~
As you opened your eyes, you found yourself in the middle of a dark and dense forest.
The air was cold and thick with fog, with tortured tree trunks twisting upwards and reaching for any rare glimpse of sunlight.
The calm sounds of nature hummed with life all around you, filling you with a sense of peace.
It wasn't until you heard the sounds of branches snapping behind you, that everything else abruptly dropped into silence.
A cool shiver shuddered violently down your spine, as if your natural instincts were screaming at you that a predator was approaching.
The sudden and growing uneasiness of being watched quickly heightening all of your senses.
You weren't alone, at least that much was obvious.
Taking in a deep breath, you slowly turned around.
Bracing yourself, you squeezed your eyes shut until you were sure you were facing the thing that was following you.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
You breathed in time with your anxious thoughts, before your eyes inevitably snapped open.
...
And there he was.
Your impeccably well dressed and masked 'Genius' stood in the middle of the unlikeliest of settings.
As your eyes hesitantly met with his, a new feeling dawned on you, the expression on your face telling him that you needed to talk.
Staring back at you, he just stood there in silence awaiting your first move.
You tried your best to compose yourself before opening your mouth to speak, afraid of what direction this peculiar interaction would take you.
"Y-you're impossibly fast, and strong."
"Your skin is pale-white, and ice-cold."
"Your eyes are mostly hidden, and you're always wearing a hat and face-mask."
"You never eat food, or drink at the café, and you show up each morning at the same exact time."
As you spoke slowly, you could see that your words had registered with him, urging you to take another step closer.
"I know what you are."
He hesitated as you stared down at him accusingly.
But you couldn't let him hide anymore, and he knew it.
"Then say it. Out loud," he finally spoke, his voice defensively sharp and on edge.
"Say it."
In this moment, the air surrounding you was so still and silent, all you could hear was your racing heartbeat ringing inside your ears.
"...Vampire."
As soon as that word left your mouth, you could see a flash of panic lace itself across his eyebrows.
The look of being exposed.
"Then are you afraid?"
"No," you answered with a whisper.
You watched on as he slowly raised his hand, reaching it up towards his face.
He unhooked the side of his face-mask, and began pulling it downwards, the intensity in this long awaited moment causing you to hold your breath in anticipation.
But as the face-mask came down, a bright light broke through the entanglement of trees behind him.
It was so blinding and overwhelming, quickly flooding all of your vision.
You tried desperately to see his face through the light, but the more persistent you were, the more piercingly strong it became.
Until it became all too much for you to handle.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
~
Opening your eyes to your sunlight filled bedroom, you were immediately sent through a fit of frustration.
Oh come on!!
Seriously!!?
I'm not even allowed to have a face reveal in my dreams now?!!!!!
You let out an inaudible grumble from the audacity and burden of being awake, and reached out to your nightstand for your phone.
But it was only when you unlocked your phone to reveal your conversation screen with not 'Yoongi' from the night before, that everything came back to you.
-
[19:42] 🔥Yoongi: Why don't we hang out sometime?
[19:42] Yoongi's Girl💜:
Hang out..?
[19:42] 🔥Yoongi: Yeah. Let's date.
-
Your breath hitching at the back of your throat as you read over it again, you remember being in utter disbelief at the time of first reading that four letter word.
Date?
After weeks of these back and forth exchanges, he had finally and officially asked you out.
And it didn't even seem like it was a part of some smug comeback.
Your initial reaction at the time was to just respond "YES" in all caps, as if you'd only been waiting forever for him to ask.
But instead, a mixture of other emotions came rushing over you.
With so many unanswered questions.
And so many doubts.
What does a date even mean to him?
For normal people, dates involve going out together.
Eating, drinking, and getting to know each other.
But with all of the barriers he had set up, was that even possible for him?
Your mind tried imagining how he might possibly be able to eat or drink anything while still maintaining the security of his face mask.
Would he have to blend everything up and suck it up through a bendy straw or..??
That's not very romantic...
