─── chapter twenty three.
❛ THE BLIND DATE FIASCO ❜
BEFORE EITHER DEOK-JA AND VASCO HAD GONE OFF TO TRAIN OR RUN AWAY TO VISIT CONVICTS FROM THEIR FORMER GANG, the members of burn knuckles had been presented with an insurmountable challenge.
vasco had been curved by his blind date before it even began. and everyone knew that rejecting vasco meant rejecting the whole of burn knuckles, and there was absolutely no way they were going to fall victim to blind date ditchers.
so jace came up with a foolproof plan. it involved getting vasco to believe the date was still going on, and substituting his actual date with kil deok-ja. jace park was a genius! the plan was foolproof! all he needed was deok-ja's approval, which should be easy enough —
"no." the girl bluntly answered, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared up at the big-eared boy from her seat in the back corner of the classroom.
"but —!" the rest of the higher ranked members of bnc sputtered, muttering their pleas.
"you guys are gonna break that poor idiot's heart." she scoffed, popping a piece of gum into her mouth.
"his heart would be even more broken if he arrives to his blind date and sees he's been ditched!" mason hwang argued, crossing his weirdly shaded arms over his chest.
deok-ja pondered the offer for a moment, tapping her finger to her chin. "i guess i can do you guys a favor..."
they brightened.
"...if you clean this shithole and learn basic hygiene." she added.
they dimmed, but nodded begrudgingly. curse kil deok-ja for wanting to get rid of the manly musk of the architecture classroom.
WHEN IT CAME TIME FOR SELF STUDY, which, for the architecture students was simultaneously always and never, deok-ja payed a visit to the fashion department.
upon entering the room, she was met with curious glances, but she payed them no mind as she approached mira and zoe.
"i have a date today." she told them stiffly, and regretted it almost immediately as they burst into excited squeals.
"you too? is it dating season for the burn knuckles or what? vasco's also got a date today." zack interrupted from his seat beside deok-su, his grin teasing.
"he's the one i'm going on a date with." she said bluntly, and deok-su almost choked on his water.
zack stared at her as though she'd grown two heads. "you? and him? really?"
"his blind date bailed on him so i decided to help a friend out." deok-ja shrugged. "he just doesn't know that."
"this is great!" zoe cheered, grabbing hold of deok-ja's arm. "after school, meet me and mira by the gate and we'll go to my house and get you ready!"
"i've always wanted to try out my fashion skills." mira added with an almost gleeful glint to her smile.
deok-ja groaned. this was going to be a long day.
FISTS TREMBLING IN ANGER AND BACK RAMROD STRAIGHT, kil deok-ja waited not-so patiently for the arrival of vasco.
her clothes itched, not so much because they were stuffy but because she was so unused to wearing them after giving up her girlhood and resigning to live a lifestyle predominantly male.
the girl cursed mira and zoe, although only slightly, for going overboard with her outfit and makeup.
she peered down at her clothes. a short denim skirt that hardly touched her knees paired with a soft white knitted long sleeve and white heels that cramped her feet so much she actually wanted to die. if only deok-ja had restraint against mira and zoe's puppy dog eyes.
her hair was finally done in some intricate half updo thanks to mira, who had spent almost an hour on it. zoe, in turn, did deok-ja's makeup, boasting about how beautiful she looked when she put some thought into her appearance (deok-ja ignored them for the sake of her sanity).
from a distance, leonn lee watched the kil girl from behind a building.
she's pretty?! the freshman stared at her soft features and pink lips in envy. life was not fair.
"wow." beside leonn, jace looked at deok-ja as though he were meeting her for the first time. "if i didn't already know her, i'd tell vasco to bail immediately."
the freshman elbowed jace, irritation stirring on her face.
bits of crumbled building fell into their faces, and they both looked up to find deok-su looming over them and a hole where he was gripping the building tightly.
"what are you doing here?" jace asked in surprise.
"i'm here to watch my sister." he nodded over to deok-ja. "or whoever that is."
deok-ja kicked a small pebble with her heel, bored out of her mind. she almost brought out her phone to text burn knuckles that she didn't want to do this anymore, but kil deok-ja didn't get cold feet.
it took vasco a while to get there. even when he did, deok-ja didn't notice that it was him until shiny blue shoes and a prim blue and white striped suit stopped right in front of her.
"hi." the teen smiled before deok-ja could look up. "i'm euntae."
she felt her eye twitch. why was this bastard trying to be someone different? it's not like there was anything wrong with his normal behavior.
deok-ja made the fatal mistake of looking up from her phone. she was met, not with tousled hair and scraggly facial hair, but with a clean shaven, hair-done, euntae.
he looked — dare she say it — handsome.
vasco faltered upon recognizing unyielding sharp eyes, despite wearing something that was completely out of her comfort zone. kil deok-ja was his date?!
"deok-ja?!" he said in surprise, almost tripping over himself in an attempt to discern whether the girl before him really was his architect classmate.
"yeah, its me." she muttered, a tinge of pink against her cheeks that wasn't zoe's blush.
"but what about...?" vasco didn't finish his sentence, because he finally realized that deok-ja wasn't wearing what she normally did. heart rose to his face.
"she ditched. i decided to cash in my date today. remember the festival?" deok-ja reminded the taller teen.
he nodded with a smile. "yeah! you bought me for $20!"
"exactly, so i can't let that money go to waste." deok-ja nodded. "just pretend im a girl you've never met, okay?"
"but i have met you." vasco said confusedly. deok-ja groaned loudly. this was going to be a really long day.
