Last Flight Home

010: Monaco

"I can't dance! David Kim is out to make a fool out of me!" Daehyun kept yelling as they stood stark still in the middle of the dance floor, with all eyes on them.

Alex could feel Daehyun's anxiety coursing through his veins. He wanted to calm Daehyun down so that the antsy fellow would stop shouting and giving him a headache, but he didn't want to draw unnecessary attention from Eunri either, so he chose to keep his mouth shut.

"Daehyun, what are we going to do?" Eunri whispered quietly to him as she looked at the crowd. Everyone was watching them expectantly. The live band had started playing, a melodic violin sequence drifting into the air.

Alex used his left hand to take her right, and slipped his right hand around her waist. He winked at her and grinned, saying, "It's time to put them dancing shoes on."

Daehyun might not have been much of a dancer, but he was. And it was all thanks to Eunri too.

Two years ago, Eunri had been inspired by the reality TV show "So You Think You Can Dance", and Alex ended up being dragged along for ballroom dancing lessons against his will. He had been so reluctant at first, but by the end of the entire course, he was more into ballroom dancing than Eunri was. He had even gotten so proficient at the Viennese waltz that their dance instructor had thought of entering them into a ballroom dancing competition. Eunri had politely declined, despite Alex's bubbling enthusiasm.

"It's time to put them dancing shoes on," he always said, right before the music started, and instinct had let the words slip out of his mouth again.

He caught a flicker of recognition—and surprise—in Eunri's eyes when she heard what he said, so it was just as well that the music went into full swing at the right moment.

Alex took the first step, leading Eunri in a familiar waltz round the dance floor. He led, and she followed. Every step felt familiar, even the feeling of her waist beneath his hand felt familiar as they moved together with the rhythm of the music. For that moment, the entire world faded away, and it was just the two of them dancing under the moonlight.

Alex and Eunri—like it had always been.

#

Daehyun was amazed. Amazed at the fact that he hadn't yet tripped over his own left foot. He could feel his own body sliding smoothly across the dance floor, and the awestruck expressions of his old classmates didn't go unnoticed.

"You didn't tell me you could dance like that!" he remarked, impressed at Alex's dancing abilities. After those embarrassing moves that he had seen Alex execute in the hotel room, he had assumed that Alex had no dancing genes just like him. It was a relief that he was wrong.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spied David watching them with a look of complete disbelief etched onto his face and smug satisfaction sank in.

Alex didn't reply. He couldn't, and Daehyun didn't think he would anyway, not when he was so mesmerised by Eunri.

Alex was looking straight into Eunri's eyes—and that meant that Daehyun was too. They were a rich hazel brown, and now they were sparkling under the fairy lights. He thought for a minute that her eyes looked slightly watery, but perhaps it was just the lighting that was playing tricks with him.

He watched as she followed his footsteps in perfect synchrony, moving across the dance floor with a dynamic fluidity that spoke volumes of the connection that once existed between Alex and her.

They must have been perfect for one another, but somehow, it all fell apart in the end.

Alex was lucky to have met a girl like Eunri. If only he had met a girl like Eunri instead of Jieun, then he probably wouldn't have ever let her go.