Cora and Mark had immediately walked out to the dance floor when they made it into the ballroom, dancing like fools but not entirely caring. MinHee watched as Mark danced like a moron just to get Cora to laugh a little, and smiled to herself when she realized just how happy her friend was.

Maria and MinHee were sitting. It sounded like they were being downers at the party, but they wanted nothing more than to just take in the scenes. Maybe that wasn’t entirely true for Maria, but she kept MinHee company, which made MinHee happy.

That is until Jackson found his way to their table.

He sat across from MinHee, a few seats away from Maria, and smiled brightly. “Maria! Hey, how are you?” He asked. She immediately answered that she was great. “Are you enjoying yourself, at least?”

“Of course.” She said, offering a polite smile. “And you?”

His eyes landed on MinHee. “Yeah, I guess. It could be better.” MinHee didn’t hold his gaze. In fact, she looked away almost immediately. “Hey Youngjae?” Jackson called. Youngjae had been talking to a large group of Cora’s relatives, who just so happened to find him absolutely adorable. He turned to Jackson and knelt so he could hear his friend try and talk over the music. “Didn’t you say that you wanted to dance?”

Youngjae shrugged. “It would be fun. Why?” He asked, just as his eyes landed on Maria, who was fiddling with her hands in her lap. “Oh! Maria, do you want to dance?”

Maria looked up and, taking in the situation, frowned. “Nope.”

Youngjae looked shocked. “Why not?”

“I’m not going to be whisked away so Jackson can talk to MinHee when it’s clear the MinHee wants to be left alone. Sorry Youngjae, I’d love to dance with you, but not right now.” She said, her eyes narrowing at Jackson.

Jackson laughed. “I don’t want to talk to MinHee. I just figured it was a bummer for you to sit here and watch her sulk when you could be dancing the night away.” His eyes narrowed at MinHee. “That would be rather upsetting to for.”

Youngjae stood and moved to Maria’s side. “It’ll be fun.” He said, offering his hand.

MinHee tapped Maria’s leg from beneath the table with her heel. When Maria looked at her, she gestured for her to go with him. “Fine,” Maria pouted. “I’ll dance with you. But I won’t promise that your feet will be intact when I get done with you.”

The two started towards the dance floor, Maria threatening Youngjae with her heels, leaving Jackson and MinHee to sit alone.

“I think they like each other.” Jackson offered. “That last conversation aside, I think Youngjae might like her.”

MinHee frowned. “That’s none of your business.”

“What’s your problem lately?” He signed this, which made MinHee hate him just a little bit more. “You’ve been acting like you have a stick shoved up your for days now.”

MinHee winced. “That’s attractive.”

“Minnie,” He dragged out her name, in a way that made her hate her feelings for him. When he did so, her stomach fluttered, and her lips wanted so terribly to pull into a smile, so she turned her head, and hid behind her curtain of hair. “I’m being serious. Why won’t you talk to me? I’d love to say like you used to, but you hardly talked to me before.” MinHee didn’t look at him. “Did I do something wrong?”

Her head whipped around and she glared at him hatefully, signing quickly and viciously. “You shouldn’t have kissed me on the boardwalk? Because that was something right! How could you say that?”

Jackson’s eyes widened. “I-”

“Did you feel anything? Am I the only one who felt like the whole world stopped around us, like everything was melting away except for us? Am I that stupid, that I felt like that when it’s clear you didn’t? Did you do something wrong. You walked into my life!” She stood so quickly the chair fell backwards behind her and she turned, hurrying away from the table tears b her eyes. She hadn’t given him the chance to speak because she knew that if she had, and he had denied feeling anything, she would have been crushed.

She was quick to move around the dance floor and towards the door, but Cora, who was moving back into the ballroom, spotted her and frowned. “What’s going on? Who do I have to kill?”

MinHee forced a smile. “No one. I was just laughing a little to hard. I think I need some air.” She signed, moving past her friend and out of the ballroom.

She didn’t get even two steps before someone shouted “Minnie!” From behind her. Great. She was never going to get away from the scene at this rate. “Minnie wait up!” She turned around to find Jinwoo, who stopped and stared at her. “Are you crying? God, MinHee, what’s going on?”

She couldn’t help it. She was on a roll that night, telling people how she felt and demanding they accept it. First Jr., then Jackson, and now, Jinwoo. “Is it true?” She asked.

Jinwoo raced to her side, grabbed her arm and pulled her from the building. “Someone might have heard you!” He hissed as they moved outside of the venue.