Jisoo almost jumped as the alarm on her phone went off, it was seven o'clock already. Time flew so fast indeed when she was replying to emails from her IRO account. She's been delaying all the replies for the weekend rest, and there's no more excuse to put it off any longer. She'd like to keep herself as a fast-response deputy, and letting the mail rotten too long in the inbox would make her seem unprofessional, so she spent the next hour and a half after Baekhyun left her alone in her office doing her job properly.

Most of the incoming emails were a request for either students' exchange program and research associate applications or invitations and notifications for an international conference. She forwarded the emails to the respective faculties and scrolled down to some conference invitations, somewhere in Europe would be preferable so she could add a few more days of leaving for a leisure trip. It's been almost three years since the last time she had a real vacation and she'd been yearning to have another short getaway from these busy days. Unfortunately, she didn't find something interesting and forwarded them all to the faculty administration offices and the student board so they could distribute the information to the whole campus.

She turned off the PC after making sure all emails were replied to and immediately prepared herself for the date. Jisoo was a little doubtful if this was called a blind date because the essence of a blind date was supposed to be a date with a person one had not previously met. Jisoo had met Yixing before, she thought it would be only fair if it was called just a dinner. A dinner date.

And for a date that she had nothing to lose, she felt a little nervous for some reason, but she had no idea why.

She wouldn't deny that there's a small part of her expecting the meeting today. There's something mysterious in this Zhang Yixing guy from their last interaction that made her want to see him in person. Maybe because she'd like to see how different he was, apart from his nationality, from the other guys she had met. Jisoo had seen a little preview of Zhang Yixing from his speaking style at the conference, and she was expecting if there was anything else that would attract more of her attention⁠—besides that appealing dimple on his right cheek.

It's a good thing that they got to meet on Seorae. The restaurant was thankfully still within a reachable distance from the campus so she didn't have to spend too much time getting there. It's just one station away by subway and another ten minute's walk, and she enjoyed her short trip to the said famous restaurant in the city.

"Miss Kim Jisoo, glad to see you again." the receptionist greeted her with an eloquent familiarity. This was the thing about Seorae, as one of the oldest restaurants in Seoul, they were very loyal not only to their customer but also to their employees. The receptionist was a woman in her thirty went by the name Song Songhee, and she had been working there for years as long as she recalled. The woman was maybe in her early twenties when Jisoo stepped her feet here for the first time. Now she looked a bit older, and even though she hadn't been visiting for a long time, the woman still recognized her.

"Are you here with the family?" she asked again out of courtesy, to which Jisoo replied with a shake of her head.

"No, I'm meeting Zhang Yixing. I suppose you have a reservation under his name?"

A knowing smile bloomed on her face as she told her that the said person had arrived about fifteen minutes ago, which surprised her. Jisoo didn't think that the Yixing guy would be there early too when they were supposed to meet half an hour later. Since her mother said he was such a busy man, she expected that he would be late or something. Now that he was here already at a much earlier time, Jisoo couldn't help thinking if the guy just merely had nothing to do or if he was expecting this meeting as much as she did.

"Let me use the restroom first." she excused herself and followed the host to show her the way. She stood by the sink and watched her reflection in the mirror once she got in. She hoped Yixing wouldn't mind her lack of preparation for the meeting since it came rather at the last minute and she didn't get any time to go home and change her clothes with a more proper dress. She still wore her working outfits with a white shirt and dark beige dress pants, and at least it's still formally presentable.

She took off her coat and folded her long-sleeved shirt upward, then washed her hands. She then put on her lipstick and used the same lipstick on her cheek to put more color on it. She brushed her hair and let it loose to hide the lethargy on her face, and when she thought she was ready to go, she walked out of the restroom. The host waved her arm, showing her the way to their private dining room with the tatami floor, and her heartbeat racing rapidly when they reached the front of the room. A pair of shoes was already arranged on a shelf beside the door.

Jisoo took a deep breath and blew it out silently as the host shifted the door and invited her inside.

A man's back welcomed her in the open room of her vision. The first thing that had caught her attention as he had his suit jacket off and was on his white shirt and plaid dark gray vest, seemed quite busy talking to someone with his cellphone. But as he was aware of her arrival, he turned around and stretched his arm to let her sit. Yixing paused for a second when their eyes met, he awkwardly pointed his cellphone with his forefinger to ask for non-verbal permission to finish the call. Jisoo nodded her head twice as an affirmation before she sat down on one of the available cushions. Yixing turned his back on her, looked out of the window, and continued conversing in Mandarin.

"I'm sorry, it was the office," Yixing said as soon as he finished his call about a minute or two later.

"Shouldn't it be off office hour now?" she questioned casually, taking a glance at her watch at the same time.

"Uh, it's the Beijing office. We have an hour ahead at different times, so..." Yixing raised his brow to clarify her question and Jisoo just nodded with apprehension. It was supposed to be a rhetorical question, not that she was demanding any answer though. But Yixing seemed not to really get the joke idea, so she just let it slide.

He sat across her, and they took a moment of silence only to look at each other as if appreciating what sat in front of them respectively. The funny thing was, how they had this same expression as if they shared the same situation despite the different stories. Yixing looked exhausted, he was pale and was looking at her with eyes half-lidded and an eye bag under his eyes and Jisoo was sure even with the make-up on, she just looked identical. As if they realized this, they both burst into laughter. Jisoo didn't miss the mighty dimple making its appearance as Yixing dropped his head and pinched his brow for the irony.

"Rough day?" he asked as he looked up to meet her eyes again.

"You have no idea," Jisoo replied to him, she started chuckling to herself and Yixing mimicked her gesture.

"How many days haven't you been sleeping?" it's Jisoo's turn to ask.

"Um," Yixing scratched his head, "I did have some sleep, but it's just about two or three hours a day this week."

She had her jaw dropped hearing his answer, how could someone survive not having enough sleep for that long? Even Jisoo who slept all day last Sunday was still feeling so tired, she just couldn't understand how he did that. "You should've had more sleep," she commented in concern. No, she couldn't believe that she just pampered him with her concern when it was not actually her business. Was it even proper to tell him what to do?

But she did recall that Yixing had been looking tired at their first meeting, she watched him keep pinching his nose bridge and strive to open his eyes during her lecture she almost thought her lecture was too boring. But he looked worse today, if she hadn't known better she would probably have been worried the whole evening that Yixing would pass out anytime.

"I will, I will." he nodded. "It's just that, on the 30th of this month the company will launch our new premium jet fuel formula, and Air France will have the first fly with it. I just can't sleep, it's too important."

Jisoo was sympathetic to him. She didn't know this man that much, but with that call that he took when it was the off-working hour, and now this, she could see that he was a hard worker, more to that, a perfectionist one. And she had a mixed feeling about this, to be honest; on the one hand, she loved hard-working men because it showed their passion for what they liked. But at the same time, she saw this as something conflictual. Because if one day this relationship worked for them, somehow she could see this as one of the potential causes of their problems. She once read in a university journal that sleep deprivation might negatively affect one's mental abilities and emotional state. An individual might feel more impatient or prone to mood swings. It could also compromise decision-making processes and creativity.

Like, okay, she might be exaggerating right now, but imagine having a boyfriend with worse mood swings than a girl in her period. Her male cousin was always acting rash and terribly annoying when he was tired and drowsy, and this guy before her looked like that adamant ty