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  Yamaa had been looking forward to picking up Alice, but he’d had to stay and do some final things, leaving him with no choice but to send Tauru and Shouji. He had a feeling sending those two would cause trouble. He had no idea what kind of trouble, but trouble. He was definitely sure when he saw them drive up and stay in the car longer than necessary. He’d walked up, and no reaction. It wasn’t until he slammed the car and yelled ‘BOO!’ that they realized he was there.

  He’d only pretended to laugh. When Alice came out they teased each other, and Alice seemed fine. He began to relax, that is, until he noticed she didn’t look at him in the eye. She kept blushing and turning away whenever they almost made eye contact.

  Finally, he had to ask, “Why won’t you look me in the eye? Did Shouji and Tauru tell you something? Threaten you?”

  “Huh?” Alice, caught off guard looked him in the eye finally. But when she realized, she tried to turn away. Yamaa had been giving her a tour of the place, but now they were in a desolate hallway. He grabbed her chin gently, making Alice face him. “No.” She tried to look away, eyes darting everywhere but him.

  “Look me in the eye,” he snapped. She finally, slowly, looked at him.

  “They were only making sure I was okay… since when they came to pick me up I was a mess,” she attempted a smile. “I fell asleep while I was waiting.”

  “So you’re okay?” Alice nodded. “Good.”

  He’d been about to kiss her, right? Alice kept denying it. There was no way he would want to kiss her. No way. They’d gone back to where everyone was doing their own thing, never saying a word. It was 6:30 now, and they were going over the choreography one more time, very quickly.

  Alice watched, and eventually started to mimic one of the female dancers. She had fun dancing. There wasn’t much to learn, but she liked it. There was Daite Senorita, other songs from that album, Mola from his Color single and an expert from his coming album Loveless. By 6:45 when they were finished, Alice had memorized the choreography, and couldn’t help but wonder what it’d be like to perform in front of such a crowd.

  “Really?” Alice looked at the dancers as they went to get freshened up and ready to go for the real thing. “This is going to be a big concert for Yamapi-san then!”

  Surprisingly, Alice understood most of what the dancer said. That’s when it happened. She tried to warn the girl, but the girl still tripped and fell over a box the girl hadn’t seen. If she had been in regular shoes, maybe she would have been okay, but the girl was wearing the high heels they would be dancing in during the quick run through. People rushed over and soon it was announced her ankle was sprained, which meant she couldn’t dance.

  “She was the one paired with Yamapi-san, right?”

  This all happened in 5 minutes.

  10 minutes ‘till concert.

  “Open doors at 7, that way we have more time,” everyone turned and looked Tauru. “That way the dancer that takes her place knows what to do well enough.”

  Alice just stood there confused. They were speaking really fast, so she couldn’t really understand what they were saying.

  “Hold doors until 7!” someone shouted.

  7 minutes until doors opened.

  “We don’t have a dancer!” Yamaa snapped, stressed.

  “Yes, we do,” Tauru said camly.

  “Who?” everyone looked at Tauru again.

  “Her,” Tauru turned to look at Alice, and everyone else did too.

  “What?” Alice stepped back, confused.

  “What?” Everyone else asked, looking to Tauru for an explanation.

  “I saw her watching the dancers and at some point she danced along,” Tauru looked pointedly at Alice. “She knows the moves, so just go over the placing very quickly with Yamaa and the part of the duo dance on stage.”

  Yamaa quickly grabbed Alice and brought her up on stage, giving her quick jerky commands in English. Music played and Alice danced, still confused by what was going on, so inside her head there was major freaking out. She did as she was told, but she still didn’t quite understand why she was on stage. She owed Yamaa a lot, she knew, but still, what was going on? When they finished, people were frantically running around backstage, and someone grabbed her and began shoving her into a dressing room where her clothes were quickly changed. After she changed, she was sat down and someone quickly re-did her make-up and hair.

  7:05 pm.

  The crowd could be heard, girls screaming.

  7:10 pm.

  Lights went out and the crowd went wild, calling out “Yamapi! Yamapi!” over and over.

  7:15 pm.

  Yamaa entered the stage and the show began. It was chaos backstage at first, but eventually things began to settle. But everyone was anxious for the back-up girl dancers. For Alice most of all. Tauru had explained what she was about to do. There hadn’t been enough time to make sure she knew what to do. And who knew if she had stage fright? If she lost it in front of the crowd.

  Yamaa was scared. It’s not that he didn’t have faith in Alice. On the contrary, he was surprised how well she had the routine down by only watching the routine maybe once or twice. He had a feeling she would do fine on stage, but he wasn’t sure about himself. He still couldn’t believe he had been about to kiss her earlier. After that, he’d avoided her, up until he tried her on the routines. He didn’t know how to react for when she would be on stage.

  “Yamapi! Yamapi!” he heard as he entered the stage. They screamed, going wild when he showed up on stage.

  It began.

  He’d been doing great. He felt great. He just loved his career. Costume change. It was time. The dancers went up first, beginning the dancing while he did a quick wardrobe change. His cue. He felt people relax more now that Alice took the stage and did what was expected. She did! Just like he knew she would. He entered and almost forgot what to do, watching Alice the whole time.

