The next morning I actually woke up on time, shockingly. For once, I was able to enjoy a proper breakfast without all the rush before going off to work. On the other hand work was like any other day, that is, until I got a phone call ten minutes before my shift ended.

“HYE MI!”

“Yes Mingyu, please don't scream in my ear,” I chided placing my phone back on my ear after reflexively pulling it away.

“Oops. Sorry, but I really need you to do me a favor,” he spoke quickly. He seemed frantic.

“What is it? I'm still technically working so be quick,” I replied, looking around to make sure my manager wasn't around.

“Can you please please PLEASE go to my apartment and bring me my report and flash drive for my presentation? I thought I placed it in my bag but I mixed up the things and put the wrong project in.”

“What's the apartment password?” I asked with a sigh.

“Thank you so much! I'll text it to you. Please bring it as soon as possible the class is in two hours and it take 45 minutes to get here from the apartment. You're the best, see you,” he said in a rush before hanging up.

      Once I was home again, I quickly changed out of my uniform into a simple baby blue sweater and white ripped jeans before lacing up my sneakers and grabbing my dance bag. I keyed in the code for Mingyu’s and Wonwoo’s apartment and started to shuffle through their things, looking for the report and flash drive described in Mingyu’s text. Since their apartment was relatively clean it was easy to find. I took my time heading to Hwayi University thinking that I would have time but boy was I wrong. I have been searching for Mingyu for who knows how long and now there was only fifteen minutes left before his class started. I wandered the campus, trying to call him, and… he wasn't answering his phone! You tell me to bring you things but you don't even tell me where to meet you and you don't even answer your phone!

“Kim Mingyu I swear to God when I find you, you will pay for this,” I growled, leaving a voicemail.

“Hyemi?” My head snapped towards the source of the voice.

“Jun-sunbae?”

“I got out of class early and was just about to text you.”

“Oh… If it wouldn't be too much to ask could you take me to the building where a… Film appreciation class would be held?” I asked, reading the class name from the report.

“Sure. Are you running an errand?” He asked as he started walking the opposite direction I was heading.

“Yeah, a friend forgot his report at home and frantically asked me to bring it to him,” I replied as I fell into step with him.

“And didn’t tell you where to meet him?”

“Yeah. I guess he was too busy freaking out that he forgot to mention that. Plus since I don’t attend this school I have no clue where I’m going,” I replied with a sigh.

“Well aren't you lucky to have ran into me?” He teased.

“Yeah if it wasn't for you I would have been wandering the courtyard for an hour,” I said with a laugh.

“What classroom is it?”

“Uhm… Room 302.”

      Without realizing it we had already entered a building, not far from the area I was at moments before. My cheeks felt warm at the thought that this place was a lot closer than my directionally challenged self knew. As we went up a flight of stairs to the third floor and turned a corner I was nearly knocked over by a massively tall twenty year old having a panic attack.

“Hyemi! You found me! My phone died and I couldn't reach you! I thought you got lost or something,” he said as he gave me a quick hug.

“Are you worried about me getting lost or you not having your report on time?”

“Of course I was worried about you... too, but this report will make or break my grade and I do not want to retake this class,” he teased back while ruffling my hair. After taking his report, Mingyu seemed to finally notice Jun for the first time.

“Oh Jun-hyung why are you here? Did you help Hyemi? Were you trying to hit on her?”

“Yes I did help her but no I was not trying to hit on her. She is my dance partner for Jihoon’s piece so we were meeting up anyways,” Jun explained.

“Really?! Hyemi can dance and is in the showcase? As your friend and neighbor, I am offended that I never heard this before.”

“Hey you never asked if I could dance and I was meaning to invite you and Wonwoo-sunbae but I just didn't have time with work and everything,” I replied.

“A friendly warning, don't fall for his tricks. He's a tease,” Mingyu whisper off to me. A playful glint in his eye.

“No I'm not. Don’t spread rumors,” Jun scolded, rolling his eyes.