"that's why i said pretend, idiot." she huffed, taking a second to steady herself while walking on her death sticks (heels).
the president seemed to finally understand. "okay! so all i need to do is pretend that this is real?"
deok-ja grinned. "exactly."
after all, they were only pretending for the sake of sparing vasco's feelings. right?
from a distance, jace sighed dreamily. "ah, young love."
deok-su stared at him weirdly, and leonn kicked him in the shin. she was staring hawk-eyed at the couple too.
"i thought this was a fake date." deok-su said with a pinched expression.
"it is." leonn growled under her breath, nails pressed against the concrete building in anger.
"then why are they holding hands?" he added with a gloomy scowl, already thinking of the ways he was going to get vasco for this (he wasn't going to do anything to him).
leonn almost fainted from the lack of oxygen in her head as she clenched her jaw so tight it cut off her circulation.
"this is okay, right?" vasco asked shyly as he took deok-ja's hand in his own. her palms were rough, as were his, but they were warm.
deok-ja could only nod. she cursed whoever taught vasco how to make use of his good looks.
"lets go eat!" vasco announced, tugging deok-ja along a very familiar route.
she cringed as she was faced with the dingy restaurant that sold fish head soup. had vasco been planning to take his blind date here?
nonetheless, at his excited expression, the kil girl stepped inside and the two found a table. she tried her best to ignore the obvious peering eyes belonging to those in her department and her brother, but they couldn't be any more obvious as they stared at them through the store windows.
"dig in!" vasco pushed a bowl towards deok-ja, and she stared at it for a long time before picking up her spoon and dipping it into the reddish liquid.
before she could bring the spoon to her lips, vasco reached over the table and tucked her loose hairs behind her ears.
"they're going to get dirty." he said simply, digging into his own bowl.
deok-ja laughed at the teen. there was pieces of soup hanging down his face. seriously, why did he have to be so cute?
she brought a napkin to the teen's face and wiped any remains of soup.
"you're so messy," she chided with a hint of endearment as vasco obediently allowed the girl to wipe his face clean.
it was nice. talking to vasco about anything and everything, as though they were truly just regular people out on a regular date. the feeling that she'd want to do this again sat warmly at the base of deok-ja's stomach.
vasco, to deok-ja's surprise, payed for the meal on his own and the two walked out of there slightly less nervous than they had previously been.
somewhere along the walk to nowhere in particular, deok-ja's feet began to ache. she winced as she stepped on the hard pillar of her heel, and she regretted letting mira and zoe put her in such uncomfortable shoes.
"here," vasco knelt down to undo the straps of her heels, sliding them off her feet and slipping on his own larger shoe.
deok-ja stared at the top of his head in surprise, and she felt something rather awkward sift in her stomach. she waved it off. it's definitely the food.
"thanks," she grinned as vasco got back up, her heels in his hand. "those shoes were killing me."
"don't wear uncomfortable shoes. you'll hurt your feet." the teen said seriously.
deok-ja smiled up at the boy. he was so unfairly cute.
"okay." she agreed softly.
and that concluded their not-so-perfect date.
EXTRA :
"oh no!" vasco groaned as they walked through the park, his blazer sitting atop deok-ja's shoulders.
"what?" she asked.
"i forgot that today is burn knuckles ultra fireworks!" he said sadly, looking up at the darkening sky.
deok-ja snorted. such an event didn't even exist.
"lets stop by there, then!" she pointed over to a suspiciously nearby fireworks store that probably only happened to be there for plot convenience.
vasco lit up immediately, and they quickly purchased the fireworks and sparklers.
leonn lee was the only one waiting when they arrived. she looked completely devastated.
"hey, where is everybody else?" vasco said as he hopped down onto the canal edge.
leonn looked at him in surprise. "weren't you on a date?"
"how'd you know?" the boy asked.
"telepathy," she muttered hurriedly.
"we thought we'd keep you company." deok-ja grinned from behind vasco, tossing the freshman a sparkler.
"vasco, go set up the fireworks over there!" deok-ja instructed, pointing a few feet away. the teen obediently did as he was told.
"i've been wondering ever since the amusement park, but you're a girl, aren't you?" deok-ja leaned towards leonn, inspecting her face.
she flinched, and smoothed down her choppy bangs.
"i'm not gonna tell anyone. but come hang out with me sometime." deok-ja sighed loudly. "it's boring being around those baffoons."
"plus, i like you. you're fun." she grinned, and dusted herself off. "think about it, okay?"
leonn watched her go, and she felt envious of how naturally cool deok-ja was. if she had been as confident as her, would she have been able to do that too?
she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and decided something. if it was kil deok-ja who vasco chose, he'd respect his decision.
# LOVE, RAY !
motivation is at its peak so another update yessirr
i love deok-ja and vasco sm they're such cutie patooties !!! and yes vasco def fell for deok-ja when he saw her in that outfit
also i love leonn and instead of making her a jealous character with no other personality other than liking vasco i decided that she and deok-ja should be friends bc deok-ja's always wanted a friend (non man) who's part of the architecture dept !
this ch covers up until ep 149 btw ! next arc is the juvenile prison arc so i don't know whether in gonna write something ab that,, which is gonna be kinda difficult bc it's within the prison,, or if im gonna skip to the next arc which is zack's babysitter arc!! i lowk want to add in deok-su and do like a co-parenting thing bc that would b sooo cute !! we'll have 2 see tho so hopefully it works out
please vote && comment,, i love interacting readers !! love you all smm and stay safe,, mwah! also if there's any writing errors pls lmk i started writing this at like 6am