Bad Date

Soo-ah gaped at the tattooed portly man seated across from her. She was settled inside a seafood restaurant, and gawked as he snapped a big, orange crab in half with his teeth!

"Yeah, so I play the cowbell, while my bandmates play the drums and guitar," he rambled on, licking his thick, black-manicured fingers loudly with a satisfied smack sound.

"We're the 'Couch Potato Revolution', get it?" He chuckled, continuing his babble.

He made wet, sloppy noises as he chewed with his mouth open.

"'Cause our band's hangout is in my mother's basement." He leaned forward towards her – his green, spiky mohawk following – and lowered his voice.

"Mom goes crazy whenever we have band practice, so I just wait for her to go to the store before we rehearse."

He leaned back and shrugged. "Can't blame her though. Love her, but she won't recognize good music even if it smacked her in the face." He took another bite of his crab and glanced at Soo-ah, grinning.

Soo-ah spied what she deduced would be pieces of anchovies and radishes stuck between his teeth and thought she would puke.

Her irritation was pushed further when he stuck an index finger into a nostril to pick up boogers from his nose! This was certainly not the "K-pop Idol" she was told she'd be meeting on this date!

She grabbed the glass of water next to her and took a huge gulp out of it. She needed something – anything – to calm her frayed nerves.

She was certain she'd do something drastic if she remained a minute longer on this ridiculous date with some 35-year-old guy with dirty habits, who still lived in his mother's basement and earned $100 a week from shabby gigs!

Soo-ah felt her phone vibrate and snatched it off the table. She was desperate for any opportunity to escape the – if it can be called a date – and her dismay knew no bounds when she realized it was just some stupid notification about coupons from a store she frequented.

Argh! Darn that shaman who told her this date night would be where she would meet "the one." As soon as she found a way to escape this situation, she was gonna match over to her shrine and give her a piece of her mind! What a total scam!

-----

An hour later, Soo-ah was seated at a bar with her head slumped against the counter. The bar was nearly deserted and a soft ballad was playing in the background.

As if taking great effort, she raised her head to take another gulp of the tawny brandy in her snifter.

"That song is just how I feel right now," she lamented, passing along the glass to the bartender, who took it for a refill. "Shitty. Just how many more bad dates must I endure? Will I never find love? Or am I destined to end up in a turbulent marriage just like my parents?!"

To her far right, a soft clink of glass against the marble counter came, and it caught her attention. Turning her head, she sighted a man whom she assumed would not be a day above 30 years – down a glass of booze.

His cheeks were flushed beneath the rounded wire frame glasses he wore around his eyes, and his hair, a rich auburn brown under the soft, yellowed, ambient lighting, fell in seductive lines over his handsome face.

Dazzling.

That was the word that leapt into Soo-ah's mind the moment she saw him. His face was a comely, well-chiselled, oval shape, with a thin ribbon of tantalizing coral lips and a strong neck with a visible Adam's apple that bobbed up and down when he swallowed.

He was dressed in what Soo-ah was sure was an earthy-brown designer suit due to the clients she had interacted with through the matchmaking agency.

Entirely enamored by the stranger, she quickly abandoned her own woes and began to wonder about the man who was settled across from her.

Why would a gorgeous man like him be sitting all alone in a bar, drinking by himself? But then, she sighed.

Maybe, he had a bad date like me. If that was the case, we should just date each other to cancel out the bad karma.

Soo-ah chuckled at her own thought and took another sip of her drink. She mused what it would be like to date him. He seemed like he had a decent job. Maybe, if he had been her blind date, things would have gone much smoother.

But then again, she grimaced when she remembered her last boyfriend – good-looking, nice career as a Senior Engineer at a big company – who had turned out to be a married man who was a two-timing jerk.

She bristled when she recalled his wife thwacking her across the cheek and calling her a gold-digging slut when he had lied to her in the first place about being single!

