Work Text:
"Shin-Ae!"
Yoo Shin-Ae stopped on her tracks to look back. Her friend Park Maya was running towards her with a brown bag on one hand and a small cardboard box on the other.
"Maya, what's up? What do you have there?" she asked as soon as Maya had caught up with her.
"Min Hyuk sent these the other day with a note asking to deliver them asap."
Shin-Ae's face lit up. Park Min Hyuk was Maya's brother and Shin-Ae's buddy and was studying abroad. He sometimes sent stuff to Maya and Shin-Ae. She took the box that Maya was giving her while saying, "Let's go somewhere to open them. When did they arrive?"
Maya's smile faltered at her friend's question. "A week ago."
"Whaaaaaat? What took you so long?"
"Well," Maya said, scratching her neck. "I didn't read the note until today and I had forgotten about them. Min Hyuk called a few minutes ago to ask what you think about this." Shin-Ae's eyes were unfocused while she judged her friend, making her a bit restless. "Open it already, would you?"
"Okay, but you have to treat me to muffins."
"Yes, I'm sorry! I will invite you the next time we go to the bakery," Maya said, clasping her hands in front of her head and bowing slightly.
Shin-Ae smiled triumphantly, she had gotten a free treat at Maya's bakery store, which was great since they had the best doughnuts and muffins.
"Okay, let's see what's in here!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hirahara Kosuke sat back on the chair of his office, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. He was tired. Tired from work, from Nol's attitude and from those female always ambushing him. He was starting to think that maybe he should wear that make-up remover in one of his jacket's pockets, too.
He picked up the phone and pressed some buttons.
“Yes, it's me, I'll be taking the rest of the day off. No, I won't be coming tomorrow. Yes, I understand. Yes. Yes. We will review that on Monday. I'm hanging up now, bye.”
He sighed heavily before standing up and taking his things. He really needed to find a quiet place and relax. He took out his car's key as he was entering the lift.
“Wait! Hold the door, please!” said a voice, and before he could stop himself, he was holding it open for Meg. He managed to not make a sour face, or more like it was not as noticeable. But in Kosuke's opinion Meg wouldn't even notice if he would grow horns on his forehead and his skin would become red as long as he was talking to her.
Shit, I should have brought the make-up remover with me, he thought bitterly.
“Thanks, Kosuke! Where are you going?”
“Work,” he lied, pressing a button on the lift.
“Really?” she pouted. “I was hoping to catch up a little bit, since last time we were interrupted by that phone call. Oh! By the way, do you know what...”
Kosuke stopped paying attention to Meg's words waiting impatiently for the lift to arrive at the garage. When it stopped on the lobby's floor he looked at Meg.
“Aren't you getting out?”
“Uh? Why? I thought you could give me a lift and talk a bit more about-”
“I can't. What I'm doing now is work related and I would prefer not to go with anyone not involved on it,” he cut off, taking her by the elbow and pushing her rather ungallantly out of the elevator. “Have a nice day,” he added and pressed the button to close the doors.
Luckily for him, she was so stunned by his actions and words that she couldn't react fast enough. Within a minute he was inside his car, driving away from the garage and several people that had contributed that day to make his mood worse that it already was.
He drove on autopilot for a while before deciding a direction.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Shin-Ae was so happy. Min Hyuk had sent her a bracelet with pizza's slices, donuts, and fries this time. Min Hyuk always knew what to give her to make her happy. She was in such a good mood that she started humming. She was crossing the street when she sensed danger. She jumped back while a strong noise of brakes echoed.
“Woah! Learn to drive, you dumbass!” she yelled.
The car stopped and the driver got out of it. Shin-Ae swallowed, thinking that she might have to run.
“I'm sorry, I was distracted, are you okay?” the driver said. When he approacher her to see if she was okay, she recognized him. “Miss Yoo?”
“Uh... Eh... You...”
Kosuke couldn't help but smile a bit. “You don't remember my name?”
