"Hey Jaehyun!" Hyemi said as she walked into the studio the next morning with a smile on her face.
"Morning, Hyemi, thanks for coming."
"Yeah of course."
"Did you have fun last night?" He asked as he stretched.
"Yeah, it was nice to catch up with Yeji again. And thanks for checking up on me, Jae. I mean, Jaehyun."
He looked at her quizzically when she corrected herself.
"You can call me Jae."
Now it was Hyemi's turn to be surprised.
"I thought you said only your close friends could call you that."
"Well, I'd like to think were pretty close now, dont you?"
She couldn't help but smile as she nodded her head.
"Yeah, you're right."
Jaehyun hummed in satisfaction, matching her smile as he rose to his feet.
"Okay so I think I figured out the last four eight counts of my solo and I want your opinion."
"Alright, let's see it."
Hyemi watched as he went through his solo again. At this point, she'd seen it so many times that she probably could perform it herself, but every time he danced, it still left her in awe.
"So what did you think?" He asked, breathing heavily after showing her the new additions.
"I think it looks pretty good."
"But...?" He said, standing up with a knowing smile and walking closer to her. She let out a giggle before continuing.
"But maybe you could replace the double pirouette with a longer turn combo and then go straight into the leap instead of having a pause there. It would build up more before the final tumbling pass."
Jaehyun nodded along as she spoke, trying his best to visualize what she wanted.
"Okay so like this?" He took a few steps away from her and executed the moves.
"Yeah, exactly. What do you think?"
"I think it's perfect." Jaehyun said, giving her a high-five. "I would've never thought of it myself, I'm so lucky to have your help."
"Well, we help eachother. We work pretty well together."
"That we do." The two of them smiled at one another for a moment before Jaehyun spoke again.
"So since that my solo is done and the group is looking good, do you maybe want to... I don't know, go do some thing else before practice? We have another 45 minutes until we start. I know a nice little cafe about five minutes off of campus, wanna go?"
Hyemi's heart instantly started beating quicker in her chest, excitement filling her whole body as she nodded. Seeing her reaction, Jaehyun smiled to himself, finding it cute how she started literally bouncing from foot to foot.
"Sounds great, I could totally use a coffee right now."
"Well then, let's go!"
- - -
Jaehyun watched with an amused smile as Hyemi looked around the cute, white and blue themed cafe. She had a big smile on her face as she viewed all the cute pastries and deserts.
"What would you like, Hyemi?" He asked as they approached the counter.
"Hmmm... I'll just have an iced cafe americano please!" She said with a smile.
"Make that two."
The cashier nodded as she rung them up, Jaehyun instantly handing her his card to pay.
"Oh, Jaehyun, you don't have to do that, I can pay for myself." She said as he took his card back from the cashier.
"Don't worry about it. Why don't you go and find us a table, I'll bring the drinks." He said, smiling at her as he spun her around towards the tables.
She couldn't help her rapidly beating heart, going to grab a small table by the windows. Now that Jaemin had made her finally realize her feelings, she felt touched by everything Jaehyun did.
Is this what it's like to like someone?
"Here you go." Jaehyun said, putting her coffee down and taking the seat across from her.
"Thanks."
"No problem. So, how've you been Hyemi? I feel like we do so much talk about dance that I haven't really checked up on you." He said, his focus completely on her.
"Well, there's not much to say, you already know all my deep dark secrets." She laughed out, Jaehyun chuckling along with her.
"Yeah, I guess we skipped a few steps in getting to know each other and jumped straight to the heavy stuff." He replied while nodding.
"Yeah, but it's been nice getting to know you through our morning practices."
"You've helped me so much with that, you have no idea. Hopefully I'll be able to win the solo category with your help."
"You'll be fine, you're solo is looking great. Definitely going to give Taeyong a run for his money."
"I hope so. I know you know that your brother and I don't exactly get along, but I'll give it to him, he's a good dancer... don't tell him I said that."
"Don't worry, I won't. I did have a question about that though."
"Yeah, go for it." He said, sitting up straighter in anticipation.
"I was really surprised that you picked me for your team, especially since I know you don't like my brother. I didn't think you'd ever offer me a spot no matter how good I was. I really thought you hated me... so why did you do it?"
Jaehyun let out a sigh, putting down his drink and looking intently at her.
"Not gonna lie, I never ever thought I'd take you either. Your brother and I are obviously rivals and I figured you'd be the same. When I saw you audition, we all knew you were good but I didn't believe it. I honestly thought it was all a hoax or just luck, so I figured I'd offer you a spot and let you crash and burn, just another way to get back at your brother."
"So what changed?"
"After the audition, seeing you dance in the empty auditorium... I don't know. I thought that you were only capable of doing over-rehearsed covers, but when I watched you improv I saw something and decided to give you a chance."
"Is that why you were so hard on me?"
"Yeah. Part of me refused to think you were the real deal, but you proved me wrong." He answered, nodding at her. "I, uh, I have a bit of a reputation, as I'm sure you're aware. I've run quite a few people off our team who couldn't handle it, and I thought you'd be the next one to go."
