“I swear this guy is good this time round,” Jongdae is relentless in his persuasion, “Minseok, Luhan is a good guy. He comes with strong recommendations from a colleague of mine.”

“I distinctly remember you saying something similar when introducing Jongin to me.”

“He told me he was over Kyungsoo,” Jongin pouts, “What will you have me do? Put Jongin to a lie detector test?”

“I will have you do nothing. Thank you very much.”

“Minseok, come on, this guy is not Jongin. He is totally different from Jongin. Luhan is the publicity director of Siemens, he is rich and he is smart. He is good boyfriend material. Besides, he is hot too!”

“I don’t care about looks. How many times must I repeat myself—“ Minseok is rudely cut off when a picture is shoved in front of his face. Doe eyes, small face and pale skin meets his eyes, and Minseok has to admit that not even the low quality printer that Jongdae owns cannot hide the beauty that this man has.

“I told you Luhan is hot,” the smirk in Jongdae’s voice is unmistakable.

Minseok finally tears his eyes off the picture to say that he really doesn’t care about looks at all, but his words sound unconvincing even to his ears.

(“My friend has shown your photo to Luhan. He thinks you are hot too.”

Minseok’s mouth forms a small ‘o’ of comprehension and Jongdae’s looks of triumph is completely justified. Minseok agrees to the dinner within the next minute.)

-

The moment he walks into the restaurant, a cold shudder runs down Minseok’s spine. He feels like he is being watched, he feels like he is being stalked but Minseok brushes it off because that’s just not possible.

Nonetheless, the feeling does not dissipate even as Minseok gets shown to the table and Minseok takes a quick scan of the surroundings (just in case). He soon spies a man staring at him unnervingly and Minseok recognizes that face instantly—Luhan.

He supposes that it is understandable that Luhan will be staring at him—he is probably curious—but Minseok is still unable to shake off the uncomfortable feeling then. He accords it to the intensity of the stare he is being subjected to but Minseok still struggles to maintain eye contact when shaking hands with Luhan.

“Nice to meet you, I am Luhan,” his doe eyes are overly bright.

“Nice to meet you, Luhan. I am Minseok,” Minseok shakes his hand politely, eyes catching Luhan’s for a second before he decides to fixedly look at a spot about Luhan’s shoulder.

What’s with this sense of discomfort?

“I am really glad to meet you, Minseok,” Luhan says next, sincerity practically oozing out of his voice, “I can’t wait to know everything about you.”

Minseok’s eyelids twitch. “Erm, ok.” He smiles politely, not too sure what to say next.

A few seconds tick by, and Minseok’s eyes flicker briefly to Luhan’s before he decides that no, that’s not a wise course of decision at all. A strange glimmer has entered into Luhan’s eyes and Minseok is unsure if he likes the way Luhan’s eyes travel across his torso.

However, there is another more pressing matter at hand. “By the way, do you mind letting go of my hand?” Minseok gestures to Luhan’s hand that is still holding his tightly in a handshake.

Luhan seems to realize only then and he lets go hurriedly. “Oh! I am so sorry,” he apologises, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”

Neither do I, Minseok agrees with Luhan silently in his head. Nonetheless, Minseok has a marvelous poker face and he is courteous enough to not show his reservations on the surface. Luhan is, after all, introduced by Jongdae’s colleague. He best not leave a bad impression even though he is starting to have second thoughts about this date.

Minseok smiles at Luhan and excuses him, “It’s alright. We all have our off days.”

“You are so forgiving, Minseok. How can you be so kind?” Luhan gushes immediately, and the strange glint in his eyes intensifies.

“Erm?” Minseok cannot help but to frown now, “Thank you?”

“You are so cute,” Luhan does not hear Minseok’s hesitance and continues in a tone of reverence, “I can’t believe you are sitting before me now.”

“Erm.” Sweat is starting to bead on Minseok’s forehead.

“And look at your hands,” Luhan unabashedly reaches for Minseok’s hands that have been resting on the table, “They are so smooth and small.” He them then, and Minseok visibly shivers. All Luhan did was touch his hands, but Minseok is feeling all levels of violated.

Minseok snatches his hands back and hides them beneath the table. The small smile on his face is strained now and Minseok asks, “What are you doing, Luhan?”

“I am so sorry,” Luhan apologises immediately, looking horrified at his own actions, “I don’t know what came over me.”

“If you aren’t feeling well today, it’s fine if you head home now—“

“No!” comes the instantaneous reply and Luhan’s face is contorted into something that will have infants bursting into tears. Minseok’s eyelid twitches again and he begins to reevaluate his life choice in making Jongdae a friend of his.

