Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong. 
~Winston Churchill~

06 | Blind Date from Hell

I was named after the spring season so it was only natural that I grew up being fascinated by spring. Most people in my country preferred autumn but spring had come to be my favourite. The season usually announces its arrival with bright yellow kanari flowers along the streets and highways. The various species of trees sprout leaves of various shades of greens and reds.

It was perfect, just like a scene taken from a romantic movie.

It would be the most perfect season to date; the most perfect season for my first sogaeting. But of course, as bad luck had been haunting my life forever, my date turned out to be none other than Mr. Ridiculous, Choi SeungHyun.

Urgh, even hearing the name in my mind brings unnecessary rage from within me. I thought I was already free from this lunatic kingka but I couldn’t be more wrong. I wonder how he knew EunJae unnie to pull out such ingenious plan like this. Yes, I have to admit, it was very clever of him to be able to pull it off.

“Hi, Bom and MinYoung,” Micky cheerfully greeted us, with a bright toothy grin on his face.

Now, I know how.

I looked at Micky and then at EunJae’s boyfriend, JangHyun, and noticed the slight resemblance of their features. I was reminded by the fact that they were cousins and thus, Micky must be the connection between EunJae and the Devil. But how did he manage to convince her to get us for this sogaeting?

One thing’s for sure, this boy is too messed up!

I bet this is his way of revenge, that psycho!

From beside me, I felt my hand being squeezed tightly by MinYoung. Just like me, I think she was perplexed by all this too. However, EunJae didn’t notice anything was amiss as she kept smiling happily at us.

“Omo, omo, you guys know each other? I thought you two said that you don’t know any boys from school?” EunJae said.

“That’s absurd!” SeungHyun protested, making EunJae slightly jumped in surprise with his sudden outburst. “We know each other, noona, that’s for sure. Isn’t it so, Park Bom?” he said, giving me a meaningful look; one that says: ‘You’re going down, down, down, down!’

I felt the blood leaving my cheeks and my legs began to tremble. “Yes, unnie, we know each other,” I admitted in a small, tiny voice.

A devilish smirk began to appear on his features, just like a bad dream. He must be enjoying this so much, that crazy buffoon!

EunJae unnie motioned for us to sit down. MinYoung was about to sit on the chair opposite of Micky when I realized that I was supposed to sit facing the devil, so I quickly shoved her aside and took her seat instead.

My ruthless actions were greeted by a loud gasp from EunJae unnie. “Bommie, what are you doing? How can you just ignore SeungHyun like that? Poor thing, he has been dying to meet up with you,” she said, motioning for me to sit at the empty seat in front of him.

I didn’t budge a centimetre, pretending to be oblivious by all the stares that they were giving me.

“Bommie, please,” EunJae pleaded.

I bit my lips. I didn’t want to look like a spoiled brat. “But I don’t want to sit opposite him,” I said, looking up at her with my widened eyes, trying to look innocent to gain some sympathy. 

EunJae unnie was about to buy it when the devil himself spoke, “I can’t believe you’d do this to me, Bom,” he said sadly. To others, he may sound pitiful but to me, I could always detect that he was faking it. Maybe I was getting some sixth sense power.

But of course, as usual, other people would buy his lame act. Even MinYoung who supposedly knew all about his devilish antics was giving him a look of pity, like he was the most pitiful person on earth; like he was the one being bullied instead of me.

I glared at him and I swear I could see that tiny smile on his face through that sad facade.

“Bommie, why don’t you want to sit opposite SeungHyun?” EunJae asked.

“Because he’s rude,” I said matter-of-factly, giving him a no-nonsense look as I spoke.

“Well, I wasn’t the one who steals other people’s seat,” SeungHyun retorted like a child.

That was when it began, our battle of staring. My eyes were shooting off invisible lasers at his, hoping that he’d be blinded by that. However, he retaliated with an intense stare, causing me to blink at its intensity. His smirk began to appear when he saw that I was tumbling down in this battle of staring.

Micky looked back and forth between me and SeungHyun, chuckling quietly to himself. I think only he could find some humour in all this.

“Enough, both of you!” EunJae snapped, causing both of us to look up to her instead. “Bommie, you sit in front of SeungHyun, whether you like it or not. MinYoung will be seated in front of Micky.”

I groaned inwardly as I shuffled to the next seat with a heavy heart and MinYoung sat down on her seat. As soon as I was at my seat, I felt his leg kicking me. I looked up to glare at him but he was smiling brightly, just like a child, at EunJae. He was pretending that he didn’t do anything to me, that two-faced scum!

I kicked back with all my might and I could see how he fumbled a little in his seat.

“EunJae noona, Bom is trying to seduce me with her legs,” SeungHyun said loudly to EunJae.

I gasped loudly.

When have kicking someone’s leg equals to seducing?!

“Bommie, stop it, please. Let’s be civil with each other, shall we?” she said, completely buying his crap.

Whatever happened to being ‘innocent until proven guilty’?

“So,” EunJae cleared , “It’s great that you guys know each other. It will make this whole thing less awkward, right?”

There was a chorus of unenthusiastic ‘Yes’ coming from us, mainly from me and SeungHyun.

EunJae looked irritated by our response but luckily, she didn’t dwell on the thing any further.

