The Angel Next Door (Rosé X Female Reader)

30: The Date

Word Count: 12,804

"Good morning, Y/N."

Most people would start an outing by meeting up somewhere, but Rosé met me at my apartment. Since she lived next door, we didn't need to go to the trouble of arranging a meeting place. Instead, Rosé came directly to my door.

She certainly did look different.

"Morning... Oh, you put your hair up today."

"I thought it would get in the way if we're going to be playing with cats. How do you like it?"

Rosé usually wore her long hair half up and half down, but today it was braided and gathered up in a bun. It looked like a more complex version of what she did with it when she was cooking.

"Yeah, it looks good."

"It's nice of you to say so, but... W-well... if you're going to laugh, just laugh, okay?"

"What are you talking about?"

"...You think it looks silly, don't you?"

Rosé was squeezing her arms tightly over her chest. Her outfit showed a little bit more skin than usual.

Putting it that way might make it seem like she was wearing a very exposing outfit, but her top was a chiffon blouse with an open collar, and the pure-white skin of her neck was peeking out, which just gave the illusion of more exposure. The blouse had a long lantern sleeve with slits in the sides and lace panels that ran along the length so her upper arms were partially hidden but still showed through. It was subtly enticing.

Of course, she had an undershirt on, so it wasn't like I was at risk of seeing anything if I looked at her from above, but somehow I found the look both tidy and alluring in the way it enhanced her femininity.

On the bottom, she was wearing skinny jeans, perhaps because she was preparing to play with cats at the café. The jeans fit tightly to her figure, hugging her slender legs.

On her wrist, she wore the flower bracelet I had given her as a present. I remembered her saying she was going to wear it with care, and I felt warmth in my chest.

"I don't think you look silly. In fact, I think you look even prettier than usual."

"Well, don't you look the part today? Your parents must have raised you to be a smooth talker."

"Dad always told me that you ought to compliment a girl when she's all dressed up... Of course, it's not just flattery, you know."

"...I'll believe you."

Rosé's face flushed slightly red, and she held her bag tight. I smiled wryly and almost patted her head, but I stopped myself. I expected she wouldn't be pleased if I messed up her elaborate hairdo before we even started our outing.

Rosé blinked like she'd been expecting it but seemed to understand I was being considerate of her hair, and so she smiled at me. She did give my hand a bit of a wary look, though.

"...Y/N, recently you've been a little obsessed with patting my head, haven't you?"

"If you don't like it, I'll stop. I know I shouldn't touch you too excessively."

"N-no, that's not what I meant... I, um, I want to be able to play with your hair, too, when I want to."

"That's fine... I don't mind, but you can't do it now. It took an awful amount of time to fix it... I'm not so good with this."

I had donned my "mystery woman" outfit to go out with Rosé, taking the time to carefully arrange my hair. My outfit choice was relaxed. It was obviously not as much effort as Rosé had gone to, but I was used to looking like a slob next to her, and this time I'd at least tried.