▬▬▬chapter one.

               It was a much needed break. Mid-term exams have just finished and the stress has, somewhat, evaporated and to celebrate, they decided to go clubbing. While clubbing wasn’t Chaela’s idea of fun, Tiphonie convinced her to go. While Chaela showered, Tiphonie picked out her outfit – a little black dress with a handkerchief skirt, low, square-cut neckline and sleeves just long enough to cover her shoulders. It was form-fitting and very stylish, Tiphonie was proud of her selection although Chaela was a little nervous about it.

                When ten o’clock rolled around, the girls were finally ready to go out. Chaela was dressed in the dress Tiphonie laid out for her, matched with black heels, a jeweled star necklace. Her long red hair was curled and let loose, falling to her mid-back. Tiphonie wore a short solid red dress, sleeveless. It had a design bejeweled into it along the tight-fitting collar and a black ribbon tied around her tiny waist. Matched with red stilettos, a bracelet or two, and hoop earrings.

                The club they went to was nothing too out of the ordinary. It was located in the center of Beijing and was renowned for being the best – and Chaela and Tiphonie got in for free. “Man, gotta love Beijing,” Tiphonie sighed, wide grin painted on her face. The girls walked by the bouncers, Tiphonie wiggling her fingers at them. Inside, the club was littered with people, men and women alike and all varying ages. The dance floor was crowded and so was the bar. Loud American music was blaring through the speakers and the girls groaned – American music wasn’t their favorite, especially American club music. But, despite the DJ’s poor tastes, the girls still danced. They danced for a while, most of which was them fighting off the overly confident opposite .

                “Let’s get something to drink,” Chaela suggested to Tiphonie, shouting as to try and be heard over the music and raging dance beat. “I’m thirsty and I feel gross.”

                “Fine,” Tiphone said, also shouting. “Let’s go.”

                The girls made their way to the bar and ordered two bottled waters from the bar tender, emphasis being placed on bottled. And upon finding an empty booth in some corner of the club, the two downed half the bottle. They were short of breath – both because of dancing and for chugging water as if they’d die otherwise – and chose to sit in the booth for a while because – hey – it took them a while to find it and they were tired.

                “Having fun?” Tiphonie asked, grinning wolfishly at Chaela. “You had a number of different guys grinding up against you.”

                Chaelra groaned and rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me,” she muttered, sighing when Tiphonie just laughed. Tiphonie then spent the next few minutes explaining to the redhead how it was a good thing, not bad. But Chaela wasn’t really paying attention to her friend, a young man on the dance floor caught her attention and she stared, watching him dance. Tiphonie noticed rather quickly that Chaela wasn’t listening and asked why. “That guy over there,” she said, pointing to the young man on the dance floor. He had dark brown hair and tanned skin – and that was the best they could really see of him. his clothes were a little revealing for a man’s – torn jeans and muscle shirt, revealing not only his toned arms but the rest of his body as well. “He looks familiar.”

                Tiphonie caught eye of him and shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said, “maybe he’s a classmate?” Suddenly, the man caught her eye and smirked. It was wide and way too confident, and Tiphonie wanted to gag. The wink he sent her way didn’t help either. “Gawd,” Tiphonie groaned, “he’s coming this way.”

                Sure enough, when Chaela looked over, the man was approaching them with a confident grin. He was right in front of them, nodding towards Chaela who just pursed her lips and pressed her back to the chair, he leaned against the table, his attention on Tiphonie. She leaned back in her chair as well and stared at him expectantly. “You must be in the wrong place,” he said smoothly, “The Miss Universe contest is over there.” Once the last syllable left his smug lips, Chaela choked on a laugh and Tiphone bit back a groan. “I’m Vanness,” he continued, “maybe you’ve heard of me?”

                “Never,” Tiphonie retorted, pushing her bottle away from the edge of the table. She folded her arms across her chest and looked up at him through long eyelashes.

                Vanness chuckled, not letting the young woman faze him. he just continued to smile confidently at her and leaned closer to the table.“Well, you see…” he began in a low voice Tiphonie knew meant to be y but only made her roll her eyes. “I’m here with a buddy of mine and he’s too shy to dance-”

                “And you want me to dance with him?” Tiphonie asked, interrupting the young man. She was already tired of the man and his cheesy flirting and just wanted him to leave so she could enjoy the rest of the night with her friend.

