Ice: Thaw the Frozen Heart [EDITING]

Chapter 38

Luhan alighted the car with a wide smile. He looked at his own reflection on his car's window to make sure his hair was arranged neatly before locking his car with a click of the remote. Pushing the door to the restaurant open, he stepped inside and the smell of pizza and pasta greeted him.

Areum had chosen where to eat. It surprised him, actually, when she called him this morning to have a date. Usually, he was always the one to arrange their dates. He wouldn't complain about this change though.

The place was just a small Italian restaurant tucked between other old shops. Areum had always loved simplicity. And that was what attracted Luhan first. She was different than the girls he grew up amongst. Jewelries were not her thing. She was intelligent, hardworking and didn't mind starting from the bottom. On top of that, she was effortlessly beautiful. But most importantly, to Luhan she felt like home. She made him feel complete and like he was where he was supposed to be. She was the force that made him brave enough to tell his dad that he wanted to start his own business in China from the bottom. He wouldn't lie though; he somewhat felt guilty for leaving Sehun to be the one expected to replace their dad later.

Luhan's smile grew wider when he spotted Areum sitting at one of the tables. She looked like she was deep in thought, blankly staring ahead. He chuckled lowly before carefully approaching her from behind. Once behind her, he stooped to give her a peck on the cheek. She jumped on her seat, and quickly whipped her head to the side. Her widened eyes bearing a glare looked straight at his gentle ones.

"Luhan." Her glare softened when she realized it was him.

Luhan chuckled and smiled. "Hi, angel!" He rounded the table to sit across her.

A small smile grew on Areum's face. "Hey," she breathed out.

"Sorry for being late. I just met up with a good friend." Luhan smiled, but Areum was natrowing her eyes on him suspiciously. "What?" He asked with a chuckle. "Oh, don't worry. Not a girl. He's a guy."

"Who?" Areum refused to just let it slide, and it only made Luhan laughed.

"Are you jealous, angel?" He reached to pinch her cheek. "You're cute when you're jealous." He grinned while she frowned. "He's a junior I met during my studies in China," he explained. "The name's Suho."

"Suho?" Areum's eyes widened. "Kim Suho?"

"Yeah." Luhan nodded. "You know him?"

Now Areum broke into a grin. "Yeah. He's Yifan's friend. Met him a few times when we were-" Areum stopped herself, realizing what she was just about to say.

Right at that moment, a waitress came to their table to take their orders. Areum mentally thanked the girl because she almost spilled out the fact that she had dated Yifan before. She had not told Luhan about that, and she honsetly felt bad about it. That was actually one of the reasons why she asked to have a date with Luhan today. She wanted to tell him everything.

The thought had been bothering her ever since Yifan kissed her at the bus stop. She was able to reprimand Yifan then and even made herself looked unaffected by the kiss. Yet, the truth was when she was left alone at the bus stop, she almost broke down. There were still little sparks inside her when Yifan's lips landed on hers. It was as if feelings she had buried deep were resurfacing. It scared her and it felt very wrong. She didn't want to feel anything for Yifan any longer. Areum believed that those were just sparks from old feelings she probably still had left because they didn't have a proper closure back then. She ended everything with Yifan one-sidedly when she was still in love with him. But Areum knew she now had Luhan. And she loved him. Very much. She was scared of losing him if he knew what happened. Burrying secrets from her fiance wouldn't be right, but she couldn't spill them out so casually either.