The perfect mistake

I was miles too early, sitting checking my watch and fidgeting with the condiments set in a holder on the table. Having never been on a blind date before I was more than a little nervous, smoothing down my hair and checking my watch every few minutes. We'd agreed to meet at 8pm and there was still ten minutes to go. I wasn't sure my nerves could handle waiting all that time, it would feel like forever.

A year ago I would never have put myself in this situation. But then, a year ago I was still studying and too busy to really stop and think about dating or a relationship. When friends had suggested I try an online dating app, I'd laughed. But six months after I had finished my masters degree and started my new career, I thought about it again and decided to at least have a look. And now, I'd finally agreed to meeting someone I'd been chatting to for a few weeks.

The restaurant I'd suggested was a small, out of the way place that had great reviews. Not too formal or too casual so I could dress more like myself than feeling like I needed to really dress to impress on the first date. We'd mentioned what we would be wearing so it was easier to find each other, agreeing that our dating profile picture was not how we necessarily looked all the time. That was a little scary, what if we weren't each others type? But we'd seemed to connect while we chatted for the last few weeks so I was willing to give it a go. At best, he could be the one. At worst, I could 'be too full for dessert.' But Pabkon95 had seemed really nice online so I was nervously excited to meet him.

Looking at my watch again, I realised only two more minutes had passed since the last time I'd looked and glanced towards the door again, this time, heart going into my mouth as I watched some men walked in, one of them dressed exactly as my date had said he would be. He was wearing a mask so I couldn't see his face but he was wearing black jeans, black top and a beanie which fit the description of all black and a hat. He looked around a little and then pointed to a table off to the side away from me and I stood up thinking maybe my outfit wasn't obvious while I was sitting, waving out to him. I was early so maybe he also thought I hadn't arrived yet?

His steps faltered and he looked around, checking to see if I was waving to someone else and I felt a little embarrassed as I beckoned him over. Stopping in his tracks, he seemed to have a quick discussion with the people he was with before they headed to the table, one waiting to watch as he walked over to me. There was something about the way he walked that I instantly was attracted to. A grace of movement that caught the eye, with long, lean steps. His friend was eyeing me closely and I was wondering why there were even here in the first place. Were they his out in case he wasn't enjoying the date? A signal sent and some crisis invented to get him out of there in a hurry?

I was still standing, wringing my hands a little as he approached and we bowed to each other.

"Ah, nice to finally meet you. Have a seat," I said as I sat, more like collapsed, into the chair next to me.

He stood for a fraction longer than seemed normal, looking to his friends then pulled the chair out and slowly sat down.

"We were both early," I said, trying to start the conversation off. His eyebrows came together in a frown above his mask and I wondered why that was a problem and why he still kept his mask on.

"Early is better than late right," he replied, resting his hands together on the table. They had long fingers, veins visible when he flexed them slightly. I'd always loved strong hands and there was something about his that made me want to reach out right away and feel his fingers link with mine. Somehow I was getting well ahead of myself as I was having trouble making eye contact with him so touching his hands was off the table for now.

I nodded in reply, noticing his eyes firmly fixed on me as I glanced at his face, looking away from the warm brown irises that met mine briefly before I had to look away again. A waiter came over and asked if we'd like anything to drink.

"What are you having," he asked, reaching for the drinks menu.

"I don't drink a lot so I'm happy to take your suggestion," I said.

"I'll sip a whiskey with my meal, shall I order one for the both of us?" His voice had a syrupy deep sound to it, nothing like I pictured when we chatted online but it drew me in and I nodded, wishing he'd take the mask off so I could see if he matched the image I had in mind of his face.

Looking through the selection, finger tracing down the page, he ordered for us before placing the drinks menu back down and looking at me.

"Have you eaten here before," he asked, reaching to pour us both waters.

"First time but I've heard it's good."

"It's really good, I've been a few times before. The food is great and today, the company is too." He blinked at me, bowing his head a little and I reacted with a blush at his compliment. I was a little confused though too. When I'd suggested the place to meet, he hadn't said he'd come here before. In fact, if I remembered correctly, he said he hadn't been here or maybe I was thinking of one of the other places we'd talked about going to.

"If you like spicy food, their tteokbokki is delicious although I'll probably order japchae tonight."

Our drinks were delivered and placed in front of us and we reached for them, Pabkon95 clinking our glasses together as we put them to our mouths to sip. He bent his head lowering his mask and I couldn't see anything other than a quick glimpse of his face before I turned to the side to politely sip mine. It was warm and flowed down my throat with a burn that I thought I might be able to get used to but I was thinking about how his face wasn't like I expected. Definitely not in a bad way, he was attractive from the minimal glance I'd had. He just didn't look like his profile picture much at all but maybe that was because his hair was a different colour to what I had been expecting.

