dancing with a stranger

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shuhua closed her laptop and sighed. 

"we. are. finally. done" shuhua put her head on the table. jaerim did the same. "i didn't expect this submission to be so heavy gosh but we are DONE" she cheered. the two girls stayed back on campus to submit their work which was just minutes before the 2359 deadline.

"shall we leave? this place is creepy at night. plus i think we are the only ones left.." shuhua looked around, only to realise that the library that they were in was almost completely dark. the usual scene of students studying, rushing their work and browsing through the aisles were replaced with dark serenity and white noise. 

jaerim agreed and the two packed their things and made their way out. they decided to walk the longer route to see their campus at night. they rarely stayed this late and wanted to see how different the place looked once the sun has gone.

"for once the hallways aren't flooded by couples" shuhua made an exasperated face which earned her a smack from her friend. jaerim agreed, it was calming and she felt like she could think.

"how did that date with your assignment partner go?" shuhua teased. 

"firstly, it wasn't a date. secondly, it went alright. we somewhat have an idea of what we want to do for the dance and the storyline. something along the lines of passion. what about for yours?" jaerim asked back. 

"my dance partner and i decided on doing something youth related. like expressing one's youth. we came up with it pretty fast and the guy is already choreographing for it" shuhua shrugged. jaerim was amazed at how well her friend's assignment was going. they seem to be way ahead of her and hyunjin which made he worry a little for her grades.

the sound of a ball hitting the fence broke her thoughts and she looked over to the school field. "shouldn't the place be empty?" jaerim asked and the two walked over curiously. 

to both their surprise, they saw hyunjin and seungmin running around the field. it was the very first time jaerim saw hyunjin laughing like that. yeah, sure she did see him smile from time to time when he spoke to jeongin but she has never seen him so full of joy. there was always this looming shroud of unhappiness that seem to follow the boy. 

he was actually beautiful. she did acknowledge that he was good-looking but he never really appeared in her eyes that way. until she saw the sight before her. hyunjin was beautiful. she shook herself from her thoughts and looked over to shuhua which seemed to have the exact same reaction as her. 

"what are you looking at" jaerim frowned. 

"nothing" shuhua seemed flustered. 

"jaerim!" a voice pulled both of their attentions. it was seungmin, and he was already running to the both of them. hyunjin walked slowly behind him. 

"what are you doing here this late?" jaerim questioned noting how sweaty the boy was. 

"we just finished rushing work and figured playing soccer was a good stress reliever. hyunjin and i always do this after a stressful week. want to join?" seungmin invited them but jaerim politely declined. she was definitely not the sporty kind, neither was shuhua. 

"hey" hyunjin finally caught up with them. 

"hi. oh boys this is shuhua, shuhua this is seungmin and this is hyunjin" jaerim almost forgetting the existence of her friend beside her. shuhua shyly bowed a little and jaerim was baffled. there was no way that was her loud friend from minutes ago. 

the three exchanged greetings. "have the both of you eaten?" seungmin asked while they walked towards the boys' belongings. jaerim shook her head. 

"shall we order in some food? i know a great place that do deliveries this late!" shuhua suggested and seungmin and jaerim's eyes instantly lit up. total foodies. 

"eating this late will only make you gain weight" hyunjin deadpanned, seemingly ready to leave the school's premises. 

"3 against 4. we win. you are staying. its mukbang time" seungming said excitedly and plopped back down on the synthetic grass. the two girls followed suit while hyunjin sighed. "after eating we are immediately going home" hyunjin spoke. 

"its a friday, relax" jaerim teased back.

while waiting for the food to arrive, the 4 talked about everything and anything. things like high school days, their favourite food to eat on campus, professors they hated, classes they took. it was mainly seungmin and shuhua talking. jaerim was pleasantly surprised. shuhua seemed 'shy' at first but she completely warmed up after the conversation began. she made a mental note to ask her about it once it was just them.

amidst all the eating, talking and joking, jaerim noticed that hyunjin was just observing, rather than joining in the conversation. the scene of him laughing previously suddenly felt like a distant memory and she couldn't help but steal glances at the boy to see if he would laugh like that again. 

"so how did you and shuhua become friends?" seungming took a big mouthful of his food. 

"jaerim was all over me-"

"i was most definitely not" jaerim cut in. 

"joking. it was freshmen orientation and we were paired up for some game where we had to run with three legs? god bless whoever came up with that game because we completely made a fool of ourselves. but after that history was made and here we are" shuhua made a dramatic hand gesture while seungmin clapped his hands. 

jaerim and shuhua were incredibly close. no one would believe them when they say they have only known each other for less than a year. platonic soulmates really do exist. 

"what about you and hyunjin?" shuhua asked the question back. 

"oh we take it way back don't we bro" seungmin looked over at hyunjin and smiled one of the happiest most widest smile jaerim has ever seen him done. 

"we went to the same kindergarten and by fate or by luck we ended up in the same middle school. and then we went over to the same high school, and then the same university. must be fate" seungmin looked so proud of how long they have been friends for. 

"that's amazing, you delt with hyunjin for more than a decade. i personally could never" jaerim joked, putting a hand over her forehead which made the group laugh, expect for hyunjin of course. 

"of course! we're basically brothers at this point. i've probably seen every version of hyunjin there is" seungmin spoke proudly once more while hyunjin cringed at the statement. yep, platonic soulmates were truly a thing. 

jaerim envied seungmin. seeing every side of hyunjin, that must've been nice. it probably meant he saw hyunjin's laugh multiple times. she thought to herself if she would ever be able to see hyunjin in that state again before their time as partners for their assignment runs out. she looked over at hyunjin, only to see him already looking at her. the two hurriedly looked away awkwardly. 

the 4 finished up their supper meals and cleaned the area before bidding each other farewell for the night. before leaving, seungmin made a groupchat for them, emphasizing that they should go out as a group sometime in the future. 

once the boys were out of sight, jaerim remembered the question she wanted to ask shuhua. 

"what was with that 'shyness'? you were 100% blushing just now" jaerim raised an eyebrow. 

"was it that obvious? was my face THAT red?" shuhua touched her cheeks. 

"i'm pretty sure only i noticed it since i'm familiar with your usual loudness." jaerim rolled her eyes. 

"oh my gosh you cannot and absolutely will not tell this to anyone" shuhua held her pinky out, signalling for jaerim to do the same. jaerim sighed and pinky-promised her. 

"seungmin is so incredibly cute? like what was that? he is insane he is a godsent" shuhua fangirled out loud and looked up dreamily. jaerim burst out laughing. she did not know what she was expecting but that was not it. perhaps she was just happy shuhua found a liking in seungmin, and not hyunjin. 

"that was so random" jaerim held her stomach, laughing. 

"stop it! a girl can crush. im at that ripe age of finding a boyfriend" shuhua said dramatically once more. 

the two girls continued on laughing and joking around, not a care in the world. yup, platonic soulmates indeed.