Jin went to Wonwoo’s dorm to pick him up like before. She had not been planning to (because she was still angry at him for being so demanding about Vernon), but she found that she had left her dorm early in order to end the conversation with Sena and had nothing else to do.

She hoped that Wonwoo wouldn’t bring up Vernon. The last thing she needed was more discouragement and more bitterness against her friends.

She knocked on Wonwoo’s door. He didn’t answer the first time. Nor the second time. Nor the third. Just as she was about to give up, he opened it. He looked like he had just woken up.

“Did I wake you?” Jin asked him.

“I’m glad you did or I would have missed class. Come in,” he said as he wiped the sleep from his eyes, “I was modeling yesterday and we ended late.”

“How was it?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Wonwoo told her as he grabbed a change of clothes and entered the bathroom.

While she waited for him to shower and change, she got a text from Vernon responding to her text to move up the date: whatever you say, Frostbite. I’ll pick you up at 6:00 PM from in front of your dorm. Looking forward to it!

Jin felt a nervous pit in her stomach all of the sudden. It was actually happening. Her first date was actually happening.

When Wonwoo finally came out of the bathroom, he immediately asked if she had spoken to Sena.

“I did,” Jin responded, “we made up and then argued again.”

Wonwoo frowned. “Argued about what?”

“Vernon. She also thinks he’s manipulative and that he’s using me. And she thinks I’m stupid for falling for it.”

Wonwoo paused for a moment, “well, she's wrong. You can make your own decisions, and she should respect that.”

Jin narrowed her eyes at Wonwoo. He was one of those who had been so violently against her date with Vernon before…

“Sorry about the way I treated you with this whole issue,” Wonwoo explained, “if you want to date Vernon knowing all that you know about him, then go for it. Who am I to tell you not to?”

Jin smiled and nodded her head to accept his apology. It was so good to finally have one person who didn’t treat her like some child and actually respected her decision. Finally.

“So… when’s your first date?” Wonwoo asked uncertainly.

“Tonight,” Jin replied, feeling that nervous pit again.

“What are you going to wear?”

She hadn’t thought about that, and it came as a sudden realization that she had to. She suddenly panicked. She was supposed to look pretty for a date, wasn’t she? And she had nothing particularly pretty to wear.

“You don’t know?” Wonwoo asked, noticing the sudden panic in her face.

Jin shook her head.

“We’ll figure something out,” Wonwoo told her with a reassuring smile.

“I’ll probably just go wearing normal clothes,” Jin told him. It was too late to go buy anything after all.

“Come on,” Wonwoo told her. “Don’t you want to try a little harder than normal?”

“I don’t have anything.”

“I’m sure Sena can hook you up.”

“Me and Sena aren’t even on good terms yet.”

“Then I’ll help you,” Wonwoo said. “I’ll be your stereotypical gay best friend for today.”

Jin smiled at him.

“Get me into your room after class? I’ll bring a big hoodie and then sneak in through the window like last time.”

“You don’t have to…”

“I want to. Plus, I want to mediate another make-up conversation between you and Sena. I need you two be back on good terms again. I’ll make you two make up if it’s the last thing I do. Just get me into your room.”

Jin agreed.

-

The day went by quickly. In the class she had with Vernon, their only interaction was a smirk on his part. She did not run into Sena nor Seokmin at all, even during lunchtime, where Seokmin would usually be.

After all classes were over, Jin had a little over two hours to get ready for the date. It somehow didn’t seem like enough time though, and she felt like she wasn’t prepared for it mentally. Two hours until her very first date.

Only two hours.

Jin was so nervous to the point she felt dizzy sometimes. Wonwoo noticed this and tried to encourage her by saying dating is just like hanging out while looking pretty. She didn’t buy it.

Jin succeeded in sneaking Wonwoo into her all-girls dorm unnoticed. They had both hoped that Sena would be there, but she wasn’t. When they tried calling her, she wouldn’t answer.

“Where does this girl even go?” Wonwoo wondered curiously. Sena was almost never in her room nowadays, and they were curious as to what she does outside all this time.

Wonwoo opened the closet and looked through Jin’s side of it. She didn’t really have very much, and so she felt embarrassed in front of Wonwoo as he looked through her clothes.

“I’m sure Sena wouldn’t mind if we take something from her, right?” Wonwoo said as he glanced at Sena’s side of the closet, which was chock-full of pretty things that Jin did not have the confidence to wear.

