Those Awkward Meetings - Zitao + Hyuna
Zitao was sitting outside the bookshop twenty minutes before the arranged meeting time. It wasn’t because Hyuna had told him not to be late either. The honest truth was...Zitao just didn’t like being late. He was early to everything - most of the time extremely so. He was perfectly okay with such things - he usually brought a book or something along with him to pass the extra waiting time. He was patient - he usually didn’t mind waiting.
But at the same time...he was nervous. What if she didn’t show up...? He was dressed casually, yet nicely. His mother of course had noticed and asked what it was he was up to - Zitao usually wore faded, worn in jeans and a t-shirt but today, his pants were clean and his shirt was a button-up. It wasn’t formalwear int he slightest, but it was neat enough that it set off alarm bells in his mother’s mind. She’d demanded to know if he was going on a date, and then proceeded to try to get him to take off his gold chain necklace (he refused, stuffing it beneath the collar of his shirt so she couldn’t get at the clasp) as well as the two rings on his hand (he took them off, but stuffed the two rings in his pocket). He practically fled the house before she could even try to take the multiple piercings from his ears - he’d gotten those because he liked the way they looked but his mother didn’t really like them. No surprises there.
Zitao pushed his hair back into place as a breeze ruffled his bangs, his eyes focused on the book in front of him. It was one of the few books he had that was written in Mandarin, but it was one of his favourites. He was in the middle of rereading it for upwards of ten times, the pages worn and the spine cracked in multiple places. He’d even had to tape the cover back on with sellotape. He glanced down at his watch as he finished the chapter, seeing it was nearing five o’clock. He tucked the book into his shoulder bag and relaxed on the bench, trying not to glance around too often for Hyuna. She would appear when she appeared - for now, he would be patient.
