Chapter III:

A Night of Winter to Remember

22:26 KST

The SUJU quartet finally reached Club Elli; a dusky, dingy, dank little nightclub off the beaten path. Upon stepping out of the car, they heard the roistering voices of people having fun, the clanking of bottles and other noises as life pulsated in every corner of the place.

As they entered the joint, intermingled smells of smoke and sweat instantly assaulted their nostrils. There was imminent darkness, tomblike and womblike at the same time. Bright spots of neon beer signs on the wall stood out, illuminating the faces and cleavage and mohawks of the crowd, while others disappeared into the contrasting blackness.

Despite the darkness of the place, their entrance caught most of the people’s eyes, attention shifting to them like sunflowers turning to the sun as they walked their way further inside the club. There were numerous girls who went beside them. Most flaunted their womanly assets, thinking that they could lure the men with wearing pieces of ty clothes.

But, no—Donghae wouldn’t want to spend his night getting laid, nor even didn’t he desire to touch any of those desperate women, because he came there to drink and dance with his friends; to have fun.  No flirtatious girls, no scandal.

After pushing themselves out through the flock of increasing people they finally found an empty bar stroll in the corner. In an abrupt pace, they reached the seats and slumped on to it.

“At last!” Donghae grumbled as he wiped the sweat of his face with a handkerchief.

“We only arrived for no more than five minutes and you’re already sweating.”  Hyukjae remarked, yet beads of sweat were also visible on his face.

 “I missed this place,” the latter ignored his best friend and roamed his gaze around the place with a smile on his face. A nudge made him glance back at the guy, “Those women are hot don’t you think, Fish?” Hyukjae grinned, his eyebrows wiggling,  

“Not bad,” he responded in a bored tone.

 “Not bad?” the other guy gasped dramatically at his passive response. “Check that one out, dude!” he jerked his head towards a girl who sat across them. Like every other girl inside the room, she was wearing a skimpy dress, exposing a lot of skin but what was striking about her was the size of her chest, it was unnaturally voluminous. “You dig those kinds of chics?” Donghae cocked his eyebrows.

“Well duh, look at those glorious pair of treats, man. Just imagine how it feels like to—”

“Hey, you two erts behave,” Kangin, being the eldest, took the initiative to smack Hyukjae out of his unnecessary fantasies while waving a tentative hand to call for a waiter and ordered their drinks.

Five minutes was all it needed for the man to get what they ordered and upon the arrival of their entrees and drinks the four men savored the alcohol to their hearts content.

They gulped on the liquor while laughing out loud from each other's jokes. Glasses after glasses, they drank and this kind of moment made Donghae grateful for having his friends. However, their conversation was hastily stopped when the earlier gloomy and dark club turned into a live disco house. Laser lights then illuminated the dance floor along with the explosive electro popping music filling the whole place.

“Time to get our cray on!”Kyuhyun excitingly shouted and went straight ahead to the heated dance floor. He was shortly followed by the others joining the hyped crowd.

“Now this is what I’m talking about! Yeah!” Donghae exclaimed while banging his head along with the ear splitting beats of the music.

All the while, at the farthest corner of the pub there sat an enchanting goddess. She took a sip of her Gin and Tonic, that simple mixture cold and icy, slightly sweet and tangy against her lips. She held the drink in for just a moment and let the ice and gin and slip of lime pulp wallow against her tongue, and she felt like a man in solitary kissing his first woman in ten years.

She was no doubt enjoying the solitude of being alone with her drink, turning down the volume knob of life as she ignored the people around her.

However, the more she engrossed herself in her own little world, the more male gazes she attracted. Some sat silently on their places, staring at the beauty before them, while the others tried to gather enough courage to approach her but ended up utterly shy to walk and get to know her. But one man was different. He was bold and courageous enough to strut his way confidently to where Dara was sitting.

She was about to drink her third glass when a tall and handsome man sat beside her.

“Hey there, angel” he said, flashing a poised smile.

The girl remained placid, her face void of any emotion as she leaned back slightly, averting her brown eyes on him, seeming to size him up.

Upon noticing her drilling stare the man smirked. “You like what you see?”

She raised her eyebrows, still confident, almost even flirtatious then chuckled, “Pity. A guy like you is not worth gawking at.” Her tone was undeniably haughty, mean and sarcastic which baffled the guy for a second.

