Charlotte woke up early the next day and shook her cousin awake gently.

“If I make you coffee before I go is it okay if I go to the studio to dance for a while? I really need it today”, she said when her cousin opened her eyes.

“Mmmpf…… sure….. coffee….. dance…… sounds good”, Tiffany pulled herself up into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

“What time is it?”, Tiffany mumbled, “is Jacob awake yet?”

“I don’t know, I just got up. It’s 730am”, Charlotte said as she got up and started to pull out clothes before she took a shower. Tiffany rolled out of bed and almost hit the floor but she caught herself on the side of the bed.

“Okay Char. You make the coffee and I’ll slip something clean on”, she muttered as she headed for the living room and her dresser along one wall. Charlotte went in to get the coffee started and hurried to take a shower. She looked in the mirror and saw that she had puffy bags under her normally sparkling brown eyes. Today they were dull and the whites were a little red. She started the shower and got in and tried to hurry but the hot water felt so good she closed her eyes and rested her back against the wall and let the bathroom fill with steam. When she got out she looked in the mirror again; the bags had shrunk enough they were barely noticeable. A couple of drops of visine in each eye cleared up the redness and she patted a bit of concealed under her eyes. She ran a wide toothed comb through her hair and pulled it into a messy bun and headed back out to the loving room. She found Tiffany slumped on the couch with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Don’t forget your phone”, Tiffany picked it up of the coffee table where she had set it when she sat down on the couch. Charlotte went to take it from her and noticed that it had died during the night so she went to plug it into the charger by her bed and slipped her keys, debit card, mp3 player, and headphones into her hoodie pocket.

“I shouldn’t be gone more than a couple of hours. I’ll even stop and grab breakfast on the way back”, she called over her shoulder as she opened the door and walked out. To get her heart pumped she took the stairs instead of the elevator and soon she was outside in the cool morning air. As she walked to the studio she passed a couple of older ladies out for a morning walk. They said hello as they passed her and she gave them a nod and wave as she went on her way. At the studio she rented a different room than usual and went in. It was smaller but the mirrors wrapped around all four walls, except where the door was. She dropped her keys in corner, slipped her hoodie off, slipped her ear buds in, and clipped the mp3 player to the waistband of her cropped leggings. Her socks and shoes joined the pile in the corner and she started her music. She started to move slowly and warm up before she got into the songs that would help her soar across the wooden floor without a care in the world.

JunJin walked into the studio and went to sign up for his usual room but it was already booked. He shrugged and took the room next to it and went to it. As he walked past the door of his usual room he saw her. He didn’t hear any music this time and noticed that she had ear buds in as she danced. His heart clenched as he remembered the message she had sent him last night. She clearly wasn’t pleased with his bid for her attention and he had tried to think of something else he could do. He watched her dance and he could see her emotion in her movements. She turned just then and their eyes met; his breath hitched in his chest as she slipped her ear buds out and began to walk towards the door. He looked away and headed for the room he had rented. He heard the door open and he stopped.

“Are you going to do this again?”, she said softly and he looked up at her.

“I didn’t mean….. I didn’t plan to”, he whispered and slipped hands into the pockets of his jacket. She sighed heavily.

“Well you might as well come in. We should talk”, she said and opened the door so he could enter first. He walked past her and went to stand in the middle of the room. She peeked around the lobby to see if anyone had seen him enter then shut the door and leaned against it, the wood cool on her sweaty back. They stared each other down silently. His gaze made her uncomfortable and she looked away after a while.

“If you’re not going to talk then I’m going to dance”, Charlotte said and slipped her ear buds back in.

“Wait”, he stuttered out and she stopped and looked at him.

“Why did you say that last night?”, he said and ran his fingers through his hair. She blushed and fiddle with the music player at her waist.

“Because I can’t imagine why you would risk your career for someone like me”, she said, “we don’t get to choos