The waiter came and took our orders. I snickered when SeungHyun ordered for a glass of warm milk.

“What?!” he asked in annoyance, “I’m trying to keep my bones healthy, okay? I don’t want to grow old and osteoporotic like you,” he said, sounding defensive about that.

I smiled at him. “I didn’t say anything,” I said innocently.

“Looking at that stupid expression on your face, I just know that you’re going to mock me about it,” he said, “I’m not stupid like you.”

My eyes turned into slits as I glared at him.

Be civil, my foot! If I have my raw corns with me, I’d definitely stuff his a.ss with them so that he’ll die bleeding from his , that lunatic!

JangHyun was telling us some stories about his class in college. I tried to listen to what he was telling but I was continually being distracted by the sound of utensils clunking when SeungHyun was playing with them. I glared at him, hoping that he’d notice my gaze but he was oblivious, like he was stuck in his own world. He kept on turning the fork and spoon upside down like he didn’t have anything better to do. Then, when the cheese came, he cut it into symmetrical 9 pieces with the bread knife.

I wasn’t at all surprised by this; he was an alien after all.

All of a sudden, he looked up at me and a devious smile started to appear on his face. There was that mischievous glint in his eyes and I just had a feeling that he was about to say something stupid about me.

“EunJae noona,” SeungHyun said, his eyes were still fixated on me, “do you want to know the story of how Bom and I met each other?”

My jaw dropped. I just knew that he was going to tell the whole ‘She kissed me twice’ crap again.

“Ooh, that sounds lovely,” EunJae said excitedly, leaning forward on the table just to get a better view of the two of us.

“Bom actually took the initiative first. She ki— Eowwwwww!!!” he screamed of pain in mid-sentence when I stomped hard on his foot. He quickly stood up from his seat, jumping up and down while giving me icy stares.

I flashed him a smile of victory.

Serves him right for trying to lie about the kisses again!

The other four pair of eyes looked at SeungHyun in pure confusion. They were probably wondering why he was jumping up and down like a monkey with its tail on fire.

“Omo, what happened to you?” EunJae asked, her eyes oozing with concern.

When he noticed how the four of them, and most of the customers in White Cafe, were looking at him, he immediately stopped jumping. “Nothing,” he said, limping to his seat, probably trying to gain sympathy, “Just a muscle cramp, that’s all,” he glared at me and I made a face at him.

He made the crazy gesture by doing a circling motion of the index finger at the side of his head, trying to tell me that I was crazy. I stuck out my tongue in annoyance and he mouthed ‘you’re gonna get it’. I rolled my eyes, indicating that I wasn’t at all intimidated.

The way EunJae’s eyes were looking with extreme concern towards our way was an indicator that she was worried about the future of the SeungHyun-Bom couple; that we were never going to make it, the way we keep treating each other in loathe. She definitely didn’t have to worry about the Micky-MinYoung couple as the two were long engaged in a very pleasant conversation with each other.

They were talking about books and Micky kept on smiling and listening intently to what she has to say, being the gentleman that he always is. I feel so envious looking at how at ease they were conversing with each other. Of course, that wouldn’t ever happen between me and the annoying person sitting opposite of me.  

I glared at him, cursing him for ruining my dream of the first sogaeting. I didn’t know how to let the time pass faster so that I could get the hell away from him.

Suddenly, like he was aware that I was staring, he looked up and a small smile began to appear on his lips. His eyes were still locked with mine when he said, “Hyung, noona, Bom has something to say to you guys but she’s just too shy to admit it.”

I frowned at him in confusion. When did I ever say anything to him?

“Ooh, what does she want to tell us, SeungHyun?” EunJae asked excitedly.

The four pairs of eyes were on us, waiting for him to open his mouth to tell them.

I knew he was going to say something weird but I didn’t know why I didn’t try to stop him, like stomp on his foot again or something. Maybe I was under a strange spell when I looked into those big, brown eyes.

“She wants to tell you guys that,” he smiled a little at me before dropping his gaze to look at his food, “she’s really happy that you guys pair her up with me.”

I gasp softly.

How dare he embarrass me like that!

I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks as they cheered loudly. Micky chuckled to himself, apparently amused by that ridiculous statement from SeungHyun.

“Aw, no problem Bommie,” EunJae smiled warmly, “I’m just glad that you guys hit it off. I was concerned that you hate each other but I was wrong.”

Hit it off?

Was she blind?

Didn’t she see how hostile we were looking at each other?

Didn’t she notice how my eyes were shooting off bullets at him?

I brought the glass of water to my lips and drank it in one go to calm my raging heart. If killing wasn’t a crime, that annoying douche in front of me would have been long dead.

“I’m so glad that you guys have called a truce,” MinYoung said, “The fight is getting old.”

I choked on my water and coughed loudly.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Even MinYoung was deceived by His Royal Doucheness.

I glared at his annoying, smirking face. He crossed his eyes like a retard and I felt the strong urge to slit his throat. I noticed that ever since he told the ridiculous statement, he was busy doodling on a piece of napkin.

“Omo, look at the time,” EunJae suddenly said, pretending to look at her watch. I bet she wasn’t really concerned about the time. I bet she wanted to leave the four of us so that she can have a proper date with her boyfriend. "Why don’t the four of you go on your own ways? It’s a nice day out,” she said, pointing at the cherry b