“She’s hoping that after, the three of us could go for a meal together…”

Hee Young places the cup of noodles down, then places the chopsticks on top with a sigh. Hee Min is expecting her to retaliate, say her disagrees and then decide she’s lost her appetite but none of that is appearing, no signs of it, nothing. Hee Min is left to staring at her sister in complete confusion, part of worry, part of anxiety biting her from within.

“On one condition,” Hee Young breathes, blinking up to her sister, “Make sure she’s not sitting in the front row,”

Hee Min is dumbfounded, unable to process her sister’s words that she just stares at Hee Young grab her cup of noodles and down a few slurps. In the middle of Hee Young chewing, she looks up and points at her sister’s meal with her eyes, “Aren’t you eating?”

Hee Min struggles for a responds but she does after a while by grabbing her cup, flipping the lid open and then attempting to eat but she can’t—she’s overwhelmed with the toss of reaction, the difference in how her sister is approaching to things that she can’t help but smile widely. Hee Young is changing.

A hand waves in front of her and she snaps, jerking and almost slapping the heck out of whoever that is, she’s not taking into mind because she was so close to losing the control in her hands. She gains her posture and leans back against the lockers once more, sighing before she pushes the hand away with a growl, “What the , Kai,”

He’s chuckling, shaking his head before he settles beside her, leaning back, “Well good morning to you too, princess,”

He’s hearing her sigh—more tiredly this time—and it’s only the starting of a new day. He hears her mumbling a soft good morning and then he’s linking his arm with hers, dragging her away from the locker so the two could walk down the hallway, towards their next class—dance.

“What’s gotten into you?”

She pulls her arm away and huffs, “I can walk on my own, thank you very much,”

“Ah, I thought I could be of assistance, your highness,”

“You could be of assistance by shutting your—“ She turns to point at him but when she sees that look in his eyes, she gives it up, “—never mind…”

He laughs at her attempt but he is intrigued to what’s in her mind to have block her senses at such early of a time. They make a left turn and he’s trailing beside her, “But seriously, something’s not right here,”

“At least you’re smart,”

He stretches his arm out when she tries to enter the room without explaining, “Tell me over lunch?”

She lets out an exhale and he can feel that he’s pushing her buttons all over but she’s not snapping—at least not yet, good job so far, Kwan Hee Young. He has that -eating grin on his face and she’s not too far from her initial glare seeping from her eyes. He’s smiling wider and wider and she’s pushing him away harder and harder before she manages to open the door, “You’re paying,”

 

 

 

---

 

 

“Not bad, you didn’t make me fall,” Kai snorts, picking up her bag and handing it to her as she rolled her eyes, carrying it on one shoulder while she used her other hand to nudge him by his shoulder, “I think by now you’d know that I wouldn’t mess with you for no reason,”

“Ah, is it? Possibly because now I’m your boyfriend?”

She exhales deeply and resists the urge to show him the finger, “Can you not…”

He raises both hands up in defense, pointing at the door with his eyes, “Lunch?”

She’s about to agree because she’s famished that she could eat an entire horse but then there’s a buzzing from the speakers. The two didn’t bother about it at first, thinking they should start discussing on where to eat but then at the mention of Kwan Hee Young, please report to the principal’s office, she’s groaning.

“What did you do now, Miss Troublemaker?”

Hee Young sighs and shakes her head at Mr. Kang, “You tell me, I don’t even know what the hell I did,”

She turns to look at Kai, giving him a look, “Text me where you are, I’ll meet you there instead,”

He nods and waves a hand, “I’ll pick a nearby restaurant,”

She merely nods and leaves, closing the door behind her and then Mr. Kang is observing everything from a distance. Kai decides to take his leave but when his hand is on the doorknob, he can’t leave… not just yet. He looks over his shoulder and meets with Mr. Kang’s gaze and then Kai is saying his apologies for abruptly cutting off lunch like that in the midway and Mr. Kang is joking about not ever buying the guy lunch again. Kai easily maneuvers himself to take a seat on the chair opposite Mr. Kang and then the older one is slightly curious.

“Anything I can help you with?”

“Can I talk to you about… something?” Kai asks, curious and genuine with that spark in his eyes.

Mr. Kang is raising both his eyebrows, he leans forward and then he questions, “About what?”

Kai takes a moment and Mr. Kang wasn’t that dense to tell that Kai was hesitating, thinking thoroughly on what he should ask, how he should ask—whatever it is that he wants to ask. In his eyes, Mr. Kang sees confusion, as creases appear on his forehead, it’s confirmed on the feeling Kai radiates.

