Chapter thirty five 

Lay's Night And Kris's Advice 

The stars were out by the time Baekhyun and you had arrived at an almost empty car park. You took a look around, confused. "Is this where it is...?" 

Baekhyun chuckled, taking the keys out of the ignition, "It's a few minutes' walk from here, this is the nearest place with parking. You watch, it will be full once we come back." 

You followed suite, getting out of the car and biting on your lower lip as a thought suddenly occurred to you, "There's going to be a lot of people?" 

"Yeah," Baekhyun confirmed as he carefully guided you through the dark carpark, "This is one of the biggest events of the year. If you win this, you get a place at the National competition." 

"What?" You looked at Baekhyun, confused. Nationals? "Just how big is this competition?" 

"Three rounds, Local, Regional and National." Baekhyun explained briefly, "Lay came first in the Local one. I don't think the grading is the same in this round though, I think they just announce three winners instead of grading." 

Your voice rose a little bit in disbelieve, your jaw almost dropping to the floor. "If it was that big of a deal why didn't Lay tell me?!"  

Baekhyun chuckled, shaking his head. "He did tell you. He just left out the part of how important this competition is." 

You gave Baekhyun a look, "You mean he left the most important information out." The way Lay had talked about it made it sound like a little get together with the local kids, not an actual fully licensed and renowned competition. Now you were feeling even more guilty that you had even considered not coming 

"He didn't want to show off," Baekhyun guessed, the two of you walking down a busy street. "But it is a big deal, most of us will be there." 

Most of us? Wait a minute...."Hey," You began, another thought coming to you, "He won't be here right?" You asked hesitantly, referring to Luhan. 

"Ah, well..." Baekhyun trailed off guilty, rubbing the back of his head as he looked away from you, "He might make an appearance." 

Your mouth fell open in betrayal. Did he plan this? "Baekhyun-" You began to whine but he cut you off. 

"Hey, don't start complaining now." He rolled his eyes, "This competition is important for Lay so everyone has tried to take time out of their schedule for tonight." He explained, "Though, I'm not sure if Luhan will be here. They haven't exactly been on good terms, you know." He shuddered at the thought, their house had become pretty much a warzone these past few days. 

You let out a big sigh, "You should have told me." 

"Why? So you could have a reason to say no? You can't avoid him forever." Baekhyun conveniently pointed out. 

You narrowed your eyes at him, "Just whose side are you on?" 

He laughed, taking your hand as he shook his head, "I'm on your side. Anyway, we're here now. There's no going back." 

You took a deep breath, "Right." And walked through the doors. 

The area was quite large, it was a wide open hall with a stage at the front and two levels of seating, the chairs were cushioned with red and packed closely together, people scattered amongst them as almost all of the seats had already been filled. You looked around, amazed. This really must be a big deal. 

Baekhyun guided you through the rows of seats after paying for both of your tickets, even after you said you'll pay for yours. The two of you finally made it to the first row, finding only a few seats left and a handful of familiar faces from the EXO group. You smiled, realising that you would be sitting with Sehun and Tao, along with Baekhyun. 

"Saerom!" Tao greeted enthusiastically, "Glad to see you came!"  

You sat between Tao and Baekhyun, giving Sehun a friendly wave before you did. "Of course," You smiled, "It was a promise." No need to mention that for a little while there, you weren't planning on coming. 

"Oh good! I was afraid you weren't going to come because of Luha- Ouch! What was that-" Sehun gave him a frim look before he curtly shook his head. Tao quickly backtracked, "Oh, um. Sorry, I didn't mean to trigger any bad memories." Tao apologised guiltily.  

You tried to restrain your flinch. "That's okay, I'm here for Lay tonight." The pang that went through your heart every time someone mentioned Luhan didn't seem to be getting any better. You inwardly sighed, facing the front. 

"Hey, just so you know," Tao's voice was softer now, his hand reaching out to rest on your shoulder, an act of comfort. "Nothing is gonna change with us, you know? No one feels any different about you." 

Your heart warmed, you really needed that reassurance, "Thanks Tao." It was nice to know that most of them seemed to be pretty okay with the break up, for now at least. 

Tao patted your shoulder with a fond smile before there was movement on stage, making you turn your head to the front. There was an older looking man now standing in the center of the stage. 

"May I have your attention please." The man spoke, his voice deep and steady. Silence immediately fell over the crowded space, everyone's attention to the front. 

"I would like to welcome everyone to the eighth annual Dance Elite. I would also like to congratulate all the entries that have made it thus far..."  

A round of applause was heard throughout the large hall, which you quickly joined in on.  

"As you all know, this competition is second of the three rounds. Only three talented people will be making it to the next round where Nationals will be held..." 

You relaxed in your seat, you had seen Lay perform on numerous occasions, you had no doubt that Lay was going to be one of those three. 

"Now, let us welcome our Judges," The presenter now motioned towards the front of the hall where a small desk sat, three Judges sitting side by-side with grading papers in front of them, "Renounced dance instructor and performer, Hoya, Youth leader, Kim HyukJin and Professional Ballet instructor, Lee Eunji..." 

