Colors || Lee Jeno

Chapter 11 | "tell me more"

Hyewon woke up bright and early the next morning, a mix of nervousness and excitement tingling through her as she got ready for her date with Jeno.

She put on a light blue sun dress, pairing it with some sandals and light makeup, hiding a knife on a thigh harness just for good measure. She looked herself over with a satisfied hum before checking the time.

Seeing she had a few minutes to spare, she sat on the edge of her bed in silence. As excited as she was, there was also a sadness about her. She wanted to get to know Jeno, but a huge part of her still was attached to Xiaojun . She knew she needed to let that go, but it would take time.

Hyewon was quickly ripped out of her thoughts as her phone buzzed, signaling that it was time to leave. She quickly grabbed her back and slipped out of her room unnoticed, hopping into her car and driving away to where she was supposed to meet Jeno.

"Well hello there, you look beautiful." Jeno said with a smile as he noticed her walking towards him. "I can finally get a good look at you in the light."

"Aw you're too sweet." She replied with a chuckle, hiding the blush on her cheeks. "And pretty handsome yourself."

He just brushed it off with a laugh as they begin to stroll down the river walk.

"So, a mafia girl, hmm? You must be pretty tough." He said lightly.

"I try." She shrugged. "It helps that most people are expecting a small 20 year old girl to beat them up."

"Oh you're 20? You're only a bit younger than me then! I turned 21 about 3 months ago."

"Well first off, happy late birthday." She chuckled. "And I'm almost 21. My birthday is next month."

"Nice. I'll make sure to remember that." He said with a smile. "So tell me more about yourself..."

- - -

They continued to walk and talk for the next hour, and it was actually very pleasant. Even though she knew he was her soulmate and therefore they'd be perfect for each other, she was still shocked by how much they had in common.

She found herself laughing the afternoon away with Jeno, talking about their similar interests and even making plans for fun adventures in the future. To her surprise, she never even found herself thinking about Xiaojun, too engaged with the new boy in front of her who seemed to know exactly what to say.

Soon they reached a small clearing along the river where they decided to take a seat on a bench together. They stared out over the river in silence.

It wasn't an awkward silence though, it was peaceful. They relaxed in the comforting sounds of the river and just enjoyed being next to one another.

Jeno slowly shifted closer to her, she could feel him moving but payed no attention to him until he tried to put his arm around her shoulders. She wasn't even thinking when she unconsciously flinched away, making him freeze. Realizing what she had done, Hyewon instantly turned to him, the apology clear on her face.

"Sorry I'm-"

"No it's- it's my bad I shouldn't have..."

"No it's not you, um..." she let out a deep sigh. "up until that night that we saw colors, I was actually in a relationship with someone else."

His eyes widened in shock.

"Oh." Was all he could say.

"Yeah. He's a member of my gang and we'd been dating for a whole year, thinking that we'd eventually see color."

"I see... so that means you broke up only 2 weeks ago.... Yikes." Jeno said, shooting her a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah it's not ideal. I get that he wasn't my soulmate but it's still a bit... sore, so I'm sorry if I'm little bit awkward or apprehensive, I swear it's not anything you're doing wrong."

"Hyewon, I get it. You're the first girl I've dated but I can only imagine how hard that was to end. Im okay with slow and starting off as friends. " he said warmly. "Whatever makes you comfortable."

"Yeah?" She asked softly, a warm smile making its way onto her face.

"Yeah. I just want to get to know you a bit and obviously I'm here for you in whatever capacity I can be. If you time before we take the next step, I'm okay with that."

"Thank you, Jeno."

"Of course. I know we just met but I promise you can talk to me." He replied with a nod, his signature eye smile returning to his face.

"I know I can."