He remained staring for a while, surprised by how decently sharp her tongue was despite the angelic face she had yet that shock fairly dissolved into an amused grin and he said, “Oh, feisty. I like it.”  

Dara couldn’t help but to chuckle at that, “I was clearly insulting you. There is nothing to like about that,” she said in a mocking tone and sipped on her drink yet the man felt hardly insulted.   

“I was not referring to your words, you know.” He responded and rose from his seat.

Just when Dara thought he was about to leave, the man came to her side, offering his hand. “Come, dance with me,” he said and watched her expectantly.

Her eyes shifted from the hand to the guy, hesitating, reconsidering. If she came to the club to sulk all night at one corner, then she should just ignore the offer but if it was fun she wanted, then, “Okay.” She nodded.

Upon saying that word, Dara rose from her chair and strutted her way towards the dance floor, leaving the dumbfounded guy with his hand still stretched to the now empty stool.

Regaining his thoughts back, the man shook his head, retrieved his hand then followed the girl from behind.

The liquor she had consumed was finally taking effect as intoxication fogged her senses, disabling her to think straight, yet it wasn’t a reason for Dara to not to notice the lustful stare the stranger was giving her. She was still aware, somehow mindful about her surroundings. So she walked ahead of the guy, keeping a safe distance as much as possible. There was something askew about his aura; there was a dark, menacing intent reflecting in his eyes and her intuition screamed danger. But all those mental anxiety eased and deflated as she reached the dance floor, the head swinging music filled her ears and drowned every thought resurfacing inside of her. Dara’s heart pounded along the beat, her head banging in synch and without even noticing it, she started jumping, shouting and dancing witlessly, savoring each second of her crazy disco time.

The stranger then came to her side, dancing subtly as he stared at the woman who was obviously having fun. Oblivious to them, most of the crowd stopped moving, intrigued by the bewitching charisma of the girl dancing beside a tall guy.

“Dude, check her out. What a beauty!”

“Is she an idol? How come I never saw her?”

“She’s so pretty. Wait, is that her boyfriend?” 

These were only a few of the murmurs from the people around them.

Still absorbed on the ecstasy of sound waves deafening her ears, Dara failed to notice how the man slowly closed the distance between them. He was now standing right beside her, his chest pressing the back of her shoulders while dancing. To anyone who knew nothing about them, it was only natural to assume they were a gorgeous pair of couple having fun together, but such sight didn’t please one person. 

“!” A scream, so loud it could be heard amid the bombastic noise on the dance floor, erupted. People flinched in surprise, their eyes darting towards a fuming woman who was storming her way towards the two people. “That’s my boyfriend, you ing !” she shouted once again, effectively grabbing Dara’s attention. She cocked her brows, her head pivoting in wonder. Was she just called ‘’ by some random girl?

Then her question was hastily answered by another roar, “What the hell are you doing here, Luna?” it was the guy’s angry voice thundering over the girl’s fierce rants. One second earlier he was behind her, and then in the next he was now in front of her, blocking Dara from the reach of his said girlfriend.

 “So this is what you’re doing all along, huh Minho?” the girl which was named Luna, spat angrily on the guy. “You’re flirting around with some girl!”

She pushed the guy, now known as Minho, with all of her strength, causing him to jerk a step side wards so now she had all the access to harm the girl behind him.  Everything happened so fast, and Dara stood motionless as Luna jolted her hands in the air, swinging its way towards her face.

As reflex, Dara closed her eyes, waiting for the impact of her fist to land roughly on her cheek, but nothing came. When she pried her eyes to open, Dara saw a murky figure in front of her. It was unmistakably a man who was now holding the girl’s wrist firmly in a vice-like grip.

“If I were you, missy, I wouldn’t do that.” He spoke in a soft warning tone. A reprimanding voice which was deemed to make anyone feel guilty in the instant he spilled his words out, and the girl named Luna wasn’t an exception. She flushed profusely before his stern gaze, shamefully biting her lower lip in attempt to quell herself from further cursing.

“God, Luna.” Minho then came to pull her away from the stranger’s grip and that seemed to bring back all of her rage. She started shouting once again, flailing her hand violently on the guy as he tried to get her out of the club. 

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