"Why didn't you just tell us, Hyemi?" Taeyong said as he and Mark stepped closer to her.
"A-about what?"
"About Kyunghee and Iseul? About our dad? About any of it!"
"I-I was scared."
"Scared of what?"
"Scared you guys would hate me."
Mark and Taeyong froze, their expressions instantly falling as they stared back at her.
"Hyemi... we could never. You're out little sister, always." Mark said, pulling her into a hug. Taeyong wrapped his arms around them too.
"It doesn't matter what happened in the past, Hyemi, we love you. We're your older brothers, we're supposed to protect you from everything."
Hyemi couldn't help but cry as her brother's held her, all the stress of everything finally bubbling to the surface. They released her from the hug and Taeyong held her at arms length, wiping the tears from her face.
"Promise us right now, no more secrets. Whatever happens, we're family."
She nodded, blinking back the tears and hugging Taeyong again.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you from those girls. I can't believe all of that happened right under my nose."
"It's not your fault, there's no way you would've known about it."
"Well, hopefully they won't bother you anymore. I've also kicked them off the team."
"What?"
"No one messes with you, especially not my teammates."
"You didn't need to do that Taeyong, they're good dancers."
"Eh, whatever, we have enough members to fill the minimum 8-person roster without them. Plus, the whole team hates them now." He laughed out, throwing an arm around her and Mark. "Let's go out, it's been a while since the three of us have hung out. Boba on me?"
Mark and Hyemi shared a glance, excited smiles on their faces.
"Deal!"
- - -
Hyemi woke up early the next day, creeping past a sleeping Chaeyoung and making her way to school. She had gotten up at sunrise to go and get some extra practice in before their morning rehearsals. After Jaehyun's snappy attitude yesterday, she really didn't want to screw up.
Hyemi admired the beautiful campus as she walked through the quad. The grass was dewy and the birds were singing, it was the perfect day. Inside, the hallways were dead silent, no one was awake yet, or so she thought.
When she approached the practice room, she could see light flooding out from under the door. For a moment, she panicked, thinking that she had forgotten to close up the night before, but she relaxed a bit once she heard music.
Carefully she opened the door and peeked in to see Jaehyun rehearsing his solo. She crept into the room, not wanting to disturb his dancing. One of her favorite songs, Youth by Troye Sivan, was the song he selected to dance to.
The way he moved to his intricate choreography left her in awe. The dance was creative, unique, and difficult, everything a winning routine should be. She watched him dance with a smile on her face, in her eyes, he was amazing.
After watching the first roughly 30 seconds of the routine, Jaehyun stopped, letting out a frustrated groan as he watched himself in the mirror and going to shut off the music. He stared at his reflection, disappointment written all over his face, until his eyes eventually landed on Hyemi standing in the corner.
"What are you doing here?" He deadpanned.
"Oh, sorry to bother you, I just wanted to get in some extra practice this morning."
"Hmm at least one other person is taking this seriously." She heard him mumble as he walked over to her.
"Was uh was that your solo that you were working on? It, uh, it looks great so far." She said, trying to lift his mood.
"Hardly. There's no way it's gonna be good enough to beat that Ten Lee kid from Korean Uni. They flew him to Korea from Thailand as a dance transfer. He's their ringer and he's a damn good one too." Jaehyun huffed out bitterly.
"Well it's a good thing you're a damn good dancer yourself. You're the reigning national champion for a reason you know." She said, walking up to him and holding out a bottle of water.
"Thanks." He said, taking it from her. "But I'm gonna need to be better than my usual to beat this kid. Right now, my best isn't good enough. I need to be perfect."
"Nobody's perfect." She said with a sigh, sitting down next to him. "You can't be so hard on yourself or you won't perform your best."
"I know I just... it's a lot of pressure. I need to win this nationals."
"Jaehyun, dance isn't everything. It might feel like it is, but it's not. Who wouldn't want to win nationals, but it's not like your life depends on it." She said with a reassuring smile.
"Easy for you to say." He scoffed, shocking her.
"What'a that supposed to mean?"
"Oh come on Hyemi, everyone on the team knows how smart you are. You do well in school, you'll have a future outside of dance."
