In which there are accidents
a
nd awkward car rides.
•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•
"I will not get tired of saying that sports at last period on a Friday is not cool."
"What are you saying? It's the best!"
Mirae frowned, giving him a weird look. "Are you aware of what you just said?"
"Not everyone hates sports like you, okay?" He laughed.
"Who said I hate them? I just don't like chasing a ball for about an hour under the strong sunrays of the afternoon. I feel stupid."
"Are you saying all those professional players around the world are stupid for chasing the ball throughout the sport that give their life a sense?"
"Do not twist my words around, Hwang Hyunjin."
The tall boy chuckled, his eyes forming two small half-moons. "Come on, let's go to the rehearsal."
She nodded her head and followed him, frowning when he took the opposite turn when going downstairs. "Where are you going? The classroom is that way."
"Today is in the Auditorium," he answered. "We have to set positions and entrances and everything for tomorrow. Basically all the boring things before the show."
Oh, she thought as she nodded again, accommodating the bag on her shoulder. "Where are the other three?"
"I don't know," he shrugged with a small chuckle. "I think they mentioned something about going somewhere to eat, so I assume they're at the cafeteria."
"And why didn't you join them?"
"I'm not hungry, I ate a lot at lunch. What about you? Why were you alone?"
"Soyeon and Nora went home because they are in Paint class, so I'm basically always alone right before this," she shrugged, moving the bag on her hand around. "Whoa, that actually sounds sad."
"Don't worry, Jisung will make you company soon."
"You're going to piss off with that too?!"
She rolled her eyes as Hyunjin shot his head back in laughter, stumbling onto his own feet. She pretended to be angry by looking away with a scoff, but couldn't hold back her smile when Hyunjin laughed harder.
In between laughs they arrived to the Auditorium. Only when they were halfway through the eternal rows of seats they realized there was a mysterious silence floating around, so cold to the point where Mirae's arms got full with goose-bumps. She heard Hyunjin gasp loudly by her side, but before she could ask him what was going on he ran to the front of the Auditorium in a flash.
With a frown and feeling her breath choking up on her throat, she jogged through the Auditorium carefully so she wouldn't bump into any of the seats, but when she was around the first two rows, still a bit far from the stage, she saw it.
Well, she saw him.
He was being surrounded by literally everyone as he talked with Mrs. Wang. The woman, much to Mirae's surprise, had the most worried face as she covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide in shock.
"What happened to your foot?!"
Jeno's eyes looked back at her with a grimace, regret all over his eyes. "Hey."
His right foot was wrapped with some bandages and even if the only thing she could see were his toes, the way he was leaning his foot against the floor seemed as if it was painful. "What happened?" she asked again, her eyes on his foot.
"I twisted my ankle during sports, like forty minutes ago," he answered nervously rubbing his hands. "It's a second degree sprain, so it's not broken or anything."
"Yet." Jaemin continued, observing his friend worriedly. "The nurse said you couldn't do any physical activity for at least two weeks, and you still have to have your foot checked by a proper doctor."
"Does that mean—?"
"That means he can't perform tomorrtw at all."
It felt as if a bucket of old water had just spilled all over her body, freezing her on the spot. Her vision blurred from the shocked tears and her lips parted open, her mind going blank as she observed Jeno's injured foot.
She didn't hear the last three boys coming in, she didn't hear their loudness becoming quiet as they approached the scenario and she didn't hear either when the teacher updated them with the news.
She could only look at Jeno, feeling her chest crunching as she realized that after all of his efforts, performing wouldn't be possible.
"So the contemporary gets cut off, teacher?" Someone asked.
"Of course not! That's the highlight of the whole Gala!" Another girl shot back.
But Mrs. Wang only looked at Jeno, her mind going through different solutions for the issue. "I don't know what to do right now."
"Isn't there anyone else that know the routine?" Hyejin asked and looked at Hyunjin. "Wait, don't you know it?"
