“Here you are, Miss ______.” Jung Daehyun sat down the plate in front of me and set his own food down, sitting across from me. I smiled shyly at him, tucking my hair behind my ear. I ate a little bit of my pasta, but mostly just occupied my time twirling it around my fork. “Are you not hungry?”

“No. I’m just… I’m a little nervous.”

“You don’t need to be,” he assured me. Truthfully, I was insecure and afraid to eat in front of him. I couldn’t very well tell him that on our first date, and I was unsure what to say to him at all. He just looked so perfect and had such a beautiful comforting smile and I was absolutely dumbstruck.

———————————————————————————————————-

I sat in silence, Daehyun initiating all the conversation. I hardly gave any responses, scared I’d say the completely wrong thing.

“Are you really alright?” Daehyun finally asked. “You’ve been awfully quiet this evening.”

“I’m sorry. I kind of take a while to warm up to people and you look so amazing and you’re so nice and I just don’t understand why you asked me out.”

He reached across the table, his larger hand covering mine. “Because you’re really sweet and have an adorable laugh and you’re so so, so beautiful.”

I blushed. “Thank you.”

“How about we watch some TV, hmm? That won’t require too much talking.”

We put on a rerun of Love Rain, the heat of his body radiating next to me on the couch. He started to tentatively put an arm around me but retracted it when I flinched away. “I’m sorry. Again. I—”

He shushed me gently. “It’s okay. Honestly.”

“I’ve… I’ve been hurt before and it’s not exactly easy for me to trust guys.”

“Well I’m gonna prove to you that I’m different, no matter how long it takes. Because I really like you.”

“I like you too, Daehyun.”

———————————————————————————————————-

“What do you call a fish without an eye?”

I shook my head. “Uhm, I don’t know, what?”

“Fsh!”

I burst out laughing. “Oh my God, you are such a dork!”

“Excuse me, I’ll have you know I’m hilarious.”

I grinned. “You keep telling yourself that.”

We’d gone on multiple dates for about three weeks and in spite of how fearful I felt, I was falling. Hard. He was so nice about taking things slow, and my insecurities and doubts about the whole thing. It was amazing that I’d gotten so lucky.

I caught his warm gaze, my brown eyes meeting his. “May I kiss you? I don’t want to put any pressure on you or anything, I’ve just been thinking about it for a really long time, and—”

I cut him off. “Daaehyun, sometimes you talk too much,” I said softly.

He smiled lightly. “So, uhm, that wasn’t exactly an answer…” he drifted off, looking at me hopefully. I leaned in closer and so did he, closing the space between us. His lips met mine, moving soft and slow, a completely innocent kiss. He pulled away and I threaded my fingers through his hair.

All was still for a moment as we just smiled at each other like idiots.

“That was really nice,” I whispered.

“That it was,” Daehyun agreed. I intertwined our fingers, his thumb rubbing against mine.

I still wasn’t sure of anything. All I knew was he was handsome and charming and a very good kisser. And he could make me laugh, which was one of the most important things. But I didn’t know if I could trust him yet.

Someday I would.