Chapter 30

"Double date"

While looking out of the window in the train, Taehyun kept impatiently tapping his foot on the floor. Yoo Jin couldn't stop staring at it while she felt herself getting slightly more and more annoyed at the continuous movement and noise.

"Taehyun…" said Yoo Jin in the calmest matter possible.

"Sorry," said Taehyun when he realized what she was referring to and he quickly stopped his foot and stayed still, "I think I am just a little nervous."

"Why? It is not like you haven't met them before," said Yoo Jin and leaned back in her seat.

"Last time I met them I was just your younger brother's awkward friend who had a crush on you," said Taehyun, "this time I am meeting them as your… your boyfriend." Even though they had been dating for a few months, the phrase 'boyfriend' still felt funny every time it rolled off of Taehyun's tongue.

"Don't be nervous, they are my best friends," said Yoo Jin, "it is going to be fun!"

"You are probably right," said Taehyun, "at least I get to see you all dressed up. You look really beautiful today."

"Really?" asked Yoo Jin and blushed, "I was afraid it was too much, but then again, we are going to a somehow fancy restaurant in Seoul, so I thought I should go all out now that I have the chance."

"I am not complaining about that decision one bit," said Taehyun. 

After finally arriving in Seoul and getting off the train, Yoo Jin and Taehyun began walking towards the designated restaurant, hand in hand and fingers intertwined.

"Oh la la," said Chaeyeong when she saw the loving couple walking towards them, "don't you two look cozy together?" 

"That could be us," said Eric playfully and nudged Chaeyeong in the side, but she quickly sent him a glare and muttered:

"Baby steps…"

"You two look pretty cozy too," said Yoo Jin to quickly divert the attention from herself while she slowly let go of Taehyun's hand.

"If you say so…" said Chaeyeong awkwardly, "but why are we standing out here? We should go inside."

The rest of the group nodded along and walked inside the restaurant together, whereafter they were guided to their reserved table. While carefully looking over the menu, they quietly spoke with each other to see what everyone was getting, talking it over before the waiter came to take their order.

Then, after the waiter took their order and left with the menus, he also left with the only subject of conversation the four people had. Everyone who sat at the table suddenly fell silent, staring into the air without knowing how to start the conversation.

Chaeyeong was the first to open her mouth, thinking she could ask Yoo Jin about her job hunt, until she realized it would only bring the mood down even more. So she slowly closed her mouth again and leaned back in her chair in defeat.

Yoo Jin's mind was going crazy, as she went over every possible topic in her mind, but time and time again she found it difficult to actually open her mouth and get the words out.

The silence was finally interrupted when the waiter walked over and placed a basket of bread sticks on the table. Now, instead of pure silence, the sound of crunching bread became part of the atmosphere.

"You know, I never actually learned how to bake bread sticks," said Chaeyeong all of a sudden and immediately everyone else looked up.

"Oh yeah, you are right," said Yoo Jin, "you were trying to get into baking as a hobby when we were in our first year."

"I still don't understand why you thought baking would be a good hobby," added Eric and Chaeyeong just stuck out her tongue in response.

"I don't know why I suddenly wanted to try out baking, I kept seeing all those videos on social media and it looked so easy," continued Chaeyeong.

"It wasn't," said Yoo Jin and laughed.

"No and you certainly didn't help either," said Chaeyeong and laughed too.

"Noona, you were trying to learn how to bake?" asked Taehyun, finally becoming a part of the conversation.

"Well, not really," said Yoo Jin, feeling slightly embarrassed, "I was just hanging out with Chaeyeong and she asked me if I wanted to try and bake some bread sticks."

"Big mistake from your path," said Eric and pointed at Chaeyeong.

"I know, but at that time I hadn't seen how clumsy Yoo Jin was when it came to… well practically everything."

"Hey!" yelled Yoo Jin offended.

"But, Noona… you are a little clumsy," said Taehyun and looked at her with such a loving expression it was impossible for her to be mad at him.

"Yeah alright," said Yoo Jin and in the same second, the waiter from before came back, this time to serve the main dish to everyone.

For a while, all that could be heard at the table was the sound of people happily eating, accompanied with a few remarks from the group agreeing that the food was indeed delicious.

"This restaurant was a good call, who chose it?" asked Yoo Jin and Chaeyeong quickly raised her hand.

"It had a lot of good reviews online," said Chaeyeong.

"You really do live your life on the internet, don't you?" asked Yoo Jin and Chaeyeong simply shrugged her shoulders.

