As exhilarating as her heart feels right now, everything is so new to Sora that she can’t help but worry just as much.

The late night texts are (still) somewhat unbelievable to her inexperienced mind, typing something only to erase it after being her recent hobby, alongside having a blank face on almost all the time. But rather than running away scared like she always would, she thinks she should face her fears now. No more hiding, no more holding back.

If the guy were to be serious about this…whatever this might become (hypothetically), than she should prepare herself. Because that’s Ahn Sora. A messy person, but a tad OCD when it comes to her schedules. Sora, who always packed her books the night before school. Sora, who never showed up late to a meeting. Sora, who brings her agenda with her everywhere.

Sora, who hated the ‘unexpected’s and loves certainty –now too, becomes a slave of this abstract feeling.

But it’s okay to fall in love. It’s okay to get heartbroken. She’ll prepare everything for when the time comes. So when it does, her heart won’t hurt too much.

08:03 AM     Morning, sunshine

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!”

And…gone was our wise little Sora (you shall be missed).

_

Sora shows up in her office wearing a nice cream sweater over a red shirt, tucked into her plaid pleated skirt that stops just a little above her knees –having spent a good amount of time to pick that outfit alone, resulting to her arriving later than usual (and got eyed weirdly by almost everyone on her way to her cubicle).

Is it good enough? It should be, she plays with her pleated skirt, wincing at how big her thighs seem with the ensemble (she should’ve picked the casual skinny jeans, she knows). But what to do?

She could only pray to all of the fashion gods up there to make her appear cool in front of –holy shenanigan who the heck is THAT?

Woo Zico is only wearing a simple turtleneck, a beige colored trench coat that fits his body perfectly, a pair of washed denim and his boots from yesterday, so what’s the fuss about?

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m telling you that is not all.

He dyed his hair back to black today, and apparently our Sora just has a thing for dashing jet black haired guys.

He puts his serious I’m-working-right-now face on for a moment, and the utter beauty of it almost impaired Sora’s sight, but good lord, he turns away and finds her eyes in a heartbeat, genuinely smiling and radiating a different persona altogether from the one he showed just seconds ago; and Sora feels like she’s in a ing movie…and she needs to stop this before her body could instinctively jump on him.

“Jiho-yah!” Kim Kibum hollers, breaking their dreamy Academy Award worthy trances.

“Oi, hyung, I’m here!” Zico replies with the same eagerness, eyes still on Sora even when Kibum approaches him slowly.

“Yeah, you better be ‘cause I’ll have your dirty laundries out in the open should you dare not.” Ah, typical Kim Kibum.

“And how could I?” Zico says, smiling goofily.

“Anyways, WELCOME TO OUR OFFICE WOO JIHO!” Kibum shouts, and the rest of the creative department either claps or cheers at that, Sora included.

“Thanks, hyung, for believing in me.”

“Yikes, where did that come from?” Kibum snickers.

“No, no, I truly mean it.”

“Whatever…Ahn Sora! Take care of this young lad right here, will you?” Kibum orders, going off somewhere else just like that. Sora freezes on her spot, Zico’s eyes finding their way back to hers. God, what’s with all this eye contact thing?

_

“Hi.” Zico says, when he finally gets to sit down on a chair that was pulled closer to Sora’s own spinning one. He’s just saying hi damn you cheeks stop blushing like an idiot!

“Ahem, yeah, so,” Sora takes out her mighty notebook, “I believe we have a photoshoot scheduled later this afternoon.” She tries in her best professional voice. She looks at him in the eyes, though her gaze wavers when Zico’s intensifies. He puts his folded hands on top of Sora’s desk, resting his chin on them and looking at Sora cutely.

“Mm hmm.”

“I think it’s too early for you to be lurking around here though.”

“Mm hmm.”

“You’ve read the proposal I sent you like a few days ago, yeah?” she asks, flipping random folders on her desk and trying to look busy in front of Woo Zico.

“Mm hmm…” Zico prolongs, holding back his own laugh (he finds her use of the word ‘proposal’ funny somehow).

“Are you not going to respond to me properly at all, Zico-ssi?” she deadpans, and it catches Zico by surprise (like, a lot, a lot that his own jaw ‘drops to the floor’).

“What?”

“I asked you,” Sora struggles with her own words again, “stuffs. And yet all you said to me were ‘hi’ and ‘mm hmm’, Zico-ssi.”

“Sora-yah!” Zico bellows, and Sora naturally jolts at that, quick to observe her surroundings for any eavesdroppers. Luckily, everyone currently seems to be occupied with their own business not to notice Zico’s protest.

“Shh!” Sora says, emphasizing her point with her point finger pressed to her lips.

“Sora-yah, I’m very disappointed in you.” Zico puts on his deadly pout, “Zico-ssi? What kind of bull is that?” he continues, in a baby-like voice that greatly contrasted his choice of words. Sora’s mouth is wide open by now.

One, it’s the first time she’s being directly addressed by Zico in real life, comfortably at that.

Two, who the hell could say no to that pouty faced overgrown baby?

Three, Zico boldly reached for her hands, enveloping them with his own softly and said, “Zico oppa. Call me Zico oppa from now on.”

_

Zico must be a magician or some sort in his spare time.

Or, he could be the reincarnation of a dead, famous artist.

Either way, his work does not disappoint. With just a few hours on set, he earned himself some respect from the senior directors, cheers from the style coordinator noonas, and just about everyone as his new fans.

“Sora, you lucky one! What on earth did you do to be able to book such a talented fellow?” one of her senior asks, and Sora lights up at that.

