𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕄𝕖 || ℂ.𝕐𝕁

~2~

He stood up from his place on the ground, leaning forward to brush off his knees. When he straightened up, his eyes found mine with a smile, and he extended his hand.

Trying to tamp down the blush threatening to crawl up my neck, I took it.

"I'm Yeonjun," he told me, shaking my hand once.

His hand was warm, fingers around mine, and I hoped my hand wasn't sweaty. How embarrassing it would be if he wiped his hand on his pants once I pulled away.

"I'm Adelaide," I replied, smiling. "Nice to meet you." I realized I was still holding his hand, and let go.

"Nice to meet you too, although I wish it wasn't under these circumstances," Yeonjun said with a smile. After a moment, I realized it was a joke.

"I'm so sorry about Alia," I apologized, sitting back down on the bench I had been on earlier. I picked up my book, flipping through to find my page. "She's not usually like that. I hope your daughter's okay."

Yeonjun sat down next to me, a safe distance away. We were at both edges of the bench now, and I was glad. If he was any closer in proximity, I'd probably spontaneously combust. "It's alright, Jiho's a tough one. I'm sure she'll be fine."

We were silent for a moment, watching the little girls play, when Yeonjun spoke again. "I'm sure you've heard this before, but Alia looks just like you. Except her eyes, they're different. She's very cute." He smiled at me, and I looked away, avoiding his eyes.

My mind was spinning. We'd only spoken to each other for a total of five minutes, yet he'd already noticed my eyes were different from hers? And maybe I was overthinking it, but he said she was cute, and that she looked like me, so did that mean he thought I was cute?

I shot back to the conversation once I realized I hadn't spoken. "You're right, she has her fathers eyes." I didn't want to talk about Josh, but it felt rude to not say anything. "Apparently if only one of your parents has blue eyes, you can't be born with them."

"Genetics, always messing things up," he joked. "So, is her dad at work?"

My eyebrows raised. "I'm not sure. Maybe. He's... not exactly in the picture."

Yeonjun's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, I'm sorry, that was probably insensitive of me."

"It's okay, don't worry about it. I don't mind. She sees him most weeks, it's been like that since she was little," I replied. "Well, littler."

"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" Yeonjun asked. "I mean, you seem pretty young, but obviously she's not, like, a newborn baby."

I cocked my head to the side, smiling a pitying smile, lips pressed into a thin line. "Oh, Yeonjun. Don't you know better than to ask a woman's age?"

The look on his face at that moment was priceless. His face shifted from shock, to fear, to embarrassment. He rubbed his nape shyly, drawing my attention to his arms.

His muscles were well defined, the curl of his arm made them tense. He was wearing a wide-sleeved tank top, tucked into his jeans. It was a look I knew I'd never be able to pull off, but he did, perfectly.

I snapped back to attention when I realized he'd been speaking. "Sorry, what'd you say?" I asked shyly, embarrassed.

"I was apologizing, for asking," Yeonjun repeated, hands tangled in his lap.

It was cute, how he was so worried about making a good impression.

"Oh, don't worry, I was only joking, couldn't you tell?" I teased, seizing every opportunity to make him fidget.