Keiba shook her head of distracting thoughts and glanced at the clock. They’d only stayed at the car wash for about an hour and a half and it was a quarter to four now. She calculated in her mind how much time she’d need for her hair as she rummaged through her drawers for something to wear.

What do people wear to these types of things? Keiba wasn’t sure. She figured she should probably go for cute and casual. Nothing too dressy, and nothing too warm since she planned on dancing.

After she placed her outfit on the bed, she stripped off her damp clothes and went to take a shower and wash her hair. She figured a little over three hours was long enough for her hair to dry, so she was going to do a wash-and-go style. She applied various sweet-smelling products to her damp locks and sat in front of her open window to let the wind do its thing just in case three hours wasn’t enough. As it dried, she rubbed her skin with cocoa butter and watched a couple of movies on her lap top to pass the time.

A little over an hour before Min-Kyung was supposed to pick her up, Keiba finished getting dressed. The outfit she’d picked was a little different than her usual get-up, but she’d felt like stepping out of the box. Her shirt was long and was a pink-ish lilac color. Under it she wore a black tank top and dark jeans. She didn’t put on makeup (she rarely did), but she glossed her lips with clear MAC gloss and adjusted her hair a little in the mirror. Her tight curls fell a few inches below her shoulders and moved weightlessly when she turned her head.

She was spritzing herself with her favorite Noire perfume from Victoria’s Secret when Min-Kyung knocked on the door.

 “I’ll be out in a minute.” She called.

“Okay.”

She set the bottle down on the counter and met her own gaze in the mirror. “Okay, Keiba.” She coached herself.  “You’ve got this. This isn’t a date; you’re just going to a party with Min. As friends. And as long as you don’t do anything stupid and/or embarrassing you’ll be fine. Totally fine.” She nodded determinedly and gave herself an encouraging smile before she grabbed her wallet off of her dresser and went to answer the door.

On the other side, Min stood with his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans. His short-sleeved black t-shirt had the Joker’s smile and the “Why so serious?” quote beneath it. He shifted restlessly from foot to foot in front of Keiba’s door, giving himself his own pep talk.

It’s only Keiba. He thought. Why are you acting so nervous, Min? It’s the same girl you’ve been friends with for a couple of months now. This is not a date. It’s a… a friendly get-together. Yeah, that’s it. A friendly get-together. Nothing more, nothing less…

He took a deep breath as her door started to open. Keiba stepped out and closed the door behind her.

She looked at his shirt and chuckled a little. “Ha. Nice, I love that movie.”

Min didn’t respond. She looked good when she dressed in brighter colors. The lilac shade really went well with her skin tone. But Min was thinking about how she looked in pieces; he took in all of her beauty. And he stood there for much longer than he should have, staring at her with his mouth ajar. He didn’t mean to gawk, but he’d never seen her like this before. It was a pleasant change.

“Do I look okay?” She asked self-consciously. “I don’t usually go to parties, so I wasn’t really sure about what to wear…”

“Aleumdaun.” He blurted. “Great. Wonderful, really. I mean—aish.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “You look cute.” He said more calmly. “Don’t worry so much about it.”

She giggled, relieved to find that she wasn’t the only one nervous about this… not-date.

“Thanks.”

“So let’s go.”

“Mmkay.” She chirped. “Now, about The Dark Knight …”

The couple chatted about the movie on the way to Min’s truck and the easy flow of conversation rid them of most of their uneasiness.

Until they reached his car.

Keiba was just about to open the door, when he reached forward and opened it for her. She looked up at him in surprise.

“Sorry.” He apologized. “I’m an . I should’ve been doing this from the start.”

“I…” She blushed deeply. “It’s okay. You don’t have to.”

“But you’re a lady and should be treated as such.” He smiled.

She swallowed thickly. “You’re really taking this whole ‘knight’ thing seriously.”

He smiled crookedly. “Well, I never do anything halfway.”

She hopped inside and settled into the seat, which thankfully had dried since she’d last been in it. “Hey, Midnight.” She greeted as Min got into the driver’s side. “It’s been a few hours.”

Min rolled his eyes and pulled out of the parking lot.

“So tell me about your friend.” Keiba said. “What’s he like?”

He grinned. “His name’s Jay. He’s funny and down-to-earth. I knew him before I knew Ricky.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nodded. “He’s a few years older than me, but after his mom married into the family we grew together as brothers. When I moved here we lost contact with each other.”

“And that’s when you met Ricky?”

