In which there's sister time and presentations.
•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•
Saturday, one of the very few days where she could wake up late with no worries in the world. And she had been almost crushed by her dog.
Mirae had hoped to have a good night sleep after the end of the long week full of school work and shame after being titled as 'dancing queen' by her Australian seatmate—at least he got the decency to call her like that only when they were in class so no one would hear Felix—but she had been proven otherwise.
The previous night she had been up all night watching a marathon on Netflix with her sister of their favorite drama 'Goblin', and only had stopped when they noticed it was almost four in the morning. Since it was Saturday, she had hoped to sleep until probably midday, recovering not only from the lack of sleep from the marathon, but also from the whole school week's, but no—Peter just had to lay on top of her that morning.
The Golden barked slightly when she made a choking sound as she rolled over, and he went down her bed. Mirae sat up and ruffled her already messy bed-hair and yawned as she bent over to grab her phone.
Reminder: presentation at five pm of SOOBIN, CHAN, WOOJIN...
"Oh, crap," she groaned and laid back on her back. "Hold on, what time is it?" she mumbled and raised her phone, letting out a cry of disappointment.
Well, at least she had accomplished her goal of sleeping until midday.
Being almost one in the afternoon, Mirae had about three and a half hours to have lunch/breakfast, get showered choose what she would wear and a half an hour to arrive, just in case there was a lot of traffic or if she got lost.
"What if I don't go?" she chuckled sadly and looked at her dog. "Would that be bad, Peter?"
But, of course, the Golden just stared and his nostrils moved a single bit. She would have been completely freaked out if her dog had blurted out a response to her.
Finally, after some minutes of more mopping around and wondering if it was really worth it getting out of bed, Mirae got out of her room and slowly walked down the stairs, feeling her body heavily as if she had run a five-kilometers marathon.
Her parents worked on Saturdays as well, so she was all alone with Miyoung, unless she had gotten out to do whatever she does when she's not at home and not on the university. Mirae looked what was inside some pots on the stove and smiled widely at the sight of spicy noodles and rice balls on the two pots. Quickly, she grabbed a bowl and poured in her portion and took a smaller plate to put in two rice cakes. She poured herself a glass of water and sat on the table, happily scrolling down her Instagram timeline as she ate the noodles.
Half way the second rice cake and the noodles all gone, Miyoung appeared through the door with the most half asleep face Mirae had ever seen in her sister.
"You just woke up?" Mirae asked with an airy chuckle.
Her sister nodded slowly and poured herself her portion of food in similar plates as Mirae's. "I need at least ten hours of sleep on a daily basis, but when I stay up all night I need at least twenty."
Miyoung plopped down in the seat in front and started slurping in her noodles, which slightly made Mirae's nerves go tight. She knew a huge amount of the city's population slurped while eating noodles, but it still made her unbelievably uncomfortable—she was more of a silent eater.
"So," Miyoung spoke after she had finished her noodles, Mirae slightly feeling thankful, "what are your plans for today? Should we finish 'Goblin'?"
Mirae slightly chuckled and shook her head, "I can't. Do you remember Soobin unnie? Well, she and some friends from school are having a competition this afternoon and they asked me to go."
"Where is it?"
"At KJ Dance and Arts Academy, I think."
Miyoung's eyes popped up and gasped loudly at the name, "KJ?! I never thought Soobin was going there!"
"She's not. She's at another one called JYP, but the—"
"JYP?!" Miyoung shrieked. "Are you kidding me?! Those two are on the top three of the best dance and arts academies of the whole fucking country! And you're telling me your friends go there?!"
"You know, your brother-in law goes there too," she chuckled, remembering Felix also going to JYP, which completely surprised Miyoung.
"What?! The kid that had dinner this week goes there?!" When Mirae nodded in between laughs, Miyoung shook her head with an amused expression. "I can't believe it. I've heard is really hard to be accepted there. Like, you have to be extremely good, and that academy just makes you even freaking better."
"Yeah, well, I don't know how good my friends are," she shrugged, "but I said I'd go."
"I'll take you there," Miyoung stated and bit her rice cake, "I have nothing to do, and Nate's busy today doing his research for his thesis."
"Right, you're into the older-men kink."
