Chapter Seventeen

...You’re kidding, right? He has to be kidding. There’s no way and no how. She thought as the past few moments ran through her head.

After she finished changing, Lay had played a rather jazzy yet sensual song. As soon as it started playing, he danced accordingly. Her eyes simply refused to leave him throughout his entire routine.  The dance gave off a sensuous feeling that matched the song very well. It had an added sharpness around the edges that gave it even more flavour. When the song was finished, he looked neither out of breathe nor tired.  She was thoroughly impressed.

“Wow,” She said in disbelief, “That was amazing. Is that what you’re doing for the banquet?”

“No.” Lay replied with a faint smirk, “That’s what you’re doing for the banquet.”

And that led her to her current predicament, which was complete and utter denial.

“I-I have to dance like that?” She sputtered out in awe, pointing to the place where Lay was originally dancing. Lay didn’t seem all that fazed by her shock.

“Not exactly, I was just showing you Kai’s part. We’re going to come up with what you’re doing today.” Lay explained to her. He walked over to her and stood behind her. “Don’t worry. I’ll make a dancer out of you yet.”  He slapped his hands down on her shoulders and pushed her forward. He planted her in front of the mirror.

“Stay there.” He patted her shoulders and walked toward the speaker again. He picked up a remote looking device and walked back to her. With a click of the remote, the music started playing again.

“Face to the left.”

“Right foot back and ankle up.”

“Hold your elbow and rest your chin on your other hand.”

“Look down.”

She followed every direction the best she could but in the end, Lay had to stop the music and position her.

“This is going to be your starting position. The theme of the dance is pull and push.”

“You,” Lay gazed at her with his intense stare, “are the pusher. Kai is the puller.”

She slowly nodded, “So, in order words, Kai is trying to seduce me and I’m telling him I’m not interested?”   

“Sure.”

They went through the routine many, many times with the music being rewound, paused, stopped and replayed numerous times. She was catching on better than she expected. She mentally thanked her mother for enrolling her in dance lessons when she was younger.

The dance itself was fun. It was telling a simple story of a man trying hard to impress a woman, while she tried hard to resist his advances. The man would follow her wherever she went, letting his body invite her to join him in his dance. Her body would either accept it or tell him he’d have to try harder.

To say she liked the role was a bit of an understatement. Being able to play a flirty and slightly devilish character was surprisingly fun. The dance moves she was taught were unique, yet simple enough for a beginner like herself. Lay did keep in mind her inexperience, but that didn’t mean he went easy on her. If anything, he was more forceful when she had a difficult time.

When she made mistakes, he had no trouble calling her out on them, no matter how small they were.  Lay also had no trouble with showing her how to correct her mistakes…with his hands. He had no issues with putting his hands where he pleased, whether it’d be her hips, arms, hands and shoulders, all in order for her to move correctly.

“Are you always this touchy with your students?” She asked. They were doing part of a routine where she was to turn her back to Lay and kick her leg back. Lay was to smoothly bend down to grab her knee and pull. That made it so she would have to face him and wrap her leg around his hip in order to stop her from falling. He stopped the music in the comprising position of her thigh still being attached to his hips. He then forcefully hitched her thigh higher on his hips.

“I don’t have any other students.”  He replied, “You need to put your leg higher, it’ll give me more control for the next move.”  He demonstrated his point by pressing his hand hard on her lower back. She felt her upper body dib back and move into a slow circular motion before they were chest to chest again. “Good. From the beginning.”

She groaned. “Can’t we take a break? Aren’t you hungry?” They had been going at it for a few hours already. She thought she was being very patient the entire time. She never once complained or whined. She did everything Lay wanted without question, no matter how exhausted she was. But then again, she did have a limit…and it was drawing close.

Lay stopped the music and placed his hands on his hips. He started to walk around her, creating an aura of intimidation.

“You want a break?” He asked as he slowly circled around her. She gulped and nodded her head.  He stopped from behind her and they met eyes in the mirror in front of them. “I’ll give you a break when you can run through all I’ve taught you without any mistakes.”

“But…” She protested lightly before slumping in defeat with a sigh. “Okay.”

She told her stomach to be patient. She knew the choreography well enough; she was making fewer and fewer mistakes with every run through. She was just worried about Lay being overly picky about the details.

So, they continued to practice. Lay was being overly picky as she expected. She decided to cynically conclude that she was never going to get a break.  They were in the middle of a dance when Lay stopped moving and reached for something in his back pocket. When he pulled it out, she recognized it as a communicator.  He stopped the music and picked up a call.

“I’m busy.” He announced into the communicator in an oh-so-friendly manner.

“I told you I’m busy.”

“I said no.”

