When Jin arrived at the coffee shop, Seokmin was already waiting there. He looked anxious, holding on tightly to his mug of tea and staring off into space. Jin could tell that he looked more agitated than usual. He was so agitated, he did not even notice when Jin arrived.

He only noticed when she sat down in front of him.

“Hi!” he said more excitably than usual, “what do you want to order? It’s on me!”

“No, no, it’s okay, I’ll just tell you straight out what happened,” Jin said.

He stiffened. He was so nervous, and it made Jin feel nervous. Not wanting to prolong the anxiety, she took a deep breath and said: “I asked her what she of you, she told me you were perfect for me. She thinks I like you, and so she doesn’t want to date you. I’m really, really sorry.”

Seokmin’s face fell. The light in his eyes disappeared, as he looked down at the coffee in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Jin repeated, feeling like it’s her fault.

“So, do you?” he said softly.

“Do I what?”

“Do you like me?”

“No!” she said quickly, and then realized that it sounded kind of rude, “I mean, I like you, but not like that.”

“Did you tell her that?”

“Yes, I told her. I tried everything, but she thinks I’m hiding it to be nice…”

“I see,” there was a silence as he spaced out for a moment, “could we… never mind.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing?”

“Say it, what could we do?”

“Maybe we can pretend to date and then break up so she sees you don’t like me anymore,” he suggested sheepishly. It was that suggestion that made Jin see just how much he liked Sena. He would go that far to have her…

“I would do it for you, I honestly would. But I don’t think she would date an ex-boyfriend of mine either…”

“Of course,” he said, “that was stupid of me,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I’ll keep trying to convince her I don’t like you…”

“What about if you date someone else?” Seokmin suggested.

It was kind of hurtful to Jin how he was just using her dating life for his personal gain. He said it as if it were at his disposal, as if it had no value other than helping him get Sena. Although it hurt her, she still didn’t blame him. She could tell Sena meant a lot to him, so much that he was able to shamelessly suggest these things to her.

“I… I’ll try,” Jin replied to him.

“I’ll help you,” Seokmin said quickly.

It surprised Jin just how much Seokmin was inserting himself into her personal affairs, as if they had anything to do with him. At the same time, she felt this obligation to him, like she owed it to him to convince Sena that she didn’t like him, like she owed it to him to date to achieve that.

“Okay,” she said to Seokmin, “but how?”

“I don’t know, who do you like in our college? Give me a list,” he suddenly looked enthusiastic all of the sudden, probably because there was some hope he would end up with Sena.

Wonwoo, Jin thought, but she knew better than to say that out loud. There were others Jin thought were cute, and she considered for a moment before revealing it to him. You don’t just reveal crushes to someone so easily.

But he looked at her so expectantly, she felt bad not saying anything.

“There’s the Vernon guy…”

“Oh gosh, anyone but him,” Seokmin said with a grimace, “he’s an and I wouldn’t do anything to help any of my friends end up with him.”

Somehow, it made Jin happy to know that Seokmin considered her a friend.

“Okay, there’s this guy name Minghao. And Seungkwan is funny. I also have a thing for the Seungcheol guy. Oh, and there’s this one that calls himself Hoshi …”

“Wait one sec!” Seokmin said. He took out a notebook, turned to a random page, and began writing down their names, which made things awkward for Jin. It was such an awkward situation altogether, Jin suddenly realized. She was revealing her crushes to a guy that wants to date her best friend, a guy that is helping her date someone else.

The list that Seokmin was making made her slight self-conscious, and so she stopped reciting the names, “that’s all I can think of right now,” Jin told him.

“No problem,” Seokmin said. He tore the piece of paper from his notebook, folded it, and put it in his pocket. “I’ll do my research on these four guys to see if they already have girlfriends, what they like in a girl, and I’ll make friends with them and see what happens from there! Meanwhile, keep developing that list for me okay! We’ll get you a date in no time!”

“Okay,” Jin said, feeling the awkwardness of the situation more than ever all of the sudden.

He reached out and held her hand, “Jin, thank you. Thank you so much for going through with this for me…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jin replied with a shy smile, “I just hope it works.”

“I do too,” he said to her, “you don’t know how much I wish it works…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Diary,

He really really really really likes her. He likes her so much, he actually he’s going to help me find someone to date so that I can prove to her that I don’t like him.

Anyways, this is the situation I’m in right now. I’m looking for someone to date, not for myself, but for him. I feel kind of meh about the whole thing. I mean, on one hand, I want to date, but on the other, I don’t like the idea that my first date will only happen because someone else wants it to happen.

It’s all Sena’s fault to be honest. Why couldn’t she just have believed me?? I could have spared myself this awkward situation I’m in.

A/N: Vernon is coming in the next chapter :) Thanks for reading and subscribing, everyone~