I like her because she smiles at me and means it. 

~*~

Jiyong and Yoona went back to the table and Jiyong was a little bit more composed than when he left. The music had gone louder at that time and the crowd at the dance floor was thickening.

One of the servers came to their table and told Yoona that a spot at the darts room had been cleared and reserved for them. 

Jiyong said, “Come on, let’s play darts.”

Yoona excitedly clapped her hands and stood picking up her beer bottle with her. She spoke aloud, “Yes, lets. Let’s do doubles. You two pair up against us. This will be a competition, losing team treats winner pair to dinner.”

Jiyong groaned inwardly. That was not a part of the plan!

Hyun Joong and Chaerin looked at each other and nodded in agreement, their competitive streak had been stoked. 

“Do you know how to play darts?” Hyun Joong asked her, leaning forward to hear what her reply while he walked behind Chaerin as they transferred to the darts’ room at the opposite side of the club. 

“A little,” Chae rin loudly said above the blaring sound of the music that was playing, “Jiyong is good though. What about Yoona?”

“He is? Hmmm, I haven’t really seen Yoona play this so I am not sure about her. I hope she at this,” he replied. 

Hyun Joong walked ahead of Chaerin and slid open the sliding door leading to the darts room. Chaerin paused before going in and whispered to him, “I really hate to lose, so let’s win this okay?”

“Ah, that’s the spirit,” Hyun Joong said all pumped up. He raised his hand up for a high-five and was once again rewarded with another infectious smile from her. 

“Hwaiting!” she said giving him a high five and a smile before going in ahead of him. 

~ * ~

They decided on who would be first by doing it the traditionally time-honored way: rock-paper-scissors, which Jiyong fairly won. The men did a little warm-up while Chaerin did some stretching of her arms and shoulders. Yoona got the server to give them a pen and couple of papers for the scores. When they were all ready and had the things they needed, the two teams went to their own places and left the marker clear for the first player to go up. The rotation of the players was going to be Yoona starting, followed by Jiyong, then Chaerin and Hyun Joong. 

“Let the game begin,” Hyun Joong playfully announced and nodded to Yoona to start. They were going to play a game they devised on their own called 14-20. The goal was to get all numbers from 14 to 20 closed, first one to close all houses, including hitting the bulls-eye wins. 

Giving Jiyong a quick peck, Yoona went to the marker and aimed her first dart trying to at least hit the number 20, the easiest target to choose seeing it was located at the very top-center of the board. As soon as she released the dart Jiyong groaned and realized how hard this game would turn out to be for him since Yoona threw the dart like any 8-year old would, everywhere but the dart board.

Yoona laughed at her feeble attempts. 

Jiyong stepped in after a disastrous first try from Yoona. He missed one but was fortunately able to hit one point for each of the numbers 14 and 19. Yoona clapped with glee and cheered Jiyong who was eyeing Chaerin curiously as she stood to prepare for her turn.

Chaerin took the darts feeling the tip of it with her fingers as she contemplated the numbers she wanted to hit. She raised her arm but was bothered by the way the thin overcoat affected the way she stretched her arm. She stopped midway and nonchalantly took off her jacket revealing a perfect S-line encased in a casual looking layered racer-back and tank top. She carefully hung her jacket on her seat and then went back to the marker to take her aim unaware of the instant effect she just made on the genetically and 100% heteroual male adults in the room. The two men both gaped at her form, jaws hanging open and quickly shutting, and inconspicuously scampered to cover their unusual reaction by trying to absently fix something within their reach. The temperature in the room just suddenly got warmer. 

~ * ~

Teddy was walking towards the main bar when he noticed a familiar face, troubled and ill-at-ease, coming out of the darts room. He called out, “Jiyong, what’s up!”

“Hyung! I didn’t know you come to this place,” Jiyong said in greeting trying to keep up with Teddy amidst the sea of bodies jostling in the dance floor.

Teddy smirked and said, “How would you, you’ve never been to this place till today. So why are you here? And who’s the hot chick with you?”

“Hyung, that’s my girlfriend, Yoona,” he said with half a smirk.

“Yoona I recognize, she’s an actress right? I meant the other one, the one with the hair tied up, and wearing that tank top,” Teddy spoke eyeing the woman from where they were standing and watched her release the first dart on her hand. 

Jiyong’s eyes narrowed and he hissed one more time before he tightly spoke, “The HOT CHICK you are gawking at is Chaerin. Hyung, she is Chaerin, remember that.”

