I smiled as I looked around at the traditional restaurant I found through an alley in Insadong. It felt so authentic because of the wooden walls, taking off your shoes before coming in the restaurant and sitting on the floor while eating samgyeopsal* and kimchijigae*. I loved it.
I closed my eyes and inhaled. Feeling the environment that surrounded me.
Ah, the smell of freedom.
My eyes opened as my head turned to the direction of the sudden burst of laughter as a group of guys entered the restaurant. I was about to turn my attention back to my food when the guy with the brunette colored hair caught my eye.
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He's cute.
Oh wow. He had those dreamy eyes, he had a nice smile and well defined jawline too. Even with his black coat, you can tell that he had broad shoulders. A perfect combination of manly and cute.
He could be an actor or a K-pop idol. But I was pretty knowledgeable when it comes to Korean actors and idols. If he was famous, I would surely recognize him without having any second thoughts...
Then, as if there's some sort of pull, his eyes found my gentle brown ones.
However, I'm not like those girls in k-dramas who would look away and blushing madly like a tomato.
Being me, I didn't look away. I just looked back at him. So what if I caught staring? I know that I wouldn't see him ever again after this night.
I watched as his grin turned into a close-lipped smile, tilting his head at me in curiosity. The corner of my lips turned into a smirk, knowing that I caught his attention. Maybe he would come over and asked me...
-
Whoa. Stop right there Ivory, you're getting way ahead of yourself.
Our staring contest was broken when the Ajumma* who seemed to own the restaurant came with my second bowl of rice. I don't eat lots of carbs back home but the rice here is just so good.
Well, food comes first.
"Kamsahamnida, ajummeoni." I said, smiling at her.
She bowed. "Ne~"
"Jeogiyo!" I called quickly before she went away. "Mul, juseyo."
"Mul?"
I'm glad I still remember those Korean language lessons I learned back during my university days. I love eating spicy dishes but just in case, the food here becomes too spicy for me to handle. I might even buy banana milk from the convenience store after this dinner.
I nodded. "Ye, ajummeoni."
When she walked away, I picked up my chopsticks and was about to dig in. But you know that tingling sensation at the back of your neck, like someone's looking at you? I pretty much felt that. So, I stopped, raised my head and looked around. That was when I saw that guy still looking at me, oblivious to his friends around him.
My eyes narrowed.
Why wouldn't he look away? I wasn't that beautiful. I'm not sure if I turned heads in the Philippines either. Maybe I look so foreign to him. You know the gist - fair to medium skin tone plus big almond brown eyes, and then the shoulder length hair with caramel brown highlights.
He still kept his eyes on me.
If I went on this staring contest again, my rice would get cold. And I don't want to eat cold rice. But if I looked away, I would appear weak.
I'm a bit weird, I know.
But... I'm hungry.
I sighed accepting my defeat.
I gotta do what I got to do.
In a count of...
3...
2...
1...
I flashed him the most charming smile I could do. I didn't wait for his reaction. Casually, I turned back my attention to my meal.
Since it was a small restaurant, I could clearly hear his chuckle from their table. The only thing I could understand from his friend's fast-speaking Korean mouths is they asked him what was up. From the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head.
I was pretending not to care and trying to focused on my food but I can't help but to get curious about their conversation even though I couldn't understand most of it. But then, he said something I understood very well.
A small word escaped from his lips.
A small word that made me freeze.
A small word that made me feel butterflies.
I mean, I didn't feel all giddy inside or anything. It just...I don't know. His word caught me by surprise.
As sneakily as I could but that's impossible because I'm not good with being sneaky, I looked up and glanced at him.
Oh crap.
He was obviously waiting for me because as soon as our eyes met again, he smiled and repeated what he said.
"Yeppeo."
Beautiful.
His deep husky voice made that word even more beautiful.
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I finally published my first story after many attempts and satisfied my inner fangirl too with this one 😄💕
