Chapter Text
“I will never ever love someone”
Yushi was lounging on the sofa of his shared apartment when he heard the front door swing open. He was finishing his final semester of college, while Riku had already been technically out in the so called "real world" for six months.
The very second Riku had shut the door, he collapsed against it, sliding down the wood till he eventually hit the floor.
“What’s wrong with you?” Yushi asked.
“Yushi,” Riku moaned from the floor.
“My boss… Well, he's terrifyingly attractive. His name is Rhion, quite unique for a Korean name, may I just add. And I think I forgot how to breathe for a second when I was around him.. I don’t know what to do!”
Yushi snorted. “What’s the problem with a hot boss? Usually, that’s a plus.”
“You really don’t know what it’s like to be in love, do you?” Riku scrambled to his feet, clutching his designer bag to his chest.
“You’ll see. One day you’ll be at the altar standing behind us as my best man. Just wait.”
“You’ve only met your boss for like a day, how are you this whipped for him already?” Yushi said, laughing at his brazenness. Then, a buzz suddenly appeared on Yushi's phone. The caller ID showed his mom. He quickly grabbed it and retreated to his room.
“Mom! Hey,” he said, shutting the door behind him. “Is everything okay? Why are you calling so late?” he said as he plopped his body in his single bed.
“Yushi! My baby! I’m fine,” his mother said. “I want to ask you when is your graduation?” she asked. “Mom! I still have my finals in about five weeks. Maybe in three or four months if I pass it,” Yushi quickly remarked.
“Oh sweetheart don’t you worry, you’ll definitely pass it.” she said. “So… Do you have any plans after college?”
“Mom, I already have too much to think… let that be after my exams” he groaned, rubbing his temples a bit. “Yushi… you’re twenty-two now. You should have a girlfriend by now.”
“Mom… As I told you—” Yushi said before he got interrupted. “How long are you going to say that?” his mother told him. “I thought it was only going to be when you were small, you’re 22 now, Yushi!”
“Live a little. Smile more,” his mother keenly told him in a scolding manner.
“Mom…”
“Yushi… that was not an advice but a demand. After your exams, I’m setting you up with blind dates here back home. Understood?” she said.
“Mom!” he said before his mother had already ended the call.
She quickly texted him a text: “No escaping the blind dates till you get a partner.”
Yushi sighed, but was too tired to complain. He just wrapped himself in his thick blanket that supplied him with enough warmth, more than he could have with a romantic partner.
It wasn't that he was against the idea of a partner. In the quietest parts of his mind—the parts he never showed Riku or even his mom—he had a list. But his standards weren't built solely on height or wealth like many people nowadays;though it could be a factor, his metric had scaled one thing higher than all those, something nearly impossible to find: Genuinity.
He wanted someone who could look at his bluntness and see honesty instead of cruelty. Someone who would appreciate the way he is, rather than demanding he do this or do that. Most people were driven away the moment they heard a truth they didn’t like—the moment a partner stopped being a fantasy and started being a person with flaws. In his opinion those are what makes someone genuine.
He wanted a partner who understood him, someone who would fight till the end. And as long as they’ll fight their battles, he’ll happily fight too.
But in a world of people who fell in love with masks, Yushi knew his type or his dream partner was a ghost. To find someone who actually understood him, he’d need to find someone who wasn't afraid of the truth. And since he was convinced that person didn't exist, he stayed safe behind his walls. Where his emotions are safe.
The morning quickly came and went. There were still thirty-seven days left before his finals and was he worried? He would say so. But as a consistent dean’s lister. He wasn’t the most scared about the exams. He was studying well, he understood his lessons which made him worry less.
As he was walking home, he quickly saw Riku looking out of their window. As soon as Riku made eye contact with him he quickly screamed: “Yushi!”
Yushi was, to say the least, shocked by his roommate’s frantic run to him.
“Yushi! You have to come help and save me!”
“From what now?” Yushi asked, his curiosity piqued as Riku rarely gets this tense about stuff.
“My mom set me up on a blind date,” Riku said, looking at Yushi like he was disgusted with the thought.
