He had just came from one of their rehearsals. He was walking along one of the corridors of SM Entertainment when he heard a familiar song emanating from one of the practice rooms. He had been practicing the song for days now. Their music video will be filmed in a few days and the choreographers still have not finalized the piece.

When he approached the room, he can hear the sound of shoes meeting the floor. Their practice rooms were built like this so that they will know how much emphasis they should give to the moves.And by the sound of it, a lot of emphasis is being given by the one who owns the footsteps.

With the music and the loud sounds, he was expecting to see Kai or Luhaninside the room. Taemin and Henry went out with him. They were, as to his knowledge, currently waiting for him in the dressing room so that they can eat out.His steps quickened and what he saw through the small open gap of the door surprised him.

He was about to go inside the room when he felt a hand stop him. When he turned, he saw Taeyeon looking at him sadly.

“Please don’t. She needs this. She doesn’t need any more reasons to feel bad.”

“Seeing me will make her feel bad?”

“I think so.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t.” he saw the water bottle she was holding. “I’ll take this. Thank you.” He made the notion to turn away.

When he felt the hand not loosening its grip on him, he turned back and said “I’ll take care of her. Don’t worry.”

She took one last look at him before loosening her grip and walking away.

When he entered, she was still dancing, her moves strong but graceful. He noticed she had her eyes closed, probably feeling the song. He wanted to approach her but chose to lean back on the wall instead.

She must have felt his presence and immediately opened her eyes. She quickly turned towards him. He gazed at her tear-streaked yet extremely beautiful face. He can see her trembling.

“Hyuk-oppa.” she cried. She ran towards him and he stepped forward to meet her. She hugged him and cried on his chest. He returned the hug, caressingher back.

“Hyo, are you okay?” he asked. Clearly, she was not. He justwanted her to talk.

She was ecstatic, even calling him in the middle of the night when she found out SM would finally be forming its official dance group. Although it was not decided yet, she relayed how sure she was that both of them would be in that group. When they finally announced the members, she was so excited, she ran around the whole agency looking for him. When she did find him, she was crying tears of joy.

She did not answer him. She just cried and cried. It had been 2 weeks since they decided to cut her parts in the Maxstep music video. She needed to concentrate on the Japan promotions of SNSD, they said. Younique Unit’s choreography would take a lot of her time, and with her being in Japan because of the album, they could not finish the choreography. The whole team, at least he and Taemin, protested. They both know how badly she wanted this. But the directors didn’t listen. The managers shook their heads. The choreographers who knew her bowed their heads. The others didn’t care.

When they told her, she wore a smile, bowed and thanked the directors. They all know how badly she was hurt. But whenever they see her, she still wore that smile and laughed like nothing was wrong. She did not talk to him. But whenever she looked at him, he saw how hurt she was, how badly she wanted to be with them in this project.

In the end, because the news of the formation of Younique unit was out already and a lot of SNSD’s fans are waiting for it, they decided to give her a part in the music video. Her part was short enough to allow her schedules in Japan to still push through. The choreography was not difficult so they didn’t need to rehearse it too much. But he knew how much she wanted more.

They were now sitting opposite the mirrors. He can see her tired reflection. She was still sobbing but it wasn’t as much as before. Silence dominated their company. She looked back at him intently and smiled. Suddenly, he wanted that smile to never disappear. “Thank you.” She said.

He got up, looked at her and smiled. He offered his hand and looked at her sweetly, saying in a caring voice,

“Dance with me.”