He'd pulled his mask back into place by the time we were looking at each other again and I wish he didn't as I wanted to look at him some more. He was staring intently at me so it only seemed fair for me to have the same in return. I was about to ask about it when he spoke first. "Do you like it," he asked, lifting his glass so I'd know what he meant.

"It's not as strong as I was expecting but I'm a lightweight when it comes to alcohol so this glass will last the whole meal."

"It's definitely a drink that is appreciated slowly. I drink it when I want to sit and spend some time. It's perfect for a meal with someone if you're planning on being there a while together."

I blushed again at his words. It felt like he was saying he would like to settle in for a while with me and although we'd only been sitting for a few minutes, I could tell I was going to enjoy my evening. There was a quiet hum in the room from people having good conversation, it felt like just the right vibe for a first date.

"A while huh? Maybe we should choose our meal then," and I picked up the menu, even though I'd gone through it a few times while I'd waited earlier and had a fair idea what I was wanting. It just gave me a chance to look away from him as I found his gaze a little too much but in all the right ways. There was a comfortable silence as he looked at his menu too and I browsed it, making my decision, keeping my eyes down to school myself to meet his again.

Until I looked up and saw a bewildered looking man off to the side, staring at me and my companion and I noticed he was wearing exactly the same colour combination as my date; black jeans, black top, black baseball cap. The colour drained from my face as I turned to look at the man sitting across the table from me.

"Are you not here for a blind date," I asked and my companion shook his head, eyes seeming to sparkle with amusement as he did.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I saw what you were wearing and well, I made a mistake." I could feel my face flushing with heat, feeling flustered.

"That's OK," he answered, standing up and I followed suit, leaping out of my chair. "I think it was a perfect mistake. Have fun with your evening," and he reached to shake my hand, bowing as he did before taking his drink and walking off to join his friends.

My hands had flown to my red cheeks, attempting to get myself under control before I waved out to the man who was my actual blind date, feeling very foolish.

"So, that was embarrassing," I said when he arrived. "I thought that other man was you."

He laughed good naturedly and I could see he did look similar to his profile picture, much more so than the man I'd been sitting with. They had very different eyes, that was all I'd really seen of his face. "Pabkon95" had brown eyes too but they weren't as warm to look at although at the moment they sparkled at my embarrassment.

Waiting for me to sit, he followed suit, signalling the waiter to come over so he could order a drink.

"I already have one," I said, feeling a little silly at the whole scenario earlier but lifting my whiskey glass to show him. Staring briefly while he picked what he'd like, I noticed my date-not-really-my-date had settled in with his friends and they seemed to be laughing together. I really hope they're not laughing at me, I thought and saw him glance at me, raising his own glass of whiskey as he turned back to his group and I smiled a small smile, turning back to my date.

"So, am I allowed to know the real name of Pakbon95?" I asked, after our drinks and meal order had been taken.

"Sure. I'm Hoshi, nice to meet you properly Terriergirl96."

I laughed. "It's Hana," I answered and we bowed to each other in our seats, already feeling like we could be comfortable with each other.

Conversation flowed easily through the evening and I was enjoying Hoshi's company. But every time I glanced around the restaurant, I felt eyes on me. Whatever his name was, he'd taken off his mask and it was too far to really see but it looked like he was watching me. Often. And I liked it, trying hard to be in the moment with Hoshi but thinking of my first "dates" eyes meeting mine when we were across the table from each other. I'd had different feelings with him, his hidden features making me curious. Maybe that was all it was, curiosity for the stranger who had hidden himself. Who didn't love a mystery?

So I chatted with Hoshi, finding more out about him, enjoying that we had things in common and acknowledging that he was definitely cute. But cute wasn't what I was after and the spark I had been hoping to feel wasn't there like I'd hoped it would be. Almost two hours went by quickly and I had a nice time but I didn't think I'd be pursuing the relationship as anything more than friends.

We were wrapping up our meal when I felt a presence next to me. Looking up, I met the eyes of my previous companion, instantly comparing them again to Hoshi's and realising, the look in them held the spark I had been hoping for.

"It looks like your evening turned out well," he said as he paused briefly next to my seat. He'd pulled the mask back into place so all I could see again was his eyes but I could tell they were smiling.

"Yes, sorry about earlier," I replied, trying not to blush again at my foolishness, swallowing my thoughts away.

