❝Were You Born With Two Left Feet?❞
"I look kind of pretty?" Areum asked Joon, eyebrow lifted as they sat in the back of a taxi after leaving the dress store.
Joon smiled to himself as he noticed the trace of annoyance in her voice.
"Yeah," he replied nonchalantly, attempting to annoy her even more.
"Not pretty but kinda?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied, visibly noticing the change in her posture when he answered.
She turned herself towards the window, away from Joon, as she began to feel annoyed. Before she had heard him say that, she didn't even know that she cared what he thought about her. But she felt like he could have at least tried to be nice by making a better compliment even if he was lying.
She remained in the world of her thoughts as Joon continued to enjoy her reaction to his words, causing him to try thinking of ways that he could annoy her again.
When they got out of the taxi and started to walk towards the hotel, Joon noticed the familiar figure of a bellboy. He walked up to him, with Areum in tow, and patted him on the back. The bellboy turned around and immediately smiled at the two.
"Good evening sir, madam," he greeted them both.
"Good evening," they replied simultaneously.
Joon reached into his pocket and fished out his wallet. He took out some pesos which he had gotten earlier in the day and handed it to him. The bellboy looked at the money with gratitude before looking back up to Joon.
"Thank you very much sir," he beamed, taking Joon's hand in his and shaking it repeatedly. Joon couldn't help but to smile at him as he replied,
"You're welcome."
"My name is Marcos. If there is ever anything that you need, I'll be more than happy to help," he told Joon. Joon's smile widened as he nodded his head.
"I'll keep that in mind."
After their exchange, Joon and Areum entered the hotel and walked to the elevator. When they were inside, she pressed their floor number and they watched as the doors closed.
"That was very nice of you," she said when they felt the elevator moving.
"You think so?" Joon asked. She nodded her head and looked at him to see a faint smile on his lips.
"I didn't do it to be acknowledged or thanked. I just wanted to show my appreciation for what he did on our first night."
Hearing his answer made her think of some people she had known in the past. Whenever they did a good deed they wanted as many eyes as possible to be watching. And that always made her wonder, if a good deed was done only to be rewarded with acknowledgement, was it really a good deed?
She had been so deep in thought that she didn't notice as the ding of the elevator filled the small space while the door opened. Joon grabbed her arm gently and dragged her after him until they were outside the elevator.
"What were you so busy thinking about?" he asked but she just shook her head and followed him to their suite.
As soon as they entered, the sound of a phone ringing caught both of their attention. Joon pulled out his phone from his pocket but was surprised to see that it wasn't his. He turned to Areum just moments before she ran towards her suitcase. She removed her phone and looked down at the screen and froze.
It was her mother.
She chewed on her bottom lip as she contemplated on whether or not she should answer the call. She knew that as soon as her mother heard her voice, she wouldn't stop lecturing. And because of that, she refused to slide her finger across the screen to answer. Instead, she continued to look at it until the call stopped, the screen turning black before her eyes.
"Who was that?" Joon asked, walking closer to her. She hid her phone behind her body as she turned to face him.
"Nobody─" she felt the rest of her words get stuck in her throat as she turned to find her face just mere inches from Joon. She attempted to swallow but that only made her cough awkwardly into his face, causing him to pull away as he felt small particles of saliva on his face.
Joon did the best he could not to look disgusted by having her saliva on his face as he looked away, wiping it with his shirt. But at the same time, he couldn't get himself to stop laughing at how she had begun to cough just from being close to him.
"Are you okay?" he managed to ask as his laughter was subsiding. Areum looked at him with an expression which he couldn't decipher before she turned around to walk towards the washroom.
"Don't take too long to get ready, we need to leave soon!" he called after her as he felt the laughter returning.
---
It was a few hours later, since they had returned to their hotel room. And now, the two stood before the door of a dance studio where they were going to take salsa lessons. Areum looked at Joon uncertainly as he grabbed onto her arm and pulled her with him, already sensing her distaste.
However, in Areum's mind only thoughts about her mother circulated. She had been very particular about keeping her phone off to avoid getting a call from her but she couldn't stop beating herself up for leaving it on from the night before. And as she was dragged into the studio, she couldn't help but to wonder if her mother had figured out where she was just from that call.
It was possible─right?
Joon smiled at the man who walked to them when they entered, and he introduced himself.
"Hello, my name is Joon and I signed up for a class." The man immediately smiled as he turned his attention to Areum.
"You must be Jin," he said to her. At that moment, as she was pulled away from her thoughts, she looked at the man questionably.
"Jin?" she repeated the name but Joon interjected.
"This is Areum, Jin couldn't be here."
The man nodded his head with an understanding expression on his face before leading them to a part of the studio where other people had began practicing. After introducing Joon and Areum to the group, they began their lesson.
And at first, the two felt quite awkward in each other's arms since they had not learned the dance before nor had they ever been in that position together. But they were still able to follow along with the class and before long, it felt as if they had been dancing salsa together for ages.
And as they were dancing and enjoying their time together, Areum suddenly tripped on Joon's foot and began falling down. Luckily for her, Joon immediately reacted by reaching down to catch her and caught her just in time before she fell onto the floor. He sighed internally as he looked down at her while they were still in an awkward position, Areum in mid air as she was supported by his arm while he was bent over.
"Were you born with two left feet?" Joon asked her jokingly.
And even though Areum had heard his words, all she could focus on was the fact that his face was dangerously close to hers once again.
* *
Seoul, South Korea
Jimin had just left a restaurant where she had met a few of her closest friends when her phone slipped out of her hand. She muttered under her breath as she bent down to pick it up. However, as she went to pick it up, someone bumped into her, causing her hand to hit her phone further away from her. She stood up and looked at the person, feeling more than unhappy about what had just happened.
"Do you mind watching where you're going?" she asked the person as she watched her bend down to pick up her phone.
"Sorry," was all she got as her phone was handed back to her. She quietly observed the person before she walked away. With a nonchalant shrug, Jimin turned around to walk towards her car but before she could get far, she heard a very familiar laugh.
She turned around to find a laughing couple walking towards her, the man with his arm wrapped around the woman. The man whispered something into her ear which caused her to laugh uncontrollably before hitting him playfully.
"Oh stop it," she said. And as soon as she heard that voice, she was almost 100% sure that she knew the woman.
"Isn't that Jin?" she asked herself, surveying the woman as they got closer.
"But I thought she was on a trip with Joon."
ns 15.158.61.6da2
