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The sign above the club was small and rather dimly lit. Mingyu thought the sign was beautiful.
She could hear voices coming from inside but she couldn’t make out what was being said. Curiosity itched at her and she longed to take a seat inside, have a drink and look at Lee Jihoon.
Lee Jihoon. Mingyu hadn’t thought about her in a long time and yet the name had always been there, etched in the back of her mind and between the pages of her computing book. She wondered if Lee Jihoon still worked at the club, it had been months. Almost a year since the ad. The thought of her leaving saddened Mingyu for some reason. She hadn’t even seen her perform once.
She took a step towards the club and looked around. There was no one on the street but a couple smoking cigarettes and laughing; they were way down the street. Mingyu doubted they would recognize her.
She held the black door’s handle and a thrill like an electric shock went through her. She felt like she was back to months ago, the telegraph club magazine cutout in her hands and Lee Jihoon’s handsome face staring back at her.
Before she could, a woman opened the door from the inside. She was a short woman wearing khaki pants, a blazer and a bow tie. Mingyu quickly took a step back, embarrassed.
“Oh, hello! Welcome to the telegraph club! May I see your ID?”, the woman asked nicely.
Mingyu rummaged through her handbag, her hands trembling, and took out her driving license. The lady quickly checked her card and opened the door. As soon as she took a tentative step inside, a variety of odors hit her at once. The club was filled with the smell of cigarettes and alcohol; it was mostly overwhelming but it also made things more real. She was really in the Telegraph club—a queer club. This wasn’t a dream she had conjured while in a delirious state.
In front of her, Mingyu saw a bar with people sitting on the stools, chatting and laughing while sipping their drinks. It was a rather short space and for a moment, Mingyu questioned if that was the whole club. It wasn’t until she saw a group of women, all clad in different attires, come out of a dark hallway to her left that her doubts were cleared.
She followed another woman going in the hallway and when she reached the room at the end of it, her mouth opened wide on its own accord. The room on the other side of the hallway was massive—almost four times the size of the bar. There was a big stage at the rear center of the room with tables around it. On the stage was a pianist and a microphone in the middle. Mingyu’s heart skipped a beat.
All the tables were full and so she decided to join a group of people standing at the other end of the room. She was almost glad that no seat was free. Even though she had imagined Lee Jihoon looking at her, singing to her, flirting with her countless times—she didn’t think she could ever handle it outside her imagination; it was too much for her. Here at the back of this group and despite her towering figure, she was almost invisible. She hoped there was no one here that recognized her.
Just as Mingyu was fidgeting with her fingers and second guessing herself, a sudden deafening silence fell over the crowd. She looked up and saw a group of women near the hallway part. The whole room was looking that away.
Mingyu’s breath got caught.
There came Lee Jihoon—striding amidst the crowd with purpose. Her stance was confident, her steps smooth and her looks, well, Mingyu couldn’t breathe.
She wore a white shirt with a black jacket and her short black hair slicked back. The photo in the magazine did not do her justice.
As soon as Jihoon reached the stage, she pulled the microphone close to her. Instantly, everyone started cheering. Mingyu was too stunned to do anything.
For a few seconds there was silence, the cheering had died down and anticipation flowed through the room. Soon the first few notes of the piano hit followed closely by Jihoon’s voice.
Her voice was husky and sultry. The audience gasped together. Jihoon faced the audience and gave a smirk of sorts. She sang and sang and Mingyu felt her heart thrumming in her chest.
Jihoon moved her head back to hit a particular high note, exposing the long column of her neck. Even though Mingyu was far away, she could still see it albeit not properly and she felt embarrassed staring at her neck that way.
She looked around and saw everyone around her looking at Jihoon and only Jihoon—their eyes transfixed at her. Mingyu hesitatingly looked back at her and for the first time in her life, she let herself stare at a woman and she stared and stared and stared.
Jihoon flirted and joked with every woman on the tables in the front. This particular lady in a green dress got so flustered that she put her face in her hands and didn’t look up for a long time.
The time flew by rather quickly and soon Jihoon’s set was over. She bowed down before disappearing behind the curtain at the back of the stage. The audience clapped for a long time.
