The room was silent except for the scratching of pen on paper.
Sitting on the table in front of you sat two identical binders, one with your version of the contract, and the other with Yoongi's.
Yoongi finished his signature on the release form and handed it over to Choi Siwon. He took it and nodded to himself.
"Thank you again for letting me look over this," Choi Siwon said. "As I've already stated, you don't have to pay us unless we do find a way to break it for you. I assure you that we'll handle this with the utmost discretion."
"How long before you can tell us anything?" Yoongi mustered.
"Since there are two different versions, I'll have to examine them individually and make notes to compare. I want to be thorough, so I'd expect that you can hear from me in about two months' time. It may not take that long once I get started, but I don't want to put the cart before the horse."
You nodded your understanding. "Thank you, again. We appreciate it."
"It's my pleasure. We don't get a lot of things like this anymore, and I'm looking forward to the challenge." He stood up. "I'll call you as soon as we have something."
You both shook his hand on the way out, Yoongi furiously checking his phone the second you were outside.
"We'll make it in time," you assured him. Hoseok's showcase was starting soon, and Yoongi was worried you'd miss the beginning if you met with Choi Siwon first. Unfortunately, right after work had been the only time you were free to go and sign the release together.
The two of you got home quickly, splitting up to change for the showcase. Yoongi threw on a red button-up with black slacks and matching shoes. He opted to go without a tie or jacket over it as the performance hall would be warm enough anyway.
He had just finished tying his shoelaces when he heard you start back down the stairs.
"Oh." He raised his head to see what you were looking at, but the words died in his throat. You were wearing a deep red dress that stopped just under your knees. Black flats and a black cardigan, hair in a half updo. "Hard to believe we didn't plan this," you joked as you gave him a once over.
"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Ready to go?"
You made quick work of locking up and leaving again. You made it to the performance hall in record time, easily spotting Amy and Jin and moving to sit by them.
"Made it by the skin of your teeth," Amy breathed as the lights dimmed. You and Yoongi sighed in relief.
Hoseok usually only had the funds to do a showcase once a year if he was lucky. If he had the funds, he'd probably put one on every month. Even though he was the "director" of the performances, he loved letting his teachers and students do whatever they wanted with their dance ideas. In his words, this was their time to shine and show their strong points as dancers and learners of the craft. Some of his students even used this as part of their applications to dance schools.
So every time there was a showcase, it never disappointed. Shindong's class started off strong with a heavy hip-hop theme. His students were well versed in the fast, precise movements that came with that type of music (as well as Shindong's personal specialty which was popping).
It was easy to figure out Kai's performance as they were always high energy and involved a lot of focused movement. He and his students often experimented with timing, different formations, and a lot of footwork. The re-mixed EDM track that he'd chosen allowed them to highlight all of those things really well.
Chung-ha's class took over next, switching it up for a more soulful sound. Her style could be pretty high energy too, but she and her students focused more on what they considered "full-body movement" to use more of the stage for their performances. It was definitely powerful, even without her presence on stage with them.
You weren't as familiar with the next couple of instructors, so it was all a pretty big blur until the lights came up and there was an announcement about an intermission. Yoongi was quick to use that time to go to the bathroom.
Amy nudged you. "So, how did it go?"
"Got it signed. We should hear in the next couple of months."
"That's good news. Wh--" She stopped as she saw someone walk by. "Was that Jimin?"
"Shit, I forgot to tell Yoongi he might be here."
You quickly turned around to see if you could make Jimin out in the crowd. If there was a fist fight in the middle of Hoseok's showcase, he'd probably never speak to you ever again.
Jin huffed. "I'm sitting right here, you know."
"Seokjin, you don't have to be jealous," Amy told him. "He looks good as a blond, that's all. But you know I prefer you any day." He smiled and put his arm around her, obviously pleased with the compliment.
You tried to decide between pretending to vomit or congratulating Amy on defusing the situation.
"I'm going to find Yoongi," you announced to no one in particular. You doubted they would have heard you anyway. The two of them dating was still something you were wrapping your head around. Not because you didn't like them together, but because now that the secret was out they were being really lovey-dovey all the time.
Yoongi was washing his hands when the door opened. He glanced up through the mirror to see none other than Park Jimin standing there. His hair was bright blond now but he looked exactly the same as the last time they'd met.
He slowly straightened up. "Park."
"Min. I didn't know that you would be here."
"I probably should have suspected you would be." Jimin raised an eyebrow. "I'm told that you used to dance a lot."
He nodded. "I did, but I don't have a lot of time for it now. Nice of you to come out and show your support. I wouldn't think this is your kind of thing."
"Believe it or not, I'm classically trained," Yoongi replied with a shrug. "It's not as unusual as you'd think."
"Well. Maybe I misjudged you a bit then."
It was Yoongi's turn to nod. "You're not the only one." He started for the door but turned back at the last second. "Hey, for what it's worth, sorry for punching you."
Jimin chuckled softly. "It's fine. I probably deserved it, honestly. Have a good rest of your night."
"You too."
As soon as he left the bathroom, he saw you walking towards him. "Hey, you're probably going to be mad but--"
"Park's here," he guessed. "It's fine, I already saw him."
"You did? What happened?"
He shrugged. "Nothing. Let's head back, the show is starting again soon."
The two of you returned to your seats, making small talk with Amy and Jin until the lights dimmed once again.
You sat through a couple more performances, including a handful of Momo's students doing an interpretive ballet style. But then the lights came back up for a new performance, and two people were standing in the shadows. Both wearing white shirts and black pants. Already dancing in sync from the minute the music started.
This song was different, with more of a slow R&B feel than most of the high-energy songs that you'd been hearing all night. But that did nothing to sway the pair of dancers, who performed in almost perfect rhythm.
"That one on the right," Yoongi whispered. "Is that Hoseok?"
Even as he said it, the lights slowly brightened to reveal the dancers' faces. And indeed, one was Hoseok. His dark brown hair had been lightened to a more of a reddish-brown that really suited him. And his partner...
You recognized the tall, thin man now that you could see his face.
Kim Yugyeom.
This must have been the new job that BamBam was teasing him about the night you met. You couldn't believe it. The world really was small.
The performance was met with a standing ovation from the entire audience. Hoseok allowed the instructors and students to come out and take a bow for each of their own performances. And when they presented him with a bouquet of flowers for all of his hard work to make it happen, he almost cried from happiness.
And looking at Hoseok on the stage, surrounded by people who he'd met through his own passion projects, you caught a glimpse of Yoongi's future. You hoped he'd be that happy when he finally made it.
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A/N: I apologize again for the delay in this chapter. My roommate was sick and we're trying to pack all of our stuff to move out next month (very exciting but also incredibly time-consuming).
We're coming up on a year since I published the author's note about this story, which is longer than I ever thought I'd be working on one project. I think we'll be hitting around 60 chapters when this is all over, but we'll see when we get there. :) Thank you for your continued support, and I'll see you in the next update.