chapter;two

Its twenty minutes later that Hyoyeon is already pulling into the drive way of La Sua Tenerezza, both hands clenched around the steering wheel in an iron grip. She whispers random encouragements under her breath, doing her best to try and convince herself that she wasn’t nervous. She clears .

My god, I’ve never even heard of this place.

Of course, though, maybe that made more sense than anything else at the moment, considering she’d been single for the past three years and didn’t have a rich boyfriend to take her out to fancy Italian restaurants. The sudden thought of her date being loaded did nothing to comfort her—she was always awkward around wealthy people, their overwhelming aura's. She couldn’t even begin to imagine having to sit across from a pompous rich man for the next two hours.

“Just breathe, Hyoyeon.”

She bites into her lower lip anxiously, deep brown eyes fluttering around to find an available parking spot. From the looks of it, the restaurant seemed to be the hot spot in Seoul tonight—there was only one open space left for her.

It was incredibly intimidating, considering the extremely expensive black sports car parked just to the right. And the seemingly attractive man standing right next to it.

“Oh, come on. You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Hyoyeon mutters under her breath, just purely hoping that her luck wasn’t bad enough to end up hitting the expensive car—or the man. He seemed expensive too, considering the perfectly coifed suit, the billion-dollar tousled hair—for god’s sake, what did he think this was? A photo shoot for GQ?

As she carefully pulls into the parking space, her restless eyes can’t help but check her reflection in her rearview mirror. She smoothes down her hair hastily, almost wishing the mysterious man leaning on his car door would just disappear long enough for her to have a mental breakdown in her own precious privacy. But she didn’t want to look weird.

Trying not to seem too self-conscious, Hyoyeon clears with all the bravado she could muster up in the last minute. She dreaded the thought of having to step out. The space between their cars was so tight that she would’ve had to put extra effort into not smacking the stranger with her door.

Well goddamn, if he’s just going to stand there maybe he deserves it!

Hyoyeon ignores her own ridiculous thoughts, hooking her purse over her shoulder. She cracks open her car door cautiously, trying to slide out as gracefully as possible. She avoids the stranger’s gaze, eyes directed at the ground as she awkwardly edges out of the narrow space. The only sound in the parking lot is the tentative clicking of her high heels on the pavement.

“Excuse me, miss.”

Her heart can’t help but skip a beat she suddenly feels a hand firmly wrapped around her wrist. The hand is larger, rougher. Warm. Hyoyeon swallows, slowly turning to look back at the man from before. The moment she locks eyes with him, falls open slightly. She forgot what she was going to say.

He had deep, single-lidded eyes. His features were sharp, and exotic. But his eyes. His eyes were so dark, so strikingly penetrating. She felt as if he was staring straight through her soul.

The inside of her stomach felt fuzzy, hazy with confusion. There was an almost electrifying tingle spreading over the whole surface of her smooth skin, vibrating all throughout the tips of her fingers. There’s an onslaught of goose bumps raised on the back of her neck, numbing her into a drunken-like stupor. She has butterflies in the pit of her stomach. The feeling wasn’t painful, nor frightening, but only mystifying; a notion so abstruse that she couldn’t think straight, see straight. There was only him—this incredibly vague, charming stranger she’d little as known for less than a mere minute.

The single word that left her lips sounded almost shaky.

“…Yes?”

He did not answer at first, only letting the small whisper hang in the air above their heads. He was intrigued, beguiled by this beautiful woman. His eyes were searching her own with such burning fervency, so much that it enlightened her to wonder, Did he feel what I just felt? Could he have felt the same thing? She did not know any better to assume that he was no more taken with her than she with him, did not know that he was enraptured by her mere appearance, the fall of her blonde curls, the depth of her almond shaped eyes.

He refused to release her wrist.

“Are you Kim Hyoyeon?”

She could only manage a breathless nod.

“Y-Yes. Are you…?”

“Lee Hyukjae. I’m your date for the evening.”

His hand slides from her wrist to clasp her hand delicately. Her eyes widen when she sees him bring their joined fingers to his lips, and he plants a scorching kiss on the back of her hand. His dark eyes were locked with hers. She swallowed.

“…How did you know?”

Hyoyeon can feel the blush creeping on to her cheeks slowly. She feels dizzy, so drunk with his ambience, just so dizzy. There’s a hint of a small smirk curving into his lips, and he tilts his head at her, ever-so-slightly.

“They told me to look for the most beautiful woman in the parking lot.”

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