"This is not how I imagined my night going." Chungha said to herself and at the corner of the room, she could see Taehyun smirking at her. 

Their dance teacher had spend the whole 2 hours going on about how dance was a means of expressing a story through your body, when those two hours could have been her going back to her dorm, showering, and her settling in her pyjamas then watching her favorite American T.V series How To Get Away with Murder. 

"Now you guys know that we've been practicing for quite a long time now. Three months to be exact. So the other instructors and I have decided to hold a mini concert for you trainees. We'll be dividing you guys in groups. Vocal, rap and dance. I'm in charge with dance and I have decided to group you in pairs." 

Please don't pair me up with Taehyun. This was what was running on Chungha's mind.

"Taeha and Jihoon, Somi and Daehwi, Nayoung and Daniel, Chungha and Taehyun..." She expressed her gratitude by thanking both Jesus and Buddha for this wonderful opportunity, note the sarcasm, of course.. "Now that you know your pairs, in this bowl here, you'll be picking what song you'll be dancing to. You and your pair will be the one choreographing it, then after a week, we'll have a dry-run for this. In case any accidents happen-- we hope there won't be any, we'll have to redo the pairing. And from there, we'll see what would happen." 

Chungha sighed heavily, as she was paired with Taehyun. Everybody but her knew that Noh Taehyun had the hots for her. Taehyun, being dubbed as the krumping god of their dance academy, had always seemed too arrogant for Chungha's liking. She didn't exactly know what it was about him. She says it's the face he makes everytime he dances, or sometimes it's the way he would walk as if he owns the place. But everyone thinks it's just Chungha being confused with her feelings.

Chungha looked around for Taehyun and worried on how she would feel comfortable around his presence since she was not friends with this very particular person. Jihoon tapped Chungha on her shoulder and asked for Taeha and she pointed at a brown-haired girl who was standing next to the one and only Taehyun. 

Oh, God. She thought.

Taehyun smirked and walked towards her. 

"So you dance?" He asked, but it didn't sound like a question. It sounded more like an insult. 

"Yes, I do." She smiled sweetly at him, the kind that was sickening. 

"Chungha and Taehyun! Time to pick your dance!"

Chungha was about to put her hand inside the bowl when Taehyun beat her to it. Deep inside, she was praying that it was something that doesn't involve any physical contact at all, but luck wasn't on her side obviously. 

"Oh. This is one y song, alright. Are you both okay with that?"

Then why did you put it in there in the first place? Was what Chungha wanted to say, but of course, she just nodded in reply. 

* * * 

"Put your hands over here--"

"What?! No! I'm not going to touch you-- ew. Let me go! Noh Taehyun!"

"Yah! Just do it! We're both professional dancers here."

Chungha stood in front of Taehyun with her back against his front. He was telling her to slide her hand up to his neck while he put both of his hands on her waist. She was blushing profusely from all the skin to skin contact between them. Taehyun, on the other hand, was enjoying every bit of it. They were both drenched with sweat but they didn't mind. It was part of the dance life. But Chungha refuses to acknowledge that Taehyun was her partner on this one.

"Okay. Look, Chungha. You're pretty and all, but you're quite the diva. You're making it hard for me to work with you. We only have one week, it's already the third day and we haven't progressed at all." 

"You just called me pretty." was all Chungha's brain had registered. Taehyun's eyes became big as he realized what had just said. 

"Let's get back to business." 

Chungha and Taehyun spent two hours without talking to one another. They were both choreographers so they found it hard to combine their dances together since they were different types of people with different types of dance fortes. Chungha was more of a girlish dancer whilst Taehyun was more on krumping and hip-hop. She was finding it hard to hit all the moves and Taehyun wasn't sure him twerking was an appealing sight. 

"This is not working at all." Chunga grumbled. She lied down on the floor, covering her face with her hands. 

As much as she hated to admit it, she was disappointed with herself. Why was she finding it so hard to dance with Taehyun? It wasn't like there was anything going on between them. It was just that every time Taehyun was at an arm's length, she could feel her heart thumping so loudly she was scared that he would hear it. 

"Do you hate me?" Taehyun asked her.

"No. You're just... annoying? I guess." She answered as honest as honest as she possibly could.

"Really? That's how you see me?" 

"Yeah." 

Chungha wasn't aware of the fact that she just broke his heart into pieces. All Taehyun wanted was to get her attention. He guessed his plan didn't work according to what he wanted to achieve. 

"So you do hate me." There was a hint of sadness in his voice, but what was even sadder was that Chungha didn't take notice of it. "Let's take a break."

"Okay." Was the only thing Chungha said.

A few moments and they were back to wherever they left off. 

"Can I hold you here?" Taehyun instructed her

"Uhm-, yeah sure."

