Chapter 7 - First Date

 

“So, you decided to wear that on your date?” From her spot in front of her dresser mirror, Alex looks at Daehyun who sat on her bed along with Youngjae and Zelo. It was about to be 4 and she was almost ready. Alex rolls her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with my outfit.” She current wore a black designed shirt that slightly hung off her shoulders and a pair of dark blue jeans. Alex shakes her head. “It’s the first date. We’re not going anywhere fancy.” she says.

“I like you’re outfit. And are you sure about that? I mean it’s Yongguk. If he really wants to woo someone, he will go all out if he needs to.” Youngjae says.

“Actually he won’t. Alex told him not to do anything fancy.” Zelo informs.

“What? Really? A lot of people usually want to be wooed with a fancy set up.” Daehyun says.

 

“Well I’m not like most people. Now am I?” Alex asks. Daehyun lets out a small snort. “Well you got that part right.” he says. Turning and looking at him, Alex shakes her fist. “I still have time to take you down DaeDae.” she says.

Just then the doorbell rings. “Oh, no you don’t.” Daehyun says. He immediately stands up and runs out the room when Alex takes a step toward him. She hears him laughing on his way to the door. It was soon followed by the sound of him talking to the new guests. “So, have you two gone to see Yongguk and Yongnam yet today?” Alex asks turning to her family members.

Youngjae nods. “Yeah, actually we went to see them before coming over here.” he says. “Yongguk’s in a great mood today. I mean of course he has reasons, but still.” he says. Alex nods. “That’s good. Okay, I’m ready.” she says. She then turns off the lights and shuts her room door as she follows her brother and cousin out the room and down the hall.

“Hey guys.” Zelo greets as they walk into the living room. Daehyun now sat on the couch along with Himchan and Jongup while Yongguk stood next to it. Turning to them, Yongguk smiles. “My dear Alexandria, you look beautiful as always.” he says. Walking over to her, he gives her a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you. You’re looking handsome yourself.” Alex compliments back. Yongguk wore a sleeveless black shirt with a dark red button up over shirt paired with black jeans. He was also holding a bag in his hand. “So, are you ready to go?” Yongguk asks. Alex nods before turning to the others. “What will you five be doing?” she asks.

“Oh, we’ll be hanging out with Zelo while you two are on your date.”  Jongup informs. Alex nods. “Just don’t break anything this time.” she says. Daehyun lets out a small laugh. “Yeah, good luck with that.” he says. Alex looks at him. “You just worry about not cleaning out my refrigerator.” she says. Daehyun smiles. “Yeah, good luck with that too.” he says laughing.

Alex shakes her head before turning back to Yongguk. “Okay, let’s go before I beat this kid up.” she says laughing. Yongguk smiles before holding out his free hand to her. Saying bye to the others, Yongguk leads Alex out the living room and to the door. After grabbing her jacket, Alex lets herself be lead out the house.

Stepping down the porch, the two make their way down the street. “So, do you know what you want to do today?” Yongguk asks. Alex looks at him. “Actually, I wanted to ask you, are you sure you want to go on this date today?” she asks. Yongguk looks at her with a raised brow. “Yeah, why won’t I?” he asks.

“Because it’s your birthday.” Alex answers. “Happy Birthday, by the way. I wanted to say it face to face. But you sure you don’t want to do something else? A party or something?” she asks. Yongguk shakes head. “No, I know what I’m doing. I choose this day to take you out for that reason.” he says. “This is my birthday present to myself.” he says with a small laugh.

Alex smiles. “Okay then. Well, to answer your question, no, I didn’t think of any place to go.” she says. “Remember, you’re going to be in control of the date, Seryou. Where would you like to go?” she asks with a small laugh. Yongguk lets out a laugh. “Okay, I read the manga and I understand what you three were talking about.”

“So, I pick where we go?” Yongguk asks. “I had a feeling you were going to say that. So, since you don’t want to go fancy, how about first we go to the park, relax and talk, get to know each other better. Then we find a restaurant to eat at.” he suggests. Alex nods. “Sounds good to me.” she says.

In a comfortable silence, the two make their way to the park. Walking through the entrance of the park, the two look around. With it being the afternoon, the park was busy. “A lot of people seem to have to same idea as you Yongguk.” Alex says. Yongguk shrugs. “That’s okay. We’ll still find a spot to sit.” he says.

The two begin making their way through the park. Both looking around as they walk to find the best place to sit at. “Here we go.” Yongguk says after a minute. He leads Alex to one of the clearings in the park. Finding a spot that was shaded by a tree, Yongguk reaches into the bag that he was carrying.

