The sound of the clock ticking filled the otherwise silent room. The steady tick, tock, tick, tock, beared such a contrast to the rapid BOOM BOOM BOOM of the blood rushing through her head. Hayi blinked as she stared into his eyes. They were so close. So close that she could feel the little tickle on her skin with each of his soft exhalations. So close that it sent every sensory neuron in her haywire - she was surprised that she even managed to keep standing with his forehead touching her’s like this.

‘You don’t need to keep making it harder,’ his words still rang in her head. Could she really trust that? Could she really take a chance, knowing all the repercussions they would have to deal with? His other hand reached up to cup her cheek and she subconsciously leaned into it. He was right. How could something that felt this right be wrong?

Perhaps it was the way he held her hand so assuringly. That despite the wave of goosebumps she got from the contact, her hand in his steadied her just like an anchor. He was so close. That was all she could think. She doesn't know what got into her, but she found herself reaching up, curious. She wanted to know if he was feeling the same way that she was - if his heart was going crazier and crazier with every passing second that they shared the same breathing space.

Her small palm met the fabric of his shirt, just above his chest. Her fingers spread out over it, shivering slightly with uncertainty. His breath hitched a little; and in that moment, she knew. The rapid thumping beneath her palm validated her realisation. His heartbeat matched her’s. Beating together in an unsteady, haphazard rhythm. She blinked, meeting his eyes again. If she just shifted her head a little, their noses would touch. And if she shifted just a little more, then maybe-

Her thoughts were cut off as his lips pressed onto her’s. Softly at first, then firmly. With a startled gasp, she pushed him aside, stumbling back a step as she covered . She chided herself - her thoughts were wandering to forbidden realms and he had just made those thoughts reality. She felt partly responsible for what just happened. Jiho stepped back as he regained his balance from her surprisingly strong push. He touched his bottom lip, honestly just as baffled at his own actions. What had he done?

“I’m so sorry Hayi, I- I don’t know what got into me-” he stopped himself as he realised that she was biting her lip, holding back tears. “Oh God, I’m sor-”

“Don’t. Don’t apologize.” She ordered sternly. She huffed bitterly, shaking her head. “What luck I have. My first kiss is an accident and the second one has the guy saying sorry as though it was a mistake,” she mumbled, mostly to herself. Jiho turned pale. “I’m,” - he bit his tongue to stop himself from apologizing again - “that was your first kiss?” he asked softly.

She looked at him and blushed before looking the other way. “I told you I never dated anyone…” she replied, trying to put away from her mind how warm and gentle his plump lips had felt on her’s. And how much she wanted to feel that again. Dear God, what am I thinking?! She covered her face, and they stood unspeaking for several moments before she turned to the door again, deciding it was best to leave since she had no idea what to say or think.

“Wait, Hayi-ssi,” Jiho called, making her bite the inside of her lip as she slowly turned around to face him once more, her insides in a total mess. She kept her gaze directed at the ground beneath her, letting her hair cascade over her face to hide her expressions. “You’re right,” he began. She noted how her black heels reflected the fluorescent lights above her- “that kiss was a mistake.”

Hayi had never been hit by an arrow to the gut, but she figured if she had ever come close to feeling anything close to that sensation, it was in that moment. She inhaled slowly, calming herself. “I didn’t want to kiss you,” he continued. She exhaled shakily, forcing down the growing lump in . “Wait, no. I did want to kiss you, I still do- I mean- oh God I’m just making this worse.” She blinked a couple times, not sure if she heard him right.

A pair of feet made its way into her field of vision and she looked up at its owner. The poor guy seemed to be having a hard time gathering his thoughts into coherent sentences. He twiddled with his fingers before looking her in the eye this time. “What I’m trying to say is, you don’t need to consider that as your first kiss. I didn’t mean to steal something so special away from you. Just, totally erase it from your memory if you want to. But what I really wanted to do was…” - he scratched the back of his neck again - “was ask you if you’d want to go out sometime,” he blurted quickly, averting his gaze.

Hayi stood there, speechless for the umpteenth time that day. She felt a plethora of conflicting emotions. Her brain was blaring all the alarms, pointing out how it would never work, how her boss would kill her if he found out, how this was going a little too fast - they may have known each other for a long time but they were, up till recently, just mere acquaintances. All the red lights in her mind were flashing warning signals.

And yet. The butterflies in her stomach overrode all of that. Try as she might, she could not deny the warmth in her chest as she watched the way the man in front of her was stealing a glance in her direction, the tips of his ears showing a tint of scarlett. She found her lips twitch up at the corners. She glanced at her watch. “Tablo called,” she said. Jiho cocked a brow. Why was she talking about Tablo now of all times? “He said he’ll only be here by 4:30 or 5. So…” her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips. “H-how about that lunch date?”

-

They sat on the floor in a traditional Korean restaurant that was located near the studio. It was one of those restaurants with a few smaller rooms for dining and theirs only had 3 tables, but they were the only ones there. The peak lunch hour had ended, after all. Hayi stared at her utensils as they waited to be served, thinking of something to say that would break the awkward silence. She picked her chopsticks up and poked at the kimchi since it was the only thing on the table.

“Hayi-ah,” Jiho called.

“Hmm?”

“Nothing, just wanted to call you that.”

Just how many times was he planning to make her blush today?

“Hayi-ah,” he called again. She looked at him and set her chopsticks down, tilting her head. “What’s your favourite food?”

“Yukgaejang.” She paused. “And my mom’s soy marinated crab. How about you, sunbae?”

“Ramen.” He said with a lopsided smile. She narrowed her eyes at him. “I told you - not too much of that.”

