Jiyong looked away quickly and internally yelling at himself for being caught. Vick chuckled as Jiyong apologized, “Sorry. I was… um…”

Vick turned towards him and as he walked passed on his way to the next photo. As he was right behind the younger man he leaned closer and whispered, “Its ok. I’ve done it too, you just never caught me.”

Vick saw Jiyong stiffen as he continued moving forward and he smirked to himself. He decided that his new favorite thing to do was to make him flustered. Changing the topic and trying to get Jiyong to relax, Vick picked out a couple photo’s and asked him to explain where and why he took them.

After about half an hour of walking around Jiyong and Vick were starting to be more comfortable with each other. They joked with each other and learned new things about one another, all while going through the gallery. As they made their way toward the front, an awkward silence fell over them. They stopped at the front of the door and hovered there for a minute, each waiting for the other to speak.

Vick broke the silence by saying, “You know, I actually tried calling you last night.”

Jiyong, who had been looking at the floor, looked up at Vick as the older man continued.

“It was like, around midnight, and once I realized what time it was…” He sighed and continued, “I don’t know… for some reason I freaked out and ended hanging up before you could answer.”

“That was you?”

Vick laughed at himself and started rubbing the back of his head as he went on, “Yeah, sorry about that. I sent a text message right afterward, apologizing for calling so late, but realized that I would still be bothering you once I sent it.”

“No, it’s ok. Sorry I didn’t reply. You weren’t bothering me. It’s just been a long week and when I saw that the message was from a number I didn’t recognize, I didn’t read it.”

“Oh, yeah... That’s understandable.” Vick was a little disappointed and Jiyong could tell, so he quickly responded.

“Don’t worry, next time you text me I’ll reply.”

Vick perked up at Jiyongs comment and decided to a little.

“So you want me to text you more?”

Jiyong blushed and his heart started racing at Vicks comment, but before he could respond, Vick spoke again, “I mean, only if you want. I don’t get many chances to hang out with anyone like this… just being able to talk casually...” They locked eyes and stared at each other for a minute. Vick held his breath as he waited for him to respond.

As they looked at each other, Jiyong recognized that there was something about Vick he didn’t realize before. Despite acting like an arrogant actor sometimes, Vick had an innocence tucked away and Jiyong was starting to see it surface.

Vick looked at him with some sort of longing for acceptance, and Jiyong almost couldn’t hold back his smile as he said, “No, I would actually really like to. Hang out I mean.”

Vick released the breath he had been holding and wanted to jump up and down as he heard Jiyong’s reply, but he thought it best to not act like a complete fool. Instead he smiled slightly and replied with, “Cool.”

Both of them smiled at each other and then Vick felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out of his pocket and as he read the text from Daesung, his smile faded a little.

“I’m sorry, as much as I want to keep talking, I actually should be getting home. I have a meeting in the morning.”

Jiyong nodded and replied, “Yeah same here.” A little disappointed that their time together was coming to an end, he lowered his head.

“Hey but listen,” Vick said so Jiyong would look at him again. When he did, he looked him in the eyes and as sincerely as he could he said, “I really did enjoyed tonight.”

Jiyong’s stomach did a little flip as he softly said, “Me too. I’m glad you came.”

Again they smiled at each other and after a couple awkward goodbyes they parted ways. Jiyong watched Vick walk out the front door and before he got in his car he turned around and waved. Jiyong bit his lip slightly and waved back as Vick got in the car and drove off. He felt like a little school girl the way his heart and mind were racing.

Once he composed himself, he went to go find the security guard to lock up the building and leave for the evening. He hailed a taxi to take him back to his apartment and half way there he heard his phone beep. Pulling it out of his jacket he read the text message.

Just wanted you to have my number again so you won’t ignore me.
I know you said you were busy tomorrow but how about the next day?
Would you want to get some lunch perhaps?

Vick was pulling up to his apartment when he felt his phone vibrate. His heart started pounding in anticipation of what the text message might say. He fumbled to grab it out of his pocket while sitting in the car. He opened it up and read Jiyong’s reply.

Lunch would be nice. Let me know where and when.

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I love writing awkward Ji. ^~^

Let me know how you guys like it! -dreamertechie