Dare To Love You

"Come on, Lea. Let's have a double date for once," Grace whined, repeating her request.

What was her reason for forcing her sister to come along? Their mother forbade her to go out without Lea. Oh, oh ... what the hell, Lea thought irritably.

"Who else should I bring, Grace? You're being ridiculous!"

"Whoever, office friends, hangout friends. Isn't there anyone? Come on, please," Grace whined pleadingly to Lea.

Lea, who, even though she often fought with Grace, couldn't bear to make her sister disappointed. Finally, she relented by obeying her sister to go to the movies even though she had to be alone. Who else would she want to invite?

"Oh, wait, then how about you watch it with Freddie's friends? Who is the same age as you, and single of course, so who knows while getting to know each other, something more going to happen, hehe...," suggested Grace, thinking of another possibility so that her sister would not end up being cheated on.

The siblings, two years apart in age, looked at each other. Coincidentally, Lea was also really upset because she was the only one among her friends and even her sister, who didn't have a boyfriend. This could be a way to find a partner. Lea thought to herself.

Then, without thinking, she answered desperately, "Yes, I'll try it anyway. Does Freddie have a friend like you said earlier?"

Grace's eyes lit up with excitement. She was happy because her plan to introduce Lea to Freddie's friend was working.

She and Freddie often talked about Lea, who was still single. Freddie had a suggestion to introduce a friend of his who was also single. It's just that so far, they haven't had the right opportunity to reveal their plan to Lea.

"Absolutely. We'll bring you one of the highest quality ones!" Grace winked at her sister in the style of a professional matchmaker.

Lea laughed and shook her head at her sister's silly behavior. In her heart, of course, she hoped that this time, what Grace said was high quality was really by her standards. The problem was that Grace had also been introduced to a slack guy who was rather telly and made Lea auto-leave from the guy even before they were alone for about an hour.

That afternoon, Grace busied herself with dressing her sister as beautifully and elegantly as possible. Several times, they mixed and matched dresses that felt suitable for dating events and also by Lea's tastes; finally, they chose a simple cut dress with short sleeves, knee length, and a drawstring accent at the waist in smooth pink color. The dress, which Lea had never worn since she bought it, looked very suitable.

Staring at herself in the mirror, Lea looked quite satisfied with the results of her sister's makeup. Grace made up Lea's face with thin, simple, natural makeup according to Lea's usual character. Lea did not like to wear makeup. She usually always only wears light powder and lipgloss to go anywhere. This time, because of the dating event, Grace was forced to wear eyeliner and lipstick to complete her sister's makeup.

Freddie picked them up right at 6 pm. Their father and mother were forced to permit Grace to go out at night because, this time, she was with Lea. Her mother had smelled a conspiracy there. Unusually, Lea was willing to hang out with Grace and her boyfriend. However, for lack of a better reason, her mother couldn't stop them.

"Hey, you look beautiful, Lea. My friend will have an instant crush on you." Freddie made small talk behind the wheel when they were already in the silver CRV-type car that was winding slowly down the road out of the alley of Lea and Grace's family home.

"Yes, meet the MUA first, hehe...." Grace patted her chest proudly.

"Wow, you're top, honey." Freddie flicked his finger towards the nose of Grace, who was sitting next to him. Meanwhile, Lea, who was in the back seat, was alone and nervous, thinking about who her blind date would be.

"So we'll meet him in the movie theatre, huh, Fred?" Lea asked to ward off his curiosity.

"Yes. He doesn't live in the same direction, so he'll go alone. We'll meet him there. No problem, right?" Freddie asked Lea back. He was afraid that his girlfriend's older sister would be uncomfortable or that there was something wrong with their plan. He had to maintain his image in front of his future sister-in-law if he wanted to make it easy to get Grace's parents' blessing.

"Oh, no. Just wondering why." Lea answered in an indifferent tone even though her chest was pounding uncertainly, waiting for the figure of her blind date partner. What would he look like?

"You'll like the person. He's my friend. He's a good man." Freddie explained a little. Very little information was given, making Lea even more curious. She had been interrogating Grace since the house, but her sister didn't know anything about it.

