Date: May 1st 2011
Location: YG Dance Studio
Time: 11:00AM

“Everyone, this is Seohee and Zoe!”

We walked to the front of the room and gave everyone a polite bow. My breath hitched slightly as I stared at the people in the room. They were all seasoned performers and were people that I looked up to since I joined the company. I just couldn’t believe I was about to become a part of their team and work with them.

Dan continued, “As you all know, Zoe will be Jiyong’s dance partner and Seohee will be Seungri’s partner.”

“Hi,” everyone in the room murmured back. The ones who already knew me smiled and nodded at me in acknowledgement. Jiyong looked up from his phone and stared at us curiously. When our eyes came into contact, I smiled and immediately looked away, blushing ever so slightly.

“Zoe!” Someone squealed and enveloped me in a crushing hug. “You finally made it, kid. It’s your time to shine!”

It was Jen. She is a senior dancer at the company and she worked very closely with Dan. Although she is extremely talented and is always busy with her own schedule, she tries very hard to visit the trainees and younger dancers during practice every once in a while to see how we’re doing. She would bring us food and drinks, and provide constructive criticism on our techniques. Since we both grew up overseas, we hit it off right away and she became like a big sister to me.

“Yah, unnie,” I spoke into her s and struggled to speak, “I c-can’t breathe.”

“Oops,” Jen released me and laughed. She grabbed me by the hand and led me to a group of dancers I was already quite familiar with.

“You get prettier every time I see you,” the guy on the far right called Jonghyun commented slyly. He was a notorious playboy, so I shrugged off his words with a small eye roll. He had been hitting on me since I joined the company. I could never tell if he was really flirting or just playing around.

“Now that you’re here, we can hang out all the time,” Kim said, smiling. She was stretching and had her body contorted into a weird position. I couldn’t stop myself from staring and giggling. Kim was Jen’s best friend. Although she was much more intimidating, she was very genuine and kind once you get to know her. Moreover, she was extremely beautiful. The fact that she had a fan club and numerous fanboys was testament to that.

“Seems like Dan is done,” Jen turned around to look at the other end of the room where Dan just finished chatting with the Big Bang members. Seohee was already there, acquainting herself with Seungri. “Let me introduce you to the boys.” She led me towards them, and they smiled at us warmly as we approached.

“Guys, this is Zoe.” She had her arms around me as she spoke.

“I see that you’ve taken her under your wing,” Youngbae commented teasingly.

“Yeah,” joked Daesung. “We need to be careful around Zoe or Jen will get mad at us.”

She glared and whacked him playfully on the arm, which caused them to laugh.

“Hi, I’m Jiyong,” He stood up and put out his hand for me to shake. I took it timidly, but gave it a firm shake. His hand felt warm and big against mine.

“Hi,” I said, giving his face a quick lookover. Although he had no makeup on, he looked more handsome than I could have imagined. Sure, Seunghyun was always going to be the gorgeous one out of all Big Bang members, but something about Jiyong’s face made him more attractive to me. Was it his piercing eyes, amazing smile or that sharp jawline? I didn’t even know, but I was so mesmerized.

“Let’s work hard together,” he said, flashing me a smile.

God… that smile… I could only nod numbly and bow.

“I’m sorry,” Jen said, smirking. “She’s very shy.”

Yah! I frowned slightly and nudged her with my elbow. The boys caught the little exchange and chuckled. I reddened and stared at the ground. When I looked up, I saw that Jiyong was still staring at me. He smiled again when I caught his gaze.

“Okay guys!” Dan clapped his hands to get our attention. “Let’s get started.”

The dance was a difficult one for me - it was strong, powerful and y. I grew up as a ballet and contemporary dancer, so dances that were fluid, soft and elegant were something that I was more accustomed to. Plus, I was so caught up on trying to not make any mistakes that I ended up looking stiff and uncomfortable. I even flinched slightly whenever Jiyong touched me, which was completely unprofessional. I could feel Dan shooting daggers at me with his glare, but he didn’t call me out on my flaws. It took forever, but I managed to hold myself together until break time. Once he announced a five-minute break, I grabbed my water bottle and quickly left the practice room. I stood outside the hallway and mentally yelled at myself.

“Hey,” I felt a hand on my shoulder and I spun around. It was Jiyong.

, I silently cursed. I was in no condition to make small talk, especially not with him; I was so embarrassed for my own incompetence, and I knew I made a fool of myself in front of him.

“Are you okay?” he asked casually, using a towel to wipe the sweat off his face.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“You seem a little uncomfortable just now.”

“I’m really sorry,” I apologized, bowing to him. “I’m usually more well-prepared. I just… I don’t know.” I laughed nervously.

“It’s okay,” he glanced at me and smiled. “Just relax.”

“Thank you, I’ll try my best” I nodded again, my voice getting caught in my throat. Suddenly, I felt hot tears b in the corners of my eyes, and I quickly wiped them with the back of my hand, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

If he did, he didn’t react. “Okay, I’ll see you inside,” he said and walked back in.

When I made sure he was gone, I cursed at myself in frustration. That was stupid, I thought, tearing up in front of him. It showed so much weakness, and I was not usually weak. I swiped away the remaining tears and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. I just need to focus, I told myself.

“Nothing fazes you,” I whispered to myself. “Nothing.”

After the break, I tried to apply the advice that my dance teacher once gave me, which was to enjoy what I’m doing. She used to say, “if you enjoy what you’re doing, everything will seem more effortless and even your mistakes will be overlooked.” It worked, and despite making some mistakes, I was able to brush it off and continue. My change in attitude helped me warm up to Jiyong a little bit, and by the end of the session, we managed to joke around a few times. He even laughed at me once when I turned the wrong side and was completely out of sync with everyone else.

“It’s like you’re being terrible on purpose,” Jonghyun joked when we were getting ready to leave.

“Ha-ha,” I rolled my eyes, and stuffed everything into my bag.

“She’s usually a lot better,” Seohee tried to comfort me.

“Easy for you to say - you were amazing,” I smiled at her gratefully and walked towards the door. We were rivals, but we were still friends. I hated the idea of going against her, but competition was unavoidable in this industry.

“Where are you going?” asked Jen. “Aren’t you going to eat with us?”

“I have to train the girls for this Friday’s showcase.”

“What? But we’re going to my favorite Japanese place – the one I keep telling you about,” she frowned. Then, she turned towards Dan, who was across the room, and yelled, “Can’t you just let her take a day off?”

He looked surprised, but smirked after understanding the situation. “No!” he yelled back, which made everyone laugh.

As I left the room, I breathed a sigh of relief. The friendly banter and positive atmosphere meant that I didn’t completely up yet. I still had a chance at beating Seohee for a spot on the dance team and I was going to do everything to get it.