Jin shrugged. Sena generally didn’t mind, but maybe in this particular circumstance, she probably would. Sena would not approve of Jin dressing up to go on a date with a person Sena was so certain only wanted to sleep with her.

Jin shrugged in response to Wonwoo’s question.

“She wouldn’t mind; I’ll talk to her. Now what about you try this on?” Wonwoo took out a sleeveless shirt from Sena's side of the closet.

“I hate my arms,” Jin stated. She wanted sleeves.

Wonwoo took out another one of Sena’s shirt, but this one was too low and would have exposed more of her chest than she was comfortable with. The next one Wonwoo dug out was a one that was tight-fit, which Jin also wasn’t very comfortable with. Lastly, he took out a short black dress.

“I hate my legs,” Jin revealed.

“You’re too self-conscious,” Wonwoo frowned, putting the dress down, “and you have no reason to be. Please just try the dress on?” he begged, “if you don’t like it, we’ll find something else.”

“Even if I do like it, Sena wouldn’t let me…”

“She would. I’ll make sure she does. Go on then,” he handed her the dress and Jin took it hesitantly and went into the bathroom to put it on.

It wasn’t bad at all. Jin didn’t even know that she could look okay in Sena’s clothes. The dress fit her well. It had sleeves; it didn’t expose too much of her chest; and it was loose-fit. It was just her legs that she hated exposing.

She got out of the bathroom, and Wonwoo turned to look at her. He scanned her, and had a soft smile on his face. Jin shuffled uncomfortably under his gaze, and thankfully he didn’t look for long: “it looks good.”

“My legs don’t.”

“Your legs are fine,” Wonwoo laughed. “Also, here, wear this in case you get cold.” He threw her a lace cardigan that he had dug up from Sena’s closet.

“I’ll just wear my coat.”

“Coats aren’t very flattering,” Wonwoo said. “The cardigan should be enough protection from the cold.”

It seemed like Wonwoo knew more about female fashion than she did. She took his word for it and decided against bringing the coat. She slipped on the cardigan over the dress as Wonwoo inspected her and gave her two thumbs up.

“See, dressing up for dates isn’t so hard,” Wonwoo said, looking at her with a smile on his face.

It felt so strange to be dressed up prettily in front of Wonwoo, a friend to whom she was close and with whom she was as comfortable as she could be. She couldn’t imagine going out in public like this, let alone going out on a date like this.

Remembering the date made her stomach churn, and she started to feel nervous again as she imagined what the date would entail. She also imagined if Sena was right about Vernon only wanting to sleep with her. She suddenly did not feel very comfortable with the exposed legs. Jin eventually wore tights. At least some cloth was covering them now.

Wonwoo tried to calm her down by telling her little anecdotes of dates that he had.

“Once, I went out with this girl…”

“You went out with girls before?” Jin asked. She hadn’t known.

“Yeah, plenty of times actually,” Wonwoo revealed, “if you date someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re attracted to them. It just means that you want to try. I was in this denial phase before, and so I went out with girls. It never worked out.”

“Would I have worked out?” Jin wondered out loud.

Wonwoo didn’t answer immediately; he paused to think about what to say. He looked at her warmly and shrugged, “I don’t know if it would have worked out,” he revealed, “I guess we’ll never know.”

“I do hope you find someone and I hope it works out with him. Or her,” Jin told him.

“And I hope it works out with Vernon,” Wonwoo replied, “I mean… not me and Vernon, but you and Vernon,” he added quickly, causing Jin to laugh.

“Do you think he’s attractive?” Jin wondered curiously.

“Vernon? Not my type,” Wonwoo shook his head viciously, “he’s no Mingyu.”

“I see. You only like super hot models,” Jin responded jokingly, to which Wonwoo pushed her playfully.

“Seriously though,” Wonwoo repeated, “I hope Vernon sincerely likes you and makes you happy.”

Jin’s face fell as the anxiety of not knowing Vernon's intentions resurfaced. “I don’t think he likes me.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know,” Jin replied. She didn’t know why she was so skeptical of him, even though he did throw her a birthday party and buy her a necklace and has not done anything to suggest that he didn’t like her.

“You’re a lot more likeable than you give yourself credit for,” Wonwoo told her, “take it from someone who’s still questioning his entire uality because of you.”