“I’ve been hiding this from him for years and just because of my stupidity, of the way I feel, of the way I think… it’s all happening again,”

“I… I’m only asking you because I have no one else to ask,” He starts, causing Mr. Kang to roll his eyes, “Yeah, wow, that’s nice to know,”

Kai shakes his head almost too soon, well aware to how offensive that came out to be, “N-No! I mean… I’m serious…”

Mr. Kang lets out a sigh and uses a hand to gesture him to continue, “Ask away,”

“You… you were my dance teacher when I was a child, right?” He’s careful with his words—but so was Mr. Kang.

“Yes, I was, still am,”

“Did I have any sort of partner?”

Mr. Kang takes a moment to remember and the look on his face says it as Kai analyzes the look on the latter’s face. Mr. Kang then nodded after a while, answering his question, “Yeah, of course. All of my students had partners,”

“I-Is there any solo dancers? Just on their own?”

“When you were a child?”

Kai nods.

“Of course there was, even you had a solo performance,”

Kai shakes his head.

“T-That’s not what I meant,”

“Then be more specific,”

He dropped the bomb.

“Was Hee Young your student as a child as well?”

Mr. Kang’s eyes widen and he’s leaning back against his chair with a thoughtful look but it was useless—he didn’t need to think but here he was… He tilted his head to the side for more effect, eyebrows furrowed and then he’s debating if he should or should not answer it clearly—it was hard, harder because he knows what he should say, hardest because he can’t bring himself to lie to a student.

So he gives a vague answer.

“She was—but not particularly under my care—another teacher taught her more than me,”

Kai’s lips formed a small ‘o’ shape, clear confusion still on his face but some of it rubbed off, “Okay…”

Then Mr. Kang is asking why he wants to know all of a sudden and Kai admits that it’s because he’s having some sort of recollection of when he was a child—which was merely impossible since he’s aware that he’s forgetting certain parts of his memory due to the car accident—he knows there’s something missing. You know that feeling of solving a puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle and one specific piece is missing? That’s how Kai felt—and he doesn’t seem to be able to find that piece for a long while but he thought it wasn’t as important so he hasn’t tried to dig it out.

But now he’s finding himself more and more curious—it was a natural instinct.

“I’m sure maybe one day you’ll figure it out, it takes time,”

Kai nods and then hums, feeling himself getting reeled into a deep train of thought until Mr. Kang says, “Weren’t you supposed to find a restaurant?”

Kai’s eyes widens so wide, Mr. Kang has a fit when the boy is scrambling from his chair, waving a messy goodbye and then dashing out of the door. Mr. Kang sighs, shaking his head, relaxing and then rubbing his forehead, “I just hope she’s more courageous to tell him,” Then he glances out of the window where he can see Kai running recklessly across the street, into a restaurant and then he says, “And I just prays he remembers.”

 

 

---

 

 

Don’t lose your , don’t lose your , don’t lose your .

When she’s done with her little chant, she exhales and raises a hand up, giving the door two decent knocks before a voice replies with a low come in and then she’s rolling her eyes—always trying to have a cool image, cool my . She opens the door and closes it behind her securely. She meets with his stoic expression and she’s not surprised—she got used to it.

“Would you like a seat?”

Funny, he’s asking much politely now.

She silently walks forward, works her way around the chair and then she’s seated opposite him.

The man folds his arms on the table, meaning forward and his blank expression had evaporated, replaced with a concerned one.

“How are your classes?”

“They’re fine,”

“Your dancing?” He an eyebrow.

“This Saturday, it’s not like you don’t know—you’re the princip—“ She bits back her tongue, “I’m sure my mom told you,”

He exhales, shaking his head and speaks softly, gentler than most of the times he’s conversed with her because only now he’s realized. Hee Young is someone that if you approach the wrong way, she’s twisting and turning all the paths into a whole labyrinth and you’ll be having a horrible time in trying to figure it all up. But if you take your time in talking to her, coaxing and show that you’re genuine and sincere, she’s nothing more than just a regular person—she’s willing to talk if you’re willing to be nice. That’s all it took and it took him so damned long to realize that ever since their last encounter. It wasn’t so pretty behind covers as well when his fiancée had a breakdown of guilt—not pretty.

“A-And… has your sister informed you that she’s attending?”

Hee Young clicks her tongue, the words of why the do you care or what does it have to do with you but then the words of Junmyeon echoed from their previous sessions, a line that came like you shouldn’t be mad for your mother for wanting to find happiness—she’s not responsible for your father and brother’s death.