"Don't worry about it, mistakes happen," he said, reaching out to shake my hand and as we pulled away, I closed mine, dropping it into my lap.

"Perfect mistakes," I answered and he chuckled a little before bowing to both myself and my companion before following his friends out the restaurant.

Clutched in my hand was a piece of paper and I didn't allow my hand to let it go or for my face to show how it had felt when I'd realised he was slipping it into my palm. It was still tingling from his touch.

"Well, I have work tomorrow. Shall we say our goodbyes," I heard, shaken from my haze.

"Of course, I do too," I answered as we both stood up.

"Please, the meal is on me," he said as we walked to pay.

"No, no, lets split the bill," I replied, not liking the thought that a man should feel he needed to pay for everything on a date.

"I had a nice time, I'd like to pay," Hoshi answered.

"I did too but, I think it would be best if we both paid for ourselves."

There was something he read in my tone because he was silent for a moment before accepting my words. I didn't even know what it was but I felt like I had clarified where we were at by suggesting that he didn't cover the meal himself. I'd enjoyed it but I definitely shouldn't have been thinking about my first companion if there was something more with Hoshi. I couldn't stop thinking about the note, having slipped it into my bag when we stood up. Now, selfishly, I wanted to pay, say our goodbyes and go somewhere I could open it and see what it said.

He smiled at me as we paid, one after the other, saying our thanks to the staff as we walked out the front door. "Shall we keep chatting online Hana," he asked.

"Chatting online would be good," I answered and we both knew it was all it was going to be.

With a considerable amount of self control, I kept the note tucked in my purse without opening it on the short trip home in the Uber. Thinking about what it could say had kept me distracted, at the very least, I hoped it had his name on it so I didn't have to keep thinking of him as my first date that wasn't a date. As I flopped onto the couch in my apartment, I finally opened my bag and pulled out the note, wrinkled from how it had been locked in my fist for a few minutes. Hoping it was still legible, I opened it, smoothing it flat.

"I believe in fate. If you do too, call me. I'd like to know more about the woman with the beautiful eyes. MYG."

There was a number scrawled at the end and I stared at all the words, feeling the spark I'd felt earlier just from reading what he'd written to me. He was so good with words, what else was he good at, I allowed myself to think. Whether I was going to text him wasn't even in question. But what I wanted to say was what I was pondering now, even as I read through his note another ten times.

"Fate or a perfect mistake," I finally typed, sending it off as I held tightly to my phone, wondering how long it would take for him to reply and then feeling nervous that he wouldn't. I didn't have to wait long.

"Our meeting was no kind of mistake. I watched you tonight. You had fun but we'd have a lot more fun together."

"I'd like that."

"What are you doing now?" I just about jumped up from my seat at his text. Now? It was 1030pm, not late but could you really go from a meal with one man to I don't know what with another?

"Curled up on my couch, I just got home."

"I could keep you company for a bit," came the fast reply and I blinked several times at the words before another text came quickly on it's heels.

"Wait, that sounded creepy. After all, we've not even been properly introduced to each other and I just invited myself round to your place. We could meet another time, somewhere public if that's what you'd prefer."

Making a snap decision I sent a text back. "Not creepy, I'm flattered. I'll send my address but just so you know, I've text my friend that you're coming over so if I don't come to work tomorrow, they'll come searching my apartment."

"How do I know you won't be going to do something to me?"

"You don't. You should message my address to your friends too, just in case," I answered, thinking, there were definitely things I wanted to do to him. Which was weird as we'd spoken so little and I barely had seen him. Somehow though, I felt things I hadn't felt fluttering around in my body since my last serious relationship, a lot of years ago.

"Somehow I think we'll be OK. I'm already in the car on the way over. See you soon."

I leaped up from my couch, unsure how long it would take for him to get there. Tearing around my apartment, I straightened the lounge, tossed a few items of clothing in the laundry and checked myself in the mirror. My hair and makeup were mostly in tact so I just freshened up a little, brushing my teeth. As I did, I realised I was hoping that this would end with a kiss, or more, foolishly wishing the sparks went both ways. My heartbeat felt a little all over the place, nerves and excitement tumbling over each other inside my body.

The doorbell rang too soon for my heart to be in a calm state and I walked over to the peep hole. His mask was in place but it was definitely the man I'd sat across from earlier and I took a deep breath, letting it slowly out before I unlocked the door.

"I'm Min Yoongi," he said as we stared at each other and he dropped the mask under his chin, face now fully visible.

"Yes you are," I said as I reached out for his hand, pulling him inside.