"Choi Mire!" her sister gasped and stared at her in shock. "You did not! Who would've thought I'd live to see the day you'd say the word 'kink'. Which, by the way I do not. I like Nate because he's everything I dream on a guy, and his accent just makes him hotter."
"Okay, fine, whatever you say" she rolled her eyes. "Now I just have to choose what I'll wear," she sighed and Miyoung chuckled.
"But before that, did you tell mom and dad? So, you know, they won't be calling you like crazies when they don't see you at home?"
Mirae quickly nodded, her eyes popping a bit, "Of course! I asked them yesterday before they went to bed and said it was fine if I came back before eleven."
"You're almost nineteen, why do you still have a curfew?" her sister scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I never listened to the curfew and just arrived when I finished having fun."
"That's why you were constantly grounded, you know; if I follow our parent's rules, I can be free to do whatever I want to because I'm trustable and they know I listen to them. Besides I know they're right when they worry, so I try to do the least to make them worry even more."
"You're such a good kid, I don't know if I should pity you or be proud of you."
"I don't care, I just don't want to be anywhere near your grounding's record."
"Hey! I got that record and still had fun! Now who's the real winner here?"
"Me, because I stopped being grounded since I was seven," Mirae smirked and got up, taking her plated to the kitchen sink while she heard the outraged gasp of her sister. She washed the bowl, plate and utensils neatly and let them dry on top of a mop on the counter before she returned to the table.
"So, you think we can watch another episode?" Miyoung asked as she got up with her empty bowl, "'Cause I want to see what happened after the seventh episode."
"Just one!" she agreed and went to the living room with her phone to get ready the drama. "I want to have enough time to get ready!"
"Why? Is it a date?" Miyoung came back and plopped on the couch while Mirae played the episode. "Or is there a boy?"
"No, there's no one," she frowned and mumbled, but her tips of her lips betrayed her and rose up.
Miyoung gasped again and sat straight, her hand above her mouth, "What?! Tell me everything now!"
Mirae glared at her sister as if she was crazy and shook her head, "What are you talking about? There's nothing to tell because there's—"
"Shut up dude, I know you and your weird trying-to-get-away-with-the-lie faces," Miyoung pushed her shoulder and crossed her legs on the couch. Just then, Mirae noticed they both were still on their pajamas, which made her almost giggle.
"I'm not lying, there's no one," she insisted.
"But there's someone, am I right?"
Why hadn't she learned to lie? Why did her heart had to race up whenever she was lying? Why couldn't just bring up another topic? Why couldn't she lie comfortably? Well, in fact, what she should be asking herself shouldn't be that. Instead, why did her sister had to be so good at reading her?!
Mirae shook her head even before her sister had finished asking the question, "No, there's no one. I'm all alone, living my life with my dogs and suffering from school work."
"I mean, that's true," her sister shrugged, "but you're not being honest."
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, firstly, mom told me about the boy your brought home without telling dad," she wiggled her eyebrows and Mirae wanted to hide.
"Mom said she'd tell him! She told me there was no need to call him, and I believed her since, you know, their married and all."
"No matter what mom says, you have to call dad," Miyoung chuckled. "Mom is a romantic who dreams to see her two daughters getting married, and if you tell her you're bringing a boy home, she's not going to tell dad at all."
"You make it sound as if we did something you'd do with your boyfriend," she uttered, looking around uncomfortable.
Miyoung did a small shocked sound and widened her eyes, "Then what did you do? Play cards? Come on, Mirae! I'm your sister! I know what I did when I was your age with boys at home alone."
"My God, unnie," Mirae looked at her in disgust and shook her head. "We just studied, nothing less, nothing more."
"Yeah, right, studying," Miyoung scoffed and breathed in, "well, if you don't want to admit what you did, then so be it. I'll find out eventually who this boys is and I'll talk to him."
"No, what the hell! That's completely creepy, it's none of your business and I think it should be illegal that you're trying to find about my friendships."
"Well, lucky for you, it's not illegal," she winked and laughed at the judging face on Mirae. "Come on! I'm just messing with you! Do whatever you want with whoever you want, but you need to have protection and keep me updated so I can help you with him."
"There is nothing going on!" Mirae yelled out and sighed, "I'm just...confused."