Pulling out a black and white plaid blanket, Yongguk sits the bag down. After spreading the blanket out on the ground, Yongguk turns to Alex. “Have a seat my Dear.” he says motioning to the blanket. Alex smiles at him. “Of course my Honey.” she as she takes off her shoes before stepping onto the blanket and sitting down.

Following her actions, Yongguk joins Alex on the blanket. Crossing her legs, Alex faces Yongguk. “Okay, so, what should be talk about first?” she asks. Yongguk shrugs. “I don’t know.” he says with a small laugh. “Anything that you want to talk about?” he asks.

The two sit in silence for a moment, thinking of topics. Alex looks at Yongguk again. “Oh, there is something that I want to know.” she says. Yongguk nods to her as a signal to continue. “Okay, was there a time that you were going to ask me out before?” she asks. With wide eyes, Yongguk looks at her. “Who told you that?” he asks.

Alex shakes her head. “Well, it isn’t that someone told Me.” she says. “But others keep mentioning things that basically hinted toward It.” she adds. “Like the day we picked our group for English, Yongnam said ‘Finally’ and Himchan mentioned on it too. I’m sure Daehyun has said something too. And then when we were at your parents’ house, your mom said you should have listened to her sooner.”

Yongguk lets out a small laugh. “Oh, Mom did say that.” he says. “Since the time me and my Mom first met you, when we bumped into you and Youngjae at the grocery store, she always had ideas.” he explains. “After getting to know you more, she decided that it would be great if you were to date one of her sons. But since Yongnam seemed like he wasn’t going to go over the Friends level with you, she turned to me. Especially once Zelo came and you were spending time with our group to keep an eye on him.”

“So, Mama Bang wanted you to ask me out?” Alex asks. Yongguk lays back onto the blanket. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I myself thought about asking you out, without her saying anything.” he says. Alex nods. “Well, why didn’t you?” she asks. Yongguk looks at her. “Well, when you first came here, you were dating someone, and then when you did break up, I was dating Jihyun.” he says.

Alex sighs as she joins him in laying on the blanket. “Yeah, that wasn’t a good time.” she says looking up at the sky. “But I guess, I kinda over It.” she says. Yongguk looks at her. “So you are over your ex?” he asks. Alex lets out a snort. “Oh, I’ve been over that idiot. It was the situation that took a lot of time to get over.” she says.

“Interesting.” Yongguk whispers. “Well, since it’s the first date, I’m not going to bring down the mood with asking what happened.” he says. Alex nods in agreement. “Okay, then changing the subject, and going back a little in the conversation.” she starts. “You said that you thought about asking me out. What was your first impression of me? What made you want to ask me out? What made you want to ask me, of all people out now?”

“As I told your brother, you caught my attention.” Yongguk says. Alex shakes her head. “But why? I was very mean to you during the first year of knowing you.” she says. Yongguk lets out a laugh. “Actually, no you wasn’t.” he says. “Well, not as mean as I’ve seen you toward others.” he adds. “You just didn’t seem the need to know me. So you just didn’t interact with me unless it was necessary.”

“It that why you like me? Because I’m not a groupie?” Alex asks. Yongguk smiles. “That is one reason.” he says. “Another is because you don’t really hold back on your thoughts.  You like to speak your mind.” he adds. Alex shrugs. “I guess. I just think that if it’s something that needs to be said and no one else is going to say it, then I will. And I will have no regrets about it.”

 

“Yeah, I know you don’t.” Yongguk says.

“How do you know?” Alex asks looking at him.

“Alexandria, I’ve been around you for four years.”

“So, what’s that got to do with it?”

“Should I tell you about one of the most impressionable memories that I have of you?”

“Go ahead.”

 

Sitting up, Yongguk looks at Alex. “Okay, it was when Zelo came to live here. When he started to hang out with us, you were always there to look after him if you could. I don’t really remember what happened beforehand, but one day you marched straight up to me and told me that I need to straighten up and change my ways if you’re going to let Zelo hang around me.” he says. “Then you proceeded to threaten me. I guess you seen me as a bad influence or something.”

Alex lets out a laugh. “Oh, I remember that.” she says. “If I remember correctly, the reason I said that was because Junhong came home talking about gangs and the possible change of joining the one you were in.” she says. “I didn’t bring my baby out here for him to join a gang. And I wasn’t about to let him join one either.”