"He can't do it," Mrs. Wang said. "His dance with Felix is right before the contemporary. It would be too exhausting for him, and even if he did he wouldn't be able to change outfits on time."
"Besides I've never practiced it with Mirae—"
"That's not the issue, you know? We could stay this two hours practicing the dance and everything. The issue is tomorrow with the set list. It can't be changed because the flyers have already been printed."
"That can be changed though."
"No, Mrs. Wang is right," Jeno spoke. "It would be too much for Hyunjin doing that bomb-ass choreography with Felix right before the contemporary. And even if he did, he would have to clean up all the lifts and stuff within two hours."
"And he also has the other dance with Felix, Jisung and me, teacher," Seungmin reminded. "It'd be like five dances overall."
Hyunjin whistled, his eyebrows going up high, "As much as I want to, I'd rather feel my legs for tomorrow."
"Yeah, no, it's too much to ask," Mrs. Wang said. Her eyes went through every single student, her eyebrows furrowed as she decided what to do.
Mirae could only look around, feeling anxious. "What if we just cut it out? If he can't do it then we just don't do it—"
"No!" Hyejin and Rhujin quickly exclaimed.
"You've prepared hard for this, don't say that."
"Yeah, after everything that happened to get you two back you can't just give up only a day away," Rhujin argued, giving her soft eyes. "There has to be a solution."
"You can't give up this early," Mirae heard Jisung whisper right behind her, sending chills at the back of her neck.
Mrs. Wang noticed that small interaction and her eyes widened as she remembered. "You both dance to it once, right?"
"Who?" Hyejin blurted and gasped once she saw Jisung. "Ah! Right!"
"Me—me and—and him, you sa—say?" Mirae stuttered, shakily pointing at herself and then at Jisung. "Re—re—really?"
"I mean, I can't think of anyone else right now," Mrs. Wang answered. "Besides Jisung already knows the whole routine."
"Right, the teacher taught you personally," Felix snorted and Jisung quickly gave him a dissimulated punch in the guts.
Mirae felt bad. She felt bad for Jeno, she felt bad for having to do the routine they both had practiced with dedication with someone else—even if it was Jisung—because of what Jeno had done for her.
He had defended her with Mrs. Wang when she stormed out of the room, he had made sure she was okay even if he knew she probably didn't want to see him, he had even told her that he was going to do everything he could to get them two back on performing only and solely because of her.
But now that he was unable to perform, she couldn't do anything for him.
It wasn't as if she could replace her foot with his or feel the pain he was feeling so he could perform. She couldn't do absolutely nothing other than observing how the rest decided what was going to be done. In that precise moment, Mirae felt completely and utterly useless.
Her vision became more blurry the more she watched Jeno. He had his face lifted up to catch up with what was being discussed above him. He was in a chair, but there was still a height level that me him look even smaller. As she watched him, she realized she'd rather be the one with a strained foot.
She quickly blinked the tears away, suddenly feeling completely dumb for almost crying. Taking a deep breath, she stepped back from the small circle and went to the first row of seats, deciding to drop her bags in the floor and plop down on one seat.
She couldn't stop looking at Jeno, her heat feeling guilty. She knew she hadn't been the one who had hurt him, but she felt guilty that he couldn't perform. After everything he's done, he's only able to sit back and watch everything, she thought.
Guess life's a bitch, huh.
"Okay everyone, let's start rehearsing everything from the very beginning!" Mrs. Wang announced, clapping once. "Get to backstage, I'll be reading out the set list from the front row..."
Mirae didn't listen to the rest of the instructions—she was distracted as she watched Jeno going down the stage with the help of Haechan, the teacher following them behind with the chair he had been using.
Slowly she got up and went to him, her mouth curving down in a pout as he gave her a regretful smile. "Why did all of this had to happen?"
"I'm clumsy at times, you know," he shrugged cutely as he jumped over the seats of the Auditorium. Once he plopped down he thanked Haechan with a high-five, receiving a friendly smile from him back. Then Jeno looked up at Mirae, letting out a small chuckle, "Hey why do you look so down?"
