//
"Hey, you."
Jisoo was only able to smile when the man took off his mask and snapback, showing Yixing's figure that looked much different from the appearance she usually saw. The way he groomed today was just, not business likely. Which was not a bad thing, because it made him look more approachable than before.
"Hey," she replied to him with an awkward beam on her face.
After last night, somehow Jisoo looked at Yixing with different eyes. When she had previously looked at Yixing as her date, it felt awkward when she looked at him as the man she was going to marry, sooner or later. The man she just met in a few meetings, still looked strange but felt so close at the same time. The man who made her heart beat fast, but also made her anxious at the same time. Jisoo had no idea how to handle him. She had no idea how to calm her heart.
"What are you listening to?" Yixing asked, pointing to the earphones on her ears.
"Nothing." Jisoo pulled the tip and showed him the unplugged tail of the cable. "I use this to block the noise. It helps me to focus," she said, explaining the questioning expression Yixing gave.
He laughed silently, then nodded his head as he began to fork the pasta on the plate. That's when Jisoo saw his passport along with the boarding pass lying on the plate side of the tray.
"Are you going somewhere?" she asked curiously.
"I'm flying to Shanghai tonight. Only a day though, I'll be back in Seoul tomorrow night."
Jisoo couldn't help to be amused by that information. So this is why he asked to have the talk on Tuesday on the phone earlier. It seemed that coincidence started to become their habit now.
"What time is your flight?" she asked again.
"7.50."
Jisoo closed the laptop and tidied the paper on the table, then returned them all to his bag.
And then silence.
She looked at Yixing enjoying his pasta in silence, he seemed to focus on eating while doing something with his cell phone, until a few moments later he turned it off and then tucked it inside his coat pocket.
"So, what urgent talk are we going to have this afternoon?" he said so the pasta was finished in a blink. He was a fast eater, she mentally commented. He put the plate aside and gulped down the water bottle after that.
"Yes, about that..." she took a deep breath. 
Just tell him what's on your mind, and he will understand. She reminded herself of what Minseok had said earlier.
"I can't," she paused for a moment, "I can't marry you, Yixing."
Yixing said nothing. He put his eyes on the water bottle as he was playing with his hand, not reacting at all, as if he had expected her to say this. And Jisoo felt the need to elaborate her words so that he wouldn't take it the wrong way.
"I mean, not that I can't marry you at all. I just can't do it if it has to be right away."
"Why?" it's the only response Yixing gave her. He sounded calm saying it, but one could see a glint of disappointment in there.
"The pace. Our relationship is moving too fast, I can't keep up with this." she replied, "I wish for a more normal pace, Yixing. A baby step. I don't want to rush things. I want to know you better. I want us to get to know each other before we decide if we want to do this together."
He didn't say anything, but his eyes still locked on hers. So she moved on.
"Don't you even think at least, the same thing that I do? I mean, you must want to marry the person you love. And we've met only like, what? Three times? I'm sure you don't even really know who I am, moreover love me, do you?" 
"No, I don't," Yixing replied shortly.
"See? This is exactly why we can't rush this thing. It's a marriage, Yixing, it's not something we play with. We need to make sure we will work this thing out before we decide we're on it. Are you with me?"
Thick silence embraced them like a stormy cloud for a few moments. Yixing played with his fingers silently, as if like he was arranging words to say and Jisoo was hoping that it meant he was trying to proceed with her words seriously. It's not about her only, this marriage would have him too in it. She didn't want to end it badly with him if it didn't work between them. All she knew was that she liked him, and she wanted to have a good relationship with him.
"Let me get this straight." Yixing finally said something after it seemed like forever. "You want to put off the wedding, right? Not cancel it?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes, I do."
"That means in the end we're still getting married?" Another question was probed.
"Yes." Okay, where these questions were heading though? She started getting nervous. Yixing took a deep breath and clicked his tongue as he adjusted his seat to lean forward and rested his elbows on the table.
"Can I hold your hand?" 
The request was kind of unexpected, but she stretched out her right hand to take his, anyway. 
