“Moon Jongup.”

I look at Himchan lifelessly as I have him repeat the name for the third time now.

“What about him?” I ask, pushing the answer I can already predict out of my brain.

“You’ll go on a date with him, this Saturday!”

“You mean tomorrow…”

“…and he already agreed to it!” My best friend squeezes my hand in excitement, while I still cannot fathom what is happening right here, right now.

“I…” I try to speak and when I finally regain control over my voice, I shout out, “This is crazy!”

“Shhh! Shhh!” Himchan makes and holds his finger over his lips. I quiet down immediately, since we are in a public café at the moment.

“Why him?” I ask.

“Why not?” he counters. “You said to pick someone I think is a good match for you, so I picked him! He’s rather silent so he can be a good balance for you!”

“Did you just call me noisy?” I get louder again.

“Well, you are…” Okay, can’t argue with that… “Just try, Y/N-ah! You’ll see, he’s a nice guy once you get to know him!”

“…because you know him oh-so-well…” I retort skeptically.

“We met up yesterday and we got along quite well!” Himchan tries to assure me. “Just try, hm? For your own good.” I sigh. Maybe, just maybe I can learn something from this. And maybe me and that Moon Jongup-guy, maybe we’ll actually get along and the date will be a success! Not like when I met him at the cafeteria last week. Back then, we barely talked and he left immediately after eating up. Wait, but wouldn’t that mean he isn’t interested in me? Then why did he agree to the date…?

“Himchan-sunbae!” I call out his name.

“Why the formal addressing…?” he raises an eyebrow, looking at me rather surprised.

“Does he know who he’ll meet tomorrow?”

Only a few seconds pass, then my best friend looks at his watch and points out how ‘late’ it already is and that he has to leave.

“So he doesn’t?!” Himchan storms out of the café and I follow him, but end up being stopped by one of the waiters, since we haven’t paid yet.

“He also leaves that to me…?” I frustratedly think and have no choice but to use the last bit of this month’s allowance to pay for his drink as well.

 

In the end I actually get rather excited about meeting Jongup, after all it will be my first date! That should be something special, right? So I decide to go with a simple skirt and a cute blouse to wear. I pick out my best shoes with 5cm-heels, that I can barely walk in because I wear them close to never. Just as it’s time to head out, I put on different, more comfortable sneakers. Who looks at my shoes anyways…?

I take the bus to the cinema, where the date will take place. Himchan picked out this location with the reason that the movie will surely give us a topic to start talking, in order to avoid any awkward pauses. Arriving there, I see Jongup getting off a different bus and I walk over to him.

“Hi…” I greet him, a bit nervously.

“Oh, hello! What are you doing here?” So Himchan really told him nothing.

“I’m on a date with you” I answer, to which he gives me a shocked expression.

“So it’s you!” he then exclaims. “Here, Himchan-hyung gave me the tickets.” He hands me one of them.

“He even picked out a movie for us? What are we gonna watch?” I ask as I take the piece of paper.

“It’s a horror movie” Jongup explains calmly, but I can suddenly feel a tingle in my spine.

“A-a-a… A horror movie?” I barely get out the words. “He knows I hate those!” I immediately take out my cell phone and angrily text him something along the lines of “You stupid bastard, how could you?!”. His response does not leave me waiting too long:

“See it as a chance! When you’re scared you can just snuggle up to him and have him protect you! Guys love that!”

“This person…” I say through gritted teeth and put away my phone.

“You don’t like it?” my date assumes.

“I don’t. But it can’t be helped now, the tickets are bought. Let’s get some popcorn.” I walk towards the counter where they sell drinks and snacks and Jongup follows a few steps behind me. This is supposed to be a date – so we should be holding hands, right? While we are waiting for our turn to buy something, I place myself next to him and make an awkward attempt at grabbing his hand. I brush the back of my hand against his, and seeing that he doesn’t even flinch, I try again, with slightly more force. This time he reacts and turns his head towards me.

“Are you that nervous because of the movie?” he asks me and I can see the concern in his eyes. That wasn’t what I was trying to say, but I might as well try playing dirty, as Himchan suggested and nod.

“Yes, I feel a little uneasy. Can we… maybe hold hands?”

 

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Thank you for reading! 3<