“Fine fine. Gotta go to class now. See you guys,” Mingyu said as he checked his watch and left. Once Mingyu left, Jun offered to head to the coffee shop across from the campus and I agreed.

“So you know Mingyu?” I asked as we walked out of the building.

“Yeah we are all part of the same friend group. It's nice to finally meet the notorious food fairy,” he said with a chuckle.

“Food fairy?” I questioned. That's a… unique nickname...

“Yeah, whenever his fridge was empty Mingyu said he would ask his neighbor upstairs for some food. Then someone brought up the nickname and it just stuck,” he explained.

“Wow… well I'm flattered for receiving such a nickname,” I said with a giggle.

“Haha yeah but if you hear it enough times I'm sure you would get annoyed.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Not mine. Let's just say, for safety reasons, calling Jihoon a ‘fairy’ is banned. You can ask Mingyu for the horror story,” he explained with a smile.

“Well doesn't Jihoon sounds lovely?” I said with a laugh. We reached the coffee shop and ordered our drinks, before taking a table by the window.

“Aside from our names we don't really know each other do we?” I mused aloud.

“Yeah, so let’s start now before we talk about the piece.”

“Hmmmm. Let's have a proper introduction then. I'm Song Hyemi. I'm 20 years old and a second year at Tae Gook University,” I said stick out my hand for a handshake.

“My name is Wen Junhui. A third year at Hwayi and am 21 years old. It’s nice to meet you,” he replied, as we shook hands.

      A short awkward silence fell over us. I’m not really one to talk about myself so conversation making isn’t my greatest field. As I tried to figure out what to talk about the buzzer buzzed and Jun got up to grab our orders. Luckily that gave me enough time to figure out what to say.

“So… what are you majoring in? I'm a Chemistry major.” Smooth Hyemi, smooth.

“I’m majoring in archeology and history.”

“Archeology and history?! The workload for those majors alone are a lot, I can’t imagine how much it is with both.”

“Well I am always working on some assignment when I’m not in the dance class. You could say it’s my stress reliever.”

“You are amazing for juggling all of that and extracurriculars. We are the same when it comes to dancing though, dancing lets me forget all my problems for a bit,” I said with a content sigh as I took a sip of my drink.

      We spoke for another hour or so about our interests, favorites, and the works. He was different from his persona during dance. He always catches people’s eyes because of his confidence and dedication he puts into the choreography. The Jun outside of the dance room was more approachable and seemed to be more of a listener than a talker. He was a bit goofier too, making bad puns that I couldn’t help but laugh at. It was different and it was nice. With this new found side of him, my ideas on our solo adapted to account for this side of him which seemed more like the real Jun. My body itched to test out the newly formed ideas and it seems as though Jun could tell.

“I was thinking about heading over to a friend’s studio nearby, do you want to come? It’s above a public dance studio so we can work on our piece there afterwards,” Jun offered.

“Let’s go! I have some great ideas for the piece and I’m dying to test them!” I agreed excitedly, unable to conceal the smile growing on my face. We left the cafe and started our short walk to the studio.

“So who’s studio is it?”

“Jihoon. He’s a music major so he rents out the studio but he basically lives there,” he said with a laugh.

“Oh~ so what is his specialty?”

“Composing. He actually composed the song we are using for the dance. Hoshi has been trying to get Jihoon to let us use one of his songs since forever. Honestly that’s why he is more on edge about this piece, he doesn’t want to let Jihoon down.”

“It makes more sense as to why Hoshi-sunbae went off on those girls now. This is something important to him and they treated it like nothing. Hopefully Hoshi-sunbae can be a bit more relaxed because the girls and I want nothing more than to have this be a successful performance.”

“I know and I’m sure Hoshi and the rest of the boys know too,” he confirmed playfully bumping my shoulder.

“So will I be able to meet the musical genius?”

“Maybe, we’ll have to see if he’s in.”

