“Zen!” Seunghyun called out as he tailed behind the man to his car. “I need a quick stop at the ATM; I’m out of cash.”

Zen frowned as he slid into the driver’s seat. “We’re gonna be late. Here, I’ll lend you some; you can pay me back later. Double.” He tossed his wallet to Seunghyun with a teasing smirk.

“Why, thank you, Mr. Loan Shark.” He pulled out a couple of bills from the wallet, roughly enough for a dinner for two.

“You’ve got your cards, what you need the cash for?” Zen asked as he drove along, falling into the comfortable speed of commuters going home from work. “Or let Jiyong pay.”

Seunghyun’s glare caused Zen to laugh and he raised a hand in retreat.

“I don’t want to use my credit cards for this, no way! The bills go to my parents. I don’t want them to get suspicious and then get excited, especially my mom, and start asking questions about it.” A little smile appeared on his lips remembering his jovial mother. “I don’t want them to know about Jiyong yet.”

“So what if they do? They’re gonna want to meet their future son-in-law sooner or later.” Zen .

But Seunghyun sounded sullen when he replied. “Don’t say crap like that…”

“What crap? Is Jiyong gonna be just a fling?”

“No, of course not. I don’t want him to be just a fling.”

“Good to know that I’m not spitting crap, but what’s the issue?”

Seunghyun groaned. “It’s too soon to be saying stuff like that; it would get my hopes up. What if I am just a fling to him?”

Zen huffed a smile. “I doubt that,” he countered with a wave of hand.

Seunghyun leaned back into his seat and exhaled a nervous breath. “Yeah, we’ll see..”

Silence hovered the next 10 minutes of the car ride; Seunghyun in his thoughts, trying to picture how the dinner is going to be, thinking of conversation starters, silently making list of things to talk about and things not to bring up yet, reminding himself not to order something that could fly off his plate if his fork and knife decide to not cooperate. Maybe he should just order anything pasta; but avoid meatballs.

Should I order for him too? He though, but discarded it right away because of the fact that he didn't have a clue of what Jiyong would like. He didn't have a clue of anything Jiyong, for that matter. Except that Jiyong was a good kisser and he wanted to kiss Jiyong again.

“So,” Zen broke the silence as the car came to a complete stop by the sidewalk, a few doors away from MacLarens. “Go and find out.” He gave Seunghyun’s shoulder a shove.

“What, are you just gonna drop me here and take off?” Seunghyun questioned as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Like hell I’m gonna join your date!”

“Why would I want you to join our date? No. Just.. go take a look if he’s already in there.”

“You’re not serious.”

“If he’s not here yet, I’m just gonna wait here, in the car, until he arrives.”

“What if he is also doing the same thing; waiting for you in one of these cars and he won’t come out until you arrive, which means no one is getting off the car and then the date is not- You know what, let’s go.” Zen unbuckles his seatbelt and turns the engine off. “We’re both gonna go and see if he’s in there. Let’s go!”

Seunghyun stepped out of the vehicle with a grin on his face, ignoring the grumbles from Zen.

Standing in front of the restaurant, the two friends peeked in through the huge glass window and scanned around the restaurant. It seemed like it was not a busy night as only half of the place was occupied. Maybe the hour was still early. The boys glanced around from one table to another, looking for the familiar face.

And then there he is, sitting in a booth at the far end of the restaurant, studying the menu in his hands.

Seunghyun gasped, grabbing Zen’s arm, and began to panic. “He’s here! He’s here! Zen, he’s here!”

Zen pulled his arm out of the death grip and slapped his roommate. “Will you cut it out?! Of course he’s here, you told him to be here. Gather yourself, for god’s sake.” Somehow Zen was glad that he tagged along. This was what he was worried about.

“Okay. Okay. I’m fine.” Seunghyun tugged the hem of his jacket and shirt to straighten them up, carded his hand through his hair once and twice and reassured Zen once again. “Yup, I’m fine.” Well, more like reassured himself.

“Alright, all the best to you, my friend. Don’t be nervous too much, you’ll be fine.” Zen reached out and dusted off Seunghyun’s shoulders, giving them an encouraging squeeze. “Go get him, tiger. Claim your man!”

Seunghyun paused and turned to him with a disgusted look.

Zen waved him off. “Yeah, sorry, that came out wrong. But you know what I mean. Not claim, claim. But claim, claim. Yeah, whatever. I’m gonna go now. You two have fun.” He clicked his tongue and gave another supportive pat on Seunghyun’s shoulder before walking off. “Call me if you need a ride back.”

Seunghyun chuckled, shaking his head, and walked through the door. He greeted the attendant by the rostrum and informed her that he had a reservation under Choi Seunghyun.

