Loveboat in 서울

𝟛𝟘

"Suzy, I love you, but this is a terrible idea," Sulli says flatly.

She crosses her arms and leans against the basin of the carp fountain, whose never-ending spout of water splashes merrily. It's nearly nine o'clock, after my dance team's first run-through with Joohyuk. The other dancers have left, but four of us—Sulli, Min, Joohyuk, and I—are still in the back courtyard. Overhead, stars speckle the night sky.

"I'm expanding the definition of dance." I spin my bo staff, then raise it fast to block a lazy swing from Joohyuk. "Mulan does it." I'm giddy from our hour of nimble-footed experimenting. Another guy might have have frozen up jumping in the cold, but Joohyuk's rolled with it and we'd lunged at one another like a pair of tigers, brandished our bos, circling, filling in the space between the dancers. And the flow, the current between us, the crackle of energy—

"Not the stick fight. It's awesome. But you two." Sulli points between Joohyuk and me. "Someone has to say it. This is Loveboat. If you break up—"

"We're not dating." I dodge a jab from Joohyuk aimed at my midriff.

"And my pixie cut isn't going out. You guys have a falling out, that's the end of this show we've all worked our asses off for."

"Come on, Jinri." Min the peacemaker tosses an arm around my neck, the other around Sulli's. "It's perfect now, you said so yourself."

"And we're not having a falling out." I spin my staff as fast as I can, making my hair fly with its wind.

Sulli turns on Joohyuk. "What are you going to say when the guys rag on you for dancing with a bunch of girls?"

"Dohyun already did." He spins his bo, drops it. "For six miles up and down the Han River."

"Really?" I lower my staff, dismayed.

"I told him to go find his own dance team if he was so jealous."

I laugh, but Sulli slings her bag onto her shoulder, still frowning. "Bed check time, Suzy."

As Sulli and Min head off, I look up at Joohyuk, still laughing. "This was exactly what the dance needed. Like snapping the last gear into a clock."

Joohyuk spins his bo staff again, and it slips again. "I'll get this," he vows.

I whirl mine in another 360. "You're so competitive."

We start toward the dorms and he tosses the staff and catches it. "I don't want to ruin your show."

"You won't."

His arm sweeps wide and pulls me into the dampest hug in history.

"Ugh, you're soaked!" I shove him off and he grabs my arm and shakes his sweaty hair at me while I shriek, "Joohyuk! Stop!"

The lobby doors open with a soft squeak. Kang steps out, moving from lamplight into the shadows of night. His eyes are downward focused, on the sketchpad in his hands. The wind ruffles the hair falling into his face, his black shirt.

Then his eyes rise to meet mine and I pull free from Joohyuk.

"Kang—"

The sketchbook drops as he turns on his heel.

"Kang, wait!" I call, but he's gone.

"I'm sorry." Joohyuk's staff has stilled. "That was my fault. I'll go get him for you."

My hands shake as I recover Kang's sketchbook and  try to uncrush its corner. "No, it's my fault. I should have talked to him sooner."

ʕु-̫͡-ʔुྉ*ᴸᵒᵛᵉᵇᵒᵃᵗ✲ﾟⁱⁿ*。⋆ 서울。⋆ *