This is not how he predicted the night to go.

During the moment when Minseok considers the possibility of strangling Jongdae, Luhan has already composed his face into something that looks less like a crazed maniac. The glint remains in his eyes nonetheless, but Minseok tries hard to convince himself it is just a figment of imagination.

Luhan can’t possibly be crazy. Jongdae won’t introduce him to a crazy, will he?

“I mean,” Luhan attempts to compensate for his outburst, “I really looked forward to tonight, and—I promise I will keep my hands to myself.”

“I don’t put out on the first night,” Minseok cannot help the words that slip out from his mouth.

“No! No, that wasn’t what I was implying!” Luhan yells desperately and he looks as if he would have sank to his knees and clung to Minseok if not for the fact that they were seated in a restaurant. Heads turn to look at the two of them, and Minseok sends an embarrassed smile to the other diners who have been disturbed.

Luhan, however, does not seem to care about the unwanted attention he has attracted and continues staring unabashedly at Minseok, mouth vaguely twisted into a pout.

“I am not saying I want to have with you tonight, Minseok,” Luhan says in a loud voice just when Minseok has sent pacifying smiles to most of the diners whose heads are turned.

Minseok flinches and a flurry of heads turn to their direction again. Minseok does not have the courage to meet their eyes this time round, and he sinks lower into his seat, a red hot blush taking over his cheeks.

“Luhan,” Minseok hisses, “What are you saying?”

“I am saying—“

“Softer, Luhan!”

Luhan jerks and a pained look crosses his face. It’s as if Minseok’s shout has physically hurt him and Minseok would have felt a sense of guilt if not for the embarrassment that is now overwhelming everything.

“I am sorry,” Luahn begins in a lower volume, head and eyes downcast, “I didn’t think I was being that loud. I am sorry for upsetting you, Minseok.”

Luhan looks thoroughly like a kicked puppy when Minseok spares him a quick glance and he allows himself to feel a vague sense of sympathy.

“I am not—“ Minseok stops himself because it is not good to lie and he is good boy despite whatever Jongdae may say, “I mean, I am, but I am not that upset. So you can stop looking like that.”

Luhan’s pouts harder if possible and Minseok begins to feel like a terrible person.

“Luhan—“

“I love you,” Minseok is cut off yet again and the words that Luhan utters now has Minseok feeling slightly dizzy as he blinks blankly at Luhan.

What is that crazy guy saying? Minseok is starting to feel tired, and first dates are not supposed to leave him so tired. Luhan has him jumping from one strand of topic to another, all within seconds, and Minseok is worn out from trying to keep up.

“My heart flutters when I see you, my palms perspire when I hear you. And you are glowing, you are glowing and it’s like a symphony plays whenever our eyes meet,” Luhan says with conviction, hand on heart, “Is this is not love, what can it be?”

Minseok gapes outright now. He takes back his words, it looks like Jongdae has set him up with a crazy.

“Minseok—“

“I don’t love you,” Minseok interrupts before Luhan can get any crazier.

Luhan frowns and he corrects Minseok, “You love me.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“This is not up for debate, Luhan. I don’t love you,” Minseok shakes his head, “I barely know you, for goodness sake!”

“But I love you,” Luhan sounds confused and Minseok is astounded at how Luhan seems to find his words incomprehensible.

“You can’t love me. You don’t know anything about me either!” Minseok explodes finally. Heads turn in their direction again, but Minseok is too far gone to bother himself with them.

Silence reigns for a minute and Minseok thinks yes, finally! I have gotten my point across! But it is not to be, because realization eventually dawns into Luhan’s eyes and he leans forward to Minseok, as if he has just found enlightenment.

“Is that why you think I don’t love you, Minseok? But I do know you,” Luhan inches forward, a terrifying smile spreading on his face. Minseok finds himself pushing back his chair as Luhan continues, mania in his voice, “I know you very well in fact, Kim Minseok.”

This is it. I have been stalked my entire life and I don’t even know it. This is how Luhan is going to kidnap me and kill me. This is how I am going to end. Goodbye world, goodbye Jongdae. You were a terrible friend but I love you nonetheless.

“I know for a fact, that you, Kim Minseok,” Luhan pauses for buildup and Minseok swallows drily, “Are 29 years old.”

Minseok blinks; he finds himself at a loss of words again.

