Confession... And Marriage
As the night wore on, the reunion grew warmer, looser. Yeonju sat clustered with the girls she'd always been close to, chatting and laughing, every so often glancing around the room. Looking for me, I was fairly sure — though she wasn't going to spot me easily, tucked into a dark corner with my back to the crowd.
"Guys, can we just get out of here? Staying any longer is pointless. Let's do a second round ourselves. I know an older guy who runs a karaoke bar — the hostesses there are actually decent. If I go with you, he'll cut us a deal. What do you think?"
"Oh, hell yes. The girls here are all going to end up hanging off the popular guys anyway. I'm in."
My friends were drunk enough to want women, and they weren't going to find them here. Plenty of female classmates had shown up, but they were either huddled in their own groups or orbiting Minyong and the other guys who'd been popular since high school. My friends would rather pay for company than sit around being ignored.
The girls who worked those bars didn't have the luxury of being picky. They'd do whatever it took to keep the customers happy. For these guys, that was probably the better deal.
But I couldn't leave. Tonight I had to confess to Yeonju. No matter what.
"Hold up. Just wait. The vibe's about to change. We've still got a shot."
I stopped my friends as they started to stand. Midnight was coming, and I had every intention of owning this room once it did.
"What are you talking about? The vibe's going to change?"
"Didn't you hear? After midnight this place turns into a club. All the girls will come out onto the floor. Read the room and grind a little if you want — it's a club, nobody's going to care. We did the same thing at our graduation party."
That seemed to land.
"Heh. In that case, maybe I'll take a run at Ji-eun."
"Then I'm going for Suyeon. I don't even care if she shuts me down — I just want to rub my dick against that ass once. Fuck."
"Fine, then I'm going after Yeonju. Come on, she's obviously the queen tonight."
"Hahaha, don't even try, man. Haven't you seen Minyong circling her all night? That bastard's clearly after her too. You think Yeonju's going to give a loser like you a second look?"
"Fuck you. Did you have to say it out loud?"
Our table dissolved into laughter again. My friends were ordinary guys with nothing special going for them, but they were a cheerful bunch, each of them happily counting chickens that hadn't hatched. One of them talking about going after Yeonju was almost cute. As long as I was here, he didn't have a chance in hell. And from the looks of it, Minyong was just hovering around her without actually getting anywhere. Yeonju didn't seem interested in him at all.
And then... midnight arrived.
The quiet classical music cut out. A heavy, chest-thumping hip-hop beat slammed through the speakers and shook the floor.
"Alright, everyone! It's time! Everybody on your feet!"
Seonghun, the owner of the bar, had taken the mic as DJ. Everyone who'd been sitting stood up.
"This is it, people! The real party starts NOW! Everybody to the center of the floor — let's burn this stage down with our youth tonight! Let's paaaarty~~~~!!"
Seonghun's delivery was a little cheesy, but he was doing a decent DJ impression, herding people onto the floor. The ones who actually liked to party started swaying, warming up.
Suyeon was the first to burst into the middle, shaking her body with abandon, and most of the other girls followed her onto the stage. Among the guys, Minyong was first to wedge himself in among them, and the hangers-on who'd been trailing him all night slipped into the crowd right behind him.
Within minutes, the refined modern bar had fully transformed into a club, a furnace of young heat. And just as I'd expected, Yeonju — tonight's undisputed queen — was surrounded by guys in no time. Minyong and the rest of them whooped and cheered at every sensual roll of her hips, and Yeonju, in her element, took over the floor with dance skills that put everyone else to shame.
Suyeon, who'd been the one to heat the stage up in the first place, shot Yeonju a look of pure irritation when she realized she'd been completely upstaged. She gathered some of the other girls and peeled off to dance in their own little group.
"Alright. Shall we?"
I stood up first. My friends stared at me like I'd lost my mind.
"Taemin... you're actually going out there?"
"Do you even know how to dance? Just stay put. Don't embarrass yourself."
A minute ago they'd been ready to leave. Now they were trying to hold me back. Had they always been this timid? Had they not changed at all?
"How long are you assholes going to squat in the corner? Hey — you said you were going after Ji-eun. And you — you wanted to grind on Suyeon's ass, didn't you? You said you didn't even care if she turned you down. This is your chance. The girls peeled off by themselves. We slide in there now, it all happens naturally. Right?"
They wavered.
"W-well... maybe...?"
The one who'd claimed Ji-eun stood up first. I hauled the rest of them to their feet, and they rose with the reluctant energy of people pretending they were being forced.
"Just follow me."
I walked toward the stage like I owned it. My friends shuffled after me.
The speakers hit me in the chest — a deep, magnificent pulse. I'd been practicing club dance for tonight, and I was ready to show every bit of it.
Hip-hop poured from the speakers. I started slow, letting the beat settle into my feet, then swinging my upper body into the groove. My friends watched me move like it was the most natural thing in the world, their faces saying, What the hell did this guy take? But when I gestured for them to follow and walked them through the steps, they started copying me, little by little.
Club dancing isn't that hard if you can just lock into a regular groove with the music. That's already past beginner level. Before long, the guys who'd been moving like they had sticks up their asses were actually starting to look decent, and the girls nearby began drifting toward us, one by one.
Soon my friends and the girls were mixing, dancing together like they'd been doing it all night. But for me, this was only the opening act. Now I had to go beyond the basics — big, sharp, disciplined movement that would take the whole room.
A few minutes later.
"Kyaaaaah~~~ Oppa~~~!!!"
I unleashed a run of crisp, flashy footwork, and before I knew it the girls had formed a ring around me. Every time I hit a deep, rolling waist wave, the screams were loud enough to punch holes in the walls.
Once the energy started orbiting me, Suyeon pushed her way to the front and tried to lock into a couple dance.
Every eye in the room was on me now. Yeonju had to be watching. So I matched Suyeon on purpose — pressed my hips hard against her ass and rolled my waist, dragged my palm in a slow, sticky line from her chest down to her pelvis.
The room went nuclear. When the track ended, Seonghun grabbed the mic again.
"Friends! Tonight is only getting hotter! And I've got a little surprise prepared! The Dance King and Dance Queen of the night each get a one-night stay in a five-star hotel suite~~!! Now — let's paaaarty~~~~!!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!"
The unexpected prize sent the whole place up in a roar. Music slammed back in — this time a fast electronic EDM track blasting through the speakers like it wanted to tear them apart.
The floor burned even hotter than before, a full-blown frenzy. My friends had each found a partner and were dancing harder than they had all night. And then Suyeon, as if it were her God-given right, stepped in front of me again and draped an arm over my shoulder.
But the partner I was spending tonight with was only ever going to be one person.
I slowly lifted Suyeon's arm off my shoulder and turned toward Yeonju. We were only a few meters apart, but a dozen classmates stood between us. The moment I turned, though, Yeonju was already looking at me. And as I started walking toward her, she pushed past Minyong and came to meet me.
We closed the distance and, as if it had been choreographed, met dead center on the stage.
"You've... changed a lot."
Yeonju looked at me with that tart, coy expression of hers. I didn't care. I drew her gently into my arms and whispered against her ear.
"You're my pussy..."
The confession she'd taught me, years ago. I had never forgotten those words. I gave them back to her exactly the way she'd wanted to hear them.
She pinched my side — hard, the same vicious pinch as always. But I didn't oversell it this time. I just held her and took it.
When I finally let go, she was still giving me that tart look. And then she broke into a wide, brilliant smile. As if she'd known all along that I was going to confess.