Chapter Forty Two – Black Pearl

One month later,

The guy who seemed fidgety at his seat, kept on eyeing his yet-to-know blind date partner who had yet to come. It had been almost half an hour, though.

If his friend, Taemin, hadn’t forced him to run into this whole absurd blind date scheme, he wouldn’t have bothered himself going here. It was not like he didn’t yearn for a girlfriend, but he had yet to find a girl who suited him well. He was already at the apt age who should already date. He was 25 years old, for God’s sake.

Prior to the impending blind date that Taemin and his girlfriend, Naeun, had arranged, they only provided him two days to make up his mind whether to agree to this meeting or not. The girl, on the other hand, had already given her agreement in the first place. She seemed ready to meet eye to eye with him.

Eventually when the countdown came to an end, he agreed to join the blind date (half-agreed and half-reluctant, though). The arrangement was made, the date and location were perfectly set. Thus, he became restless when the big had finally arrived.

“Hello,” enunciated the subtle voice. He jerked his head as soon as the voice struck his ears. Oh God, she had come!

“Err, hello,” he greeted softly as he rashly stood up, though not-so perfectly fine. There was a tinge of nerves mashed together in his voice. His restless gaze met the girl’s.

“Y-you’re Jung Eunji, right?” he questioned whilst looking at the girl. Though she was not categorized as beautiful because she was more into the cutesy type, she looked so lovely in his rose-pink short dress. In short, he was totally mesmerized the moment he laid his gaze on her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, really.

Gingerly, she took a seat in front of him upon his courteous gesture. “Yes, I’m Jung Eunji.” She gave him a big, gummy smile before she continued, “and you’re Kim Kibum, right?”

Kibum nodded. “That’s exactly my name.” He let out a giggle and so did Eunji.

The greeting had to put on hold upon the waitress’s presence. Kibum, who acted like a gentlemen, did the order according to the latter’s taste.

The atmosphere turned slightly on edge and awkward since both of them were bashful with each other. They were still timid to bring in a conversation.

At last, Eunji was brave enough to throw him a simple question. “How old are you, Kibum-ssi?”

“Taemin-ah or Naeun-ah didn’t tell you beforehand?”

“Nope, they didn’t,” she answered with a light shake. “So how old are you?”

“I’m 25,” Kibum said a reply, “you?”

“30 minus 7.”

“23, eh?” Kibum beamed her a smile and the younger nodded in approval.

“Eunji-ssi, to tell you the truth… I’m not really into this blind date stuffs but when Taemin-ah seemed so enthusiastic to arrange me one, I gave in.”

“Why you had to give in?” Eunji merely quirked an eyebrow, seemingly dubious.

“Because he really wanted to find me a girlfriend since I never had one.” He chuckled lightly.

“Oh, you never had one?” Her jaw dropped in astonishment. When the latter nodded in agreement, she became even more astonished. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he replied in a joking tone. “Tell me what do I get in return if I lie to you, Eunji-ssi?”

“But you seem different, Kibum-ssi,” Eunji interjected convincingly. “I mean, the way you treated me, it seems like you’ve had a lot of girlfriends.”

He burst into big laughter. “I’m not, really.” He peered into her eyes deeply as though he was sending her his certainty.

“Fine, I believe you.” The moment when the younger conceded defeat, Kibum smiled in satisfaction.

“What about you? Have you had one?” Kibum sipped his fresh orange who had just arrived.

“Uhm, I had one but we just recently broke up.”

Seeing her evidently tone of gloom, he opted not to ask further. Who was he to invade her privacy on the first meeting?

Eunji’s mood seemed to have descended in an instant when the elder mentioned about her past flame. It was not like she didn’t want to touch about her past boyfriend, but she would feel an upsurge of misery whenever she contemplated him.

When she said she missed Kyungsoo so badly, she really meant it. It had been a month since they last met (though Kyungsoo had never said they need a break-up). No words could express how much she missed the latter. She missed his husky voice, big smile, pair of wide eyes, soothing voice when he sang a sung and whatnot.