"I'm going to give out a short speech, will that be okay?" he asked again, to which she replied with a nod. She knew it, believe it or not, his last speech at the conference was kind of giving it an expectation to hear it some more. It's kind of weird, yes, but she had to admit that his speech was worth it. "It's just my personal view, you can cut me anytime if you feel like it, I don't mind."
Jisoo nodded again even though she wouldn't do it. She was just the type of listener, cutting people when they were speaking was just not her style at all.
"I truly understand what you feel. I understand your insecurity, I understand why you want to put it off. Really, I do, because I have similar feelings too."
"You do?" Jisoo was a bit surprised hearing that, because even if he did, he didn't look like it at all.
"Yes, I do. I'm just good at hiding it." he squeezed her hand lightly, and Jisoo inhaled deeply. "But the way I see it, Jisoo, it's just, we're getting married in the end, so what's the point of putting it off? We can do the getting-to-know-you better while we're waiting for the D-day, just like any other couple. What's different between us is that we're doing it in fast-forward. And we still have like, forever to get to know each other after the wedding. I admit that I don't love you," he paused as he quoted the last two words with his fingers,
"that way right now, but love grows. And I personally don't believe that marriage is a thing that needs to start with love. Marriage is not about 'I promise to love you until I stop loving you', but for me, it's more about 'I want to make a conscious decision to continue to love you even when it's hard because I'm aware that no one is perfect, but you are worth it'. And love is not something we make, we earn it along the journey in this ship."
"And what if the ship is sinking?"
"Then we'll patch it up. Isn't that what marriage is about? It's a long journey that thrives on commitment, trust, respect, communication, patience, and then companionship. It is meant to keep people together, not just when things are good, but particularly when they are not. We will always find a way to make it work. That's why we take marriage vows, not wishes."
Jisoo sighed deeply. She massaged her forehead with her other hand. Damn it, she knew his speech would be good, and he had a point with it. A very good one. And for a moment Yixing managed to make her a little sure that they might be able to do this. A little.
"You wrote that you prefer sexy woman, which is far from my preference. I'm brainy, I'm not sexy at all."
"Well, haven't you heard? Brainy is the new sexy, it's exactly you." The answer left her with a dumbstruck feeling knowing that she had misinterpreted his meaning earlier. Seriously? Brainy is the new sexy was the best thing he could say? It sounded very original.
"Why are you so sure that I'm worth your journey?" she asked again.
"Because my mother said so."
Jisoo raised her brow in disbelief. He couldn't say that it all started because he wanted to please his mother. He couldn't possibly mean that he had to do everything his mother said, right?
"No, wait. It sounds weird, let me explain this." Yixing immediately elaborated when he saw a clear doubt on her face. "My mother wants me to settle down since I got promoted to be the chief executive of the company. We've been doing this for about two years, you know. She's been trying to find me a wife but every time she got a name, she never made me meet this person. You're practically the first person she put her interest in."
Okay, that indeed sounded weird. And Jisoo had no idea if she had to feel touched or cringed about this.
"And the thing about my mother is, she's never wrong. We would disagree sometimes, and I don't always approve of everything she says. But in my thirty-ish years of living, in the end, she's always right. She's right about all the relationships I've been in, she's right when she disapproves of the choices I've decided on, she's right about anything. So that's why when she wanted me to meet you, I gladly did it. Honestly, I kind of nervous about the matchmaking deals that she made for me, I could've married this spoiled and lavish lady from some unknown family, but I'm glad it turned out to be you." he explained.
"All I'm trying to say is, I know that you're still doubting me, or us, in this relationship. And I understand that you feel uncomfortable with this. But, it's me, you know. You'll marry me, not anybody else. I want to do this with you, and I believe in you. I hope that you'll put your trust in me, in us, that we can work it out. The wedding is supposed to be two weeks after the lunar year anyway, we have like, four months to get to know each other better. If you like?"
Another silence. He was right at some points, she was glad too that it was him, not any other man she previously met. They were just not up to her standard, sorry to say. They didn't get her jokes, they were either too awkward or too overwhelmed with words. Jisoo just couldn't imagine if she had to end up with one of them.