Teddy stopped halfway from bringing another bottle to his lips. “You’re kidding me! Chaerin, like Professor Lee Chaerin? Chaerin with the lunch bag at the studio, Chaerin, THAT Chaerin?” He turned his eyes back at Chaerin and appreciatively smiled, “Who would have thought she could be this smoldering!”

Jiyong followed Teddy’s gaze and saw Chae rin ready herself for the second dart. She was angled in a way that highly emphasized her profile, exposing her smooth neck and shoulders and the gleam of vanilla-white skin as her toned arm slowly raised to aim and release the dart. His eyes went back to look at Teddy again who was still blatantly staring at Chaerin with a strange glint in his eyes. Jiyong blocked Teddy’s line of sight, the most that he could, that is, since Teddy was a lot taller than him. 

“Hyung,” he called the attention of the older guy, “I don’t like the way your eyes are moving right now and the way you are smirking. It’s very awkward to see you look at Chaerin like this.”

Teddy looked at him and gave him a mysterious smile, “Wow, for someone who claims Yoona as his girlfriend, you actually act more like Chaerin’s your girlfriend. What’s the real deal, Jiyong, aren’t you just the bestfriend?”

Jiyong’s face registered an emotion that was something entirely new to him. He didn’t know he felt it at that time or that it was evidently seen on his face but Teddy saw it and Teddy having more years of life’s experience on his back than Jiyong recognized it for what it was. 

“Chill, Jiyong. I just happen to appreciate beauty when I see one. If you need help, you know where to find me. See yah later,” Teddy gave him a small salute with the beer bottle he was holding and went to mingle with his own crowd leaving Jiyong behind. 

~ * ~

Jiyong went back in to the darts room and saw their score trailing behind the other pair who treated the game like a championship round broadcasted on ESPN. Yoona really at this game and since she didn’t even bother to make an effort to release a decent shot it was left to Jiyong to catch on closing each number they were supposed to hit. The “a little bit” that Chaerin knew was actually quite more than what Hyun Joong expected and as partners they played with focus and precision that could safely pass as decently professional. 

“Wow, I didn’t know you could play this well. Do you grade your students like this? Paste their names on the board and say, if I hit the bulls eye this student gets an A, if not he gets a B,” Hyun Joong asked her teasingly.

“Of course not, what do you think of me?” she laughingly said. Then she leaned in closer to him, which made him in his breath with her close proximity, and told him like she was letting him on a secret, “What I do is paste pictures of people who pissed me off and vent.” The small confession made Hyun Joong burst in laughter, both in relief and the way she seemed to contradict the notion of a boring, dawdy professor. He wasn’t sure what it was about her that made him gravitate to her. He was not sure if it was the air of aloofness she may be seen to exude at first or the warmth she gave out as he inched the gap closer. Whatever it was he was willing to find out for himself.

Needless to say, after an hour and a half and five rounds of darts, Chaerin and Hyun Joong won the match 5-0 that night much to the disappointment of Jiyong. After the game, they all went back to their table to continue drinking and talking. Chaerin asked to be excused for a moment as she went to the restroom and Jiyong walked off to see Teddy who once more waved him over. The two of them alone, Yoona took no airs to plainly ask Hyun Joong, “So, what do you think of her?”

Hyun Joong smiled, “I like her; she’s cool and pure at the same time. Can’t hold her beer but that’s okay because I like the way her eyes light up especially when she smiles. Like it makes me feel I’d do anything to see her smile at me like that again and again. She’s also a hell of a dart player so I know we’d always win.”

Yoona grinned, “Do you want to see her again?”

Hyun Joong replied, “I want to and I would like to.”

Yoona sternly warned him, “Oppa, Jiyong-oppa is my boyfriend, Chaerin is Jiyong’s best friend, so that makes Chaerin my defacto best friend. Besides, she seems like a really nice girl and I kind of like her. Am just saying, do not mess with her!”

Hyun Joong looked at Yoona and seriously said, “Chaerin is not someone you mess with, Yoona. In the short time I got to talk to her, I know she’s not that kind of girl. I wouldn’t stay here that long if all I really want is to mess with her.” He hurtfully added, “Get real, I could get anyone I want out there if that is all I wanted. Why do you think that way of me?”

She soothed his hurting pride, coaxed him with a smile and nodded her head. “Araso, I am just making sure we completely understand each other.”

~*~

Sorry for the late and short update. Please, please, let this author-nim here know what you readers think. :-)