Minyoung met up with Minhyuk after school, surprised that her brother wasn’t busy with some kind of sport or dance activity.

“Don’t you have dance practice, Minhyuk?” she asked curiously.  “Why are you here?”

“We’re going to the mall.”

“Yuck.”

“Lighten up, Minyoung.  We’re going to get you a dress for the dance.”

“But I was planning to buy one online.”

“Let’s face it,” Minhyuk sighed.  “I probably have more fashion sense than you do.  C’mon, let’s go buy something.”

“Oppa, I really don’t want to go.”

“Why not?”

“Too lazy.”

Minhyuk’s anger turned into amusement.  “Seriously?  That’s why you don’t want to go?”

“Duh.” 

A few minutes later, Minyoung unwillingly agreed, and the twins headed down to the mall to go dress shopping.

Minyoung hated shopping, especially shopping with Minhyuk.  The only good thing about picking out clothes with her brother was that he did all of the work.  She only had to sit back and wait for an hour or two for him to finish.  Minhyuk had dragged Minyoung into the Forever 21 store in the shopping district near their home.

“Minyoung-ah, what color do you want your dress to be?”

“Black.”

“All right.”

The two began to search for black dresses, but Minyoung soon lost interest.  She made her way over to a bench, rested her head in her hands, and watched Minhyuk walk through aisles and aisles of dresses.

“Here.  Try these on.  I’m sure you’ll look pretty.” Minhyuk threw a dress at Minyoung, who barely caught it.

“Do I really have a choice?”

“No, not really.”

Minyoung walked into the fitting room with a feeling of disgust.  She hung the dress on a peg on the wall and sat down in the seat across from it.  It was short, for one.  She was surprised that Minhyuk would pick out such a thing.  What Minyoung liked about the dress was the fact that it was plain and dark colored.  There were no sequins or patterns, which Minyoung liked.

When she actually tried the dress on, she began to appreciate Minhyuk’s fashion sense.  Sure, he might’ve just picked the dress randomly off the shelf, but he was pretty damn good at choosing dresses.

“How does it look?” Minhyuk called out from the outside.

“I don’t know.”

“Show me.”

“Fine.” She opened the door, wearing the dress. 

Minhyuk smiled with amusement in his eyes.  Minyoung looks good, he decided, but her facial expression ruins the rest of her appearance.  She was scowling—whether she knew it or not.  Sometimes, Minhyuk observed, she made weird facial expressions without noticing.

“You look nice, Minyoung-ah.”

“I feel weird.”

“Let’s buy this.”

“You’re buying?” Minyoung asked. 

“Yes.”

“With your own money?”

Minhyuk frowned.  “Why are you so surprised?”

“You’re so cheap.  You’d never buy something for me with your own money.”

“If I don’t buy this for you, you won’t buy it.  And then on the day of the dance, you’ll panic and drag me to this store to buy a random dress.”

“Good point.” She walked back into the fitting room with a pout.  “I’m just glad that we’re done shopping.”

“Actually, shouldn’t we find you some shoes—?”

“No!”

<:>

The dress sat in Minyoung’s closet for exactly one week.  Meanwhile, Minyoung busied herself with her studies in an attempt to get the dance out of her mind.  But the thought of dancing with Yukwon would cause her to lose focus, which was the last thing that she wanted.

She sat on the futon in her room, skimming through a novel that she read a few weeks ago.  The dance began at seven p.m., and Minyoung didn’t plan on getting ready until thirty minutes prior to the dance.

“Minyoung!” Her brother knocked on the door.

“What?” She was clearly annoyed, just having reached the best part of the book.

“Are you going to put on makeup?”

“Why would I?”

“To look even prettier than you already are?”

“I refuse.”

“Minyoung, your date is here.”

Her heartbeat increased.  “What?  Yukwon?  Already?  Isn’t there still a few hours before the dance?”

“He’s nervous, dear sister.  Please treat him well.”

“Hah.  Fine, I’m getting ready now.”

She stood up, throwing the book onto her bed.  Minyoung reached her closet and took out the dress, admiring the way it looked on the hanger.  She slid into the dress, struggling to reach but succeeding in pulling up the zipper.  She looked at her reflection in the mirror, satisfied.

“Hair…” she muttered to herself.  Throwing open a drawer, she pulled out a hair curler, glad that her mom had bought her one “for emergencies”.  She didn’t really know what she was doing, but as she skimmed tutorials on Youtube, she figured out how to curl her hair in a way that she liked.

She placed the curling iron back in the drawer, seeing her makeup kit, which her mother had also bought for her in the case of an emergency.

But when she opened it, she had no idea what to do.

“Skipping the makeup then.” She nodded.

“Oppa!” Minyoung opened her door and stepped outside.  Walking down the hall, she made her way into the living room, where Minhyuk sat with Yukwon.  She observed Minhyuk’s choice of dress.  Minhyuk wore a black t-shirt with a pair of black jeans.  Minyoung shook her head.  Typical Minhyuk.

