"Do it again."
"Nope, start over."
"Again, from the top."
They had been there for over an hour and she had yet to make it through more than the first 15 seconds of her solo before Jaehyun told her to start over. He hadn't even told he what she was doing wrong, but just kept insisting that she restart.
"Restart, go again."
She let out an exasperated sigh, finally at her limit.
"Jaehyun, can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
"Just do it again."
"No! You've made me restart so many fucking times I don't even know what you want!"
"Have I upset you?"
"Fucking obviously you have! I'm already having a shitty day, and I know you know that, and you're just making it worse. Why are you doing this to me?" She yelled, her voice breaking.
He stared at her for a moment, not saying anything. She could feel the hot tears forming in her eyes as he pushed her to her breaking point.
"Dance."
"What?"
"Right now, from the top."
"I'm not doing this shit again, Jaehyun, I-"
"Just do it this once. Trust me on this."
She glared at him but took her place on the floor anyway. She let out a sigh, feeling the emotions flowing through her body as Train Wreck by James Arthur started playing.
She felt all the pent up frustration and sadness flowing through her muscles as she moved, the lyrics resonated with her. To her surprise, Jaehyun didn't tell her to stop, instead he leaned against the wall and simply watched her dance.
Finally able to move on, she allowed the music to fill her head. She danced away her feelings, putting into movement what she couldn't into words.
By the time the song had ended, she finally felt some energy back in her body. The stress from earlier that had been holding her back were channeled into the piece, tears streaming down her face as she finally released all her emotions.
She finally looked up at Jaehyun, wiping her tears as she watched him push off the wall and walk over to her.
"That," he started, offering her a hand and pulling her to her feet. "was a winning solo."
She couldn't do anything but stare at him in shock.
"Look, Hyemi, I know I can be an asshole and I'm really tough on you guys, but I have to be. I know when someone needs their space, and I know when someone needs to be pushed. And right now, you needed to be pushed." He said, looking down at her with a serious expression, quickly noticing the tear stains on her face.
"I wasn't trying to be mean, but I just wanted to pull some emotion out of you. This song is really heavy and if you don't convey that, the performance is flat. But what you just did was exactly what I was looking for."
His eyes stayed serious, but his lips curved up in the smallest smile, and although barely there, Hyemi noticed it anyway.
"Oh, I get it, thanks Jaehyun and uh sorry for yelling at you."
"Don't be sorry, I was being even more of an asshole than usual."
She nodded with a small smile, still a bit nervous around him.
"Look, Hyemi," he said, letting out a sigh. "I don't know what went down in the hallway today, but I know you lied to me. I know Kyunghee said or did something that got you all screwed up. I'm not going to make you tell me, that's your business, but when that happens, because it will happen again in your life, you have to use that to dance better. Don't hide away those emotions, use them, because you're a great dancer when you do."
"T-thanks Jaehyun."
"No problem, now get out of here and get some rest. You deserve it."
She dipped her head to him, quickly grabbing her stuff as he watched her leave the room.
- - -
"So, Hyemi, how've you been?" Kyunghee asked, throwing an arm around her.
It had been a few days since the whole incident and Hyemi had been avoiding her as much as possible. But it seems today was her lucky day and Kyunghee and Iseul managed to corner her.
"What do you guys want?" Hyemi said stiffly.
"Oh nothing just wanted to talk, you're on your way to lunch, right? Let's walk there together." Kyunghee said with a sickeningly sweet tone, dragging her with them.
"So, regionals is in two days... how's that going for you?" Iseul asked with a smirk. "Because it's going great for us, and guess what? Kyunghee is doing our female solo."
"Yeah, Hyemi, you and I are facing one another, just like old times." Kyunghee squeezed her shoulders harder, making Hyemi wince slightly.
"Both of my parents are coming to watch, snd my dad is bringing a bunch of his friends. Is your dad coming? I mean, not Taeyong and Mark's dad, obviously, but you're real father? Does you mom even know who he is or was she too busy sleeping around with every guy in town?"
