Jimin's POV

 

I try to move in a different position but I'm having a hard time to. My eyes flutter open as they adjust to the light.

 

I look to my left to see my arm around Ann as she's cuddled up to me fast asleep. I smile as she looks so peaceful and cute in her sleep. I hope she didn't have any nightmares. If I could, I'd let her sleep like this everyday.

 

I inwardly sigh. I really need to tell her that my feelings haven't changed over these past few months. As I continue to look at her, I realize that now may not be the best time to tell her. She's already going through so much. I don't want to add to her stress.

 

"You should really just tell her instead of staring at her like a creep."

 

I look up to see Yoongi hyung standing by me laughing.

 

I just glare at him.

 

Ann begins moving under my arm. She slowly opens her eyes and she looks at me before closing them again.

 

A moment later, her eyes shoot open and she jumps out of my embrace.

 

"Oh, I-I, ummm, I'm sorry. I m-must have fallen asleep on you," she cutely stutters out.

 

"It's fine," I say as I begin to sit up, "Did you sleep well?" I ask her.

 

She nods and smiles. "I did actually. I feel pretty well rested."

 

"Good. You'll be ready for dance practice today."

 

We both look up to see Hyejin noona.

 

"Dance practice?" Ann questions.

 

"Yes. I told you to trust me. Now go get ready so we can leave. Boys, you're manager will be here shortly," she says before going to the kitchen.

 

Ann sighs before starting to get up but I grab her arm.

 

"You'll do fine today. I'm here for you if you need me. And remember what I told you last night," I say.

 

She nods and smiles. "I know. If anything, I keep my promises. Even if they're not needed," she says before getting up and getting ready.

 

I smile and shake my head.

 

I hope she does well today. 

 

 

At BigHit

 

Ann's POV

 

"You got this girl. Just do your best. I want my amazing dancing best friend back. Plus, I want you to be able to run it in Aerum's face," Scynthia tells me as she gives me a quick hug.

 

"What'd she say about me?" I ask.

 

She just shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. I handled it."

 

"Alright Ann. Let's go. Have a good practice today Scynthia. I'll see you later," Hyejin says before escorting me to a different practice room. 

 

I walk into the room to see three people.

 

“What are they doing here?” I ask as I turn towards Hyejin.

 

“They are here to help you. I called them up and told him that you’re having problems getting back into the groove of dancing. Their schedules are free, so they offered to come in today,” unnie says while smiling.

 

“This was you plan?” I ask her as I look at the three guys sitting down.

 

“You know we can hear you right?” someone says.

 

“Sorry oppa. I didn’t mean it like that,” I say.

 

He smiles as he comes up to me and unnie.

 

“It’s alright. I was just joking anyways,” Jongin says.

 

“And yes. This is my plan. I called Jongin because he went through something similar. Hopefully he’ll be able to help you and give you some words of encouragement. You’ll do fine Ann. If you need me, I’m just a call away. Practice hard,” she says before leaving.

 

“So, you were her all-time plan, huh?” I ask Jongin.

 

He nods but then a frown ends up on his face.  “What’s wrong oppa?”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me? You could have called me while you were still in the States. I could have helped you sooner. Plus I had to hear it from Hyejin instead of yourself,” he says.

 

I sigh. “I didn’t want to burden anyone with my problems. You’re an idol and you have many other important things to worry about. I thought I could take care of this myself bu-“

 

“You thought wrong Ann. And it doesn’t matter how busy I am. I’m never too busy to help, especially with something this serious. Now promise me you won’t keep anything else from me like this again,” he says as he holds his pinky up.  So is this a thing or what? I mean, I make pinky promises, too, don’t get me wrong.  I just didn’t know it was this popular among guys.

 

I raise an eyebrow at him before linking our pinkies together.  “I promise.”

 

He then smiles and brings me in for a hug.  “Good. Best friends are not supposed to keep secrets from one another,” he says.

 

“Ahem,” I hear someone cough from behind us.

 

“Oh, I forgot those two were here,” Jongin says.

