Even if I wished to slow down time, I couldn’t really do anything. That Monday arrived sooner than I had wanted. We were waiting for Soonyoung to arrive and announce that Chanyeol and I would like to show the others what we were working on for more than a month.

I didn’t know how Chanyeol felt but I was actually way more nervous than I would have admitted. I was never anxious, to be honest. Not even during exam periods, not even when I took my CSATs, not even before my graduation. Soonyoung liked to tease me about having the stress level of a dead cockroach when it came to important things that make most people freak out. Yet, I was still on the edge this time. Gosh, what did really change?

“We will do great, Yushin,” Chanyeol put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder and my legs became weaker by his touch. He looked me in the eyes and his stare seemed to pierce into my soul. I knew I was totally lost but to be frank with you, I didn’t want to be found. “We’ve practiced a lot and if someone messes up the choreography that would be me and not you.”

“You are not making me feel better,” I chuckled half-heartedly, secretly glancing at the door, hoping that Soonyoung would arrive.

“Okay, then I’ll put it this way,” he chortled but became serious in the next second. “Neither of us would mess up the dance because you are a great dancer and I had the best teacher ever, so I’m not going to make any mistakes either. I’m not going to let you down,” he whispered quietly rather than shouting it into the crazy hustle-bustle in the room, making my little heart pound crazier than ever. He said it like it was a secret that only we were able to share and I tried to embrace his words like they were my source of warmth and reassurance. His support was constant like Venus that never actually left the sky and shone at its brightest right after the sunset and it was the first that rose in the morning just before the Sun.

My legs turned into jelly after his soothing words and I almost opened my mouth to respond but Soonyoung chose this exact moment to arrive and begin his class. He immediately started babbling about the importance of pair work (just like he did when any of the pairs gave a performance) and let us present what we had been preparing.

I squealed inside. The pressure was rising, pulsing mad in my bloodstreams. It was now or never. It wasn’t like we were dancing in front of the president of Korea but still, I was shaking like a leaf falling from the tree. Nevertheless, Chanyeol was right, we had practiced a lot and I couldn’t let him down either. It was his time to shine and show how significantly he had improved.

Before the first beat, someone gently pressed my hand and I felt like I had been electrocuted the second Chanyeol touched me. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him because I knew I would be more emotional than ever, so I waited for the song to start and muttered a pray for the Gods above to help us survive this performance in one piece.

The first few seconds were a bit confusing, I was certain that I had forgotten everything. However, as the song went on, I became more and more confident and it wasn’t even that hard to enjoy myself. With the second song and its impressive choreography, I loosened up for good and the whole experience became a blur after that. I made little snapshots of our dance in my mind, so that I could remember for every single moment. It was truly a joy to be able to dance with him, without worrying, without reluctance and without barriers. I wish I had trusted him earlier to show more sides of me and let him break down my walls a bit earlier but I was actually thankful that he even made an attempt to get to know me.

The dance ended sooner than I had expected and I found myself sweeping Chanyeol into a big bear hug after our performance had ended.

“You see?” Soonyoung clapped his hands in excitement and his usual teasing tone was the only thing that could snap me back to my senses. Oh my gosh, did I really hug Park Chanyeol? No way! I must have been under the effect of some medicine. Odd behaviour was one of the symptoms of an inappropriately used drug, right?

I didn’t know how to back out of this awkward situation, so I immediately took a step back but Soonyoung couldn’t shut his mouth. Of course, he had to continue on rambling nonsense.

“I’ve told you that you really have to know your partner in order to show a good performance. And as you can see, this is how close you can get with your partner after one and a half month,” he pointed at us, his brassy grin plastered on his face.

I felt a need to facepalm because I was so devastatingly embarrassed and Soonyoung was so devastatingly annoying that I just wanted to curl up and die. I didn’t even dare to look at Chanyeol, he must have felt more uncomfortable than me. After all, I was the one who gave him a bone-breaking huge instead of him giving me one. Honestly, I was so damn proud of him and I wanted to demonstrate it somehow but I was never good with words, so body language was my only option. Well… I obviously got a bit carried away.

When the laughs and the ‘they are so cute together’ comments died away, Soonyoung took the lead and taught all of us how to dance in synchronization, not only in pairs but in little groups as well. The rest of the lesson was undeniably fun but I couldn’t enjoy it whole-heartedly because a spike of shame never left my side in the next approximately one hour.

However, as even your worst nightmare eventually ends, Soonyoung soon called it a day and dismissed his pupils. I was ready to walk up to him and tell him off for teasing his best friend after such an embarrassing situation and humiliating me in front of his group when Chanyeol literally jumped in front of me, making me stop dead in my tracks. From the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of an approving wink from my best friend but