Blue Spaces Between Us

pt. I: the island - Meet-Cute

"Um." Wooyoung blinks at the rainbow flag half covered by an elbow. Then his eyes move up again, up over a freckled neck to the guy's face. It's the face of a pretty boy – lips curved into a pleasant smile that showcases dimples, sharp cheekbones, attentive eyes. A boy too pretty, perhaps, to be the target of Wooyoung's first ever attempt to flirt with a stranger.

"You're asking whether I have a phone," the guy repeats slowly, more a statement than a question, albeit a very confused one. A beat passes, then the corners of his mouth quirk up, amused.

Wooyoung wants to die. He regrets everything in his life that lead him up to this point: from passing his CSATs to joining his family for their holidays to gushing to Jongho and Hongjoong via text about the boy in a suit behind the reception desk who was too pretty to be real.

In hindsight, it's obvious, but Wooyoung realizes that he should have listened to Jongho. Disrespectful dongsaeng or not, he did reply to every single one of Wooyoung's messages, and also told Wooyoung that every single pick up-line he listed was a horrible idea.

And then, maybe just for the sake of his reputation as the worst dongsaeng ever, Jongho quipped that Wooyoung would be too afraid to flirt with the pretty stranger without the use of cringe-worthy pick up-lines anyway. Of course Wooyoung had wanted to prove him wrong.

Of course he would end up doing the exact opposite.

It's also not exactly a fireproof defence that the pretty boy's smile as Wooyoung entered the lobby again – nothing more than a friendly tilt of his head and the upturn of his lips – made Wooyoung's thinking come to a screeching halt. It all happened within the short way he was walking up to the counter. In those crucial seconds, he managed to forget all the cool, not cringe-worthy, phrases he'd thought of just moments prior.

Was getting the phone number of a good-looking stranger too much to ask for? Why was Wooyoung, after spending three years of high school with 98% painfully straight people, and after passing his CSATs with above-average grades, not able to just let loose and live a little? Sure, he hoped to get into a university in Seoul this year, which would also mean having the most gay bars within South Korea in a one-hour radius. But before university, he was still here, on holidays with his family, and there might never be a better opportunity for letting loose. His dad had cheered the moment he spotted the little rainbow flag on the counter in one of the hotel's pictures on the internet, and that basically decided their accommodation for the holidays.

Blinking himself back into the present, Wooyoung's gaze flits from the pretty stranger's face to the little affirming rainbow flag on the counter and back. He probably has two choices now: one is to run. He'd regret the moment for the rest of his stay on this island and be awkward whenever he'd cross ways with the pretty guy. Or, two, he could try to save this situation, save himself the embarrassment, and make one last attempt at grasping for the steadily decreasing chance of getting the guy interested in him.

It's not even a question he's going for the latter option. Wooyoung clears his throat and leans against the counter in a more casual stance. "Sorry, I meant phone numb-"

What the fuck. When his brain catches up with his words, Wooyoung stops talking abruptly. What the fuck. Of course the pretty receptionist has a phone number.

Okay, that's it – he's giving up. Horrified, Wooyoung closes his mouth, while the pretty guy's amused smile transforms into a full-on grin now that deepens his dimples. He doesn't say anything yet, though he does tilt his head, waiting.

"You know what, forget it," Wooyoung concludes, his cheeks flaring up under the guy's curious eyes that wander all over his face, his shoulders, the collar of his shirt. "I was asking for a friend, a, uh, a male friend, but you're probably straight anyway..."

The rainbow flag finally gets fully uncovered when the pretty receptionist takes his elbows off the counter. Wooyoung curses himself for jumping to conclusions too fast: that rainbow sticker could mean anything; maybe someone just had a desperate wish for more colour in the lobby workplace, who knows? Wooyoung is certainly not an interior designer.

"... Sorry for bothering you," Wooyoung cuts his words short, trying to save the last bits and pieces of his dignity. He hopes, as an afterthought, that the receptionist won't tell anyone about this. Maybe Wooyoung should make sure and ask him to take their encounter to the grave – but no, it's not worth the added embarrassment.

Wooyoung has enough for today. He just wants to make it back to his family's hotel suite and whine for an eternity rather than ever trying to talk – to flirt – with anyone attractive ever again.

The receptionist quirks an eyebrow, tilting his head the other way – and it's only then that Wooyoung realizes he's still standing in the same spot, still staring at the guy. As the guy opens his mouth, Wooyoung finds himself whirling around and fleeing through the nearest door to the stairwell. He is not in the mood to listen to a rejection today. The door slides closed behind him, granting him the silent reassurance of never having to live through such a horrible experience again.

Wooyoung curses under his breath. While taking two steps at once to the second floor, he whips out his phone to call Jongho to... huh. Either to whine about how his entire family holiday just became unbearably awkward and terrible, or to make Jongho responsible for everything. Maybe both.

Here it is: Woosan's meet-cute, the prologue of Blue Spaces, a.k.a. Wooyoung stumbling over his words in front of his 'pretty receptionist' (who can blame him though?) Any ideas on what might happen now that Wooyoung has had his shot at flirting? xD

Also, a bit on Wooyoung's character that you maybe noticed while reading: the image he has of himself and his actions are not always aligning. Situations like the one above, where he curses himself for jumping to conclusions too fast, but immediately after just assumes that San is straight... it will happen again. Just as a little TMI on Woo you can look out for in the next chapters ;)

I probably won't manage to update every seven days, but I'm planning on uploading a new chapter every or every second Saturday (:

I hope to see you in the next chapter and can't wait to hear from you! Ly🧡