 

“What are they doing here? Are they helping, too?” I ask.

 

“Well, Lay hyung is helping since he’s been in this position, too. I have no idea why Taemin is here, to be honest. He just tagged along,” Jongin says as he looks weirdly at Taemin.

 

“Moral support,” Taemin says, “Plus I wanted to visit the company and see you and Scynthia again.”

 

“Oh, that’s nice,” I guess, “well Scynthia is practicing with the rest of our group,” I say to him.

 

He nods.  “I’ll just go look for her myself then. Good luck in practice. You got this!” he says as he leaves.

 

“Umm, that wasn’t weird at all,” I say as I face Jongin again.

 

“Yeah. I don’t know what he’s up to. Anyways, come on Lay. We can start now,” Jongin says.

 

Lay nods and comes up to us.  “I’ll finally get to see this amazing dancer in action,” Lay says before smiling.

 

I let out a little laugh.  “Heh, hopefully.”

 

“Okay. Before we start to actually dance, let’s talk to see what your actual problem is,” Jongin says.

 

I sigh, not really wanting to talk about it, but I promised unnie.  I really need to stop making all of these promises.

 

“Alright, what is stopping Miss Ann from dancing?” Lay asks as we all take a seat on the floor.

 

I look at him before looking at Jongin.  He must have understood my look because he soon said something.

 

“Don’t worry Ann. You can trust Lay. He won’t tell anyone,” he says.

 

I look back at Lay and he nods and smiles as to give me some reassurance.

 

“Alright. Well, as you may or may not know, I kind of got attacked at the awards. Ever since I got my cast off, I’ve been scared to dance. Everytime I try, images keep popping up in my head and I’m just scared she’s going to come after me again. I’m also scared that I’ll hurt my ankle again, but this time, it won’t heal properly and I’ll never be able to dance again,” I say before letting out a breath I didn’t know I was even holding.

 

“Wow. You have indeed been through a lot. That is a scary situation. Not many people would even come back to the studio.  You’re braver than most,” Lay says.

 

Jongin nods in agreement.  “You definitely are. And feeling like you’ll hurt your ankle again is normal. I mean, me and Lay hyung here get afraid at times because of our waist and back injuries.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really. I guess you’ve officially joined the injured dancers club,” Lay says before laughing.

 

Me and Jongin laugh with him.

 

“Okay. I think we understand your situation so let’s start to actually dance. Get your brace on and we’ll start warming up,” Jongin says.

 

I sigh then nod before putting the brace on.

 

We soon then do a couple warm ups and stretches.

 

“Alright. Let’s just start with some freestyling. Then we can move on to what you guys are learning in dance class,” Jongin suggests and I nod.

 

Lay turns on some music.  They both nod as to giving me the go ahead to begin dancing.

 

I nod.  I get into position and close my eyes.  I take a couple deep breaths and open my eyes again, only to see that woman in the mirror.  I turn around to see if she’s there but she isn’t. 

 

“Are you alright?” Lay asks.

 

“I don’t think I can do this,” I say.

 

“Did you see her again?” Jongin asks.

 

I only nod.

 

He sighs before running his hand through his hair.  I just look down.

 

“Here, I have an idea,” Lay says as he comes to stand in front of me.  I tense up a little at how close he is to me.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything. Just trust me,” he gently says and I slowly nod.

 

“Okay. When you dance, for now, don’t look in the mirrors. Just stare at me. When you move, I’ll move. Just stare at me the whole time, okay?” he says.  I take another breath and nod.

 

Jongin goes to skip to another song.  It’s more slow and mellow than the last one.

 

I look at Lay and start moving. I start doing some simple ballet moves and then add some turns.  Lay was right when he said he’d move with me.  I then began doing some soft hip-hop moves.  I begin smiling as does he.  I continue dancing with him until I hear the song ending.

 

I then hear some applause.

 

“That was great Ann!” Jongin says.

 

I widen my eyes.  “I did it? Oh my goodness I did it!! I didn’t even see her! Thank you Lay!” I say as I hug him.  I then go over to hug Jongin.

