dancing with a stranger

III

days go by and hyunjin was still unable to muster up the courage to ask jaerim to be his assignment partner. okay it was more like he was unable to catch up to her. every time he saw he on campus she was always with a group of friends or she was speeding her way to class. 

"at this rate i honestly think im going to fail" hyunjin sighed to himself. he plopped himself onto the hard ground of the dance room and sighed for a second time. 

at that moment the electronic pad beside the door clicked and in came a seungmin with two boxes of pizza. 

"look what i have! okay actually i bought these two thinking i'll be able to finish them both but i bought extra large by accident" seungmin goofily smiled and took a seat beside hyunjin.

"oh okay so now im your personal garbage disposal is that it?" hyunjin rolled his eyes. 

"what no! that is absurd!" seungmin faked a shocked face and the two boys dug into their pizzas. 

"bro there are pineapples on this one... you know how i feel about pineapples on pizza..." hyunjin shook his head. 

"can you stop complaining and eat the damn thing? just pull the pineapples out" seungmin chuckled.

_______

"okay this shall and WILL be the day i ask hyunjin" jaerim helf her right fist up as she pressed the button in the lift. 

it had been a few days and she was so preoccupied with gatherings and homework that she couldn't find the time to ask hyunjin to be her assignment partner.

"oh my god what if someone already asked him though? i would make a total fool out of myself if i go now" she thought to herself. "i mean the girls in my class were all about asking hyunjin. what if someone already shot their shot" she shook her head back to reality when the lift door opened. 

"wait no i sound like im asking him out" she tapped her face. "okay get this assignment over and done with and im out. okay, yeah! thats the game plan" she told herself as she walked over to the dance room where she last saw hyunjin. 

she was hoping that he would be there, dancing to the melody and letting things go. instead, she saw him laughing with another boy while picking out pineapples from his pizza. 

"wow the audacity," she whispered to herself. she loved pineapples on pizza. ever since she was a little girl she loved pineapples in anything, smoothies, pizzas or even sandwiches. 

she was the complete opposite of hyunjin

she unconsciously smiled at the sight. the very first time she interacted with hyunjin he was awkward and distant and here, well, he was shining. "awh that's kind of cute" she thought to herself. 

she knocked on the door and waved at the boys from the outside. she mouthed a 'can i come in' and the other boy nodded his head eagerly. hyunjin on the other hand just stared, mouth open at his friend. 

jaerim tapped her identification card on the electronic pad on the door and made her way inside. 

"hello! im seungmin! do you want some pizza? i doubt hyunjin and i can finish it all" seungmin shined as he offered jaerim a slice of hawaiian pizza. 

she nodded her head and accepted the slice of pizza. 

"are you hyunjin's friend?" seungmin asked after taking a sip of his drink.

"yes!"

"no" 

both hyunjin and jaerim looked awkwardly at each other.

"oh i mean not yet. im here to ask hyunjin if he wanted to be my partner for the year end assignment. i need to film a dance and make it look super artistic and edgy and i think hyunjin fits perfectly" she optimistically rapped it out. 

"wow looks like my boy here didn't need to worry at all" seungmin winked and hyunjin just glared at his friend.

"oh um yeah i'd really like that actually. i was meaning to ask you too but you're literally everywhere on campus" hyunjin rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"oh my god yay! and about me being all over campus, i take part in a lot of clubs and i barely have time for myself haha" she looked at her phone and realised that it was already three in the afternoon. 

"speaking of clubs, i need to go to my book club which starts in like two minutes. gah im so sorry but thanks for the pizza and being my partner!" she grabbed her things in a hurry and her left-over pizza. 

"wait can we exchange numbers or something?" hyunjin stood up in a hurry after seeing her in a hurry too.

"oh yea, here! just press in your number, ill text you later" jaerim handed out her phone with a bright smile. 

hyunjin took the phone from her hand and pressed in his number. "um should i save it or-" 

"yeah sure! save it as anything!" she smiled. 

"okay?" hyunjin saved his name as 'dance major hyunjin' and passed jaerim's phone back to her. 

"ill text you later okay!" she shined one last smile before leaving the dance room. hyunjin turned around to look at seungmin who was already giggling.

"doesn't her cheeks hurt?" hyunjin grumbled to himself while taking a bite of his pizza. but deep inside he was thankful and quite possibly jumping in joy. he didn't have to go out of his way to ask her to be his assignment partner anymore. 

"you do realise the both of you are POLAR opposites right?" seungmin kept teasing his friend which in turn got him a glare. 

"hopefully it goes well i guess" hyunjin mumbled to himself as he sighed.