Chapter 16

Onew checked his watch again and tugged on his collar.  Key had spent the whole day running about finding Onew a new outfit for his date with Lex. 

“She’s already seen everything in your wardrobe – you need something new!” The rapper had insisted before pulling Onew out of the apartment for a marathon shopping session.  In the end the singer had just gone with whatever Key had said, too tired and confused to really argue.

Onew fidgeted at the elevator dinged open and he stepped out onto Lex’s floor.

He pulled on the cuffs of his new grey sports coat, before pushing the buzzer. 

“Hang on!” he heard Lex call from within the apartment.

There was some light thudding and the door popped open. 

Lex smiled around the edge of the door, curls bouncing lightly.  “Come on in, I’m still getting ready.  The show kept us over 2 hours late.”

Onew slipped off his shoes as Lex walked away back down the hallway, hands cupped up to her right ear as she slipped an earring in.

“Help yourself to something to drink; I’ll be ready in five minutes.”  She waved her hands absentmindedly towards the kitchen and Onew took a deep breath.  He poured himself a glass of water and sat himself down on the black leather couch in Lex’s living room. 

He looked around the room and was as amazed as he always was at how neat it was.  Lex was just an inherently tidy person.  Everything was in its place. 

A book lay on the coffee table in front of Onew.  He picked it up; it was the first Harry Potter book.  The singer snorted.  Lex would be reading books written for children.  The copy was well-thumbed, and looked like she had read it many times. 

“No jokes,” Onew heard from his side. 

He turned and saw Lex and smiled.  She had fixed her hair into a partial up-do.  Some wisps remained around her face, but much of her hair was pulled back into a mess of curls at the crown of her head.  A pair of silver earrings hung low from her ears, three interlocked loops with the biggest one near the lobe and the smallest pointing down towards her shoulders.

A silver necklace lay around her neck, a small chain with a black circle pendant that sat between her collarbones. 

She really wasn’t a jewelry person so that was already a shock for Onew.  But the biggest shock was the dress that she was wearing.  Onew couldn’t remember ever seeing her in a dress of her own volition.  It was a little black number.  It had a wide neck-line that ruffled with over-lapping fabric at the top.  The dress then clung, almost sinfully to her torso until it reached her waist where it flared out gently until it came to a stop about an inch above her knees.

In one hand she had a small black clutch purse with a small silver clasp.  In the other she held a pair of black kitten-heeled shoes that Onew could tell would strap around her ankle. 

Lex cleared and Onew realized that he had been staring shamelessly.  “Um…are you ready to go?” she asked in an uncharacteristically timid way. 

“Ye-yeah!” Onew jumped to his feet.  He took her in again, smirking a little as the blush started to spread over her cheeks.  “You look…beautiful…” he whispered, almost reverently.  “You’re just…” but Onew couldn’t find the words.

“Well…yeah.”  Lex scuffed her toes lightly against the floor and Onew noticed that she had gotten her toe nails done and her fingers too.  “It’s our first real date in a while.”  She wasn’t meeting Onew’s eyes and instead stared intensely at the lamp just to his right.  “Not contrived for the show or us meeting up in stairwells of production company buildings or hanging out at each other’s placed.  But an honest to God date…”

Suddenly Onew realized why Key had been so insistent that Onew take this seriously, and why he had spent so much time making sure that Onew was presentable tonight.  Key had understood how Lex would view this so much better than Onew had and he was suddenly inherently grateful that the rapper had stuck his nose in. 

“Well, I feel lucky that I get to have you on my arm tonight,” Onew said softly, leaning down for a quick kiss, not even minding that slightly sticky feeling of her lip gloss.  She really had gone all-out for him tonight and Onew felt honored.  She wouldn’t be doing this for just anyone, and he was happy that she deemed him worthy of that effort. 

He stepped back and placed his hands on Lex’s shoulders, watching her eyes re-open slowly after their kiss. 

“We should go, I made reservations…”

Her eyebrows shot up, “Really?” and when Onew nodded she continued with, “Well, I’m looking forward to tonight.”

“Me too…” and Onew laced their fingers together and they headed out of the apartment. 

*****

Lex looked around the restaurant and gave Onew an impressed smile. 

It was a small little Italian restaurant in Seoul.  It was a place that foreigners tended to frequent, but there was little chance of seeing members of the Korean media.

They were sat down at a small table in the corner of the restaurant.  The table had a beautiful white tablecloth with delicate gold embroidery on the edges. A pair of tall candlesticks stood in the middle of the table and the hostess lit them, creating a gentle ambiance before handing them menus to look over. 

The walls were covered in frescos and gentle instrumental music played from speakers hidden somewhere out of view. 

