twenty-seven
jiae wiped her sweaty hands against her thermal leggings. she'd been standing outside of the cafe for a few minutes, allowing the cold air to cool her down after receiving a text from haechan that he'd arrived.
she couldn't go inside, and she didn't know why. well, that isn't exactly true—she was afraid that she wasn't what he expected her to be.
despite briefly speaking to each other over face time, meeting someone in the flesh was completely different. jiae remember how nervous she'd been when she first met yuxi and miles after befriending them online, but this felt different.
peering through one of the cafe windows, she could faintly make a figure out in the back of the shop. he was covered up well so it was impossible to tell if that was him without going in.
jiae took a breath and reached for the knob, her focus still locked on the dark figure inside.
"what are we looking at, exactly?"
the girl nearly jumped out of her skin, spinning fast to find a boy hovering rather close to follow her gaze inside the shop. he flinched back in surprise, wide eyed mimicking hers.
at first, jiae couldn't recognize the boy in his disguise and contemplated between screaming and attacking. the longer she analyzed his appearance, the less tense her shoulders became, and soon she nearly fell to the floor in relief.
"are you trying to kill me?!"
haechan looked shock at her outburst. "me? you look like you're about to beat me up!"
"i thought that was you!" jiae exclaimed as she pointed at the figure through the window. he turned his head to the side, perhaps to order something else, and they both saw the long beard that covered nearly half his face. jiae blinked between the man and the idol looking at her with an unimpressed expression. "... he didn't have that when i saw him."
haechan let out a sound that mixed between a scoff and a laugh. "so he just miraculously grew a beard in the two minutes we've been out here?"
"yes."
the boy paused for a moment before closing his eyes and shrugging. "fair."
a silence drifted between them, and jiae suddenly let the situation sink in. she was outside. in public. with an idol she was meeting for the first time.
picking up on her quietness, haechan reached past her for the knob and pulled until the door was cracked open. "still want to accidentally sit at the same table? or do you want to go somewhere else?"
taking a long, silent breath, jiae carefully pushed the door closed and stepped away so that she was no longer able to feel the warmth of his arm beside her. "somewhere else. i'm kind of craving convenience store ramen."
she couldn't see his mouth through his black mask, but jiae could tell by the gentle crinkle beside his eyes that he was smiling. then, his said dark, pretty eyes sparkled with what appeared to be mischief. "lucky for us, i happen to know a super secret place myself."
—
the two sat in the back of the store with steaming bowls of ramen in front of them, eating in silence. apparently, haechan's cousin owned this shop and kept an area relatively closed off so that idols could come and eat privately.
placing her sticks down, jiae balanced her chin against her palm as she eyed the boy in front of her. "you're actually haechan, right? not his sister in a wig?"
the boy nearly choked on his food at her sudden and rather strange comment, causing jiae to sit upright in panic. "sorry! bad time to joke." jiae waited to move until she was sure he was okay.
for some reason, she wasn't expecting to see a smile on his face. "that was super lame," he said with a small laugh. jiae's cheeks burned and she looked away, hiding her own growing smile behind her hand.
"she likes you, by the way." he said suddenly, focus on his food as jiae felt her entire being freeze. she? as in...
"hm?" the girl said, trying to sound as calm as possible.
haechan's hand stilled as it was about to reach his mouth, and jiae could see a pink tint dust his nose and cheeks. clearing his throat, haechan carefully placed his chopsticks back into his bowl and looked everywhere but her eyes. "i mean... okay, so it's not every day i accidentally dm fans."
jiae raised an unconvinced brow. "uh-huh. like how we accidentally ran into each other earlier?"
"seriously! i'd been asking hyeyeong and soyi to add me to your chat for weeks, and when they kept refusing, i decided to take matters into my own hands."
jiae continued to stare at him.
"i was only going to screenshot a picture of me 'texting you', but accidentally hit send instead of save."
the girl blinked.
"it's true!"
"then how does your sister know about me?" she asked, eyes narrowed playfully as she leaned her chest against the table.
she watched with a smile as the blush returned to haechan's face. "okay, at first, i was going to ask her to infiltrate your group chat, but she said no." he was smiling now too. "then i sent her your profile to see if that would change her mind, and she kind of became your fan."
jiae sucked in a breath, forcing herself to remain calm as she faked a look of nonchalance. "of course she did. look at me." she joked, causing haechan to laugh for a moment before joining in. "oh, for sure. no one stands a chance against the rhee jiae."
at this point, jiae couldn't hide how red her face was. joking around with him on instagram was one thing. having him compliment her in real life, whether jokingly or not, made her pulse race.
"wow, you're really red." haechan commented innocently, and jiae pressed both hands against her burning cheeks. "shut up or i might actually turn into a tomato."
the boy wore a charming smile as he picked at the remains of his food. "my bad, it was just your hair. the lighting, you know?"
jiae scoffed at his lame attempt to defend her and finished the rest of her own food. "whatever... how often do you come here?"
haechan pondered his response for a moment, eyes drifting to the side before meeting hers again. "when i can, i guess. more recently since i haven't had a schedule, but this will probably be the last time for a while."
for some reason, his answer made jiae feel sad. "i'll come here for you, then, and take pictures." her words were said in an almost joking manner, but she could tell by his expression that he took them seriously.
"don't worry about it," he said with a shrug. "but if you do come back, i recommend the melon bars. i don't know why, but the ones here taste better than at other stores."
jiae's head instantly whipped toward the freezer holding the desserts. "why wait?"
the mischievous glimmer returned to the idol's eyes. "rock, paper, scissors for who pays?"
"you're on."
jiae
when is your break
hyeyeong
now
jiae
i have snacks and news
hyeyeong
meet me at reception
•
THEY METTTTTTT how are we feeling? what should happen next? 👀
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