"I saw you two leaving together yesterday! Good job!" Felix said giving Hyunjin two thumbs up. Hyunjin rolled his eyes and sat down next to Felix on the couch.

"Yeah, don't get your hopes up. She ran out of the coffee shop and left me sitting there. Pretty sure she hates me"

"Oh" Felix said nodding.

"Mmhmm" Hyunjin said slowly nodding in agreement. "Things were going good, we were talking and then she just got up and told me she was late for her ten o'clock class."

"Well, that's a valid reason." Felix said trying to be hopeful

"It's was nine thirty." Hyunjin finished.

"Well, maybe it takes a while to get there."

"It was next door" Hyunjin said again, trying to get Felix to understand that it was a bad thing.

"Oooh" Felix mumbled finally getting it. "So, yeah, that's a little weird."

"I dunno. I think I should just give up. I don't know why I even tried" Hyunjin said waving Felix off and sitting back into the couch laying his head back. "I'm better off alone anyway."

"Don't say that." His friend said looking at him. "Just because you asked one girl out and it went weird, doesn't mean you're better off alone."

"I'm better off alone, I'd rather not die of embarrassment." Hyunjin said getting up and heading towards his room.

***
Minji woke up the next day and didn't want to get out of bed. She'd spent the whole night tossing and turning, unable to get him out of her mind. She was felt frustration bubbling in her stomach. Why couldn't she just shake him? It wasn't even really a date.....was it?

Frustrated even more she rolled on her back and stared at her ceiling. Slowly memories of that day started creeping in.

"Do what I told you to, Minji!"
"You useless piece of garbage, get it done!"

Quickly she threw a pillow over her head and tried to close her eyes even tighter and tried to block it out. She hadn't even realized she was yelling until Nabi rushed into her room and pulled the pillow off her face. Minji sat straight up and tried to catch her breath.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Nabi asked sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Good ol' flashbacks" She said giving a tight forced smile.

"I thought you were dying!" Nabi joked trying to get a laugh out of her. She threw herself back down on to her pillows.

"I can't do this. I'm not ready for new friends, I don't want new people in my life." Minji said more to herself then anything, but Nabi shook her head.

"You can. You're ready for new friends. MAKE FRIENDS" Nabi said trying to sound stern as she pointed her finger at Minji. "You should talk to him"

"Nope. I'm better off alone." Minji replied rolling over. Nabi made a growling sound and started into a tyrade about how she needs to open up again and move on and make friends and maybe date someday that she's ok to leave the past in the past. How was she supposed to do those things when she couldn't even sleep because she had coffee with someone? And as much as she tried not to think about him, she couldn't get over the fact that being around him that night did make her feel good. Maybe it was time to try and move on.

***
"Hyunjin!" Minho said frustrated as Hyunjin once again made the same mistake he'd been making the last three times they ran this performace. Hyunjin dropped to the floor and caught his breath. "Damnit" He said as he tried to focus.

"What is wrong with you tonight? You could do this dance with your eyes closed." Minho said crossing his arms and looking at him.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He said standing up, "Let's do it again. I'll get it this time."

Minho cocked his head to the side and looked at him, "You better. We don't have time for this. The performance is in twelve hours."

"I know. Do it again" Hyunjin said as they all got back into their positions. He rubbed his face really quickly with both hands and tried to push Minji from his brain. She'd been clouding his thoughts all day. He wished he could just write her off and count it as a loss, but she just kept creeping in. For some reason he really liked her even though he'd gathered she was either unavailable or just not that into him. Either way, he needed to focus and Minji was making it difficult.

After their final run through for the day, Hyunjin packed up his stuff and followed the rest of the group outside. He stared at his feet for most of the way outside, until he glanced up and saw Minji standing outside waiting.

"Hey" she said as he stopped and turned towards her.

"Have another dance class to leave thirty minutes early for?" He said sarcastically.

"Can we talk?" She said, he couldn't deny she looked really pretty today. Her hair was pulled up in a pony tail and she had a black puffer jacket on over a white shirt and skinny ripped jeans.

"Why?" He said still being on the defense. Felix gave him a look before he got in the van and Hyunjin waved him off letting him know he was ok and he'd walk home.

"Cause I didn't give you much of a chance." Minji said looking down at her feet.

Hyunjin looked anywhere but at her, "It's fine." He said sniffing from the cold weather.

"No, just come get food with me. You just finished practice, I'm sure you're hungry." She looked up from her feet and shoved her hands into her jacket pockets.

