Chapter Text
𝐀𝐫𝐢
"Come on, pleaseee!!"
"No!"
"Okay. Tell me one- ONE good reason as to why you can't go with me and I might consider it."
I tried to come up with a strong argument that would make her leave me alone.
"I don't know if I'm mentally prepared to be around people and just bob my head to the music throughout the night. I'm just... not in the mood for it." My mood on a Friday night consisted of binge watching kdramas while eating my snacks.
"If you're worried about random guys coming up to you to hit their shot- I will obviously intervene and say that I'm your girlfriend."
With my brows raised in amusement, I went back to my desk and sat on my chair before opening my laptop.
I could hear Yerin sigh and fall on my bed. I'm just hoping she won't use the- "You know I'm leaving next year."
"Yerinnn!" I groaned and let my head fall back as I slumped on my chair.
She sat up and turned my chair towards her. "I'll be gone in a few months so I might as well use my special card whenever I can." With a cheeky smile she leaned closer and held my shoulders. "So? You're coming right? It's only going to be for tonight. Promise!"
I stared her dead in the eye, knowing it wasn't going to be the last time. "Which club is it this time?" I muttered.
"YES! Okay! It's at the new club called Studio Neon. It's super popular these days. Not so sure why though."
My eyes lit up at the name. "Is it the one with the arcade at the far back?"
Yerin looked like she wanted to laugh. "So you've heard of it?"
"I mean- yeah! The place looks like it came straight out of the movie Tron. PLUS! They have the crazy arcade at the back with those neon lights! It's so cool."
"Wow... You're geeking out after a club, Ari. You know that right?"
I nodded fervently. "We're going." As I got up from my chair, I grabbed my cross-bag and was about to get to the door when Yerin pulled me back, making me stumble on my feet.
"Hell no! I ain't gonna leave you looking like that??" She shot laser beams at my clothes, as if it would make my boyfriend jeans and white top disappear.
"Can I just change my top?"
"No. You're gonna change everything. STAT."
An hour later...
"My outfit is almost the same as the one I was wearing before." I muttered.
"Babe, the only thing similar with your other outfit were the colors. Now, you're wearing skin tight baby blue jeans and a white one sleeve crop top. It's hella cuter."
I tried to hide my smile. "Details... Can we go now?"
***
The bouncer made way for us to get in.
"Thisissocoolohmygoshiloveit."
Yerin threw her head back and laughed. "Ari, you're such a NERD!". She shook her head. "But I love you for it- now come on!"
Everything inside was lit by projector lights. There were all sorts of colors ranging from red, purple and pink when you first came in.
Once we walked a bit further, the lights transitioned to blue, teal, green and yellow. The whole place made it seem like we were in another universe.
We kept walking until we found a vacant table with a few high chairs around it.
"Ari!" Yerin yelled through the music. "Do you want a drink now?"
"Sure! Can you get me something sweet though? Not down for beer or hard liquor!"
She responded with a wink. "Wait here! I'll get us some drinks and try to find some of our friends at the same time!"
"Alright!"
"Oh! If you see either Joohan or Saera, tell them to join us!"
"Alright! Now, go!" I laughed and shooed her away. She blew me a kiss and disappeared in the throng of people.
The music playing was quite upbeat and fun so I moved my head to the rhythm of the song.
I loved dancing. The only thing that made me dislike clubs were the strangers. Somehow, they always tried to chat us up or touch us in ways that were fully inappropriate. We got kicked out a few times because we would push the men off us. Hopefully, this club attracted less shitty people.
Suddenly, someone bumped into me making the chair almost fall- and me with it.
"Oh shit- sorry!" The guy apologized as he caught the back of my chair and held my arm at the same time.
In shock, I just blabbered on. "S'okay!" I placed my bag properly before looking up.
Shit. The guy's kinda hot.
"Eum..." He looked down and huffed a small laugh. "Are you... alright?" He looked around and puckered his lips which made me look at his lips before looking back up.
Dang. He caught me staring at his lips. Flustered, I tried to divert his attention. "Oh- yeah! I'm fine! Don't worry about it." I waved a hand.
He smiled and his eyes became crescent moons. How can someone smile like that??
"Let me get you a drink as an apology!"
My eyes widened a bit. I wasn't used to guys blatantly flirting with me. Even less, when they were attractive.
"Oh! My friend went to get us some drinks already." He didn't seem to have heard properly over the music.
"What?" He leaned closer so that his ear was closer to my mouth. The sudden movement made me get a whiff of his scent and wow. There's no other way for me to describe the smell other than w.o.w.
"My friend-" I pointed towards the bar, "-is getting us drinks already!"
He backed away while nodding as his mouth was shaped like he was saying 'Ah'. The guy looked a bit disappointed.
"So...Are you here with friends?" I asked, feeling a bit sad I didn't lie just to get a drink from him.
"Yeah, but they ditched me for the arcade." He looked back in the direction of where the arcades are supposed to be.
I made an apologetic face, totally understanding his friends' mentality. I was just waiting for my cue to go play, really... "Sorry."
"Nah, honestly I'm the only one that likes to dance." He laughed. "They're all gamers... so I kinda knew tonight was gonna end this way when I pushed them to come."
We kept talking for a bit, which made me learn his name, Choi Yeonjun. The more we talked, the more pleasant it felt to be out tonight. He was about to ask me something, but Yerin came back which cut our conversation short.
"I GOT OUR DRINKSSS" She yelled as she danced her way back with the glasses in her hands.
"Are you drunk already??" I let out a laugh but looked at her, bewildered.
"WOO! YEAH! I got free SHOTS from the bartender!" She dropped the glasses but then realized I wasn't alone.