“Yep.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. But a couple months ago Jay found me on Facebook. He’s really famous nowadays and he doesn’t have a lot of time to hang out, so it’s cool that he’s in town hosting a party.”

“Wow.”

“Uh huh.”

“So you said he was famous. Would I know of him?”

“Do you listen to Kpop?”

She shook her head. “I’ve heard of it, but haven’t really gotten into it.”

“Then probably not.”

“So what does he do? Does he sing, rap, dance…?”

“All three. He’s going to perform a few fan-favorites tonight.”

Her eyes widened. “Seriously? Wow. I wish I had cool friends.”

He gave her a wounded look. “Are you saying I’m not cool?”

She rolled her eyes. “Mini, you should already know by now that I think you’re awesome. You just want me to say it out loud to give you an even bigger ego than you already have.”

He smirked. “That was a good save. I was seriously considering throwing you out of the car. I hope you know that.”

“Min-Kyung!” She gasped. “Where is your chivalry from earlier? You ought to be ashamed.”

“And yet… I’m not.”

She flipped him off and startled a laugh out of him.

“Wow. It doesn’t seem right for the sweet Keiba to make such a rude gesture.”

“That may be,” she replied. “But you’re a special case.”

“Heh. Whatever.”

Min’s friend had rented out an entire club for his party. He and Keiba could hear the music a block away.

“Damn.” She commented, looking out of the window. “Your friend must be really popular.”

“Yeah.” Min found a place to park and cut the engine. “I didn’t expect it to be this crowded.”

Keiba hopped out of the car and walked with Min into the club.

“You wanna dance?” Min asked, shouting to be heard over the music.

“Where?” She laughed. There was literally a person in every available dancing space.

“Anywhere!” He grinned. “C’mon!”

She grabbed the back of his shirt as he led them through the mass of gyrating bodies until they reached a good spot. Keiba was shy, but it was easy for her to dance when she was surrounded by people that were paying her no mind.

When they started dancing, Min couldn’t help but smile at the way Keiba moved. It wasn’t awful by any means, and it wasn’t like she was off-beat, but it was… different. She wasn’t trying to impress anyone and she danced without reservation. Her hands were up in the air and her hips moved around in surprisingly tantalizing ways.

Some of her moves were kind of funny, and Min had to say something when she started doing weird, wave-like movements with her arms.

“Keiba,” he chuckled. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m dancing, boy.” She replied.

“Never seen any dancing like that.” He commented.

“Well you haven’t met anyone with skills like mine.” She did a twirl that would’ve had more flourish if A) she had a skirt, and B) there were more space.

He grabbed her hand and made her spin again. “You’re right.” He said when she was facing him again. “You’re a true one of a kind.”

“Damned straight!”

She and he shared a laugh and continued to dance to a couple of songs Keiba was familiar with like Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie” and Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop”, but the next one was something she’d never heard before.

It was a little slow and had a good beat, and she kind of liked it except for the fact that she couldn’t understand the lyrics. Min-Kyung twirled Keiba again, but pulled her in while she had her back to him. They started moving with her back to his chest. A daring move that put a red color to both their cheeks.

“Hey, Min?”  She asked. This close together she didn’t have to speak as loudly.

“Yeah?”

“What’s this song?”

“It’s Kpop. It’s by this group called B.A.P.”

“What’s it called?”

“’Rain Sound’.”

“I like it.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “But what are they singing about?”

“A girl they’d broken up with and miss.”

“Ohh…” Keiba wondered if he was thinking about Sun-Hee. The sudden pang of jealousy she felt in her heart surprised her. That was the second time today she felt the sting from the green-eyed monster.

“I’m not.” He said.

“You’re not what?”

“Thinking about her. Sun-Hee.”

“Oh. I wasn’t—”

“I know.” He set his hands on her hips and pulled her a little closer to him. “But I could tell you were wondering.”

Keiba tried to control the rapid beating of her heart. “So I guess that means you’re getting over her then?”

“Mmhm.”

“Well that’s good. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

They danced without talking for a little while. And then Keiba asked, “So what did that mean?”

“What?”

“That word you used earlier.”

“Which one?”

“A—” she paused. “Okay, I’m sorry, but I’m going to butcher this. I think it was something like… A—adume-dawn?”

Min laughed at her pronunciation. “No, that was good. You were really close. Aleumdaun.”

“Yeah, that.”

He didn’t answer right away. He waited until the song had begun to end and the club was a little quieter so that he could whisper it to her. Keiba felt the softness of his lips against her ear and she automatically tilted her head a little in order to get at a better angle to hear his voice.

“It means ‘lovely’.” He murmured.