The Dance Teacher

We're Not 12 Anymore; We're 13!

Previous chapter:

The man looked at Youngmin with an eyebrow raised. “You didn’t tell her about...the class?”

 

Youngmin smiled, before sending him a thought.

 

I wanted to make it a surprise, of course.

 

The man laughed in understanding, and put an arm around Hyunjae.

 

“We’ll be back in time, so I’ll see you later, hyung!”

 

Youngmin waved both of them off, and the two left the office happily. Hyunjae could feel the anticipation tingling through her fingers as she left with oppa right next to her. You couldn’t blame her though. After all, after four years, it was about time she arranged to meet Tablo. Yes, of course, her closest oppa was the one and only, Epik High’s Tablo.

 

Chapter 12:

“So have you been doing well?” Tablo asked Hyunjae as they both walked down the hallway, arms around each other’s waist.

 

Sweet expressions were held as they evidently couldn’t seem to erase their feelings of happiness from their face. For the first time in four years, they were an arm’s length away from each other, maybe even closer, and to Hyunjae, it felt exhilarating. Tablo was actually there. She was finally a trainee again. It was almost as if it were a midsummer night’s dream. Though, of course, if it was, she didn’t want to wake up ever again.

 

“Of course I’ve been well...what else could I have been?” Hyunjae joked, looking up at her oppa’s face with a teasing smile.

 

Tablo returned the smile slightly before raising another question.

 

“How about...your father?” He asked, small concern etched onto his face. “Are you guys on good terms now?”

 

Hyunjae paused for a moment,pondering the answer to his question. She decided to keep it simple.

 

“I’ll tell you another time,” Hyunjae said, giving Tablo a reassuring look.

 

It’s been so long since she’s seen Tablo and she didn’t want to ruin their first reunion together by bringing up the topic of her father and the recent phone call she received from him just days ago. She wanted to be prepared to tell him everything first, before calling him up to talk about it all. There was a lot to catch up on within the span of four years and Hyunjae wanted to make sure she had everything laid out from the beginning to the end for Tablo to hear. She watched as Tablo bit his lip slightly before letting the topic go. There was a moment of silence before Hyunjae spoke again.

 

“You know, oppa, you became more handsome since the last time I saw you. It’s so unfair!” She said, pouting as she stared at him.

 

Though her voice sounded like she was teasing him, she couldn’t help but admit he WAS a bit more handsome than the last time she saw him. Maybe it was just the after effects of seeing the person in real life after seeing him on screen for four years. Tablo’s worried expression dissipated and his lips curved into a smile.

 

“Yah, are you joking with me right now?” Tablo scolded playfully, putting Hyunjae into one of his headlocks that she used to hate but later found that she missed the most.

 

“Aish, jinja!” She played around, pretending to choke at his fake strength. “Arasseo, arasseo, mianhe oppa! Mianhe!”

 

Tablo laughed, letting his grip loose and ruffling Hyunjae’s hair.

 

“You’ve became much more like a lady since the last time I saw you too. It makes me sad...” Tablo complained. “It feels like yesterday that you left.”

 

Hyunjae gave him a small smile, an apologetic look in her eyes.

 

Tablo and Hyunjae were both very close friends when Hyunjae was a trainee, almost like siblings, if their relationship needed to be put into words. He knew everything about her and she knew everything about him. They could’ve almost been twins. However, when she had left SM and found her own place to live, she didn’t tell Tablo. It was the first time she had kept her feelings locked away from Tablo’s reach, not wanting to worry him and affect his performances. She thought leaving quietly would not hurt anyone around her. They’ve never seen each other since then, let alone even an incidental meeting. Hyunjae resorted to watching his performances and variety show appearances on TV, resisting the urge to go and actually find him in real life. She convinced herself that it was enough seeing him from behind the screen, though really, it wasn’t. It was a painful process, but after a long time of contemplating, she was sure Tablo was in more pain when he found out about her absence.

 

“I’m sorry.” She said quietly, stopping herself from walking any further. “It’s my fault I left without telling you.”

 

Tablo stopped a few steps later and turned around to see Hyunjae staring at the ground shuffling her feet. Being the oppa that he was, he didn’t want Hyunjae to feel guilty any longer. He knew Hyunjae reflected enough on her actions within the past four years and she suffered as much as he did. He walked back to where Hyunjae was and put his hands on hers.

 

“Look at me,” Tablo said gently.

 

Hyunjae glanced up at Tablo from behind the hair that had fell out of place onto her face.

