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“He looked like an angel,” Korn sighs into his beer.
Pat stares at him with a judgemental look, “Please don’t tell me you said that to him,”
“And the dimples ,” Korn continues like Pat didn’t even speak, “They could rival Pran’s. And his smile was so cute, they made his eyes go all crinkly around the edges and oh my god his eyes. Pat, I’m telling you they were the biggest, most soulful pair of eyes I’ve ever seen,”
“First of all,” Pat holds up a finger,”Noone’s dimples can rival my boyfriend’s. Second of all, how long did you stare into his eyes because if you did it for more than a few seconds then it’s really creepy,”
“What the fuck are you two talking about? Who is this ‘he’?” Mo asks confusedly.
“Is Korn okay?” Chang butts in, “He looks like he’s drinking away heartbreak,”
“He’s trying to drink away his crush on his niece’s nursery teacher,” Pat informs them, exasperation dripping from his tone, “He’s not very successful,”
“So so pretty. And he smelled like caramel,” he says, “
Caramel,”
he glares at the rest of them as if to emphasize his point.
“Okay…” Mo says slowly, “I’m officially concerned,”
Korn sighs in frustration, “You guys don’t understand. I’m in
love
,”
“And how did you fall in love?”
Korn stares at Chang, “Well…”
“Korn it’s only for a few hours,” Son begs him, “You know I wouldn’t ask you at such short notice unless I was desperate. Mona’s got an important meeting with a big client and the hospital’s incredibly short-staffed so I
need
to be there. Can you please just babysit Kina for a few hours until Mona’s done with her work? Please?”
It’s not that Korn has anything against spending time with his niece but he’s also not sure what to do with a four year old girl obsessed with princesses and monkeys seeing as he’s a grown single man with adult responsibilities. He’s the fun uncle who brings her too many sweets and buys her legos but he’s only ever spent time with her in the presence of other capable adults who knew what to do with a child.
“Fine,” he huffs, “But you owe me,” he tells his brother. Son clicks off with a rushed thanks and a comment saying he’ll let the teacher know that Korn would be picking up Kina and Korn sighs, grabs his coat and prepares to head out.
There’s a large group of screeching children swarming around the play area when he arrives and Korn can barely make out where his niece is among the chaos. He doesn’t have to look for long before a purple blur barrels straight into his knees and he’s nearly bowled off his feet.
“Uncle Korn! Uncle Korn! Daddy said you’re picking me up, can we get ice cream on the way back and go to the park?”
“Sure thing Princess,” Korn agrees, leaning down to pick Kina up and prop her on his hip. She giggles and presses a kiss to his cheek with a loud smack.
“Hello, are you Kina’s uncle, Korn?” A sweet voice appears out of nowhere and Korn looks away to find an equally sweet face staring back at him. Big, dark eyes twinkle back at him from under dark, floppy hair and Korn finds himself momentarily speechless but his wonderful, beautiful, adorable niece saves the day by grabbing his cheeks and squishing them together, “Mr.Wai, this is Uncle Korn!”
The beautiful man—Wai— smiles and Korn feels himself melt a little at how cute he looks, “Kina’s father called and said you’re picking her up?I’m Wai by the way, Kina’s teacher,”
It takes a few seconds but Korn’s brain finally catches up, “Oh yeah, I’m that— I mean, yes, I’m doing that! Picking her up, I mean. And I’m Korn… but you already knew that,”
Wai’s smile grows wider as he nods, “I’d shake your hand but I see you’ve got your arms full,”
Korn hoists Kina higher and smiles as best as he can while having his cheeks squished by a determined four year old, “Heh, yeah I guess I do,”
“Well… I’ll see you around,” Wai reaches out and tickles Kina under the chin until she giggles, “And I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetie,”
“Bye Mr.Wai!” Kina yells, “I love you! Say hi to Jia for me!”
“I will, kiddo,”
****
Chang frowns, “Who’s Jia?”
