Wonderland || Park Sunghoon

twenty-eight

"You sure I look alright? I feel like I should have dressed... I don't know. More formal," Sunghoon said nervously, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles on his shirt. 

Nari looked over at him and laughed, and despite his nerves, her laughter made him smile too. 

"More formal? What, did you want to come over in a tux?" she teased, rolling her eyes playfully at him. "You look adorable," she said, eyes scanning over his outfit. "Actually, you somehow make jeans and a button down look extremly dressy. You look gorgeous. Aren't I so lucky to have you?" she gushed, holding onto his arm and peering up at him. 

"I'm the lucky one," he murmured, getting lost in her eyes for a moment, before the door opened, snapping him back to reality. 

"Mom!" Nari said excitedly. "This is Sunghoon," she said, dragging him inside by the wrist. 

Sunghoon had prepared a formal greeting, a little introduction of himself, one that he'd been mentally practicing in his head. 

But her mom went off "script" and hugged him. 

"I'm so glad to finally meet you!" Nari's mom gushed. "She's been talking about you all week. Wow, you're even more handsome than I'd anticipated." 

"Mom!" Nari whined, and when Sunghoon glanced over at her, her face was flushed in embarrassment. 

On the other hand, he was delighted. Delighted to hear that Nari talked about him, and delighted that her mother thought he was handsome. 

"Mr.Park!" Nayeon squealed, running out of one of the rooms and rushing over to him. "Are you here to take me to a skating lesson?" 

Sunghoon couldn't help laughing, she was so cute. "Not today," he told her. "But one day, I could give you a special private lesson. Huh? What would you think of that?" 

"I would love that!" she said excitedly, clapping her hands. 

It made his heart happy. Not only was he close to Nari, but her little sister liked him as well. Even her mother seemed to like him. Hopefully she would like him enough to answer yes to his question... 

"Dinner is ready, if you'd like to eat now," Nari's mother said, leading the way. 

"Actually..." Sunghoon said nervously, his nerves only increasing when her mother turned back to him, a look of surprise on her face. "I'd like to ask something, first, if that's alright." 

She nodded, "go ahead." 

He took a deep breath, glancing over at Nari, who gave him an encouraging smile. 

"I'd like to formally ask permission to date Nari," he said, barely managing to hold eye contact. 

He was so nervous that he could feel himself shaking a little. But his nerves disappeared when her mother's face broke into a smile. 

"That's why you looked so nervous?" her mother said, in a tone slightly teasing. It reminded him of Nari. "Well, yes. Yes, you can date Nari. Now come eat. And you better tell me more about yourself over dinner, if you're going to be dating my daughter." 

Sunghoon let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Nari took his hand and squeezed it tight. 

He looked back at her mother. "Yes ma'am!" he said excitedly, walking over to help set the table.

***

A/N 

Posting again this week because we hit 10k🥺 Thank you so much💖 

And a heads up, this book is 30 chapters long, which means there's only 2 more to go until it's finished~