Chapter 8: First Date
"Should I open the door for your boo?" Yohan asked, teasing.
"Could you?" Doha said before sprinting into the bathroom at light’s speed.
Yohan was stunned a little and then chuckled.
"He’s really down bad, huh."
Yohan went ahead and opened the door to the waiting omega.
The moment the door opened, Jang Song-rik flipped up a bouquet of roses right into Yohan’s face.
Without looking up, he blurted out...
"I want to date you too! Can I please be your boyfriend?"
"Pfft...! "
Song-rik looked up and saw another omega standing in front of him.
First he looked horrified that he might have come to wrong apartment. Then he looked hurt that another omega was at Doha’s place this late at night. And at last, he was confused and embarrassed for confessing to the wrong person.
The entire charade of emotions was very obvious to Yohan as he could read the omega’s thought right from his face.
"I’m Han Yohan. Doha’s best friend and colleague. I came here for some drinks so don’t misunderstand."
Yohan said when Song-rik almost looked teary.
Song-rik remembered Secretary Cha mentioning someone called Han Yohan in Doha’s circle.
"Ah! Nice to meet you! I’m Jang Song-rik. I’m Doha’s... "
*poof!
The door confesser turned red as he was at a loss to what to say next.
What am I to Doha? We aren’t even dating yet...
"I should leave you two to talk. I was on my way home anyway. You can wait here, he’s in the bathroom."
Yohan walked pass Song-rik through the door and bowed.
"Ah, yes. See you soon."
Song-rik bowed back.
Then the door closed with Song-rik inside the apartment with his large bouquet of roses.
The last time Song-rik came to this apartment was the first time he met Doha. Because he was in a heat, he didn’t really look around much.
Now that he came in, he could feel Doha’s smell everywhere inside the room.
Roses. He couldn’t tell if they were the ones in his hands or the ones in his head.
Song-rik quietly sat down on the couch besides the kitchen table. It was an open kitchen merging into the living room.
Yeon Doha, on the other hand, was having a panic attack because he didn’t expect Song-rik to show up with an answer the very evening.
He could’ve just said yes on the phone. Why did he come in person?!
As much as Doha acted cool, he wasn’t really the nasty type. He was surprisingly shy about dating.
But he figured things would only get more awkward and harder if he kept stalling for time in the bathroom.
He opened the door and on his couch, laid the omega who had a large bouquet of roses in his arms.
That thing is as big as him. How did he even carry it up here?
Doha coughed a little.
"Hey," he said.
Wow, that sounded so stiff!
"Ah! Hi.. Hic," Song-rik hiccuped in the middle of answering.
Embarrassed, he hid his face in the bouquet and didn’t even look at Doha.
Doha was... relieved.
He was an amateur at relationships but Song-rik was an even bigger one.
He felt his confidence coming back as he walked over the mortified omega.
He sat down beside him on the couch and slowly slid his hand behind his ear and rose his head up.
He was so red, Doha couldn’t tell which were the roses apart from Song-rik.
"Seeing the big-ass bouquet you brought, I assume your answer is a yes," Doha couldn’t take his eyes off his face. "Am I right, mister?"
Song-rik couldn’t meet his eyes. That poor guy was so embarrassed and shy.
"Uh... Yeah... " He almost whispered.
Doha had seen Yeon Soohi often jump and act weird after seeing cats videos on her phone.
He often told her to quit it as it was annoying but Soohi declared it was out of her control.
She called this uncontrollable feeling ’cute aggression’.
Yeon Doha had finally experienced this feeling and felt sorry for telling his sister off.
This feeling really is uncontrollable...
"Then this is our day one of dating," Doha said looking away to hide his red face.
"Mhm... "
Song-rik nodded.
"Ah! Your roses!" The omega suddenly yelled before plunging the bouquet towards Doha.
Doha held them from Song-rik’s hand and smiled.
"Thank you."
Song-rik then jumped up and yelled.
"There are more gifts! Secretary Cha can bring them up! I just wanted to carry the roses myself, so... "
Doha put down the bouquet and sighed.
Ah... there it is... the trash attitude.
You don’t bring a charade of gifts on your first day of dating! That’s way too much pressure!
"Mister," Doha held Song-rik’s hand. "I don’t need any gifts. Instead, let’s go on a date."
"Ah... a date. A DATE!!? When? Ah, no! Just tell me when you’re free, I’ll come to you... "
Song-rik was excited about being asked out on a date. He looked happy but Doha was not.
Yeon Doha cupped Song-rik’s face in his hand and tapped his head on his forehead.
"Why would I see you only when I’m free?"
"... "
Song-rik looked confused.
"Mister. Rule one of liking someone, you don’t see them in your free time, you make time for them."
"That shows sincerity and care. I’ll make time for you mister."
Song-rik felt his heart fluttering and melting with those words. Like a lump you get in your throat when you hold back tears. But sweeter and warm.
He’ll make time for me...
"And can I kiss you?"
Song-rik looked at Doha with a little confusion.
Did I hear that right?
"Mister, can I kiss you now?" Yeon Doha asked again with a needy face.
"Huh... Ah... We’re dating and all... So you don’t really need to ask... "
*chup~
Doha pecked at Song-rik’s lips just a little. It was indeed becoming harder and harder to hold back.
"I will ask you every time I kiss you, mister," he said stroking the black hair off the shocked omega’s forehead.
"It’s my way of knowing you. What and when you like it. Mister, I am going to annoy the hell out of you with these questions."
Doha sneered childishly before taking another peck.
Song-rik couldn’t be more red.
"Can I ask questions too?" He asked.
"Yes, of course. It’ll hurt if I’m the only curious one."
Doha replied stroking Song-rik’s ear.
"Then... Can I get a hug?"
"... "
"... "
Swish and clasp!
Doha took Song-rik in a cute hug and hid the omega in his hoodie zippers’ flaps. Red from the cute aggression, Doha’s eyes were trembling.
"Damn, mister. You’re making me the horny one for kissing you... "
"But I wanted that kiss too... "
Ha! Who the fuck said this guy fucks a new alpha each week?! If anything... he’s the one...
Suddenly, a realization dawned upon Yeon Doha.
The entire novel, The Forgotten Flower, was written by his original sister in a state of compromised mental health.
Most of the time while writing it, she drunk out of her mind.
So... just in case... a very scary thought crossed Doha’s mind.
Could he really trust his sister’s judgement of the characters as an author?
Is it really the case of that famous trope of an ’unreliable narrator’?
The realization terrified Doha.
Because if what the novel said was inaccurate to the actual truth, then...
No move he had made until then was a safe move.
After all, there was a reason this novel had the genre setting written as a tragedy.
Jang Song-rik is going to kill Oh Ryujin at the end of the novel.
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