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The club was at its usual density tonight, packed and smelling like mixed perfumes and cigarette smoke. Couples were dancing in the center, or at least people who acted like they knew each other well enough to. An endless line of people stretched at the bartending station, while a small pack was jamming to the live band in front.
It was honestly too much for someone who usually didn’t go to places like this.
Aeri was that someone.
She didn’t know how she ended up here, but one thing was very clear to her, she needed to cool down.
It wasn’t even a serious relationship, just a fling with one of the jocks from her university. Still, she found herself humiliated and dumped so disgracefully when said jock bad-mouthed her while breaking things off.
Aeri was dumbfounded. Did simple breakups not exist anymore?
So here she was, gulping down her third non-alcoholic beer. She wasn’t a heavy drinker, and besides, that jerk didn’t deserve even a single emotion from her.
“You know, he really didn’t have that kind of reputation. I wonder what influenced him.”
Aeri was with Minjeong, her best friend and dormmate, who was always down for activities she wanted to try. Club hopping wasn’t one of them originally, but the idea of experiencing clubbing had sounded kind of good to Minjeong anyway.
“Well, his identity already vanished the moment he said those words, so I don’t care,” Aeri flatly said as she poured her beer into a glass.
There was a shift in movement on the floor when the live band stepped down and a DJ took over, instantly hyping up the entire room.
Everything was still new to Aeri and Minjeong. The atmosphere was heavy, the energy was high, and it felt like no one would be getting tired anytime soon, especially since it was only around ten in the evening. Waking up tomorrow wasn’t a problem either since they didn’t have classes to attend.
There were a few “hi’s” and “hello’s” from people passing by their table, nothing serious though. Too bad, no one had really caught their attention yet.
Not until a tall, dark-haired woman offered Minjeong a dessert.
They momentarily stopped ordering drinks and just started eating instead. Maybe that was why the said girl opted for food over alcohol.
Minjeong, who liked to gush over beautiful women but was never the one to act on it, began aggressively elbowing Aeri, who was eating her pepperoni pizza, when she noticed a woman approaching their table.
Sure, the frequent greetings earlier were from attractive people too, but this one was exactly Minjeong’s type.
“Uhm. Hi.”
Aeri had just finished cleaning her hands when the woman reached their table. She was tall, with a small face and a timid look, no wonder Minjeong didn’t know what to do.
“Oh, yes, hello! Would you like to join us?” she said quickly. She didn’t really know club etiquette, but the woman was patiently standing there instead of just passing by like everyone else, so it felt okay to invite her.
“May I?”
Minjeong’s response was as quick as when she wakes up late for class.
Aeri noticed something small then, the woman didn’t look around the room like most people did. Her eyes stayed on them, like she had already chosen their table before she even spoke.
They learned that the woman was waiting for her friend and didn’t want to be awkward alone, so she was just looking for any available people.
“It was just my second time here, and I wasn’t really comfortable yet. You guys seemed safe and fun.”
That earned an awkward laugh from them. So far, everyone seemed safe to Aeri and Minjeong, they just weren’t entirely sure, since they barely looked around the moment they sat down.
The three of them managed to share stories about each other for a short amount of time, including Aeri’s dump story and Minjeong’s admiration for the new woman, who was Jimin, by the way.
It was partly due to alcohol, they would admit. They just changed their drinks. Minjeong wanted to impress Jimin right there and then when she said they had particularly visited the club to meet new people.
Aeri could only oblige when Minjeong secretly pinched her side while giving her those rare “puppy eyes.”
“She should be here in no time. Thank you, really, for accompanying me,” Jimin said as she was fixing her things.
Aeri looked at a now lightly tipsy Minjeong who had stopped pouring drinks.
“I mean, the four of us could share the same table, if that’s what you prefer of course. But it’s fine with us.”
Aeri couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her best friend. She clearly wasn’t letting Jimin go, that much was obvious.
About six minutes had passed when a soft voice was heard behind their laughter.
“Jimin!”
Jimin excused herself and enthusiastically hugged the newcomer. She was obviously a bit shorter than her, but standing side by side, the new woman carried more confidence.
“Look! I met new people while waiting for you. They said we could spend the rest of the night altogether.”
It was an easy introduction. Yizhuo made herself comfortable, quickly matching their pace of drinking. She immediately dove into stronger drinks, suggesting another new brand. She said it didn’t have to be a lot, but they should definitely try it. So they agreed, testing their limits, then laughing at each other’s attempts to taste the newly brought drink like it was some kind of soup.
Yizhuo didn’t look at everyone equally while they talked.
