It was currently 06:30 PM as shown on the clock above the mirror. I had about half an hour left to get ready before it was time for me to take off to her house. I have already taken a shower, even applied some wax on my hair. I already had my outfit on: a pair of black trousers, a long-sleeved white shirt, and a black button-down vest. There’s nothing left to do but wait.

But I was too excited to just stay still. I’ve been going around my room and even the house more than once. I’ve been checking out my appearance on every mirror in the house. I’ve been standing up and sitting down on every chair I came across. And because of that, I had to check myself out again to see if my attire was wrinkled.

I knew I was a weird sight to be seen because every eye was on me, I could feel it. But there’s nothing else to do.

“Hyung, you’re hurting my eyes,” said Jungshin as I passed him by. “Stop moving.”

“I can’t,” I replied, still going back and forth in front of my housemates who were currently watching the TV.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know,” I answered and stopped moving right in front of the TV, causing the others to start protesting by flailing their hands everywhere like an octopus and shouting at the top of their lungs. But I ignored them. “I should go now, right?” Without waiting for a reply for any of them, I continued, “No, I should wait. I’ll look ridiculous if I get there early.”

“You’re already ridiculous,” someone mumbled. But I was too eager to do anything about it.

“Where are you going, anyway?” Minhyuk asked, seemingly giving up trying to watch the show. “You have a date or something?”

I smiled and turned to him. “Actually, yeah I do, with my co-worker.” I took a glance at a clock behind me on top of the TV and saw that only five minutes have passed. When I turned my attention back, enthusiastic faces greeted me and I sat down on the coffee table in front of them to start telling them about Joo Seohyun.

“Hyung, what time are you meeting her?” Jonghyun then asked, eyes glancing back and forth between the clock and me. “It’s almost seven.”

I gasped and looked at the clock. Upon knowing the time, I quickly stood up with my hands checking my trousers if I got everything. Once satisfied, I dashed towards the front door and bid my friends goodbye. A smile made its appearance as they wished me luck before I closed the entrance.

As I walked to the bus stop, I caught myself humming a song I’ve recently heard on the radio. It was sung by a rock band and the title was Diamond Girl. When it first came out a few months ago, the lyrics immediately reminded me of Seohyun. To this right minute, I still smiled whenever the radio decided to play this song.

The bus that goes to her area finally arrived and I fished out my phone from the pocket of my jeans. As I lined up to get inside the public transportation, I sent her a message saying that I was on my way. Once the fee was paid, I started towards the back to get an empty seat and settled in.

A familiar ringtone was then heard and the phone display lit up indicating there was a new message. Before the light dimmed out, it was clearly seen that the reply was from Seohyun and it immediately brought a smile to my face as it read that she was waiting for me. I knew I looked ridiculous but I couldn’t help it. She’s waiting for me!

Friday evenings have never been more exciting. I was over the moon and couldn’t wait to see her, even though we just met not too long ago. But maybe that was because I wanted to see how she would look like in a casual outfit. And if she was any different from the usual behaviour at work.

Biting the bottom of my lips to contain my anticipation, I looked out the window and started humming to that previous song stuck in my head. Views outside passed slowly as the bus took off. There was a slight traffic on the road ahead, but every vehicle was still gradually moving to get to each of their destination. Hopefully, I would get there early or at least on time.

Approximately half an hour later, the bus halted at my stop and I eagerly went out the public transportation from the back door. Her words rang inside my head, consisted of the directions to her apartment which she has given beforehand on an SMS. It was particularly easy as I only had to make a few turns before I reached her place.

With my head looking up the tall building, I took out my phone and checked the time. There was still around five minutes left before the appointed meet-up, so I took a seat at the bench outside the front door of the lobby. My legs jiggled up and down as anxiety kicked in. Maybe it wasn’t just that; it’s everything mixed into one: anxiety, giddiness, eagerness, excitement.

In the end, I decided to call her to let her know of my location. As I heard her voice on the phone, I couldn’t help myself but smile. I felt silly and enthusiastic at the same time. She would be downstairs in five minutes or so. I stood up from my seat and placed my phone inside my pocket. Waiting has never been my favourite thing to do. It’s the most boring thing in the whole wide world, in my honest opinion. But for some weird reason, I actually didn’t mind it at all at this moment. Maybe it was because I was waiting for Joo Seohyun for our date.

“Hi, Yonghwa-ssi.”

I looked up to see her standing right in front of me with a very casual gear. She looked different from the usual appearance at the office but in a good way. I somehow felt lucky that I got to see her like this. I put a smile on my face, barely holding my exhilaration. “Hi, are you ready?” As soon as a nod was seen, we made our way to the bus stop to go to our next destination.

Our destination was a small café located nearer to my residence, compared to hers. Whenever I pass the place during my return home, it’s always packed with people. I usually see young adults lining up to get in every night. So I made a decision to test it out with my housemates and every food there was delicious. At first it was weird being surrounded by couples; granted, we did have the dinner on a Saturday night. But the feeling eventually disappeared as the food kept coming in. And it was pretty affordable too.

