"So, Jaemin, how are things with Yeji going? She said that you two have been hanging out, hmm?" Hyemi said, nudging his shoulder as they made their way through the hallway the following week.
Jaehyun and Hyemi had been meeting up early every morning for practice. She'd been helping him with his solo, he was helping her with the group dance, and the two of them decided to actually choreograph a duet together just for fun.
"Maybe, maybe not. But what I really want to talk about is you and Mr. Dance Dictator. Who knew you had a little fling for old icicle face."
"Oh stop." She said, shoving him. "I was just helping him with his solo so that he wouldn't be so hard on us. With sectionals coming up, he's been going crazy."
"I mean, yeah that's true, but still. You two looked have been looking awfully cozy."
"It's called being nice, Jaem. And we're just dancing."
"Sure seemed like more than that from the way he's been treating you lately." He replied, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"what are you on about."
"Oh come on, don't be clueless Hyemi. He's always staring at you now, he complements everything you do right and makes an effort to actually help you with what you do wrong. Anytime you say anything to him, he actually listens. And whenever Yuta drags you off to look at his solo, he spends the whole time brooding in the corner."
"Okay, now you're exaggerating."
"I'm not, I swear. And you seem to be all smiley around him too. I thought you and Yuta were gonna end up together, since it's obvious he likes you, but now I'm not so sure."
"Jaemin, you need to chill. Yuta and I are just friends, and Jaehyun doesn't like me like that. And I don't like him like that either."
"I don't know, Hyemi, are you sure that there isn't some small part of you that likes him?"
She paused, thinking for a moment. He has been really sweet to her lately. And she does smile a lot around him.
"Whatever..." she trailed off, trying to hide the redness on her face.
"I knew it! You have a crush on-"
"Shut up, I don't! I'm just... keeping my options open." She whisper-yelled, slapping a hand over his mouth.
"EW DID YOU JUST LICK MY HAND?"
"You're fault for putting it there, missy."
"Ugh, you're disgusting." She groaned, wiping her hand on his jacket.
"Hey hey hey, watch the jacket." He said, flicking her hand away.
"You know, you're something else." She laughed out, rolling her eyes.
"And that's why you love me." He replied with a grin.
"What am I going to do with you, Na Jaemin?"
"I should be saying the same thing about you, Lee H-"
"LEE HYEMI!"
He was cut off by a shriek coming from behind them. The pair turned around to see Kyunghee and Iseul storming over.
"You bitch! You're the reason we got kicked off the team!"
The two girls got right in her face, shoving Jaemin aside as they backed her into the lockers.
"How fucking dare you get us kicked off!"
"I didn't-"
"I don't even want to hear it you, you lowlife,
stuck-up, piece of shit! You've ruined everything for us!"
Hyemi flinched as Kyunghee raised her arm to slap her, letting out a frustrated shriek as she did so. Hyemi closed her eyes and lifted her arms to block her face, but she didn't feel anything.
Slowly she opened her eyes to see Jaehyun standing right next to her, Kyunghee's arm gripped tightly in his fist as he stared down at her with a glare.
"Walk away." He growled, staring the two girls down.
"J-Jaehyun..."
"I said walk away. Now. Before I do something that both of us regret."
He released her arm, shoving her back harshly into Iseul and putting himself between them and Hyemi. He took a step towards them, a dominating aura about him. The two girls whimpered pitifully before turning and running away down the hallway.
After they left, Jaehyun instantly spun around, bending down to be level with Hyemi.
"They didn't hit you, did they? Was I too late?" He asked, scanning over her face for any sign of injury.
"N-no, t-they didnt. I'm okay."
"Thank god." She heard him whisper under his breath as he straightened up, a small smile now on his face.
"You'd think those girl would realize by now that they've lost." He said with a deep chuckle. "But whatever, stupid never fails I guess. Are you gonna be okay now? They shouldn't bother you, at least for a little bit."
"Yeah I'm good. Thanks again, Jaehyun."
"No problem, I'll see you during practice later."
Hyemi watched as he turned and walked down the hallway, her eyes following his shrinking figure.
"Oh, he doesn't like me at all blah blah blah." Jaemin said with a mocking, high-pitched tone. "Bullshit. Did you even see that just now? He's so into you."
"Oh shut up, let's go to class." She said, pushing off the wall and dragging him down the hallway with her.
"Say whatever you want, but this ship will sail!"
- - -
"Hey Yeji!" Hyemi said, seeing the girl waiting outside of her practice room.
"Hey Hyemi! How was practice?"
"It was great but now I'm starving."
"Good thing I'm always hungry, let's go grab some food!" Yeji said, smiling as the rest of the team members flooded out behind them.
"See you in the morning Hyemi!" Jaemin said as he stepped out of the room. "Oh, h-hi Yeji." He added shyly as he noticed her.
"Hey, Jaemin... how've you been?" Yeji replied with a slight blush.
"Pretty good... I'll uh I'll leave you girls too it." He laughed out with an awkward smile, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking down the hallway.
Hyemi watched the whole interaction with an amused smile on her face, watching Jaemin's retreating figure and fighting back the urge to laugh at how awkward that was.
"Goodnight, Hyemi, nice job today." She turned to see Jaehyun looking at her with a smile after locking the practice room door.