"I'm tougher than you'd think." She said with a glint in her eye.
"I think I found that to be pretty true. I've never had someone stand up to me, especially not a first year. It showed me that you cared. You have a passion and drive that not many other people have. I've always been frustrated with people not taking this seriously, but you do, and I respect you for that."
She nodded her head, processing everything he was saying with a small smile on her face.
"And honestly," he added, catching her attention. "As I began to see how tough and strong you were, it was shocking to see how those girls were bullying you."
"I mean, you know how it is, I never want to let people see you cry so I just shut up and take it."
"But you let me see you cry.... why?" He asked carefully, knowing that this might be a sore subject for her.
She paused, thinking for a moment as she felt the nerves prickling in her chest. Despite the discomfort, she trusted him.
"I don't know. As much as I've judged you for your reputation, you've never struck me as the type of person who would judge me in that way. In a weird way, I-I trust you. I think there's more to you than I know." She said, looking at him with a cocked eyebrow.
"Well I'm glad you trust me, because for some reason, I trust you too." He laughed out softly. "I don't know, there's something about you, Hyemi. There's more to you than you let on."
"Well, it's always nice to have an ally in school."
"That's very true. People can be so cutthroat, but I'm glad we have each other. And please, always tell me when something is bothering you, okay? I don't want anyone messing with you again."
"I will. Promise."
- - -
"This was a very nice start to the morning, thanks for joining me, Hyemi." He said as they walked through the hallways, people slowly starting to arrive for morning activities.
"Well, thanks for inviting me, it was nice to get to hang out away from dance as just us." She said with a smile.
"Yeah..." he turned to face her as they stopped in the hallway. "You know, Hyemi, I've been wanting to tell you this, but we've been hanging out a lot lately and I'm starting to-"
"JaeJae? Is that you?"
He was cut off my a shrill squeal coming from the end of the hallway. Hyemi turned to see an unfamiliar girl walking towards them.
"Jaehyunnie! It is you! Hi!"
The girl ran up to them, shoving Hyemi harshly to the side and throwing herself on top of Jaehyun as people slowly gathered around them.
"Who, uh, who is that?" Hyemi whispered to Yuta, watching the girl excitedly hug and talk to Jaehyun.
"Kim Yeonhee. Jaehyun's girl." He replied, watching to reunion as well.
Hyemi felt her mood drop as the girl continued to throw herself over Jaehyun.
"His... girlfriend? He has a girlfriend? Have they uh, been together long?" She asked bitterly.
"It's complicated." Yuta shrugged. "They're really on and off. She graduated this past year. She was on the All Stars team when Jae was a first year like yourself."
"Oh cool... so she went to nationals with you guys last year?" Hyemi asked, still watching them with a frown.
"Not exactly. She and Jae dated when he was a first year and then they broke up, or I should say, he broke up with her. She quit the team because of it but has been trying to get him back for years. They're relationship is pretty rocky." Yuta said, rolling his eyes.
"And um, has she been successful?"
"Hard to tell, Jae was kinda done with her after they broke up, but he's still a decent guy so he's nice to her. You can never really tell where they're at."
"So if she's graduated, why is she here?"
"I think her younger cousin or something is in your grade. I heard she's on Taeyong's team." Yuta shrugged. "But who cares, let her fawn over him and maybe he'll ease up on us, am I right?" He joked, nudging her shoulder.
Hyemi continued to watch as the two of them talked, unable to help the frown on her face. When she didn't respond, Yuta turned to look at her, only then noticing her expression. He followed her gaze, his eyes darting between her and Jaehyun as he slowly connected the dots. His face hardened as he stared down the other boy before grabbing Hyemi's hand and turning her away from them.
"Come on, let's go and do something else. Want to help me with my solo?" He said, grinning at her.
Despite feeling dejected about Jaehyun and Yeonhee, Hyemi couldn't reject Yuta's smile and bubbly energy, nodding her head and allowing him to drag her away.
//
"Jaehyunnie, I've missed you so much, have you missed me too?" Yeonhee said as she hugged him once more, making sure to push her boobs right up in front of his face.
Jaehyun just rolled his eyes, giving her a tight lipped smile.
"We've been pretty busy around here." He mumbled out awkwardly.
"But I'm sure you haven't forgotten about me, right JaeJae?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.
"Uh, yeah sure." He quickly said in response, scanning the crowd for Hyemi. "I'm actually pretty busy right now, Yeonhee so I-"
"Busy with what? Surely you have time for me, right?"
His eyes finally landed on Hyemi, seeing her conversing with Yuta. He quickly glanced at Yeonhee, trying to shake her off of him.
"Actually, Yeonhee, I don't right now, so if you could..." as he turned back to look for Hyemi, he frowned seeing Yuta dragging her away.
"So if I could what?" Asked the girl clinging to his arm.
"Nothing, just, whatever."
"Yay!"