it was the day of the competition. i guess last night’s interview went well. before i slept, i found a few places for rent. i think it might be too early for me to move back to jong in’s house.

 

i walked into the dance studio and noticed kai stretching. i wanted to turn around to leave, but he stopped me.

 

“hey si yoon.” he stood up to turn around to look at me.

 

“hi jong in. good morning!” i beamed as i internally push all my memories with him away. theres no time to feel sad. at least not now. 

 

“how have you been? are you ready for the competition? have you been eating and sleeping well? uh... when will you be-“

 

i laughed. “one at a time, jong in. im okay. taemin and i have been practicing a lot. and amber’s been feeding me a lot as well... how about you...?” 

 

“ye- yeah, yeah, ive been good.” he stuttered. lies.

 

“are you two really dating?” i asked.

 

“yeah... we are. these days... ive been with no one but her. i guess i decided to give her a chance. also... its also good for the competition...”

 

of course. ive stolen your best friend away from you. he barely talked to taemin anymore because of me. at this point... i just want everything to be back to normal again. 

 

“i mean thats good right? remember i told you to give her a chance?” i replied bitterly.

 

“i guess...? when are you coming back?” 

 

“im not ready to go back... but ill be soon.”

 

“thats great. im sorry for treating you so badly. i hope we can be friends again.” he said and i gave him a small smile. its okay, si yoon. nothing will pull me down today. its the competition day.

 

“babe!” krystal screamed as she entered the studio. she ran towards jong in and gave him a long kiss but jong in pushed her away.

 

“be understandable. si yoon is just there.” jong in coughed. 

 

“but she said you two are over. youre okay right, si yoon?” krystal turned to look at me. wow. why is she beaming so much early in the morning? its so annoying.

 

“doesnt mean she said that means that she meant it. she could have said it out of consideration. stop provoking others in purpose, krystal.” taemin entered the studio.

 

“and im really disappointed in you, jong in. i cant believe you can just move on like this.” taemin said as he dropped his bag on the floor.

 

“thank you,” i mouthed to taemin. he winked back in response.

 

the dance teacher strolled in happily with a sandwich in his hands.

 

“good morning everyone! are you guys ready for the competition?”

krystal and kai went first.

 

once the music started, i couldnt stop looking at kai. he was a beauty on stage. it was obvious that the spotlight was on kai and it looked like krystal was a supporting character instead.

 

his movements was so relax, yet so rigid at the same time. he was definitely on a different tier from krystal.

 

before i know it, the song ended.

 

“its our turn,” taemin whispered and my palm started to sweat. 

 

“good job you two!” the dance teacher said as krystal and jong in walked towards the backstage.

 

jong in’s shoulder brushed against mine. he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

 

he leaned down towards me.

 

“are you nervous?”

 

i nodded my head.

 

“remember what i said? forget about everything and just feel the moment. i know you can do it. good luck out there.” he said as he put his hands on my shoulder.

 

why am i treating him like an enemy when he has been so nice to me?

 

“thank you.... you were amazing out there. my eyes were only on you.” i confessed.

 

he laughed. “but i wished your eyes were always on me.”

 

i blushed. what is he saying? at this time?

 

“im just kidding. break a leg, si yoon.” he said and i sighed in relief. 

 

taemin and i walked out on stage.

 

once the music started, i let my mind free and let my body moved to the music. taemin and i practiced this choreography so many times that my body automatically follow the music.

 

forget everything. feel the moment.

 

suddenly, it feels like im no longer on stage. i feel grass on my feet, with a light wind that blows gently on my skin. the music was playing softly in the back of my head. i looked at my partner. but he wasnt taemin. he was jong in. and when i dance, my eyes does not leave him.

“ive never seen such beautiful performance before. im so proud of you guys. especially si yoon! remember the first time when you auditioned for the team? what a tremendous improvement. you are truly gifted, si yoon.” the dance teacher praised.

 

i still feel the adrenaline rush in my body. it feels like my body havent fully came back to reality yet.

 

“i cant believe we just did that! si yoon, your gaze had my heart tingled in weird ways during the performance. its like you were a whole new person! it really kept me in character. so crazy!” taemin said. 

“oh yeah?” i replied. i felt bad now for imagining him as jong in during the perfomance.

“we have finally come to the end of the competition. our judges have given in their votes and i will be announcing the winners shortly.”

 

“3rd place goes to.... krystal jung and kim jong in from sooman high school!”

 

i looked at kai and his shoulder dropped. i felt bad for him. he danced so well. i bet he practiced really hard. 

 

“this is disappointing. we just lose our streaks of having 1st every year.” krystal said as soon as they walked backstage.

 

wow. shes really ungrateful, huh? at least you won something today. 

 

“thats not true. we are continuing our streaks.” the dance teacher said as he glanced over to taemin and i.

 

we? 1st place? will we really be first, like i promised to taemin?

 

krystal rolled her eyes and left the backstage.

 

jong in walked towards taemin and i.

 

“good job guys.” he said.

 

“you too. you were great out there.” taemin smiled.

 

jong in shifted towards me and leaned down a little.

 

“good job si yoon. i see you took my advice well. i told you you could do it!” he whispered and i looked into his eyes.

 

its because you were there with me, dummy.

 

“1st place goes to... lee taemin and huang si yoon from sooman high school!”

 

everyone started clapping as taemin and i entered the stage.

 

“i was just saying to keep us motivated for the competition, but i didnt expect we would really win this.” i whispered to taemin.

 

taemin received the trophy and smiled down at me.

“its possible if its you, si yoon.” 

“is this a call for a celebration? kbqq... without the soju?” taemin said.