It’s no different that night; every table was occupied except for one with the ‘Reserved’ writing on top of it. Thankfully that was ours. I made a reservation two days ago and I was grateful that I did because it would be boring (and not to mention, embarrassing) otherwise. It was our first date so that would be the last thing on my mind. As we both walked to the front of the line and I told the waitress my name to be seated, I almost looked back with a sorry expression on my face to the other potential customers. But I didn’t and just let Joo Seohyun walk in front of me as the waitress showed our table.

It took us awhile to settle on our decisions of what to order. I recommended her almost every food available and she surprisingly wanted to try every one of my recommendations. I couldn’t help but laugh every time she said yes, which must have been 100 times already because I sensed that she couldn’t say no to anything at all.

Then, realisation kicked in: what if she only said yes to me because she had to?

That bubble of laughter that has been waiting to come out immediately died down. I cleared my throat and looked down to my menu instead of her face to choose our meals for the night. Once the orders were taken, my eyes returned to her again. She was currently looking around the area, her hands neatly clasped on top of the table. Her right thumb was seen rubbing itself against her left hand. Was she nervous?

I decided to just be straight forward. “Can I ask you something?”

She flinched at the sound of my voice and turned her face towards me. Her eyes were wide open and her hands slowly made their ways to hide under the table. “Yes?”

I almost wanted to swallow down my question at her obvious anxiety, but I couldn’t. Curiosity already invaded my brain and I wanted to sleep peacefully. And so I asked her, not caring if the answer would hurt my feelings, “Why did you agree to go out with me tonight?”

She blinked several times as if there was something inside her eyes. “Oh well, I thought it would be nice,” her head was bowed down slightly, avoiding eye contact with me, “hanging out with you. Outside office hours. You know,” finally she looked up, blush evidently shown on her cheeks, “to get to know each other more. I thought it would be fun. And nice.” She ended that sentence with a smile that caused my heart to do push-ups in a turbo. My curiosity jumped out of a tall building because of that simple but lovely smile.

The food came along about 20 minutes later. In my opinion, the service there was faster than some restaurants so it was still tolerable, considering it was a full house. I let Joo Seohyun taste it first and her eyes were immediately closed as the food entered . She hummed in satisfaction and looked at me with her eyes lit up like the Christmas tree. She told me that it was one of the best meals she has ever tasted in her life and it made my chest swell with pride.

It was approximately 09:30 PM when we paid the bill. She insisted that we split, whereas I thought I should pay for the both of us. But she won the argument eventually because I let her. I figured that it would be a reason enough for me to take her out once again where I would definitely pay for dinner or wherever we would be going then. This caused my smile to appear.

Just after we stepped outside the premises, rain started to pour down the area. It was pretty heavy judging by the drops hitting the ground and the sound they made as they fell against the canopy on top of us. The smell of rain then appeared, hitting my nose before going somewhere else. It seemed to hit hers too as I heard her inhaling and exhaling. I chanced a look at her and she had her eyes closed, a content smile plastered on her beautiful face. There was a stray strand of hair that has escaped from her ponytail. Unconsciously, I reached out a hand towards her.

“Excuse me.”

That said hand immediately ran away to its original position on my side. Feeling greatly embarrassed, I turned around to see a lot of people standing near us. Some were waiting in line to get into the café and there was a couple standing right behind us. They had a matching ghost of a smile on their faces.

“I’m sorry, but you were blocking the way,” the guy said, reminding me of our current location.

My eyes widened in surprise and quickly apologised. Beside me, Joo Seohyun did the same and pulled me closer by the arm so the couple could go their way. Despite the slightly cold weather, I felt warm especially the part where she was currently holding. I couldn’t stop my smile from forming on my mouth.

Just as quick as her hand went to my arm then, the release afterwards was too. The warmth lingered for a little while before the cold gradually took over. I was slightly disappointed at the lost touch but I covered it up with a cough before turning to face her. I couldn’t let her go home just yet. There were still a lot of things I wanted to ask. Well frankly, I just wanted to spend more time with her, instead of going home where my housemates would be doing their routine stuff every Friday night: having a shouting match while playing some games until the next sunrise. It’s fun, but compared to that, I would unquestionably choose Joo Seohyun.

And so I asked her, “Do you want to watch a movie with me tonight?”

“Now?” she said, looking at me with her big eyes.

I nodded. “But it’s okay if you don’t want to,” I quickly added before she could give me an answer. “I mean, by the time we finish, it’ll be around or even past midnight. We don’t have work tomorrow, but you might not be used to going out late.”

The last word was just out of my mouth when she finally agreed to my plan. My cheeks were already hurting from smiling too much that night, but I didn’t care a bit. Our date was still going on. Then, I looked up ahead and remembered that it was raining.

“Ah, but do you have an umbrella?” I turned my attention back to her with a grin on my face. “Or should we just run to the bus stop?”

“Oh yeah, I do,” she answered, retrieving the item from inside her bag. “But it’s a bit small for both of us to fit.”

Indeed it was. “Well then, you use that and I’ll walk beside you without it.”