“Your guest is already here, Mr. Choi.” She smiled with a little nod and gestured a hand towards the table where Jiyong is sitting. “Let me show you your table.”

Seunghyun was not sure whether he thanked the waiter or not because he couldn’t hear himself among the deafening sound of his heartbeat. Walking in from the entrance, his eyes were fixed on Jiyong. The man was sitting by himself, looking down at the menu in his hands; pursing and his lips and puffing his cheeks. He had one elbow propped on the table and the hand was combing his hair back from falling into his eyes. He wore a black and white striped shirt and the long sleeves covered half of his hands up to his knuckles.

Seunghyun was entranced. How can someone be so alluring and effortlessly at it, too?

“Here you are.” The attendant announced and Jiyong looked up at the two. “A waiter will be here in a moment to take your order.” She nodded and smiled to both of them and walked away.

Seunghyun turned to Jiyong and decided to play a gentleman. “Is this seat taken?” He asked, holding out a hand in the direction of the opposite seat.

Jiyong’s eyes dropped to the seat and back up to Seunghyun’s. “Yeah.”

“Oh. Umm..-” Seunghyun panicked. He scraped the back of his neck with his blunt nails and looked around the restaurant nervously. Did he forget how I looked like?

“Seunghyun,” Jiyong called out. “I was just kidding. The seat is yours.” Jiyong smiled, biting his lower lip to stop himself from laughing at the older.

Seunghyun huffed a nervous laugh, slowly lowering himself into the seat. “Huh, you scared me for a sec. I thought you’ve forgotten how I looked like.”

“Sorry. But I don’t think that’s possible.” Jiyong smiled shyly.

Seunghyun frowned. “What’s not possible?”

Jiyong blushed. He didn’t think that Seunghyun wouldn’t get that remarks. “Umm..it’s impossible to forget how you looked like.” Jiyong’s cheeks felt warmer.

That caused Seunghyun to drop his gaze down to the table and laughed nervously. Wow. Just wow. He is shy but daring at the same time. Where did this little fox come from?

“You look great.” Seunghyun offered a compliment.

“Thanks. You’re not too bad yourself; red looks great on you.”

“Thanks. Zen picked this out for me.” What the was that? That was ing weird. “Zen’s my roommate.” In other words, it meant ‘I’m not dating my roommate’. Seunghyun was quick to add that note, hoping Jiyong would get the message.

Jiyong nodded. His smile was still as wide. “Zen sounds like a nice friend.”

“Yeah, he is. Speaking of which-”

“Hi, good evening. Are we ready to order?” Seunghyun was interrupted by a waiter, but he nodded anyway.

Seunghyun let Jiyong order first and he just watched as the latter pointed at the menu to make sure the waiter got the right thing. He watched as Jiyong counted with his fingers the things he didn’t want in his meal. He watched as Jiyong placed a finger on his lips, considering the waiter’s suggestions. He was still watching when Jiyong pursed his lips into a smile, handed the menu back to the waiter and turned to him.

“You turn.”

“I’ll just have whatever he’s having.” Seunghyun muttered and handed the menu to the waiter. He didn’t mean to be a sappy Romeo, ordering the same thing that his date was having. But he just couldn’t wait to have Jiyong’s attention back on him and not to the stranger who was standing next to their table.

“Are you sure?” Jiyong asked.

“Yeah. Why not.” Seunghyun shrugged and mumbled a ‘thanks’ to the waiter before she walked off. “So, where were we?”

Over their meal, Seunghyun learned that Jiyong is younger than him by one year. He’s got an older sister, father’s a successful businessman and mother’s a housewife and all three of them are living in Seoul. Jiyong was indeed studying the same major as Zen and they are classmates for two subjects.

And Jiyong learned that Seunghyun is an only child of business oriented parents as well. He already had an empire waiting to be taken over whenever he’s ready.

“That’s interesting.” Jiyong took a sip of his drink. “Usually, eligible heirs would be studying business and administration stuff. But you’re doing engineering.”

“Yeah, that’s the deal I made with my father. I didn’t really want to take over because this whole business thingy are not my cup of tea. But being the only child, I didn’t really have a choice. So I told my father to let me study whatever I want and I’ll take care of the business when I’m ready. He agreed so we had a deal.”

Jiyong figured that Seunghyun either was allergic to carrots or simply didn’t like them from the effort he put into nudging them out of his coleslaw. And the mashed potato; he didn’t even have a bite of it.

“You shouldn’t have ordered the same thing earlier.” Jiyong said, gesturing at the abandoned side dish.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. They serve mashed potato with almost every meal on the menu so there’s no way out of it.”

