You hated blind dates with a burning passion. You didn’t need to go on a blind date to meet someone. In fact, your main problem was that you talked too much.

Your mum had warned you that men didn’t like that. But it wasn’t your fault! You just couldn’t stand awkward silence so you overshared. How was it your fault that male ego was so fragile that they couldn’t handle anything that wasn’t the sound of their own voice? You used to tell your mother that you wouldn’t want a man who couldn’t put up with your constant word vomit, either.

But at the age of 28, your determination was starting to falter and you found yourself agreeing to a blind date your mum had organised with the son of one of her co-workers. Which explained why you were sitting in a Starbucks, all by yourself, sipping on your latte while you eyed the door nervously. You only knew his name and a general physical description your mum had provided.

Your opinion on him was already biased, though. Who chooses to go to Starbucks for a first date? A moron, that’s who. But you promised your mother to keep an open mind and to “please, make it work, uh”. So you’ve dressed nicely and even arrived ten minutes earlier to cause a good impression.

He was fifteen minutes late.

That was not a good sign and you kind of hated unpunctuality. This dude just kept losing points with you. What if he didn’t show up? You would end up all dressed up at a Starbucks on a Thursday afternoon drinking coffee all by yourself. You didn’t even have your laptop with you so you could pass as some writer or college student taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi. You would just look like someone who just had been stood up.

Just as you were grabbing your things to leave, the door opened. A guy around your age entered the café and you studied him closely. Medium height, big eyes, thick eyebrows… he was handsome in a “your mum will love me” kind of way, his grave aura making him look really serious. That must be him, right?

He was looking at you, so you tried to disguise your previous impulse of leaving the place by plastering a smile to your face while you approached him. His eyes opened wider when he realised you were walking towards him and your smile turned from fake to pleased.

“Hello, I’m Kwon Bora’s daughter,” you greeted extending your hand for him to shake. “I’m sitting at that table, so when you’re done ordering, go there, okay?”

You pointed to the table where you had left your stuff while the man was still shaking your other hand with a confused look on his face.

“Oh, o-okay, sure.”

His voice was deep but it had a tinge of amusement you didn’t miss. Before you could start talking non-stop you forced yourself to turn around and waited patiently for him to join you. Five minutes later he was sitting across from you with a very hot mug of black tea between his hands. You looked at him and you felt it. Oh, no, here it came.

“So, tell me, what do you do for a living?” you asked but before he could open his mouth, another question was leaving yours. “I’m a teacher. Young kids, you know? Do you like kids? I love them but sometimes they make me crazy, I wish they had an on and off switch, don’t you think? But they also have given me the best moments of my life. They’re so sweet sometimes and they have the most bizarre occurrences to make you laugh. One day a kid told me in confidence that our librarian was leaving the school not because she was retiring but because she had read all the books in the school’s library. Do you like books?”

Oh, dear, you were doing it again. This dude was so handsome you were too nervous your brain was on autopilot. He seemed to take advantage of your need to breathe to answer you.

“I’m not a great reader myself, sorry.” He sounded entertained by your constant talk and that was actually the worst he could have done because it only encouraged you.

“That’s okay, not everybody has to like reading, but I always say it’s because they haven’t found the right book yet. Maybe we’ll have to find you a book. Tell me, what kind of genre do you like? Mystery, maybe? Fantasy? You don’t look like the type of person who would like that. I love hist–“

Your nonsense babbling was interrupted by the sound of your phone and you threw a quick glance at it. It was your mother. You looked at him and he smiled softly before pointing at your phone.

“You can take it. It’s okay, it could be important.”

He really was trying to compensate for his tardiness and the questionable location of this date with that sweet smile of his and his attentive listening.

“I am so sorry, my mother knows I’m with you.”

He raised one of his thick eyebrows at that statement but you couldn’t think much into it as you hurried outside to answer.

“Ah, honey, thank goodness,” you heard her say.

“Mum, why are you calling me? You know I’m in the middle of my date,” you said, turning around to take a look inside to see if he was still there. He was actually looking at you with an amused expression.

“Your date? Suhee asked me to tell you her son couldn’t make it today. He got caught up at work. Is he there, then?”

But you weren’t listening anymore. As your mother was talking, your face changed from confusion to mortification, to pure horror. He must have noticed something was wrong because he didn’t look amused anymore, he looked more concerned than anything.

“I’m sorry, mum, I have to go. Call you later.”

Without waiting for an answer you hang up your phone and walked inside, not breaking eye contact with him the whole time. He was not the man you were supposed to meet.

He stood up the second you reached the table.

“Is everything alright? Did something happen to your mother? You looked like you got some really bad n–”

“What’s your name?” You cut him.

“Ah, you could have started with that one,” he said and then he laughed. He laughed! And his laugh was really nice, it transformed his whole aura from grave to boyish, his face even looked younger than what he was. For that laugh, you would wait before jumping into conclusions.

“My name is Do Kyungsoo,” he stated. “I’m 26. I work as an intern in a bank. I like kids but I agree they should come with an on and off switch, sometimes.” He took a pause but you didn’t say anything. This must have been the first time in your life where you had been left speechless. The only thing you could do was look at him while he kept talking. Was this how your previous dates felt about you?

“Today,” Kyungsoo continued, “as I was about to order my tea, the prettiest woman I have ever seen approached me as if she knows who I am, and she wants to have a date with me? The way she demands stuff is part of the reason I end up sitting across from her. The other reason is that she’s outstanding. So,” he said looking straight into your eyes, “I kept quiet and let her talk because she has a nice way of speaking and because I wanted to enjoy her company a little longer.”

“But as it turned out, I’m not the guy she thinks I am so I should have said something sooner, right?” This time he was moving towards you, his hand stretched, the one you were shaking not so long ago. He looks at you full of hope, waiting for you to shake it.

You doubted. Why were you doubting, it was all just a misunderstanding and the dude –Kyungsoo– looks truthful. It really was your fault for not checking his identity before starting to speak like the parrot you were. And he liked to listen, damn it. He even enjoyed your word vomit. You knew why you were doubting, though. Mortification was eating you up alive and you couldn’t even look him in the eye without blushing, being very aware of the new level of stupidity you’d reached.

You shook his hand in an act of bravery just when he was about to withdraw it.

“You didn’t answer my last question,” you said, trying to keep it cool even though you only wanted to find a very deep hole to hide. “Genre?”

He seemed confused for a moment until his eyes lit up with the question.

“I really like the spy thriller type of movies, so I guess I’m gonna enjoy those books, too.”

You nodded at his choice but he spoke again.

“Does this mean I can ask about your name?”