Present Day
22-Years-Old

A couple of days later, Aera dragged a reluctant (read: nervous) Yoongi to the coffee shop. She staked her place outside and shooed Yoongi toward the door.

Yoongi sighed deeply as he opened the door. The cafe wasn't very busy, but he didn't immediately see Sunhee anywhere. He headed toward the counter, and was disappointed to see another girl there taking orders.

There were a couple of people ahead of him in line, so Yoongi had time to contemplate what he should do. Should he just order a drink and go? Or should he be bold and ask if Sunhee was working? He couldn't imagine himself doing the latter, but once he found himself in front of the cashier, he spontaneously blurted out, "Sunhee."

"Excuse me?" the cashier asked.

"Um, is Sunhee working today?"

The cashier smirked, as though this wasn't the first time someone had asked that question. "No, not today," she told Yoongi, and he felt himself deflate slightly.

"Okay, um, can I get an iced Americano, please?"

"Sure!" The cashier then asked his name.

"Yoongi," he told her.

Her eyebrows rose. "Oh, you're Yoongi!"

Yoongi furrowed his brow. "Y-Yeah."

"I've heard about you," the cashier told him as she set about making his drink after Yoongi had paid. Yoongi was very confused, but did not ask her to elaborate.

When she was done making his drink, she handed it to him and Yoongi turned to leave. "Wait!"

Yoongi turned back around. "Yeah?"

"This is for you," the cashier told him as she handed him an envelope.

"What's this?" he asked confusedly.

The cashier grinned mischievously as she shrugged. "All I know is that it's for 'Uh Yoongi'." Her eyes sparkled with amusement as Yoongi's mouth parted slightly.

"T-Thanks," he said, because he didn't know what else to say. Then he quickly left the cafe.

"How'd it go?!" Aera was immediately in his face once he was safely outside.

"She wasn't working."

"Oh," Aera said, sounding disappointed.

"But the cashier gave me this." He held up the envelope.

"What is that?"

Yoongi shrugged. "She said it was for, 'Uh Yoongi'."

Aera eyes widened. "She wrote you a letter?!"

"Who?"

"Sunhee, you idiot! Who else calls you 'Uh Yoongi'?!"

"Oh. Um, I dunno...why would she write me a letter?"

Aera facepalmed. "Let's get home quickly! I can't wait to see what that says!"

-

Aera bounced excitedly on the edge of her seat as Yoongi tore open the envelope. He suddenly felt inexplicably nervous as he unfolded the paper inside.

Uh Yoongi,

If you're reading this, you came into the cafe when I wasn't working. I had planned on just waiting to see if you came in again while I was working, but then I decided I just couldn't take the chance to miss you.

I'm sorry to have to ask you this in a note instead of face to face, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime and get to know each other. If you are interested, call me at the number listed below. If you're not, no hard feelings, but know I'll continue to tease you if you come back. 😏

Have a great day!

🌼 Sunhee

Yoongi hadn't even realized his mouth had dropped open until he looked up at Aera. "What?!" she asked impatiently. "What does it say?!"

Yoongi simply handed the letter to Aera and waited for her to read it. He braced himself because he knew that she would –

"Eeeee!" Aera squealed loudly. "Oh my god, Yoongs! Holy shit! This is so exciting!"

"It makes me nervous – "

"She's been thinking about you a lot! She didn't want to run the risk of losing you!"

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to call – "

"Look at the little daisy she signed her name with! She's so cute!"

"A!"

Aera looked up. "What?"

"Calm down!"

Aera laughed. "How do you expect me to do that?! My best friend is going on his first date!"

"Um, I never said I was going to call her."

Aera's mouth fell open. "You've been thinking about her constantly before you even knew who she was! Then you wanted to go back to the cafe to see her! Now, you have confirmation that she's been thinking about you, too, and wants to go on a date with you! Why the hell wouldn't you call her?!"

Yoongi shrugged. "I – "

"No, Yoongs," Aera interrupted. "Absolutely not. I'm not going to let you throw this opportunity away. You'll regret it if you do."

"But – "

"Stop talking," Aera said as she stood and snatched his cell phone off the table.

"Hey!"

As they both knew each other's codes, she unlocked it, then pulled up the keypad and typed Sunhee's number. Then, she handed it over to Yoongi, who became shocked to see that it was already ringing.

"A!" he hissed, just as the other line picked up.

"Hello?"

Yoongi froze.

"Hello?"

Yoongi opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Is anyone there?"

Yoongi blinked and managed to come slightly back to his senses.

"Me," he said hoarsely.

There was a short giggle. "Okay, and who is 'me'?"

Yoongi facepalmed. "T-This is... This is Yoongi."

"Uh Yoongi?! Oh my gosh, it's great to hear from you! You got my note?"

Yoongi's heart was racing. "Y-Yeah. Just a bit ago."

"Oh, I'm so glad I decided to write it! So, what do you think about what it said?"