"Oh, thanks Jaehyun, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Are you gonna be okay getting to the girl's apartment? I can give you a ride if you want."
"Oh don't worry about it. Yeji and I are going to grab some food first, I'll be fine."
"Alright, text me when you get there and be careful."
"Got it, will do."
He started to walk away but quickly turned around.
"Oh, and uh, can you swing by the studio early again tomorrow? I have some new stuff that I added to my solo and I want your opinion."
"Yeah of course, I'll see you then."
He dipped his head to her before turning and walking off on his own.
"Wow, Mr. Dance Dictator is being nice to you. He actually smiled. I don't know how you do it Hyemi..." Yeji said, shaking her head as they watched Jaehyun leave.
Hyemi just rolled her eyes, linking their arms together with a laugh and dragging Yeji out of the building.
- - -
"So, Yeji, I need your advice on something." Hyemi asked as they walked out of the restaurant.
"Yeah, anything."
"So... there's this guy that I might like, but honestly I don't know for sure."
Yeji immediately straightened up, her full focus on Hyemi.
"Okay, so tell me about him."
"Well... he's an amazing dancer, and we've really gotten close by dancing together. I don't think we would've been friends if we hadn't been on the All Stars team together, but he's been really nice to me. He pushed me when I need to be pushed, and he listens to me when I'm having a tough time. He's really helped me out with the whole Kyunghee thing. And especially recently we've been hanging out a lot and... I don't know, I think I might like him as more than friends."
Hyemi looked back at Yeji and, surprisingly, she had a upset expression on her face.
"What's wrong, Yeji?"
"Nothing, nothing... I'm sure he likes you back. You two will be great together..." she trailed off with a sad smile on her face.
"Why are you so down?"
"It doesn't matter, I never had a chance with him."
Hyemi was shocked by Yeji's remark, her eyes widening.
"You like him too? Do you even know him?"
"What do you mean? We've been hanging out a lot recently." Yeji replied, tilting her head.
"What? Since when? I thought you were scared of him."
"Scared of him? Why would I be scared of him? I get a little nervous around him, sure, but definitely not scared." Yeji huffed out.
"Oh... I had no idea that you were friends with Jaehyun." Hyemi said sadly.
"Wait. Jaehyun?" Yeji exclaimed sitting up straighter. "The guy you like, the dancer on your team who you've been hanging out with, is Jaehyun?"
"Yeah...? Who did you think I was talking about?" Hyemi asked confused.
Yeji instantly burst into a fit of giggles, letting out a relieved sigh, her bubbly persona coming back instantly.
"I thought you were talking about Jaemin! Not Jaehyun! I'm terrified of that man!"
At Yeji's confession, Hyemi instantly started laughing as well.
"What? Me and Jaemin? Ew no! You can have him! He's a great guy, but we're just friends." Hyemi replied, making a disgusted face at the idea.
"I'm so sorry. I should've just asked you directly before assuming." Yeji laughed out. "So tell me more about you and Jaehyun."
"Well," Hyemi started, calming down her laughs, "I don't really know, there's a whole other side to him that I didn't really know. He's actually really funny, and goofy and sweet when he wants to be. It's weird, he for some reason trusts me. We trust each other and I don't really know why, but something about him makes me feel safe."
"That's sweet though. Love doesn't always have to make sense, plus, you're dancers. You connect in a different way, you know?"
"Yeah I guess you're right. Dancing with him... it's unreal. He and I just... gel I guess."
"Well that's adorable. I love it. And I think you should definitely go for it with him since he obviously makes you happy." Yeji said with a grin. "Do you think he likes you back?"
"I don't know...." Hyemi trailed off. "Jaemin is convinced he does, but it's hard to tell. I mean, with Yuta, for example, I know he likes me, he makes it very obvious. But we're just friends. With Jaehyun... he's harder to read. He's not so public and straightforward with his affection, so it's hard to tell."
"Hmm.... well think about the little things. You said you've been spending more time together, and it sounds like he's the one initiating it. That's sounds like he cares about you to me." Yeji replied with a hopeful smile.
"Yeah I mean, he's been really nice to me recently, but I can't tell if it's because he likes me and actually cares about me, or if it's because he wants us to do well at Sectionals."
"Hmm, well it could be both?"
"I don't know about that, it's probably nothing-"
Hyemi was cut off as her phone dinged with a text.
"One second." Hyemi said, pulling out her phone.
Jaehyun
Hey, just want to make sure you're okay.
She smiled at the message, quickly typing out a response
Jaehyun
Yeah, I'm walking home with Yeji right now, we're down the block.
Good. Get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.
Night, Jae.
"Seems like something to me." Yeji said, reading the messages from over Hyemi's shoulder.
Hyemi turned to look at her with a disbelieving huff.
"I'm serious! He's checking up on you! That doesn't just happen. He obviously cares about you!"
"You really think so?" Hyemi asked, a shy smile growing on her face.
"100% That boy likes you. As he should." Hyemi laughed as they stopped in front of her apartment.
"Well, thanks Yeji, maybe I'll make a move soon. Text me when you get home, alright?"
"Yeah yeah I will. Go and shoot your shot, I'm rooting for you girl!" Yeji called as Hyemi walked into her apartment with a wave.
Maybe I do like him... and maybe he does like me...
Hyemi couldn't help but smile to herself as she unlocked the door to the girl's apartment and walked in.