“This place is great.” She said, giving one last look around before focusing on her menu.

“I’m glad you approve.”  Was all Onew could say, but inside he was doing a little happy dance that Lex was enjoying the night so far.  His biggest fear was that he was going to screw this up royally, so anything going his way tonight would make him a very happy camper. 

They enjoyed a dinner of rich pasta and portions so big they couldn’t hope to finish.

“I don’t care if it’s tacky; we’re taking the leftovers with us.”  Lex said as she put her fork down.

Onew nodded in agreement, “That’s way too good to let go to waste.”

Afterwards, Onew drove them over to a small park on the edge of the Han River that ran through Seoul.  He knew that if they went anywhere with real attractions, they would be spotted in an instant, but at night, this place would be mostly deserted, especially as the weather was starting to turn chill as fall was finally settling in for the long haul. 

As a slight shiver starting to make her tremble, Onew took off his jacket and placed it around Lex’s shoulders to keep her warm.  She smiled and blushed, ducking her head momentarily before glancing up at him with a smile and a shy, “Thanks.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, wrapping his arm around her then and pulling her close as they walked around the path that led up to the river’s edge. 

They talked idly about anything and everything, but when they reached the edge of the water Lex gasped.  They looked up at a bridge that spanned the mighty waterway.  It was lit up in the night sky, looking likes thousands of twinkling stars as it reflected off of the water.  Onew’s manager had told him about this place and Onew knew that Lex would love it.  She loved finding the beauty in things that are normally mundane, and it was harder to get more mundane than an old rusty bridge. 

“Wow…” she breathed slowly.  “That’s something you don’t see every day…”

Onew led them over to one of the many benches lining the water and sat them down, still facing the wondrous bridge. 

Onew started fidgeting again and even Lex could notice his sudden nervousness.

“Are you alright Jinki?” she asked lightly.  “If you’re cold we can head back to the car…”

“No,” Onew said quickly, biting his lip, “but, I…uh…I have something for you…”

His hand clenched around a small box that had sat like a weight in his pocket the entire night. 

He pulled it out and turned to fully face Lex, with the small box resting on one out-stretched hand.

It was a ring box.

Onew snapped it open to reveal two identical rings.

Couple rings.

They looked identical to the ones that they had been using on the show, the ones that sat around their fingers at this exact moment. 

Onew held up his hand and looked at the ring, “This was given to us by someone else, to mark something that has been made up and manufactured by them.”  He pointed down at the box in his hand, “These are for us, to mark what we have created ourselves.”

He slid out the smaller ring and he held it up, placing the box on the bench between them.  He tilted the ring to catch the light of the bridge and let Lex see the engraving on the inside.  “For my love.”  Was written in elegant script on the inside of the band.  “No one will know but us, that we’ve turned their mockery into something real.”

Lex pushed her lips together, glancing between Onew’s face and the small silver ring in his hand.  “It’s wonderful Jinki…” she whispered.  She slid off the show’s ring.  It looked like real silver but was really just thick plastic with metallic paint that the show had made dozens of loss or anything else. 

Onew grabbed her hand and slid the ring home.  The rings that Onew bought were real silver, a study and steady representation of what they had.  Lex reached down and grabbed the other ring out of the box on the bench. 

Onew smiled and slipped off his faux ring and let Lex slip the real ring on. 

Lex admired the rings for a moment, holding their two hands next to each other to see them both glinting in the light thrown off from the bridge. 

“Is it bad that I am really excited that we’re kind of thumbing our noses at the show by doing this under their nose…?” she asked sardonically. 

Onew smiled, “No, I think I love the fact that we’re doing it…”

He caught her eyes and they both leaned forward, capturing the moment in a sweet little kiss.  Onew tucked one hand into her hair, rolling her curls around his fingers as he shifted slightly and wound up bonking their noses into each other.

Lex backed up with a small giggle.  “Only we could manage to be clumsy in kissing…” she said a laughing twinkle in her eyes. 

Onew just shook his head, grabbing up Lex’s hand with the ring and kissing that little piece of metal while his eyes bore into his girlfriend’s. 

“Alright,” Onew said sadly, getting to his feet, “we should probably be heading back now, it’s getting late.”

Jinki drove Lex home and walked her to her door.

“Tonight was brilliant,” she sighed happily, “best date I ever had.”

“Really?”  Onew asked, genuinely curious.

“Yup,” she nodded, “I think it was the company…”

And they shared another kiss before Lex disappeared into her apartment and Onew practically floated back to the car. 

Note: This is the dress that she's wearing.  I'm not so good at explaining clothing so I thought that the picture could clarify.