"What, what, what? Is it the Felix kid that was at dinner?"
"What does he has to do with anything?"
Miyound shrugged, "I don't know any of your school friends. Wait—is it Chan?"
"How do you know him?" Mirae raised her eyebrow at her sister.
"I've seen him when I used to drive you to your hang outs with him, Soobin and her boyfriend. Oh, and the kid that lives nearby that's adorable," she smiled cutely at the memory of the smiling kid with braces.
"You mean Jeongin?"
"I don't know his name, but I think it is," Miyoung shrugged again and turned to the screen. "Anyways, what makes you confused about this unknown boy? Do you like somebody else?"
"I've never liked anybody, unnie," she confessed and bit her lip. "That's the thing. And I'm feeling weird when I'm with him lately, and I don't understand why." She raised her hand to fix her glasses, but ended up almost poking her eye. "I mean, I don't even know him that well and I'm here worrying about a sudden heart race. I'm just overreacting, that's all."
Miyoung frowned and slowly shook her head, "Don't dismiss it so lightly, Mirae. Maybe it is what you think it is, maybe it's just a small attraction that'll just pass by, or maybe it's just your hormones reacting at the smallest contact with a boy, who knows? Just don't break your head thinking about it. Try to be take a small distance and see if the feeling goes away by itself, it has happened to me. Or you can try to know the guy and see if what's moving your heart is his face or who he is."
"I don't understand," she admitted and shut her eyes. "But I'll try the thing about taking distance. Hopefully I'll go back to normal."
•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•
"Wait, what time did you said you had to go out?"
Mirae looked at her sister for a moment, looked back at the screen and almost chocked on air when she saw the time. She jumped out of the couch and yelled as she ran up to her room, taking her clothes on her way to the shower, "In fifteen minutes!"
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.
She was mostly probably to be late, she knew it.
Her sister could be the fastest and safest driver out there, but there was no way she could shower and take Mirae to KJ academy in less than fifteen minutes. Even if she did, Mirae had to first make sure to shower, choose the clothes, get dressed, apply at least a bit of makeup, put on her shoes, tie her hair, make sure her bandage is on place after the whole rush, grab her small hands-free bag and go out.
Yeah. She was totally going to be late.
Still, Mirae didn't give up.
She made sure to shower completely, brushed her teeth, her hair and let it dry naturally while she chose her clothes; she put on her undergarments as fast as her hands allowed her to and slid above her head the grey short sleeved blouse and sat on the bed to put on her dark blue jeans. After sliding on a pair of socks, she put on her black sneakers and went back to the bathroom to comb her hair onto her usual ponytail.
After glancing outside and almost becoming even blinder due to the strong sun rays, she grabbed her black baseball cap and put it on, making sure the ponytail was intact. She put on her glasses and made sure everything she might need was inside her hands-free purse and ran downstairs.
If Mirae hadn't been so worried about arriving late, she might've yelled at her sister for still being on her pajamas. But instead, she only raised her eyebrows at Miyoung and sighed, "Whatever works for you, unnie. We've got to hurry."
"Don't worry, KJ isn't that far from here," Miyoung dismissed the worry as they both climbed on her white Elantra GT. "You won't be that late."
"I don't want to be late at all, you know," Mirae snapped as she put on her seatbelt, glancing at the clock on her phone. "I just hope they won't call me yet."
"Don't say that, you'll invoke them," her sister chuckled driving out of the street onto the main avenue.
And just as Miyoung finished talking, the phone's screen lit up with an in-coming call from the only boy her father didn't see as a threat, being Kim Woojin. With a pained face, she slid her thumb across the screen and put the phone on her ear, "Hello?"
"Are you here yet?" Soobin's voice spoke instead, startling her.
"Me? Oh, uh, su-sure, yeah, I'll be..."
"Did you fall asleep?" her friend chuckled over the line, "or did you lost the track of time by playing with Peter and Max?"
"None of the above. I was doing...important stuff," she uttered and strangled her laughter when she saw Miyoung raising her hand in thumbs up.
"Goblin is certainly an important stuff, yes girl."