“It’s not that bad.” Yongguk says making Alex look at him with a blank look. “Okay, it’s not that ‘that’ bad.” he says. “Depending which one you were in. But I guess, being in a gang isn’t a good thing.” he says. Alex looks at him. “So then why were you in one?” she asks. Yongguk shrugs. “I can’t really answer that question. I guess I just ended up in one.”

Alex nods. “Okay. I shall accept that answer for now.” she says. Yongguk smiles. “Well, what about you?” he asks. “What was your first impression of me?” he asks. Sitting up, Alex tilts her head to the side. “Well as you already know, I thought you were a bad guy. Which I can say, I was wrong about.” she says.

“When I first seen you, I thought you were that cold mysterious silent loner type person.” Alex says. “Though the fact that you hang out with my cousin lowered that thought a bit.” she adds with a small laugh. “Also, I’ve come to notice, you actually talk a lot.” she says. Yongguk shakes his head. “Actually, I don’t.” he says. “It’s just that when I’m talking to you, that’s when I really feel like talking more.”

“Is that a good thing?” Alex asks. Yongguk shrugs. “I think so.” he says with a small laugh. “It just means that I want to talk to you. Get to know you more.” he says. Laying back down, Alex moves until she was laying on her stomach. “Well, if you ever want to know anything, just ask me.” she says.

Moving to lay in the same way, Yongguk looks at her. “Okay, actually I do have a question for you.” he says. Alex nods. “Go ahead.” she says. Yongguk smiles. “So, when your brother was deciding on if he would allow me to date you. He mentioned that you thought about dating me before. Himchan did too.”

Alex lets out a laugh as she crosses her arms in front of her and lays her head down on them. “I swear, can’t tell those two anything.” she says. “But I’m not going to deny it. They’re telling the truth. I have thought about it a few times. But other than flirting with you, I never thought about acting more than that.” she states.

“And why is that?” Yongguk asks. “Is it because of your last relationship?” he asks. Alex sighs as she turns and looks at the park scene in front of them. “Yeah, I mean, I shouldn’t let it still bother me, but it do.” she says. Yongguk nods. “Well, you can’t help that.” he says. “You broke up with him because he cheated right?”

Alex nods.  “And what else?” Yongguk asks. Alex raises a brow. “What do you mean ‘what else’?” she asks. Propping himself up with his arm, Yongguk looks at her. “Whenever Zelo or Youngjae mention it, they always seem like they’re not telling the full story. And just from the look in your eyes, I can still that not the full story.”

“I thought you said that we were going to talk about this and bring down the mood?” Alex asks with a small laugh. Yongguk shrugs. “I know I did. But now I’m interested about it all.” he says. Alex shakes her head. “I guess. And since it’s your birthday, it’s okay. But yeah, there’s more to It.” she says. She then lays her head on her arms. “And what is it?” Yongguk asks.

“Well, as I said, Seunghyun cheated.” Alex says. “But instead of cheating on me with people I didn’t know, he cheated on me with my then friends.” she informs. Yongguk blinks. “Wait, friends? With an s, meaning more than one?” he asks. Alex nods. “Yep, of the three girls that I regularly hung out with and was close with, he cheated with two of them.”

“But why?” Yongguk asks. Alex sighs. “Well, it’s because of the ual relations of our relationship.” she says. Alex looks at Yongguk to see him raise a brow in confusion. “Since I wouldn’t do anything with him, Seunghyun went to someone else for any type of ual activity.” she explains. Yongguk narrows his eyes. “So he decided to go for your friends?”

“Well, I can’t really say that I’m surprised for the first girl. She had her eye on him since the beginning of high school, even though she knew we were dating. The second girl, I showed lenience toward her because she only did things with him once and plus she thought we broke up.” Alex explains. Yongguk tilts his head. “How would you not know if your friend is dating someone?” he asks.

“Well during the last year of high school, I and Seunghyun barely spent time together. I can count on my hands the number of times throughout the whole school year. I was too busy. With it being my last year, I focused on my study, to get into this school. And on top of that, I took on another job so that I could stay here. A lot of people actually thought we broke up. There were even a few rumors. But very few, including the first friend knew we didn’t.” Alex explains.

“And there’s a bit more to this story isn’t there?” Yongguk asks. Alex nods. “Well, to end the story, he’s currently dating the third friend.” she reveals. Yongguk blinks a few times before raising a brow. “Wait, seriously?” he asks. “How could someone even think about going out with a person who cheated on their friend?” he asks.

