Tesia tightened her grip slightly around the bottle.
“I… I don’t know.”
Jean went completely blank.
On the outside, he managed to keep a small smile on his face, but on the inside, he had just entered the kind of panic that only comes when you realize the other person might not feel the same way you do.
“You don’t want to…?”
Tesia lowered her gaze.
“I’m sorry. It’s just… I’ve never had a first date before, and I…”
Jean watched her carefully.
Thinking back to how she acted during all their other interactions, there was something different about her today. Something he had never really seen before.
Tesia was fidgeting with her fingers, moving them nervously as she searched for the right words. He couldn't remember ever seeing her like this. Ever since he had told her that he wanted to get to know her better and go on a date with her, the Tesia who normally seemed so confident had completely disappeared.
The Tesia standing in front of him was different.
Shyer.
More nervous.
And somehow, if that were even possible, even more adorable in his eyes.
It was something new. A new perspective. The same Tesia, but from an entirely different angle.
“I don't know… where we could go.”
Tesia looked up.
“But I do.”
Jean blinked.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
She smiled shyly.
“I do want to go on a date with you.”
Jean felt all the tension that had built up inside him over the past few minutes suddenly leave his body. He even felt a small shiver run down his arms.
“For me, it would be something new…”
Tesia lowered her gaze again.
“And knowing that you’ll be the first person I ever go on a date with feels…”
Jean finally let out the breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding.
“I’m happy.”
He placed a hand over his chest.
“Thank goodness. I'm a fool, you know? For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood everything. That you were going to reject me and that you really didn't like me enough to give this a try.”
“What? No! Not at all…”
Tesia quickly lifted her head.
“N-no, that’s not it.”
She fell silent for a few seconds.
“I really… li—”
Jean started speaking at the same time.
“I really li—”
They both stopped.
Tesia took a breath.
Acrobatic blood, overflowing with happiness, rushed through the vampire's veins.
“I really like you and you really do make me happy, you idiot!”
Jean went completely still.
For a moment, time stopped.
An eternal breath.
The soft light of the streetlamps fell gently across Tesia's face. Her red eyes glimmered beneath the dim lighting, while a few strands of her blonde hair moved softly in the wind around her cheeks. Her lips were slightly parted from nervousness, and her entire face was flushed.
Jean looked at her almost with reverence.
For a moment, he felt like he was looking at the face of an angel.
Not the kind from movies.
A real one.
One standing right in front of him, embarrassed, her hands still wrapped around that bottle of soda, wearing an expression that seemed to say she had just confessed something that had taken an incredible amount of courage to say.
She's beautiful…
Jean couldn't find the words.
Then, suddenly, the vampire's eyes widened.
“!”
And she flew away.
“Huh?”
Tesia shot above the trees, crossed the night sky at an absurd speed, and disappeared between the buildings.
Jean looked around to see if anyone nearby had witnessed the vampire flying away.
No one seemed to have noticed. The few people around them were too busy with their own lives.
He remained sitting on the bench.
This time, alone.
But he didn't feel alone at all.
His heart was beating in a way he hadn't felt in a long time.
Different, yet somehow familiar at the same time.
And he wore the exact expression of someone who had just had the instruction manual for life ripped out of his hands.
“I don't understand anything…”
His phone began to ring.
Jean looked at the screen.
Tesia.
“Huh?”
He answered immediately.
“Hello, Tesia?”
“Sorry…”
Her voice was quiet.
“It's just… I'm a little embarrassed right now.”
Jean smiled.
“I noticed.”
“Can you give me some time to think about where we could go?”
“Yeah, of course. Don't worry.”
Jean paused for a moment.
“Although…”
“Yes?”
“You said you were really embarrassed.”
“Yeah…”
“I think you've been embarrassed ever since I asked you for a date.”
There was silence.
“Y-yeah, I think so…”
Jean smiled.
“And you also said this would be your first date.”
Silence.
“Jean…”
“Yeah?”
“Do you want me to hang up?”
Jean let out a nervous little laugh.
“No, no, no!”
He quickly answered.
“It's just… I feel honored.”
His voice became softer.
“Thank you so much for giving me a chance.”
Tesia remained silent for a few seconds.
“It's… nothing.”
Her voice sounded much softer.
“You've always been very kind to me.”
Jean smiled.
“I think a lot of people could be kind to you.”
“Not sure... You think so?”
“I’m sure of it.”
There was a brief silence.
Jean could hear the wind on the other end of the call.
Tesia was still flying.
“Hey…”
“Hmm?”
Jean thought for a moment.
“Speaking of which…”
“Yes?”
“The first time I met you, you told me to either become your boyfriend or die.”
Tesia fell silent.
“You asked me with so much confidence that it actually intimidated me a little.”
Jean let out a small laugh.
“Someone as beautiful as you asking me something like that… I thought you were probably just messing with me.”
Tesia didn't respond.
“But…”
Jean looked up at the sky.
“If the circumstances of my life had been different, and instead of choosing the death option, I had said yes that day…”
He paused.
“What if we had become a couple right then and there?”
He smiled.
“I wonder how you would have reacted.”
“Tsk…”
“N-no, no! I'm not trying to embarrass you!”
Jean scratched his temple and chuckled softly.
“I was just curious. Especially after seeing how you reacted just now when it came to having a first date…”
Silence.
“Tesia?”
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Jean looked at his phone.
The call had ended.
“Oh.”
He blinked.
“She hung up on me.”
He slowly lowered his phone.
“I definitely said something I shouldn't have… I guess my personality always finds a way to come out sooner or later…”
He looked up at the sky.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Tesia.
Tesia:
You really played with my emotions today, you suicidal human idiot.
Jean made a small face.
“Ouch…”
He felt a little guilty.
Then another message arrived.
Tesia:
So now I'm going to play with yours.
Jean raised an eyebrow.
Tesia:
We're going to an amusement park, Jean.
And then:
Get ready for our first date.
He read the message twice.
“An amusement park?”
Jean gulped.
Oh, she made up her mind really fast..
He smiled.
“Huh…”
There was something different about the way Tesia was texting him.
Serious, with an unusual hint of pride in her words.
The way she's talking to me like this feels…
Jean began typing.
Jean:
Okay.
His phone vibrated again.
One final message.
Tesia:
I probably would've run away.
Jean frowned.
Jean:
Run away?
The reply came almost immediately.
Tesia:
Yeah.
If you had said yes and we'd become a couple back then.
You wanted to know, didn't you? You suicidal human idiot. And… I probably would've erased your memory too.
Jean burst out laughing.
“HAHAHA!”
The image of Tesia running away from him at that moment appeared in his mind.
With that fresh image in his head, it was so easy to imagine her completely red, unable to look him in the eyes and searching for anywhere she could hide.
Jean remained there with a smile on his face.
He didn't reply.
He simply reacted to the message with a heart.
Then he put his phone away.
The park was almost empty at that hour, but the lights still illuminated the paths, and the leaves continued to drift slowly down from the trees, some of them landing near his shoes.
Jean remained sitting there for a few more seconds.
He looked up at the night sky.
And smiled.
“I hope this works…”
He paused for a moment.
“Us.”