Promise Me | Daerin

Chapter Two

Danielle works tirelessly with her for the next week, and Haerin tries her hardest to remember each of her lines perfectly and with the right emotional deliverance, even taking it as far as practicing during every second of spare time that she gets, too.

She refuses to lose out on prom, and refuses even more to end up watching her friends graduate while she's forced to stay in the crowd and watch them do so in grief. Haerin's pretty sure this is the most effort she's ever put into a school related event before. Not even actually assessments have gotten this much work thrown into them.

Danielle is so patient with her, Haerin doesn't understand how she's able to watch Haerin mess up her lines over and over again without wanting to kill her, how she doesn't just grab a rock and smash Haerin over the head with it to put an end to her suffering as she tries to nail the dance numbers with absolutely no coordination whatsoever. But Danielle always somehow manages to chuckle and grip her hand before walking her through the lines and the dance routines slowly, and Haerin is astounded by all of it.

Danielle Marsh is a complete angel, and Haerin feels kind of horrible for ever laughing at Kyujin's constant teasing of her over the years she's known her, feels stupid for never taking the time to get to know this girl...

"Danielle, seriously...you're a godsend." Haerin breathes, collapsing down into her chair with a tired sigh and rubbing her eyes in exhaustion as she bites back a yawn. She's pretty sure she's got everything down now, the performance is two nights away and she's more focused than ever to make it a good one.

She's nervous because of course she is, and Kyujin and Rei had promised her that they'd be in the crowd supporting her, but honestly, Haerin's dreading them being there. She knows they're just going to hound her and tease her even more than they already have been, and she's scared that Kyujin's gonna find something new to attack Danielle with as well. She may not tease her to her face, but Haerin knows Danielle is aware of it...she doesn't deserve the shit Kyujin puts her through, she needs to talk to him about it-

"Oh hush, Haerinnie I'm just helping a friend not make a fool of herself on stage." Danielle says, collapsing into the seat beside her with a light chuckle. Haerin raises an eyebrow at her and gives her a sheepish grin.

"'Haerinnie?'" she asks with a smirk. she watches as Danielle's cheeks flush in surprise before the girl licks her lips and shakes her head.

"Uh...just a nickname..." she mumbles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and Haerin finds the sight so adorable, she can't stop herself from reaching out and placing her hand on Danielle's thigh with a smile.

"It's okay, Dani. It's cute." She teases, giving the girl a nickname of her own, and Danielle's face is almost entirely red as she chuckles and looks down at the hand on her thigh, swallowing thickly before she looks up at Haerin and bites down on her bottom lip.

"You're gonna be amazing, Haerin. Don't doubt yourself so much." she whispers, her eyes so soft and so gentle that Haerin can't help the way her heart starts racing at the sight of it. Haerin sinks back into her chair, her hand still resting on Danielle's thigh as she sighs and tries to swallow the bile that rises in the back of her throat.

She knows Danielle's right, but still...

"Eh, no one's gonna be paying attention to me anyway, not when you're on the stage killing it like that. You're amazing, Danielle. I didn't even know you could sing like that." Haerin says in slight awe, thinking back to the previous weeks she's spent watching Danielle perfect every song that Ariel sings with a voice strong enough to sound across the entire town.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Haerin." Danielle murmurs quietly, her hand suddenly resting on top of the one Haerin has on her thigh, and Haerin shivers slightly at the cold temperature of her fingers, the way they slide across the top of Haerin's hand before she grips it tightly in her own...