Restless in Seoul ✓

10.

The memory springs up out of nowhere.

One second I'm chatting and laughing with Namjoon between sipping my coffee and stealing a bite or two of the chocolate muffin he ordered for himself after me refusing to have one (yes I am fickle like that but isn't it in human nature to be fickle?) and the next, a very old memory hits me suddenly.

I remember being in a cafe like this before, dressed in a dress albeit unwillingly because mom pestered me to wear one, being tortured as I listened to this very boring lawyer talk about something I was tuning out. 

It was the first time I thought that being a criminal defense lawyer can be yawn-inducingly boring and mundane. Those thriller TV shows seemed as fibbers as I had to sit through the whole ordeal of that guy boring me with small talk.

I mean, I myself am guilty of being a total geek at times, taking into my love for numbers and mathematics for consideration but I think I'm still a fun nerd. Whereas that guy...

It was a forced blind date my mom guilt-tripped me to go to and I had to sit there listen to that guy drone on and on all evening about stuff irrelevant to me when I could very well have been working overtime in my office or maybe be curled up in my messy bed, bingeing some American show on Netflix.

I wanted to escape early by give him some half-hearted excuse but the fact that his mom and mine were very good friends and that my mother had practically begged me to give him a chance had made me sit there and sip coffee he had ordered even without asking for my preference.

 It was sickly sweet and not  at all what I liked. I think I retched it up in the ladies room.

Anyways, the dumbo actually was under the delusion that we had 'hit it off' or something because he asked for my number at the end of the horrendous date. The obnoxious guy didn't even take the hint when I said I don't remember my own number, and asked to input his in my phone, all but snatching it from my hands.

I later on changed the name he had saved for his number. Instead, I put on 'Zzz' as a reminder to not pick up his calls; seeing that I couldn't outright block him because of our moms being good friends.

This was some three or four years ago I think. My worst and second last blind date because after going through that, I asked my mom to stop sending me on those horrendous excuse for dates. My mom did manage to guilt trip me again into going on one just a year or so after that. 

However,  after discovering that the other guy had been forced by his parents too and that he already had a lover but hadn't quite disclosed the fact yet for reasons unknown, I didn't pry more as opposed to my inquisitive nature and firmly told mom that enough was enough.

Besides, I had to advance more in my career before I could even think about dating. I put that point across quite daringly to mom and stood my ground. She had no choice but to accept it even though she loves to grumble and mumble that I'd die alone as a spinster if I keep this up.

"Hey, Ms. Song Jia! Is it naptime already?" Namjoon clicks his fingers in front of my face, making me return back to the present from the mini-flashback.

"Joon, didn't you mention you changed your number recently when I called you for the first time?"