Jenny decided to spend the rest of her Sunday afternoon relaxing in her apartment.  She opened her windows to let the faint summer breeze in then settled on her couch to read.  She was so engrossed with her book that when her cell phone rang, it startled her.  She took a quick look outside to see that the sun had set.  She glances at her phone to see who was calling.  Hoya. 

“Good evening Jenny.  I hope I'm not interrupting.”

Jenny could hear Dongwoo screaming 'Hi Jenny!' on the other end of the phone line.  “Hi Hoya.  Tell Dongwoo I said 'Hi' too.”

Hoya relayed her message to his friend before continuing with the conversation.  “Dongwoo wants me to say that Jihyo liked the flowers he got her, just like you said.”

“Tell him he deserves all the credit, that he did a good job of picking them in the first place.”

Hoya once again relayed the message back to his friend.  He was quickly getting tired of playing messenger.  “Listen Jenny, I'm gonna hang up, but I'll call you right back.  Ok?”

Jenny found the request a little bit odd, but agreed. When her phone rang again a few minutes later, she knew who to expect. 

“Hello again.”

“Hi again.” he responded.  “Sorry about having to hang up on you like that.  I moved to my room.  If I hadn't, I would have been relaying Dongwoo's messages to you all night.”   Jenny laughed.  He continued.  “I meant to call you after my game on Saturday, but I pretty much passed out after I got home.”

“That's OK.  You had a rough game.”

“You watched it?”

“I did.”

“Did you enjoy watching us getting our butts handed to us on a silver platter?
 

“I don’t think it was that bad.”  Jenny thought back to the final score. 4-0.  “Okay, I lied.  Like I said, it was rough.”

“I knew I could count on you to be honest.”  He quickly changed subjects.  “I had a good time on Friday.”

“I did too.  Can I be honest?” Jenny took a breath before continuing.  “I was really worried about the idea of having the first date over at your house, but I’m glad it turned out well.”

“Why were you worried?” Hoya asked, genuinely confused.

Jenny didn’t know exactly how to word what had her concerned.  “Well...You’re a man and an invitation over to a man’s house...”

Hoya listened carefully.  He didn’t need her to finish what she was saying to get the picture.  “Oh!”  He paused, suddenly embarrassed.  “I’m sorry.  I never thought about that.” He chuckled.  Now, Jenny was embarrassed by her own declaration as well.  She might as well have said outright that her brain went to that place even before their first date took place.

“Anyways...I’m sorry this conversation is taking such a weird turn.”

Hoya was struggling to keep his laughter in.  This conversation was giving him plenty of material to tease Jenny with, someday.  He was choosing to be the good guy for now.  “That’s OK.  I must admit, I like seeing you kind of being not so cool and composed.”

Jenny faked a dramatic sigh.  “There goes the image I was trying so hard to keep intact.”

Hoya couldn’t contain his laughter this time.  Funny was another thing he added to the quickly growing list of things he liked about Jenny.  “Must have been hard.”

“Yeah, ‘cause working at a bookstore just screams ‘I’m cool’.”

Hoya let out another laugh.  “Dating someone ‘cool’ might help boost that image...”

“Good idea.  I met a few famous soccer players at work recently.  Wonder if any of them are single...”

“Hmmm...I think I might know someone you’d like.”

“Oh yeah?  What’s he like?”

“He’s...incredibly handsome.  Funny.  Good cook.”

“Oooh.  Sounds like he could be good candidate.  Can you give me his number?”

“I can put him on the line right now if you’d like.  Wait a sec.”  Hoya cleared his throat.  “Hello.” He said again, this time in a tone lower than his usual.

When Jenny heard what Hoya had done with his voice, she laughed.  “Good one.” Her laughter started again, louder this time around.

On the other line, Hoya smiled.  He loved hearing the sound of her laughter.  To know that he was the one that made her laugh made him ridiculously happy.  “On that note, do you agree with my assessment of myself?”

“The jury’s still out.  One good meal doesn’t make you a good cook.  For now, I think you’re mildly funny and as for the handsome part...I guess you do OK for yourself.”

Hoya didn’t know whether to be offended or to laugh at what Jenny had just said.  “So in conclusion...We should keep seeing each other so that you’ll be able to make an accurate assessment of me.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“So...When are you free?”

Jenny thought at the workload she had this week.  “This week might be hard.  How about next week?”

“Next week we start another road trip.”

“Right...”  Jenny was torn.  She knew she had a lot on her plate this week, but she also couldn’t didn’t want to have to wait that long to see Hoya again.  “Tell you what.  I might be able to squeeze in a movie or something this week, if you’re up to it.”  Now that the words were out, she realized how ridiculous she sounded.  He was the famous athlete.  Wasn’t he the one who was supposed to be always busy?

“I’d like that.  How does Wednesday sound?”

“Sounds good.”

“Good.  I’ll pick you up at your house then we can decide where to go and what to watch.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Okay...I guess I’ll see you Wednesday then.”

“See you then.  Good night.”

“Good night.”

Jenny hung up first, a smile on her face.  Hoya, in his room, started to count down the hours until he would get to see Jenny again.

Sorry about the delay in updates!  I had the first parts written and then well, I had a rough month of November and then it was hard to find inspiration.  But December's here, so I'm declaring a clean slate for myself.  Enjoy the chapter!