𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 ━━ nishimura riki

chapter thirty-five.

If she were a random student from another school, Saeyoung would have shipped them.

Feeling a small tap on her shoulder, Saeyoung spun around to see Soul.  "Nervous?" he asked, but all she could do is nod.  "Calm down or else you'd end up messing the choreography." Soul joked trying to tease the girl.  "But hey, you don't have to worry about anything okay? You'll do fine and I know it."

On Soul's right hand appeared a small tiara comb. He gently placed it on top of Saeyoung's head. Now she looks like a princess. His princess to dance with.

"Contestant number eight, please enter the stage."  said the emcee.

Soul held out his hand for the girl. "Let's have some fun?"

"Sure." she gladly accepted his hand and let's him guide her up to the stage. With her mask on and her eye on the game, she's hopeful she could finish the performance successfully.

Going up on stage, Nina couldn't keep herself tamed and carefully watch the girl with the mask. She just looked so familiar, Nina could tell that they knew each other very well. But with the mascaraed, it was quite difficult to tell. Using her camera, she zooms right in to the masked girl's face hoping she would have a better chance at guessing who it might be.

"Isn't that Minseo?"

"Who? The girl with the mask? Yep, that's her."

"Then why would she be wearing a mask? I mean almost every dancer here if familiar with her face."

"What if the girl isn't Minseo? And she was a fellow schoolmate at Hyevin?"

Taki shrugged. "Maybe? I mean who knows right? We could be wrong. We could be right. Endless possibilities."

"Any word from Saeyoung? We haven't seen her this morning and yet she said she was going to be here." Jungwon walked in. Hands in both of his pocket and his eyes focused at the stage eyeing the same girl that Nina was curious about. Like her, the boy could tell that the girl dancing on stage right now isn't Minseo.  "Minseo is currently at the hospital, her leg got sprained or something so it's pretty clear that the masked girl is someone different."

Nina clicked her tongue.  "Could it be someone we trust?"

The japanese boy snickered.  "In this competition we trust no one. And besides,  the girl must've been another Hyevin dancer taking Minseo's place, nothing special."

"I have a feeling that the girl is someone we know. And I'm pretty sure you're all familiar with her too, and that is something I can guarantee us all. So let's just watch and see. . . ."

'Me Like Yuh' by Jay Park finally plays with only the masked girl and Soul dancing on stage. The way they flirted and smoothly played with each other while dancing, it was obvious that they practiced well because they're chemistry on stage really amazed the audience.

Seeing the girl's smile, Ni-ki couldn't hold himself and instantly borrowed Daniel's camera. Just like Nina, he zooms into the girl and focuses on her face. He took a few pictures of her trying to guess on who the mystery dancer is. Ni-ki has to admit, her smile looks so similar to someone he knows.

"I think I might know who she is."

"Who?"

"Seo Nari." Nina rolled her eyes at Daniel's answer. She wasn't even familiar with a 'Seo Nari'. That's impossible.

After hitting his shoulder, Nina went on and grabbed her phone. She scrolled through her gallery and showed her a picture of her and the girl in one frame.  "Dumbass. It's Roh Saeyoung!"

"You're joking. . . . right?" Ni-ki doubted her conclusions, he didn't know why but it's either he couldn't believe that she was dancing for Soul's team or maybe it wasn't really her after all. But then again, Nina did say she was already here before them.

"She has the same facial features as Saeyoung, she shares the same eye color as her and her height really screams out that the girl really is her. All you have to do is look closely."  Nina passed her camera to Taki zooms in to the girl for him to have a better view of her face. "See?"

Taki nodded.  "You're right. I could see the resemblance."

Ni-ki hummed. He puts the camera aside sat down and loosens the tie of his tux.  "It really is her."  as much as he doesn't want to believe it but just by giving deep thoughts into the situation, he could tell it's her because there's no way any other girl besides Saeyoung would get that close to Soul. Secondly, this must have been the reason on why the girl is taking half days at school. Third, that's why he saw her at the dance studio with Soul and his team. To practice together.

Future Husband will love me right.

Ending the performance with the last pose, Ni-ki watched in disgust as Soul lifted the girl up bridal style while smiling at the judges. He couldn't believe this was happening.

It's an eyesore.

Thanking the heavens that her mask didn't fall off Saeyoung separated herself from Soul's team and sat on a couch in a quiet hallway. With her mask removed and no one around to see her, she sighed in relief that she could finally be away from people.

According to Soul and Jeongseob's plan, once the performance was finished, Saeyoung should run to the nearest restroom, remove her makeup and change into her uniform to lessen everybody's suspicion about the masked girl in Hyevin's Performance.

Currently, the girl was having difficulties in removing the straps of her heels. She never knew that it was sticked to her this tight. Trying her best to detach the strap, her hand was gently pushed away to the side letting the person detach it for her. 

"Ni-ki?"

The boy did not bother to answer and just went on to help her with her heel. This scenario felt weird for Saeyoung she felt like she was some kind of Cinderella in an alternative universe but with the prince removing the shoe off for her not the other way around.

"You did well out there." he said.

"Thanks."

Successfully removing the heel, Ni-ki gave her a soft smile putting her off-guard. She just danced with his rivals and she couldn't believe he had the courage to smile at her like that, but it was a lot better than starting a fight explaining how disappointed he was. It was an improvement, to say the least.

Ni-ki cleared his throat.  "You look beautiful by the way." his compliment made Saeyoung's lip part. She couldn't process what he just said, technically that was the first time she heard something positive coming out from his mouth after a month. It was a big improvement. A shocking one to be exact.

"You should go ahead and change." the boy grabbed her bag and gave it to her.  "We'll wait for you at the main hall." he tucked some strands of her hair behind her ear and a pat on the head. Saeyoung nodded and ran to find the restroom but unbeknownst to her, the tiara comb that Soul gave her was quietly taken away by Ni-ki.

He hid the comb into his pocket and went out to his team. Even without the girl mentioning anything, Ni-ki knew that the piece of jewelry was given to her by his arch enemy.

Sitting on a bench outside the building, Soul got a call from his mother. He wondered why she was calling him when she knew he was currently at a competitions.

"Mom hello?"

"Soul. Himiko she's at the hospital!"