“Which is why,” Cal pointed out. “I was offering to drive you.”
“Oh. No! No, no, no,” she said in varying volumes and tones (pitches? Cal would know) while literally waving him off. “Wag na.”
“Apparently,” he said, and she wondered if she was imagining that sarcasm is his voice. She was not.
She turned toward the door—she really just needed her shoes. She was about to throw the front door open when she asked. “Um, how far is Hongdae from here?”
It takes him a second to process her question. “Far. Like you should let me drive you far.” He looked out the windows like he could glean the traffic from his high-rise condo. He turned around, and how was it that even back muscles were sexy? And that running in-band joke about Cal having the best butt among the three of them suddenly made perfect sense.
Mag hunos dili ka!Lia told herself. She hadn’t even had water! She wasn’t even a fan anymore!
“My car’s warm, I’m a safe driver, and I give excellent recommendations,roomie,” he said, turning again to face her, crossing his arms over his chest. And just like that, none of her usual functions seemed to be able to function. Breathing maybe. Speaking, definitely not. “Will you be?—“
“I’ll be fine…roomie,” Lia reassured him. Good to know her pride had higher priority than her simping. “I’m sure you’re busy.”
“I’m not—well. We have rehearsals later. Then work sessions with Teddy. If today is Wednesday, I have a session with a vocal coach. If today is Friday, I have boxing.”
“It’s Monday.”
“Japanese lessons, then? Or was today my haircut appointment…? Whatever. Dongyeon hyung will remind me.”
“I’ve been to Hongdae before,” Lia said, because she had no idea what she could contribute to his schedule.
“There’s not much to do in Hongdae during the day these days, unless you like solo photo booths. But you get those everywhere now.” Cal shrugged. Great, he was flexing his arms now, and all she could think about was him holding a shiny red guitar. Or her. Pwede rin her.
“Really? Do the kids not hang out there anymore?” Lia asked. The last time she was here was ten years ago, and Hongdae had felt young and electric, alive and bursting with people and cute little things. Nothing was familiar, and it took her and Megan forever to find the churro and ice cream place. Even during the day.
Cal shrugged. “I’m sure some of them still do. But there are other neighborhoods now, and Hongdae feels…sanitized? College kids made small businesses cool, which attracted tourists. Tourists attracted big corporations that took down the small businesses. It didn’t help that the pandemic happened on top of all of that. It hasn’t really come back since.”
“People moved on.” Lia sighed, needing Cal not to see the expression on her face. “Maybe not Hongdae, then.”
Cal looked at her expectantly, like he had nothing in the world but time to help her, which she knew for a fact wasn’t true. It hadn’t even been true for her best friend, much less—anyway.
She was, however, taken aback by his insistence on being helpful. It was a trait that she’d come up against so many times in the last twenty-four hours since she met him, but she had never assigned to him in the years that she was a CoBOLT fan. He was magnetic and charming, great at music and funny when he was egged on. She wouldn’t have immediately called himgenerous or kind. It gave him more shape in her mind, a more solid presence than the idol she’d daydreamed up.
“I have a video call with my therapist at ten,” she heard herself say before she’d fully decided she was going to mention it. “It’s my first psych session in a year, and I was hoping to find somewhere to do it…not here, but also not so public? Somewhere I could maybe get a coffee first before I try to feel less emotionally constipated so I can actuallyfunctionagain.”
Lia winced at that last sentence, because that hadn't been quite fair to herself. She could function, she applied for a visa for herself and for her brother without issues. She’d arranged their schedules so they could get to the airport on time, and it didn’t seem like she left anything at home. She was functional, but she was also unravelling a little bit.
And that was alotfor a guy she just met a day before.
“You know what.” She decided, shaking her head as if to cancel all that out. “Never mind. I can take the call at a cafe or something?—”
Cal held his hand out to her, like he was reaching for something. Confused, breakfast-less and still a little sleepy, Lia…put her hand in his. Just resting on it, like a hi-touch situation. His fingers were rough and callused, and his hand was warm. But then Cal surprised her even more by shifting his hand enough so he could squeeze hers, and oh. It was so nice. There was affection in the touch, a release in the squeeze, and Lia didn’t want to let go. But the concern in his eyes was enough to make her pull away, and so she did.
“Um, thanks,” she said, because she really had needed it. “You do that for all the saling pusa?”
“Actually, I was going to ask for your phone to pin a location on your map,” he said.
“Oh my god,” she exclaimed, shaking her head. Can her embarrassment and mortification just turn into two giantmouths and swallow her whole, thank you? “I held your hand without consent!”
“No, it’s fine!” he said, like he was the one who had done the illicit hi-touch. “Feel free to hold my hand anytime.”
“No! No, no, no,” she repeated in the same varying pitches that she’d said no to his offers to drive her just earlier. “N-no need. It’s not a hi-touch, it’s fine.”
“Hi-touch,” he repeated. “You know about?—”
“Do you still want my phone, or…?”