“Err...” Shin-Ae evaded eye contact and tried to come up with something to change topics. “Where were you going? Do you always drive like that?”
It seemed to work, because he looked troubled. “I apologize, I wasn't paying attention.”
“Nah, it's ok. So... Um... Gotta go...”
“Miss Yoo, if you want to I can give you a ride to your destination,” Kosuke offered.
Shin-Ae looked at him suspiciously. He already told her that she wouldn't need to pay for his jacket, but he didn't look like he was in a good mood, so he might go back on his word.
“If you don't mind, we could go grab something to eat. There's something I want to...” Kosuke wasn't done talking when Shin-Ae was fastening the seatbelt around her.
“Lead the way! I always accept an invitation to eat,” she said from within the car.
Kosuke smiled again and climbed on the driver's seat. “Very well.”
He started the car again and drove.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“You can't be serious!” Maya yelled through the phone.
“Yeah, sorry. We will have to go on another day.”
“Why? Shin-Ae, what are you doing? No, really, you didn't get yourself in another mess, did you?”
“No, I didn't. I'll tell you later. I'm hanging up, bye!”
Shin-Ae put away her phone before Kosuke could come back from wherever he went. She was sitting in a restaurant of some sort, it was open but there weren't any customers besides herself and Kosuke. After an embarrassing trip in his car where he finally managed to make her admit that she didn't remember his name, she made sure she wouldn't forget it. Despite how mature he acted before, he teased her about not remembering his name until they reached the restaurant.
“Did you already decide what you want to eat?” he said when he came back, sitting in front of her.
She hurried to take the menu and read it.
He laughed a bit and waited until she had decided what to order. They ate mostly in silence.
“My brother wants to befriend you,” Kosuke said, after they ordered dessert.
Shin-Ae stared at Kosuke. “And did he tell you why?”
Kosuke shrugged and Shin-Ae frowned.
“Though I can understand why. You are pretty interesting.”
“Oh, am I?”
“Yes. At least you don't look like you want to jump onto m-” he cut himself before he could say anything more. He didn't want to think about those exhausting people right now. He wanted to relax. “Have you thought about it?”
“Um? Err... No. Not yet,” she said. After thinking deeply she looked straight in his eyes. “This is a serious matter but... There's this chocolate special edition I've been trying to get a hold of and...”
“Wait, wait,” he cut her. “You want chocolate?”
“Uh... Yes?” she said, not understanding why would that sound strange.
He laughed then. After that, he started to ask Shin-Ae questions about food, and the more he asked, the more she answered. They ended up sharing a lot of information about food and Shin-Ae discovered that Kosuke and her had a lot in common, meal wise.
When Shin-Ae stood up to go to the bathroom she noticed that outside had started to rain. When she came back from the bathroom she felt something was off. For starters, she and Kosuke were the only ones in the restaurant. When she sat again on her chair she noticed that he had fallen asleep on the table, one arm stretched out over it. She observed him, listening to the rain outside getting stronger and stronger.
She was a bit mad. He was the one who took her there, and she needed a ride to go back home, but Kosuke was asleep and as much as she wanted to kick him awake she couldn't bring herself to do so. Instead, she just looked at him and before she could think what she was doing, she was stroking his head with one and, the other tangling her fingers with his.
She froze on her spot and Kosuke opened an eye.
“He...hey...” she whispered, not knowing what to do with her hands. “It's... raining cats and dogs outside and I need a ride back home.”
He smiled. “Shin-Ae-ssi... I doubt I can drive right now, I'm sorry.”
Shin-Ae pulled away in one motion, sitting up on her chair and looking at Kosuke as if he had grown another head. “Where did the 'Miss Yoo' go?” she asked, half surprised, half amused.
“Don't know...” Kosuke turned his head and covered his face with his arms. “When the rain stops wake me up, please,” he added, voice muffled.
“Err... Yeah... Sure...” She looked through the window. Several minutes passed by and she remembered the other thing that was weird. “Hey! Kosuke, were are all the waiters and staff?”