 

“No problem.  Though it was more of Lay helping than me,” he says as I release from the hug.  We then turn towards Lay who is just standing there.

 

“You alright hyung?” Jongin asks.

 

“Uh-yeah. I’m fine,” he says before smiling.

 

Just then a phone starts ringing.  “That’s mine,” Jongin says.

 

Lay and I just stare at each other for a moment.  I then quickly look away.

 

“Aish, this guy. I’m going to check up on Taemin to see how much trouble he caused. I’ll be back. Why don’t you practice what the dance teacher taught you yesterday,” Jongin says as he exits the practice room.

 

“He must be I some trouble if oppa is going after him,” I say trying to release some of this awkwardness.

 

He laughs, “That’s Taemin for you. Anyways, what song is your group working on?” he asks.

 

“Shinee’s Married to the Music. I already know the steps so you don’t have to stay if you don't want to. I can just practice myself,” I say as I go to plug my phone into the speakers.

 

“What do you mean you know the steps already? Didn’t the teacher just show you the dance yesterday?” he asks.

 

I nod.

 

I look back at him and raise an eyebrow.  “What? Do you not believe me or something?”

 

He nods.  “It is kind of hard for me to believe. I mean, I can only do that if I take a whole day.”

 

I shrug, “But I’m not lying,” I say.

 

“Prove it then. I’m going to stand right here,” he says as he moves to stand in front of the mirror, “and I’m going to watch you.”  A playful smirk appears on his face.  Oh, you're on.

“Alright. Can you push play?” I ask him as I get into position.  He nods and pushes play before coming back into his spot.

 

The music starts and I begin dancing.  I do most of the steps correctly with only a few mistakes.  I look at him the whole time during the dance.  Looking at someone really does help. 

 

The dance comes to an end and his mouth is left open.

 

“Believe me now?” I say as I go get a drink from my water bottle.

 

“I guess I do now. Jongin was right. You are a very talented dancer, natural talent at that.  That’s rare to come by nowadays,” he says.

 

I smile, “Thanks. It means a lot coming from you.”  Oh god, did I just say that out loud?  Please tell me I did not.  Oh my go-

 

“What do you mean by that?” he says as he comes to sit down next to me.  Dang it.  I said it out loud.

 

“Well, you’re an amazing dancer and singer. You moves are so smooth it’s like you don’t even try. It’s like dancing is just as natural as breathing is for you,” I say.

 

“Wow. I never thought of it like that. Thanks, I feel honored,” he says as he smiles and looks at me.

 

“So, you think you’ve conquered your fear?” he asks.

 

“I hope. I’m just going to take your advice and just look at someone in the audience or something,” I say.

 

He nods.  “You know, you’re not the only one who’s scared to dance,” he says.

 

“What do you mean?” I curiously ask.

 

“Well, I don’t know if you know this but I have hemophilia. So I have to be careful doing certain things. Sometimes I’m scared that I’ll bump into something and get this deep cut and just bleed out on stage,” he says.

 

I just look at him.  “That must be hard. How do you still dance if you’re scared?”

 

“I just do it. Dancing is my life and I just love it too much to be stopped by anything, especially my disease. If I have to, I’ll die dancing,” he says before laughing.

 

I smile at him.  If he can dance even though he’s scared of his disease, then I can dance and not be afraid of that woman anymore.

 

He then looks at me and stares right into my eyes.  “You know, you have really pretty eyes.” he says.

“Umm t-thanks,” I say.  He then starts leaning in and my eyes slightly widen.

 

“Um, I should probably get back to practicing,” I say.  Well, if i didn't embarrass myself before, I surely did it now.

He nods.  "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything," he nicely says.

"No, it's fine." 

 

Scynthia’s POV

 

Me and the rest of the group are still practicing this ridiculous Shinee dance.

 

“Alright guys. Take five,” the teacher says.  Thank the lord!

 

Just then someone knocks on the door and sticks their head in.  Taemin?  What is he doing here?

