➼ restaurant

@♡﹕ huh yunjin. t-minus zero. the screen of minho's smart watch lit up with a calendar notification, minho's neck still twisted to see the door. about a minute in, minho showed his neck some mercy, turning to face the table. then, another minute later, he turned back to the door again. as time passed, the interval between each head-turn increased, while the duration of door-watching decreased.

t-plus ten minutes. minho had taken to sipping on his cup of water, a watchful eye on his phone screen. however, rather than a text, minho was alerted by something else, something he had anticipated much more. "yunjin?" he replied to the voice that had called his name, getting up to offer a slight bow. "nice to meet you." with a quick glance at her features, minho easily confirmed that this was indeed the person he had talked to over the app. perhaps it would be more accurate to label this second as 't-minus zero' instead. "any particular meat you'd like to have?" minho asked, skipping the interrogation. ten minutes hadn't been too long, people were late, minho didn't really care. "and how empty is your stomach right now?"

@♡﹕ lee minho. admittedly, yunjin was running a little late. however, in her defense, she had left early in case the universe had decided to screw her over. except, she wasn't quite prepared for what it decided to throw at her, because not only was there traffic, but an accident had occurred two cars in front of her uber. just her luck. she had sent her date a message to let him know that she was going to be late, only for it to fail. great. at that point, she had no choice but to sit back in her seat, stare out the window, and hope for the best.

she arrived ten minutes later than expected. it wasn't too terrible for most people—most people would be forgiving. but yunjin hated being late, and she wanted to make a good first impression, regardless if the person she was meeting was a date or not. she didn't want them to think she didn't care enough, or wasn't punctual at all. which, she was. usually. the universe just hated her today, she supposed.

"minho? i'm so sorry," she said as she approached the table, having had only taken a few seconds to spot him. he stuck out like a sore thumb, really—everyone was dining with their partner or friends. he was the only one that sat alone. that, and his face was quite recognizable.

@♡﹕ huh yunjin. minho sat on the chair on the side opposite the booth seat. he had subconsciously done this for most one-on-one dinners before then, but his friend had felt the need to point this out again before minho left his house. ("in case you had forgotten, after so long" was his friend's reasoning.) after which, minho had chosen his seat much more deliberately upon arriving at the restaurant. he had no choice but to trust his friend; it had been a while, after all.

still, the choice of seat meant that minho had to crane his neck to even see the front door of the restaurant. despite this difficulty, he did so anyway, all to catch the first glimpse of the person who would be sitting across the grill and opposite him, as soon as she walked through the door.