Jin blushed at the outright confession. He ruffled her hair lovingly and smiled at her diffidence. He then said to her, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you cause playboy Vernon’s heart to beat for you. You shouldn’t be either. And if you like him back, just let go and have fun with it. Let yourself be happy, okay?”

Jin nodded. Wonwoo’s words resonated with her, and relaxed her ever so slightly for the date that was to come very soon.

“There’s about half an hour left,” Wonwoo said as he looked at the clock. “Do you want to try make-up?”

Jin decided to try. She never wore make-up, but the few times she did, her appearance improved by tenfold. And, she wanted to look pretty. It took her a while to admit it to herself, but she wanted him to notice and to like her.

Jin got up to get Sena’s make-up from the bathroom as Wonwoo looked up make-up tutorials on YouTube to follow. Just as Jin was collecting Sena’s make-up, she remembered that she did have some make-up herself: the eyeliner that Nayoung had gifted her the previous day.

As Wonwoo was immersed in the YouTube tutorial, Jin quickly opened her drawer and took out Nayoung’s gift. She removed it from the packaging and brought it with her to where Wonwoo was.

Both Jin and Wonwoo applied the make-up together. They were both amateurs, and their attempts at following the YouTube tutorial were a disaster.

“I look like a clown,” Jin said as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Wonwoo laughed: “a cute clown though.”

Jin washed off the make-up and they tried again. The second time around was better, but still not perfect.

“For your next date, we’re getting Sena to do your make-up,” Wonwoo said, “but the way we have it now still looks nice.”

It did look nice, Jin thought. She looked better than usual, and she hoped that Vernon would think so too.

Wonwoo opened the front drawer of the dresser and looked through Sena’s hair accessories until he pulled out a white headband with a bow.

“Perfect!” Wonwoo said as he placed it on her head. He played with her hair a bit, pulling strand out over her face and her ears.

“Thank you,” she said to him as he played hairdresser. She really could not have put anything together without him.

“Hey, I’m your gay best friend, I need to act like it,” Wonwoo joked as he adjusted the headband slightly.

Jin smiled.

When he was done, he took a few steps back and inspected her.

“You look very, very pretty,” Wonwoo told her with a warm smile on his face.

It was then that Jin remembered one more thing she wanted to wear to this date. She quickly walked over to her dresser and took out the necklace that Vernon had gifted her.

Wonwoo appeared from behind her. "Did he give it to you?" Wonwoo asked curiously as Jin tried removed it from its box.

Jin nodded. Wonwoo extended his hand to take it from her, and Jin handed it him.

"I see. Frostbite," he smiled as he inspected the pendant snowflake. "That's cute."

Jin blushed.

"I guess he really does like you," Wonwoo guessed, as he unfastened its clasp and walked over behind her.

"Or maybe he wants me to feel indebted to him," Jin replied.

Wonwoo placed the necklace around neck and closed it before pulling her hair out from underneath it. "Why is it so hard for you to believe that someone actually likes you?" he asked as he did it.

Jin shrugged.

There were a few minutes left, and Wonwoo decided to go on his way.

“Good luck,” he told her before he snuck out the window.

“Thank you,” Jin told him.

“If you he does anything bad to you… just put my number on speed dial,” he said.

“I don’t think he will.”

Wonwoo nodded, “well, I hope it’s a success.”

“I hope so too.”

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

Dear Diary,

About ten more minutes left until I meet him. I feel nervous and anxious, and I don’t know what to expect. I hope it doesn’t end up the disaster it has the potential to be. I hope that I find it fun.

I’m even all dressed up with make-up and everything. I never felt this self-conscious of my appearance in my life– and all for a player who had a pretty face. It’s crazy.

I feel like I am treading unknown territory. I feel like unexpected things that no one ever warned me about are going to happen. Ahhh, I should stop thinking about this and just relax. Why is it so hard to relax?

A/N: Credits for the outfit (and some of the sentences!) go to my lovely reader hani_bunny! She designed this lovely outfit right here and even wrote fanfiction of my fanfiction! GO CHECK IT OUT! :) Thank you sooooo much. I love it when readers contribute creatively to the story <3

Also, the date chapter is the next chapter! I made you guys wait for long enough :P You guys must find the slowness annoying af lol.

Please bear with me because the chapter will be long and so it might take a while to write. I feel so pressured to make it perfect because there was such a long and dramatic build-up to it lol. BUT I WILL TRY TO MAKE IT PERFECT FOR YALL, but wait a little while for it juseyo~