He laughed and nodded. “Okay, okay. But we can have some now, right?” Just in time the ahjumma walked in holding a pot, placing it on the portable gas stove in the middle of the table. Hayi covered half her face with her hand, wary of being spotted in public like this. “You don't need to worry about rumours,” Jiho assured her as the lady walked back to the kitchen. “I know the staff here, they won't rat on us.”

Jiho excitedly uncovered the pot, revealing the bubbling red broth with vegetables and instant noodles. The lady walked in with another tray and Hayi helped her move the side dishes on to the table as Jiho mixed the contents of the pot. They politely thanked her and she left the room, leaving the two alone again. Hayi took a spoon of rice with the soup and ate in silence, concentrating on her utensils instead of her company.

Jiho slurped his noodles noisily and took a sip of the hot soup, but accidentally choked on the spicy broth in his haste. He coughed, making Hayi’s head snap up. He coughed again, tearing up a little and Hayi quickly passed him a napkin and his glass of water. He covered his mouth and nodded at her as he sipped the water, clearing his throat. Hayi watched him, concerned. “Sunbae, are you okay?” he nodded and made an ‘okay’ sign with his index finger and thumb. She furrowed her brows. “Why do you keep choking when we eat together?” she picked up her utensils and began eating.

She meant her last question as a rhetorical one, but he smirked and rested his head on his hand, watching her face to see her reaction to what he was about to say.

“Hmm... maybe because you keep taking my breath away and I end up choking on thin air?”

Now it was her turn to sputter. A few grains of rice flew out of and she quickly composed herself, swallowing the food and drinking her water as she cleared repeatedly, trying to get rid of the sore feeling. She glared at Jiho as he apologized profusely, albeit trying to hold back his laughter. Once she could finally breathe properly, she pointed at the door with her metal spoon. “Get out,” she demanded seriously, immediately silencing Jiho’s deep chuckles. Is she really that angry?

Hayi continued giving him her death stare, making him gulp nervously. But as she watched his nervous expression, she couldn’t keep up her serious act up and she burst out laughing just as he opened his mouth to apologize for what he said. “Oh my God, that was so cringeworthy you need to get. Out.” She laughed to herself and shook her head slightly as she continued eating. A relieved breath escaped Jiho’s lips as he watched her. He was genuinely afraid he had screwed up this date so early in the beginning.

“Hayi-ah,” he began as he took some noodles into his bowl, “about earlier…”

“Ohhhh my God their kimchi tastes so good,” she cut in, changing the topic.

“Uh, yeah. Listen, about what happened at the studio-”

“Oh wow the ramen is really good too, I can see why you like it.”

“Hayi.” Jiho put his cutlery down and looked straight at her. She stared down and swallowed, feeling the tension rising. “We need to talk about this, so stop avoiding it.”

It was scary when he acted like this. When it became apparent that he was the adult, and she the immature child trying to run away from her problems instead of confronting them head-to-head. It was admirable, this trait of his. But at the same time revered. She sighed and nodded, conceding. “Let’s talk, then.”

“Well… what is this, Hayi-ah? I need to know. Are we on a date or is this just you ‘dragging my for lunch so I don't pass out from malnutrition’?”

Biting her lip, she chose her words carefully. “To be honest? I don’t know. I wish I could confidently call this a date but I just keep thinking about all the reasons why this could never work out.”

Jiho felt his heart sink at her words. He had not wanted to, but he had brought his hopes up when she took the first step and asked him out for lunch. He clenched his fist under the table and tried to steady himself before replying her. But she continued talking instead.

“But, even so. T-this is the first time I’ve ever really liked someone a-and,” she shyly looked up at him, “well, I’d like to see where this could go.”

“Well of course this is all just assuming that you wanna do this too, like pfft who am I, thinking the Woo Jiho would wanna go out with me, right?” she blabbered, her face heating up. “But yeah… i-if you’re willing to try then I’d like to see if we could be a… well, if we could be a ‘we’.”

Jiho smiled as he watched her twiddle her thumbs, noting the slight tint of pink that rose to her cheeks. He rested his elbows on the table, cupping his face in his hands. “Hayi-ah, I think I’ve already made it pretty clear that I’m definitely interested in us being an ‘us’.”

The hint of scarlett in her cheeks came on full blast as she shoved a piece of meat in his mouth. “Just eat,” she ordered, feeling embarrassed. He chuckled, chewing on the meat, smiling to himself that she fed him, even if it was to shut him up. “So…” he said in a teasing tone. “Does this mean I can call you my girlfriend now?”

Smacking his arm with the back of her chopsticks, she glared at him.

“What~” he whined, “should I call you honey instead? Jagi-ah~~~”

Hayi reached over to punch his shoulder but he raised his hands up, shielding himself. “Okay, okay! I'll stop teasing you,” he surrendered with a cheeky smile. Hayi kept her death stare on him but shook her head as returned to eating her food diligently, not looking up at the man in front of her because she could only take so many more butterflies in her stomach before she collapsed. But after a while when Jiho still hadn’t continued eating, she glanced up with a raised eyebrow. Then squinted her eyes at him.

Once again Jiho is met with a smack on his arm. “Wipe that smirk off your face,” she said as she piled more side dishes in his bowl. He grinned and picked his bowl up. “Awww thank you my adorable girlfriend~” he yet again. Hayi slammed her chopsticks down on the table with a resounding smack.

“Ohhhh, this means war.”

Hayi got up from her seat and trudged over to him. Jiho gulped nervously as she stood before him, honestly fearing his life. Hayi moved closer… before attacking his sides, tickling him. Their laughter filled the room in a harmonious melody, melting away the many problems they faced.

They may not know what the future holds, but in that moment, they were content.

A/N: hey yall! i actually finished this chapter a few days back but i was too busy to post it up on here :") as usual, do comment and awgnvsfrefb i love yall so much <3