"What did you just say?" Hyemi said with a growl.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all, just stating facts." Kyunghee said with a fake innocent smile as they entered the cafeteria.
"You know, how do you think Taeyong would feel if he knew that you were the reason that your dad left you guys? Maybe we should find out."
"Kyunghee, don't. Please."
"Then throw your regionals group routine. My solo is going to beat yours, no doubt, but it would be so much more satisfying to see you make your team crash and burn."
"What? Kyunghee-"
"Careful of your answer, Hyemi, really think about it." Kyunghee sneered as she let go of her. "Oh and," she quickly shot out her leg, making Hyemi trip and fall. "watch your step."
Hyemi looked around as she heard laughter, all eyes were on her after she had fallen, making her face burn red.
"Hey, you okay?"
Hyemi turned to the side to see Yuta standing there, concern on his face as he offered her his hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"What's going on here?" She heard a deep voice say from behind her, Jaehyun having walked over amidst the chaos.
"Oh, Jaehyun! Hi!" Kyunghee said sweetly, her expression instantly shifting to a smile as she batted her eyelashes at him. "Isn't Hyemi so clumsy? It's a wonder that she's even on your team! We were just helping her-"
"Shut it."
He cut her off with a cold glare, shocking Kyunghee with his rudeness.
"I don't buy your bullshit, so take your tacky red jackets to your own table. We don't associate with second tier dancers here."
Jaehyun glanced at Hyemi, seeing Yuta tending to her already. His eyes lingered on her before he turned and headed back to their table.
Kyunghee had a pout on her face, stomping her foot and walking over to their table.
"You sure you're okay? We can't have our Star soloist getting injured now, can we?" Yuta said with a sweet smile as he helped her collect her things.
"Star soloist my ass, I know this is just a first year test that you guys are giving Jaemin and I." She laughed out with a grateful smile.
"That's all Jaehyun's idea, but wouldn't it be great if you proved him wrong and won? I have no doubt in my mind that you can do it!" Yuta said enthusiastically as she picked up the last of her things and stood up.
"I can help you if you want."
At his offer, Hyemi's gaze shot to his, the playful glint in his eyes making her smile and nod her head. He quickly grabbed her arm and the two of them ran out of the cafeteria. Their excited smiles didn't go unnoticed by one specific someone who had been watching them exit from his table.
- - -
"Hyemi, you're incredible! That was so good!" Yuta applauded after she performed her solo for him.
"You really think so?"
"Think? I know so! I've been doing this for three years and I know a first place dance when I see one."
"Thanks, Yuta. It still needs a lot of work though and time is running out. I keep screwing up that one turn section and my leaps need to be higher and-"
"And of course there's always room for improvement and you're never going to be perfect, but that was pretty damn close." Yuta said, cutting her off with a goofy smile.
"Loosen up a bit, Hyemi. I know Jaehyun's a dance dictator but we're here to have fun too. Come on!"
He pulled her to her feet and clicked play, upbeat dance music blasting through the speakers.
"Come on, let loose and just have fun!" Yuta exclaimed, bouncing around the floor.
Soon his energy seeped into her and the two of them were jumping and dancing and laughing to the music. She had a huge smile on her face as Yuta picked her up and spun her around as the song ended.
"I really needed that." She laughed out, her cheeks sore from how much she was smiling.
"Everyone needs a bit of fun sometimes, and I love seeing you smile."
Hyemi blushed at his comment, hiding her face in her hands.
"Awww did I make you shy?" He teased, lightly grabbing her hands and trying to pull them away from her face.
"Yuta! Stop it!"
"Nope, let me see your face!"
The two of them wrestled with one another, both of them struggling with playful fits of laughter. Eventually Yuta was able to remove her hands, holding them away from her face as he started into her eyes.
"Beautiful."
She blushed even harder when she heard him whisper that. He was about to say something else but the bell went off, signaling the start of the next class.