“You weren’t at school today.”

It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t an accusation. Just a statement, simple as that.

Min waited for Suzy to say something, scooting closer to her as they stretched and warmed up for dance practice. But Suzy just pressed her lips together and continued quietly stretching.

She nudged Suzy in the ribs and whispered, “And neither was Myungsoo..”

“Yah! What are you implying?” Suzy asked, looking shocked. Min shrugged nonchalantly and turned away.

“Mmm, nothing. Just rumors…”

“About what?? Me and Myungsoo?”

Min finally broke into the smile she was hiding.

“Of course, silly! Ah come on, Suzy. Someone saw you two sneak off campus this morning. And let me tell you, more than enough girls noticed he was absent… Suzy! How could you not tell your best friend that you guys are together?” She gave her a dramatic pout.

“Together??  Woah. Woah there, hold your unicorns, Myungsoo and I are not together.” Suzy retorted, reaching out to pinch Min’s cheeks.

“Wait what?” Min dodged her hand. “You guys aren’t dating? Then why’d you skip school together?”

Suzy buried her face in her hands.

“Oh god is that what people think - that we’re dating??” she muttered through her fingers.

“Uhh yeah, Suzy, you better watch out. Some girls aren’t too happy about it…”
“But- But Myungsoo and I are just friends!”

Min stared at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Yahh I’m not lying,” Suzy whined, “a guy and a girl can hang out and simply be friends! And besides, he said so himself. We’re. just. friends.”

“Araso araso, I believe you.” Min replied, clearly unconvinced. “But seriously you can’t just run off school like that. It’s scandalous. And I didn’t even know you two knew each other.”

Suzy just gave a noncommittal shrug. To be honest, she wasn’t sure how they were friends. He used to ignore her, but now suddenly…

“Hey by the way, you know I called dibs on him first!” Min cried teasingly, interrupting her thoughts.

“Oh, by all means, take him. Why would I care?” Suzy laughed.

“Liar.”

“What?”

“Liar. You do  care because you like him. You would never skip school for no reason! You’re too much of a goody-goody. Wow, he must be something special” she teased.

“But- what- I don’t…” Suzy stammered.

“Mhmm” Min nodded excitedly. “Ahh, I know you too well. You like like him, don’t you?”

But Suzy didn’t answer, suddenly becoming very interested in tying her shoelace. Min smiled satisfyingly as she heard Suzy mutter under her breath, “Like like? What are we now, in middle school?”

Thankfully for Suzy, Min was forced to shut up as the music started blasting and they all moved onto practicing choreography. After a good dance practice, Min caught up with Suzy again as they headed out the door.

“Hey you’ve gotten so much better! And dang you got that scorpion move down.” Min said. Min had always been a natural dancer, and she had convinced Suzy to join the team back in freshman year.

“Really? Thanks!” Suzy smiled, glad that her extra practices had paid off and grateful Min stopped pestering her about Myungsoo.

“Speaking of dance, we should go to Morp!” Min bounced excitedly.

Morp was the school winter formal dance held in the school’s small, slightly cramped gymnasium. It was a little pathetic, to tell the truth, but the student leadership group always worked hard to transform the gym into something “magical,” usually decorating with tacky balloons, crepe paper, streamers, and the like. Oh well, Morp was usually fun anyways, that is if you just try to forget about the fact that you ran around playing basketball with other sweaty teenagers in the same place only hours earlier. But the school liked making a big deal out of Morp because the main point was that “Morp” was “Prom” spelled backwards, and therefore the tradition was to have the ladies ask out the guys. Of course, not everyone followed this tradition, but the school just liked promoting the idea of gender equality or whatever.

“Yeah we should definitely go” Suzy answered, smiling and thinking back to last year when a dance battle broke out in the middle of the dance. Min danced and won against some cocky guys who thought they could dance, which was pretty badass of her. Good times, good times. Maybe this time Suzy would actually participate and not just cheer on the sidelines.