 

“Oh, hello everyone,” he says, “working hard I can see,” he says before smiling.

 

“Oh wow! I’m such a big fan man!” Hyun says as he goes to shake hands with Taemin.

 

Jeong just laughs at him.

 

“Thanks man. Your name is?” Taemin says.

 

“Oh, I’m Hyun and that’s Jeong, Scynthia, and Aerum,” Hyun says introducing us.

 

I giggle as I go up to Taemin.  “What are you doing here?” I ask him.

 

“Well, Jongin and Lay are helping Ann with her dancing, so I thought I would just come and visit you,” he says before smiling.

 

“Ah, okay. Well, we were just practing—Wait. It’s a good thing you’re here. We’re practicing your song for a matter of fact. Why do your guys’ dances gotta be so hard? You guys put too much in them,” I say.

 

He just laughs and shakes his head.  “If you’re having trouble, I’d be gladly to help you.”

 

“Really? That’d be great actually. I might take you up on that offer,” I say.

 

“Sure anytime,” he says before pulling out his phone, “just put your number in and I’ll text you. Then whenever you want to practice, just let me know.”

 

I nod and type my number in, saving it to his contacts.  “Thanks. This will help a-“

 

“Hey oppa, could you help me too? I’m having trouble with a certain part,” Aerum says as she tries to look cute.  

I just roll my eyes and shake my head.  Seriously, how desperate is this girl?

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. What was that Arun?” Taemin asks, not even looking at her.

 

Me and the other guys try our best not to laugh.

 

“My name is A-“

 

“Taemin! What are you doing? I hope you’re not bothering them,” Jongin says as he walks in.

 

“Of course not. Why would I be doing that?” he asks as he playfully smirks.

 

“You know what, I don’t even want to know. Let’s go. We have to leave in a few anyways. Sorry if he bothered you,” Jongin says to everyone.

 

I just laugh.

 

Taemin then turns back to me and says, “Text me when you wanna practice,” before looking at everyone else, “nice meeting you all and keep up the hard work,” he says before leaving with Jongin.

 

 

“And how do you know them?” Aerum says as she comes up to me.

 

“Because I do?” I say.

 

“Whatever, they probably just feel sorry for you,” she says.

 

“Yeah, okay Arun,” I say and the guys laugh.

 

“Scynthia, your comebacks are too awesome,” he says as he high fives me.

 

I laugh and reply with a thanks.

 

“Okay! Break time is over!”

 

 

 

Ann’s POV

 

I’ve practiced a couple times now and I'm trying to fix my mistakes.

 

“Here,” Lay says as he comes up to me, “you’re doing this wrong. It should go like this instead of like this,” he says as he shows me.

 

“Oh, thanks,” I say as I redo the move.

 

“Perfect!” he says before smiling. 

Soon, Jongin and Taemin come back to the practice room.

 

“Well, I see our work here is done and has been accomplished,” Jongin says.

 

I nod, “All thanks to you guys,” I say.

 

“You are more than welcome,” Taemin says and I just laugh.

 

“In your dreams,” Jongin says to him before turning to me.  “Well, we gotta go know. Are you good Ann?”

 

“I am. I’m just going to stay here and practice some more,” I say.

 

“Alright. Don’t practice too hard. Let me know if you need anything,” he says as he hugs me.

 

“I will. See you guys."

 

Taemin and Jongin leave.

 

“Thanks for your help Lay,” I say.

 

“No problem. Hopefully there will be a dance session in the future,” he says.

 

“Sure.”

 

“Great. I'll text you later to see when we're both available. Maybe we can get a bite to eat, too,” he says smiling.

"Yeah. Sounds like a plan," I say.

"Great. I'll see you soon," he says before leaving.

As soon as the door closes, I pinch myself.  Did I just get asked out? Oh goodness. Wait until Lauren and Scynthia hear about this. Oh my goodness!

I shake my head before re-focusing and start practicing again.

 

 

 

Dun dun duuuunnnn. Well, there's another chapter for you guys!  What do you guys think of the story so far?  Who do you guys ship together?  

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