Kyungsoo had been trying to talk to her through meeting, calls and text messages but she literally ignored him to the extent she changed her phone number, moved in to another apartment and even stopped working at her former workplace. She didn’t want to meet him till she died. She didn’t want to disturb him and Kai. They should have been together if she didn’t interfere their relationship.

Thinking about Kyungsoo really made her feel lovesick but she contained herself. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t been hospitalized in a mental hospital at once.

No more Do Kyungsoo as for now. Everything sugar-coated about him had completely vanished from her heart. Now, she needed a replacement and when Naeun offered her a blind date, she instantly said yes.

She shall not look back to the past because it will only give her misery. That was why people tended to say; past meant nothing. The one we should cherish was the future. She'd never get back to the past by hook or by crook.

“Eunji-ssi, are you okay?”

She met his eyes, trying to send him her meaningful gaze. “Yes, I’m okay. I just got distracted for a moment. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t really mind.” The elder grinned.

When their food had already arrived, they devoured them in such manners and continued to talk about things they were curious about each other.

“Kibum-ssi-” Eunji was about to complete her sentence but was rashly chimed in by the elder.

“Since you’re younger than me, why don’t you just call me ‘oppa’? It seems more informal and comfortable, right? And I will call you ‘Eunji-ah’.”

She nodded happily, smiling. “Alright then, oppa.”

The words, ‘oppa’ literally made him cringe. It was because he really favored her tone when she uttered the words. It seemed natural and ear-pleasing. Some girl inclined to be more adorable but Eunji wasn’t at all. She seemed very natural and he was really pleased of her genuine character.

“Oppa, what kind of girls do you like?”

“I like decadent girls,” were enough to make the younger catch off guard.

Eunji let out a giggle in amusement. His answer was really hilariously absurd. “Your preference is weird, oppa!”

“I know right.” He cracked up upon his own answer. “For instance, I like people who can drink well.”

“Oh, I can drink well.” Eunji nodded in her own perception.

“Ah, really?” He erupted into yet another laughter. He never thought Eunji would tolerate to alcohol well. “We match well, Eunji-ah.” To be honest, he would definitely become talkative whenever he talked about common interests with someone who suited him.

“I really like drinking,” she added vigorously.

“People will change when they drink, right?”

“Yes, oppa!” She nodded. “They’d instantly become their own self. Those who are faking themselves, they would eventually burst out their true character.”

“Ah, that’s right!” he answered rapidly. “We really match well, Eunji-ah!”

Much to her surprise, Eunji nodded in agreement. She couldn’t help but feel slightly more comfortable being with the elder. She really favored guys who had similar interests like her.

***

 “Kibum oppa, do you like girls who are easy-going and sometimes act like guys?” Eunji queried, munching her spaghetti well.

“Sort of,” he reacted with a laugh.

 “Why do you like girls like that, oppa?” She rolled her eyes in inquisitiveness. “Guys who like such girls are rare. I wonder why…”

“For your information, I like girls who are like my friends. I’d be comfortable being with them. I really, really detest girls who have masquerade behind themselves. Those girls are such conwomen.” Kibum had always been frank about his ideal type. On top of that, he didn’t like such clingy girls.

“And I don’t like girls who are too girly,” he adjoined.

“You’re right, oppa.” Eunji gave him a nod and started looking at her clothes. “Actually I absolutely don’t wear this kind of dress if not for this blind date. I feel suffocated. I’d rather wear casual clothes.”

Kibum let out a cackle. “I don’t expect you’d tell me that.”

“I’m frank about these sort of things, for your information,” she said. “Look at Naeun-ah, she’s so girly, right?”

“Ah, you’re right! Taemin-ah finds feminine girls are cute.” He sipped his apple juice. “But not me.”

“We really match well, oppa!” Eunji burst out in surprise.

Kibum shot her a smug smile. “I know right.”

After the dining session