"But I have never done a modern dance before, hell, I'm not even a good dancer to begin with. Why me?"

IU managed to ask after coughing on her latte when Hontae told her that she's going to different location for dance practice to learn new choreography, while the latter only shrugged.

"I already told him, but boss said that this might be a good exposure for you, trying to do something new than what you usually do. He thought you've been in a slump for too long, you should appear more in reality show." He does a quoting action with both his hands to emphasize what he had been told.

"Yeah, easy for him to say. Didn't he remember that I just finished filming my drama? I'm also preparing for a new track, I thought I was going to die from exhaustion. But in the end, I'm just not a good dancer. I don't want to make a fool of myself. Please Hanteo, don't you have a way around this?"

He looked at her with a sullen expression.

"I really did want to help, I even suggest that they send other artist but they insisted that you do the performance. I'm sorry Jieun, but I'm here to support you all the way."

She grabbed her coffee with a dejected expression.

"But can I not go today? I needed to consult someone. I promise I'll go tomorrow."

"Sure, I'll call your partner's company to move the schedule to tomorrow. Do you need me to drive you?"

"No, I'll get there myself."

She fished out her phone from her back pocket and dialled a number. It wasn't long until her call was answered.

"Hello?"

"Unnie? Can I see you?"

******

The blonde girl threw a chilled water bottle at her which she caught skillfully as she leaned against the mirror in a huge practice room only SM has, before she too, took a seat beside her. She patted the younger on the head, smiling when she pouted at her.

"So what brought all this hard work? And this is not the style of dance you usually work with."

"I'm in trouble unnie. The company sends me, of all people, to do modern dance with another idol."

Her eyes glinted mischieviously at this, and not waiting for her onslaught of questions, she immediately provided the answers.

"A male idol. Younger. I've never met him personally before, and it was Bangtan to top it all."

"Bangtan? You mean Bangtansonyeondan, BTS?" Her eyes widen. "I heard that their maknae is a big fan of you."

IU just nodded helplessly. "But he wasn't my partner. It was the other member."

"Oh my, you're so done Jieun. Done."

A long sigh escaped the lips of the younger as she pounded her head with the almost empty water bottle.

"I also know that, Taeyeon unnie. I'm so dead, am I? If the fans know, I'll be thrown into the deepest pit of hell."

Taeyeon laughed at this but at the same time, she pitied the girl, she got hated on something that is not her fault, she even got swore at on her Instagram just because the maknae of BTS is a fan of her. Problem is, Jieun is a bit socially awkward around people she didn't know, not to mention she's workaholic at heart, what more to have a relationship with another idol. Even Junmyeon moved on from his little crush on the girl. If it was her, she would possibly be dating that Jungkook as the rumors went. If you got hated on over things you didn't do, you might as well just do it. She pulled the girl into a hug, comforting her.

"Well, we have Taemin here. I'll see what I can do to help you since I'm not a modern dancer myself. If you got hated on over this as well, make sure they hate you because you're that good."

The younger only nodded, as she watched the older brought out her phone and dialing the said person, feeling relieved when she heard that he'd be happy to help and he was on his way to the company any way. 

This should be enough practice for the real practice session, right?

******

He was not this kind of person, who thought badly of another especially when he haven't met the person, but what were they thinking? Pairing her with him, so much work would be done by him and him only. She's a veteran in the industry, with 5 years ahead of him on experience but she never even studied contemporary, and trust him, it was hard. And so he can't help but be a bit skeptical when he heard that she'll be coming today for practice session after yesterday's being cancelled.

"Yah, what are you doing here?  You're going to make a hole on that mirror from that stare."

A pat came from behind his shoulder, he smiled when he saw that it was Seokjin. The older came bringing chilled coffee of which he handed to him and he took it gratefully.

"So, what's going on? You've been stressing for two days already."

He was contemplating on how to word his concern without it sounding rude to the one he was thinking of. 

"Hyung, you know who's my partner for that dance show performance right?"

"Who doesn't know her? Jungkook practically been bugging all the members about it. Is she the one causing you this amount of stress?"

"It wasn't like I was judging her or something, but I don't think she could pull this off very well, this is not her style." He sighed. "I wish it was Jungkook instead of me."

Seokjin looked like he was in deep thinking before he gave another comforting pat on the younger's shoulder. 

"And this is not your style, judging ahead of people. For all you know she could've been a genius at it."

He gave an eyebrow at the statement. 

"Okay, maybe not a genius but who knows? You didn't know her, right? She's never danced that genre before, doesn't mean that she was ignorant about it, maybe she could give you some ideas to help you. And if she wasn't good at it somehow, then isn't that your job to help her since you're the better one at it like you've helped me? Hobie or Kookie can also help you with it. I know Kookie will be happy to help."

Their conversation was cut short as they were interrupted by the vigorous knocking on the door to the room before Hoseok's head peeked in.

"Yo, she's here, she's here."

Seokjin nudged him slowly.

"Come, let's greet her."

They walked out through the corridor to the small lounge where they got their drinks to find her conversing with Namjoon, well, that wasn't so hard to imagine, he's socially well enough and she was one of his acquaintance's good friend. It wasn't long before the others flocked to the lounge and they all greeted her formally, making her flush in embarrassment saying that they greeting her like that made her feel old, before she too bowed at them.

"Hello, I'm IU, but you can also call me Jieun. Nice to meet you guys."

Seeing her face to face after only watching her on TV and music shows, she looked like a simple girl. Showing up here, just in plain sweaters and tracks, and only carrying a backpack on her back, was this the same girl? 

******

"So, where do you want to start?" He asked when they were left alone in the room, breaking the apparent ice between them. 

"Maybe we stretch for a bit, then we work on the opening sequence."

"Okay, got it."

She put down her things as he began stretching, getting rid of her sweater to reveal black long sleeves she wore beneath, before she also began hers. They work in silence, but understanding each other as he helped her and she helped him. 

"So, any ideas?" He asked. 

The harmonize silence broke again by his voice. He admitted he could have just went on with his own ideas, but he wanted her perspective too. He realized he was staring when her cheeks went red, so he smiled. 

"So I went and did a little research on you." She began nervously. "And I saw your MAMA performance where you danced blindfolded, I noticed the crowd like it a lot."

"So you want to try this blindfolded?" He interrupted, and she nodded. 

"Though I have no confidence that I'll be good at it, I want to try. You've studied contemporary before, right? I hope you'll be understanding if I made mistakes." 

He smiled at