But then again, apart from all those, it still wouldn't work, she had to tell him what was really on her mind. It's a good thing that they had this conversation now. Yixing had to know exactly what he was going to throw himself into.
"I don't want you to tell me what to do with my career. I'll have so much research in the future; for papers, books, and journals, and it would take my time to travel here and there, and probably most of my attention for the work. I don't want you to tell me what I should do or I shouldn't do with them, I'll be the one to decide." She told him firmly. 
Yixing gave her another squeeze on her hand and nodded his head.
"Okay. I'll be as much busy as you are anyway, it doesn't matter."
"And I don't want kids."
Yixing raised his brow.
"Not shortly. I know that our parents will start pestering us to have one as soon as we have the wedding, I want you to tell them that we're not trying until I'm ready. And I can't tell you exactly when I'm ready, it needs to wait."
The answer was not immediate like the first one. It took Yixing for about ten or fifteen seconds until he nodded and had the deal with her.
"Okay." he tightened his hold on her hand, "So, are we getting married as planned?"
Jisoo didn't answer it right away. She must admit that Yixing sounded very persuasive. He was exceptional at using his words. But she couldn't immediately approve of what he said. Yes, indeed almost everything he said was true, but somehow she was still unsure of all this.
"I don't know, I'm sorry. Let me think about this. Give me some time, let's talk about this again when I'm back." she said about a moment later.
"Okay. It's fine. We can have this talk again later." He patted her hand and leaned in to press his lips on the back of her palm.
Jisoo took her hand back with her heart fluttered by the small gesture. His lips felt so soft on her hand, and there was this inkling feeling of how they would taste when they were on hers instead—oh, no. Stop this. Jisoo drooped her head and shook it as she closed her eyes for a moment to clear her mind from those inappropriate thoughts.
They chatted for a while later. Yixing asked if Minseok would stay longer in Korea, and Jisoo told him that he had flown back to London that afternoon. She asked how they had been friends when in Harvard, to which Yixing replied that they met several times in a while at his friend's night out, then that they went to the same class in his second term of graduate school and how they became good study bodies after that. He told her about Minseok's habit of preferring to sleep in the library rather than in his flat, how Minseok could camp there for days as if the library was a one-stop living place. And Jisoo was not surprised to hear this story.
She didn't stop thinking of how she was not much different from her brother, because in the past she did the same thing. One time she didn't come home for three days and Sehun had to drag her home. People who saw them thought they were a couple who fought, so she ran away from their live-in apartment. Nobody knew that the real reason Sehun pulled her home was that he saw an 'apparition' and didn't want to sleep at home alone ever again. Yixing burst out laughing at this.
An hour passed quickly and they got ready for boarding. They bought Baskin Robbins along the way, he paid, and she chose her favorite mint choco-chip and cherry jubilee while Yixing had a very strange combination of lime ice and blue monster. He assured her that it tasted really good, Jisoo didn't believe it that easy. When Yixing told her to try his, she learned something today that he had a weird taste in food.
They didn't talk much as they queued at immigration. Yixing got her to stand in front of him, and she focused more on her cell phone to confirm her arrival to the committee in Hong Kong. She waited for him to finish his turn with the officer, and they walked again together to the gate, which turned out to be next to each other.
He adjusted his hat and linked the mask to his ears, keeping it under his chin. He then took her right hand and held it with his left. He smiled when Jisoo looked at their intertwined hands, then went up to meet his eyes.
The boarding call for Yixing's flight was heard the first time they arrived at the gate. They watched the business class passengers were welcome to enter first, while other passengers began to queue in front of the entrance gate, but Yixing just kept silent without looking to leave.
"That's your call." Jisoo reminded him, in case he forgot.
"That's my call," he repeated after her.
"You need to leave."
"I know." he looked at the queue and her alternately.
"You need to let go of my hand to do that."
Yixing started to laugh, "Yeah, I know. But I don't want to." he swung their hands and put them on his chest. And Jisoo couldn't stop herself from laughing. 
