Xael

“You're high maintenance, it's not a bad thing sweetie,” Ariana says with a shrug of her shoulders, taking a leisurely sip of her vodka laced lemonade as she smiles at me from over the rim of the glass.

“I am not! I'm down to earth as hell,” I exclaimed, punctuating my point with a finger in her direction.

“O-kay”, my best friend of almost 15 years drawled out with a roll of her eyes and a toss of her shoulder length locs. “Then explain the high-priced coffee that's more milk, sugar and ice than anything? Or the fact that you wear a dress and heels every day no matter how casual the occasion?” She said with a laugh and I couldn’t help but let a chuckle slip out.

“It's called having taste and class !” I taunted, feeling especially defensive since she was right. “I look good in a dress and heels. Should I stop myself from looking pretty just because guys might get the wrong idea?”

“I'm just saying you have your standards Ellie...” Ari trailed off and I felt my irritation rising.

“Well, people need standards. I can't just go after anything with a and two hands,” I snark back at her, pretending to examine my French-tipped nails.

“Now you're just making fun of Jerry!” she yells, still managing to sound affronted while giggling unashamedly.

“As far as your exes go babe, he had to be the worst,” I said with a shake of my head in remembrance of Ari’s latest ended fling. The guy was a gangsta wannabe with a series case of idiot syndrome. When I'd asked my best girl what she was doing with that loser, she'd told me he'd been a genius in bed. I didn't want to talk about people in glass houses throwing stones, but Ariana’s non-existent standards hadn't exactly gotten her very far either.

“Listen, it was your idea to come to a live Karaoke bar to meet guys. Do you not see how your taste is questionable?” I reasoned.

“Hot guys love to sing!” Ari defended, her face saying she was ready to fight over this.

“Yeah girl, hot gay guys maybe. We'll be lucky if anyone even looks our way.” I huffed as I took in our surroundings, the low-lit club comfy but still vibrant with people packed in small groupings around wooden tables.

“Stop trampling on my and have fun girl. Damn, you're so uptight!” Ariana whined while flapping her hand in my face dismissively.

“Mmhmm, well my uptight is going to the bathroom. Try not get snatched up while I'm gone,” I retorted as I got up from my seat.

“Ugh, that was one time!” she hissed, her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Aren't you ever going to let me live it down?”

“Maybe it wouldn't be so easy to get picked up if you grew a few inches,” I teased. Ari sent me the one finger salute as I got up from our table, placing my purse next to hers and I chuckled as I met her glare head on.

“Whatever, I’m going OK? Don’t leave,” I call back to warn her in a stern voice. She smiles sweetly at me and I stick out my tongue in response. If she goes flirting with some guy and leaves me alone again, I’ll be sure to kill her this time.

I walk out of the loud room and into the empty hallway that leads to the bathrooms. The space here is much quieter but also much more run down than I had expected. I do my business quickly, slightly worried that something might jump out of the dimly lit corners in the restroom, sure that the garishly painted walls covering an assortment of sins.

Coming into Little Korea in the middle of the night had been Ariana’s idea of course, like most of the crazy things we ended up doing on Saturday nights usually were. I was more into art classes or wine tasting but Ariana lived for the night life. Although somehow it was always slightly skewed when we got to wherever it was that she wanted to go, just like tonight.

While in our cab, we had passed up Madison Square Garden’s jazz festival and gone deep into Koreatown, a place I'd usually just gone right past on an average day. Trust Ariana to stop in a foreign place and have a look around. Declaring happily that they had the most karaoke bars she'd ever since in her life, she'd insisted we go out tonight and hang out but I knew her real reasoning, even if she liked to claim she was only here for the guys.

Ariana had a well-hidden secret; behind her outspoken and smart mouth was a voice like an angel, one that I had loved since we were kids. She had never wanted fame but my friend loved to sing more than anything else. For years she had been in choirs in school and sung at church. Now that we were adults, she had been obsessed about karaoke. Add in a bad break up and I knew I was in for a long night of drinks and girl power ballads from her. But I didn’t begrudge her the chance to vent, I knew she needed it and I was all for destressing.

I returned from the bathroom quickly, too nervous about my flaky friend being alone in a bar. Thankfully Ari was still there when I got back, her face held in one manicured hand as she stared longingly at the stage.