“Oh, that’s because she doesn’t know.” Alex reveals. Seeing the I-don’t-believe-that-one-bit look on Yongguk’s face, Alex lets out a laugh. “No, I’m serious.” she says. “During our second year in high school, Gina moved to a different city. We only hung out with her during weekends when we were all able to get together. Then during the last year, when I moved here, I hung out even less with them. Gina had heard the rumors about us breaking up the first time, but I never really had the time or energy to correct her about it all.”

“So she thinks that you two just broke up mutually?” Yongguk asks to which Alex nods. “So then how did she come about dating him?” he asks. Alex looks at him. “Oh, after we graduated, the college Seunghyun ended up going to was the one Gina was enrolling in.” she informs. “That following summer was when everything happened and everything came out. Gina, though, was across seas spending time with family for the summer. I didn’t want to get her involved so I never told her.”

“What about when she told you that they started dating?” Yongguk asks. “What did you do?” he adds. Alex shrugs. “Nothing actually. She called me to see if it was okay. I was shocked at first, but then I congratulated her.” she says. Yongguk frowns. “Really? That’s all you did?” he asks. Alex tilts her head at him. “Oh, of course not.” she says. “Being the good friend I am, I talked to Seunghyun, face to face and informed him in great detail what I would do to him if I ever hear that he did something to make her cry.”

Yongguk smiles. “Now that sounds like you.” he says with a small laugh. “Always ready to threaten someone.” he says. Alex shrugs. “Only when needed.” she says. Yongguk snorts. “Yeah because you know there’s a need to punch someone in the face when they try to hug you.” he says. Alex lets out a laugh. “It is when Himchan is annoying you.” she says.

As he laughs, Alex looks at him. “I like your laugh and smile.” she says smiling herself. Yongguk looks at her, a small blush appearing on his face. “What? You have one of those gummy smiles and laughs. I’ve noticed this and I don’t know if anyone ever told you, but your eyes sparkle when you smile or laugh fully.” she says.

Alex watches as Yongguk turns his head, trying to hide the smile and blush that was spreading across his face. “You are so cute sometimes.” she says laughing. Yongguk turns back and looks at her. “You really like embarrassing me, don’t you?” he asks. Alex smiles. “But I’m just being honest.” she says. Yongguk tilts his head. “Well then to be honest, I like your smile and laugh too.” he says.

Alex smiles. “Thank you.” she says. “Now, going back to our previous conversation… What about you? How did your first relationship go?” she asks. Yongguk shrugs. “It was fine, I guess.” he says. Alex raises a brow. “You guess?” he asks. Yongguk tilts his head. “Well, I and Jieun didn’t really do much.” he says.

Eyes widening, Alex raises her head. “You dated Jieun?” she asks. Yongguk looks at her. “I thought you knew that.” he says to which Alex shakes her head. “Oh, well, yeah, we dated from middle school up to our sophomore year of high school.” he informs. Alex nods. “So why did you two break up?” she asks.

“Well, nothing changed.” Yongguk answers. Alex tilts her head. “What do you mean?” she asks. Yongguk props his head up on his hand. “Well, after we started dating, nothing changed. It was as it always was. We really didn’t have feelings for each other. At least not more than the mutual sibling-type feelings. I think we dated just because we could and wanted to see what could happen.” he explains. “And nothing happened, so we decided to break up.”

“You know, when I first came here, I though you two were dating. But Jieun turned that idea down, telling me that you were like her brother.” Alex says. “You two seem like you would be a good match though.” she says. Yongguk shrugs. “A lot of people used to tell us that.” he says. “But…” he stops making Alex look at him.

Moving closer to her, Yongguk smiles. “I think I’ll make a better match with you.” he says leaning forward and kissing her on the cheek. Unable to hide her blush, Alex smiles before lowering her head. “Now I’m the one feeling embarrassed.” she says making Yongguk let out a small laugh.

 

~~After another two hours of talking and just sitting around and enjoying the scenery, the two finally decided to head out and find a restaurant to eat at. After the two refold up the blanket before heading toward the park’s entrance. As they walk out the park, Yongguk reaches out, taking Alex’s hand in his.

Feeling him entwine their fingers, Alex looks down at their hands before looking up at Yongguk who just smiles back at her. “So, where should we eat?” he asks. Alex shrugs as she looks around them. “I’m not really hungry, but I want something to snack on.” she says. Yongguk nods. “Then how about we go to that café that’s like two blocks away?” he asks. Alex nods. “Sounds good to me.” she says.

 

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There's Chapter 7. 

Thank you for reading.