"I can't help but feel regretful," she confessed, sitting next to him. "After everything we did, after all those rehearsals, after all those falls, after all those bruises, after all that arguing with the teacher—after everything, we still can't perform together."
"Don't be gloomy, Mirae," he said as he grabbed her hand in between his. "I told you, this won't be my last performance. I have many to do just by the next month because of SM, the academy I go to. You shouldn't be feeling down because of me. You should be happy that you're able to perform tomorrow, you know," he cooed, gently rubbing her hand.
She sighed, shaking her head. "But I feel guilty—"
"Mirae, it isn't your fault."
"How did you get hurt?"
"After the coach took you girls to the basketball court, we started playing football," he started, bounding his good leg. "It was half-way through. I was running to catch the ball that Jaewoo sent flying up to the sky—by the way, he seriously has a tremendous strength on his legs, just wow."
"Well yeah, he wants to be a professional football player."
"He's really good. Anyways, I was running with my head up looking at the ball, so I didn't notice there was this small bump on the grass. I stumbled onto it, rolled about three or four times before I managed to stop myself with my arms like this," he explained, opening his arms wide in front of him. "I bent my ankle when falling, and with the rolling I twisted it a bit more to the point where a one degree sprain became a second degree one, according to the nurse."
Her face scrunched as she grimace when picturing the fall. "Oh God, I can see your ankle getting bent—" she shuddered. "It must've hurt a lot, right?"
"A bit, yeah."
"I'm so sorry—"
"Mirae, it wasn't your fault," he chuckled. "Now don't feel pity for me and go over there and practice. You have to show everyone what you've been practicing these weeks, okay?"
She pouted and squished his shoulder affectionately, "I feel like I'm betraying you if I dance with someone else."
He smirked, "I don't think you're going to have any trouble at getting along with your new partner."
Rolling her eyes, she playfully pushed his shoulder right before getting up. "Will you stop that, huh?"
Jeno only smiled widely as she walked back to the stage, going to the side onto the backstage. It was dark, and since she wasn't wearing her glasses everything was blurrier than it normally would. She walked with her hands in front of her to the small source of light, encountering with a wooden door.
As she opened it, she found a much more enlightened room where the rest of the students were waiting for their turn. She walked around them and stood next to the girls as the voice of Mrs. Wang announced through the whole Auditorium.
"This is the set list for Dance performances only, everyone. There are also going to be Music and Acting performances, so we're going to be the last to go on stage." The woman explained. "First is Genie, then Growl, and then Finesse. There would be a short speech of about five minutes, then the first group of four with District 9, then the second group with Go. Then the third group cover of Where They From, then Hyunjin and Felix and we're closing with Work Song."
Mirae's heart dropped. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked for Jisung, finding him with a similar expression. Not only did they have to prepare everything one day before, but they also had the pressure of closing the whole event. A two and a half hour event! The biggest of the year, right before summer vacations. The even that everyone remembers throughout the rest of the year.
No pressure at all, she sighed in panic.
"Now, we may begin the rehearsal."
She took a deep breath, tying up tightly her ponytail. "Have mercy, dear goodness."
•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•
If Mirae would've had enough energy to jump from happiness, she would definitely would've jumped straight into Mars upon seeing Chan's car arriving to the school's entrance.
Everything hurt; her legs, her stomach, her arms, even her soul, it all hurt.
She even had to support herself on Seungmin's shoulders to keep herself standing since the other three boys were almost as sore as she was. Based on their word, they were used to having classes as hard as the rehearsal they just had, however it did not mean they weren't exhausted, just a bit used to the pain.
"If we're hurting, I can't imagine how you are doing," Seungmin mumbled as he struggled balancing his own bag, Mirae's bag and Mirae herself as they waited for Chan.
"I think my arms are going to fall off."