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*Japanese italicized

  Alice heart was still beating fast by the time she was brought to the hotel. She still couldn’t believe she’d danced on stage with Yamaa. She couldn’t believe she’d danced in front of so many people. Once the concert had ended, the crew backstage thanked her many times for stepping in to help, and she in return bowed and said thank you for giving her a great time. She was thankful though, that no one had noticed Yamaa’s hesitation except her.

  Alice slowly opened the door to her hotel room, aware Sharon was most likely sleeping. It was nearly midnight, and Alice was exhausted, but first she wanted a shower. She got her things quietly, as to not wake up Sharon, and made it to take a nice warm shower.

  She began to relax, but only for a moment. Her thoughts moved to what happened before the concert. Him, kissing someone passionately in a drama and her reaction. Tauru and Shouji’s words in the car. She would stay away, she decided. Today had been the last day she would talk to him in a friendly way. But the hall. He’d almost kissed her, hadn’t he? Or was she just being wishful?

  The last thing they said to each other were, thank you, nice to meet you, and best wishes. Something like that. He’d suddenly hugged her, only to pull away just as quickly, looked away and said good-bye.

  Good-bye indeed. She remembered Loveless and remembered part of the meaning. Huh, Loveless.

  Alice was standing out in her balcony of the hotel room. It was chilly, but it felt nice and cool to her. She looked at her phone to check the time, and her eyes bulged. It was 1 in the morning! She really should go to sleep, but sister should be up now, right?

  Just as she was about to call, her phone rang. Yamaa’s song Himawari (Sunflower) was playing. Her sister was calling. She sighed, not really looking forward to talking to anyone at the moment. She was really tempted to ignore the call, but she couldn’t handle listening to Yamaa’s voice right then.

  “Moshi, moshi,” she finally answered.

  “Nee-chan!” Adriel gushed. “I just got your message, and, sorry it’s so late, but Belle and I couldn’t sleep. That’s when I realized I had a call from you and listened to your message.”

  “Wait, what do you mean you couldn’t sleep?” Alice couldn’t have done her math wrong, right? “Isn’t it like 9 in the morning in Oregon right now?”

  “Huh?” Adriel sounded puzzled. “Oh!”

  “Tell her! Tell her!” she heard Belle in the background.

  “Oh, tell Belle ‘hi’ for me,” Alice sighed. “So? Isn’t it almost 9 over there?”

  “Ne, Nee-chan, hear me out,” Adriel sounded like she could barely contain herself. Oh, and Alice would bet Belle was bouncing like crazy.

  “O…kay…” Alice prepared herself.

  “We’re part of SHINee!” and squeals of delight could be heard from both girls.

  “Um, sis, say what?” Alice sat on a chair, dazed and confused.

  “Rememberhowwewenttotheopenmiccafe?” Adriel said super fast.

  “Slow down,” Alice snapped. “I barely made out what you said, but yes, what happened? How’d it go? And I’m sor-”

  “Well, SHINee was there and their manager asked us if we thought about going pro,” Adriel went on and on. She explained she was in Korea with Belle, so the time was the same in Japan and there. They had auditioned to become part of SHINee and had gotten the gig. The next morning they would be moving into the boys’ dorm. They would have a tutor like Taemin, so school wasn’t an issue.

  “I still don’t believe it!” Belle screamed over the phone.

  “Yeah, neither can I,” Alice mumbled. Man, so much to take in from her sister’s side and hers. Too much.

  “I’m sorry Nee-chan,” Adriel seemed to finally simmer down. “I’ll introduce you to them sometime, okay?”

  “Adriel, I…” Alice hesitated.

  “It’ll be fine!” Adriel misinterpreted. “I’m sure manager will be okay with it, and Kibum oppa, I’m sure he’ll love meeting you, along with the rest of the boys. Especially Jonghyun. Well, I haven’t mentioned I have a sister, but I’m sure Jonghyun will fall for you when he sees your pict-”

  “I met Yamaa,” Alice interrupted.

  “-ture,” Adriel went silent, then she exploded, “OH MY GOSH! HONTO?! NO WAY! WHAT’S HE LIKE!?”

  “Well…” Alice spent the rest of the time telling Adriel and Belle her story.

  “Say what?” Adriel gasped. “Even if you have a chance to talk to him again, you’re going to avoid him? And he did almost kiss you. So, even when he almost kissed you, you’re going to stay away?”

  “Yup,” Alice shrugged. “Look, we’ll talk later, get some sleep.”

  "But Alice," Adriel whined.

  "Dont, 'But Alice me'. Oyasumi," with that Alice hung up.

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Her sister is part of SHINee? What?

And, she is really going to stay away from Yamapi?

Man oh man, this can't be good, huh?

>.<

And if you're confused about the whole SHINee thing, go to the link below.

Totally recommend it! You'll see Adriel a lot better that way too ;)

http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/43953/confessions-of-an-american-fangirl-drama-korean-romance-shinee-sliceoflife