But something about the stranger told her that he wasn't like that – that he couldn't be like that. Maybe, it was because of the despondent slump of his shoulders or the heart-wrenching look in his deep brown eyes when he glanced at her.

Before she knew what she was doing, she rose from her seat and stumbled over to where he was. He watched her with curious eyes as she crashed into the seat next to him.

"Hey, I've been watching you from other there," she began, pointing unsteadily to her vacated seat. "Having a tough night? Well, me too. Had a bad date."

She turned her full attention to him after properly stationing her purse and brandy glass in her new position. "Had a bad date too?"

The man said nothing but resumed his drink. Soo-ah was not planning on not getting an answer from the dazzling fella who caught her attention. 

"You must have lost your job then. Can tell it was a real good one from the quality of your suit."

The man continued as if Soo-ah wasn't before him – as if she was a ghost. She contemplated him for a long moment.

"Oh! I know. You must have lost someone dear."

Her words seemed to have struck a chord within him because he snapped his head to look at her. Soo-ah's suspicions were affirmed when she saw the deep, forlorn look in his eyes.

"Yep, I know that look. I've seen it one too many times. My friend wears that look every time she remembers her parents – when she thinks I'm not looking, but I know better."

She took another swig of her brandy, tittering into her snifter. "Of course, I'd know better. I'm a great people-reader! I majored in psychology after all."

The chair beside her scraped noisily and she looked up, startled, as the man shot up from his counter stool. He seemed to bear an almost indignant expression on his face.

Soo-ah regarded him with raised brows, her chestnut shoulder-length hair brushing the top of her cream halter blouse. "Huh? Did I say something wrong to anger you?"

His long, thick brows were drawn over his forehead and his peachy-pink lips pressed into a thin, adorable line. Soo-ah thought she had never seen a lovelier man who looked totally alluring when angry. 

He turned on his heels and began striding out of the bar. Soo-ah called out after him.

"You're leaving already? Wait for me!"

Grabbing her purse and abandoning her half-finished drink, she hurried out of the bar in pursuit of her hot stranger.

The cool, twilight wind hit her skin pleasantly as she stumbled out into the thriving night street. She missed a step – a twisted shoe heel next – and was propelled headfirst into the busy road where a car with an obnoxiously bright headlight and blaring siren rode towards her with speed.

Before she could register what was happening, she found herself in the arms of her dashing stranger, who had pulled her out of harm's way.

She blinked unsteadily, trying to clear her blurry gaze to focus on her charming saviour. But all she felt next was the warm, velvety texture of a pair of lips against hers, causing shivery darts of pleasure to dance across her skin…

-----

Soo-ah opened her eyes to an eye-blinding sunray streaming through a large, bow window. She blinked, confused for a few seconds before she began to register where she was.

Sleek, grey drop ceiling, fancy golden chandelier, white, brocaded bedsheets… where the hell was she?! She glanced around to see her clothes folded in a neat pile beside her on the bed. She almost jumped ten feet in the air when she realized she was only clad in her lingerie!

Where was she last night and how did she end up here? She shut her eyes tight to try to jostle her memory. Last she remembered, she had gone to a bar to drink after the terrible date, and after that, she –

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a chime came at the door. She hurriedly slipped on a night robe she found randomly in the room and went to answer the door.

A young male face dressed in a uniform of crimson red waistcoat and a black bow tie appeared at the doorway. He bowed slightly when he saw her.

"Hope you had a lovely morning, ma'am. Concierge service, I'm here to bring you the breakfast you ordered."

Soo-ah stared at the concierge, confounded. "Breakfast? I didn't order any breakfast."

The concierge beamed brightly, as if oblivious to her plight. "The young man who checked out this morning ordered for breakfast to be sent to your room."

Young man?

Memories from last night suddenly came flooding back and Soo-ah gasped loudly, covering her mouth with her hands. She had ended up with a stranger in a hotel room last night!