She shook her head. “No, we’ll share. I don’t want you to get sick because of me.”

My grin widened at her concern of my well-being. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

The so-called squabble went on for about five minutes until someone somewhere from the queue did a snort and someone else giggled. We must be quite a sight, maybe even a scene to watch since the prospective customers have been waiting outside to get into the café and there’s nothing they could do but watch anything going on nearby, even if it’s not interesting.

This time, it was my turn to grab her arm so we could stand further away from the impromptu audience. “I don’t want you to walk under the rain. That’s not very gentleman-like.”

“Well, either that or we’re sharing.”

I was shocked at her sudden determination. I could only say yes to her because it looked like she was ready to punch me if I disagreed.

So in the end, we shared the umbrella. I was on the left and she was on the right. My left shoulder was getting wetter and wetter as more raindrops poured, but I couldn’t care less. We were so close that I could smell her perfume. It was subtle, but intoxicating at the same time. Without mind control, I might do something to her that I would definitely regret. So I loosened my death grip on the handle and looked up ahead with matching steps towards our next destination.

As time passed by, I realised how more relaxed she was that night. She spoke more than our first real meeting a few months ago. It felt nice that I have somehow broken the prim and proper demeanour of hers and I was convinced that I was one of the few people who have seen her different side out of the office. It made me want to jump out at the speeding and passing vehicles because I felt invincible.

A few steps before the cinema’s entrance, she suddenly called my name. Once again, my arm was grabbed, stopping our walk. My whole form automatically turned to face her fully, unconsciously concealing her from anyone. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. Her hand clutched my arm, taking a handful of my shirt. It scared me to the point of wishing to place a hand on her cheek.

“What is it?”

“Did you hear about the new office couple?” Her eyes were locked into mine, holding me in place and not allowing me to move an inch.

I blinked in confusion because I have never heard of it until it was mentioned. So, I voiced that thought.

“Lee Seunggi asked Yoona unnie out and they’re here right now.”

Squealing, her head was suddenly bowed down and all I could see was her hair tie holding her hair together in a ponytail. If it wasn’t for the current situation, I would have laughed at her cute antics.

“Do you want to leave?”

“If that’s okay with you.”

I stepped back after she looked up, standing close to me with her bright and round eyes. “Y-yeah, let’s go,” I stuttered, turning her around quickly so I didn’t have to look at her and let her know how nervous I was. I swallowed hard, hoping to shoo away the anxiety as I placed both of my hands on her shoulders so we could escape to the entrance with me following behind her.

The rain has stopped and started again once we reached her house. The umbrella was used but this time there was no more argument from either of us. I just received it once it was handed to me and she just stepped under the umbrella beside me once it was opened. I reckoned we were already used to being close together.

“Thank you for tonight,” she said as she bowed, her umbrella in hand, “even though we ended up not watching a movie.”

I brushed the air off with a wave of my hand. “Don’t mention it. We’ll do it next time.” The words came out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

But a reply from her surprised me even more. “That would be nice,” she said with her face turning pink. She took another bow and continued, “Thank you for walking home and also picking me up earlier.”

Her endless bows were contagious so I unconsciously did the same thing. “My pleasure.”

In the distance, there was suddenly a lightning. It was so bright that both of us looked towards that direction. Not a second later, a thunder followed behind. The rain got even heavier than before. For some selfish reason, it was as if the universe was telling me not to go home just yet and stay with her. I turned to her again and a look of surprise greeted me. My face must have mirrored hers because she suddenly smiled. Soon we shared a laugh.

“Even your umbrella wouldn’t be of use now,” I said as the rain turned even more intense. The trees outside could be seen swaying to one side as the wind kept coming. It’s turned into a storm. My eyes were then widened in surprise and I gulped at how violent the weather was. “I’ll just stay here until it’s calmed down a little.” I faced her again. “I don’t want to risk myself being flown here and there.”

Her beautiful laugh was heard another time, albeit kind of nervous. “You won’t be home safe and sound, then.” And she paused, looking more anxious than earlier. Her head was bowed down again just like when we were at the cinema. Her hands were currently playing with the umbrella.

I was about to say something to exit from the awkward silence when she opened , “Do you – do you want to … wait upstairs? I mean,” she finally looked up, but her face was really red, “it’ll be boring here by yourself. And the security might kick you out since you’re not a resident here.”

I blinked several times, digesting her suggestion. Did she just invite me to her house? “Uhm, if that’s okay with you?” I ended up asking, instead of telling.

She suddenly smiled, the blush faintly visible on her cheeks. “Yeah it’s fine with me. You’ll be my first guest from the office.”

“Really?” My own smile appeared. “I’m honoured.”

This was the best date and Friday evening I’ve ever had.

THE END

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A/N: I leave the ending to your imagination ^^ I was supposed to post this last Monday, but internet (story of my life), we had this huge event so we were really busy for two days, and also because I was kinda on a writer's block. This part was seriously harder to write and finish. Anyway, I would like to thank you for reading, commenting, subscribing, and upvoting this FF. I hope you enjoy this as much as you did Soul Mates :) See you on the next story!