Hyemi waited for the water to hit her, but it never came. She opened up her eyes to see someone standing in front of her, the water dripping off of his, now soaked, jacket. When she finally looked at his face, her jaw dropped.
"J-Jaehyun?"
He quickly squatted down in front of her, cupping her cheek with one hand as he surveyed the messy state of her outfit.
"You okay? Not hurt anywhere?"
She shook her head and Jaehyun let out a sigh of relief before turning back to face Kyunghee and Iseul.
"J-Jaehyun... w-we didn't mean to..." Hyemi could hear them stuttering under the weight of his glare.
Yuta quickly ran up to her, pushing through the crowd that had gathered. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.
"You okay?" He asked quietly.
"I'll be fine." She replied quickly, giving him a small smile before focusing her attention back on Jaehyun and Kyunghee.
Hyemi watched as he walked up to her, right in her face and glaring down at her.
"Do you want to tell me what the hell happened here? Or do I have to force the truth out of you?" He growled threateningly, causing Kyunghee to shiver.
"Woah woah woah, get out of her face."
Taeyong, who had missed what happened and had just arrived on the scene to see Jaehyun staring down Kyunghee, broke through the crowd. He walked right up to Jaehyun and shoved him away from her, unaware of Hyemi on the ground only a few feet away.
"What the hell, Jaehyun? How dare you try to intimidate one of my soloists! I could get you disqualified!" Taeyong yelled, enraged. Jaehyun just let out a disbelieving scoff.
"Really? You fucking bitch, get your head out of your ass! You can't even see what's right in front of you?" Jaehyun yelled back.
"What are you even talking about?"
"I'm talking about protecting your sister! You should be thanking me for being here when you weren't!"
Jaehyun's words washed over Taeyong like a bucket of cold water, all the anger draining from his body and shock appearing on his face.
"Hyemi?"
"Yeah, Hyemi." Jaehyun said with a mocking tone, sweeping back his arm so that Taeyong's eyes finally landed on his sister. His eyes widened at her appearance.
"What happened? Are you okay?" He began to take a step towards her only to be shoved back by Jaehyun.
"She'll be fine, no thanks to you." Jaehyun spat out. "You couldn't even defend your little sister from your own teammates."
"My team? What does this have to do with my team?"
Jaehyun scoffed again, gesturing to Kyunghee and Iseul who were frozen on the spot, their empty buckets still in their hands.
"You know, I never liked you, Taeyong, but I didn't know you were that clueless." Jaehyun said, shaking his head at the older boy. "That two-left footed bitch and her little kiss ass sidekick tried to sabotage one of my teammate's, your sister's, performance. Right under your nose." He turned to point at Hyemi. "They did that."
Taeyong was speechless, turning to look at the two girls with so much anger in his eyes that they both started to shake.
"No one fucks with my team, Taeyong. I don't care what you choose to do with them, but they better not screw with us again, or you'll all have it coming."
With a glare, Jaehyun turned on his heel and walked back over to Hyemi, helping her to her feet and dipping his head to Yuta. He carefully put his arm around her and led her through the crowd, slightly pulling her into his side with a comfortable security that made her feel safe.
"Come on, Hyemi, let's go and clean you up. You have a competition to win."
- - -
"Here, Chaeyoung, touch up her makeup, I'll do her hair."
"You can wear my backup costume, Hyemi, it's going to be a bit loose but I'll just tighten it up."
Hyemi sat silently in her chair as the older girls quickly worked to clean her up. Momo passed her a silver and black costume. It was going to be a bit big since Momo was taller than her, but it seemed like it was going to work.
"That was awesome guys! Did you- woah what happened here?" Jaemin burst into the room with a smile, having missed all the drama and just finished his solo.
"We'll tell you later, but your solo went well?" Sana asked with a smile.
"Yeah the crowd is awesome, you're going to love it, Hyemi." Jaemin said, sitting down in his chair and starting to wipe off his makeup.
"Alright, go and change, we have 5 minutes until you're on stage."
Hyemi stood from her seat, walking behind the curtains and stripping off her destroyed white costume. She quickly slipped on Momo's, tying the straps short as possible before stepping out.
"You look great, you can't even tell anything happened. Now, go out there and beat the crap out of that bitch."
With a wink, Sana walked out of the room with the other girls and Jaemin. Hyemi shut her eyes, calming herself down and trying to push away what just happened, pulling her focus back to her dance before making her way backstage.
When she arrived, she caught the very end of Kyunghee's solo. She was a mess. As Hyemi peeked out into the crowd, she saw her brother and the rest of his team, minus Iseul and Jichang, watching Kyunghee's performance with a scowl. Whatever he had said to her was obviously messing her up.
"That asshole can't dance for shit."
Hyemi turned to see Jaehyun standing behind her, a frown on his face as he watched Kyunghee. When he moved his gaze to Hyemi, his frown was replaced with a small smile.