As the presenter continued to further explain the rules and time limits, there was a boy coming in late, weaving his way through the crowd of seats to make it near the front row to where his friends were. It was Luhan, and he was feeling conflicted about his presence. It had taken him all day to decide whether or not he was going to come, but he finally made a last minute decision to show up. He and Lay hadn't spoken snice the night you had left, except from a few snide remarks on Luhan's side, and typically stayed out of each other's way to the point where they wouldn't even be in the same room as each other. 

However, like you, Luhan couldn't avoid Lay forever and Sehun had been trying really hard to ease the tension between the two of them. So in his last minute effort to come to Lay's competition, Luhan was planning to make out his appearance as a kind of peace offering. He had finally made up his mind to support his friend in this important time, and then maybe afterwards have a serious talk with him, get their problems out in the open in an attempt to try and move forward. Which was a big thing for Luhan, considering his personality. 

He took a deep breath, still not sure of the whole thing, but decided to at least try. Besides. Luhan thought. Maybe if Saerom sees that I'm making an effort she will take me back. Luhan had finally made it to the first row, looking down the seats to see which of his housemates had made it. Kris, Suho, Xiumin, Chen, Chanyeol, Sehun, Tao, Sae- SAEROM?! 

Luhan froze in place, his jaw almost hitting the floor. There was no mistaking it, it was definitely you. You were wearing a yellow dress and your hair was out, gently flowing over your pale shoulders, your hands folded in your lap as you twiddled your thumbs nervously, biting your bottom lip as you looked at the front. What is she doing here?! He stepped forward in your direction, intent on confronting you. 

"Sae-" 

"Sit your down!" Came an irritated voice beside him, a hand reaching out and grabbing his arm, dragging Luhan downwards into his seat. "Don't even think about embarrassing yourself like that." Kris warned in a low hiss. 

Luhan leaned over Kris, his eyes looking past his row of friends to stare at you. "Did you know she was coming?" Luhan demanded, his eyes still stuck on you, but you didn't appear to notice. 

Kriss sighed, "I didn't know until Baekhyun told me this afternoon." He glanced over to your direction, making sure you hadn't noticed Luhan. The last thing he wanted was another fight between the two of you. 

"Baekhyun?" Luhan frowned, his eyes moving past you to glare at Baekhyun, "Didn't take him long to get his greasy hands on her, huh?" 

"Stop that." Kris snapped, "You know it's not like that. He's just looking after her." 

"I can look after her." Luhan grumbled, still glaring at Baekhyun. 

"Oh yeah?" Kris started, "By cheating on her again?" Kris had never really had an opinion on the breakup of you and Luhan, he preferred to keep to himself on the matter in an effort to remain friends with you, Lay and Luhan without any prejudices. But every now and then Luhan would say something ridiculous, tipping Kris over the edge. 

Luhan's head snapped away from Baekhyun only to look sharply at Kris, feeling extremely betrayed. "That's not what happened." He said through clenched teeth. 

Kris opened his mouth to argue that point, but closed it when another voice interrupted the beginning of a fight. 

"Both of you shut it." Suho ordered from next to Kris, looking annoyed. "If either of you ruin this night for Lay, you'll both be sleeping outside on the grass." 

Kirs nodded curtly, offering Luhan a small apology to which he accepted with a huff, leaning back into his seat. 

"What is she evening doing here..." Luhan muttered out loud, watching the first contestant walk onto the stage. 

"What do you think?" Kris answered lowly, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. 

Luhan gritted his teeth. He didn’t even want to think about it, because the answer was pretty obvious already; You were here for Lay. And Luhan definitely didn't want to think about that. 

You leaned further back into your seat as the first contestant exited the stage, a young boy who had given a swift and fluid performance of a type of street style dance. He was good, you admitted, but he wasn't better than Lay, you were confident of that.  

"Contestant number two; Jang Sumi." 

The next contestant had taken you by surprise because you immediately recognised her, she was a student from your school and was even in the same grade and gym class as you. She was a rather quiet girl and kept mostly to herself, you had never given her much notice until now. You watched her as her petite frame stood in the center of the stage, her black hair tied up in an elegant bun, silently surprised as she took a low bow before a soft music began to play. I never knew she could dance. You thought to yourself as you watched her begin her routine. 

And man, could she dance. 

She had prepared a beautiful ballet routine for the night and you couldn't help but notice just how elegant she was. Her twist and twirls were perfect and balanced, her feet nimbly gliding across the stage so gracefully that you were almost convinced that she was actually flying. You started to second guess if fairies actually existed, because if they did, you were sure they would be exactly like her. 

"Wow..." You breathed out when she finally ended her recital with a delicate twirl, "That was wonderful." You whispered. 

"Lay's got his work cut out for him." Baekhyun murmured in agreement from beside you, also taken aback by the sudden talent, "Though," He said, sounding more hopeful this time, "There are three winners who go on to the next round." 

More contestants follow