Later that day, I'm rushing around in the living room to get ready before the clock can strike one o'clock. Luckily, my mum was more relieved than angry to see me walking through the front door. After making a sly comment about me turning into Yang Jin, she irritably stomped back upstairs. I'm surprised she didn't notice that I wasn't wearing my own clothes either. It was almost like she was in her own world. But then again, maybe it was better that way. After all, they say you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Whilst hopping around on one foot to try and fit my trainers on, my siblings grumble angrily when I block their view of the television.
"Seong Jin, move," Chu Hua yells, glaring at me impatiently. "Go and change in your room. Not everything has to be about you."
"What are you on about?" I question, moving out of the way once I have my shoes on. "I just want your opinion on my outfit. Do I look good?"
"I don't care."
Her response has my eyes rolling upwards and after kissing my teeth in annoyance, I say, "Why am I even asking you? Ji Ho, how do I look?"
Ji Ho either doesn't hear me or he is ignoring me on purpose. His eyes are firmly trained on the show on the television and curiously, I turn around to see what they are so intently focused on. It's one of the many cartoons on Netflix, which one, I would not be able to tell.
As I look down at my carefully chosen outfit, I pout sullenly from the lack of compliments. I put in a lot of effort to ensure that I looked perfect for this special occasion.
This is my very first official date with someone I genuinely like, someone who reciprocates my affection. Adorning my frame are light blue boyfriend jeans that hang loosely on my legs, folded just above my pristine white Jordans. The bright orange hoodie I wear provides a striking contrast against my jet-black hair, which is covered by a fashionable black bucket hat. I had hoped that my outfit would make a statement, and admittedly, it does, but I can't help feeling a little deflated that it hasn't garnered any attention from either of my siblings.
"You look fine," Chu Hua says to me after noticing the crestfallen look on my face and my face brightens at her reassuring words. She's not as mean as she would like to be.
"Thank you. I tried really hard."
"Where are you going anyway? You just got back from wherever you went last night. Amma won't allow you to leave."
"As I previously stated when you confronted me enroute to my bedroom, I was at Taylor's place," I reiterate the lie I told earlier.
Just like the first time, she gives me an unconvinced, unimpressed stare.
"Also, I know Amma won't allow me to leave. That is why I have two loving siblings who would probably cover for their older brother because they love him so much, right?"
"No."
"Oh, come on."
"What do we get out of it?"
"I don't know. What do you want?"
"First, I want you to clean my room for three days like you made me do all those months ago." With a sly smirk, she cheekily adds, "I also want to know whose clothes you were wearing when you came back home and where you're going right now."
Unimpressed, I stare her down, but she doesn't budge from her position. She actually is really nosy; everyone is.
With a defeated sigh, I shake my head and reluctantly tell her that I'll tell her the details of everything upon my return, but I say that I will not be cleaning her room for three days. Glancing up thoughtfully and tapping her index finger on her lips, she ponders my counteroffer and after flicking her eyebrows up, I surmise that she found the deal adequate enough. We seal said deal with a pinkie promise and when I remind her to let Ji Ho in on it after he has stopped focusing on the cartoons, she bobs her head up and down and says she has it all covered.
When my phone vibrates in my hand, I glance down to see the text I received, I'm outside.
I can't restrain my excited grin. After making sure that nothing is sticking out of place, I bid my siblings goodbye, hook my camera strap over my shoulder and quickly rush towards the front door. To slightly compose myself, I take a deep breath into my lungs before reaching for the doorknob and opening the door. Outside, I spot Kai in his salmon pink t-shirt leaning back against his car coolly and after brushing his dark-brown hair away from his forehead, his eyes land on me and he casually waves me over. My smile widening, I jog over to him.
"You think you look so sick, don't you?" I muse laughingly, my eyes shining in hilarity.
"I do actually." A smirk escapes him, as he licks the bottom of his upper teeth.
A chuckle leaves me as he twirls his car key around his index finger. I don't miss the piercing that he has back on his bottom lip and it reminds me that he didn't wear it often, at least when I was around him he didn't.
"Can I drive?" I ask him just as he's about to open the driver seat's door.
He rears his head back in shock and looks at me as if I just told him that I birth a child every second weekend.
"I'm actually getting really good at driving. The more I do it and the less of a pussy I am about it, the better I'm getting."
"Uh, I don't doubt that you're getting better, and I would let you drive," he starts and I narrow my eyes at him to try and seek out a hint of deception in his words, but he explains, "but I'm taking you somewhere and it's kind of supposed to be a surprise."
While walking around to the passenger seat, I distastefully say, "I hate surprises."
Especially after that surprise party that was thrown for me on my birthday. I am convinced I nearly had a heart attack that day.
"I doubt you'll hate my surprise," he responds and the look on his face does not falter when he says that.
I settle into my seat and muse distractedly, "Oh, yeah?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Because you said that, I'm going to act disappointed on purpose. Look at my face." I paint an impassive expression on my face and point at it. "This will be my face when we arrive there."
With an amused grin on his face, he reaches over to my side and my breath hitches in my throat at his closeness, body tensing from anticipation until he grabs my seatbelt and tugs it over my torso, clicking it into place. His eyes intentionally lock in on mine and darken meaningfully before he draws away from me, shifting around in his seat.
With my heart ringing in my ears, I swallow a heap of oxygen and glance out the window to hide my reaction to his action.
"You ready?" he muses.
"With the way you're hyping this up, this better live up to my expectations."
He doesn't respond, only smiles to himself confidently before turning the engine on and steering the car into the road. On the trip there, we discuss more things about each other. I learn his favourite colour. Salmon pink. His favourite sport. Football. Then there are the questions that the article I skimmed through before going out on this date with him suggested. Those require him to go into more detail.
Questions like, "If there was one thing you could change about your upbringing, what would it be?"
His answer is, "Growing up my mum and brother were always trying to dictate what religion I should believe in, and I pretty much had to be halal for a really long time until I left the house basically and got the chance to read up on some things. That's one thing I would change if I could."
"How did it feel to eat pork for the very first time?"
"Ah, like an orgasm in my mouth."
I chuckle in merriment at the pleased look on his face and he after glancing at me from the corner of his eye, grins too.