Jinki looked about the apartment. The producers took good care of the boys, but didn't put much thought in it beyond that. It was sparsely furnished, with ugly decor, but decor meant very little to Jinki. He only cared that it was big enough to keep from getting claustrophobic, and for things like dancing and sJinkiping on the living room floor if he felt like it, or hiding in the closets if robbers came in the dead of the night. Back home, there were an odd number of boys in the band, so he always got the dorm alone. Thus, he was used to loneliness and developed a fear of intruders. He suddenly realized how much more intense this was, being hundreds of miles away from his friends, rather than one door down, and he felt the need for them. Remembering how he had hung up on Kibum earlier, he decided he was the one he'd get in touch with.
    "So rude, Hyung." Kibum grumbled lividly when he picked up on the second ring.
    "Sorry! I saw this girl on the train!"
    "Already?" Jinki's comrade asked, incredulous.
    "She had this boring sweater and this boring hair and this boring life. She was very analytical, she timed the train and the sunrise. I was thinking like, what about a song about the dedicated schoolgirl and the bad boy?"
    There was no reply from the other line.
    "Y'know?"
    "Who wants to listen to a love song to a boring girl?" Kibum asked.
    He had a point. But this was different. The fans, only a small percentage of them were beautiful girls with crazy eyes and demure and charm beyond belief and worth serenade. Wouldn't a song dedicated to recognizing the beauty in bland girls be good for the record?
    "I think this'll work. Trust me." Jinki insisted.
    "I do." Kibum said slowly, and Jinki smiled and blushed to himself.
    So it was set. Jinki was to write a serenade to the unfortunate girls. No, that was wrong. The unfortunate girl. Now that he had seen her quintessential image, he couldn't imagine writing the song about anyone else on Earth. There was just something slightly stoic about her that brought the crucial sad tunes and poetic words to the surface of his consciousness. He needed to find her. He searched his brain for memories and facts. She went to school at MIT. Thousands of kids go to MIT. He didn't have her name. She wanted to graduate early, she was smart. She took dance classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday at her sister Kate's studio near the school. There we go. He pulled his phone from his pocket, and flipped open to the GPS. He had no address to enter other than Boston, and typed 'Kate', 'dance' and 'studio' into the keywords. He came up with six results. Only three were dance studios. He noticed one was particularly close to MIT, only two streets down and within walking distance. He clicked on it. It displayed the information:
    Kate's Kicks Dance Studio owned by Kate Kepulette on 312 Albany Street in Cambridge, Boston.  That must be it. Or at the very least, it was a good place to start.
    Juliette liked the way her feet tapping echoed in the empty lecture hall. Outside she could hear classmates chatting and laughing. But here she was, blissfully alone, in a room with amazing natural acoustics, the symphony her feet. She scribbled and jotted notes down. On her left, the Stats textbook. On her right, a dictionary. In front of her, the centerpiece, her beautiful TI-36X calculator. She was so lost in her little world of silence and mathematics, that she didn’t hear Dr. Ott enter.
    “Julie, what are you still doing here?” He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
    She looked up abruptly. “Professor, I was just getting a head-start on the project you assigned.” She held up her previously flickering pencil as proof.
    “That’s not due until next month.”
    “I know but-” a sudden cold silence fell over the pair; Juliette looked down then slowly closed her book.
    “Juliette, you’re a very good student. One of my best. But you don’t need to try so hard. Why don’t you join a club, or start going to the mall after school with some friends. Maybe try a sport or new hobby. Your dedication is very impressive academically, but you can be rest assured you have the smarts to give yourself some time to relax a bit.” Dr. Ott said gently, and Juliette almost looked like she might cry.
    “Sure thing, Dr. Ott.” Juliette stood, her books packed into her backpack, and trotted out the door, the professor staring after her.
    She sighed deeply, knowing she didn’t study so hard because she thought she had to, she did it because it was something to do, some way to preoccupy her. Something other than her tiny room above the seamstress’ shop in Chinatown, an overbearing sister, who pitied a younger sibling born with an Old Maid card stuck to her forehead.
    Two days later that same sister would step in the doorway and look Juliette up and down from across the room. Her hair back in a bun rather than its usual braid, she had her foot up on the bar and was leaning over it in a stretch with the other girls. Her skintight leotard accented the ridges of her spine as she leaned over her foot, and she was solemn in her work. Kate, with her dyed blonde pixie cut and toned dancer’s body, couldn’t really fully grasp what was occurring. A fluke, she guessed, looking from the crowd of other dancers to her baby sister.
    “Julie.” Kate ventured.
    Juliette looked up at Kate with raised eyebrows, but said nothing.
    “There’s…um. Someone came in and asked me if my sister was around.”
    Both girls’ eyebrows knit together, and for once they looked related. Juliette let her leg down and followed Kate out the door. Once she stepped into the lobby, she suddenly wished she had put on a sarong, or coat or some clothing in addition to her leotard, as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
    “Hello.” Jinki said.
    “Hello.” Juliette replied.
    Kate looked frantically from one to the other, bewildered, her pixie cut fluttering.
    “I was hoping I could take you out tonight.” Jinki said, point-blank.
    “Ah, no. I don‘t know you. ” Juliette replied, equally straightforward.
    She was petrified, and faintly flattered underneath all the Goosebumps and cold sweat, but felt honesty was the best policy. Kate was looking distraught and shot her sibling an icy stare. Jinki thought Juliette’s words over for a moment, pursing his Cupid’s Bow lips, and finally stepping forward, bowing, and putting out his right hand.
    “My name is Lee Jinki.” He stated.
    Juliette managed to limply shake his outstretched hand. “My name is Juliette. Juliette Kepulette.”
    “Well, Juliette, can I take you out tonight?”
    Kate made a soft noise that was some combination of jealousy and a swoon.
    “Yeah, I guess.” Juliette let go of his hand and let it drop to her side.
    Jinki let his drop as well, and followed it with a big open-mouthed smile that he had given the sunrise on the train. Kate twisted into a face that was green with envy, and Juliette smiled back, still with a fair dose of awkwardness, but with some triumph hidden in as well.
    Despite Kate’s protests, Juliette insisted she get ready for this sudden date alone. It wasn’t because her social ineptness acted up around Kate, she was long used to her company and not at all scared by her. It was just that Kate would force her to curl her hair and stuff her into an itchy dress, and a myriad of other potentially painful activities. That was not to say Juliette wasn’t dressing up for the recent turn of events. Her usual oversized neutral sweater had been traded for a light blue one, and cotton for cashmere. Juliette had to say she thought she looked pretty nice, if it was up to her. It only occurred to her as she heard him knocking on the door that it wasn’t up to her, it was up to him, but by then it was too late.