The night had been too long for Jihyo’s comprehension; there were way too many catcalls when she pulled up the sidewalks to pick up the drunken dudes, that cranky grandpa that demanded to be dropped off right in front of his doorstep (which meant Jihyo had to park her taxi along the road and guide him up his 12th floor apartment), the awkward run-in with a college acquaintance who is now a big-shot lawyer (vs Jihyo the taxi driver so…), and its her final fare for the night. Silently praying for a decent last rider, the 21-year old pulled up beside a dark building as a lady slid into the cab.

“You okay there?” Looking at the lady through the rear mirror and seeing the little shivers, Jihyo cranked up the heater in her taxi as she locked the doors.

The lady nodded, “Just get me home please,” she said quietly, pulling her turtleneck higher and folding her arms across her chest.

Jihyo hummed, and pulls out onto the road. It was only at the next traffic stop when Jihyo realised that she had been creepily roaming her eyes over the sleeping lady, and that the lady had not told her where ‘home’ is. “Erm…excuse me?” she tried, and the lady hardly stirred, “Miss? Can you tell me your address?” Jihyo asked, slightly louder and still no response. “Is she alive?” Jihyo thought to herself and her eyes widened.

Pulling up at the sidewalk and throwing her hazard lights on, Jihyo got down her cab and gently opened the passenger door behind. The lady snored softly, and Jihyo huffed a sigh of relief.

At least she’s still alive.

Her eyes roamed the woman’s face, and Jihyo couldn’t help but think that this was probably the most gorgeous person she had seen this whole week. Or maybe the month, or ever. She looked so relaxed, and possibly too tired to have fallen asleep, unguarded, in the backseat of a taxi. And that light snore! It was too adorable, yup, definitely adorable; a stark contrast to the pencil skirt and formal blouse look the lady had on.

And now, that’s definitely creepy. Jihyo quickly turned around and closed the car door, leaning on it as she pondered. She could, and she definitely should have woke up the lady when she was creepily staring at her just now, but Jihyo couldn't bear to disrupt the peaceful slumber. Nope, she wasn't going to be that person.

“I need help.”
“Park Jihyo, it’s 1 in the morning.”
“I said, I need help.”
“Okay serious speak, did you kill someone? Did you need help to bury the body? Tell me where you are now.”
“No, it’s not that…”
“What the ? I almost had a heart attack. Now you better have a good reason…”
“There’s a woman in my taxi,”
“Uh-huh, are you in danger?”
“No, she’s asleep and…”
“Wake her up.”
“Shut up and let me finish.”
“Right what?”

“She’s asleep. Like she’s shivering and tired when she boards my taxi, and she’s my last fare, and…she fell asleep before I realised I didn’t have an address to drive her to.” Silence greeted Jihyo over the phone, “Yoo Jeongyeon? Are you listening?”

“I am trying to understand your ridiculousness over the phone,” her best friend replied, and Jihyo considered ending the call. And also their friendship.

“Drive to the nearest police station and have them settle this problem for you,” Jeongyeon suggested, “Since you refuse to wake her up.”

Jihyo did not think the woman was a problem and was mildly offended on her behalf when Jeongyeon referred her as one. She didn't want to go to the police station because it would have been dumb. It would make more sense to wake the lady up, but Jihyo really did not want to, and now Jeongyeon was of no use to her. “I’d think of what to do,” she replied.

Jeongyeon hummed, “Just be careful ok?”

Jihyo continued driving aimlessly across Seoul, stopping once for gas, and another time to make a quick dash into the 24-hour convenience store for a sandwich, coffee and chips. She regretted the chips once she began eating; the crisps made too loud a sound that would definitely wake up the woman in her backseat if Jihyo continued munching. The almost full packet was stuffed back into the plastic bag, now tied with the other trash on her passenger seat.

Jeongyeon was definitely going to kick up a fuss if she knew Jihyo had driven aimlessly for the past few hours, just because she was too gay to wake up the beautiful lady. You really cannot blame Jihyo, because if that lady is breathtakingly stunning. Trust Jihyo.