"Really, Minji. It's fine. I can tell when someone doesn't want to be around me." She dropped her head to the side and looked at him, trying to figure out why he was so resistant. She was going out on a majorly uncomfortable limb here, but he didn't know that.

"Please? I need to explain myself for being so rude the other day." He finally brought his eyes over to look at her and she made eye contact with him. His longer blond hair was being held back by a sweatband and his bangs were pulled over the top making them move with the slight wind that was blowing.

He took a deep breath and nodded his head. "Fine."

***

Twenty minutes later they were back in a coffee shop. Minji looked at Hyunjin trying to calm herself.

"You seem nervous." He said looking at her.

Of course she was nervous, she didn't want to trust him, she didn't want to do this. She wanted to go home and hide under blankets and wish she could stay there forever.

"You're worthless...."

She shook her head, trying to clear the flashbacks that were starting to pop into her head.

"Sorry" She apologized, "I'm just out of practice at this." She gave him a forced smile.

"And I'm not?" He laughed, "Believe me, I'm out of practice too." He smiled.

His smile was warm, his skin was like a cappucino on a cold winter day, and his lips? They were full and really hard not to stare at. She looked down relaxing slightly, trying to push all of her negative feelings out of the way. Trying to repeat what Nabi had been telling her the last week. It's ok to move on. She was repeating it in her head like a mantra.

"You're honestly going to tell me you're out of practice?"

"Why not?" He said, apparently unaware that he looked like a damn prince.

"Look at you" She said holding her hands out in front of her like it was obvious.

"What? Just because I'm an idol? My last date was four years ago." He laughed, still sounding a bit nervous.

"You're such a liar." She laughed.

"I'm serious. I was trainee the last time I went on a date." Hyunjin looked down at his coffee and shrugged his shoulders.

"I still find that hard to believe for some reason." She could feel her heart pounding throughout most of their conversation, and it was exhausting trying to push all the negative thoughts that crossed into her mind every single time she started to relax. Her body had been in flight mode for so long, she didn't know how to turn it off anymore.

An hour later they were still talking, flowing from one conversation to another without a moment of awkward silence. Hyunjin had learned that she's been a dancer all of her life, she was adopted by an American couple and grew up in a small town in North Carolina. They had put a lot of effort into teaching her about her culture, even teaching her Korean. She moved to Korea a few years ago to try and find her parents, but wasn't able to. Though she liked it here so much she stayed. She was twenty two and lived with her best friend who had moved here a few months after she did. They were the only Korean kids in the entire population of their small town, and have been friends since they were really young.

Minji had managed to calm herself down and learned a lot about Hyunjin. He had a dog named Kkami that was the center of his world, but she lived with his parents. He'd been dancing since he was in middle school and went to a performing arts school. For a while he wasn't even sure he wanted to be an idol, but now that he was he didn't want to be anything else. His group mates were like his brothers, especially Felix, who was one of his closest friends. They were complete opposites, but still managed to have quite a bit in common.

After their long conversation, they exchanged phone numbers and they headed home. They seemed to be in the same direction so he walked Minji to her door. She was worried he was going to try and kiss her, but he was a sweet guy that just hugged her and waved goodbye. Just as he was walking away Nabi came outside and pulled Minji indoors.

"You saw him again!" Nabi squealed as they walked up to their apartment.

"We're just friends, Nabi." Minji said quietly. Ignoring the fact that he'd called it a date, and also the fact that she kind of wanted it to be.

"Stop lying. I saw that hug. That was a date." She continued, chattering on about how sweet he was to her.

"Ok, ok. Maybe it had date-like qualities, but we just got coffee and talked. That's it."

"That's a date!" She said again, this time doing a small happy dance. Clapping her hands excitedly and dancing in a circle around Minji. "You like him! I'm so excited, Ji!"

"Please stop. If you keep making it a big deal, I'm gonna freak out and never talk to him again. Ok?" Nabi instantly stopped being excited and too a deep breath.

"Ok. I'm calm. It was coffee." She said trying to fight the urge to smile and dance around.

"Why do I like him so much" Minji whined putting her hands over her face and plopping herself down on the couch. She knew he made her comfortable, but he smelled so good and he calmed her nerves somehow. He had the kind of effortless looks that would knock you off your feet, not to mention he seemed really sweet, funny....stable. Something Minji hadn't had a lot of...stability.

