A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Scholars' Gala

Jisoo happened to like formal dinners and fancy occasions, so she was actually looking forward to the gala even if she wasn't looking forward to spending time with Jinyoung. 

L'hotel Stella was a five-star establishment, a posh hotel with a 1920's art-deco concept. The ballroom had a dance floor and a live band. Several round tables were set with white lilies in the center. She wondered what exactly they were going to be doing, but Jinyoung was unresponsive for most of the evening.

Unlike Jisoo, who was texting her fake-boyfriend up 'til 3 in the morning making sure he knew the details of her carefully-laden plan for the Julie Kiyoko meeting, Jinyoung had no plan at all for the gala.

Jisoo had forgotten to ask him what version of the story they were sticking to: the one in her email, the one they'd improvised in the Embrace offices, or an entirely different one.

She didn't even know if she was supposed to be acting like his girlfriend or just some girl that he brought as his date. It was slightly annoying.

It occurred to Jisoo that she never really understood exactly why Jinyoung wanted her to come to this gala in the first place. In the three weeks since they'd agreed to this arrangement, she'd never thought to ask him. He didn't strike her as the type of person to really care about what other's thought. And, as he had been asking her for weeks now, she wondered why her in particular.

They were passing through a hall to get to the ballroom when Jisoo surreptitiously looked him up and down. His scruff from the night before was gone, so he was clean shaven. His tux was neatly tailored to his measurements and he kept his hair lightly tousled so as not to overdo the formality of his look. Objectively, Jinyoung was handsome. In exactly the bring-him-home-to-meet-the-parents, do-gooder-type way that Lisa had said described before, and even without visual confirmation, she knew that he had the biceps to woo any girl he wanted.

So... why her? Why the stuck-up, bitter former high school rival who hated him?

Mostly, they ended up wandering around the ballroom, occasionally greeting his professors and he would just introduce her as his date. Once, Jisoo excused herself to the dessert table to try some chocolate truffles that were set out on a platter and drank several glasses of punch. She was downing her fourth cup and was heading back to where Jinyoung was standing when she noticed him staring into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

Unlike some of the frat parties and clubs that Jisoo had been to before, the gala was a classy affair and the band was playing lively, classy swing music, and the people danced in pairs. Actually, it was kind of a romantic scene. It reminded her of something she might read about in an old-timey novel. Her eyes especially zeroed in on a good-looking couple near the center of the floor.

The girl had sleek black hair and was wearing a sleek black dress, but her smile was bright, and she was staring lovingly into the eyes of a lean, handsome boy in a black tux with brown hair. He was spinning her and she was laughing, her eyes were sparkling. Then he leaned forward and kissed her nose. Jisoo smiled at the heartwarming scene in front of her.

When she reached Jinyoung he was still staring into the dancing crowd.

"Do you want to dance?" Jisoo asked. She mentally slapped herself. She didn't mean did he want to dance with her, she meant to ask if he liked dancing in general, but she knew he would twist her words around. She braced herself to hear the saucy reply that she didn't doubt was coming.

But he was silent. In fact, he didn't seem to hear her at all.

Jisoo looked at Jinyoung with a puzzled expression.

"Hey!" Jisoo said, raising her voice until Jinyoung snapped out of focus and then turned to her.

"What?" he asked.