“Let’s go on date. Like a real couple”

Taeyeon paused from grilling the meat, as he caught Tiffany's gaze on him. "Is there something strange on my face?" he asked.

Tiffany shook her head, sipping water while her eyes wandered around the barbecue restaurant. It was an odd sight – the place was empty, with only the two of them present. It was unusual for the restaurant to be so vacant at this hour.

Earlier, when Taeyeon had arrived at her school, it was evening already due to the extended school hours. It was almost dinner time when they left the school, so, Taeyeon suggested taking her out for dinner, asking about her food preferences. Tiffany agreed without specific preferences.

"If you're wondering why this place is empty, I've booked the whole restaurant for us," Taeyeon revealed, still engrossed in grilling the meat. Tiffany nearly choked on her water at the revelation.
 

"Y-you did what?" she coughed, taking a tissue from Taeyeon to wipe .

"Booking the whole place?" He repeated

"Why would you do that?" Tiffany asked, perplexed.

"Wouldn't it be romantic if it's just us here? I read on the internet that we should have a romantic dinner with our partner at their favorite restaurant. And I thought you liked grilled meat," he explained, unintentionally sounding serious and making Tiffany look at him with a strange expression.

What's wrong with this man?
 

Noticing her reaction, Taeyeon suddenly felt uneasy. "Why? You don't like this place or the food?" he asked with a slightly worried expression. "I knew it; that dating website can't be trusted," he mumbled before standing suddenly, earning a puzzled stare from Tiffany.
 

"Let's go. Tell me what you want to eat; I'll buy it for you," he suggested.

Her eyes blinked, trying to comprehend his words. "Woah, wait a minute," she stopped the guy. "We're not going anywhere, Taeyeon. Sit down now."

His eyes fixed on her, he slowly settled back into his seat.

"And we really need to talk," Tiffany added.

“Okay…” He nodded.

Clearing , she took her chopsticks and flipped the meat on the grill pan.

"First of all, I really don't mind about the food or this place," she placed the grilled meat on Taeyeon's plate. Glancing at his clueless face, she almost laughed, finding his confusion strangely cute.

"I'm just surprised that you booked the whole restaurant for us. But I think it would be better if there were other customers in this place besides us."

"Do you feel awkward?" he asked.
 

"Um, yeah, a bit," she admitted honestly.

"Me too," Taeyeon finally confessed, prompting Tiffany to look at him before bursting into laughter.

"Why?" Taeyeon was puzzled by her sudden laughter.

"You know it feels awkward, and yet, you still did it," she said between giggles.

"About that—"

"Wait, I'm not finished yet," Tiffany continued, and Taeyeon felt a sense of déjà vu, reminiscent of the first day they met in his house.

"Secondly, you suddenly wanted to have a date. This is like... our first date? We're getting married in less than a week, and it's quite funny, actually."

Taeyeon looked up, captivated by the beauty of Tiffany's smiling face. He experienced a strange sensation as he observed her radiant eyesmile up close.

"Thirdly, can I know what's with the dating website you mentioned earlier?"

"Huh?" Tiffany's question interrupted Taeyeon's train of thought.

"You mentioned a dating website. What is it?" she asked again.

"Can I be honest here?"

She nodded.

"It might sound weird. I haven't dated anyone in so long. My last relationship was 10 years ago when I was studying abroad."

"Okay… that's a long time, but I don't find it weird.” Tiffany paused for a second. “Can you tell me the reason if you don't mind?"

"I was supposed to return to Korea, and we both didn't want a long-distance relationship. So, yeah, we broke up. Simple as that."

"Sorry for asking," Tiffany suddenly felt guilty.

"It's an old story. It's okay," Taeyeon reassured her with a smile. "And because I haven't dated in a long time, I turned to one of these websites to learn about dating because I thought it would be a great help. Sorry, I'm not very good at this," Taeyeon admitted sincerely. He looked up, glancing at Tiffany's reaction as he awaited her response. Soon, he heard a soft giggle.

"Now, I'm curious. What have you learned from it? Can you tell me?" Tiffany asked.

Taeyeon cleared his throat before responding, "It mentioned three stages in a relationship: first, friendship; second, falling in love; and third, marriage."

*Author's Note: I made up these stages, so please don't take them seriously! :D
 

Pausing, Taeyeon added, "There are actually stages four and five, but I'm not sure if you want to hear about them."

"Tell me," Tiffany insisted, her curiosity piqued.

"If we're lucky, we won't need to go through stage four."

"What's stage four?"

"Divorce."

"Oh," Tiffany was momentarily speechless, unsure how to respond. "And what's stage five?" She asked before sipping her drink.
 

"Death."

"Pfftt!" Tiffany choked on her drink once again.

"Told ya," Taeyeon handed her a tissue for the second time.

"Are you serious?" Tiffany looked at him in disbelief, wiping .

He nodded innocently. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I am. But, you know, if we're not lucky, we might skip all the stages and go straight to number five."

"Oh..." Taeyeon paused to think. "That's horrible..."

Tiffany chuckled. "I'm just joking, Taeyeon. Keep going."

"Alright," the conversation continued, and they began to feel more at ease with each other.
 

"Stage one is friendship. I just want to start a friendship with you since we never really knew each other."

"By asking me out for dinner? like right now?" Tiffany guessed, receiving a nod from the older guy. "Okay, I get it. So let’s start with friendship first."

"Do you like animals?" Taeyeon asked.
 

"What? That's such a random question."

"Trying to have a conversation with you," He shrugged

"And the question is, what animal do I like?"

"Is it a weird question?"

"Nope, I find it funny. By the way, I love puppies."

"How about a cat?"

“Not a cat person, but I don’t hate them.”

"Oh... poor cat," Taeyeon pouted.

Tiffany giggled. "Other than that?"

"The second stage is falling in love."

Tiffany lifted her eyebrows "Why are we talking about falling in love?"

"Because, from friendship, we might fall in love."

"I understand, but isn't this too fast? We just started our friendship, not even seconds ago."

"I like you."
 

Taeyeon's response left Tiffany stunned. For a brief moment, she couldn't find the right words.

"This is not about love yet, Tiffany," he continued. He shifted his attention from the grilled meat to Tiffany, and their eyes met. She p