Daeon flutters her hand against her skirt and squeezes her bag straps around her fingers self consciously. She knows that she shouldn’t be here considering she and Chanyeol decided to meet up in the House of Coffee, but something within her urged her to leave for his hospital instead, the dismal feeling of being alone working badly inside of her. 

She glances around her at the white halls of the hospital and the dreary looking faces of doctors coming and go, her eyes flickering alongside their faces and their bodies, hoping to see Chanyeol come out from within them. They agreed to meet up in the House of Coffee close to her neighborhood in a way of starting their date after the horrendous accident with Jieun, and although she had agreed on the phone to meet him there, she found her legs taking her to his hospital instead, waiting for him here.

After Jieun woke up yesterday — she had left her in Chanyeol’s apartment instead of taking her home, and she went to her apartment alone — she received the call of her life. Jieun yelled at her for leaving her in the house of a stranger, no matter how handsome and welcoming the stranger had been. Feeling apologetic with her action, she drove all the way back to Chanyeol’s apartment to pick her up. This resulted in her and him exchanging phone numbers with shy grins, something that didn’t go unnoticed from Jieun’s calculating eyes. Chanyeol offered they go out together and grab a cup of coffee, and she instantly agreed and promised him a date in one of her favorite coffee shops. They agreed, through text messages, that they meet in front of coffee shop so that the both of them don’t have to come in separate cars, Chanyeol secretly hoping he can drive her home with his. 

Jieun asked about him, of course, and being the best friend that she is, she told her about him being one of her soulmates. Jieun’s squeal has been monstrous, and it still occasionally rung in between Daeon’s sensitive ears until now. She made her promise that she doesn’t tell her parents, not because of paranoia or the chance of heartbreak because her own parents weren’t soulmates; but because she wanted to tell them herself, and knowing Jieun, her methods of telling people news didn’t soothe hearts. Instead, it frazzled them. It’d be much better if she was the one who told them the news.

Right now, she’s standing in the main reception of Chanyeol’s office, waiting for him to exit so she can ‘surprise’ him, hoping that her appearance would gain approval rather than dismay. She looks down at herself and huffs, wondering if she looked as good as she hoped, because frankly, she didn’t feel like it at all. She’s wearing a long sleeved turtle neck because autumn is one cold when it wants to be. She topped it with faded blue skinny jeans and her favorite pair of black high heels. She brought her cardigan with her just in case she grows cold, although she doesn’t think so. Her turtle neck is enough. 

She’s startled out of her stupor when she sees Chanyeol’s long legs walking towards her, although he seems to be in a state of self-consciousness. He’s not looking at her but at his phone, and he’s wearing his white overcoat, which means he still hasn’t gotten ready for their date. His hair is dark and ruffled atop of his head, effortlessly y, even though it looks like he’s been running his fingers through it. Chanyeol raises his lazy eyes from his phone and he meets them with hers. Instantly, they widen, and he pockets his phone as he speed walks towards her.

“Daeon? How long have you been waiting for me?”

She ducks her head a little, unable to meet his eyes so long. She brushes her hair away from her face and gathers it around her soulmate mark against her neck, obscuring it more from view. When she looks at him again, he’s standing right across her, waiting for her reply. “Not much. I swear. I’ve been here for a few minutes and wanted to wait for your shift to end.”

“But I thought we agreed to meet up in The House of Coffee?” Chanyeol confusedly asks, now meeting his hands with his phone inside his overcoat’s pockets. “What changed your mind?”

She blushes a little, the hue of redness dyes across her cheeks like liquid blood. “I, well, I hate waiting alone.”

His eyes twinkle a little at her confession, amusement dancing in them. His lips curl a little. “Okay. I’ll go change out of my clothes and come get you. You can sit here instead of standing around. I might take a bit of time.” He points at the long bench right beside his office’s door. 

