The Reader Really Said - Blog Posts

MISSION: WANNA LINK? (NRK) | 나랑 사귈래? (西村 力)

KOREAN TITLE: 나랑 사귈래? (meaning: wanna go out with me?)

SYNOPSIS: Just as you were about to end your shift for the day, a tall boy suddenly approached you with a silly mission in mind that almost got him a restraining order.

GENRE: humour/crack, fluff, strangers to enemies (for a few minutes) to lovers

PAIRING: nishimura riki x fem!reader (who works at an ice cream stall hehe)

WORD COUNT: 1.7K+ words

WARNINGS: one terrible attempt at flirting (riki why 💔), sarcasm, gen z humour, mentions of playful slander directed at sunghoon (sunghoon stans, don't come for me please 😔✋ /j), mentions of murder (in a light-hearted way!), and riki being a simp.

KEYWORDS: (H/L) is Hair Length, (H/C) is Hair Colour. Words written in italics are thoughts and words written in bold are normal words but with dramatic effects (lmao)!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: this is a terrible attempt at making a humour/crack! i've never written this genre before but i'm trying my best to expand!! if you have any tips or constructive criticisms for me, my inbox is always open! 🌹AND with that aside, i will now put on my clown costume i promise i'll be back 🤡😔‼️ /hj

[5:37 PM] Such sunny weather. You could’ve been anywhere in the world, done something that would've filled your heart with joy — but here you were, scooting over to the shaded corner under the roof of your ice cream stall where the direct sunlight wouldn’t burn your skin. Your uniform was uncomfy against your skin and your apron was making it even worse, no matter how much you tried to loosen it.

Yet, in order to earn valuable pieces of paper or the utmost tool of capitalism more famously known as 'money', you had to stand in the heat just a bit longer until the end of your shift. Although, the roof above your head could even barely be considered a proper roof. The roof was doing little to no efficiency in covering you from the blazing sunlight. Such was the life of a struggling worker at an ice cream stall.

"Thank you, miss!"

But seeing the smiles on children's faces as you gave them their orders always managed to make it a bit better. Although as soon as their cheery presences were gone, the scorching heat made itself known once again as the reason you regretted choosing this job. You watched the kids skitter towards their parents, cones of ice cream in their hands and a pep in their steps. Were they the last customers? You spared a glance at the watch on your wrist, 5:37 PM.

Alright, time to close up the shop— "Ahem." Just as you were about to let out the biggest sigh of relief, a gentle screech across the counter alerted you. You would be lying if you said you weren’t prepared for fight or flight. Finally, the scooper on the counter would have other uses — until you looked to see a boy you had never seen before leaning over the side of the counter, wearing a smirk way too smug for your own liking. “Hey there.”

Nope.

No.

Dear God, take the wheel. You did not get paid enough for this. Absolutely not.

Hearing his questionable words and deep voice, you were expecting a man in his thirties with dark sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt who was looking for a sugar baby. Your scrutinizing pupils scanned his figure up and down repeatedly, you almost thought you were seeing things — since this boy looked like a whole giant fetus, insert slash, manchild.

Painfully oblivious to your derogatory impression of him and the dumbfounded look on your face, the said male cracked an even wider grin. “Wanna link?” Was this karma for pretending to fall asleep when your landlord came knocking on the door yesterday?

You knew what he meant, yet you literally had to resist the urge to play dumb and just say if he was trying to ask for your Google account. Despite your momentary existential crisis, you still managed to slip out a dry response. “...Let's not. I am literally burning under the sun right now.”

He blinked.

Again.

And again.

And again.

That was the end for him.

Aight, Sunghoon-hyung is gonna pay for this. Yet, it was partially Riki’s fault for even thinking this was a good idea. Now, he just felt as if he wanted to dig his own grave right in front of the girl he had a crush on for a few months. Normalize not trusting your friends for dating advice.

The blank look swept over the smirk he had earlier, now the tall boy just looked like he was zoning out and regretting his entire existence in those few seconds. Meanwhile, you were looking with a raised eyebrow at his sudden quietness, the previous confident expression on his face fading into a… dead one.

Does he want some free eye drops or— The stranger let out a cough, albeit an awkward one that caused your eyes to thin suspiciously. "Fair point. Anyways, a cone of mint choco, please."

"...You literally tried to flirt with me a few seconds ago."

"Yeah, and I want ice cream."

Rude, the word was left hanging at the edge of your tongue. It took you all the self-control you had not to sprinkle some of the eye drops in your bag into his mint choco cone. But you'd rather not go to prison for poisoning a customer, although you would've gladly brought up his little 'wanna link?' stunt to court (not really). You mused silently your thoughts as your hands nimbly prepared his order, already well acquainted with your long experience working at an ice cream stall — yet when making it for this giant boy at the other side of the counter, you were particularly salty about it.