-
[19:45] Yoongi's Girl💜:
Date?
[19:45] Yoongi's Girl💜:
Is that actually possible?
-
When you sent those initial responses last night, they lit up instantly as being 'read' with the three moving dots appearing at the bottom of the screen.
You must have waited for what felt like an eternity before they finally disappeared, with no reciprocating message coming through.
What on earth is he playing at?
Has he even thought this through seriously?
With the lack of an instant response, doubt was quickly taking over.
You remember going to sleep last night in such a restless state, desperately waiting for a response that never came.
It was as if he had just dangled the golden token of a promising outcome right in front of your face, gotten all of your hopes and expectations up, and then just completely disappeared into thin air.
But now as you laid in bed staring at your phone, you noticed the three moving dots appearing at the bottom of your screen once more.
F*ck...
-
[05:45] 🔥Yoongi: I'll come to your work when you finish today, Just give me a time.
-
With the surprise of suddenly receiving a message from your masked 'Genius' and at 5AM no less, your autopilot mode quickly took over.
Your lethargic mind not fully comprehending what you subsequently just agreed to by giving out a time.
-
[05:47] Yoongi's Girl💜:
I finish at 4...
[05:47] 🔥Yoongi: Great. I'll be there.
-
As you read his newest message, your mouth instantly dropped.
Wait..
Is this happening?
Like... for real?
You didn't know what to do, you must have sat there staring at the open conversation for another 5 minutes before you could even move.
But suddenly a wave of anxiety rushed over you, forcing you to rush over to your closet and rifle through its contents, grabbing as much as you could fit in your backpack before stumbling to the bathroom.
You figured if you brought every piece of decent clothing you owned, maybe Ji-Eun could magically assemble something worthy of a first date.
First Date...
Your mind swirled in your head as you finished getting ready for the day in a daze.
The last date you went on was with Taemin, sitting at that cute little café and talking with his Ajumma.
But before that you couldn't remember the last time, at least not one that made you as nervous as this one apparently did.
With everything you may need practically bursting out of the zipper of your backpack, you slipped on your shoes and dashed out the door.
You had barely made it to work before you started hyperventilating, the mere sight of the café and the impending first-date-meeting-location making you want to be swallowed up by the earth.
Oh god oh god oh g-
"Girl, breathe. Are you having a panic attack?"
Ji-Eun's words had barely registered to you as you ran straight to the back room.
You started immediately grabbing spare hangers out of the empty coat rack in the back, taking each clothing item out of your bag and hanging it up.
"Panic attack or a psychotic episode, now I'm not entirely sure..." Ji-Eun trailed off, her voice now coming from behind you.
"Psychotic episode, 100%!" you replied, pulling out the final piece of clothing and stepping back to admire your work.
"What's this all about?" she asked, concern so clear in her voice you were afraid she might be about to call and have you sectioned.
"I have a date with Mr. 742 today," you finally muttered out.
"YOU WHAT!?"
-
Trying to explain the surprising revelation of this afternoons plans to both Ji-eun and Hana proved to be more than a difficult feat.
It was mostly because you hadn't even accepted what was going to happen yourself, so the entire process easily took up the first hour of your shift.
So by the time 7:42 AM rolled around this morning, you hadn't even noticed.
Your usual antics of stalking the front door for any kind of activity being replaced with a nervous reassurance of seeing him after work instead.
But just as you were in the middle of filling a line of coffee cups, you felt your phone vibrating in your pocket, instinctively halting your work to see what it possibly could be.
-
[07:42] 🔥Yoongi: I'll see you later, Yoongi's Girl 😉
-
Seeing his message light up your phone screen had you smiling instantly from ear to ear, picking up the milk jug once more with a new sense of adrenaline to get you through the busy rush hour.
When the morning rush finally came to a stop, Ji-eun and Hana instantly got to work with piecing together the perfect first date outfit from the selection of clothes you brought to work with you.