“Okay.” She agrees happily, walking towards the bench and sitting on it, watching at the same time as he disappears inside his office, all in his scrubs and doctor get up, looking a little too ethereal to be real. She breathes a steady stream of breaths in and out, regulating her massively beating heartbeats, finally feeling more than tamed in the absence of glorious Park Chanyeol. 

It takes him a few minutes to emerge out of his office, now wearing casual clothes and out of his scrubs. She stands upon seeing him, taking her bag from the chair beside her. Her eyes sparkle upon seeing him looking endlessly tall in his dark jeans and long sleeved sweater, resembling the color of her own turtle neck, as if they matched by purpose. He comes a few steps towards her until he’s standing in front of her, pocketing his phone again. Once he’s across her, she gets a whiff of his soft perfume seeping inside her nose, and she can’t help but take into her lungs more of his masculine yet gentle scent. 

“You smell nice.” She blurts out, her cheeks going extra rosy upon the look he shoots her at such declaration. 

Chanyeol smiles delicately. “Thank you. You smell nice, too. Are you wearing perfume?”

Her cheeks redden and she feels blood pooling there, but she finds herself cheekily saying. “Is that something you’d ask your date about?”

He looks a bit shy himself as he scratches against the back of his neck, his big ears positively coated in rosy redness. “You’re right. I’m very tactless. It’s just, this is the first time for me ever since I became a doctor to really go on a date.”

She looks almost happy at the declaration, her eyes flaring with a light only Park Chanyeol and his cute words can bring her. “Really? So.. I’m the first one?”

He reaches over and takes one of her hands, intertwining their fingers and squeezing them in his. His hand is bigger than hers, and upon close up notice, it looks as if it’s entirely engulfing hers. The beats of her heart start to increase massively quick. “I’m a bit of a traditional guy,” Chanyeol confesses sheepishly. “I have this wait for my soulmate kind of mentality. I remember my parents getting so frustrated due to all the declined blind dates they set me up for, which is why I have no experience whatsoever.”

Daeon knows that she’s looking at him fondly, with her eyes looking all gooey and foolishly optimistic, resembling a jar of honey seeping past the bottle. Her hand in his squeezes, and she gets a little closer to him, until her shoulder blade touches his. Whether he notices or not, he doesn’t mention anything about it, and continues to talk. 

“It didn’t matter to me; dating and romance. I only really wanted to meet you as soon as possible and actually invest in something real and everlasting.” He looks over at her, his eyes widely sincere and soft; almost vulnerable. “You understand, right?”

She nods, knowing that in the midst of his look he wishes that she’s feeling the same. “Yeah, I’ve been in the same boat. All I ever cared about was you, my soulmates, and what kind of life we’ll spend together. That’s all I could think about. It drove my Mom crazy. She and Dad aren’t soulmates and so she believes that happiness can be found elsewhere aside with your soulmates. She had so many friends because of all of her club houses that she’s in, and that meant a whole bunch of potential sons to set me up with.” She scrunches her face and Chanyeol has an urge to reach over and squeeze her puffed cheeks. “It was horrible. I couldn’t outrightly decline them because waiting for my soulmates didn’t play as enough of a reason for my Mom, so I had to attend them—“ she doesn’t miss Chanyeol’s shoulders stiffening. “— but I made sure they all go to ruins just to spite her. She got so angry.” She laughs. “Good memories.”

“So you have somewhat of an experience when it comes to dating?” Chanyeol’s face morphs into panic quite clearly and she catches on to it. “I hope I don’t end up being a lousy one because I have zero experience myself.”

“Don’t worry about it,” She squeezes his hand in hers, hoping that what she said could be felt through her actions. What she’s about to say felt braver than the stage they are in so she blushes a little, “It’s not about the date, rather about who you’re with. I’m sure we’ll enjoy this as long as we’re together. Hmm?”

Chanyeol looks down at her in amazement. “You’re right.”

They walk out of the hospital and Chanyeol asks her if she came to him through her car. When she says that she came through