"Don't worry, I'm not far away, unnie," Mirae assured Soobin as they turned right. Her heart fell to her stomach when her sister sped up through the almost-empty street and did a dangerous turn to the right, re-appearing on the main avenue but with no traffic nor stop signs. "If I survive my sister, of course," she breathed, her other hand holding onto the seat.
Soobin laughed on the phone, "Hurry, we're not sure what order we have to perform and I don't want you to miss anything, especially how we're going to crush KJ academy."
"Sure, sure," she gasped as Miyoung sped on the next street. "I just hope I won't die before that."
"Oh, calm down," Miyoung scoffed as she stopped behind a black Sorento. She pointed at it and turned to Mirae with a small smile, "I dream of owning one of those beauties."
"First, you need to learn how to not give the passengers a heart attack."
"That's why I never offer mom and dad to take them anywhere," Miyoung smirked and kept driving.
"Mirae, I'd love to continue listening to your lovely sister fight, but I have to get my makeup done. See you in a bit!" Soobin spoke and the line went off.
She put on her phone back on her lap and pressed her sweaty palms together, trying to compress the anxious feeling that was growing on her chest. She had to arrive in the next three minutes, find the place where the competition was going to be held and—was she going to be all alone?!
"Fuck," she accidentally cursed as she noticed her sister was in pajamas.
"Wow, you cursed!" her sister raised her eyebrows in amusement, "what's wrong, kid?"
"I'm going to be alone in a crowd of people," she whispered. "I'm going to get lost, unnie. Why the hell didn't I think of it earlier?"
"I thought some friends had invited you?"
"Yeah, but they're all performing."
"Soobin's also performing?!"
"I know, right?!" Mirae agreed and exhaled deeply, her shoulders falling on her sides. "And it's hot outside..."
"So?"
"I'm going to sweat."
Miyoung glared at her blank-faced and rolled her eyes, "Well, boo-hoo. How sad, you'll sweat like all the other humans out there. What a fucking tragedy."
Mirae was about to answer back, but her eyes met a big sign with a weird symbol that somehow spelled KJ with the inscription 'Dance and Arts Academy' underneath. Her finger quickly pointed to the building and continuously tapped on the window as she turned to her sister, "Looks, it's there! We arrived!"
Her sister only chuckled and nodded, stopping the car at the entrance. "Have fun, and remember to call me if you need me to pick you up or if you have a ride home. Unless, of course, you want to call mom or dad."
"No, thanks, they'll ask questions that will only make me want to dig a hole and hide forever."
"Dad would probably lock you on the house until you're like twenty seven or something," Miyoung chuckled and Mirae nodded in agreement. "See you later, kid."
"Bye... and remember to take a shower when you return—"
"Get out of my car."
With a smile, she got out of the vehicle and walked inside the luxury-looking building. She checked the instructions Soobin had texted her hours before and asked the doorman where the auditorium three was located.
"Fifth floor to the left, miss," the man said and pointed politely to the elevator on the left. "Welcome to KJ."
She thanked with a bow and jogged to the elevator, biting her lip as she noticed she was already ten minutes late. As she was hoping the even hadn't started yet, she went up the floors and got down on the fifth, appearing in a dim-lighted hall that led to a single double door.
She pushed the door as lightly as she could and cringed when she noticed there was music loudly blasting through the speakers and an audience already occupying the huge amount of seats on the auditorium. Mirae got inside and sprinted onto the last row of seats where there was people and plopped down, her hand going up her glasses as an instinct.
Her eyes went down to her phone screen and quickly typed a message to Soobin letting her know she had survived her sister's driving and saved it back inside, now focusing on the performing unknown boy group.
Even if she didn't know any of the boys, she felt Goosebumps all over her arms. Maybe it was the chilly air conditioner of the auditorium, but Mirae knew it wasn't; those unknown boys were incredible. She liked the fierce with which they were performing, and she was more than eager to see her friends performing.
Suddenly, there was a movement to her right followed by a falling body. She tried to help whoever had fallen right next to her, but the person quickly plopped onto the last empty seat on her row with an embarrassed chuckle.
"Are you okay?" she whispered to the person and almost choked on air when they revealed their face.
