A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Second Chances

Jinyoung ran his fingers through his hair in lieu of a comb, keeping an eye on the red numbers on the digital clock by his bed. 6:03 pm. If he didn't leave in the next two minutes, he would be late for sure.

Figuring that it was just dinner with a friend and there was no reason to put any real effort into his appearance, he didn't bother changing out of the same blue flannel shirt that he'd worn to class that day. He grabbed a jacket, switched off the lights in his studio, and was out the door.

Wonpil was a fellow med student at Cheonbyul that Jinyoung befriended during orientation. They weren't as close as Jinyoung and Jackson, but Jinyoung figured it was time to make more and new friends. He saw so little of his college friends since graduation, and it would be nice to have someone to hang out with.

Wonpil had picked a restaurant by The Mile, which was, as the name suggested, a mile of trendy restaurants and shops that was a short walk from the beach and just a little bit longer of a walk from Jinyoung's apartment. He decided to make the journey on foot and reached their meeting place in about twenty minutes' time. He spotted Wonpil standing outside the restaurant.

With two girls.

Jinyoung stopped in his tracks. Wonpil was paying considerably more attention to one of the girls than the other, which could only mean one thing: a blind double date. Jinyoung considered turning around, walking back home, and then pretending he got sick all of a sudden, but Wonpil had already spotted him and was waving him over. Jinyoung sighed and approached.

"Took you long enough!" Wonpil said, clapping him on the shoulder. "I thought you said your place was close by?"

"Can I talk to you a minute?" Jinyoung whispered, pulling Wonpil aside and casting an apologetic smile to the girls. "What is this?"

"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't tell you ahead of time," Wonpil said, his voice low. "But I didn't know about this until last minute, either, and I figured 'what's the harm?' You don't have a girlfriend, right?"

Jinyoung's jaw twitched. "No," he said plainly. Wonpil didn't know about Jisoo, but Jinyoung knew that if he attempted to explain that situation, they'd never hear the end of it. Wonpil shrugged.

"Alright, well then let me introduce you," he said.

"I'm not dressed for a date," Jinyoung said. Wonpil looked him up and down.

"You look fine."

He grabbed Jinyoung's sleeve and brought them back to where the girls were standing. They were both very pretty. It was getting colder so they were wearing pea coats over dresses and they wore their hair loose.

"This is Wendy and Seulgi," Wonpil said, gesturing to each of the girls. Wendy immediately detached herself from Seulgi and then slipped her arm around Wonpil's, which left Jinyoung to assume that Seulgi was to be his date.

"I'm Jinyoung," he said, introducing himself and shaking Seulgi's hand. She smiled and shook his hand warmly.

"Nice to meet you," she said. "You go to Cheonbyul, too, right?"

"Yeah," Jinyoung answered. "School of Medicine."

"Awesome, Wendy and I go, too," Seulgi said. "In fact, I think we have a class together. Wednesdays at 4?"

"Dr. Hwang?"

"That's the one," Seulgi said. "How's your paper coming along?"

"Non-existent," Jinyoung said, and Seulgi laughed along. Wendy and Wonpil joined in the conversation about non-existent papers that would be due shortly. They all laughed about it, but only to cover up how panicked that actually were. In another minute, a waiter came out to tell them that a table was ready.