“Why the hell is she Hoya oppa's partner?” one of them whispered ‘softly’.

“She is such an extra.” Someone else said.

“Precisely.” The other girl agreed.

“Come on, girls. We can’t blame her. She needs a really good partner anyway.” Another girl said with a smirk.

Her statement made everyone else laugh. Satisfied, the group of girls walked away, leaving behind Cho Hee who was looking down, pretending not to hear them all this while.

“Get into your pairs already!” Jiyeon entered the studio and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Ne!” Everyone chorused before getting up and into their pairs.

“Kim Myung Soo reporting.” L said to Jiyeon as he walked up to her.

Jiyeon flashed him a plastered smile and rolled her eyes.  

“You look cuter rolling your eyes.” He commented.

“I see that you’re really a player.” She said before walking to see if the others were ready.

“Where is he?” Cho Hee thought as she scanned the studio to see many pairs in ready position already.

After some time, she spotted someone getting up lazily from a corner. She hurriedly made her way over, careful not to bump into anyone on the way. Standing awkwardly beside Hoya, she inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm her disobedient heart down. Suddenly, she felt someone hold her hand.

“Wh-What are you doing?!” Cho Hee stammered nervously as she looked down at Hoya who was still holding onto her hand.

“Dance ready position.” He said simply and let out an exasperated sigh.

Cho Hee looked around and saw everyone already holding hands and in their dance ready position. Some people were looking at them with weird stares because of Cho Hee’s exaggerated reaction from before.

“Sorry.” She muttered as she hurriedly moved into position.

The starting position was basically the couple holding hands, spreading their arms and facing one another. Once the music starts, they were supposed to seemingly push each other and move back in force. Cho Hee was waiting and waiting for the music to play but it seemed to be taking forever to. She couldn’t even look up from the ground knowing she was that close to Hoya. She felt slightly warm and soon, sweat began forming on her neck and forehead already.

“Yah! Park Cho Hee! What the hell are you doing looking on the floor?! You are supposed to look at your partner with longing and loving eyes!” A familiar voice struck Cho Hee.

“So-Sorry.” She mumbled as she snapped out of her thoughts.

Looking up nervously, Cho Hee met Hoya’s mesmerizing eyes. He was emotionless, staring back at hers. Through his eyes, she saw her reflection and unconsciously recalled the scene that night. She wanted so much to pull away the gaze and stop remembering that scene which haunted her since then. However, she continued to look at those eyes which brought her pain.

“Because I won’t like someone like you.” His statement rung in her ears and she knew she was about to cry.

Cho Hee tilted her head slightly, hoping those tears would subside and he did not notice her tearing up. Then, the music started playing and the two jerked away from one another forcefully. Seizing the opportunity, Cho Hee hurriedly blinked away those tears and took a deep breath.

“Park Cho Hee. Concentrate. Concentrate.” She told herself as she carried on dancing to those moves.

Sweat was drenching her shirt already when the first few dance moves were actually not that vigorous. Cho Hee began to feel self-conscious as she found herself being the only girl in the group sweating this much. Whenever she was close to Hoya, she couldn’t help but wonder how she smelt like and what he was thinking about her.

“Alright. Great job guys…so far.” Jiyeon completed her sentence as her gaze landed on Cho Hee.

“Now, it’s self practice time. Go master the next few steps before we come back to dance as a group.” She instructed.

“Okay.” The members replied.

With that, everyone dispersed into their pairs and occupied a space of their own. They were all deeply engrossed in perfecting the dance with their partners. In ‘Sparklex’, everyone was extremely good and everyone wanted to be the limelight. Learning the dance was never the issue, perfecting it was the key. Every member wanted to be recognized as the best out of the best.

“Like seriously. I should have just partnered with the other girls that time.” Hoya cursed mentally as Cho Hee made yet another mistake.

“Can you please concentrate?!” He finally spoke.

“I’m sorry.” Cho Hee apologized immediately as she stepped back and looked down.  

“Sorry? You have said that at least five times today! If you are really sorry then can’t you start concentrating?” He scolded in annoyance.

Cho Hee had just passed his tolerance limit with the repetitive mistakes she was making. As they practiced, Hoya was getting annoyed and worried for his ‘Best Dancer’ title. He didn’t want to screw up his senior year performance, absolutely not because of Cho Hee.

“Let’s take a break and continue later.” Hoya said before walking off to get a bottle of water.

Cho Hee sighed.

“How can I concentrate… when my partner is you?” she thought silently.

Author's Note:
I thought I wouldn't be updating but I feel really guilty for leaving my fics to rot.
So I quickly typed an update before going to bed...
Hope you guys enjoyed ! (:
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