Aeri noticed it late, but every time she laughed, Yizhuo’s eyes briefly flicked toward her before returning to the group.
It was consistent.
It didn’t help that those drunken eyes kept drifting back to her, boring deeper into her soul each time their glasses emptied.
“It’s kind of hilarious… we have a lot of similarities.”
“Yeah? Like moving on?”
“I already said that’s not my case. And duh, it’s expected from this kind of place.”
Yizhuo had apparently rejected a proposal from her parents, being an heir, she was often paired up with sons or daughters of their business partners. She would prefer daughters, of course, but this one time she almost agreed, only to find out the daughter was already in a committed relationship and their parents were forcing them to settle things. Yizhuo felt it was wrong on many levels.
School commitments were then shared next, schedules, professors, projects. They even invented small games to pass the time while seated, at least for the three of them.
“They’ve got some good beats over there.”
“We could hear it. Do you want to go?”
Minjeong, Jimin, and Yizhuo were already fixing their dresses when Aeri spoke.
“I’m good here. Enjoy the floor.”
It earned audible gasps from them.
“Come on! You’d just probably overthink those words in here,” Yizhuo said, already finding her hand and trying to pull her up.
Her grip wasn’t forceful, but it didn’t wait for permission either. And Aeri… didn’t immediately pull away.
“You’re such a brat, you know that?”
Yizhuo only laughed and continued dragging her toward the dance floor.
The area was spacious at first, just around ten people dancing aimlessly to pop beats.
For a moment, Aeri almost stopped at the edge. She could’ve stayed near the table line where it still felt like “outside” the crowd.
But Yizhuo didn’t look back to check, so Aeri kept walking.
“See? Wasn’t this the point of clubs? We already talked and drank, now it’s time to let loose!”
What more could Aeri do when she was already at the center of the room, swaying mindlessly as she watched Yizhuo have fun?
At some point, Aeri stopped tracking the crowd and started tracking only one thing.
How Yizhuo moved. How her hair cascaded gently over her exposed collarbones. How her steps stayed light, almost delicate, against the hard pounding of the beat.
Yizhuo wasn’t doing anything different.
And that was the problem. She didn’t try to stand out. She just did.
Aeri swallowed once, then again.
After a good few minutes, more people joined in and they were almost squeezed together. Aeri asked Yizhuo if she wanted to go back to their table. She didn't answer and only held Aeri’s wrist, a second longer than necessary.
That was when a man backing up stumbled over his shoes, pushing Yizhuo forward. Luckily, she was still holding Aeri’s wrist and fell onto her left shoulder for support. Yizhuo quickly pulled away and apologized.
“People better be careful! I was still having a good time!”
The DJ had exceptionally good mixing, often shifting effortlessly from rap tracks to slow, deep bass-heavy music. Aeri then had learned to genuinely have fun, she didn't even know which part of the dance floor their friends had wandered off to.
Maybe it was because of too much swaying that the mixed alcohol was already hitting her, or maybe Yizhuo was simply exceptionally alluring from the moment she stood in front of them.
The way her silver bodycon dress traced the lines of her body beneath the shifting club lights, the way her hips followed the beat naturally, loose and unhurried, how she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear while she held Aeri's gaze with a small smile and half-lidded eyes, left Aeri slightly dizzy.
And this time, Aeri realized she wasn’t just watching her anymore. She was reacting to her.
People definitely weren’t any more careful after the earlier stumble.
Because what slightly pulled Aeri out of her trance was the sight of another man backing toward them.
She didn’t wait for him to reach them and instinctively pulled Yizhuo toward her. Seeing him take another step forward, she was already about to let go.
Just as she steadied herself and placed her hand on Yizhuo’s back, she felt a pair of arms encircle the back of her neck. Hesitant, light, just like her head, before Yizhuo leaned all her weight into Aeri.
She had to balance them both, so she now placed her hands firmly on Yizhuo’s waist. Small, real, warm. It was only then she realized how thin the fabric felt beneath her fingers, enough to make her pause mid-breath.
Both of them were already probably too gone to make sense of whatever they were doing.
In the middle of a dance floor, heavy beats blaring through the speakers, bodies intertwined, and tipsy eyes only seeing each other. Everything else blurred into flashing lights and moving shadows.
Maybe Yizhuo was right.
Maybe this was the point of the night.
“Still having fun?” she asked.
Between her second glass of whiskey, Yizhuo’s hot breathing on her neck, and the sweet, rich smell of toffee that enveloped her senses, she didn’t know anymore what made her question if she had even heard it correctly.
“Ruin me tonight.”