AFTERGLOW |CYJ

62

Julia moves her eyes to her date sitting in front of her ; she didn't have to take a guess, he was popular by the way he confidently strided through the cafe and settled down in front of her like an obedient date. "Hi.", she says, contemplating whether a stronger term of compliance was needed to wake his attention. He stared at her , then gently moved behind to rest his arm over the headrest of the seat. His knees were slowly drifting from touching, and in his glory, he manspreaded. He might seem unlikely to have manners by he has a voice that is viscous like honey, "Hi.", he smirks.

"You're late", Julia says.

"I know, but I focused on making it here.", he answers, and Julia's patience faulters. One look at him and she knew he was playing hard to get.

"So, you have a girlfriend?", Julia asks, her vampiric irises focusing on him, his nuances.

"No, I'm looking for a date for my friend", he tells her, but his sweet voice hasn't bothered to introduce his name.

"You still haven't answered my question", she adds, dragging her cold coffee close to her lips.

He sighs. "No.", he mutters. "I don't have a girlfriend."

Julia's lips curve for a smile.

"Who are you to Hyuna?", she finally raises the question.

"Her husband.", he replies, with no hesitation, and Julia is stunned by his response. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, "It's fated. We're meant to marry, maybe not now, but in afterlife", he states, and Julia feels the urge to look away.

He needed more description, it was indeed, Heeseung himself.

"Tell me what you are now."

"I told you already. We're meant to be married, regardless of what we are now."

"You seem very loyal.", she remarks.

"I have an ick", he confirms.

"For being excessively loyal?"

"For relationships", he replies confidently, "I think they fucking suck."

"I'll get to the point, Julia. I am not here to ask you out to be my girlfriend", he says, lifting his fingers up to comb through his hair. He excudes loyalty to his best friend, and that's affecting Julia in ways she cannot express. It isn't the best date of her life, Heeseung's demeanor makes her rethink her approach, her tone that doesn't seem to even vaguely make him turn towards her. He looked like he had his own ways of approaching things that aren't related to his profession.

But there's something in his gaze that makes her double take and sustain her gaze on him before a sliver of his beauty slips out of her tender vision. He's handsome, but in ways she cannot express, he has her swoon and speechless. It's oddly uncomfortable, but she continues looking at him.

"Excuse me.", she says, raising up from her seat and rushing to the restroom for a moment. Heeseung sighs as he props both his hands on the table, clapsing both of them together as if he were in the most important conferance of his life. His date, Julia however showed no signs of compliance, she looked displeased and he didn't let that affect his confidence.

Julia returns to the table with a new attire, her ash blond hair pulled down and brushed smoothly. None of them are eager to agree to date. It was complex, Julia was not aware of the complexities of dating a celebrity, and Heeseung, he was still grieving for his best friend. He's usually not the type to take his own words in consideration, he's well aware that he told his idol collegue to move on by dating, but was he ready for dating himself? Absolutely not, although however, Julia has crossed his mind a several times. He's eager to date, but not to love. He has been the type of person to go with the flow, but this flow has him confused, it has him questioning his most authentic self, a vampire.