 

 

 

“It’s not your fault.”

 

 

 

Hyunjae blinked her eyes at him with a straight face.

 

 

 

“So don’t feel guilty or anything. I forgave you the week you left because I thought you’d come back sooner or later.”

 

Hyunjae’s eyes widened as she heard those words and she immediately became emotional. Tablo rolled his eyes at Hyunjae’s obviously over-exaggerated act. He had to give her credit for her small improvement in acting though. He almost fell for it.

 

“Cut the crap, Hyunjae,” Tablo chuckled, pushing her lightly on the shoulder. “I thought you’d come back sooner, but you ended up taking four years to realize your dreams. You know how long I had to wait?”

 

Hyunjae laughed, giving Tablo a sudden hug.

 

“Mianheeee, oppa!! I was wrong! I should've came at least three years earlier!”

 

“You knew I’d forgive you, didn’t you?” Tablo sighed.

 

He hugged her back and after several seconds of hugging, let go and continued walking, this time, hand in hand.

 

“Why don’t we go to that cafe we always used to go to back then?” Tablo asked, making a suggestion of how they should spend their time. “Their coffee’s the same as always. It’s amazing how they can keep the taste the same after so many years...”

 

As Tablo was talking, Hyunjae suddenly turned around, reacting to the familiar tingly sensation she felt behind her back. She herself didn’t know the limit to her powers, but she did know that one of the things her powers were able to do was sense the presence of someone within a certain radius. Just in time, she saw the silhouette of someone dash back behind the corner of the corridor, but Hyunjae could not catch a glimpse of that person’s face.

 

I wonder who that was...? The aura wasn’t someone I was familiar with, but I know for sure that she’s a girl and she had been staring at us earlier.

 

Hyunjae shrugged off the unsettling feeling and as Tablo turned to ask what was wrong, Hyunjae shook her head.

 

“It’s nothing, oppa.” Hyunjae gave Tablo’s hand a small squeeze. “Let’s go to that cafe shop you were talking about earlier.”

 

“Okay, let’s go!” Tablo said enthusiastically, swinging their arms as they left the hallway.

 

When the two turned the corner towards the building exit, the mysterious girl quickly came out from hiding and with a few clicks of her iPhone, captured several pictures of the two close friends.

 

~*~

 

Time passed by really quickly and before Hyunjae knew it, it was time for dance practice.

 

“Jja, here’s the dance room where your practices will be.” Tablo stopped in front of Practice Room #8, and opened the door for Hyunjae.

 

“Ladies first!” He said, winking as Hyunjae walked in.

 

“Oppa, seriously?” She said, giving Tablo a look. “You never did this before! Are you trying to impress the trainees or something?”

 

“What are you talking about?” Tablo asked, feigning innocence as he walked in after her.

 

Hyunjae rolled her eyes before gauging her surroundings. Inside, there were small groups of trainees talking with each other after what seemed like quite an intensive 30 minute dance practice. Several of them were chugging bottles of water and some were stretching. Others had their phones out, watching their recorded dance practices, but for sure, all of them were sweating like crazy. None of them noticed either Hyunjae nor Tablo's entrance at all and they continued to do their own thing. Scanning the room, Hyunjae spotted Seungyeon in a corner of the room taking a swig of water. Seungyeon immediately put her water bottle down and rushed to the front of the room to pull her unni to the corner.

 

“Unniiii! Why are you late?!” Seungyeon said, bombarding Hyunjae with a bunch of questions. “Did something happen? I was going to wake you up this morning but you weren’t in bed! Are you okay? Did someone hurt you? I was so worried!!!"

 

Hyunjae smiled at the worried look on Seungyeon’s face. It's been a while since someone's been this worried about her for something as little as not being in her bed this morning. It was one of the positives of being a trainee. You got to live in a dorm with other girls who shared the same experience as you. It was something she missed from back then and she was definitely glad to have it back. After all, it's not until you lose something that you understand how to cherish it.

 

“It’s no big deal, Seungyeon-ah. I was just meeting up with Tablo to catch up on some things.” Hyunjae patted Seungyeon on the head. "Thanks for worrying about me though, saeng!"

 

“TABLO?!” Seungyeon exclaimed loudly, shocked by Hyunjae’s words. “You met with...Epik High’s Tablo?!”