                “No. I want you to dance with me,” Vanness said, cheekily and turned to Chaela. Her eyes widened when she noticed his attention was on her again. “And I was hoping your friend wouldn’t mind sweeping him off his feet.”

                The almost sleazy look on his face matched with the request even had Chaela rolling her eyes. She sighed, glancing around for anyone who looked like they were with him – luckily, she saw no one. “Not if you guys get your lines through the same book,” she responded, looking up at Vanness with her baby blues. He laughed and said he didn’t, that most of what comprised of “lines” weren’t in his dictionary. Chaela sighed and agreed, figuring that dancing with a guy wouldn’t put too much of a damper on her night – it’s better than being grinded on anyway. Vanness grinned even wider and guaranteed that she wouldn’t regret it before excusing himself momentarily to go get his friend.

                “I think we just got dates,” Chaela stated matter-of-factly, looking across the table at Tiphonie. In any other situation, Tiphonie would have thought the expression of complete, dumb shock on her friend’s face was hilarious, but not now.

                Tiphonie sighed and leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand. Gazing out in the direction of the dance floor, she said, “I just hope your guy is handsome. And isn’t full of .” Only a couple moments later, did Vanness appear from out of the crowd again and the young man following him made Tiphonie’s jaw drop. “Oh…my… God look.” Pointing at the duo making their way across the floor, Tiphonie couldn’t drag her eyes away; Chaela looked in the direction she was pointing and she was surprised as well.

                Vanness’ friend was about the same height with Korean features. He wasn’t as muscular as Vanness was, but he was lean and had nice arms that he showed off in a sleeveless, thin jacket. It was zipped low, showing off a toned chest and necklaces graced his neck. “well… ain’t he a looker,” Tiphonie hummed, “I’m jealous.”

                “You girls didn’t miss me too much, now did ya?” Vanness asked, grinning widely, showing off his perfect smile and white teeth. His friend just stood almost awkwardly behind him looking anywhere but at Tiphonie and Chaela. But the one time he did look up, his gaze was caught by Chaela’s. “This is my buddy I was tellin’ ya’ll about,” Vanness said, clapping the young man’s shoulder. The hit seemed to knock him out of the staring contest he and Chaela seemed to be having and he sputtered, looking at his friend nervously and confusedly. “This is Chilhyun,” Vanness said, laughing at his friend momentarily, but then turned serious when he discovered he didn’t know the girls’ names.

                “I’m Tiphonie, my Chinese name is Gao Mei.” Tiphonie said, rolling her eyes, yet again, at Vanness’ idiocy. And taking the initiative, she introduced her friend too, who seemed more interested in Chilhyun. “My friend is Chaela; her Chinese name is Kai Le.”

                “Cute,” Vanness cooed, tugging a strand of Tiphonie’s long brown hair gently, playfully. “I know English, you know.”

                “Don’t be rude,” Tiphonie scolded, feeling like she was dealing with a child, “Your friend might need our Chinese names.” Vanness seemed to ignore what she was saying because he just told her to stand up, that she owed him a dance. Despite arguing that she didn’t owe him anything, she was still dragged out to the middle of the dance floor, leaving Chilhyun and Chaela.

                “I’m sorry about him,” was the first thing the man had said and it surprised Chaela. Despite the thumping bass and beat from the deafening speakers, his voice seemed to carry over it easily. It was deep, but not. It was masculine, but sweet and it had hit something deep inside Chaela. “He’s a little…uncontrollable.”

                Chaela chuckled, trying not to let her clear attraction show too much. “It’s ok,” she said softly and he nodded, somehow hearing the girl’s quiet voice over the music. “Do you… want to dance? Or…”

                “A dance does sound nice,” he admitted, a shy smile appearing over his thin lips as he looked at the girl in the booth. He held out a hand for her, like a gentleman and lifted her to her feet easily. He guided her to some, barely crowded part of the dance floor and there they danced. Not like the other people dancing; they were more reserved and the way they moved seemed more like middle-schoolers shyly flirting than the adults they were.

                In the end, Tiphonie found them and took Chaela back to their dorm all the while muttering about how much of a jerk Vanness was, among other choice language.

▬▬▬ending.

listeningto; the boy is mine - monica
1572011