Luhan continues, oblivious to the blank look on Minseok’s face, “I also know that you are the Network Revenue Management director at Southwest Airlines. You graduated summa Laude from NYU and got a PhD from Berkeley. You have a best friend named Jongdae and erm… you have a little sister too!”

Minseok blinks.

Luhan smiles triumphantly, but this smile falls off his face the moment he takes a look at Minseok. It is apparent that Minseok is less than impressed. (Truth to be told, all that Luhan has just said are a tiny bit underwhelming--basic information that was easily gotten through his colleague as part of the 'get to know your date' package that comes with matchmaking.)

Luhan panics and he scrambles to come up with more things he knows of Minseok. He knows, knows more than what his colleague has told him. Minseok is Luhan's soul mate and surely he knows more about Minseok than sterile, cold facts that can be easily found in Minseok's resume. 

"Erm," Minseok begins, "I know where you graduated from, where you are working and how old you are too, Luhan. But that doesn't mean--"

"No!" Luhan cuts Minseok off before he can pierce his hopes with cool rationality. "I know more," he insinuates, but Minseok looks less than convinced.

“I know-- I know that you wear M for the tops—“ Luhan’s eyes rake across Minseok’s chest and Minseok shivers, drawing his arms protectively around his torso.

“Most likely size… 25 for your trousers—“ Minseok holds his legs closer to him.

“S for your gloves—“ Minseok hides his hands behind his back.

“S for your hat too—“ Minseok briefly considers crawling the table but decides that that is too much, even though he may be dealing with a guy who is also too much.

“And you are beautiful,” Luhan ends off lamely. But his eyes seem anticipatory and he look to Minseok as if he expects praise or something equally wonderful from Minseok. Minseok contemplates if it will be too rude if he runs off now, because he doesn’t think he is equipped to handle Luhan’s level of crazy.

Instead, he decides to say flatly, “I don’t love you.”

Something in Luhan breaks and it shows visibly on his face. His face contorts yet again and Minseok marvels at how Luhan can be looking all fine and dandy one moment, and then all fugly the next. Nonetheless, a more sensitive and nicer part of him worries that Luhan may burst out into tears any second and his ever diplomatic self consoles, “But it’s alright Luhan, you are just mistaking an infatuation for love.”

“I love you, I love you,” Luhan shakes his head and repeats, starting to blubber, “I love love you, Minseok, it’s not an infatuation.”

Minseok can feel his jaw falling at the sight of a grown man crying and he would have left Luhan there and then if not for the fact that that will be evil, and Minseok does not do evil.

“Hey Luhan,” Minseok says in a voice he solely reserves for cute, furry woodland creatures (that are most certainly not a human-sized mass of emotions), “I believe you, alright? You love me, yes, you love me.”

“I do, I love you so much Minseok,” Luhan manages to say between hiccups, “It was love at first sight. The moment my friend showed me your picture, I know we are meant to be.”

Luhan looks up to Minseok hopefully then and Minseok gulps. He can feel his heart softening. This is not good, he cannot get himself entrapped in all that crazy.

“Well, that’s very nice for you, Luhan. But I am afraid I do not have the same level of conviction you do.”

“It’s ok, we can date and you will realize you love me.”

“Luhan, I am not sure that’s how love works.”

“It’s how love will work for us. We are meant to be, Minseok," certainty and wonderment tints Luhan's voice, "Look, I can see a halo above your head now. You are my angel, Minseok."

“Erm. Well,” Minseok begins to perspire cold sweat. He changes the topic instead, “But you are crying now and it hurts me to see you crying. Why don’t we end this dinner date now?”

“But I have been wanting to meet you all week,” Luhan sounds as if he is about to break out to full-blown wails now.

Minseok hurries to pacify him, “We can meet again. When you are feeling better, we can meet again.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes, tomorrow.” Screw evil, screw the truth, Minseok tells lies like a pro.

And with that, somehow the dinner ends and Minseok manages to worm his way out of having Luhan escorting him back to his apartment. He also manages to keep Luhan’s hands (that he has sworn to keep to himself) only around his waist, preventing it from sliding down to Minseok’s by nudging Luhan in the ribs whenever it seems apparent. Luhan may be acting like a maniac in love, but Minseok suspects that Luhan has some unwholesome ulterior motive in mind.

Not that Minseok intends to hang around to find out. The moment Luhan zooms off in his obnoxious sports car, Minseok quickly sends a text to Jongdae.

if luhan comes about tomorrow to pick me up for a ‘date’ because you sold me out I am cutting your balls off.

He receives a reply soon enough.

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