Korn shrugs and drapes himself over the table, “Probably his girlfriend,” he says miserably, “There’s no way a guy as cute as him hasn’t already been snatched up and if he isn’t, there’s no way he’d want to go out with me after I made such a big fool of myself,”
“There there,” Pat says as he switches out Korn’s empty beer bottle for a new one, “Have another drink and forget the cute kindergarten teacher,”
Desperate to feel a little less pathetic, Korn takes the drink.
And then another.
And another.
Last thing he remembers is puking into a bush outside.
***
“Fun night?” Ink asks him wryly as she rings up his coffee order.
Korn glares at her blearily from where he’s drooped over the counter and flaps a hand at her, “Hush you. I’m wallowing in heartbreak,”
“I heard,” Ink says dryly, “Pat sent me a video of your monologue. Soulful eyes? Really?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Korn sniffs, “I’ll never have a chance. Not that you’ll understand with your big fat lesbian relationship,”
“I’m letting you get away with that because you’re hungover and look like shit,”
Korn glances down at his outfit, a worn-down sweatshirt that he bought in college and ratty basketball shorts that he’s had since high school and sighs, “My life sucks,”
“Here’s your coffee,” Ink says and passes a pink, glittery monstrosity of a drink to him.
“That isn’t what I ordered. That looks like a unicorn puked into a takeaway coffee cup and then sprayed whipped cream on top,” Korn states.
“You need a little brightness in your life,” Ink says, shrugging nonchalantly, “Have a Pink Strawberry Party,”
Korn eyes the drink dubiously before taking a hesitant sip. It’s delicious but he's not going admit that, “You’re a horrible barista,” he informs Ink who snorts. The bell rings signifying the presence of another customer so Korn turns away from the counter to retreat to a table in the far corner of the room so Ink can actually do her job.
Only to come face to face with Wai.
Who’s looking absolutely adorable in an oversized purple hoodie and paint splattered jeans. He blinks before smiling, “Oh. Hi Korn,” he gives a little wave.
“Wai?” Korn squeaks before clearing his throat, “I mean, hi!”
Wai smiles at him and fuck his eyes have gone all crinkly , “I like your drink. It’s… colorful,”
Korn glances down at the pink drink in his hand and curses Ink internally, “Uh yeah, Ink made it for me,” he says, jerking his head back at Ink. He has his back turned to her but he has no doubt that she’s currently smirking at his predicament, “Well uh, I’ll see you around Wai, I’ve got to go,” Wai looks disappointed(?) at his words for all of two seconds before plastering a smile on his face and nodding, “Yeah, see you around,”
And with that, Korn all but sprints out of the shop.
***
The apartment key Pat gave him is only for emergencies.
This definitely counted as an emergency.
“I met him again!” Korn wails, hurtling into Pat and Pran’s apartment and causing Pat to startle, “Dressed like this!” He gestures to himself before groaning loudly and face planting onto the couch.
Pat shakes his shoulder until he pulls his face away from the couch, “Met who?”
“The love of my life,” Korn groans, burying his face into the cushion again, “It was
terrible
,”
Pran tugs at his arm until he sits up with a defeated sigh, hugging a pillow close to his chest.
“Explain.” He says, tone leaving no room for argument.
Korn sighs, “I went to pick my niece up from kindergarten, met the love of my life except he has a girlfriend so I got drunk and today I saw him again and it was a horrible experience,”
“You saw him looking like
that
?” Pran asks, gesturing to Korn’s outfit to which Korn nods miserably. “Oh, that
is
horrible,”
“Pran!” Pat says scoldingly, “Be nice!”
“I’m being honest,” Pran says matter-of-fact, “Anyway, who’s this mystery man?”
“His niece’s kindergarten teacher,” Pat tells him, “Apparently he’s called Wai and has eyes that crinkle when he smiles,”
“And the cutest smile too,” Korn adds.
