Jennie sat in the car she had asked her mother to send her as the chauffeur drove them uptown to Gangnam. There was no way she would have her manager drive her to a date feeling it was way too early to involve the company.

She had been contemplating throughout the ride and as the car pulled up infront of the restaurant she realized what a big mistake she was making.

By agreeing to go out with Taeyong, she was unintentionally using him as rebound to get over Jongin much like he had used her as one. That didn’t make her any different from him. She was being very selfish and he didn’t deserve that.

But by the time she had this epiphany they had already reached the restaurant and she decided she would come clean to Taeyong instead of chickening out last minute and just sending him a hasty text message saying that she can’t make it. Then it would be up to Taeyong, whether he still wanted to associate himself with her knowing her selfish reasons or cut himself off which was expected and completely understandable.

So Jennie got out of the car and made her way into the restaurant, keeping her eyes on the ground and most of her hair covering her face as the hostess led her to a secluded balcony with only one table set that offered a splendid night view of Seoul city. The view almost distracted her from the man himself who was waiting for her at the table, blissfully unaware of the impending heartbreak he was going to suffer at her hands. A lump rose up her chest as she began making her way towards him.

Lee Taeyong was as dashing up close as he was on television. She had never paid much attention to male idols close to her age always being either too busy or preoccupied by an obsidian eyed devil. But now that she really looked at Taeyong she could understand why he was so popular among female idols. She had seen and heard countless female idols crushing over him and eyeing him from afar backstage and she used to find it funny. Now she really saw the reason for their actions.

Taeyong had, in simple terms, an extremely perfect face. He had the type of face that you’d see plastered on the walls of plastic surgeons’ clinics. A face that everyone wanted with his symmetrical features. Accompanied by his well-balanced proportions and his lean build, neither too slim nor too thick, he was Kpop’s poster boy for visuals.

When he saw her arrive, his eyes lit up immediately and he offered her a radiant but shy smile, getting up from his seat to greet her.

Although she was on a date Jennie still felt weird not greeting him respectfully like she usually did backstage and bowed to him before introducing herself.

“Hello Taeyong-sshi, we haven’t been formally introduced before, I’m Kim Jennie.” She tried to sound as polite as possible.

With Kai there had never been the need for awkward introductions because of how their relationship had turned out. All it took was a drunk encounter and there was no shyness between them after literally baring themselves to each other the first time they properly interacted. Following that it was comfortable process much like a routine and no silences were ever awkward with him.

Taeyong bowed back to her before saying, “there’s no need to be so formal with me, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

He then proceeded to make his way towards her and pulled her chair out for her and then walked back to his seat after she had settled in comfortably.

Jennie didn’t know what to say or how to begin. She had agreed with Sehun in a spur of the moment decision but now she felt absolutely clueless.

Taeyong broke the silence by telling her she looked beautiful which caused Jennie to blush and thank him.

But the compliment didn’t send her stomach into a frenzy of butterflies like she had expected. The way she felt each time Jongin uttered the same words to her. She was used to hearing these same words every day and this time felt no different from the rest.

The waiter then walked over to them to take their orders and Taeyong gestured for Jennie to order whatever she liked.

“I’ll just have a glass of water for now.” She told the waiter before turning to look at Taeyong’s confused face. “There’s something I need to tell you first.”

He ordered the same as her and told the waiter to come back later.

“So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about, Jennie-sshi?” He asked her, giving her his complete, undivided attention.

“I truthfully don’t know where to start from,” Jennie fiddled with the napkin in front of her nervously.

Seeing that Taeyong leaned forward and hesitantly placed his hands on her fidgety ones, “start from the beginning, I’m listening.” He promised her.

Jennie took a sip from the glass of water the waiter had placed in front of her before sighing and emptying her whole heart out to Taeyong.

She started from the beginning and told him everything, from how she met Jongin, what happened between them, how she had fallen in love with him and eventually gotten her heart broken with him, Sehun’s advice and how he had come into the picture leading to this date.

Taeyong listened to her with a calm expression on his face and urged her to go on whenever she felt like her voice cracking and a panic attack coming her way. He was extremely patient and kind with her and that made Jennie feel all the more worse for this ordeal she had gotten him into.

“I didn’t want you to feel cheated or used as a rebound. That’s why I came clean to you before we started anything.” She finally confessed, ending her story.

Taeyong was silent for a few moments and Jennie’s mind raced with various thoughts of the worse that could happen as she bit her bottom lip anxiously awaiting his response.

Taeyong just smiled at her which completely caught her off guard. She had expected him to be mad at her, even scream at her for wasting his time but never even in her wildest dreams had she expected him to smile at her.

“Thank you for telling me all of this.” Taeyong finally spoke.

“I don’t understand..” Jennie trailed off, confused. “Aren’t you mad at me? Why are you smiling at me?”

“I have no right to be mad at you, Jennie-sshi. This is only our first date and I don’t have any right to dictate your private life or whatever you do with whomever. I’m really glad you confided in me and I can only offer you my support from here onwards…” He continued.

Jennie could feel the blow coming. This was it. The only thing she could muster out was an inaudible “oh.”

He saw her facial expression and it gave him the courage to do what he did next. He grabbed both her hands in his and looked her in the eyes before saying, “I’ve liked you for over a year now. I only had my eyes on you, even when you had your eyes on him. There is nothing I want more than to pretend like I didn’t hear whatever you just told me and finally have the courage to properly ask you to be mine but it’s not fair of me to ask you that, atleast right now, knowing you’re still in love with him and will probably be miserable in a relationship with me.”

Jennie’s eyes glossed over at his words and she choked out a “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I should have never dragged you down in my mess.”

Taeyong got up from his seat and did something that even surprised himself, he walked over to her and lifted her up from her seat by the arms before enclosing the space between