      Upon arriving at the building, we entered and headed to a set of stairs on the other side of the room. Once we got to the third floor Jun went to the room all the way at the end of the hall, in the corner. Jun knocked on the door twice but there was no answer so we went back to the first floor to use the studio, where we were lucky enough to get a spot near the mirrors. Once we were settled, I dove right into trying to explain what I had in mind while also trying to show it. I felt like I looked crazy but Jun just listened and tried to follow along as best as he could. We continued like this, building off each other’s ideas, until we had a rough sketch of the solo. We were running it through all together to see how it would fit with the rest of the piece when I saw someone approaching our area. Jun stopped dancing and the music before smiling at the shorter male.

“Hey Jihoon! When did you come in? I stopped by your studio to say ‘hi’ but you weren’t in.”

“Just now. I heard my song so I thought it would be one of you four,” The boy replied, smiling in return.

“Yeah. My partner and I were meeting up and she was dying to get to practice,” Jun said with a laugh before introducing us.

“Hyemi meet Jihoon. Jihoon this is my partner Hyemi.”

“Hi it’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard good things,” I said with a smile, offering a small wave.

“Nice to meet you too,” He said, returning my smile before giving Jun a glare.

“And by good things she obviously means your song,” Jun elaborated, easily brushing off his glare.

“Oh, definitely. This song is amazing! It has such a good vibe and it’s totally a jam.”

“...Thanks,” he replied sheepishly, the tips of his ears going red.

“I actually have a question though. What’s the title of the song? I only see it saved as audio file 0013.”

“Ah… it’s titled ‘Beautiful’. When I gave it to Hoshi-hyung I didn’t have a title for it yet.”

“Oh, simple but meaningful. It’s nice,” I responded.

“I’ll leave you guys to it. Good luck,” He said before heading to the stairs to the left. We went back to working and in the next couple of hours we had a pretty solid solo that I felt really expressed our individuality.

“How about we finish up for now? We still have to save our energy for practice tonight,” Jun said flashing me a tired smile.

“True,” I replied equally as tired. We packed up our things and headed out of the studio.

“Why don’t we grab a bite to eat before class? That is, if you aren’t busy.”

“I’m free and actually I’m pretty hungry after practicing,” I responded sheepishly.

      He let out a soft chuckle as he lead the way to the bus stop. We arrived at a familiar place, the small American-style diner that the girls and I worked at on the weekends. Before we entered, Jun got a phone call and excused himself for a moment telling me to go in first.

“Hi welco- Oh, Hyemi! It’s rare for you to stop by on a weekday!” The cashier greeted.

“You work today, Boo? But you’re right, I usually don’t stop by but today it was a recommendation,” I said with a smile, approaching the counter and taking a seat in one of the stools that lined it.

“Oh~ So you’re with someone else? Is this a date?” He teased. Before I could respond, the door chimed as Jun walked in.

“Jun-hyung! It’s been awhile!” Seungkwan greeted.

“Hey Seungkwan,” Jun replied before turning to me and asking, “Did you see anything you wanted to order?”

“What?! You’re on a date with Jun-hyung?” Seungkwan asked… a little too loud.

“Shhh! Boo it’s not a date,” I hushed the boy whose shock was evident on his face.

“But you-” He started but I cut him off.

“Boo Seungkwan he is my dance partner,” I stated, emphasizing the end.

“Okay, okay. At least give me something juicy to kill a few hours,” He responded jokingly. I just rolled my eyes and we ordered our food.

“So do you just know everyone I know?” I joked.

“Well it is a small world,” he said with a playful shrug.

“So do you know the others who work here? Jeonghan-sunbae, Jisoo-sunbae?”

“Actually, I do.”

“Really?!” I asked genuinely surprised and he just laughed.

“Yeah. If you count everyone there would be… thirteen of us and you know nine… plus Jihoon. You’ll just need to meet three more people and you’ll know the whole gang,” he joked.

“Thirteen?! No wonder whenever Mingyu asks to borrow ingredients, he grabs enough to feed an army,” I said with a laugh.