“I’m sorry I have to cancel our plans,” Eunji apologizes for the billionth time. It’s Friday night and she and Tarian had agreed to go out to their favorite club, but Eunji has come down with a cold and had even missed school that day because of it.

“It’s okay,” Tarian assures her, also for the billionth time. “It’s not a big deal. We go out dancing a lot anyway, so you just focus on getting better.”

Eunji sniffles into the phone. “Thanks, Tarian. See you at school on Monday.”

“Only if you’re feeling better,” Tarian insists.

But, once she’d hung up the phone, she realizes that her Friday night is going to be very boring indeed. Daeho has a business dinner with his company that evening – which, as Tarian has learned, includes a lot of drinking – that will probably last until the wee hours of the morning. Naeun is busy preparing for an upcoming showcase and will spend most of the evening at her art school, painting. That leaves Tarian at home alone, and that is something she doesn't find particularly enticing at the moment.

She thinks about calling Yonghwa, but she knows that he and his friends are having band practice, so she doesn't want to bother him. But, she tells herself firmly, she doesn't have to have friends with her to have fun. She can go out by herself and have just as good of a time.

So, since she had already been planning on going to the club, she decides not to change her plans. She’ll just go by herself instead of with Eunji.

So she gets dressed and heads out, making her familiar way to the club. The bouncers know both her and Eunji well by now, so the one on duty just smiles at her and lets her into the club.

The club is very loud and crowded, which is usual for a Friday night. The little tables are crowded with men and women sharing bottles of soju and beer, and cigarette smoke hangs heavy in the air.

As usual, Tarian sticks out like a sore thumb. Though there are some clubs in the city that cater to foreigners, this isn't one of them and she is usually the only one there. Even though she is technically half-Korean, she doesn't look it, and this earns her many stares.

But, after all the times she’s been here with Eunji and her friends, she is used to it, so she just makes her familiar way to the bar and orders her usual beer. The bartender, a pink-haired girl who knows Tarian by name by this point, grins at her and slides the sweaty bottle across the sticky bar top.

Then Tarian turns and surveys the scene for the night. There is already a crush of people on the dance floor, swaying and jumping and grinding in time to the music. She’s not quite feeling up to dancing just yet – she needs a bit more social lubricant before she gets there – so she wanders around the tables for a minute, just observing.

She’s standing in a dark corner, drinking her beer, when she hears her name. “Tarian.”

She groans, turning to face Yongguk. “What the hell are you doing here?” she demands.

He’s standing beside her with a beer held negligently in long fingers, looking like a god in skinny jeans and a low-cut v-neck that shows off clavicles she knows from personal experience are absolutely delicious.

For the first time in what seems like ages, however, he doesn’t look hostile towards her. He just grins lazily and says, “It’s a club. I come here a lot.” Then he looks around as if he suddenly realizes that she’s alone. “Where’s your faithful sidekick?” he demands.

“You mean Eunji?” Tarian clarifies, taking a swig of her drink. “She’s sick, so I came by myself.”

Yongguk offers her a seat at his table. “I’m alone right now too,” he explains. “Don’t read too much into it. I just want to drink without getting hit on by idiots.”

“Does that mean you’ve decided I’m not an idiot?” Tarian asks acidly, but for some reason she finds herself sitting down across from him at the table.  

But he just takes a swig of his beer and says, “You’re not going to hit on me.”

And she has nothing to say to that because it’s true. Even before he had tossed her aside like she didn’t even matter, she had never actually hit on him. In fact, he had never really hit on her either. The fact that they had gotten together had been purely coincidental, she tells herself.

“So how’ve you been?” she asks, forcing herself to be civil. It’s not like she likes him anyway. Besides, she’s got a boyfriend and she’s just being conversational.

Yongguk shrugs. “Same as always,” he mutters. “Just been busy with stuff.”

She snorts. “Illegal stuff, you mean.”

He grins. “Well, you know me.”

And Tarian has to quickly look away because damn that smile brings back all sorts of unwanted memories. She doesn’t want to remember his smile. It’s easier to hate him if she only remembers his sneers and scowls.

Yongguk seems to realize that he’s steered the conversation into a too-familiar place, so he says, “What about you? I heard you’re dating that Yonghwa kid now.”

This doesn’t seem all that much safer of a conversation, but she nods and says, rather defiantly, “Yeah, I am.”

But Yongguk doesn’t seem upset. He just hums and nods and says, “Good for you. The two of you look good together.”

Tarian wants to tell him to off but he hasn’t actually said anything offensive so she keeps her curses to herself and gestures to one of the many workers scurrying around the club for another beer. She decides she needs to be much drunker than she currently is to deal with Bang ing Yongguk.

“Oh, I really like this song,” Tarian says suddenly, listening to the overpowering music.

Yongguk is a little surprised. “Really? You like this kind of music?”

She smirks at him. “I’m just full of little surprises, aren’t I? But seriously, this group is amazing. I have all their albums.”

“Even the new one that just came out?” Yongguk is impressed.

“The one that came out last week?” she asks. “Of course I have it. I bought it the day it came out.”

Which of course steers them into a more comfortable discussion, one that revolves around music and bands and has absolutely nothing to do with the tension that still sizzles between them.

They’re sitting that way, chatting almost amicably, when Chaerin finds them. She’s dressed to the nines – when is she not? Tarian thinks to herself – with her hair and makeup as fine and fierce as ever. She sneers down at Tarian from where she towers on six-inch heels.

Instead of addressing Tarian however, she says, “Hey baby. I’m finished here. Ready to go?” And she leans down – purposefully giving Tarian quite an eyeful of her – and kisses Yongguk quite thoroughly.

Tarian looks away. She did not need to see that much of Chaerin’s tongue before she shoved it down Yongguk’s throat.

Part of her still expects Yongguk to stand up for her like he had once done. Part of her expects him to tell Chaerin off, to make it clear that he’s there spending time with Tarian. But of course he doesn’t. The days of him spending time with Tarian are over, and truthfully he’d come to the club with Chaerin and has only been waiting for her to finish whatever she’s been doing. Tarian is only there to while away the minutes until his girlfriend comes back.

But Tarian refuses to let Chaerin see how much it’s affected her. “Your is calling,” she says sweetly. “Go on. Do what you need to do.”

Yongguk hesitates only the briefest of moments – while Chaerin glares daggers at her – then gets to his feet and follows Chaerin away without so much as a backwards glance.

Tarian is suddenly not at all in the mood to party, and she regrets ever coming out to this stupid club. She doesn’t even have Eunji or anyone to distract her.

So she drains what’s left of her beer and leaves as unobtrusively as possible, calling Yongguk every name in the book under her breath.