This Friend | Yeonbin

42

Soobin P.O.V

Earlier today I read a few guides online to find out good questions to ask.

“So,” I say. “I have a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you pick?” I ask.

He narrows his eyes and smiles. “Did you study for this?”

The way his eyes have lit up tells me that I can tell him the truth.

“Er, yeah. How’d you know?”

“That’s adorable. I don’t know if I should tell you this, but I think I read that same guide. Third one down if you google ‘good first date questions,’ right? My next question for you is ‘What band or musician do you never get tired of?’ which is from that article.”

I laugh. “Well, apparently first dates are about finding common ground, so I’m going to mark this as a win.”

“For sure.”

“But just answer my question, I actually want to know.”

“All right,” he says. “Hmm. I think it’d be fun to live in London. I’ve never been, but I feel like it’d be really cool.”

“I can totally see you in London!” I sigh wistfully. “Just think of the coats.”

“Dude, yes! The coats are a huge part of the reason I want to go there. I’d get a really preppy one and basically live in it. Plus, I’ve always wanted to do all the Harry Potter stuff you can do over there. But anyway, I’m super curious now. Same question, back at you.”

“LA, hands down. But I want to be there for more than a year. I want to live there. I don’t know if I ever will, but I want to. I’ve never told anyone that, but yeah, it’s gotta be LA.”

“Because you like movies, right?”

I nod. “There might be more to it, though. I feel like there’s something really special about it as a city. I’ve wanted to move there since the first time I saw Mulholland Drive. I’m not sure if that’s weird.”

“No, that’s awesome. See, now I know something new about you. Thank you, internet.”

“Ha, yeah.”

“But, dude”

“Yeah?”

“LA is about as far away from here as you can go without leaving the country. Should I read anything into that?”

I shrug. I guess I can answer.

“Maybe, I dunno. Like I said, it’s just a pipe dream, it’s never going to happen. I’m going to be here forever, with my family.”

“Do you want to talk more about that?”

“Dude, no.”

“What?”

“I told you, I don’t want to talk about my family.”

“This is a date, though, yeah? How come it’s off-limits?”

I chew my lip.

“Oh,” he says, his face falling. “You don’t fully trust me, do you?”

I try to decide how to answer. “Do you want me to be honest?”

“Always.”

“Okay. It’s like i really like you. And I always have so much fun hanging out with you. But there’s always this part of me that thinks the scheme might still be in place. So if I talk to you about my family”