***
"Ugh! Why do I have to like her so much!" Hyunjin said dramatically falling onto his bed while Felix sat at his desk. "I shouldn't be doing any of this with her, we're not supposed to."

"Nah, no one follows that rule, Jinnie. No one." Felix said as he was twirling a paintbrush between his fingers.

"Put that down, that's a $300 kolinsky sable paintbrush." Felix's eyes widened and he very, very carefully put the brush down like it was a precious diamond.

"My god, why would you pay $300 for that?" He said shocked.

"Because they're sustainably sourced and handmade. Look, I really don't know what to do." Hyunjin continued. He'd enjoyed their talk yesterday. He loved when she smiled, for some reason her little bunny teeth were his favorite part of her smile.

"I mean, calling her would be a good start." Felix said as Chan came into the room and sat down on the end of Hyunjin's bed.

"God save me." He said

"Why are you in my room, you're aware this is my room....right? I mean you're half fifty two now. Your brain might be forgetting things." Hyunjin joked. Chan turned slowly to look at him with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yes, Hyunjin. I'm aware. I'm hiding." He said rolling his eyes.

"Hiding from who?" Felix asked suddenly very interested.

"I may have told Minho one of his cats was annoying me....and now he wants to airfry me." He said jumping behind Hyunjin's bed when Minho opened the door.

"Is Chan in here?" He asked looking angry.

"Nope. Haven't seen him." Felix said. Minho closed the door and opened it again really quick to see if anyone was going to pop up, but just saw Hyunjin and Felix.

"My god, he's going to kill me." Chan said relaxing. "Can I maybe sleep in here and you sleep in my room? Is there a chance that would be ok?"

"No. Please leave." Hyunjin said laughing, Felix snorted and Chan walked out of the room heading for another place to hide.

"So, you have her number, call her" Felix said urging Hyunjin to do something. "Sitting around here wondering if she likes you isn't gonna do anything."

"But...." Hyunjin let out a breath, "But what if I text her and she doesn't answer?"

"Uh, then maybe leave her alone? This isn't rocket science Hyunjin. Honestly." Felix rolled his eyes, "Besides, I'm the last person you should be talking to about this anyway. It's not like I've dated enough people to know what I'm doing either. But you keep asking me questions that have some real common sense answers, mate"

"Ugh" he said as he threw himself back on his bed again. "Fine. I'll text her." he said as he grabbed his phone and opened a new text message. "What do I type?"

Felix laughed and stood up, "You're on your own with that one. Just be nice. It's not that hard."

"Helllpppp meeee" Hyunjin whined sitting back up and pouting.

"Geez, you're dramatic. I don't know! 'Hi' maybe?" Felix said shaking his head and leaving the room. Leaving Hyunjin to his own devices. Hyunjin sat there staring at the empty message for far too long before typing 'hi' and hitting send.

HJ: Hi
MJ: Hi!
HJ: I had fun yesterday...
MJ: Me too.

Hyunjin wiped his sweaty palms on his pants before he tried to figure out what to say next. He kept telling himself to think, not knowing what else to say. Maybe he should have thought through this more before he started the conversation.

HJ: Cool...

Hyunjin rolled his eyes at his lame response. Cool? What the hell made him say that? Now he really sounded like an idiot.

MJ: yeah...

He was starting to feel like she was just as lost as he was.

HJ: I have practice tomorrow, but did you wanna go get some food after?
HJ: I mean, if you're not busy...

He watched as three dots popped up and then went away a few times, he knew she was trying to think of what to say.

HJ: We can just do it as friends if you want. No pressure.
MJ: Oh...

Was she disappointed? He didn't want to be just friends with her, but if that's all he could get he'd take it.

HJ: or it could be a date...it's up to you...
MJ: Either is fine with me...

What? So he was supposed to pick? This was the most awkward conversation in history.

HJ: I'd like it to be a date, but if you aren't sure we can just be friends.

He watched he dots pop up and go away a few more times before she finally answered.

MJ: So.....it's a date then....

Hyunjin jumped up off his bed and yelled, "I did it!" Then he realized that no one else was in the room and he calmed himself down and cleared his throat. "Ok, Hyunjin. Don't blow this."

HJ: Meet me at the JYP building around seven? I mean, I could come and get you?

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, suddenly this wasn't going how he planned.

MJ: I can meet you there, I actually have an audition that day. The JYP building is on my way back anyway.
HJ: Good, so I'll see you around seven?
MJ: Good, I'll see you then.

