My Little Dancer

two // mingle

"The great thing about new friends
is that they bring energy to your soul."
Shanna Rodriguez

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To Yein's surprise, the orientation was turning out to be pretty awesome. The students lodging at her block came from a wide variety of majors and they were definitely more fun that stupid.

If you'd like to know what kind of variety, Sujeong was a medical student, Jiyeon, a musical major and Yein herself in mechanical engineering.

"Enjoying it so far?" Jiyeon asked as they sat down for lunch. It was day two (also the last day) of orientation and they had just broke off for lunch.

Yein nodded coolly, "yeah, it's great. Glad I came."

"Do you have any clubs you're interested in?" Mijoo asked as she and Jisoo joined them. Mijoo was a final year in her early childhood degree while her roommate, Jisoo, was pursuing fine arts in illustration. Their room was a level above Sujeong and Yein's. (Jiyeon was a level down.)

"Not that I can think of." Turning to her new friends, Yein asked, "what clubs are y'all in? I only know Mijoo unni is in dance."

"Revolution to be exact," corrected Mijoo in a sassy manner. "It's not just any dance club."

"Right, Revolution," Yein repeated, imitating her sass.

"Med school's pretty mad so I only have time for a little busking," Sujeong informed.

"There's such a club as busking?!"

Sujeong nodded. "Little requirement. Pretty much free and easy; you do what you want, whenever you want."

"I'm in the broadcasting club and Jisoo unni's in a band," continued Jiyeon.

"Wow, a band!" Yein exclaimed. "This school sure has some interesting clubs."

"You should go take a look at the club booths, maybe you'll find something that sparks your interest."

Yein thought for a moment before agreeing. As much as she enjoyed studying, she knew she shouldn't simply bury herself under books. Oppa would have nagged that I need a life.

//

Yein had been to club booths back in middle and high school. But club booths at college were on a whole different level.

Is this a festival?!

Back home, club booths were simple – two tables, two chairs and a handmade signboard. Over here, it was extreme. 'Overboard' might have been a better word to describe it.

Everywhere she turned, there were people handing out flyers, in which some were presently shoving the papers into her hands, dancers showcasing their talents, cheerleaders tossing girls in the air, and volleyballers rallying with each other, just to name a few.

It was rather overwhelming and it made Yein feel so small. She had decided to explore the clubs on her own even though Jiyeon had kindly offered to show her around. She knew Jiyeon had committee things to settle and didn't want to be a bother.

"Oh! Jung Yein!"

Yein frowned upon hearing her name come from the mouth of a guy she found unfamiliar. She wondered if she's supposed to know him but she definitely did not recognise him.

"Come and check out the deejay club!" he told her as he handed her a flyer.

Simply taking it and giving a short bow, she quickly walked on. As she became more aware of her surroundings, she noticed how people seemed to be staring and whispering amongst themselves.

I didn't do something wrong, did I?

"Nope you didn't."

Yein halted abruptly. Scrutinising the person before her, she dug through her mental database and remembered where she had seen him. He was one of the two who were late on the first day of school. It wasn't hard to notice him for after all, he had ash hair and somehow an aura that attracted attention.

He was at our block orientation too... Means he stays in our block huh.

"You're wondering why people are staring at you right?"

Yein tilted her head to the side. He wasn't wrong but by saying yes, she would come across as a self-centred person. Furthermore, she wasn't obliged to answer someone she didn't know. Even so, she didn't want to appear rude so she knew she couldn't simply ignore him.

"I'm sorry?"

Chuckling, he shook his head and said, "you're really quite the clueless sort eh? Much like she said you were."

Even more puzzled, Yein frowned harder.

"You're scaring her, Taehyung." Yein watched as Sujeong sauntered over and handed him a cup of iced coffee.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm Kim Taehyung," the guy said as he scratched the back of his head. Turning to Sujeong, he continued, "she really has no idea huh?"

Sujeong, in turn, smiled. "Yep, she's absolutely clueless."

Frustrated, Yein waved her arms in front of them, "um, what on earth am I missing out here?"

Closing in on Yein, Sujeong whispered into her ear, "you're famous."

"I beg your pardon?!"

"You're pretty, you dress well, you carry yourself well. And you know how engineering only has guys, you're bound to stand out," Sujeong calmly explained as she began walking. "So you've been the talk of the town – or at least, word spreads like fire here."

"And that's why people I don't know have been calling out to me?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Right."

//

Still aimlessly walking around, Yein was now alone after separating from Sujeong and Taehyung (whom she deduced had something going on with each other).

She stopped when something caught her attention – a circle of people gathered around, dancing. She was about to walk away when she spotted the other (late) guy from her class. He was being motioned out to the centre and when the beat dropped, he too flowed with it.

Before she knew it, Yein stood there, mesmerised at his charisma and smoothness. She didn't know she had her mouth slightly hanging until he suddenly looked over and met her gaze. Awkwardly clamming her mouth, she quickly diverted her eyes elsewhere and they landed on the club's signboard which read Revolution.

Ah? It's the dance club that Mijoo unni is in.

Hurriedly turning on her heels, she walked away from the commotion of screaming girls who had watched the same dance and were going crazy over him.

//

"So found anything you like?" Jisoo asked as she leaned back against her headboard and crunched into a cereal bar.

"Not exactly. There were way too many clubs out there."

Yein's sole intention of going to Jisoo and Mijoo's room was to return something Mijoo had left behind but ended up staying because Jisoo had convinced her to. Although she had work to catch up on, she was feeling a little lazy and was pretty exhausted from the block orientation.

The room door suddenly beeped open, revealing a sweaty Mijoo in her dance attire.

"Oh ho. Look who's here!" Mijoo excitedly tumbled in and attempted to hug Yein who shrank away because she was clean while Mijoo wasn't. It ended with Jisoo giving the final call to stop Mijoo from her crazy antics.

Mijoo, finally calm, began rummaging through her wardrobe for clean clothes.

"Ah, I heard you were at the club booth just now. Our club booth."

Slightly taken aback by how such a news would have reached Mijoo, Yein mumbled, "right, I just stayed for a while. They were pretty good."

Closing her wardrobe door with a slam, Mijoo turned around, hand still on the doors, and a sly smile crept across her face, "join us then."