They stayed in that position for a while. She could feel Yixing take a deep breath and exhale it quickly from his chest movements. Meanwhile, people passed by to their respective flight gates, but no one noticed them in the sea of ​​passengers.
"I'll see you on Thursday?" Yixing asked later after the other passengers were invited to enter the gate.
"I'll see you on Thursday." now she repeated after him.
"Okay." Yixing pulled her arm and gave her a warm hug, then a light kiss on her cheek. "Can I call you tomorrow?"
And she nodded, "Sure."
"Good. Have a safe flight."
"You too."
Yixing just let go of her hand at that moment. He turned and walked toward the entrance, and Jisoo watched his back stepping away. And she was just about to turn towards her gate when Yixing halted his pace.
Jisoo waited, was he forgetting something? She thought. Because he stopped walking and stood like that for a few seconds. She saw him brushing his hat, then took it off when at the same time he turned around.
"No, I can't wait until Thursday." she heard him speaking under his breath as he walked up to her, and stood just right in front of her.
"What?" 
"Will you change your mind if I kiss you?"
Jisoo was a little dumbfounded as she heard the question. She had no idea what he meant, and she was about to ask what he was talking about when he cupped her face and leaned in to press his lips on hers. It's a small kiss, nothing passionate but sweet and tender. But this was enough to get her stunned, Jisoo was so taken aback by his move that she slightly pushed him as she unconsciously put her hand on his upper arm.
And Yixing pulled away realizing her shock, hands still on her face, but it didn't stop him from probing her with another question.
"I know I didn't do it properly the last time. So, hereby I officially ask you to marry me. Kim Jisoo, will you marry me next January?"
Jisoo was lost for words. He said, uh, what?
"I, um..."
"Let me help you think." And he leaned in to kiss her again.
It was sweeter than before. For a split second, all she could think was how soft his lips felt on hers, and how they just exactly felt the same from the thoughts that she had about it. As he stroked her lips with his, she was blown away. It's been quite so long since the last time she was kissed, and she didn't remember it felt this good.
"Please?" he said in between their kiss. 
She blinked, the clock seemed like it had stopped ticking. She didn't hear the noise from the crowd, she didn't hear the sound of the airport intercom throughout the hall, and she didn't even mind that their intimacy had turned people's heads. She had only Yixing in her eyes, and she was dazed because of the kiss. She gave up pushing him away as he circled his one hand behind her back and pulled her in to close the distance between them. He deepened his kiss with his open mouth caresses, and she stopped thinking as the feeling of his hands was hotter on her neck.
"Pretty please?" he said again when he leaned his forehead on hers, "Okay?"
He gave her a single peck on her lips and all it took to have her wall crumble. She meant to say 'not okay', but for some reason, the 'not' was either inaudible or she unconsciously left it out, letting the only 'okay' come out from her mouth. Her heartbeat was uncontrollable, and she clutched his coat nervously. She was blushing right now, and Yixing started to smile wide seeing that.
He gave her a single peck on her lips and all it took to have her wall crumble. She meant to say 'not okay', but for some reason, the 'not' was either inaudible or she unconsciously left it out, letting the only 'okay' come out from her mouth. Her heartbeat was uncontrollable, and she clutched his coat nervously. She was blushing right now, and Yixing started to smile wide seeing that.
"Good." One last long kiss on her forehead and he put his hat on her head to finally let her go. He bit his lower swollen lip maintaining his smile, a gesture that made her sure that he was holding himself not to scream a shout and run around the hall happily, put the joke aside. But as he walked backward and waved his hand to say his last goodbye, he threw a kiss in the air and spun around to run to the gate.
Jisoo felt like it was finally her time to breathe. And as he was gone she couldn't help to shake her head, putting off his hat on her head, and looked at it as if she was looking at his face. Yixing just kissed her. He proposed to her, like, officially. And she said yes?
Wait. What the hell was happening?
A single kiss and she yielded that easy?
No, wait. That didn't sound right.
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