Mirae had seen plenty of handsome boys all over the city, whether it was when she had been out shopping with her mom and sister or when buying groceries with her dad or when she was going to school with Jeongin and a handsome stranger stood nearby due to the lack of seats. Whichever had been the situation, she didn't remember having seen such a charming smile on a young man.
The demigod-like guy broke into a smile and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I'm alright. I'm just extremely clumsy."
And he giggled. Have mercy.
Mirae had never thought a giggle could sound both cute and attractive at the same time, but there's always a first time for everything.
"So," Mr. Handsome Face asked when the group finished their performance and were giving their final bow, "which side are you on?"
"I don't know much about neither of the academies, honestly," she replied and she fought the urge to screech when Mr. Handsome sympathetically smiled. "What about you?"
"I'm sure the JYP people are going to kill it," he grinned and she had the perfect view of a strangely attractive set of teeth, which made her slightly frown. "I have two friends that go there and they're performing today."
"Really?" she raised her eyebrows, "who are they?"
"Bambam and Yugyeom, you might not know them though," he chuckled and Mirae agreed with a nod. "Wait, I think—yeah, there they are," he smiled and pointed at the stage where a group of boys was coming up.
The names reminded her of her friends from her old bowling days, but said nothing about it. Instead, Mirae fixed her glasses and raised her chin since she was way smaller than Mr. Handsome and her eyebrows went high at the sight of seven well-proportioned young men that had started dancing to an up-beat song. Unconsciously she moved her head along the beat as she watched the performance, feeling her attention completely drawn by the strength of the choreography.
"The tallest one and the skinniest one are my friends," Mr. Handsome told her once the song changed. Mirae almost laughed at his choice of words, but couldn't say anything when his attention was drawn back to the stage.
Just then she noticed his face wasn't all that handsome; yes, he was extremely good-looking, but something about his face made her feel like she was staring at a very grown child. Maybe it was the way he smiled, his sharp canines reminding her of her two dogs when they were younger, or the small wrinkles at the tip of his eyes when he smiled at his friends. There was something, she knew it, but couldn't exactly point it out.
It didn't matter, anyway. Soon after, Mr. Handsome was going to be another part of her long list of her momentary crushes she constantly had whenever she got out. She was well-aware of the attractiveness of men, and did nothing to avoid glancing at any likeable face she randomly met on the street.
But she had never been that close to an unknown, friendly man. It was too good to be true; there had to be something wrong with him, otherwise he'd be the most unfair combination of perfect traits by the universe. It was no fair a man could be so Mr. Handsome without having something weird or out of place.
And if he did, he'd probably not be single.
Why was she even thinking of that, anyways?
With a slight shake of her head, Mirae shifted her attention back to the stage, brushing off the platonic crush towards Mr. Handsome. She wasn't going to see him anymore, so might as well enjoy the performance without losing her head.
Once the performance finished after the third song, Mr. Handsome Face did a standing ovation as the seven membered group bowed to the audience and he yelled the names of his friends while Mirae giggled at his extra-ness.
"Now tell me. How can they not win to KJ?" he raised his eyebrow upon siting back down. Mirae did everything possible to breathe as normally as she could and smiled with a nod, agreeing on the huge talent on JYP.
"Yeah, they were very talented."
However, the next group from KJ almost made Mirae fall from her seat.
They four membered group didn't do any extravagant choreography, but their flow and audience relation won her heart. While a young looking man snag in a soothing voice, the other was clapping and swinging side to side with swag flowing all over him; a third one was waving his hands at the back and making funny expressions while the last member song with a husky but honey-like voice that melted her heart completely.
"Okay, they're really good," Mr. Handsome admitted when they went down the stage. "But I'm staying with JYP."
"I don't know, it's hard to pick sides when they both are really, really good."
"Well, unlike you, I'm loyal to my friends and will support them even if they break a leg."
"Hey! I'm loyal to my friends too, you know."
"Really?" he raised his eyebrow and pressed his elbow onto the armrest in a way that Mirae believed should be illegal, "Which Academy do they belong to?"
"I'll tell you when they perform," she grinned and looked upwards, where girl group was coming up. She gasped at the sight of the familiar blurry silhouette of Soobin and quickly clapped out.
Mr. Handsome chuckled again and said, "Guess she's in JYP."
"Shh, it's starting."