~MINGI~
The day I had sort of dreaded was here. My first day of my own solo practice. I was being given someone to practice with, almost like a physical therapy. The company wanted to ease me back into things, they didn't want to throw me back into things right away.
I was standing in the front area with one of my managers, while they were chatting with some of the other staff. I glanced towards the practice room I would be working in. There was already someone in there, warming up. A girl.
"You can go ahead and introduce yourself." My manager told me, waving me in the direction of the practice room.
I nervously made my way to the room, the door clicked loudly as I opened it. The girl turned around as I came in. She was pale, American? She had an american flag on her jacket.
"Hi! You must be Mingi!" She said. Her Korean was all but perfect. "I'm Marielle! It's nice to meet you."
I bowed politely. "You too..." I said softly. "Umm. I'm ready whevever you are."
"Great! Okay! We can just run through some of your songs, I know all your choreography." Marielle said. "We can start with whatever you want!"
I nodded, stretching a little. The two of us started dancing ro some of Ateez's songs. I had been hoping it would be muscle memory, but the months of recovery left me slow. I was lagging behind, Marielle knew the dances perfectly. I tripped over my own foot, stumbling a little.
I was getting frustrated, I should be better than this. All I had done was rest. My legs were aching already.
"This is fucking stupid!" I shouted as I tripped again. "Why is this going so bad?!"
"Hey, hey..." Marielle said softly. "Let's take a break. Here. Let's sit."
"No! I can do this!" I said angrily.
"I'm not suggesting that you can't." Marielle came over to me, gently putting her hands on my arms. "I'm not trying to say that you can't. Because I know you can. I'm just saying you need to give yourself a break. Okay? You can't just rush back into it full force, you could hurt yourself."
I paused, thinking. She gently held onto my arms. A tear slipped down my cheek and I sniffled quietly.
"Oh, Mingi..." Marielle said softly. "Let's sit down for a bit."
I nodded, and Marielle led me over to where her bag was. We sat down, and she put an arm around me gently. I put my head on her shoulder.
"This is why I'm here. To help you get your legs back. You've been through so much, I can't even begin to imagine how hard this all is." Marielle said softly. "But that's why they hired me. So you can take things at your own pace. No pressure."
"I thought it would be easier than this." I whispered. I glanced up at her. Long brown hair, green eyes that sparkled like emeralds. I couldn't help but wonder why management picked such a pretty girl to help me. I blushed lightly, looking away.
"I know." Marielle said. "It'll get easier. We can start to pinpoint the big problems as we go on. Sound okay?"
I nodded. "Can we just sit for a bit?" I asked softly.
She gently rubbed my back.
"Of course."