“…Fine.” And he quickly ended the call with a sigh. He started to play the music again and they continued with the dance without any verbal exchange.  They finished the dance with still some mistakes here and there.  She felt a pressure on her bladder which created an idea in her head.

“Wait!” She called out before Lay could replay the music, “I need to go to the bathroom.” She blurted out. He raised his eyebrow in response and then rolled his eyes.  He lifted his arm and pointed to a door.

“Through the door and down the hall. Take a right, then a left and you’ll be there.” 

She muttered her thanks and quickly made her way out of the room before he could change his mind about letting her go.

She followed his instructions, maybe having to reroute a few times, and found the bathroom.  When she was finished, she absentmindedly walked out. After a few moments, she realized she wasn’t recognizing her surroundings. She tried to back track, but only felt like she got herself more lost. She turned a corner and was surprised to see a medium sized fluffy white dog simply sitting in the middle of the hallway. She looked around for an owner but didn’t see any.

Back home, her family had a dog of their own. She wouldn’t be lying if she said she missed the fur-ball.  She cautiously approached the dog. It turned its head towards her and stared as she got closer. Hesitantly, she put out her hand for the dog to sniff. It leaned forward a little and took a whiff of her scent before it started to her fingers. She giggled with delight and bent down to rub its head.

“And where did you come from?” She asked the dog, scratching behind its ear. It closed its eyes cutely and it almost looked like it was smiling, “Oh my goodness, you’re adorable!” She squealed and wrapped her arms around the dog, completely startling it. She let go and continued to rub its head. The dog sat up from its sitting position and started to walk away from her. Ileana pouted a little and stood up.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked the dog.  The dog stopped a little further down the hallway and barked at her.  The dog continued to bark at her until she took one step toward it. She took another and the dog starting walking away again. She decided to follow the dog, considering she was already lost and had nothing better to do. 

After taking a few turns, she started to recognize her surroundings. Before long, the dog was scratching at the door to the studio. She opened the door and the dog rushed in. She slowly walked inside to see three men turning towards her.

“King! There you are!” a boy ran over to the dog and hugged it. She recognized that she had seen both the dog and the new boy before in the vision.  She looked up from the boy and dog and was surprised to see Chen sitting down in a chair with a mug. He definitely did not seem pleased to see her. 

“What took you so long?” Lay asked her.

“I kind of got lost.” She mumbled, “Sorry.” She made her way past the boy and dog, who were cheerfully playing with each other.  She planted herself beside Lay, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with Chen.

“This is Chen and Baekhyun.” Lay nodded his head toward the two boys. “They brought some food, so help yourself.”  

He then left her and walked towards the mirror to practice some dance she didn’t recognize. She glanced over at Chen and the food spread across the table. She dragged a folded chair over and started to eat.

“You know, you look a little familiar. Have we met before?”

Ileana looked over to the side and saw that Baekhyun was looking at her with a curious expression. She quickly chewed and swallowed her food. “No, we haven’t.”

Baekhyun didn’t seem all that convinced, “I swear I’ve seen you before though.”

“Let it go.” Chen cut in before taking a sip of what she assumed to be tea.  Baekhyun glared toward Chen before directing his attention back to her.

“So, you must be the rumored partner.” He said smiling at her.

“What?” She asked, confused.

“The mysterious partnerthat Kai's taking to the banquet? At least, that’s what’s going around.”

She glanced over at Lay before looking toward Baekhyun again, “Yeah, I guess that’s me.”

“Wow, never thought Kai would actually dance with someone and with a girl no less.” Baekhyun looked up at her with wide eyes.

“A little short notice, don’t you think?” Chen piped in. She shot him a glare.  She wasn’t sure whether Chen was trying to help or hinder her.

“He invited me because I told him I’ve never been to a banquet before.”

“And he had Lay teach you the routine?” Baekhyun glanced over to Lay.

“Yeah, he can’t take time off work to teach me. So, Lay agreed to help us out.”

“Lay agreed to teach you?”

“Kai said Lay owed him a favor.”  Lay snorted in response from where he was dancing in the room.

“Lay never owes favors. If anything, people owe him favors.” Chen smirked at her. She glanced over to Lay. Why did he agree to teach her then?

“Ah!” Baekhyun called out, pointing at her, “I remember where I’ve seen you before! From that weird hallucination thing! And you guys were in it too!” He pointed between Lay and Chen.  Lay stopped his dancing and Chen froze. They both eyed her.

“I think it’s time for you guys to leave.” Lay demanded in an undeniably sharp tone.

“Right, I’ve got somewhere to be. Let’s go Baekhyun.” Chen jumped up immediately. “Nice meeting you.” He forcefully took her hand and what looked like him shaking her hand to the others, was actually him was shoving something into it.

“W-What?” Baekhyun looked between Lay and Chen, “But we just got here! And I don’t even know her name!”