"What do you expect with our education? I am on my computer 12 hours a day anyway," said Chaeyeong and Yoo Jin and Eric nodded understandingly.

Slowly, the conversation became more and more lively, as the subject also seemed to stay around the time Chaeyeong, Yoo Jin and Eric all went to University. Reminiscing about the past always made for a wonderful conversation, sadly it wasn't a conversation Taehyun could be part of in the slightest. At the time the three of them had started University, he was still in middle school, and that wasn't a fact he was planning on bringing up if he could avoid it. So instead, he slowly allowed himself to become more and more excluded from the conversation.

"And then-" Yoo Jin was suddenly interrupted when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, "oh, I have to take this. Excuse me, I will be right back." Yoo Jin quickly got up from her chair and answered the call while rushing out of the restaurant.

Taehyun looked up and suddenly realized there were two sets of eyes planted solely on him.

"Um… do I have something on my face?" asked Taehyun after a little while and Chaeyeong laughed slightly while shaking her head.

"No, I am sorry, we shouldn't be staring," said Chaeyeong, "but it is still so weird seeing you sit beside her as her boyfriend."

"If it helps, it is equally as weird to me," said Taehyun awkwardly.

"I am sorry we were boring you with all the talk about old times," said Eric suddenly.

"No it isn't boring," said Taehyun immediately, "I just… I can't really be a part of the conversation."

"I know, that is why I am sorry for our behavior," said Eric, "when Yoo Jin gets back, we should talk about something all four of us can be a part of."

"I agree," said Chaeyeong, "I think we were all just feeling a little awkward."

"I am sorry for making things so awkward between you," said Taehyun but Chaeyeong quickly spoke up again.

"Oh no, we would have been just as awkward without you here. Just like how it is weird for you to be here as Yoo Jin's boyfriend, it is equally as weird for me to be here as Eric's… um… girlfriend…" 

"Ah, I see…" said Taehyun and suddenly felt even more awkward than before, "I guess today is just cursed to be awkward."

"It will get better," said Eric, "but we all need to get used to this new situation. We used to be just three good friends, but those days are gone. I think that is why we talked so much about our University days, because it makes us feel comfortable, like everything is as it has always been."

"That makes sense," said Taehyun, "b… back in University… Yoo Jin Noona… she had a lot of… boyfriends, right?" Chaeyeong widened her eyes at Taehyun's question and then shifted eyes to look at Eric.

"You told him that?" she said in a firm voice and hit Eric on his arm, "why would you tell him something like that and make him all nervous and self conscious?"

"Ouch!" said Eric and caressed the area when he had been hit.

"Taehyun," continued Chaeyeong then, "don't worry about Yoo Jin's past boyfriends, because she is a million times happier with you than she was with any of those stuck-up guys."

"R… really?" asked Taehyun, unable to hide his happiness.

"Yes, really," said Chaeyeong, "whenever I am on the phone with Yoo Jin, she just won't shut up about you. I have never seen her like this before, it is like she has become a teenager again." 

"Is that so…" said Taehyun, not really knowing how to respond, feeling his cheek turn redder.

"Yes," said Chaeyeong, "you make her happy." 

Just after those word left Chaeyeong's mouth, Yoo Jin came waltzing back in to the restaurant and quickly found herself back at their table, where she sat down and let out a huge sigh, seemingly having heard nothing from their conversation.

"Wow, that was a huge sigh," said Eric and everyone looked at Yoo Jin.

"Yeah…" said Yoo Jin with another sigh, "it was from my last job interview, they decided to go in another direction."

"Ah…" said all three in union and looked down.

"Hey, don't look so sad, you are making me even more depressed," said Yoo Jin annoyed.

"Sorry, you are right," said Chaeyeong quickly, "I am sure you will find something soon."

"Yes, Noona, we believe in you!" said Taehyun.

"Aren't you all sweet?" said Yoo Jin, "well, no matter if I find a job soon or not, I am lucky enough to have some wonderful friends and… a wonderful boyfriend too." Taehyun felt his cheek heat up even more, Yoo Jin's words somehow validating what Chaeyeong had told him just a little while ago.

"Now I just need my parents to accept our relationship, then everything would be perfect," said Yoo Jin and rested her chin in her hands.

"Don't worry," said Eric and patted her on the shoulder, "give them some time, they will come around, I am sure of it."

Hello Everyone!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please remember to leave a comment down below to let me know your thoughts!

Take good care of yourself and stay safe.

Love, Annalise~