“Not much, really. I just happen to get a favor from Kim Kibum, I guess.”

“A what? From Kim Kibum? Damn, I think I might’ve underestimated you all this time but look what you’re capable of doing! You’re going to be big one day, kid.”

“Ah, thank you, sunbae.”

“I’ve got to get going now, but I’ll be looking forward to working with you on your other projects, kid.”

“Ah, deh.” Sora bows to her senior respectfully.

“Good work.”

“Thank-” Sora stands up to find the eyes of Woo Zico –man of the hour- staring straight at hers. “No, actually, thank you, Zico-ssi.” Zico’s brows furrow at that, “Thank you, oppa.” Sora rephrases, and he displays his childish smile once again.

“Celebratory dinner, my treat, what do you say?” he suggests out of the blue.

“Eh, I don’t-I don’t know, oppa, I-”

Zico grabs her by the wrist before Sora could even internally curse at her awkward mode self, “I’ll take that as a yes, milady.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK again.

_

Sora is kind of mad at herself.

She literally, does not, have a say in this matter. This stupid, dinner matter (just cut it out Sora, you’re loving it aren’t you).

She, first and foremost, hates being dragged around like a mute rag doll, unable to voice out her own opinions but dammit, she could never resist Woo Zico’s charms either. Sora was never a control freak, per se, but she likes to take control of herself, thank you very much.

But then again, she has none of that, NONE. OF. THAT. At the moment.

No matter how hard she’s fighting all her hopeless romantic inner demons, she loses and loses repeatedly until there’s no more of her energy left that she’s only glancing at Zico every once in a while as he chatters about excitedly.

“And here we are!” Zico announces, looking at Sora for any kind of reactions.

“Yay?”

“Yay indeed.” He says, leading the way to the expensive looking bistro.

Sora feels so small and uncomfortable as they make their way to the table. Every other diners there are super dressed-up, fancy, and beautiful looking –and it’s as if her current work attire is a punishable crime when compared to the vicinity she’s in.

A single look on the menu and she feels like she just got properly punched.

There is no way she’s going to be able to pay for any of these, not even the drinks.

“Sora, are you okay? You’re a little quiet today.” Zico asks, belatedly noticing Sora’s silence. Sora fidgets under his scrutiny a bit, carefully thinking before saying her real thoughts out loud.

“I’m not okay, to be frank, Zico-ssi. I feel like I don’t belong here, does it make any sense?” Sora admits, and only then Zico realizes how much of a jerk he’s been the entire night.

“Oh my God…Sora, I’m so sorry. I should’ve, I should’ve said something! I should’ve asked you what you wanted, ugh, why am I ruining this. Sora, what would you like for dinner then?” he asks frantically, and a smile cracks on Sora’s face.

“If I told you, would you ditch this place just like that?”

“Anything to make you happy, princess.”

Just like that, Sora’s able to cross ‘find a prince’ from her bucket list. Because that’s what Woo Zico is. He’s like total royal family material, but that’s not the point. What was the point?

“Well it might sound weird to you but…do you want to go have some ramyeon with me?” she asks. And yes, it might sound weird to some people, but to Zico anything that comes out of Sora’s mouth sounds like music nowadays.

And he loves it.

Loves the way she’s honest about everything. How she tells what she feels straight to his face. How she thinks, how she sees the world, they’re all so fascinating to him.

She’s precious, to Zico, at least.

“Yes, I would love to.”

She’s the simple solution to the hardest question anyone else failed to see. Zico not included, of course, because he’s found her, and he’s not about to let her slip away.

_

Sora likes it.

She likes the way Zico put her first. She’s never been treated like that by anyone before, and she thinks to herself, ‘ah, so this is the feeling of being loved’. It feels fluffy, and warm, and exciting, and sometimes ticklish.

And it certainly feels good to see Zico gulfing down his ramyeon. His cool appearance stands out in the whole ramyeon shop, yet he doesn’t really care about that. He makes her feel like she’s really the only one he cares about.

Sora is liking this too much, she’s afraid.

They walk to her home, hand in hand, tummies filled with spicy goodness. The night air is nice and crisp, the moonlight beaming along the road they pass.

Sora feels that it’s a shame she didn’t live farther. She could’ve spent more time with Zico if she did.

Zico feels that he hasn’t done enough for the day. He’s worried that it won’t mean a thing to Sora, when it means a whole lot to himself. He racks his brain, trying to buy more time.

“Here we are.” Sora says, standing in front of her gates.

“Here we are.”

“Thank you. For dinner and for your good work today.” Sora manages, though her heart yearns to ask questions that aren’t even close to that.

“Back at you.”

They both look at each other funny, not knowing what to say or do in the situation, opting to grin like two idiots instead.

“Sorry, I’m bad at this, I don’t really know what to–” Zico presses his lips against hers spontaneously, going along with the sudden urge that just sparks within him. He doesn’t regret this, not one bit, he liked being kissed by her, and he likes it more sober.

Sora’s mind goes blank, air from her lungs as she tries to comprehend what’s happening. When are the butterflies in her stomach coming?

Zico pulls away to take a breath slightly, and Sora squeaks, “Zico I-”, but he soon kisses her back.

Yup. He found his new hobby alright.

A/N : I was so scared guys, I almost lost the whole update I've typed earlier this afternoon :(

I did lost some paragraphs, and I typed this real quick as to update as soon as I can.

I'm gonna have to figure out the safest place to continue writing it, because apparently my laptop is ty again (it happened once to my old laptop, a huge virus attacked and i lost all of my fanfics :( still so sad)

Wish me luck this time! I'm doing the best I can <3