Taehyun put both of his hands on her arms, sliding them down until they finally reached her waist, "Hey so for this part, I was thinking that maybe I could turn you to face me," and he did, turn her around in his arms so that she was indeed facing him. The sudden movement made Chungha gasp in surprise as she was now only a few inches away from Taehyun. 

Her eyes were going back and forth with meeting his eyes and looking at his lips. 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Chungha pulled away from him and swallowed hard. She wasn't sure what was happening now. Taehyun was making all the adjustments for her and yet she couldn't do something for him. 

"I just need a moment." And she ran away from Taehyun, leaving him alone in the dance room, asking himself if he did anything wrong. 

On her way to the Garden, Chungha bumped into Jihoon and Taeha. Of course, being the good dance peers they were, they asked her what was wrong. And all she could reply was the name of her dance partner. 

"Noh Taehyun."

Both Jihoon and Taeha looked at her quizzically, before bursting out into fits of laughter. 

"Taehyun-hyung? What did he do?"

"You're so dense! Taehyun-oppa likes you! Everybody else knows it."

What? She mentally thought. It wasn't entirely impossible that her dance partner was in love with her, but it wasn't completely possible, too. 

"You call that, like? He's constantly annoying me. He's always smirking at me. He's always trying to get my attenti-" She paused while trying to process things. He's constantly annoying me. He's always smirking at me. He's always trying to get my attention. Could it be? She rushed back to the dance room to see Taehyun completely engulfed in dancing. He had earphones on so it was impossible for her to get his attention by shouting his name, but he noticed her from the corner of his eyes and turned in her direction. Chungha was motioning for him to remove his earphones and he did.

"So is it true?" She blatantly asked

"What is true?"

"That you like me."

Taehyun looked like he was about to have a heart attack. How did she know? Was I that obvious? I mean she's the densest person here in the dance academy and-

Chungha snapped him out of his train of thought. 

"Hey, I asked you a question. When you are asked a question, you have to reply." 

"I don't have to answer to you." He replied

"What a shame. I happen to like you,too."

"Too? What do you mean too? How are you so sure that I like you?" 

"Judging by the way you're sweating right now when you're not even dancing, I think that implies you're lying about you not liking me." 

"Sweating? Pfffft. I sweat a lot. Don't feel so special." 

"Then why is your breathing staggered? You look like you're a deer caught in the headlights." 

"Okay, fine. I do. What's it to you? It's not like you like me, too. You're just saying that because you feel sorry. That's the kind of person you are, Chungha. You're too kind. You let other people take advantage of your feelings. You're saying you like me, because you don't want me to feel embarrassed about me and my feelings." He explained

"So you're saying I don't know my own feelings?" 

"No. I'm saying you don't like m--, Why are we even talking about this? We're here to dance, Chungha. Personal matters can be dealt with later." 

Chungha stood in front of Taehyun. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug while giving him a pat on the back. She pulled away from him anf gave him a smile. 

"Let's dance, yeah?" 

All Taehyun could do was nod his head. 

"5, 6, 7, 8... hey! No! Stop that! Chungha, yah!" Taehyun said, flustered by the amount of skinship there was in this dance

"Just do it! Okay follow me, alright? Okay, so raise the both of your arms and square your shoulders," Chungha stood in front of him with the exact same position, "and then swing them left and right, then swing them left, lock arms with me, and then sway backwards left and right." 

"That's a lot of skinship for someone who apparently finds me annoying." He muttered. Taehyun was also bothered by the number of times her bum had made contact with his crotch. Be professional. Be professional. He kept telling himself.

"Just go with it." 

A few hours had passed and the two of them had gathered an audience watching by the door. 

"Wah, they're so cool."

"They make great partners."

"They'd make the perfect couple."

"Taehyun really compliments Chungha and vice versa."

"They're so professional! If it was me, I'd be bothered by the amount of skin to skin contact."

They were even more surprised when Chungha put her right foot forward leaning down, only to be pulled back up by Taehyun and him digging his head on Chungha's neck, his lips trailing from where her shoulders and neck met up to her ear. Viola! They had finished their dance.

Every single trainee who was watching by the door clapped in amusement for their teamwork. 

Taehyun still had his lips by Chungha's ear and both of their staggered breathings filled the room as the music stopped. 

"I did well, didn't I?" Taehyun whispered.

"Not as good as I did." Chungha winked at his reflection on the mirror. 

"Have you had lunch?" Taehyun asked, obviously there was something up on his sleeve.

"No. Why?" 

"Let's go and get something to eat." Taehyun was hoping that Chungha wouldn't decline his offer, when she nodded, the corners of his mouth instantly lifted up into the biggest smile he has ever smiled, "By the way, I'm paying."