When Jihye got the party invitation, she took it as a break from her usual activity. Taking Sohyun with her (because Jisoo couldn’t make it), they went to honor the host as no:ze and Ansso of WayB, enjoying the privilege she got as a social influencer. For the most part, they enjoyed free food and seemingly endless alcoholic beverages while silently fangirling at seeing the senior dancers they grew up in the flesh from one corner of the room.   “I heard MoLip RSVP’d to this party, but why haven’t we seen them?” Sohyun pondered, loud enough for Jihye to hear, standing on her tippy toes to get a better view of the room full of dancers.   Sohyun didn’t know it then, but it was the main reason why Jihye agreed to come, even if her schedules for the day only left her an hour to prepare for the party. But now that she’s at the party, it was a mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness, and none of the familiar faces she’d met so far could ease this. Meeting Monika properly in person as a fellow dancer and not an aspiring professional dancer had been her wish since that day in Hongdae six years prior. Her days since then had only been dancing, dancing, and dancing; to be someone worthy in Monika’s eyes.   Unfortunately, five somaek bombs and countless finger snacks later, still no sign of the older woman.   “Unnie, I’m gonna go to the ladies’ room. You wanna come with?”   “Sure, it’s better if we walk off the alcohol before going home,” Jihye mumbled, putting her empty glass on a nearby table. She wanted to be sober when she met Monika, but neither seemed to happen so far. Maybe tonight wasn’t the right time...   “Are you sure? I heard Honey J-ssaem will be here too.”   “I’ve been in this party long enough, Sohyun-ah. What I need now is to get off my feet and get some rest for tomorrow.”   “If you say so,” Sohyun shrugged, opening the comfort room door and startling someone from the other side.   Jihye was stunned. It wasn’t just inebriation that made her slow to react when Monika was walking past Sohyun to return to the party.   It’s her. She’s not blonde anymore but it’s her.   “Jihye-unnie?”   She was barely registering Sohyun’s voice and Monika’s unsympathetic expression, blinking a ‘huh?’ at the former.   “Can you scoot a bit so Monika-nim can go out?”   “Jihye? Is that you?” Someone behind Monika blurted out before Jihye could respond to Sohyun or at least give way to the older woman.   “Jihye?” Monika parroted, looking back and forth between the bob-haired woman behind her and Jihye.   Only when Jihye diverted her focus from Monika did she realize who was behind. “Oh? Lip J-ssaem!”   “Wow, you’ve gotten more beautiful since the last time I saw you,” Lip J praised, standing beside Monika, who seemed to be curious at the exchange. Aware of this, she immediately explained, “Ah, Jihye used to be Hyebin’s student, and Hanee-unnie’s too. No:ze? The pretty one?”   At the explanation, a meaningful smirk was growing on Monika’s sharp features. “Hanee’s student? You’re prettier in person.”   #   If Jihye lost her enthusiasm to show Monika her current self before, it had been gone when she was frozen on the spot at the older woman’s remark, only remembering the heat rushing to the tips of her ears while she and Lip J left the restroom. She also remembered the way Monika whispered ‘nice seeing you’ to her, leaving her to mumble ‘later’ with burning cheeks at Sohyun who watched the scene perplexedly. After what transpired at the comfort room’s threshold, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be within Monika’s proximity. Not tonight, at least.   Hence, she wasn’t sure what to feel anymore when she saw the older woman on her way to grab a taxi with Sohyun, smoking while talking to someone on the phone. In this distance, she could see her outfit clearly: white camisole with matching white suit pants and a pair of white low-cut sneakers, complimented by a cream-colored blazer. The look was both casual and formal but all in all, battle-ready. It was, after all, a dancer gathering.   As if sensing that Jihye was staring at her, Monika looked around, taking another drag of her cigarette and ending the phone call before approaching her with calm steps.   And Jihye, being the hopeless gay that she was, looked away in a desperate attempt to save face.   “No:ze, right?”   It didn’t work, obviously, because when she turned to face Monika, the same amused expression Jihye saw before was there. “Yes?” she asked tentatively, more of an automatic reaction than anything, thanks to her tipsy state and not because she’s face-to-face with the one person she’d been dreaming of making a good impression to. Yep, anything but that.   “I’m sorry if I was rude to you before. I tend to run my mouth when I see beautiful people.”   The way Monika phrased her apology was effortless, in her slightly raspy voice that Jihye could only hear through old videos before she went to sleep. Hearing it in person was still unimaginable. “It’s nothing, really,” Jihye said dismissively while maintaining a polite tone for someone at Monika’s level of seniority.   “Lip J said you used to be Peanut and Honey J’s student. Do you still