***
Minji threw her phone down like it was burning her hands. She sat straight up in the center of her bed and stared at it like it was going to eat her alive.

"NAAABIII!" She yelled still staring at her phone. She must have blacked out, she just made a date with him. She was going on a date. Why did she agree to a date? Why? With him...

"What?! What's on fire?!" She asked running into Minji's room and realizing everything was fine. "Oh what now?" She joked relaxing.

"I have a date? I think I have a date. I told him I'd go on a date. A date. Why a date? Why did I say that? Can I back out? He said we could do it as friends, maybe I should text him back and tell him I changed my mind. I--"

"My god, stop. I can't keep up with you." She said holding her hands out trying to stop Minji from babbling.

"I told Hyunjin I'd go on a date. I don't date, NABI!" She yelled getting off her bed and pacing. "I was just trying to sound relaxed and calm, and...normal. I'm not normal! I have a date. I'm not--"

"Minji. You're normal. You're fine. He seems like a really nice person. I think you'll be fine." Nabi cut her off again and put her hands on her shoulders, trying to ground her.

"But--"

"No buts. You're fine, it's going to be fine." That was when Nabi saw pure fear in Minji's eyes as she started crying. She pulled her into a hug and Minji started shaking. "You're going to be fine. This is a good thing. Even if it doesn't go well, you're making a big step that's really good for you, ok?"

Minji couldn't move as a million different scenarios of things she'd experienced ran through her head.

"He makes you feel safe. That's a good place to start, right?" Nabi said quietly into Minji's ear. Minji nodded her head and took a deep breath pulling away from Nabi and wiping her eyes.

"Um. I hate to ask you this...could you maybe just....um...."

"Hang out in the shadows like a weirdo?" Nabi laughed.

"Yes?" Minji said as she finally laughed too. "It would make me feel better to have you nearby if I need you."

"I'll be there the whole time. Ok?" Nabi said as Minji nodded her head and gave her friend one last hug.

***
"Why do you smell good?" Seungmin asked as he walked past Hyunjin.

"He's got a daaaate!" Felix said walking past Hyunjin and winking.

"Don't wink at me like that. It's creepy." Hyunjin said as he sneered at Felix sarcastically.

"Oooooo" Jisung said as he stood next to Hyunjin, "Does she have a sister?"

Hyunjin rolled his eyes "No, and if she did, I wouldn't subject her to you."

"Aw, Hyunjin. That hurts me." Jisung said looked hurt and offended.

"Go away" He said laughing, Jisung shrugged his shoulders and left the room.

Walking outside he saw Minji standing there waiting for him. It was the first time he'd seen her in nice clothes. Usually her style seemed to be distressed jeans and sneakers or sweatpants, but today she was wearing a black skirt and black tights, and a red turtleneck under a long black coat. He suddenly wished he'd put on nicer clothes, but at least he had put on nice pants and a black shirt. Changbin had been telling him to wear sweatpants and a tshirt.

"Hi!" She said smiling at him.

"Hey, you look really nice." He said giving her a hug before they starting walking away.

"Thanks, Nabi dressed me. I think I'm going to freeze to death." She laughed.

Hyunjin laughed as they walked and talked on their way to the restaurant. It was a small place up a couple flights of stairs. When they got to the restaurant at the top Minji noticed no one was there.

"Not very popular..." She said giving Hyunjin an unsure look.

"Very popular actually, I know the owner from my trainee days and he cleared everyone out. It's easier if we're the only ones here, trust me." Hyunjin said as he pulled out a chair for her.

"Ahh, I see." She commented as he sat down across from her.

"We used to come here all the time as trainees because it was so cheap. We'd try to pool our money and get as much food as we could." He laughed, almost seeming like he was embarrassed of his early days.

"Then order for me" she said setting the menu down and sitting back in her chair.

Hyunjin snapped his head up and looked at her.

"Just order whatever you want, I don't want to get something you don't like..."

She smirked at him and shook her head no. He had to admit she was being adorably defiant.

"Oook...." He said nervously as he went to the counter and just ordered one of everything. He hoped that that would make it easy for her to find something she likes. Besides it wasn't a huge menu anyway.

He leaned back against the counter and glanced over at her as she wandered around the small restaurant looking at all the pictures and signs on the walls.

He had to admit, getting to know her seemed like it wasn't going to be easy. To get to know the real her and not what she wanted him to know, but he was going to try.