“Oh lord, just look at him!” Ariana fanned herself next to me as I sat down, her free hand pulling at my arm. The whisper shout voice she contrived to speak in made several other patrons look our way and I felt heat creep into my cheeks. I nodded to them in apology as they got on with their own nights.

“Chill girl, everybody in here can tell you think he's fine,” I muttered slightly irritated by my best friend’s exuberance. Not that it was the first time she had embarrassed me with her lack of a censor, but when it came to men she’d never been able to keep it down.

“Fine is that deadbeat I just broke up with. That man is a zaddy,” she said pronouncing it with as much fire as her tiny body could put into one word.

“What does that even mean?” I asked her wearily, fed up with having to look up half the words she said nowadays in Urban Dictionary.

“Jesus, at least keep up with the new slang Xael! Zaddy means incredibly y and he is definitely that.” She informed me without taking her eyes of the guy onstage.

“Why would I say that instead of just saying he's hot? All these new words for the same thing,” I grumbled under my breath.

“What are you, fifty? And wipe that glare off your face,” Ariana hissed at me. “He's looking right at you.”

I felt my eyes snap up of their own accord in response to her words. Like she'd said, the man’s gaze was razor focused on me and our eyes connected. If it was possible, his already small eyes narrowed even further as he looked at me. There was no turning away as he sang in my direction, the sound of his voice all melted honey and soft silk. Heat burned my face and embarrassment warred with desire as I examined him too.

In fact, I had noticed the guy long before he'd gotten on stage, when he had just been sitting at a table with his friends. And in truth he was hard not to notice. Taller than average, he was blessed with a low laugh that I had peeped from across the room, with shaggily cut hair that was tapered on the sides, his bangs sweeping across his forehead. His lips were thick but set in a small mouth that was naturally colored a pale pink. His eyes were almond shaped, the tiny half-moons highlighting a casually handsome face that smiled often when his friends made him laugh. He hadn’t spoken much and instead watched the others as they cracked jokes in an almost fatherly way. And he had been the first one to step up when the live band had announced open mike.

His voice was sweet and soft, almost the antithesis to his rougher looks. The lyrics to the unknown Korean song flowed softly over me, his slight smile making my own face respond in kind. With a small cough, I try my best to disengage for our staring competition.

“I wonder if the rest of his boys’ sound as good,” Ariana sighed, forgoing the stage to look at the table holding the remaining guys. “The one with the blue hair looks good enough to eat.”

“Why do you have to sound like a creep whenever we see someone nice looking?” I asked with a roll of my eyes. My friend shot me a death glare but I ignored it in favor of the man who was now stepping down from the stage, his sweet song over.

With a fluttering heart I watched with bated breath as he stopped to speak to his friends and then kept coming towards our table. My heartbeat picked up its pace and suddenly my friend wasn’t next to me, her quick excuse about getting a drink flowing in one ear and out of the other. I was stunned into place and almost didn’t hear the “Hey” he spoke to me.

“Oh, um...hi,” I muttered back weakly but still I was able to give him a smile.

Now that I could see him close up as he rested his large hands on the back of a table chair, his eyes folded into slits as he smiled down at me, the ily plump lips he had sung with earlier tempting me to taste them. His skin was pale but bronzed as if he’d been out in the sun too long. But with the defined muscles of his arms showing through the slim fitting tee he wore and the trim waist that was being hugged by jeans, I wasn’t complaining in the slightest. If I’d had any thoughts of coming on to him before, they’d vanished from my mind when he spoke again.

“My name’s HyunWoo but my friends call me Shownu,” he said with an even tone, the smooth and deep voice making a shiver travel through me.

He held out his hand for me to shake and I placed mine in his gently. A tingle seemed to shoot from our palms as they connected and if possible his eyes crinkled even further.

“My name’s Xael, it’s nice to meet you,” I replied too breathlessly, a little more than shocked by the small touch that had lit a fire inside me.

“Xael,” he replied slowly as he looked at me, testing out the word on his tongue until I could hear the faint traces of an unknown accent. “Gongju, you can call me whatever you’d like. Can I buy you a drink?”

A/N: Well.... I'm late lol. But honestly I high-key forgot to post it! Not that it wasn't done, I was just caught up with the holidays and shopping and....here we are! But what do you guys think so far? Tell me your thoughts and remember to UPVOTE, COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE for more updates. Much love y'all <3