Yunjin meets you in a bar
You sit alone at the bar waiting on your drink, grey and red suit and black shoes, every bit as ostentatious as the atmosphere around you is subdued. Your finger taps against the granite in no particular rhythm.
The Gozyu Wolf ring catches the low light each time your pointer finger comes down. Tap. Tap. Tap. Your friend’s a no-show. You order the gin and tonic anyway.
Yunjin spots you the moment she walks in.
You’re not hard to find — the size alone would do it, but the suit seals it. She tilts her head from across the room, decides something, and starts walking over.
You clock her coming. Blue hair. Unhurried. The eye contact she makes about halfway across the bar is the kind that dares you to look away first. You don’t, and she smirks like that was the right answer.
By the time she’s close enough you’ve already placed her. Huh Yunjin. Le Sserafim.
She takes the stool beside you like she’d reserved it.
“Hi. I’m Jennifer — what’s your name?”
Her voice is lower than you expected. Warm. The energy behind it is the easy confidence of someone who’s never had trouble filling a room.
“I know who you are, Yunjin.” You turn to face her. “You’re one of the biggest acts in the world right now.”
She smiles — pleased but not surprised. “Well. Thank you.” A beat. “Okay, big guy, that’s still not your name.”
You think about it for a second longer than necessary. “Kanji.”
Her brow goes up. “That’s not really an American name.”
“It’s not. My step-grandmother named me. She was Japanese.”
“Oh.” She nods, recalibrating. “Okay, that tracks.” She glances at your glass, then back at you. “So what are you doing here alone in a suit like that?”
You exhale through your nose. “Was supposed to be dinner with the friends I moved out here with. Fancy place, big celebration — all of us got promoted around the same time. Was also going to introduce them to my girlfriend.” You pause. “She dumped me this afternoon.”
Yunjin’s expression sharpens. “Why?”
You shift your voice into a flat impression of your ex’s cadence: “Kanji, you’re great — you’re just performing under your potential.”
Yunjin laughs. Actually laughs. “Okay. That was good.” She leans an elbow on the bar. “What do you do?”
“Market research for a major toy company. And I wrestle professionally on the side.”
Her eyes go wide in a way that doesn’t feel performed. “That’s genuinely cool.”
“Thanks.”
She’s quiet for a moment, watching you. Then: “What if I came with you tonight? As your date.”
You look at her. “Why?”
“I’m feeling spontaneous.” A small smile. “And you seem like someone who can hold it down.”
“Yun.” You say it flat. “You don’t owe me anything.”
She catches it immediately, the smile shifting into something more amused. “Yun? Nicknames already — bold.”
“Fine.” You stand and leave cash on the bar. “Let’s go then.”
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