judge me once, love me twice | 2yeon

20 | dancing is meant to be fun

Nayeon walks around the makeshift ballroom, greeting other students in the school. Lately her mind has been a bit off, so she's been clearing it by interacting with others more.

Chaeyoung rushes up to Nayeon and tiptoes to whisper in her unnie's ear. "Who's serving the punch?"

The older girl looks around and sees Sana talking to Chan, and walks over to them, asking for Sana to be excused for a moment.

"Sana, can you serve the punch please? Yves isn't here yet." Sana nods and heads over to the table, where there's a bit of a queue for the drink.

Nayeon doesn't know why she's feeling so jittery today. Her nerves are acting up and all she does is glance everywhere in fear.

Sana notices this, but she has other pressing matters on her mind.

For starters, the girl who's just walked into the dance.

Oh my God. Nayeon's speechless as she sees Jeongyeon entering a in a white dress that shows off her shoulders and has a layer of lace to decorate. She looks beautiful.

Jeongyeon doesn't seem to notice Nayeon in the crowd, so she heads over to an empty seat near the corner of the hall.

Dahyun looks over at Nayeon, who is staring at Jeongyeon, and proceeds to go to the DJ booth.

After an awkward and stressful week, all Nayeon wants to do is be in Jeongyeon's embrace. But how can she when she knows it'll all be over soon? However, savouring the moment is all she can do right now.

"Hey."

Jeongyeon looks up and meets eyes with Nayeon, who is smiling at her. The black haired girl smiles back and moves the coats from the chair next to her, allowing Nayeon to sit.

"How are you?" Jeongyeon fumbles with her fingers. "You know, after the news?"

The girl in the red dress shrugs her shoulders. "Just taking it all in." She grits her teeth. "I really want you to stay, you know? All of us do."

Jeongyeon's heart has never been this warm in a long time. It feels so good to hear that people want her to be there.

The music suddenly changes from a fast-paced beat to a slow dance, and Jeongyeon stands up after a few minutes of mentally debating with herself

"What are you doing?" Nayeon asks her, looking at the girl's outstretched hand.

"Im Nayeon, would you give me the pleasure of dancing with you tonight?" She smiles, and Nayeon takes her hand.

"Yoo Jeongyeon, I thought you'd never ask."

*****

The dance is slow, but Nayeon's heart definitely isn't.

Being so close to the girl who she loves...it feels so good to be with her, as if she were protecting her. It was as if they had no other care in the world.

"Remember when you confessed to me?" Jeongyeon suddenly brings up, and Nayeon groans.

"What about it? I thought you didn't know about that sort of thing."

Jeongyeon nods. "I didn't. But I watched a few movies to learn."

Nayeon laughs at the odd attempt Jeongyeon made to learn more about this new world that she's been thrown in to.

"And I thought about it some more, I really did." Jeongyeon leans towards Nayeon's ear. "And I really like you too."

"But-" Nayeon wants to tell her that she knows that it wouldn't go well, but Jeongyeon stops her before she can.

"But I know it wouldn't work out." Jeongyeon puts it bluntly. Even though it hurts Nayeon, she agrees wholeheartedly. "I'll probably be leaving soon and be thrown into a world where I'll be the Queen. Well, the Queen of the gang industry anyways."

Nayeon chuckles.

Jeongyeon gives a soft smile, twirling Nayeon around. "Thank you for being here with me. For giving me these feelings that I had never been able to experience."

"Thank you for teaching me what it's like to be rejected." Nayeon watches as Jeongyeon pulls a frowning face. "I'm serious. I was way over my head before you came, thinking I had the whole world in my palms. All it took was one girl to change everything for me."

Nayeon leans into Jeongyeon's chest and sighs heavily. The younger girl wraps her arms around her neck and feels her waist in Nayeon's embrace.

"I think that you're my - what do they call it?" Jeongyeon thinks for a second. "Ah, right. My first love."

Nayeon doesn't talk much. She just allows herself to fit with Jeongyeon like a puzzle piece.

*****

Sana passes on the responsibility of the 'Punch Giver' to Yves, and makes her way to Mina and Momo.

"Mina, are you really gonna go through with it?"

Mina looks at Sana, and then Momo, then back at Sana again. "What other choice do I have? If I don't do it, I get killed."

"But if you do do it, Jeongyeon gets killed." Momo bites her lip. "It's a lose-lose situation, Minari."

Mina knows it's real bad.

Sana stares out at Jeongyeon and Nayeon, who are still slow-dancing to their third song, but she can't help but notice that Jeongyeon's eyes keep darting at the fire exit.

"Sana unnie," Tzuyu breaks Sana's thoughts, turning Sana away from the couple. "There's someone on the school phone for you." Sana nods her head, and turns to look back at Nayeon and Jeongyeon.

However, Jeongyeon's disappeared.

And Nayeon's walking back to the chairs.

Sana holds her hand out quickly. "Get the phone and tell them I'm coming. I just need to check something."

Tzuyu nods and walks away, and Sana looks back at Momo and Mina, who are still talking amongst themselves.

"Nayeon unnie." Sana rushes over to her. "Where's Jeongyeon?"

Nayeon sighs. "I don't know. She told me she had to go do something quickly, but I have no idea where she went. She told me she'd be back."

"And you believe her?"

"Why shouldn't I, Sana? If she says she'll be back then...she will, won't she?" Nayeon begins to rub her hands together, feeling goosebumps along her arm.

Sana has the gut feeling that something's gone extremely wrong.

"Dahyun-ah, we need to find Jeongyeon." Sana grabs Dahyun and drags her away from the DJ booth. "Mina's still here, meaning Mina didn't mean to do it tonight."

Dahyun raises her eyebrows. "Wait—don't tell me-"

"Yejun got to her first."

*****

"I'll be back, Nayeon."

Jeongyeon rushes out of the dance, spotting Yejun running up the stairs.

There are about six flights of stairs, and Jeongyeon's a bit tired after not having played sports for two months. Those sports were her only form of exercise, to be honest.

She throws herself onto the rooftop after a gruelling three minutes of dashing up, and she pants for air as she stands by the doorway.

"Well, well, well." Yejun smirks. "Welcome back to the clan, sister."

"W-w-what clan?" Jeongyeon tries her best to catch her breath.

He pulls out a knife from a hidden pocket in his tuxedo. "The Yoo Clan, of course.

The one where you're the leader, remember?"