“And?” Yushi frowned, he didn’t understand him. He’s the type for blind dates. He falls in love quickly and knows exactly who he’s looking for. “What’s the problem?”
“You know me!” Riku threw his hands in the air. “And knowing my mom… it’s one step after another. If I go on this date… then it will be marriage and all those things I don’t want to talk about right now.”
Yushi grinned, “But you are willing to be in an arranged marriage with your boss?”
“Yushi!” he said, shaking his hands as they entered the apartment. “It’s not the time for teasing, I hate this arranged marriage stuff. I want to fall in love and marry someone I actually care about, not some random guy I meet over dinner!”
“Then what’s wrong with telling your mom that you are simply not interested in going at all,” Yushi suggested.
Riku groaned heavily, “What are the odds that she’ll actually listen to me? Close to none… She’ll probably kill me if I refuse to go on that date.”
“Yeah, she will,” Yushi said casually as he sat down on the sofa.
.
“See? Even you agree! That is why I really need you to help me.”
“How am I supposed to help you?” Yushi asked, wanting to help his friend but scared about helping him. Love is not known as Yushi’s expertise.
Riku stopped frantically moving and knelt in front of the older, with his hopeful smile. “Go on the date for me.”
Yushi blinked. “What the heck? Are you crazy?” That came out of him less than a split second after Riku finished.
“Yushi, pretty much your whole class knows that you’re kind of, to put it a bit nicely, impossible to fall in love,” Riku said, with Yushi looking unconvinced
“You don’t have to actually have to date him or anything,” Riku explained quickly. “I know you, you don’t fall in love.”
“And never will,” Yushi remarked. “Yeah, so just go and ruin the date. Do whatever. You can be rude, act like a jerk, eat loudly and make sure he doesn’t want to see me again.”
Yushi asked, raising his eyebrow. “Why can’t you just do it yourself?”
“You know I can’t act like a bad guy,” Riku said, shaking his head. “You can.” Yushi rebutted.
“No, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Did you not just listen to what I said, I don’t like these arranged dates,” Riku said, holding Yushi’s hands practically begging for him to go on that blind date.
“But you? You’ve got that cold look that I need to just end things. Please, Yushi, help me out!”
“I’m not doing it. Never been on a date and never will” Yushi said firmly. “No way.”
Riku’s expression shifted, and he leaned in with a sly smile. “Think about it, Yushi. If this date works out, my mom will push for a wedding. Once I get married, I can’t rent this apartment anymore, which means you’ll have to move out.”
Yushi froze, he for sure does not want that. He likes it here in their apartment, with Riku, his friend for nearly half a decade despite them being opposites of each other. Riku is more outgoing, fun, and is smart while coming from a family with a rich background while he was just quiet, some may say boring, smart but his family was more middle class, just earning enough to survive.
The problem for Yushi was that rent in that particular area was ridiculously high, and his many part-time jobs barely covered his living expenses. Moving farther out would mean losing his jobs plus will be harder for him to go to school. He needed this place.
“Fine,” Yushi said, giving into Riku. “But you better not blame me if it doesn’t work.”
“Deal!” Riku said, grinning. “Now, let’s get you ready.”
Riku pulled out a rather expensive Dior suit for Yushi, but as soon as he saw it he shook his head. “If the goal is to make him run for the hills, I need to look like someone his mother would warn him about.”
Yushi walked to his closet, grabbing pretty much everything that could give him a rockstar and slightly emo vibes. He put on this thick black leather jacket, ripped flared jeans, and a black and tie-dye shirt that had a skull in its front. On top of all that, what really elevated his look were the thorny rings, some from Riku and a slightly dishevelled belt.
He then went to the mirror and combed his pretty lustrous black hair, the slides slicked back while the front combed down.
When Yushi walked out of his room, Riku looked at him in disbelief. “Wow. Is that really you?
“You look... different. A bit intense.” Riku laughed before continuing. “I kinda want to see poor Sion’s reaction when he sees you as his date.”
‘He won’t know what hit him.”
“That’s the plan,” Yushi said with a smirk. “Now, send me the restaurant address.”
“Good luck Yushi. Break his heart for me.”