You kept your thoughts to yourself however, the concentrated frown on your forehead being the only sign of expression from you. All the while, you were oblivious to the adoration adorning your reflection in the boy’s eyes. Riki couldn’t help but stare at you, slightly taken aback by your (H/L) (H/C) and your adorable frown (at least, he thought it was adorable even though you looked like you were mentally strangling a person). All the while, he was oblivious to the murder plots you were secretly planning in your head (that you weren’t actually planning to commit but this stranger really had a way with getting on your nerves).

"Hey.” Too distracted (not so discreetly) admiring your features, he didn’t even notice that you were done with his order. “Here you go.” Yet, your tone was as cold as the ice cream you were handing to him. Riki almost flinched at your tense gaze. He really messed this up, didn’t he? This wasn’t the way Riki imagined his confession to go through; he was expecting you to laugh and find him hilarious, not look at him as if he just stole your unborn child and claimed it was his.

Suddenly, Sunghoon-hyung’s shiny figure skates would look very pretty in the trash.

The smile on Riki’s face wasn’t as assertive as the smirk that he first wore a few minutes ago. It was as if there was a dust of pink sprinkled across his cheeks, his attitude now more sheepish than before. “O-oh, yeah, thanks.” The ice cream he ordered was already in his possession, yet he seemed to linger a bit longer. Just a bit longer. You tilted your head slightly, scanning him again in wonder. Was this the same person you just planned to throw off a bridge just now?

You didn’t know whether it was the shy smile on his face, or the way his eyes drifted towards the ground. For some reason, there was an ounce of sincerity radiating from him. "...On second thought, it’s free. My treat.” The tall stranger immediately picked his gaze up and looked at you with eyes as wide as the cheap saucers you saw at IKEA once.

“W-what, h-huh?” Jumbles of words mixed with confusion escaped his mouth, you felt slightly amused. The corners of your lips curled up into a playful smile, “Well, shouldn’t you be on your merry way now? I’m about to close the shop.” The look of sheer panic that flashed across his face almost pulled a giggle out of you as he stuttered, his hand that was holding the ice cream subtly shaking.

“W-wait! Uh, before I go…”

You let out a hum, a sign for him to continue. The boy let out a small sigh, yet not the kind of sigh that sounded feigned, more of the regretful kind. "I just wanna say sorry... What I did earlier was stupid."

"—Extremely so."

Shoot! That was definitely your mouth slipping. Just as you were about to justify yourself from possibly an upcoming restraining order (no matter how cute he is, who knows if this guy has a mafia CEO as his dad, right?), you heard a sarcastic snicker.

"Yeah, my hyung told me to say that.” It surprised you for a second, but you quickly recovered by letting out a little ‘pfft’. You already learnt not to trust your friends for dating advice, but it seemed he was a victim. “Really? To be honest, it was kinda funny but the smirk just wasn’t cutting it for me, personally.” Hearing your remark, he let out a groan of remorse. “Ugh, I knew it! He told me to do that too.”

“Your hyung is really questionable.” You commented with a snort, and he only shrugged his shoulders with a grin. “Well, can’t disagree with that.” Huh, he definitely wasn’t as bad as you thought at first.

You held out your hand over the counter towards him, eliciting a ‘huh?’ from the tall boy. All this time, you had only been dubbing him as the ‘tall giant fetus manchild’ in your head, maybe learning his name wouldn’t be so bad. "The name's (Y/N), by the way." Although secretly, he had already known your name, but it didn’t stop him from feeling giddy all the same. The way his eyes seemed to light up in realization tickled your heart into a flutter, he placed his hand in yours, shaking it a little too estastically. "Riki, Nishimura Riki."

“Nice to meet you, Riki.” With a grin on your face, you retracted your hand back to untie your apron. You took a look at your watch once more. “But I think it’s finally time for me to close the shop.” The glint in his irises swiftly dimmed into one of disappointment but it immediately disappeared as he allowed his hand to fall back to his side. “O-oh, right… Yeah, it was nice meeting you too… Thanks for the ice cream.” He was about to turn around (albeit he really wished he could stay longer), but the sorrow in his voice caught your attention. "Actually, hold on—.” It was an impulsive decision to call out to him, but you went on anyway. “I know this is my second answer and very hypocritical of me…” The grin on your lips stretched wider as you spoke, “But sure, let's link."

It’d be an understatement to say that Riki almost dropped his ice cream on the ground. Did he hear you right? He almost thought he was hallucinating, but the way you chuckled at his astonished expression affirmed him that he really did, he did hear you right.

When Riki went back home that night, he didn’t know whether to threaten or thank Sunghoon — but that didn’t matter because he was too busy screaming into his pillow; ‘Mission: Let’s Link’ accomplished!

thank you so much for reading.

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