Beastly Beauty ✓

09. The Lesson

I stayed at the smaller barre on the wall adjacent from him, turning to face the mirror in front of us. He began instructing me to go over a few different stretches, then he had me show him my form as I ran through the basics.

Hoseok never commented on my technique, wordlessly observing me through the mirror with his hawkish eyes. My heart was beating faster than it should've been and I found my breath harder to catch than normal. Being under his watch was enough to send adrenaline pulsing through my veins.

"Okay, come to the center of the floor."

I followed his instruction, moving to the middle of the room. He stayed in his spot where he could continue to see me through the mirror, and I had to plant my eyes on myself to prevent them from getting captured by his own.

"I want you to show me your pirouette. When I walked in on you the other day, it was sloppy." His voice rang out clear and sharp, defying the mask that should have kept it muffled. I'd received critique countless times over the years and I was never one to get easily offended, but something about the condescension in his tone always seemed to light a match in me.

"My pirouette was just fine until you showed up and startled me," I replied evenly, doing my best to keep my bitterness undetectable.

"I saw it before you even noticed I was there," he said almost amusedly, pushing off from the barre and walking slowly towards me. "If you want to learn from me, you're going to have to get better at accepting my criticism."

"Then you're going to have to get better at making it constructive. So far you've only pointed out flaws, but you've done nothing to help me improve them."

I watched as he came nearer, meeting my gaze in the reflection. He stopped just a couple of feet behind me, his height far greater than mine and his frame much broader.

"Show me."

Wordlessly, I took one step forward to gain more space from him, then easily fell into my preparatory stance. Ignoring the heat of his stare, I inhaled before lifting one foot to my knee and spinning as cleanly as possible. I fell back into my starting position and kept my eyes trained on my own face. Despite barely warming up, my cheeks were already flushed. It was embarrassing having to prove myself to him with a turn I'd learned to do at a young age.

"It looked good, but..." he trailed off, tilting his head in thought. "Show me your fouettés."

With a small sigh, I prepped again, taking extra care in centering myself. Pirouettes were a piece of cake, but fouettés were an entirely different story. I could do them just fine, but that was the issue - they were only fine. I'd never been able to get them into the realm of amazing.

Once I found my balance and fixed my eyes on a spot in the mirror, I turned into a pirouette and lifted my leg, whipping it around for the first fouetté. I pushed on, finding a solid rhythm to continue spinning. Single, single, double. Single, single, double.

"Stop."

Landing in the proper position, I held my pose for a second before letting my arms fall to my sides. I watched Hoseok in the reflection as he began walking forward, moving past me so that he could face me directly.

"Put your arms back up in second position," he instructed.

I did as he said, lifting both arms up and out to the sides.

"Okay," he stepped closer, eyes focused on my arms. "See how your palms are facing out towards the mirror?" He looked at me carefully, waiting for my reply.

I nodded distractedly. I failed to understand how his voice could sound so clear, so full of depth even with that mask of his. Seeing it up close, I realized that it wasn't made of any fabric or cloth. Rather, it was solid, seemingly crafted by gifted hands that had carved intricate, tribal-like patterns into the ink-black material. Small, vertical slits covered the area over his mouth, too tiny to see through them, but just enough to allow him to breathe and speak without being very muffled. The mask covered his chin, his lips, his cheeks, his nose - everything was fully veiled and left a mystery except for his eyes. As my sight drifted to them next, I noted for the first time the rays of gold streaked within the darker caramel of his irises.