BALANCE || Hyunlix

Chapter 16 - Winter

As it happens, towards the end of the year it was as if the whole world fell through a wormhole and the weeks went by faster and faster. Everything was rushed as autumn slowly drew to a close and winter knocked on the door announcing the coming of Christmas and the end of the year.

For students at the Academy of Performing Arts, this meant a few things. Stress, studying, excessive caffeine consumption and stress again. The examination period has begun before the closing grades from second semester. For Felix and Hyunjin, this also meant limiting the number of hours of sleep they had, as they had to fit in training and the organization of the final performance that took place before the summer vacation. One would think that there's still time, but they really had a lot of work to do. They were happy that at least all years got to work after the big meeting and started practicing choreography. A lot of them even adapted it and showed it to Hyunjin and Felix to get their version approved.

Sometime during November, they finally agreed on a theme for the show.

"I have a brilliant idea." Felix announced during one lunch to Hyunjin, who raised his eyebrows curiously and continued to chew his food.

"I was thinking about your main number. You're dancing to Play with fire, aren't you? It doesn't fit into any of our concepts, but what if we built a concept around it?" Felix said excitingly.

"Well, say it already!" Hyunjin swallowed his bite and glared at the silver haired one.

"So - one day I was walking home from practice and the song River by Bishop Briggs started playing and I couldn't help but notice that it's a similar explosive song as Play with fire. Well, then it clicked! Fire and water. We will be inspired by the immortal classic, the elements!" Felix was beaming like a sunshine, as if he had just discovered the answer to the creating of the universe.

"Um, isn't that a bit cliché?" Hyunjin hesitated, but he was already imagining Felix dancing to the said song in his head, and he liked the idea.

"Do you have a better idea?" The shorter of the pair angrily threw his hands.

"Well, then we'd have to fit some depiction of other elements into the other choreographies, and that doesn't really sit well with me." Hyunjin thought out loud, and Felix's smile faded. Hyunjin would have given anything for Minho's advice right now, but he wasn't around. But thanks to the memory of Minho, he remembered the sentence he had said to them the day he named the two of them organizers of the final school celebration for the dance major: "I'll give you some advice - your contrast is your strong point. Good luck."

"Contrast!" Hyunjin yelled and people from other tables in the cafeteria started to turn to him. This time Felix looked at him questioningly.

"Think about it, fire and water, sadness and happiness, love and hate." Hyunjin chaotically explained his idea to him.

"Go on, go on." Felix urged him, his enthusiasm palpable again.

"Although they are opposites, one does not exist without the other in this world. It's a perfect..."

"Balance." They said in unison. They both met their inspired looks, smiles on their faces, they finally had it. This was it.

Once they figured it out that day, it felt like everything was finally falling into place. But fatigue slowly began to take its toll on both of them, as it did on everyone at school.

Hyunjin only had free time to sleep and was thankful that Jisung, with his bad habit of doing everything at the last minute, couldn't provoke Hyunjin in any way as he was busy meeting all the deadlines and turning everything in on time.

So, everyone was very relieved when they completed their last duties in December and had a well-deserved rest. The boys decided to meet at Changbin and Chan's apartment before the winter break to wish each other a merry Christmas and celebrate the end of the exam period together.