They must have sent you back to change into a new outfit at least 15 times, which at first seemed like a fun idea, but it quickly made you begin to worry.
Because apparently not having any clue for what this afternoon had in store for you made it beyond difficult to find the kind of outfit that would match with any situation.
That... and maybe I shouldn't have ordered pizza 5 times last week....
But as you came back out from the back room once more, this time felt different.
You were wearing an oversized black blazer which Ji-eun had masterfully fashioned into a dress by clinching it in at the waist with a large belt, and accessorized it with a turtleneck smock underneath, black laced stockings and your favorite pair of leather boots.
"Daymn girl!" Ji-eun cat-called from the other side of the café. "If your boy hadn't already asked you out, I'd be forced to do it instead!"
You couldn't help but blush from Ji-eun and Hana's reactions, and you were beyond grateful that your chosen outfit for the night was something you could comfortably breathe in.
Now all that was left was to fix your hair and make-up into something a little more 'date appropriate' and watch the clock as it slowly ticked away.
-
Up until this point, you were sure that time was a linear thing.
Beside what some of the sci-fi comics you read alluded to, you were sure that in real life, time only travelled in one direction.
But if you were to use today's shift as a prime piece of evidence to counter how wrong that was, probably a lot of other people might agree with you.
With each time that you looked at the clock this afternoon, it felt like nothing had even changed.
Everything was dragging so painfully slow that you weren't sure if you could contain your built up mixture of nerves, anxiety, adrenaline and excitement for much longer.
You were still in so much disbelief about everything that was going on, but at least you only had another 10 minutes to go before all of this gut-wrenching anticipation could finally catch a break.
This is it.
It's all finally going to happen.
You tried your best to calm yourself by pacing up and down the corridor that lead to the back room, beyond grateful that Ji-eun was also rostered to close up the café and finish her shift at the same time as you.
"He'll be here any minute now!" Ji-eun squealed excitedly, vicariously living for this moment. "I'd offer you a shot of something if I had it, but that's probably not the best way to start off any first date..."
"I would gladly take it..." you answered back a little too seriously, low-key wishing you had a little liquid courage to help you get through it all.
But despite your natural tendency to not hold any expectations for the fear of disappointment, you internally made a promise with yourself to not ruin the moment and keep things as positive and upbeat as possible.
"Trust me, you don't need it!" Ji-eun reassured. "You look f*cking BOMB right now, and as soon as he gets here, it's all going to be worth it!"
Ugh, what would I do without this woman!
Yes.
Everything that has happened up until now will all have been worth it!
With the final seconds ticking over to 4pm, you half expected Mr.742 to walk in exactly on the dot, because it wasn't like it was off trend for him to do that every other time.
So when 4:01pm came around, you couldn't help but feel a little taken aback.
You had to almost physically slap yourself back into reality from the sheer nerve of being disappointed by him being only 60 seconds late, and decided that it would be better if you stopped watching the clock entirely.
In a time like right now, it was so good having Ji-eun here to pass the time with, opening up a 'BTS on crack' video on her YouTube account as a perfect distraction.
But when the video ended, and you accidently flickered your eyes up to the clock once more, a small breath of disappointment escaped you.
4:15pm......
No.
Stop that.
I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.
...
By the time 4:30pm came around, you found yourself frantically checking your phone for any new messages that might possibly put your mind at ease, but you were still met with nothing.
You took a moment to quickly type out a small message to not 'Yoongi' asking if everything was okay, before shoving your phone back inside your blazers pocket.
This is fine.
Everything will be fine.
...
At 4:45pm, the sound of a new notification momentarily perked you up, before realizing it wasn't coming from your phone, but from Ji-eun's.
It was a reminder she had set for herself for a dental appointment today at 5pm.
Despite her long protests to cancel her appointment to stay and wait with you, you insisted she should go, and not pay a cancellation fee at your expense.
But as she was the only café employee that your manager trusted with the keys, it meant that with her gone, you would now have to wait the rest of your time outside on the sidewalk.
This is fine.