 

Everyone in the room quieted down and all turned to stare at Seungyeon’s outburst. Hyunjae facepalmed herself. Seungyeon really did know how to capture other people's attention. Suddenly, they turned their heads to the main by the door who everyone thought appeared out of thin air. Whispers rushed through the room as they all were shocked to see Tablo visit them. The Tablo. He rarely visited the SM Entertainment building, but when he did, he rarely ever came to the practice wing at all since he was so busy helping others record and compose songs. Shocked by his sudden appearance, everyone immediately stood up to greet Tablo. Tablo, with no choice but to act like a nice senior to his juniors, greeted them back warmly.

 

“How’s the practice going?” Tablo smiled, engaging in a conversation with the trainees.

 

“Tiring!” “Fun!” “Eh...” “I’m a huge fan of yours, sunbaenim!”

 

Hyunjae laughed as she watched Tablo become devoured by questions the trainees were throwing at him. Her lips then cracked into a smile as her eyes flickered around the room, many memories suddenly flashing in front of her eyes. The memories of the dance lessons she took back when she was a trainee were the most vivid memories amongst those involving Kris; unlike the trainees here who were all exhausted, her group of trainees back then danced throughout the whole lesson, not even taking a break when they were supposed to. The other trainees loved watching them dance and they were nicknamed the dancing queens amongst everyone there.

 

 

 

If she was to talk about the memories involving Kris however, they consisted of much more personal events including the days they celebrated their birthdays together, the monthly evaulations they competed in with each other, and lastly, the day Kris told her it was best to quit being a trainee since her father had abandoned her. Despite that last memory, she missed those times from four years ago and felt that her standing in an SM practice room at present was quite surreal, something she had originally threw away the moment she stepped out of this building.

 

“Unni, listen to me!!" Seungyeon whined. "The dance teacher here is really strict! He’s not going to like the fact that you are this late to class, you know? You’re going to have to make up an excuse or something quickly!”

 

The dance teacher can't be that bad. Youngmin let me come half an hour late, so it should be fine. Right...?

 

While Seungyeon continued to bug Hyunjae about her obvious friendship with Tablo and her belated entrance to class, the dance teacher walked into the room. As if on cue, everyone rushed to their dance positions and not even a word was uttered in doing so. Seungyeon shut up half sentence and practically sprinted to her spot in the room. Hyunjae, not knowing where to stand, stood to the side and waited for the dance teacher to notice her.

 

I wonder who the dance teacher is...I can’t see his face since he has a hoodie on. He seems...strangely familiar though. I can sense it from him. Not too strongly, however...it’s kind of weird. He seems to be one of us...

 

“He’s too familiar...” Hyunjae muttered to herself, unable to take her eyes off of the dance teacher.

 

Almost as if the teacher had heard her speak, he turned in Hyunjae's direction and took off his hoodie. Hyunjae met eyes with him and taken aback (literally), stumbled backwards, bumping into Tablo who swiftly caught her. She looked back at Tablo to see a smirk on his face.

 

“I knew you’d fall back so I prepared to catch you.” Tablo whispered. “Such a gentleman, right?”

 

Hyunjae ignored Tablo’s comment and gave him a betrayed look.

 

“You knew about this?”

 

Tablo shrugged. “Youngmin did too, you know. It's not my fault he decided to keep it a surprise.”

 

Hyunjae sighed and turned to stare at the dance teacher again. It was him. It really was him.

 

 

 

~*~

A/N:

I just wrote whatever came to mind...but to all those readers who have already updated on this chapter, I decided to split it into two chapters so I'm sorry about the new chapter notification!

P.S. Welcome to all the new readers ^^ Hope you enjoyed Hyunjae's journey thus far xD

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kpopchicken
Chapter 13 of We're Not 12, We're 13 has been posted! Sorry for like..the year long wait T_T [bows infinite times in regret]

Comments

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Caren91 #1
Chapter 13: Gyaaaa! I love your ff but i hope to see more interaction between hyunjae and other exo member xp
cecilistic97 #2
Chapter 12: XD lol im imagining things huh???
cecilistic97 #3
Chapter 11: lol update soon
yuki-girl #4
Chapter 10: i died at the pic... i LOVE THOSE GUYS!! Kang Seung Yoon <3
cecilistic97 #5
Chapter 9: lol you finally updated XD and what you mean what do i think????lol
POMOKUN
#6
Chapter 8: Author-nim Update Soon !!
luv_infinite
#7
Chapter 8: update soon :)
luv_infinite
#8
Chapter 7: update soon :)
cecilistic97 #9
Chapter 7: ...is that me???that's me right????XDDDDD update soon lol
luv_infinite
#10
Chapter 6: update soon :)