"What do you mean?"

Sunhee giggled again. "Would you like to go out sometime?"

Yoongi coughed. "Um, y-yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

"Awesome!" Though he couldn't see her, Yoongi could tell by her voice that she was beaming. "You tell me when and where, and I'll make it work!"

"Can I – Can I let you know?"

"Sure," Sunhee replied. "I'm already impatient to get to know you, though, so don't wait too long. I don't want to have to up and move on."

"I won't!" Yoongi blurted.

Sunhee let out yet another giggle that Yoongi was beginning to realize was his favorite giggle he'd ever heard. "I'm joking, Yoongi! Take your time."

"O-Okay. I'll let you know soon."

"Sounds good," Sunhee replied, still with a smile in her voice. "I'll talk to you later, then."

"Okay."

"Bye, Yoongi!"

"Bye, Sunhee."

Yoongi looked up dazedly as he cut the call. Aera was grinning.

"So, when are you going out?!"

"I'm going to figure out a time and place and let her know."

Aera sighed slightly. "You could have done that while on the phone with her, but I guess it went well regardless."

"It did!" Yoongi insisted defensively.

Aera raised her hands as if in defeat. "Okay, okay." Then she grinned again. "Oh, Yoongs. I'm so proud of you!"

Yoongi's cheeks reddened. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"How about you and I go out to eat to celebrate? We can work on figuring out your when and where during dinner!"

Yoongi nodded. "Okay."

"C'mon," Aera said, grabbing Yoongi's hands and pulling him off the couch. "Go get ready!" She then turned toward her bedroom and hurried to get ready herself.

Yoongi shook his head. "I think she's more excited than I am," he muttered to himself.

-

Aera snapped her fingers in front of Yoongi's face.

"Yoongs! Pay attention!"

"Hmm?" Yoongi had been spacing out, finding it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand.

"There's only nine hours left until your date! We've got to figure out what you're going to wear!"

Yoongi scoffed. "Oh yeah, nine hours isn't nearly enough time," he said sarcastically.

Aera rolled her eyes. "Do you want my help or not? Because I have a new book I've been wanting to read and I can just go to my room and start it if – "

"Okay, okay!" Yoongi conceded. "I want your help." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I think I'm just getting nervous."

Aera looked at him sympathetically. "It'll be okay. As soon as the two of you get to talking, I have no doubt you'll be just fine."

"What if I'm not? What if she realizes I'm awkward?"

"She'll think it's endearing."

"How do you know."

Aera tapped her temple. "I can just tell. And I'm a girl, so just trust me."

Yoongi rolled his eyes. "You make such a compelling argument."

Aera grinned, then turned to Yoongi's closet. "Okay, so you need to wear something you're comfortable in; something you feel like yourself in. You'll be a lot less awkward if you're feeling confident."

"Not sure I'll feel confident regardless of what I'm wearing."

"Stop being so negative! You'll freak out in the middle of the date if all you can think about is what could go wrong! For god's sake, Yoongs, you're acting like you're expecting it to. Stop it!"

Yoongi looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he offered. "It's just not every day a 22-year-old man goes on his very first date. I guess I'm feeling kind of pathetic."

"No need to, Yoongs. Just because it may have taken a bit longer than you'd like, it doesn't mean you don't deserve it. Look at it this way – you were kinda awkward in the coffee shop when you first met her, yeah?" Yoongi nodded. "She still fell for you! I don't think being awkward or shy is going to push her away. If it did, you wouldn't be in this scenario right now. She'd have just forgotten about you after your first encounter."

Yoongi sighed, but nodded again in agreement. "Okay, you have a point."

"Of course I do. I'm your pep talk giver! I always know what to say!"

Yoongi snorted. "You always have such a high opinion of yourself."

"Because I'm confident," she replied with a wink. "Take notes, Yoongs."

Yoongi finally smiled as he shook his head. "You're a real piece of work. But you're right."

Aera grinned. "Okay, back to business! What's your favorite outfit? Is it this one?" she asked, pulling a pair of black skinny jeans and a nice white t-shirt from his closet. "You wear this a lot when we go out."

"Yeah, with my – "

"Leather jacket," Aera interrupted. "It gives off effortlessly cool vibes. You should wear it."

"You sure?" Yoongi asked with a bit of uncertainty. "It won't be too casual?"

"You picked a casual restaurant. You don't wanna get too fancy."

Yoongi thought it over. He would feel more comfortable in the outfit Aera had picked out. And she was right that they weren't going anywhere fancy. After a few more moments, he finally nodded.

"I think this is a good outfit."

Aera beamed at him. "I knew it! I'm glad you agree."

"Well," Yoongi said. "What do we do now for the next eight and a half hours?"

"Something to get your mind off of being nervous."

"Like what?"

Aera smiled mischievously. "Let's go to the park!"

Yoongi grinned. "Sounds perfect."