From that day onwards, Taeyeon noticed a change in Jiwoong’s behaviour. He would no longer nag Taeyeon about coming home, nor would he insist that she was well-dressed and groomed for her shift at the coffee place.  He no longer cared if he found her sleeping with her shoes on the sofa, hugging her guitar tightly nor did he seem to mind her midnight strumming. Part of her wanted to believe her brother was off her back out of pity, solidarity or compassion for losing the song. Another part of her, the cynical part, was certain it had to do with that outing where he drenched himself in aftershave, so much that she could still catch whiffs of it around the apartment.

It had been three days since she had met the girls at her workplace and she was nowhere near to remembering the song. Sometimes she felt the melody floating wispily around her, within her reach. Other times she could barely even remember how to write notes down.

Her mobile rang. It was Yuri.

‘Any luck?’ the voice at the other end immediately blurted out.

‘No, not really’

‘Not even a little bit?’

‘I’ve tried Yul but…’

‘Okay’. There was a pause. ‘Okay, okay’

‘Hey, are you talking to yourself again?’ Taeyeon asked. Yuri had a long history of doing so which had led to some hilarious situations-mainly involving old ladies.

‘No, no, no. Listen, Taeyeon. Club tonight’

‘Huh?’

‘Club- drink, get some inspiration’

‘By listening to computer sounds?’ the girl exclaimed

‘No, no, no’ Yuri replied ‘take your mind off things’

Taeyeon heard her friend inhaling deeply.

‘Look, this is taking a heavy toll on you, right? So just, just forget the song and everything and lets go and have fun. Isn’t that why we started doing this? To have fun?’

‘Okay’

‘And you know, there’s so many people, maybe you’ll get some inspiration from like a couple breaking up or something…’

‘Okay, Yuri’

‘…have a drink, use a little bit of alcohol- nothing else! Hyoyeon told me…’

‘YURI, I SAID OKAY!!’

‘Oh’. Pause. ‘You did?’

‘Yeah, were you reading out your arguments off a piece of paper again?’

There was no reply.

‘Yuri…’ Taeyeon said impatiently.

‘I just, I-I didn’t think you’d be that easy to convince!’

‘…never mind. So where are we going then?’

Yuri had gone on about a club that had recently reopened- though she refused to tell her why it had been closed to begin with, occasionally slipping in a few persuasive sentences in a tone that suggested she was reading out some leftover notes from her ‘Convince Taeyeon’ sheet. At the end,  they had agreed to meet around 10.

As soon as Yuri hung up, she dialled Jiwoong’s number.

‘Hello?’

‘Hey, oppa, how’s work going?’

‘Did something happen?’

‘Erm, no’

‘Did you burn something? Break something? You didn’t get into trouble with that girl again, did you?’

‘What? Of course not’ she replied angrily ‘what does she have to with anything?!’

‘Nothing, I’

‘I haven’t stepped foot in that store since I went to get my bag. And with her freaking bipolar moods, I doubt I ever will again’

‘Well, that’s good, I guess-‘

‘I just called to tell you I’m going out tonight. So you don’t freak out and call Mom, or something. Don’t wait for me or anything’

‘Okay, that’s cool. I’m meeting up with some people anyway’

‘People?’

‘Yeah, homo sapiens. You know, people’

‘People that like aftershave?’

‘That’s none of your business!’ her brother replied agitated.

‘Whatever, oppa, I’ll see you around’

She hung up.

Now she had another reason to go out and drink.

***

The DJ had gone bat crazy on the smog machine. And on the strobe lights. And the bass line. And why was the wall humid? Was that condensed sweat?

She quickly pulled away from the wall.

‘Yuri, the hell is this?’

‘What?’

‘WHY DID YOU BRING ME TO THIS DUMP?’

‘HUH?’

‘YURI!’

The tanned girl pointed to her ears and then shook her head.

‘Jessica will be here soon, come upstairs.’ Taeyeon felt Yuri’s hand tugging at her own. She cringed as she was dragged through a sea of sweaty bodies, colliding against her.

They made their way to the second floor, which overlooked the dance floor. At least here, she'd be able to hear herself think.

‘Wow, isn’t this intense?’ Yuri’s eyes glowed with excitement

‘Yeah, intensely ew’

‘Ew?’

‘Have you touched the walls?’

‘Why would I?’ Yuri gave her a confused look. ‘Hey’ she pulled Taeyeon’s toward her, making her crash against the metal safety barrier. That was definitely going to bruise. ‘Can you see Hyo?’

Taeyeon squinted her eyes. The dance-floor looked like a scene straight out of a B-class zombie  movie, with the smoke being at least two feet high. The techno beat kept pounding at her head and reverberated throughout her whole body, to the point where she was sure that even her heartbeat was matching the rhythm. She tried looking for someone blonde, but the crowds had closed in together, once the DJ had yelled something about ‘club anthem’ into the mike.

‘I can’t see her, Yul. Is she already here?’

‘Mmm, I thought she was. I’m going to the other side, meet here in five okay?’

Taeyeon sighed. Playing people-spotting wasn’t exactly how she had imagined the night would turn out to be. She looked once more into the mass of bodies below. Maybe she’d be able to distinguish Hyo by her dance moves, much like how she could tell Jessica apart in a crowd of people by the way she walked.

A girl dancing close to the DJ caught her attention. Her moves were different from the crowd but it was hard to even tell hair colour apart with the powerful red strobe lights. She leaned closer, grabbing unto the metal barrier.

‘Hey Taeyeon!’

‘ARGHHH!’

‘Hi Jessica, how you doing Jessica, nice to see you too Jessica. I’m guessing that’s what you meant?’

‘I- you freaking scared me, I could have died or something!’

Jessica peered over the edge.

‘Nah, too many people. You ‘d probably bounce off or something. Crowd surfing’  the girl spoke the last part in English.

‘Whatever’ she retorted.

‘Where’s Yuri?’ Jessica asked

‘Over there’ Taeyeon gestured with her head. ‘We’re playing find Waldo, the Hyoyeon version’

‘Oh cool’ she saw Jessica walk away

‘Hey, where are you going?’

‘With Yuri, she’s a much more fun team player than you’ the girl stuck her tongue out jokingly.

‘Hey, isn’t Hyo that one? Next to the DJ booth. Her dance moves are different’

Jessica turned to look where Taeyeon was indicating.

‘Hm, yeah they’re different…’ she frowned ‘not exactly in a good way though. I call Korean-American- Taeyeon, isn’t that your brother?’

‘WHAT?’

‘There, right next to the girl, actually quite close to the girl…too close. Ew, ew. Yeah definitely close’

Taeyeon’s jaw dropped as her eyes became fixated on the two figures on the dance floor...that might as well be one.

‘That’s not necessarily Jiwoong-‘

‘Oh, really?’

Her hands were shaking.

‘Of course not, look that girl, that girl-‘

At that precise moment, the strobe lights turned white as the song reached its .

The DJ dropped the beat.

And the dance floor was illuminated momentarily by a powerful white light.

‘Dude, that’s definitely your bro’ Jessica squealed excitedly.

‘Yeah, and that girl’ she swallowed ‘is definitely Tiffany’.