"What are you doing here?"
"Just making sure no one tries anything before you go out on stage. Good luck out there."
"Thanks, Jaehyun." She replied with a shaky voice, still shaken up from what had happened only minutes ago.
"Hey, dont freeze up now. It's just you out there, so dance all of this stress away, use the music and let it all go. We're rooting for you."
"And last up in this Regionals competition, representing Seoul University's All Stars, Lee Hyemi performing to 'Train Wreck'."
After one last nod from Jaehyun, she made her way onto the stage amidst the polite applause from the audience.
She took her position, closing her eyes and taking a breath.
Use it. Feel the music and just let go.
- - -
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for awards! Starting with the men's solo competition."
They were all gathered on stage as they waited nervously for the results. Jaemin gripped Hyemi's hand, the two of them closing their eyes and hoping to hear their names.
"In fourth place: Kim Jungwoo from the Korea University Vipers!"
"In third place: Na Jaemin from the Seoul University All Stars!"
Hyemi instantly turned to Jaemin, seeing a huge smile on his face.
"Congrats, Jaem! Go get your award!" He quickly rose to his feet and walked over to the announcer, holding a bronze trophy for him as the rest of the team cheered.
"In second place: Lee Taeyong from the Seoul University Black Dragons!"
Hyemi gasped as she heard her brother's name, cheering for him as he walked across the stage, giving her a quick wink on the way.
"And in first place your regionals champion is... Ten Lee from Korea University's The Next Level. Congratulations!"
There was a loud wave of applause as the winners bowed before taking their seats, Jaemin sitting back down next to her with a grin as he clutched onto his trophy.
"And now moving on to the women's division top 5. In fifth place: Jennie Kim from the Hanyang University Pinks."
With the first name called not being hers, Hyemi started to feel nervous. She knew she did well but she didn't know if it was good enough to place top 5.
"In fourth place: Park Chaeyoung also from the Hanyang University Pinks."
Now she was worried. Top 5 was a stretch but top 3? Hyemi felt herself quickly losing hope.
"In third place: Song Yuqi from the Seoul University Black Dragons!"
Hyemi applauded as Yuqi walked by her, standing on stage holding the award. The older girl turned to smile at Hyemi, giving her an encouraging nod, but Hyemi just shook her head. If Yuqi was third then there was no way that she had placed.
"In second place: Karina Yoo from Korea University's The Next Level."
"And now, this years first place regional champion will be... Lee Hyemi from the Seoul University All Stars!"
Hyemi clapped as they announced first, not processing that they had called her name as she looked around to see who would stand up. As her teammates all turned to look at her with huge smiles on their faces, it only then dawned on her that she was the one called.
"Did they just say that...?"
"You won Hyemi! Go up there!" Jaemin quickly yanked her to her feet and shoved her towards the front of the stage.
"Congratulations, Miss, well deserved." Said the woman handing out awards as she passed Hyemi her gold trophy.
"T-thank you."
Hyemi bowed along with the rest of the girls before turning back to take her seat. Yuta instantly crushed her in a hug once she sat down.
"I knew you could do it! Lee Hyemi, Champion. It has a nice ring to it, hmm?" He said, nudging her shoulder playfully.
She giggled out in response, turning to find Jaehyun. When she faced him, he was already staring at her, a proud glimmer in his eyes despite his poker face. He dipped his head to her, sending her a quick wink before focusing back at the announcers.
"And lastly, the awards you've all been waiting for the overall team and group awards. Starting with fifth place... the Hanyang University Pinks!"
The crowd applauded as the team stood up, bowing politely to the audience before sitting back down.
"In fourth place: the Korea University Vipers!"
She saw the dejected smiles on their faces as the team directly to their left rose in acknowledgement.
"In third place, also moving on to this year's Sectional competition, the Seoul University Black Dragons!"
Hyemi instantly broke out into applause, seeing her brother's team all stand up with excitement, embracing one another in a group hug before sitting back down. She made eye contact with Jeno and gave him a thumbs up.
"Second and First place are only separated by half a point. Both teams will be moving on to this years Sectional competition. So, in second place, congratulations to the Seoul University All Stars!"
Hyemi could see the way Jaehyun's face fell when they announced that they had lost, but he quickly covered it with a polite smile. They all rose from their seats, bowing to the audience and high-fiving one another before taking their seats.
"And in first place, overall Regional champions, congratulations to Korea University's The Next Level!"
Jaehyun watched sadly as the team who had barely beaten them celebrated, hoisting the gold trophy over their heads in victory. Hyemi noticed his expression and gently patted his shoulders.
"Hey, don't get too down. We'll get em next time and we're still moving on to Sectionals. That's what matters most."
"I guess you're right. We did pretty good, didn't we."
"That we did."