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“Alright, you can do this,” Mina whispered to herself as she stared in the mirror. Her outfit looked cute, her hair was perfectly in place, her face looked calm—for now.
Mina puffed up her cheeks and let out a big sigh. She shouldn’t be so nervous about this. She had already been going on dates with Nayeon for several weeks. Even though they weren’t officially in a relationship (yet), Mina really liked her, and she thought that Nayeon felt the same way.
Most of the time, Mina felt really comfortable with Nayeon, but there were several moments on each of their dates when Nayeon would do something that had a certain…effect on Mina, and it was very embarrassing. But Mina promised herself that she wouldn’t let that happen this time. She would stay strong…right?
After hyping herself up for a few more minutes, Mina checked the time—if she left now, she’d have just enough time to make it to the coffee shop by the time they had agreed on. She put on her coat, grabbed her purse, and opened the door—
“Ah!” Mina gasped as she almost ran into Nayeon.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Nayeon said sweetly while smiling at Mina.
“Hah—g-good morning,” Mina repeated. “I thought we were meeting at the coffee shop.”
“Yeah,” Nayeon said, shrugging. “That’s what we decided, but I didn’t wanna wait any longer to see your pretty face, so I decided to surprise you at your house instead!”
Oh no, Mina thought, it’s happening. This was a disaster—not because of what Nayeon had done. Mina loved how sweet and thoughtful Nayeon was. But it was thanks to Nayeon’s kind gesture that exactly what Mina had been afraid of was starting to happen.
The heat started rushing to Mina’s cheeks, and before she knew it…
…she was blushing.
She felt like such an idiot for letting such tiny things get her so darn flustered. She looked so silly and dorky when she blushed. Nayeon was sure to get weirded out by it soon—if she wasn’t weirded out already. Why couldn’t Mina keep her face under control?
“Well, are you ready to go?” Nayeon asked, rocking forward and backward on her feet.
“Sure,” Mina said, smiling awkwardly as she brushed some of her hair forward to cover part of her red cheeks.
Keeping her arm bent at the elbow, Nayeon offered her arm to Mina.
Giggling—and blushing harder—Mina linked arms with Nayeon as they began their journey through the cool, winter air toward the coffee shop.
The walk across town was a pleasant one—mostly due to the pleasant company—but Mina still couldn’t shake off her embarrassment. It was hard to truly enjoy the date when her mind was filled with fears of Nayeon abandoning her after finally realizing how strange she was.
And it only got worse from there. Time after time, Nayeon surprised Mina in the sweetest ways—paying for her coffee, drawing a heart in the foam at the top of her mug, playfully kicking her feet under the table, and, worst of all, winking at her.
And time after time, Mina’s face turned bright red.
She tried everything she could to hide it. Sometimes Mina would take a sip of coffee as an excuse to hide her face, other times she turned around under the pretense of looking for something in her purse that she had hung on the back of her chair. One time, she straight-up excused herself to use the restroom and splash some water on her face.
The most recent time, it was because Nayeon had complimented her on her hair. But Nayeon hadn’t stopped there—she had reached out and threaded her fingers through a lock of Mina’s hair.
Mina was grateful for the compliment, but Nayeon’s delicate touch brought all the blood rushing back up to her cheeks. She instinctively looked down in the hopes that Nayeon wouldn’t—
“Why do you keep doing that?”
“Huh?” Mina asked, her head shooting back up.
“You’re always hiding your face,” Nayeon explained. “I don’t like it when you do that,” she said with a pout on her lips.
“O-oh,” Mina stuttered. “Why…?”
Nayeon raised her hand to Mina’s cheek and turned Mina’s head toward her, keeping her from looking away. “Because I like looking at your face.”
This time, Mina had no way to escape as the warmth spread back across her cheeks—and there was no doubt that Nayeon was seeing all of it. It was horrible. Mina clutched her fists tightly in her lap, hoping that Nayeon would just let go—
“Mina, are you okay?” Nayeon asked, her face filled with concern.
“I’m fine—I mean, I don’t know—sorry.”
Nayeon took her hand off of Mina’s face. “Is something bothering you? You can talk to me about it,” Nayeon whispered so that no one nearby would be able to hear their conversation.
Mina bit her lip and swallowed. Her mouth suddenly felt so dry, even though she’d been drinking coffee for the past twenty minutes. “It’s—I don’t know—it’s just…you always make me blush so darn much,” she finally blurted out, squeezing her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to see the look on Nayeon’s face.
“I know.”
Confused, Mina opened her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Why do you think I keep doing all those silly, sappy things?” Nayeon asked. “I love how your cheeks turn pink, and how your eyes drift down to the side, and how you get that adorably soft smile on your face. I could look at that all day. But if you keep turning away or running off to the bathroom, then I’m never gonna get to see it again,” Nayeon finished with a frown.
“…You really think it’s adorable? I thought you’d think I was weird for blushing so easily,” Mina said, playing with the hem of her shirt.
“Weird?” Nayeon blurted in shock a bit too loudly. “It’s not weird,” she said more quietly. “I like knowing that I’m making you happy—and showing your happiness is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Mina hoped Nayeon meant everything she just said, because the blush was returning to her face in full force. She let out a quiet, breathy giggle and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
“Beautiful,” Nayeon whispered, watching Mina with a look of such fond admiration that Mina couldn’t help but smile back.
By the time they finished their coffee, Mina had blushed several more times, but she didn’t try to hide it anymore—or, at least, she didn’t hide it as much—change took time, after all. Mina wished she could find a better way to thank Nayeon for her kind words.
Then, as they left the shop hand in hand, Mina had an idea. Without warning, she leaned over and pecked Nayeon on the cheek.
Nayeon froze in place, letting out a small gasp. Her hand flew to her face where Mina had kissed her, and the color of her cheeks darkened.
Maybe Nayeon was right, Mina thought as she giggled and resumed walking—it was pretty adorable when someone she cared about blushed.