People started getting up to go chat around or to get more drinks. Mingyu didn’t know what to do. She could go home. She had seen Jihoon and that was what she came for. There was no point staying behind but…but strangely felt warm and at peace here under the dim lights of the club and amongst these women. She felt a part of these strangers and though this feeling confused her, it was nice.
She decided to stay behind just for a while, grab a drink and then go home. She went to the bar and got herself a beer. She was too shy to talk to anyone here, so she let herself stand in the same dark corner in the main room.
Mingyu looked around and basically eavesdropped on conversations happening around her. She saw two women talking about the places they worked at, there was a group of women near the stage laughing loudly at something and then her gaze fell upon a couple on the wall to her right. The first woman had her back to the wall while the second was in front of her; they were kissing passionately. Mingyu blushed and looked down at her shoes.
About fifteen minutes after she finished her beer, she felt the urge to go to the toilet. She built up the courage to ask a lady if she knew where the toilet was. The lady smiled sweetly and gestured to a staircase.Tonight, there was only one functioning toilet so it had a long line that extended to this staircase. As Mingyu climbed the stairs to join the line, her foot slipped and she yelped. Before she could fall, a hand landed on her waist and held her. Mingyu shivered and opened her eyes to the biggest surprise of her life.
Lee Jihoon was holding Mingyu by the waist against her frame, her other hand holding a cigarette. It took everything out of Mingyu to not shriek in pure shock—this was real and not a movie.
“Are you OK?”, Jihoon asked in her lovely voice.
“Y-yeah”, Mingyu croaked out, nodding her neck rapidly, her cheeks quickly warming up. She felt utterly tongue tied.
Jihoon just stared at her for a moment and then smiled, almost fondly if Mingyu was not drowning in delusions. “Cute”, she murmured. “Be careful, doll”, she said to her before she steadied Mingyu and made her way downstairs.
Mingyu just stood there for a moment—bewildered, flustered and her heart threatening to jump out of her chest.
“Look at the sweety. She’s so flustered!”, someone in the line cooed while pointing at her. Women in the line looked at her and giggled. Mingyu ducked her head trying to hide her burning cheeks.
After using the toilet, Mingyu made her way down, still in a daze. She couldn’t believe whatever happened on the staircase. Lee Jihoon, LEE JIHOON of all people called her cute and a doll. It probably meant nothing. Lee Jihoon flirted with everyone. Mingyu felt slightly dejected by that thought.
She checked the time and decided it was best to leave now. As Mingyu made her way through the bar, she came face to face with Jihoon, who was carrying two big glasses of some drink. When Jihoon saw her, she broke out in a small and cute smile. “Hey…come join me for a drink. I’m having some inside with my friends.”, she asked, her eyes gleaming.
Mingyu blushed and rapidly nodded her head again which made Jihoon laugh. She followed Jihoon to a table with two other women already sitting on it.
“Sit down, these are my friends—Wonwoo and Seungcheol. I’ll get you a drink. What do you want, uhh..”
“M-Mingyu. I would just like some cranberry juice, thank you.” Even though she had relatively good alcohol tolerance, she decided to avoid it lest she ended up making a fool of herself in front of Jihoon.
“Cranberry juice for Mingyu right there”, Jihoon said sweetly. Having Jihoon say her name like that made her even redder and she ducked her head again.
While Jihoon got her drink, her two friends tried making conversation with her. They were nice and asked questions about her job, if she liked the performance today and the likes. Mingyu felt slightly more comfortable then.
Jihoon returned with the juice and put it in front of her to which Mingyu replied with a broken thank you. Jihoon sat right opposite her and Mingyu tried not to look in front of her as she sipped her drink. Soon Wonwoo, Seungcheol and Jihoon were talking about various things bringing people and topics into the conversation that Mingyu had no idea about. So after some time, Mingyu was zoning out of the conversation. Thinking about everything that happened today, she accidentally looked in front of her only to find Jihoon already looking back at her, with rather intense eyes, over the rim of her glass.
Lee Jihoon then had the audacity to smirk and take a big gulp of her drink as if she knew the effect she had on Mingyu and enjoyed it.
A week passed and Mingyu returned to the telegraph club sooner than she thought. She sat on one of the tables in the front and Lee Jihoon was there, pleased and slightly flustered herself yet standing with her usual confidence, gazing with her gleaming eyes at Mingyu.