The New Girl | 𝘈𝘛𝘌𝘌𝘡

Quite the Impression

"You're late." Mingi raises an eyebrow at me as I walk into the studio. "I didn't think I'd be the one to say that."

"Sorry," I say between staggering breaths. I'd almost forgotten that Mingi and I had practice until about five minutes before, so I had to race across campus to get here on time.

"I'll have to tell Seonghwa not to keep you for so long when we have practice," he mutters.

Is he mad because he thinks I was with Seonghwa?

"I wasn't with him." Really, I was too lost in my reading for EJ's class on my way back from class that I forgot about the time.

Mingi gives me a doubtful look, but before I can question it, he's flipping through his phone as if nothing happened.

"Who's your favorite artist to dance to?" Mingi asks though he doesn't seem to be nearly as interested in this conversation as he is his phone.

"Halsey probably," I tell him.

He doesn't acknowledge my answer for a moment, but then he puts his phone back in his pocket and shrugs. "Without me."

"Excuse me?" I look back at him, waiting for him to decode his own statement.

"You're excused for not listening well." He smirks as I roll my eyes. "We'll dance to Halsey's song 'Without Me' for our evaluation."

"I don't get a say in what song we dance to?" I huff.

"You picked the artist, so I get to pick the song," he reasons.

"Fine," I sigh and pull my hair away from my face to put it into a ponytail, but Mingi grabs my wrist to stop me. "What?"

"Leave your hair down," he says softly.

It takes me a second to realize that he's now standing directly behind me, and I feel the heat radiating off of him. "Okay."

A second later, the intro of the song begins playing through the speakers and Mingi's demeanor completely changes. His face is soft, vulnerable even, and he moves effortlessly with the beat. I find my way to the floor and just watch as his body rolls and stops in perfect time with the music.

"I think the dance should be from your perspective," I blurt as the chorus comes to an end.

Mingi lifts his head and looks at me like I'm speaking in French. "What?"

"The dance," I clarify, "it would be cool for you to be the one coming from her perspective. It's cliché for the girl to be the one being taken advantage of."

Mingi considers this for a second before nodding. "I can definitely relate to it."

"You can?" I can't help but kind of feel bad for him if he's able to relate to such a heartbreaking song.

"I mean," he backtracks a little, "can't we all to some degree?"

"Sure..." I can tell from the redness in Mingi's face that there's more to it than that, but I can also tell that there's no way he's going to open up about it. "So you should start standing..."

ELLAJIN

I'm more than ready to get a drink by the time my last class is finished for the day, but I can't bring myself to drink alone.

Sunoh picks up his phone after two rings, much to my relief. "Hey Noona, what's up?"

"Wooyoung fucked that girl," I spit out.