{51 days to go…}

It wasn’t the first time representing his company at such a big event but Taecyeon was still nervous. Maybe it was because there wasn’t anyone else there, like his father or someone; it was just him. He slowly adjusted his tie a little, in order to give himself a little air to breathe.

“It’s okay,” a voice spoke up beside him. He looked down to see his secretary who also happened to conveniently be his date for the night. She smiled a little and put her hand on his arm. From the many times he had been to one of these occasions, his arm voluntarily reached out. His eyes didn’t look down at his arm as they stayed fixed at the door which was soon to open and expose him to guests who only muttered half-hearted greetings.

He barely noticed the small pressure on his arm as the magnificent double doors opened to reveal guests, not in expensive clothing and socialising in small groups together, but rather everyone had found a partner and was dancing a slow, traditional dance with their partner. He had come late.

He took a step inside before climbing carefully down the stairs as he felt several different people’s eyes bore into skull, taking note of his presence. Once he reached the floor where everyone was dancing with one another, he hurriedly spun himself so that his partner was facing him and that they were in a classic ballroom dancing position, blending in with everyone else. She almost flushed in embarrassment but Taecyeon took no notice as to what his secretary was doing as the two weaved their way through the crowd for the next few minutes.

There was a pause in the music-playing. He realised that this dance was a rotational dance which meant that he would have to go to a different partner because his original partner would be dancing with another man. His secretary, Suzy, was in a bit of a daze, considering it was her first time attending this type of event. He gave her a little push to the man next to him. She gave him a pleading look to tell him not to, and he honestly couldn’t blame. Her next partner was an old man with a prominent potbelly, and while he was a respected business man, he was also once close to appearing in court for multiple ual charges. Taecyeon still gave Suzy a push anyway.

The next few minutes were full of dancing with anonymous women. One or two of them looked at him with a bored expression, others looked at him in admiration and tried to get him to talk but he turned them down before they barely managed a sentence; and some were his friends or to be more accurate, girlfriends of his mates. So far he had danced with Sooyoung, the first partner who was able to start and keep a conversation with him. He had a shock when he turned out to be partners with someone whose name brought a smile to his lips, despite leaving him. Sometime during the bored moments of dancing with partners who were uncomfortable in his presence, he had searched for his partner in the crowd to see where she was. Upon mere chance, he had caught sight of her.  He knew that she was close to dancing with him, and while he kept track of her progress, it had taken him by surprise when he saw her suddenly in front of him.

He cleared his throat a little as he felt the atmosphere drop. She offered an awkward smile to him before looking down at her feet, finding something of interest to stare at. For a moment (how he wished it was longer), their eyes caught sight one another. He could almost feel his heart drop as he found himself falling into her dark, chocolate, deer-like orbs. He quickly stopped himself before he did anything silly. Trying to act like a gentleman, he stretched out his arms and understanding where he was coming from, she laid one hand in his and the other on his shoulder.

They very slowly began to sway to the music as the music started up once more. While their position showed close proximity, their eyes told others otherwise. They were looking at anywhere except for each other.

Eventually, to her, their situation must have been so awkward to the point that she just had to say something. “Having fun?” she sounded almost breathless, as if saying the sentence was hard for her – like it was killing her. Like talking to him was killing her inside and made her want to run away.

“Yeah,” he managed a reply. “It’s been ok.”

Once more, he felt the atmo