Page 26 of The Cuffing Game
Noah’s reaction was immediate. His head tilted up, definitely looking at her this time. He frowned before focusing on Celine again. So shehadn’tbeen imagining things.
“Ah,” Noah said, smiling again as if nothing had happened between him and Mia. “Just because I’m ‘famous’ doesn’t mean I have a whole line of people waiting to date me. All the content I produce takes a lot of work. So I haven’t had much time for relationships.”
A small line formed between Celine’s perfect brows. “Then why start now?”
Mia stared down at the floor, pretending not to care about Noah’s response. But she had to admit that she was also curious. Although shehadworked hard on her initial pitch, she’d been surprised when he’d agreed to be on the show. Even more so since he’d never said exactly why, just that he didn’t want to be single.
“Well,” began Noah, “what can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic at heart. My older brother, Jae-hyun, always says that after college, dating becomes a bunch of apps and algorithms. I don’t want that. I want to meet someoneface-to-face. I wantreal love.This is my last winter break ever. I want to fully take advantage of that time and meet someone as organically as I can, before it’s too late.”
“Aw!” Celine gushed.
Kallie also made some kind of adoring noise, which was saying a lot. Noah gave the camera a dashing smile before leaning back again in his seat. There he was. Noah Jang, charming as ever.
A million protests built up inside Mia. She covered her mouth, and it took all of her self-control to not burst out laughing at Noah.
Really? The guy who literally said that every girl at a party wasn’t his type thinks he can meet someone organically on a dating show?
She rolled her eyes. That, at least, she could do behind the camera without disrupting the scene. Or so she thought. Noah shifted his gaze again, his eyebrows arching up slightly, as if to sayReally?
Mia turned around. There. Now Noah couldn’t see her reactions.
“I’m a huge fan of your videos, by the way,” she heard Celine say. “You’re just so handsome and genuine! I don’t know how you do it.”
Genuine?Mia scrunched up her face. Good thing she’d had the foresight to turn away.
Noah’s social media presence was many things. Cool. Flashy and charismatic. Funny, even, on the rare occasionshe did comedy skits. Butgenuine?Even after years of watching his content and several hours ofspecificallystudying him to pitch the show, Mia couldn’t pin down what kind of guy he really was. How was any of that genuine?
“Thanks,” Noah replied smoothly. “And how about you?”
“I’m a makeup vlogger,” Celine said. “I don’t have as big of a following as you, but I’m getting there.”
“Wow, that’s awesome. I’ll have to give you a follow sometime.”
“You already do. We DMed each other a few times.”
Mia widened her eyes, whirling back around just in time to see Noah freeze. Celine sat back in her seat, like she knew she’d dropped a bomb.
“Ah,” Noah said. “Sorry, I get a lot of DMs. They all blur together.”
Underneath her makeup, Celine turned splotchy. “I see,” she said evenly. “Well, it’s okay. There’s a way you can make it up to me.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“You can cuff with me, because, surprise! You’re my crush.”
Mia covered her mouth and tried her best not to scream.
Chapter Nine
Noah
Noah blinked back at Celine. Here they were, not even ten minutes into their conversation. And somehow, not only did he already know who his crusher was, but she expected him to cuff with hernow.
He hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to the other girls yet. Wasn’t this supposed to be speed dating?
In an ideal world, Noah would have been able to tell Celine, “Hey, I think you’re cool. But I need to get to know other people first before I commit.” But this wasn’t an ideal world. This wasThe Cuffing Game,where, by telling the girl in front of him “not yet,” he would automatically cause her to be eliminated.
Who came up with these stupid rules?Noah thought. But of course, he knew exactly who.
