“Hi, Minji. Sorry to message you late, but I got sick and can’t attend practice. I’m really sorry. I asked someone I know if they would step in for me, and they said they could. Sorry again 👏🏼.”
Minji reads the message, turns off the phone, and heads to sleep.
———-
You wake up early in the morning and get ready for a dance session at a local studio. Your friend messaged you early yesterday and begged you to fill in for her since she’s got sick with the flu. You tried to decline, but she said that she’d owe you a huge favor whenever you’d want and hesitantly agreed.
Minji is at the dance studio and nervously awaits her substitute dance partner’s arrival. She looked towards the door every time it opened.
“Alright, everyone, gather up. Most of you are here early and have a few minutes before we start. If you could all pair up and sit somewhere together,” says the dance instructor.
You walk towards the door and open it in a rush, causing everyone to turn towards your direction. “Sorry, I’m late. I’m the one that messaged earlier.”
The instructor walks towards you and looks at your phone. “Come on, you’ll meet your partner for today.” You follow the instructor toward the end of the room and see her talking to a girl in training pants and a white t-shirt.
“This is the partner you’re going to have for today,” she points at you. “And this is Kim Minji, the girl you’ll dance with today. ”
You approach her and introduce yourself, “I’ll be your partner today. I really hope we get along.”
Minji shakes your hand and says shyly, “Nice to… to meet you. Please take care of me.” You find her English quite cute and smile at her.
“Alright, everyone, quiet down. Since everyone is here, we will do some stretches before we start. After that, I will show you what we will do for today.”
The class stretches for about five minutes before moving to the main event. “Good job everyone. Now that we are warmed up, I will show you the dance we will practice today. She calls her partner, “Today we’ll dance to some Latin music, Salsa.” Everyone looks around, surprised, but the instructor mentions the importance of learning dances outside someone’s comfort.
Minji watches as the instructor and her partner get in position and dance. She can’t help but notice the amount of touching there is and gets a bit shy with having someone she just met have their hand around her waist.
She looks at you and gives you a nervous smile, to which you return. You can’t help but find her a bit cute of her nervousness, but you obviously can’t tell her that.
After the dance, the instructor asked the whole room to stand up before their partners. “Alright, pick amongst yourselves who is going to be the leader in the group since you’ll be in charge of your partner.”
You stand in front of Minji, and she says, “I’ve never danced to this type of music before; I’m kind of nervous.”
“I’ve danced it once when I was younger but don’t remember how exactly it went. My friends and I were just messing around. If you want you, I can take the lead.”
“I’d like that,” says Minji with a relieved expression.
The instructor slowly demonstrates the moves the “leader” would need to do. You see the instructor grab the person’s hand and place the other hand on their waist. You do the same and grab Minji’s hand, which startles her, “eh.”
“Sorry, I was just copying what she was doing.”
“Ohh… okay, I was just a bit surprised.”
“Haha. Is it okay if…” Minji cuts you short and nods before you finish your sentence.
“Yeah, I don’t mind.”
She watches you as you interlock your hands with hers and place your hands on her hip. She can’t help but feel her heart begin to race. It’s her first time holding hands with someone of the opposite gender. She feels your firm but caring grip on her, making her a bit more nervous.
The instructor shows the class the moves and asks for everyone to copy them. You slowly move around the studio, leading Minji around. You can’t help but stare at her cute but shy expression. Minji catches your eye and turns red. She accidentally takes a wrong step and loses her balance, which makes her slip.
Unfortunately, you catch her by getting a firmer grip on her waist. “Are you okay?”
She freezes up and turns completely red, “you okay, Minji?” Her heart beats faster and faster as she is confused by your embrace. You help her get back up and try to catch up to the instructor.
“Alright, good job everyone. Let’s start over.” The two of you start the dance all over again.
After dancing for what feels like an hour, the instructor ends the class. “Good job, people! You all did better than I thought, especially the unexpected couple,” she said as she looked at Minji and you.
You see Minji blush when the instructor calls the two of you a couple. “You look cute when you blush.”
“Ehh,” says Minji as she turns even more red. Her mind is all over the place, trying to come up with a response, “I… thank you.”
“Actually… you seem pretty chill. Would you like to hang out sometime?”
Her mind immediately thinks of the word, date. A date with a boy. “Does… does right now work?”
“Yeah, I’m free right now.”
“Okay, can you wait for me outside? I’ll be out in a bit; I just need to do something.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you outside then.” You turn around to leave. She grabs your hand midway, “Wait, let me get your number first.”
“Sure,” she says, and she takes out her phone. You put in your number, “say cheese,” as you catch her off guard, take an unexpected selfie with her, and put it as her contact picture. You then text yourself and save her number on yours, put “Minji <3” and show it to her.
Minji chokes up as she walks towards the back of the studio. You gather your belongings and wait for her outside.
You pull out your phone and text her, “I’m outside,” and take a picture of the studio with a random dog in the background. You only need to wait a couple of minutes for Minji to come out of the studio.
“Thanks for waiting for me. Where do you want to go?”
“I’m down for some ice cream. It’s been a while since I had some.”
“Omg… I love ice cream. Let’s go.”
The two of you begin to walk toward a popular cream shop. Minji asks, “Okay, choose between the two, mint or no mint?”