“Do I look nice?” Minhyuk asked, noticing her presence.  Yukwon turned as well, and his cheeks flushed pink.  He hadn’t expected Minyoung to wear a dress or curl her hair.

She rolled her eyes.  “Of course.  Everyone looks nice in dark colors.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Do you even have a date, Minhyuk?”

He glared.  “Of course.  By the way, Taeil hyung wants to take pictures of us.  He’s coming over so that we don’t have to go to the ramyun shop.”

“I didn’t know that he even knew how to work a camera.”

“He’s not that old.”

Minyoung shot him a look.  Then, she turned to Yukwon, who wore something similar to Minhyuk.  “You look handsome, Yukwon.”

He blushed again.

The apartment became quiet and remained that way for about half an hour.  A knock on the door sent both Minyoung and Minhyuk running for it.

“Aw, you look so adorable,” Taeil said as he walked through the door of the apartment.  He had a digital camera dangling from his right hand and was carrying a stack of boxes with his left.

“What’s with the stuff?” Minyoung gestured toward the boxes.

“Stuff you guys have left over at the ramyun shop over the years.  I’ve always had them, but I always forgot to give it back to you guys.”

“You can put it over there.” Minhyuk pointed to the kitchen table.

“This place is a mess, guys,” Taeil announced.

Minyoung nodded.  “Yeah.”

“Shouldn’t you two clean it up?”

“I know where everything is, and so does Minhyuk.”

“Well,” Taeil sighed, “as long as you’re organized…”

Yet even Minyoung had to admit that the apartment was anything but organized.  Papers were strewn about—everything from homework to lab reports for biology.  Empty cups of instant ramyun were stacked on the table.

“Come on, Taeil oppa.  Please take the picture,” Minyoung finally said.

Taeil made eye contact with Yukwon and shot him an approving smile.  “You look nice, Yukwon.”

“Thank you, hyungnim.”

“Oppa, hurry up!  I can’t smile like this forever, you know,” Minyoung grumbled.

“Fine, fine.” The picture was taken, and the three teens left for the school dance.

<:>

As Minhyuk walked into the school with Yukwon and Minyoung, he kept glancing at his sister.  The night air was crisp, and he wondered if his twin felt cold.  He thought to himself, it’s my fault for getting her a dress that could be an oversized shirt.

But before he could react and give her his jacket, Yukwon had already removed his and had handed it to Minyoung.

“But I’m not cold,” Minyoung said.

“Still…”

She grinned, handing back the jacket.  “Thanks for the thought, Yukwon.”

He hesitantly took it back, asking at least two more times before accepting her answer.

Minhyuk couldn’t help but feel impressed.

“Hey Minhyuk.”

“Yeah?” He turned to his sister.

“You okay?”

He nodded.  “Yeah.”

The three continued on in silence, stopping right outside the school’s gymnasium.  Inside the gym, the bleachers had been moved away to make room for all of the dancers.  Plates of food and dessert lined the back of the gym, and a DJ stood at the front, going through his laptop.

“Wow, Kyung is the DJ?” Minyoung exclaimed.

Minhyuk smirked.  “I asked for a favor.  He was willing to do it for cheap, so…”

A girl spotted the three and waved.  Minyoung turned to her brother, surprised that Park Hana, a girl that Minyoung actually liked, had asked Minhyuk to the dance.  She was polite and pretty, and Minyoung approved.

“Wow.” She sighed.  “Go have fun tonight, Minhyuk.”

“Hana wouldn’t mind—”

She cut him off.  “No.  Do not bring your date over here.  Yukwon and I will be just fine on our own.”

“Are you sure?”

Minyoung nodded.  You deserve to have fun too.  She couldn’t bring herself to say those words, but she did manage to push Minhyuk in Hana’s direction.  “See ya later?”

“All right.  But if something happens, call me.”

“Stop worrying about me.” Minyoung laughed.

Minhyuk blended into the crowd, and Minyoung and Yukwon found themselves alone.  The music blasted throughout the gym, and Minyoung sighed.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Yukwon asked.  “The food table is over there.”

She smiled.  “I’m actually too nervous to eat.”

“Really?” Yukwon asked.  “Then should we dance?”

“I’ve never danced before.”  She shook her head.  “You’d be embarrassed.”

“I would never be embarrassed by you, Minyoung.”

“Don’t laugh at me when I , okay?”

He laughed.  “I promise.”

“You better.”

Yukwon had hoped to dance to a fast song, since no one could mess up dancing to a fast song, but luck was not on his side.  At that moment, Kyung switched the fast track to one of the slowest songs Yukwon had ever heard.  He felt embarrassed, but he placed Minyoung’s hands on his shoulders.  He placed his hands at her waist.

“This isn’t too bad,” Minyoung finally said.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Yukwon?”

“Hm?”

“I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

She took a deep breath.  “I…think I like you.  Can I like you?”