"Who...?" She pointed at Yeonjun from head to toe.
He put his hand out for her to shake, to which she only responded with a cautious glare. Yeonjun slowly pulled his hand back. "My name's Yeonjun. We we're just having a talk, but eum... I think I'll head back to my friends 'cause it's been a while, so see you around?" He looked at me and scratched the back of his neck in a shy, but flirty manner.
"Yeah." I smiled. "See you!" I saw him turn with a small smile and a wave.
Yerin kept glaring until he was gone. Then her eyes bulged and she shook my arms. "Oh my GOD. Who WAS that? He was freaking hot???"
With an eye roll I answered back. "Yeah! And you just HAD to scare him off with your predatory tiger mom vibes."
Yerin let out a whine from guilt. "I knowwww. I couldn't stop myself! I'm not used to letting strangers around you. Even less in a club... fuckkk he was cute as hell too! I'm sorry I cockblocked you, Ari."
"It's okay, girl." I laughed and reassured her. "He'll be around..."
"Did you get his number though?" She fervently looked back in the direction he walked to.
I clicked my tongue. "No. I forgot." I slumped a bit and felt disappointed that I might not see him again for the night. The place was getting fuller by the minute. And to be honest with his looks, I wouldn't be surprised if there were multiple girls chatting him up.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Yerin asked as she nudged me, impatiently.
"Let me finish my drink first, will you?" I needed something to break down the nervousness I felt all over my body.
With a nod she smiled knowingly. "Alright, girl. I see you." She winked and raised her glass. "To Ari for trying to shoot her shot!!!"
I laughed and clinked my glass with hers. "To arcades and cute boys!"
Yerin shook her head and laughed.
15 minutes later our friends joined us, which made the night pass by so much faster than I thought. We danced for quite a bit and I decided that I needed a small breather.
"I'm gonna head to the bathroom!" I said through the booming music.
Yerin and Saera made the 'OK' sign and kept dancing. I smiled at them. They looked like they were having the time of their lives. With Yerin leaving in a few months, it's at moments like these that I realize how I should cherish every second even if it's doing something that I'm not totally into. I'm just happy it brought joy to my loved ones.
I turned back and made my way towards the bathroom. With the neon lights flashing, I was able to find the direction of the bathroom, but I had to push through the crowd of people first. Once I reached it, I couldn't see any indication whether the bathroom was gender specific, so I just went in the one that had an open door.
After doing what I needed to do, I cleaned myself up a bit and let myself out.
"Oof-" I felt a soft wall. A soft wall? I looked up and stared into pools of chocolate brown eyes, so dark I could see my reflection in them. There was a twinkle of playfulness in those brown irises.
"You know you just came out of the mens' bathroom?" He pointed at the lights around the door frame.
"Wait... really?" I looked back in confusion.
"Nah, I'm just fucking with you." He laughed in a way that made me want to punch his arm. "Ow!" I might have punched him in reality. "Did you just punch my arm?" He held it like I gave him the biggest hit of the century.
"You fuck with me- I fuck with you." I smiled innocently as I pointed his arm.
A guy pushed past us and went straight for the bathroom. "Get a room if you're not gonna use the bathroom!"
"Hey! I wanted to take a piss first!" He yelled back as the door slammed behind me.
With raised brows, I looked down to hide a laugh. I stepped besides the guy to make my way back to the club when he blocked my path.
"What-"
"I gotta wait for the bathroom again so might as well kill time until I get to pee." He shrugged his shoulders.
"But I don't know you-"
His hand grabbed mine in haste as he shook our hands together. "Choi beomgyu! Now, who are you?"
I gave him a look like 'Are you insane?'
He responded with raised brows and eyes that said, 'Yeah, so? Your name?'
Defeated, I answered. "Go Ari."
"Ari..." He let my name linger in the air before he spoke again. "Now that we're not strangers anymore, you can entertain me."
I'm not sure what got into me. But the mix of the alcohol, his eager eyes, and the randomness of the whole situation made me play along with his game.
"And how may I do that exactly?"
Beomgyu scrunched up his nose in a cute manner, delighted that I would decide to play with him. "Okay, so I have this game where you try to get people to buy you drinks."
"And if I don't want to drink?"
"You give it to your friends. Or to other people."
"That doesn't sound like a fun game to me. Just a waste of money and alcohol." I crossed my arms.
Beomgyu blew a raspberry. "Alright... Hmm, how about this." He got closer to me like he was sharing a great secret of his. "See how many people you can get kisses from."
I stepped back and made a face. "And why the hell would I do that?"
"It's a game, isn't it?" Beomgyu shrugged playfully like he didn't know what was wrong with his request.
"I don't like this game either."
He huffed in defeat. "Fine! An easier one for missy. Hmm..." He pinched his chin in thought. "How about this- We try to get as many phone numbers from strangers as we can."
That sounded like a simpler game, but I didn't really want to talk to that many strangers. "Okay. How about we make it first to 3?" I compromised.
Beomgyu looked surprised. "That's actually a good idea. Once we're done, we can meet back at the arcades. How does that sound?"
I smirked. "Alright, so time starts..." I looked at my phone innocently, not letting him know I would get a head start. "Now!"
"Wait, I still need to pee!!!" He jumped on one feet to the other to show how much he needed to pee.
"Too bad! See you later, loser." I winked and jogged back to the dance floor.
"ARGHHH!!!!" I heard him yell through the narrow hallway, which made me laugh.
He was an interesting guy.
And my life would get a whole lot more interesting after meeting him.
The moment I accepted to play his game... It was the start of the never ending list of games we trapped ourselves into.
And it all started with that one inconvenient game.
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Hope you liked the 1st chapter! :)