“I love me some mint chocolate.” She stops and says, “Really?”
“Haha, no, I’m just kidding.”
“Haha, you really had me there. I actually thought you liked mint.”
“You don’t like it?”
“No, it tastes like toothpaste. It’s not my thing. My choices are between chocolate for ice cream and mango for gelato.”
“Omg, I love chocolate, and you’re right, mint tastes like toothpaste. We should definitely get chocolate.”
The two of you continue to walk to the ice cream place and talk over the practice. When you arrive, you open the door for Minji and walk towards the counter. “Good afternoon; how may I help you.”
“Hmm, we could like one chocolate and own mint for her,” as you point at Minji. “Wait… I…” Minji doesn’t finish her comment when you say, “Just kidding, two chocolates, please.”
“Haha, your boyfriend is funny,” says the attendant.
Minji gets embarrassed and says, “he’s not my boyfriend.”
“Not yet,” you reply. The attendant laughs and gives you a thumbs-up. He serves your order and takes it to the outside seating area.
“Here’s your mint chocolate,” you say as you hand Minji her ice cream.
“Haha, stop.”
“Just kidding, it’s just regular chocolate.”
“Okay, don’t be a meany,” she pouts.
“Cute.”
“What?”
“Oh… nothing.”
“Anyways, thank you for being my partner today.”
“No problem. I think I owe your ex-partner a thanks.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to thank them for introducing me to you.”
Minji can’t help but blush again and says, “You’re really something else, huh.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you flirt with all the girls like that.”
“Oh, no, just the ones I like.”
She chokes on her ice cream as she sees your genuine smile. “Oh really?”
“Yeah.”
“But we just met.”
“Don’t think that matters.”
“But I don’t know anything about you.”
“Ask away; I’ll answer any of your questions.”
Minji hesitates at first as she tries to think of a question. “Are you from around here?”
“You mean, if I live around the area?”
“Yeah.”
“I live within a fifteen-minute walk from here.”
“Do you go to school?”
“Yeah, I go to uni here.”
“Uni? You’re older?”
“No, just skipped a few grades a few years back.”
“What are you studying?”
“Hmm… I like games, so I decided on game systems and engineering.”
“Ohh, what do your parents think?”
“They said that as long as I like it then they are fine with it.”
“Oh, your parents seen pretty lenient.”
“You could say that.”
“Do you live with them?”
“Oh no, they are back in the States.”
“Then you live alone?”
“Yes, I have an apartment.”
“You must bring a lot of friends over,” says Minji as she tries to insinuate something.
“Just to play video games. Anyway, what about you?
“What do you want to know?”
“Why are you learning how to dance salsa?”
“Haha, it’s not like I wanted to. It was just the instructor that chose it for this month’s dance. We do a lot of different genres of dancing.”
“Oh, so are you a dancer?”
“Hmm, sort of. I dance, sing, and perform.”
“Thank seems like fun.”
“At times, my teammates and I are preparing for a stage in a few months. So we need to practice really well.”
“That sounds cool. Hopefully, it goes great.”
“Thanks, I hope it goes well too.”
“What’s the name of the group?”
“Umm, New Jeans. The name is kind of weird, isn’t it.”
“No, I like it, sounds catchy.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, for sure, you’ll get a lot of attention.”
The two of you continue to enjoy our ice cream and engage in small talk. You both realize you have things in common, which surprises you both.
After finishing your ice cream, she asks you, “Are you planning on coming back for another class?”
“Hmm… I don’t know. Maybe,” as you try to tease her.
“You should, you’re a good dancer.”
“If you ask me personally, I’ll be willing to go.”
“Haha, I was just saying. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“You’re right. But I might want to go since I met someone I might like.”
Her ears perk up, “Oh really?”
“Yeah, they caught my attention at first sight. I really want to get to know them better.”
“Then you should come, and you can talk to them.”
“Hmm, but I don’t just want to see them there. I want to go on a date with them,” as you look at her.
“Why are you looking at me for?”
“Because you’re pretty.”
“Ehh?”
“I said you’re pretty.”
“Eh?” In a cute voice.
“I like you.”
“You… you like me?”
“How about going on a date?”
Minji instinctively pulls out her phone and says, “I’m running late; I need to meet up with my group mates for practice.”
“Can I walk you there?”
“Yeah…”
The two of you walk alongside each other. Minji’s heart is racing a thousand miles a minute with the idea of a boy walking with her to practice. She looks at you and tries to hide her smile. You walk closer to her, where your fingers rub against each other.
Minji’s small finger wraps around your own, making you skip a beat as well. You take a leap and interlock your hands with hers. She doesn’t reject your actions and instead seems comfortable with you.
You continue to walk on the sidewalk until she stops, “We’re here.” You look up and see a huge building, “it’s huge.”
She lets go of your hand and races with the steps to return and say, “Thank you,” and gives you a kiss on the cheek.
You hold your hand against your cheek and see her enter the building and turn around once more to wave goodbye.
You walk back towards your apartment and feel a sudden vibration in your pocket. You pull out your phone and see a message from Miji.
“Thank you for the ice cream. It was delicious.
Also, I would love to go on a date with you. 🐻
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