"You do well too, Jaehyun."
"I know, just..." he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
"You don't need to tell me, Jaehyun. But I'm here to listen if you want to talk."
He let out a sigh, looking at her before continuing.
"I've poured my whole life into dance. You're mom supports you and Taeyong in this, mine don't. Running this team and competing was a big risk for me. The only career I intend to follow after I graduate is as a dancer, and without support from my parents, I have to be perfect."
"Jaehyun, I had no idea."
"No one does. I try to pretend I'm above everyone else, but that's why I'm so hard on you guys. I'm scared, Hyemi. I'm scared of what might happen to me and my future if I fail. We can't fail."
"We won't, Jaehyun."
"How do you know that?" He said, looking at her with so much worry and doubt in his eyes.
"I don't. But I know you and I know our team. And I know that we'll work our asses off and give it all we got. And-" she gently gripped his hand. "I know that you're an amazing dancer. And I'm not the only one who sees it."
She smiled at him as they looked into each other's eyes. She saw the doubt swirling in his gaze slowly fade to comfort. He trusted her.
"Come on." She said, pulling him to his feet. "Let's dance."
"Yeah we should run the group dance since-"
"No not the group dance."
"What?"
"You need a break from sectional practice. Let's just do something new. Take your mind off of all of it." She smiled at him, turning to the computer and randomly choosing a song for them to dance to.
Hyemi smiled as I Like Me Better by Lauv started playing over the speakers, dragging Jaehyun with her to the center of the floor.
"Do you know some choreo to this song or something?" Jaehyun asked stiffly.
"Nope, just do whatever. I'll follow your lead, you follow mine, let's just improv and have some fun!"
"Uh..." he trailed off awkwardly.
"Come on, Jaehyun. You were there for me when I needed it, and now I'm here for you. Just let loose a little."
She pushed away from him and began improving, a big goofy smile on her face. Soon, Jaehyun began to smile to and joined in. It was crazy how well the two of them danced together.
It looked as if they had choreographed the dance together by how smoothly they moved around one another. Each of them seemed to know the other's next move, throwing in jumps, turns, and lifts without even saying anything.
Jaehyun lifted her into the sky, holding up her small frame with one arm before lowering her to the ground as the music ended. They were both smiling and laughing as he carefully placed her on the ground in front of him, their bodies pressed flush against one another while they caught their breaths. They stared into each other's eyes, both of them sparkling with adrenaline and happiness, their faces only inches apart from one another.
"Wasn't that fun, Jaehyun?" She said, grinning at him.
"Yeah it was. Y-you're amazing, Hyemi."
Her cheeks reddened at his compliment, looking away from him. Jaehyun used his hand to gently tilt her chin up, making her look at him as he opened his mouth to say something else but was quickly interrupted by loud cheers coming from the far end of the room.
Jaehyun instantly let go of her waist and the two stepped apart as they turned to their teammates who had been watching them.
"Wow! I didn't know you guys choreographed a duet! That was so good!" Sana said as she walked up to them.
"Yeah, Hye, since when do you two dance together?" Jaemin said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"Your chemistry was so good. That lift? Amazing! I can't believe you two are already prepping for Nationals!" Momo added on.
"Oh, that's not for nationals." Hyemi said, refusing to make eye contact with Jaehyun as her cheeks reddened in embarrassment.
"It wasn't?"
"Nope. I know I've been extra hard on you guys lately, and Hyemi was just helping me calm down a bit." He said, looking down at her with a smile.
"Well, thanks Hyemi, I don't know if I could've taken another 6 hour practice today." Chaeyoung said, throwing her arm around Hyemi before all of them began stretching.
"You, uh, you feeling better now, Jaehyun?" Hyemi asked as she approached him.
"A lot better, thanks to you. I still have to at least try and be perfect, but it's nice to have been able to tell someone about it."
"Of course. Like you said, now we each have our own little secret. And, uh, if you ever want another set of eyes to look at your solo, you know who to call."
She dipped her head to him with a smile before turning to help Jaemin and Yuta stretch. Jaehyun watched her talk to the two other boys with a fond smile on his face.
"Lee Hyemi, you're truly something else."