Pran’s face does something complicated that Korn is too tired to decipher before he takes a seat next to Korn, “Okay, so you need something to distract you?”
“I guess?”
“How about a blind date?”
Korn hums unconvinced but Pran presses on, “C’mon, just one date. It’s one of my friends and I think you’ll really like him,”
“But—”
Pran interrupts him, “Korn, just give it a chance. Please? I promise you won’t regret it,”
Korn huffs, “Fine,” he relents, “But no douchebags,” he warns and Pran makes a cross over his heart, “I promise he’s not a douchebag. Is this weekend fine?”
Korn shrugs, “Yeah sure,”
Pran makes a happy noise, “Wonderful. Now onto more important things. What the fuck is that drink?” he asks and points at Korn’s glittery drink that’s innocently sitting on the coffee table.
“Ink thinks she’s funny,”
“Say less,”
***
Korn glances around the cafe Pran sent him to. It’s a cozy place with a decent amount of customers. There’s fairy lights hung everywhere, bathing the room in a soft yellow glow that instantly relaxes him.
He’s fair, has dark hair and I told him to wear a dark green shirt so you can find him easily. And you need to wear a blue one so he can find you too , Pran had said. Korn had followed his instructions diligently and now here he stood in the middle of the cafe looking like an absolute fool as he tried to find his blind date.
“Um… Korn?” Someone taps him on the shoulder and he turns around to find Wai smiling at him, looking a little surprised. His hair artfully flops down onto his face and his dark eyes reflect the little yellow lights floating around the room.
“Oh, Wai. Hello!” Korn smiles, cursing his luck, “What’re you doing here?”
“My friend set me up on a blind date,” Wai says, “He’s supposed to have met me here by now. My friend said he told my date to wear a blue shirt,”
It’s then that Korn notices that Wai’s wearing a dark green shirt.
“Wai?”
“Hm?”
“Your friend’s name wouldn’t happen to be Pran, would it?”
Wai looks surprised, “It is actually! How’d you know?”
“Because Pran told me that he instructed my blind date to wear a dark green shirt,” he reaches out and lightly tugs at the fabric of Wai’s shirt, “And told me to wear a blue shirt,”
That crazy, wonderful man. Korn could kiss him from joy.
Wai’s eyes widen and he starts stuttering adorably, “Wait does— how— you’re my blind date?”
“It would seem so,” Korn grins sheepishly and spreads his arms out, “You disappointed?” he asks, almost terrified to hear Wai’s answer.
“Quite the opposite,” Wai says, “I sort of developed a crush on you since I saw you that day at the nursery,” he admits, “And I may have been ranting about it to Pran for the last two days,”
Korn feels his jaw drop, “Seriously? My brain stopped functioning when you greeted me and I let everyone know about it too. But what about your girlfriend?”
Wai looks confused, “Girlfriend?”
“Kina said to say hi to Jia. I assumed she was talking about your girlfriend,”
Wai laughs, “God no. Jia’s my dog. I ran into Kina and her mom while taking her on a walk and Kina’s been obsessed with her ever since,”
Korn laughs, “I’m surprised you aren’t dating anyone. But I guess that just means I’ll get to date you instead,”
Wai flushes a pretty red and hesitantly reaches out and takes a hold of Korn’s hand, his fingers are warm and soft against Korn’s, “What do you say we continue this conversation over some dinner?”
Korn grins widely,“I’d love that,”
They spend several delightful hours talking and playing footsie under the table before the servers inform them that the restaurant is about to close. Korn walks Wai home and is rewarded with a long and heated makeout session against Wai’s front door before he manages to gain some control and pulls back.
It takes all of his control to leave Wai there, red-cheeked and hair ruffled but Wai presses a sweet kiss to his cheek and hands a strip of paper with his number written with a whispered “Call soon,”
Korn absolutely does not skip the whole way back home.
The following week, Pran receives a gift basket full of drawing supplies, courtesy of Korn. And tickets to a classical music c oncert, courtesy of Wai.