usually you would hate this type of situation, making up any dumb excuse to free yourself from the uncomfortable encounter you were experiencing, but he’s kind of… cute?

if you’re being completely honest you have no idea what he’s saying to you. you weren’t even going to listen to him in the first place but he stopped you and now he’s blushing, looking at everything except at you. you want to kindly decline whatever he is trying to advertise and go about your day but his soft smile is keeping you stuck on his face.

“could i get your number maybe?” he clears his throat sharply, and his eyes finally land on yours. maybe because he’s towering over you, but his gaze almost seems intense, it catches you off guard making you subconsciously look away.

“sure.” you reach out your hand for him to hand you his phone and he does, watching you type in your details before handing him back the phone.

the second he takes it from your hand you flash a small smile at him excusing yourself, you notice his lips curve up as he sees your smile, followed by a quiet “bye”.

you would go on with your day expecting nothing more from the encounter, accepting it as the small highlight of the day and ready to move on to other things but it wasn’t that simple.

[9:45 pm]

unknown: hey, we met earlier tbh i wanted to ask you out but you seemed in a hurry so i didn’t but i thought i’d just try again, my name’s jeonghyeon btw

the text lights up your phone on your desk as you studied, you’re able to ignore it for a couple minutes before grabbing to check what it was. your eyebrows furrow in utter confusion as you read the text. your first thought is “how did he get my number?”, because while you did type a number into his phone you were confident it wasn’t yours, you never give out your number so easily.

you look at the text again trying to remember what exactly had happened, the way things look you may have typed your actual number mindlessly, consequently putting yourself in this position.

maybe it isn’t such a bad situation, he seemed nice, and he was your type but that was never the issue. you set rules for yourself because of past experiences, it is easy getting tangled but what comes after is never what you expect.

you stare at the text, a million thoughts of the multitude of possibilities run through your mind then you hit send.

[9:50 pm]

y/n: where are you taking me?

jeonghyeon: oh you’re actually interested?

jeonghyeon: it’ll be a surprise but i promise you’ll enjoy it.

you set your phone down trying to push down the slight curve at the corner of your lips, you don’t feel like thinking of what could happen. you read something earlier in the week about trusting the universe, and all these coincidences seem so conveniently placed.

he tells you the details for your upcoming date and you can barely hide your excitement as you stare at the little bubbles of text forming on the screen. you had been trying to keep this feeling away because of how well you knew it and how easily it could come crashing down but you didn’t want to give up on it just yet.

something about his own uncertainty, slight hesitations, obvious inexperience throughout the conversation makes talking to him feel so comfortable, you feel so drawn to everything he is.

before you know it you’re meeting him again, leaving all the unfamiliar texting behind. he made sure to keep the details of the date a secret in the few texts you shared, occasionally asking about your interests in the least discreet ways. you can’t hide your eagerness, neither can you ignore the lump forming at your throat as the time approaches, you want to be right about trusting him.

a light buzz in your hand notifies you of his presence, you make your way out of your housing complex, glancing around for his familiar face.

he spots you first right at the entrance of your building, eyes down on your phone before taking a look around. a soft tap on the shoulder, and you turn around to his soft smile that had you hooked the first time you met.

“hi.” he breathes out, his smile growing as he glances away for a second. you could feel your doubts melt away at the sight.

“hi.” you smile back.

“i didn’t know what kind of flowers you liked so i got you this instead.” he says handing you a lollipop, you stare at the small stick in his hand for a second genuinely amused by his train of thought.

“thanks” you reach for the small snack, your fingers slightly grazing his fist as you do. you look up at him confused he’s still holding onto the sweet.

“can i hold your hand?” he asks softly as his fingers gently wrap around yours, you blink at him completely taken aback.

“sure.”

he finally lets you take the candy out of his hand, watching you put it away, ready to take your hand in his once it is free again.

the whole walk feels so dreamlike, you don’t remember the last time you had held hands with someone and you could feel your heart thundering in your chest. with every glance he makes in your direction, every smile that is a result of something you did or said, you feel your self physically and emotionally drawn to him.

it’s an odd feeling after experiencing so much heartbreak, because you start to question if anyone of those experiences had even begun with this great feeling. and suddenly it feels like you had been running away from something you never even felt.

“you like video games right?”

you nod eagerly looking at the array of vintage video games spread across the store, lights flashing all around as you walk through the arcade together.

“how did you even know? did i tell you?” you look up at him curiously stopping in your tracks.

“i like you, of course i’ll pay attention to the things you like.” he chuckles, you notice his hand reach for your head as if to pat you gently but instead he takes it back to rub the back of his neck.

“what was that?” you laugh, your hand over your mouth, as you watch him groan into his hands out of embarrassment.

gradually you start testing out the games together, going up against each other on 1 v 1 games where you win most of the time. you go from playing street fighter against 13 year olds and proudly making them loose to playing zombie games in a booth together.

he listens as you blabber about your experience with video games, you tell him all the boring stuff that you had learnt because of your strong interest. not for a second does he seem uninterested, you glance over at him and your eyes meet. you wonder in that second if it’s reasonable to feel this many butterflies on a first date. he tilts his head confused by your sudden stare, and now you’re the one shying away from his gaze.

after the arcade, you head to a fast restaurant close by to find something to clench the appetite. you find a booth and sit opposite each other, with a quick scan through the menu you’ve made your choices.

“you’re honestly not bad at games. be honest did you practice before?” he lets out a light chuckle in disbelief, the smile lingers as his gaze shifts away.

“i didn’t but i wish i did.” you giggle quietly, he watches your eyelids close curving the same way as your smile. he tries to catch it each time because of how genuine your smile is, he can’t help smiling at the sight of it.

the first thing he’d noticed the first time he saw you was that smile, though you shared it with someone else it was still a precious sight. from then on he kept noticing you and he would have kept the distance but he noticed your smile wearing off.

hallway crushes are fun when they stay as that, just hallway interactions, but he missed seeing you laugh, smile, giggle. so he took it upon himself to make it happen, even though he knew nothing about you. he wanted to know so he could be the one to make you smile.

“i feel like you’re not listening to me.” you pick a piece of his fries slightly annoyed by his silence during your rant about soggy fries.

“yeah sorry your angelic beauty is so distracting.” you stare at him in disbelief, searching for words to say but nothing comes to mind. he lets out a deep sigh, realizing how corny he sounded, making you burst out laughing head against the table.

“thanks.” his face brightens up at the sound of those words, “the compliment was sweet but i meant for today, i had a really nice time with you.”