It Started with a Smile // ON-GOING

ii. First Encounter

"H–hey." She stuttered, trying to pull herself together.

There, stood in front of her was no other than the guy she's been so curious about — Sean Lew.

For a moment, they just stood looking at each other. Then, Sean looked away and pulled something out from his bag.

It was a hoodie.

Sean held it out to her and she carefully took it.

IMMA BEAST, the front says.

"Uh, w–what's this?" Kaycee managed to ask. She looked at him in confusion.

"Will." He simply replied.

"Oh, okay." Kaycee nodded. So, Will wants her to have it. Why didn't he just gave it to her awhile ago, then? She noticed that he still hasn't moved a muscle and took it as a cue to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm Kaycee." She smiled.

"Sean." He nodded towards her and before Kaycee could even speak another word, he had already started walking away.

So this is what Taylor meant by "He doesn't talk much."

Just then, a car stopped in front of her and honked. The window rolled down, revealing the face of her sister — Kylie. She smiled apologetically to her.

She's late.

"Sorry." Kylie mumbled as Kaycee got inside. "I had to run some errands on my way here. Who're you talking to anyway?"

"Huh?"

"That guy that just left, I saw you're talking to him. Who's he?" Kylie raised an eyebrow at her. "What's his name, Kayc?"

"Oh, I– uh, it's nothing." Kaycee tried to act nonchalantly. "His name's "Sean." He's just one of my fellow dancers."

"Is he?" Kylie smiled mischievously. "Well, I think Sean's kinda cute. You should date him."

"What? Kylie, you're crazy." Kaycee gaped at her own sister. Unbelievable.

"Oops, did I say that out loud? I'm sorry." But Kylie didn't look like she's sorry at all. Her smile even turned into a grin when she saw Kaycee's reaction.

"So, tell me more about this Sean."

Kaycee let out a groan and shook her head. Sometimes, she just couldn't believe that Kylie's her sister.

"Come on, sis! Do you have a crush on him?"

This will be a long drive.

* * *

Sean busied himself on his phone while his friends paced around the room. They've been doing it ever since he told them about her.

"So, this "Kaycee Rice" is a new Beast?" Julian, one of his friends, asked. He had already stopped pacing. He looked curiously at Sean.

"Yup, I just told you that." Sean simply replied, not taking his eyes off from his phone.

"So, you like her?" Josh, his other friend, shot an eyebrow at him.

"What the fuck, dude?" Sean quickly averted his eyes from his phone and looked unbelievably at his friends. "When did I say that?"

"Oh, so you don't like her?" Josh asked with hint of accusatory in his tone.

"No!" Sean glared at him.

"Well, why did you tell us about her if you don't like her, then?" Julian piped in.

Sean looked taken aback for a moment. He realised that he never talked about any girl with his friends, well, not until tonight.

"W–well, I just feel like telling you, guys." He tried to act casually. "I mean, I thought you'd care because she's a new member."

"Oh," Julian nodded, though still not entirely convinced. "Well, what is she like, then?"

"She's really good." He shrugged. "I think she's even better than Taylor, no, she's like the best–"

Josh and Julian looked at each other, both suppressing a laugh. They were thinking of the same thing.

"– and she looks like she's nice." Sean continued, not paying attention to his friends who's currently having an eye conversation. "She even smiled at me. Hey, what're you laughing on about?"

* * *

"I don't know." Kaycee shrugged. "He just... walked away after saying his name and like Taylor said, he doesn't talk much except when he's with The Migos — whoever they are."

She just finished telling her best friend, Bailey Sok, about her first class at IMMA and of course, her first encounter with Sean Lew.

She let out a squeal.

"Oooh, maybe he likes you?"

For what felt like a thousandth time, she let out a groan. Oh no, not again, she thought to herself.

"For Pete's sake Bai, I've had enough from Kylie." She let herself collapsed on her bed.

"He doesn't like me, okay? I bet he wouldn't even talk to me if Will didn't asked him to give me the hoodie. Plus, we barely know each other."

"Right." Bailey grimaced at her. "Well, at least tell me what do you think about him!"

"Seriously?" Kaycee looked unbelievably at her best friend who merely nodded with excitement in her eyes.

She rolled her eyes, knowing that she's not gonna stop until she answers her.

"Fine." Kaycee sighed in resignation. "Well, I haven't paid much attention when he danced because mom kept texting me, so I can't say anything about his dancing right now."

"His presence was really intimidating, though. Tay says he's not friendly at all but I think he's the kind of person that turns out to be really nice once you get to know. The only problem is, I'll never find out if it's true because it'd be impossible to get close to him."

"You think so?" Bailey raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, I know so." Kaycee rolled her eyes. "I told you, he rarely talks to anyone. What makes you think that I'd be an exception?"

"Oh, I don't know." Bailey shrugged and waggled her perfectly trimmed eyebrows. "I just had this sudden feeling that you're about to become friends."

"Whatever, Bai." Kaycee shook her head, she's not gonna win no matter how she try. "Please, let's just stop talking about him, alright? It's really nothing."

"Yeah, sure, if you say so."

* * *

AHHH SEAN'S RELEASING HIS NEW PROJECT TODAY. I CAN'T WAIT!!! I bet it'll be really good. 🙌 Thoughts? Comment down below and don't forget to vote! 😄💙