Three days passed and Wednesday came in a flash. I’ve been on plenty of dates, dates that were downright boring and excruciating I had to actually ask Youngbae to save me in the middle of it to dates where I ended up in the other party’s bed. But never been on one where I had to rummage my closet for something that was picnic-worthy.

A ing picnic.

Heejin decided two days ago that we went for a picnic at a nearby park today, and she voluntarily chose to settle on the food and everything one basically needs for a picnic while I “come looking pretty, yeah?”, as quoted in her text. After exchanging three sets of clothes, I finally settled on a pair of brown chinos and a blue gingham shirt. If this didn’t scream picnic, I don’t know what else would.

The weather was tolerable today. In fact, it was actually quite pleasant and again, it was as though lady luck was on my side. The time on my watch told me I still had 20 minutes to kill so I decided to drop by the florist and get her some flowers because for some unknown reason, girls seem to like them a lot. At least the ones I dated did. I wasn’t trying to impress Heejin, I knew she liked me. I guess I just wanted her to get the impression that the feeling was mutual. I spent a good 10 minutes deciding on what flowers to buy. It has always been roses but there was something different about Heejin so I got her a couple of lilies – pink and white.

I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t see her at the park. Of course she would be late. They have never been punctual, and I never seem to learn my lesson. I spent a few minutes watching other people, some were running and probably hoping to shed some calories, whereas some chose to sit under a shade reading their favourite book. 15 minutes into resting on this lonely bench, I took tiny sips of my macchiato and texted Heejin on my whereabouts.

30 minutes. No sign of her.

45 minutes. No reply.

60 minutes. What the .

1 hour and 15 minutes. No, I should just wait a while more.

1 hour and 30 minutes. this, I’m going home.

No girl has ever stood me up like this. Why would they when they get to go on a date with me? They would kill for this opportunity and Heejin… Heejin… AGH. . Almost two hours. She didn’t even have the decency to return my calls.  I dumped the flowers in the bin and never in my life have I felt so stupid.

Of course she’s not like the rest of the girls. She is worse. This chase was harder than I initially thought.

HeeJin’s POV

“Stop… calling… me…” I groggily mumbled in between the obnoxious vibrations I felt underneath my arm. I was this close to throwing my phone across the room but I was already almost awake at this point. I woke up with a throbbing head and to think that I didn’t even drink that much last night. The vibrations on my phone had subsided but it was flooded with notifications.

9 missed calls and 5 text messages.

02:15 PM

From: Seunghyun

i’m already here :)

02:38 PM

From: Seunghyun

heejin?

02:52 PM

From: Seunghyun

i hope you didn’t read it as 2am?

03:27 PM

From: Seunghyun

call me when you get my texts

05:40 PM

From: Jae

Do you ever miss me? Let’s have dinner at that Chinese restaurant you took me the other time? I’m not taking no as an answer. 8pm, see you!

. I glanced over at the clock on my bedside table. 20 minutes past six. . Seunghyun. Picnic. 2pm. . What even happened last night that made me unconscious for this long? I was surprised I didn’t die in my sleep. Call me when you get my texts. What was I supposed to say? Apologize and? I stared at the text for the next ten minutes and suddenly I felt really nervous.

I do date around a lot. I admitted that already. But I have never not showed up on these dates. I always made a point to turn up. If I don’t like them, I’ll stop seeing them. If I do, I’ll continue. At least until I get bored. And right now, Seunghyun’s probably thinking that I’ve the least interest in him and that will just ruin whatever plans I have made.

I really just wanted to curl up in bed and continue feeling horrible. But Jae had already made plans with me, much to my dismay. Still with the agonizing headache, I replied her text, “Sure, 8pm!”

It was 30 minutes to nine when I stepped into Jackies.

“I said 8pm, Heejin!” She stood up from her seat and offered me a hug.

“Yeah, nice to see you too, cousin. I’m doing really good.” She gave me a light punch on the arm after sensing the sarcasm in my tone. “Oh hey, Jiyong.”

“Sorry, he insisted that he came as well because he didn’t want to be home alone.” She sheepishly said, as though guilty for stealing from a candy store.

“So who’s the third wheel now? Me or him?” I jokingly questioned which resulted a shade of bright red on her cheeks.

“Ha, ha. Very funny. Nobody’s a third wheel because I called up the rest of the boys here as well. They should be here soon.” I nearly choked on my water upon hearing Jiyong’s reply.

“…you what?”

Of course that was when the four boys decided to step into the restaurant. I tried avoiding making eye contact with their entrance but I obviously failed because the next thing I knew, Seunghyun’s eyes were locked into mine and his mouth curled into a small frown.

“Ooh, speak of the devil.” Shut up, Jiyong. “Okay great everybody’s here. Shall we order?”

Oh God.