Everything will be okay.
Those thoughts were soon playing through your mind on repeat like a broken record.
...
By 5pm, the sun was beginning to set over the horizon.
You could only just catch a glimpse of it between the other buildings on your street.
You checked your phone for any new notifications, and shrugged your shoulders once more.
This is fine.
He will be here.
Everything will be okay.
...
By 5:30pm the sunlight filled streets were now replaced by that of darkness, the dim street lights flickering on one by one.
You were starting to get cold now.
But this is fine.
He will be here.
And everything will be okay.
...
As 5:45pm came around, you felt the small spatters of rain lightly hitting your cheek.
You pressed yourself further up the café entrance to take shelter from the small roof it offered.
It's too bad you didn't bring an umbrella to work with you today.
But this is fine.
He will be here soon.
I know it.
...
By 6pm, the light spatters of rain had turned into a heavier downpour.
You practically jumped at the sound of your phone sounding off over the loud cracks of thunder in the distance, but the sender wasn't who you had hoped it would be.
Ji-eun had just come out from her dental appointment and wanted to know what excuse your masked 'Genius' gave you after meeting up with you.
But you didn't have the heart to respond back and truthfully say you were still waiting for him this whole time.
Where is he...
...
As you watched all of the young couples sharing single umbrellas slowly fill the streets around you, to presumably start their own dinner dates, a small crack of hopeless disappointment started to chip away at you.
That should be me...
With him...
But where is he?
You were literally left out in the cold and the dark, with no answers.
...
Now looking down at your phone for the time at 6:15pm, it had barely registered to you before now just how unprotected you were from the rain.
The cuffs of your oversized blazer were soaking wet, and your hands were cold and freezing.
As you slowly turned around to look at your reflection in the café window, you broke out into a small sob.
Your makeup had smudged, and the humidity of the rain had completely ruined any effort you put into your hair.
You looked like a mess.
You felt like a mess.
...He's not coming, is he?
With the realization slowly sinking in, you took a step out from the small shelter of the café entrance, and let the heaviness of the rain fully wash over you.
Taking slow, defeated steps, one after the other, you walked mindlessly in the direction of your apartment.
You could feel the eyes of everyone that walked past you burn into you, but at least the rain was trying to hide away your real tears.
Overcome with emotion with each step that you took, you could feel all of your negative thoughts slowly come back to you tenfold, until you couldn't push yourself forward any further.
Your legs soon gave way and soaked into the puddle you were just standing in.
You couldn't believe that you had found yourself in a cliché situation like this, but here you were, now sat in the middle of the street bawling your eyes out.
As you could feel yourself quite literally sinking into your lowest moment, the heavy rain your body had grown accustomed to stopped.
But the crashing sounds of rain was still happening all around you.
You let out a slow sigh, convinced you must be growing delirious by now, and refused to pay this strange phenomenon any attention as you continued to sob uninterrupted.
It wasn't until you felt the arm of someone wrapping themselves around you, that you decided to look up.
Taemin.
-----
Hi Everyone!
Just another bi-monthly reminder I'm still not dead and this book is still going 😅
How is everyone?
I'm officially another year older and I'm not happy about it. If anyone could find the cure to aging and let me know, then that would be great. Until then I guess I better go and find a cave to live in and 10-100 cats to adopt. *sigh*.
I'd just like to start out by saying 'I'm sorry' about this chapter haha. Being stood up on a date is not fun to do to another person or to experience first hand. So I'm sorry that this chapter went there. I wish I could say my normal spiel and say 'I hope you liked this new update!' but maybe you didn't. 😅 This chapter was tough, but things will get better. A lot better.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
I really want to thank everyone for being so amazingly patient and supportive of me and my book, I'm still in shock that it's reached over 1 million reads now. I don't deserve it, but I am forever grateful. I will try my best to update as frequently as possible and finish this book with a great ending that you all will like.
As always, sending out lots of love and hugs to you all, wherever you are in the world right now.
💜Katie💜