“Mh?” He lifted his head slightly, only one eye visible through his bangs. “I told them to go home for the day.”
“You... Whut!?”
“I told them to go away. I will be the one closing this place. I have the key.”
She made a face. This guy was really weird. First talking about panda moans and then sending a whole restaurant's staff home?
“Why?”
“I wanted to be alone.”
Okay, time to look for an exit, Shin-Ae, she thought, looking at her surroundings.
“Don't worry, Shin-Ae-ssi, I won't do anything to you.”
“One second! You say you want to be alone, so why am I here?”
“You are pleasant to have around, I suppose.”
“Huh... That's weird. You barely know me, you can't say something like that so lightly.”
Only one eye was still visible but she could tell he was smiling. Then, he sat up, leaning over the table and touching one of Shin-Ae's hand.
“Is that so? Why were you touching my head before?”
She felt her cheeks hot. “I... was not?”
Kosuke chuckled. “Yeah... And I suppose you didn't take my hand either.”
Shin-Ae looked away, but she didn't retire her hand. Kosuke's thumb started to draw circles over her skin, and still she didn't pull away.
“How would I know?”
“It was your hand.”
“So what?”
“Why are you fighting me?”
“Why are you asking so many questions?”
“You are really cool...” Kosuke concluded. Then, he stood up and walked towards the window. “It'll stop raining soon. I'll drive you home, let's go.”
It was kind of scary how natural was the way Kosuke took her hand on their way to the car, or when she sat on the copilot seat and he closed the door for her. On their way back, neither of them said a single word, and the trip seemed shorter than when they were headed towards the restaurant.
“Ah! You can drop me here, I will walk home from here,” she said when they approached her street.
At first, Kosuke wasn't convinced of doing that, but since it wasn't raining anymore he agreed.
“Shin-Ae-ssi, wait a moment, please,” he asked, while he went to the back of the car. Shin-Ae was already out of it and looking anxiously at the street. She could hear what Maya would say if she saw her climbing down Kosuke's car. “Could you please close your eyes?”
She eyeid him with suspicion again. “Why?”
He chuckled. “I'm giving you something.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“As thanks.”
She decided to fall for it and closed here eyes. When nothing happened she opened them again to find Kosuke way closer to her than before. That startled her, and she jumped backwards. As soon as she opened her mouth he threw something inside before she could say anything. She froze. What was that guy trying to do now? But what was inside her mouth tasted good, and sweet.
“Fofofafe?” she said, mouth full. Chocolate? She thought.
“You said you liked it. How is it? Tasty?”
Shin-Ae was still savouring it, but something on the smug face in front of her made her choose to do something stupid. “Fafe if!” she half said, stepping closed to him. She took him by his neck tie and pulled him closer. Yes, you taste it and tell me later, she thought.
Indeed, he tasted the chocolate, though not in a way he thought he would—directly from Shin-Ae's mouth.
When she released him he could see in her eyes how she was processing what just happened. She hadn't planned that at all. Licking rest of chocolate from his lips, he smiled.
“We better don't tell about this to Yeong-Gi or else he won't be your friend anymore.”
“Sh-sh-shut up!” Shin-Ae's eyes were spinning and her face was red.
Kosuke chuckled again, taking one of Shin-Ae's hands in his. “I won't think anything of this unless you tell me there's is something deeper behind your actions, so relax.”
She couldn't believe her ears. He was surely teasing her. “Next time it'll be pizza!” She didn't know what she was saying at all, her brain was half working.
“As you wish. Thank you for this lovely date, see you soon,” he kissed the back of her hand and then went back to his car.
Shin-Ae was still looking at the place where Kosuke had kissed her hand, the same hand that was showing Min Hyuk's gift.
“...” She felt like screaming, but couldn't. “I better not tell anyone about this,” she mumbled, unaware of Maya being one block away, or that he had taken a picture of her crime. If she had, she most surely wouldn’t have gone to Maya's bakery at all.