It was back to somewhere near the building where she picked up the woman when she finally stirred in the backseat. “Hey, you awake?” Jihyo asked softly as she watched the lady opened her eyes slowly.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, the lady nodded. “Are we near yet?”

Stopping the car at the red light, Jihyo looked sheepishly at the woman behind, “You did not tell me your address.”

“Oh sorry,” the lady apologised, and Jihyo thanked the gods that the address was within a ten-minute drive from where they were. The ride was silent and Jihyo watched as the woman sat back and closed her eyes once again as they begin driving.

“Hey…we’re there,” Jihyo called out lightly.

“How much do I owe you?” The lady asked as she opened her eyes, and for the first time that night, their eyes made contact. Jihyo can’t help but took a sharp intake of breath; her eyes were beautiful, and even though tired, seemed to be way too expressive than words could describe. The lady broke the eye contact first, and took a quick glance at the meter. A confused look painted her features, and Jihyo snapped out of her stare.

That confused look was way too cute for Jihyo’s poor little gay heart.

Stealing a glance at the meter and wincing, Jihyo did a quick estimation, “From the building to here, it will be 12000won.”

“No, it’s 262,000won on that meter?” the woman looked even more confused, “wait, it’s 4:45am??”

Jihyo really cannot deal with this amount of cuteness at 4:45am.

“Well, you are napping in the backseat just now.”
“And you drove around Seoul to let me sleep?”
“Well, it’s just around this area…I didn't want to go too far in case you wake up.”
“For the past, nearly 4 hours?”
“Yeah, is that bad? Were you rushing somewhere?”

The lady looked as though she had lost all her words and stared at Jihyo.

Jihyo didn't know what to say or do, and could only maintain the stare, feeling awkward, sheepish, and just a bit of thankfulness because she can now blatantly ogle at the pretty lady.

“Thank you.”

“W-What? Oh. No. It’s not a problem. I mean, I am sorry that you had to sleep at the backseat, and I think” Jihyo grimaced, “you are going to have a sore neck tomorrow. I am, I am really s-sorry about it though. I tried to, I meant I made sure you are alive, but I did call you a little, to wake you. B-but you are sleeping so peacefully, and, I mean I don’t know you but, you felt like you needed that sleep. Holy , I am rambling now. But I am really sorry. I mean, I should let you go now. Right. Shutting up this instance.”

The sweetest laugh greeted the embarrassed girl, “Thank you. And yes I needed that sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jihyo touched the back of her neck awkwardly, “that’s what I said. I mean, my best friend told me to drive to a police station but I thought you needed the nap. Yeah, that's what I said. Oops.”

“Yes, that’s probably what someone else would do.”

“Iwouldtooifyouarentthispretty.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Nothing.”

“Feel free to say no but, if you have time, maybe I can treat you to lunch?” the lady asked, “As a thank you! For tonight. I mean, for driving around, just so I can sleep.”

“Yes!” Jihyo yelled, before clasping her hand over , mortified. The woman laughed, and Jihyo believed her embarrassment was worth it. “I mean, yes, I would like it.”

The lady beamed, “It’s a date.”

Jihyo grinned; her heart skipped a beat at the lady’s words, but didn't want to get ahead of herself. “I am Jihyo. Park Jihyo. It’s a date.”

“Myoui Mina,” the woman introduced herself, taking out her mobile phone. “Your number? So we can set up the date and place.”

Jihyo really needed a talk with her hands; it was such a mortifying moment to have her hands tremble when she took the phone from Mina, and that little hiccup when their fingers touched. She really needs to stop being embarrassing, before they have that date.

“Now you have my number,” snapping out of her trance, Jihyo looked Mina with a confused looked. Mina laughed and pointed to the phone beside the shorter girl. “I’ll drop you a text tomorrow after I checked my schedule alright?”

“Yeah, great. Yes. I mean, splendid. Ok. I’ll wait for the text. Yup, I really should stop talking.”

Mina laughed as she alighted the taxi, “Good night.”

“Yea, it’s a great night.”

--

Jihyolicious
GUESS WHO HAS A DATE WITH THE GORGEOUS LADY???? YUP. ME.