"Oh, maybe he's a bit quiet, please be understand, okay. He's originally quiet, so that's how it is. No wonder it took him so long to meet a girl, ehehe." Freddie again gave a little description when they almost arrived at their destination, the movie theatre.

When they arrived at the big mall where the movie theater was located, Freddie took them in the opposite direction from the movie theater.

"Let's have dinner first; it's still an hour away, right?"

"Okay, honey. Where's your friend?" Luckily, Grace represented the question that was already hanging on Lea's lips.

"There, waiting for us at the cafe over there," Freddie pointed while entering a cafe. The cafe had a special table setting with only two chairs.

"Oh my, is this cafe designed specifically for those who are dating, huh? Only two chairs per table on purpose?" Lea commented in a hilarious tone. Making Freddie and Grace laugh instantly.

"It could be, Lea," Freddie said, shaking his head with a laugh.

"Hi, Shane." Freddie finally stopped at a table that was a bit on the far side. It was quite separate from the other tables.

The man who was sitting with his back to them turned around and stood up. A handsome man with an attractive, cool face. His slanted eyes were exactly like those of actors in Korean dramas. Gosh, Lea was immediately attracted by his charismatic figure.

"Hi, have you arrived?" Only a word with a heavy voice full of authority came out.

"Yes, sorry, a little late. The road is quite crowded, hehe. This, you know, Grace, is my girlfriend. And this is her sister, Lea." Freddie answered while continuing to introduce the two girls who were with him.

The cool figure narrowed his eyes more as he smiled and greeted and shook hands with Grace.

Then, nodding his head, he greeted Lea by name,

"Shane... come sit down."

Gosh, so she had to sit directly with Shane here while Grace and Freddie sat elsewhere? Ah, I'm going to die, Lea thought a little panicked. She was not used to being alone with an unknown man.

"Oh, okay." That was all she could say as she was forced to sit in the chair opposite Shane.

"We'll go there first. We'll meet you at the lobby of the movie theatre in an hour." Grace excused herself and led Freddie to another empty table.

Lea took a deep breath. Which was noticed by Shane, making her a little naughty.

"Don't be tense," Shane said later. That was making Lea even more confused, not knowing what to answer.

"Oh, no. It's normal," she replied shortly, trying to brush off her nervousness so as not to look so embarrassing in front of Shane.

"You both don't look alike, do you, even though you're sister?" Shane commented as she looked over to where Grace and Freddie were sitting.

Lea followed the direction of Shane's gaze. Grace and Freddie were laughing together across the table with their hands on that. Oh my! Her sister was quite flirtatious, too, though Lea embarrassed herself seeing her sister's behavior.

"Our faces, you mean? Yes, Grace looks more beautiful, anyway, really," Lea replied, starting to melt the awkwardness between them.

Shane looked at Lea, then back at Grace while comparing. Lea became red in the face because she was so embarrassed to be noticed to such an extent.

"I don't mean about your faces. You guys have similar faces, just a little different. Beauty is relative. Freddie's girlfriend is good at grooming. That's what makes her look more wow than you."

Since Lea was silent, Shane continued,

"What's completely different from you guys is the attitude. See, your sister can be that flexible and cheerful with her boyfriend. As for you, I see that you are stiff and not flexible."

"Okay, you're a very detailed observer, aren't you?" Lea commented in surprise.

"Usually, men are ignorant about such things."

"But are my observations correct?" demanded Shane to acknowledge the correctness of his assessment.

"It's up to the observer. If I say no, you won't believe me, right? You seem to be a person who is too proud of yourself and won't give others a chance to refute."

"Wow, you're like a psychic when you talk, seemingly not paying attention to me but guessing into my personality; it's interesting how intuitive you are."

Their conversation continued with several arguments until their food was delivered. Lea, who had lost her appetite, just stirred the contents of her plate with no appetite to finish. Meanwhile, Shane seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

Strangely, the man commented that Lea could not be as flexible and cheerful as Grace while he behaved like a block of ice. So Cold.

***