She was beyond relieved when Felix said he had called Chan so he would drive them to Soobin's house. If they hadn't called, Mirae would've probably stayed until late since she had actually forgotten to call home for a ride.
As Chan's car stopped in front of the five teens-almost-adults, the shotgun window rolled down, revealing not only the owner of the car, but also a smiley Changbin whose happiness fell down as he realized the state his friends were.
"What happened to you guys? Were you on war or something?"
"Close. We had rehearsal of everything we're doing tomorrow night," Hyunjin answered, almost breathlessly. "Can you open the luggage storage, hyung?"
As the storage opened up, all five of them basically dragged their feet to the back of the car and dropped everything randomly in the back, Hyunjin closing it shut as the other four went to the back seats to plop down.
"Who's going to carry Mirae?" Seungmin asked as he slipped through the seats.
"Excuse you?!"
"I'm sorry but you're the lightest out of all. And I'm too tired to carry any of them on my lap."
"Whoever ends up by the window, we have to hurry up guys," Chan stressed, nervously tapping the steering wheel. "We have to be there by seven thirty and it's already seven twenty and you haven't even showered."
"We're going to be late anyways, hyung," Changbin sighed.
Mirae tried not to blush too much as she lifted her pained legs above Hyunjin's legs since he had been the last one to get inside. She sat as awkwardly as humanly possible on his lap, afraid of feeling or doing something that could make everything even more uncomfortable.
She held herself on the back of Changbin's seat, almost digging her nails onto the cushion whenever there were curves or corners on the road. It wasn't helping that the car's radio was precisely playing jazzy music—like the type that just makes you want to body roll all suave and stuff.
And to add the cherry on the top, Jisung just happened to be seated right in the middle, their only separation being poor Felix, who didn't know where to put his eyes on.
"So, how was school today guys and girl?" Chan asked, pulling up a tense smile.
The awkwardness of the back seat could be sensed from the street.
"It was good," Felix chirmed, his voice unusually high. "Just the same boring stuff, you know."
"And what about the rehearsal? How did it go?"
"We almost died, but we made it through."
As we are doing with this car drive, dear mercy, she thought. Pressing her forehead against the seat in front, she noticed how Hyunjin's feet were nervously bouncing around, moving from side to side as the seconds passed by.
"Oh, Changbin hyung," Hyunjin suddenly spoke. "What you said the other day happened today."
"What did I say?"
"Right!" Seungmin chuckled. "The thing about Jisung and—"
"Oh! I remember now!" the other exclaimed and turned back, giving a funny look.
"What are you talking about?" She whispered, frowning as she didn't understand.
"You don't want to know," Jisung shook his head just before covering his face with his hands. "Please don't start now."
"I heard that you once had to dance something with my boy Jisung right here," Changbin explained as he patted the younger's leg. "Seungmin, Hyunjin and Felix told me how the teacher seemed so satisfied with the dance, but you already had a partner. So I told them that base on the huge ass crush this dude has for—"
"NOOO!"
Mirae jumped at the sudden scream and looked wide eyed at Jisung, whose face was red as he tried to choke Changbin in between the midst of the rest of the boy's scandalous laughter.
But as the older struggled with Jisung, he accidentally hit Mirae's forehead with his hand. Just as she pulled her head back, the car sped up, making her crash into Hyunjin's chest who almost choked on his breath.
"Oh my God!" she gasped and tried to pull herself up from his chest, failing when the car turned on a corner. She ended up awkwardly pressed against the window feeling Hyunjin's hands on her back as Felix's body pressed against hers.
"Hyung!" Hyunjin hollered. "Drive properly! I am dying here!"
"You should've let Jisung carry her," Changbin snorted. "He wouldn't be uncomfortable with so much skin-ship—"
Jisung violently pressed his hand against Changbin's mouth, cutting his words off. "Shut up hyung!"
As Seungmin and Felix struggled with catching their breaths from the laughter, Mirae painfully looked down on her lap, closing her eyes as she wished with all her strength left to arrive to Soobin's house.