“Ileana.” She piped up as Chen forcibly made Baekhyun stand up and drag him toward a door.

“Oh! That’s a nice name.” He said as he continued to be taken away with the dog following after him, “It was nice meeting y-“ And the door slammed shut, cutting him off.

When they were gone, she opened her hand and saw a scrunched napkin. Unfolding it, she read the words: Call me tonight. She stared at the words slightly confused. Why did Chen want her to call him?

“Come here.” Lay commanded. She stiffened up and tossed the napkin into a nearby waste basket. She looked over her shoulder and saw Lay standing in front of the mirrors expectantly. “I said come here.”

She rolled her eyes as she stood up and made her way over to him. He clicked on the remote and she quickly went into her starting position. For 2 and ½ minutes, she was another person.  She continued to dance and realized that Lay hadn’t spoken yet, meaning he didn’t see any mistakes. The ending was coming soon. She turned away from Lay on beat. He grabbed onto her wrist and spun her around. He quickly latched onto her waist and dipped her dramatically low. With that, the song ended and she was lightly panting. She tilted her head up and met with Lay’s gaze.

“Lay. I have a question.” She said as Lay slowly brought her back up. “Why did you agree to teach me if you didn’t owe Kai a favor?”

Lay searched her eyes for a few moments before looking away. She could tell he didn’t want to answer the question. But the curiosity was killing her.

“You’ll probably mock me if I told you.” He mumbled out, his lips forming into a grim line. She was baffled.

“And why would I mock you?” She asked.  Lay rolled his eyes and before meeting with her stare.

“I did it for my pride.”

For his what? She thought.

“How does teaching me how to dance help your pride?” She askd. Lay reached out and pressed the remote again. This time, a new song played. With his arm still securely around her waist, he began to lead her into an unknown dance.

They danced and danced. When she made a mistake, Lay effortlessly covered it up . He spun her and dipped her; he pulled her close and pushed her away.  She felt like a puppet in his hands. The song ended and she found that she was led into the same position that they started in.

“That`s why.” He said with his breathing lightly caressing her face. She looked at him through questioning eyes.

“I’m afraid I still don’t understand what you mean.”

Lay sighed, possibly realizing his cryptic words were getting him nowhere. “I saw you at the club.” He stated simply.

“And…?” She prompted him when she realized he wasn’t continuing.  She didn’t think that he even noticed she existed at the club and she was sure that her face was covered anyways.

“When I finished my routine, I saw you.”

“…” She shot him a look.

“I saw your reaction and I didn’t like it. And then I saw how you were after Kai finished his routine. I felt …strangely infuriated.”

Now she was really confused, “So, you agreed to teach me because I didn’t cheer you on as loudly as I did for Kai?”

“I felt like I had to prove a point.”

“That point being?”

“That I’m a better dancer than Kai.”

Oh, how she wanted to face palm. “Listen Lay. I think you’re a great dancer and I think Kai is a great dancer. You had nothing to prove to me.”

“That’s not the only thing.” He added.  “When Kai said he was having a dancer partner and he wanted me to teach them. I knew it was you and that I had to do it.”

“’And do explain why.” She exasperated, getting frustrated with the manner of his replies.

“Because I’d be the one molding you. Not him. He would be dancing with something I created.” He explained. “You’d be mine in his hands.”

Wow, she thought, that’s messed up.

“You are one strangely competitive and prideful man, Lay.”

Without a word, Lay pressed the remote again and the usual song began. She quickly detached herself from him and went into her starting position.  With that, she continued to dance with Lay over and over again, until the day was out.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Done! Wow, I had a hard time writing the middle part. But I got it together :) 
Baekhyun was introduced! Anyone happy about that? OH! I had a dream about him a few nights ago, I don't remember much. All I remember was I was leaning my head against his shoulder at one point. I took it as a sign that Baekhyun was not happy that he wasn't introduced in the story yet. So, there you go Baekhyun. You have been introduced. And don't worry, you will come back again. I mean, how could I not write about him? His hands are y. Andhis neck veins. Holy moly, those hands and veins. /drools.

Man be y :P

ALSO, I knew I aboely had to get this chapter out today. Why? IT'S LUHAN'S BIRTHDAY!! HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY, LUHAN!!!! (That's right, keep getting older. You're one of the few in EXO who is older than me)

I hope you have a happy birthday that is full of good times...and food ...Cause I know you like food<3

Anyways, I have one exam left and I'm done! SUMMER BREAK. What does that mean? MORE UPDATES. Hell yeah~~
Btw, all the comments and subscribers, I have one thing to say to you all:

You all make me feel so thankful. <3 You probably read this alot, but you are my main driving force to get these updates out. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

kay, that's all. Good night

Giveaway of the day: *Throws cake* Let's celebrate Luhan's birthday together ~~!