“BUT WAIT YOU SHOULD ASK MYUNGSOO TO BE YOUR DATE” Min suddenly shouted even though they were walking side-by-side literally two feet apart, scaring the hell out of Suzy.

Oh jeez, of course she’d start talking about Myungsoo again. Should’ve known.

“CALM DOWN. I’M NOT ASKING HIM,” Suzy yelled back.

“YES YOU ARE.”

“NO I’M NOT.” Suzy rolled her eyes and stopped walking. “Wait, I thought you liked him, Min. Why don’t you ask him?’

“Oh pshh, I was only messing with you earlier. I’ve moved on,” she replied, sounding almost bored.

“What? But wae?”

“Eh” Min shrugged. “He was just eye candy I guess. I never really knew him as a person. BUT. BUT. You two would make an ADORABLE couple” she gushed.

“Oh shut up.” Suzy started walking again. “Besides, I don’t need any jealous girls hating on me. That would be just slightly annoying, don’t you think?” she said sarcastically.

“But the dance isn’t until March! It’s December - you have three months of time, and by then I’m sure those stupid girls would let things cool, forget about Myungsoo, and move onto their other shallow obsession. Come on, pleasseeeee?’ Min made puppy eyes. And let me tell you, she made amazingly persuasive puppy eyes.

“And give me one good reason I should,” Suzy walked on, not even turning to look at her.

Min was strangely quiet for a moment.

“We could go on a double date.”

Suzy whipped around and stared her friend down.

“Omo, who? What when where why? Who are we talking about here?”

“Well no one’s asked me yet…” Min looked away, gazing at the trees, and said rather vaguely, “So maybe there’s a guy in my class who’s funny and awesome and hot and nice and funny….”

“You said funny twice.”

“I know. He makes me laugh.”

“So WHO IS IT???”

“Not telling you until you ask Myungsoo!!” Min laughed. Evil woman.

“Peer pressure!” Suzy cried. “Fine! If I consider asking him will you give me a hint at who this boy is?”

“Deal.” Min shook her hand. “Okay, he’s…tall.”

“Ooh tall guys are nice…” she smiled as the image of a tall, handsome figure crossed her mind, not even fully realizing she was thinking of Myungsoo. “Okay, what else?”

“That’s it! One hint!” Min laughed again.

Suzy gave her an are-you-freaking-kidding-me face.

“That’s it?  What kind of lame hint is that?”

“A good one,” Min answered confidently,  “and don’t worry, I’ll tell you who it is eventually, because even if you don’t ask Myungsoo to be your date, I bet he’ll ask you!”

“Very funny,” Suzy replied with a pokerface. “Very funny.”

***

Meanwhile, Myungsoo ran in late to his own dance practice. The rest of the trainees were already there warmed up and getting ready to dance. The small dance studio felt hot and humid already with the body heat coming off of the four trainees working they’re butts off as usual: Howon and Dongwoo, who were recruited hip-hop dancers/rappers, were dancing in synch in the middle of the room; Woohyun, who was discovered for his voice and childhood modeling, was working out on the floor slightly behind them, doing push-ups and what-not; and Sunggyu, the eldest who was recruited for his amazing voice, was taking a stretching break at the edge of the room and gulping down water with a couple of pills (he had a weaker body and needed more rest than the others; he also took lots of vitamins). Their company, Woollim Entertainment, planned to debut these five boys sometime in the next year, but they were still debating on the band name. 

“Myungsoo!” shouted a stern and not very happy voice.

Myungsoo jumped a little, not having noticed the two men standing in the corner. On the left stood the dance coach, waiting for Myungsoo to show up so he could start teaching new choreography. On the right stood the man who had shouted his name -  Youngjun…one of his three managers.

Oh .

“We need to talk,” his harsh voice pierced the air and echoed across the room. 

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Reuploaded this chapter! Sorry, don't know what happened with Asian Fanfics, but glad it's back :)