Jiyong chuckled. “What do you have against mashed potatoes?”

“Nothing,” Seunghyun laughed. “I used to love them. My grandmother made the best mashed potatoes ever. But I guess I’ve had enough of them I just couldn’t eat them anymore. Like I’ve reached my lifetime mashed potatoes consumption limit or something.”

Jiyong burst into laughter. “Too bad. I love them.”

“Well, I’ll take you to my grandma’s someday.”

That just slipped off Seunghyun’s tongue like it’s the most natural thing to say on first dates. I’ll take you to my grandma’s someday. Seunghyun mocked himself in his head. He was ready to take back what he had just said but changed his mind when he noticed the blush on Jiyong cheeks and how the latter looked away to hide it.

Jiyong revealed that his pink hair was a result of a Truth-or-Dare game he had with a bunch of friends.

“Over Truth-or-Dare?” Seunghyun was astonished. Daring; checked.

“Yup. And I didn’t want to tell any of my embarrassing secrets so I went with Dare. Lucky me, I had to dye my hair pink. Actually, Zen was the one who picked the question for me.” He combed his fingers through the messy mop. “They did it on the spot.” Impulsive; checked.

“It looks good on you, though.”

“Good to know.”

The restaurant was just a couple of blocks away, so their decision to just walk back instead of calling their ‘chauffeurs’ wasn’t bad at all. Plus the weather was nice with gentle autumn breeze caressing the tip of their noses and ears.

“How did you get into the kissing project?” Seunghyun asked as they walked side by side.

“Zen. Well, he asked for my help. He said he just needed another guy for the project. I didn’t want to do it but he just kept asking until I didn’t have the heart to say no anymore. So I agreed.”

“Huh, funny.” Seunghyun made a mental note to slap his roommate later. “He said the exact same thing to get me to agree.”

“He did?”

Seunghyun huffed an amused laugh. “Yeah.” And then he turned to look at Jiyong. “And he promised to pair me up with someone cute.” He locked his eyes on Jiyong’s. “I guess I should thank him for keeping his promise.”

Jiyong’s gaze fluttered and he went scarlet. They walked in silence for a while after that; both were fighting back with their own heart threatening to burst out of their chests. The back of their hands occasionally rubbed against each other as they swung to rhythm of their steps. After a few times, Seunghyun risked it and took Jiyong’s hand into his.

“Is this okay?” He asked, looking at their clasped hands.

“Don’t you think I’d freak out if it’s not?”

 “I’ll take that as an okay then.” Seunghyun smiled to then laced their fingers together and tightened his grip.

Long before they knew, they were already standing in front of Jiyong’s apartment complex.

“So, this is you?” Seunghyun asked, gesturing at the lobby entrance, looking down at a very flustered Jiyong.

Jiyong nodded shyly, looking at the direction of the building before looking back up at Seunghyun. “I had a great time tonight and thanks for the dinner.”

“Me too.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

Jiyong chuckled. “Are you gonna let my hand go or not?” He asked teasingly.

Seunghyun shrugged. “Well it’s cold, you could freeze to death.”

Jiyong burst into laughter yet again. “You’re funny. I like that.”

Seunghyun smiled. “I like you.” And the smile widened when Jiyong blushed. “You’re the first one to say that. No one thinks I’m funny. No one laughs at my jokes.”

Jiyong bit his lip. “Well I guess there’s something wrong with their sense of humor, then.”

It’s Seunghyun’s turn to blush. He couldn’t say anything back because his head is screaming for him to do something else.

“So..um..Jiyong?” Seunghyun paused as Jiyong looked at him with questioning eyes, “wanna try it again?”

Jiyong glanced up, pulling his lips behind his teeth, knowing exactly what Seunghyun meant by that. A smile slowly curved along his lips before he nodded slightly and shyly looked back down.

Seunghyun didn’t waste another second; he ducked his head and captured Jiyong’s lips. His arms made their way underneath Jiyong’s jacket all the way to the back of his waist and pulled him close. He smiled into the kiss as he felt Jiyong reciprocated. 

“I’ve been dying to do that from the moment I saw you tonight.” Seunghyun confessed after they pulled away.

“You should’ve just asked me. It’s not like this is our first kiss.”

Seunghyun swore his heart stopped for a moment at the mention of ‘our first kiss’. Our.

“Duly noted. So, that would be the last time I ask for permission to kiss you then. You are so tempting I won’t be as polite next time.”

Jiyong laughs. He laughs. He really thinks I’m funny. He gets my jokes.

“Permission granted.”

P/S: And this is Jiyong ;)