SIX HOURS; kim jongin

Before

Leia sucked in a deep breath, as she scrutinised her reflection.

The girl looking back at her looked composed – which was good. Because on the inside, Leia felt a little bit chaotic. She'd spent ages on her appearance this morning – more than normal. She'd changed her hair not once, not twice, but three times – before deciding to just let her light brown chin-length locks hang in their natural waves (y'know, with a little help from some sea salt spray to make it look more chic tousled than 'I couldn't be bothered to do anything fancier'). She'd changed her outfit countless times – a few outfits were too dressy, a few were too casual, and then as she was debating over what was considered 'too this-or-that' she had a brief dilemma of well what does this situation require? before eventually settling on a simple combo of a grey chunky knit jumper with three quarter length sleeves, tucked into a high-waisted navy skater skirt, black tights and a pair of suede navy wedge ankle boots - which she hoped came across as 'I've made just the right amount of effort'.

She even tried to put contacts in – but she hated the damn things, and because they made her excessively blink, and tear up, it caused her mascara to run and streak down her cheeks. She muttered curses as she took them out again, and wiped away the black tear stains, before reapplying her makeup, and gazing briefly at her - blurry - reflection, she grabbed her glasses and put them on. She felt a little self-conscious about the thick, square black frames, but she told herself they were geeky cute, and hey- being able to see clearly and without fuss was better than dealing with sore eyes and a sore head for the sake of a little vanity.

And then she was ready. Or, well, her outfit, hair and makeup was. Mentally, she was still getting there.

"You look fine." She said out loud, to herself, to the girl reflecting back at her. She attempted her most convincing smile. "Today will be your lucky day. It'll be good."

She turned away from the mirror before she could see her hopeful expression slip up, and began to gather up everything – her cell phone which she'd forgotten to charge overnight so had only a half battery life (she figured it'd be fine, aside from maybe using the map app to get directions, she wouldn't need it), lipstick, hotel key, headphones, purse – and shove it all into her handbag. She straightened, and slung the thin, long strap of the bag over her shoulder, smoothed a hand down her skirt... and she glanced at the clock on the bedside table and sighed.

10:01

She was ready a whole fifty nine minutes early.

And there's only so long you can spend fussing over your appearance before it drove you crazy.

Her stomach gave a small little growl, and she pressed a hand to it. She'd skipped out on room service that morning, thinking she could wait until later, but when it gave another growl, she thought screw it. After a brief moment debating it, she decided to head out and go to the coffee shop early, grab a brownie and a coffee whilst she waited... I mean, there was no rule saying she couldn't be the first one there, right? She hadn't been on many first dates, but she was pretty sure it wasn't a faux pas or anything...

But then would that make her look eager? Or even worse, desperate? Because she wasn't... She wasn't either of those things. And... Ugh.

Stop stressing. It's twenty minutes away. Take a slow walk. Buy a goddamned brownie because a day can't suck when you have a brownie, put your headphones on whilst you wait, and just... Stop stressing.

Her mental pep talk helped a little, and before she could overthink once more, she headed to the door.

After she locked the hotel room door behind her, she had one last unnecessary worrisome fiddle with the strap of the bag so it sat right, took a deep breath, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and set off down the hotel hallway.