 

“i- uh...” kai mumbled as he looked around and then at his phone. i sighed. oh well. he probably cant join us because of krystal. he suddenly turned and looked at me. 

 

“yeah. lets go,” he replied and i was surprised. i really didnt expect he would say yes.

“hi uncle! can we have the combo for 3?” taemin called out as we went back to street food stall where taemin and i ran away from home because krystal was at kai’s house.

 

“with the soju?” the uncle whispered.

 

“nope. we have a party pooper here.” he bluntly replied as all of us stare all jong in.

 

“fine... fine! just one bottle okay?” jong in exclaimed out of peer pressure.

 

“so. spill the tea, mister. how did you end up with krystal?” taemin asked.

 

“wow. i knew i was dragged here because of this.”

 

“ding dang dong, you are very right.” taemin chirped for a second and then went back to being serious. “but i mean, all the while you knew she liked you but you were sure you didnt like her back which was the reason why  you two didnt date. but why all of the sudden you decided to accept her confession?”

 

jong in quickly glanced at me.

 

“i uh, like si yoon said, i should give her a chance.”

 

“did you really say that?” taemin turned to look at me.

 

i nodded my head. “yeah, i did.”

 

“but you accepted her after going through so much, such as faking to be a couple with si yoon? also havent you thought that krystal would have provoked your relationship to si yoon, since you guys “broke up” not long ago?”

 

“i didnt think she would do that. i just wanted the dance competition to go smoothly” kai replied and taemin rolled his eyes dramatically.

 

“your order combo for 3 and soju is here” the uncle interrupted as he placed the food and soju down on the table.

 

“cheers!” we all clanked our shot glass and bottoms up in one go.

 

“congrats on getting first!” kai said and taemin and i both thanked him.

 

“congrats on getting third” taemin snickered as he took another shot.

 

“thanks for rubbing salt into my wounds buddy. i worked really hard on it” jong in sighed and then continued. “by the way, we have another competition coming up but it is only allocated for one team. usually the team that gets first for this competition will participate in that competition.”

 

“oh really? so us?” i looked at taemin.

 

“yeah. i guess the dance teacher will talk more about it soon.” 

 

taemin’s phone suddenly rung.

 

“ugh. oh no. its the agency.” he said as he quickly picked up his phone.

 

“good news? right now? im..”

 

“you should go. we’ll be okay.” i said. 

 

“okay. ill be right there.” 

 

“im so sorry. this dinner is on me okay? and please text me when you guys get home?” taemin took another shot before he packed up.

 

“we will. go ahead.” we waved goodbye to taemin.

 

there was just pure silence between jong in and i after taemin left.

 

i looked at him and noticed he kept taking shots after shots.

 

“are you feeling down because you got 3rd?” i asked, almost boldly. the alcohol is kicking in for sure.

 

“yeah. i practiced... every single day and night.” 

 

“i can see that.” i replied as i followed him and took a shot.

 

“you can see that?” he raised an eyebrow at me weakly.

 

“yeah. when you were dancing during the competition, or days when you were just practicing in the studio, i cant help but to always observe you.” 

 

“is that a compliment?” he replied.

 

“its the truth” i took another shot. “you inspire me a lot.” 

 

“me?” 

 

i nodded my head. “you told me to feel the moment and forget everything. when i was performing, i imagined taemin was you. i imagined myself dancing with you. just feeling you were there with me made me relax.”

 

he laughed. “i never knew i would ever inspired someone.” 

 

“well you just did. dont look down on yourself ever.” i said softly.

 

“you too, si yoon. you stood out on stage today. there wasnt a single time my eyes strayed away from you during the entire performance”

 

i blushed. is this the soju talking or is he really saying the truth?

 

“thank you” i replied.

 

“you’re an amazing person, si yoon. i hate that you’ve done so much for me but ive done nothing for you. i constantly treated you like since we first met but you still respected me. i hate that youre always suffering by yourself. i wish you didnt had to bottle yourself up so that i dont have to do this. why didnt you open up and tell me everything so i dont have to go through this ?” he rambled drunkenly.

 

“what are you talking about?” i replied.

 

“i dont like krystal. i didnt date her because i wanted to give her a chance.”

 

“okay...? i mean its not really my business... but whats that got to do with-“

 

“i dated her for you”

 

“wait what? i dont understand. why would you?” i replied. im baffled. is this all just nonsense or is this something he’s confessing?

 

“i know youre hiding something from me”

 

oh no. what does he mean?

 

“what am i hiding?”

 

“i know krystal’s blackmailing you. i know youre not telling me anything because she has something that can hurt both you and i. i am dating her so i can find out what is it.” 

 

he was willing to do that... for me? jong in looks dumb but he’s sure as hell observant. i’ll give him for that. but he finds out everything and if he doesn’t care about krystal ruining his image then all my efforts would have been pointless. this cant do.

 

“youre... wrong, jong in. nothing’s going on. no one is blackmailing anyone. we happen to fall out at the right time when krystal came in and she just wanted a chance with you... and now that you have finally given her that... maybe you might fall in love with her one day.”

we took a taxi and brought jong in home.

 

“thatll be $34 miss” the taxi driver said as we come to a full stop. damn it. im only left with $6. lucky i’m getting my allowance tomorrow. but how am i going to go back amber’s house tonight?

 

i brought jong in’s arms around my shoulders and quietly enter the house. luckily jong in was the quiet type when drunk. he was also not fully unconscious so he was still walking by himself. i was just there to provide him with some support.

 

i plopped him down on the bed but his weight also pulled me down with him on the bed. the bed for once felt like heaven. i am so exhausted. hell even my eyelids started to feel heavy. maybe just 5 minutes. i closed my eyes.