So she bites her tongue harder, nodding her head as a reply instead.

“And you’re… you’re fine with that?”

She takes a moment to process her reply and then her words are smoothly leaving her lips, “Even if I had anything against it… she’s still going to attend, you know that,”

He attempts in trying to make the atmosphere cheerful but there’s no lie that the awkwardness was hanging in the air like a fog engulfing the both of them as a whole, “I-I know you’re still somewhat… reluctant to attend our wedding and I completely understand,” He clears his throat, fishing out a card, “But your sister is attending our rehearsal dinner in a month from now and we’d like it if you could attend as well. You could bring your friend… uh… Minseok?”

“He’s in the states,” She states flatly, reaching for the card and then not reading it as she held it up, “Is this it?”

He nods after much thought, thinking there’s no way to persuade her unless her heart is genuine to attend and that’s all he can do for now. “That’s all,”

She mirrors his movements, nodding and then leaving.

 

 

---

 

 

“Well… think of it as a moral support,” He remarks, taking a peek at her with the corner of his eyes and he’s grinning when she rolls her eyes at him, “Easy for you to say…”

“If it makes you feel better,” He shifts from his seat, which, is the ground, “My parents aren’t attending at all,”

She has an eyebrow raised out of curiosity, her ears are definitely listening, “Why not?”

He shrugged, leaning against her arm and then tilting his head a bit to rest it against her head, feeling the breeze of the wind as the two remained seated on the grass, backs against the tree after a satisfied meal, “They’re busy—they’re running both a restaurant and a farm at the same time—it’s tough,”

“Aren’t you… disappointed?”

“Why should I?” He asks and it comes off more as a rhetorical question, “It’s only a few more months until I graduate and I’ll be able to see them more often once I apply for a job nearer to where they are and it’s all good,”

“And you’re giving up dancing?”

He chuckles and leans away, tilting his head back against the bark of the tree and he’s using a hand to nudge her nose, she intended to smack his hand at first but then he pulled away, “I mean, I could still dance for certain occasions but I’ve never thought of making dancing into a career before—I’ve already experienced whatever it is to feel like having it as a career during my internship. I was the first to apply in when the slots opened,”

“You could be a dance teacher...” She still suggests, connecting her words to somewhere deeper into her mind but he’s not realizing any of that—right… he doesn’t remember…

“And make you jealous with all the other female students I'd have?” He jokes, shaking his head, “Too risky,”

She threatens to hit him square in the face but he catches her fist, “What about you? What do you plan to do after this?”

“I’m going to be just like you!”

He grins, shaking his head and ruffling her hair, “What do you mean, tiger?”

“I’m going to study hard and enter Juilliard just like you!”

The man chuckles and lifts her up into the air, hearing her squeals but then sets her down, “Juilliard isn’t easy to enter, my dear—it’s a tough path and—“

“I’ll have you to guide me, silly!” The girl laughs heartily, clutching onto his shoulders tightly and he’s having that sparkle in his eyes upon seeing how her eyes shine at the word dance or the mention of where he attended his years in learning and now, teaching with a certificate under Juilliard.

“I guess you’re right,” He breathes, sets her down and then eyes the radio, “Let’s practice from the top again, tiger.”

She gulps and blinks, pulling her hand from his grip and then she’s sighing, relaxing her back against the sturdy tree trunk behind her, “I don’t know yet…”

“Possibly…” He mumbles, turning to look at her, “Are you aiming for Juilliard? Degree?”

She almost immediately gives a reaction: wide eyes, pale face, two shakes of her head, “I don’t stand a chance. I can't possibly get in with the diploma I've been working for now..."

"And that is?"

"Hospitality management."

"Perfect. You could work for my parents and we'll live happily ever after,"

She sighs and then looks away, not really so keen to the whole thing though, obtaining a job was important, there were other things that seemed more to her as well. Kai noticed the solemnity that took over and he wasn't too fond of it. No, once he saw her smile, it's the only thing he wants to see. He leans closer, "You know... Mr. Kang could probably help if you're interested in experiencing life in Juilliard..."

She nudges him away by the arm and breathes, "Stop it..."

He rolls his eyes and nudges her with his elbow, “Mr. Kang is from Juilliard, you know that—he could easily hook you with a way for foundation first and then after you could start your degree course there, all you need is time and if you're really dedicated, years will fly by and the degree will be yours,”

She stares down on her lap, her blinking growing slower and she’s being into the thought, “If I’m good enough to qualify…”

He inhales deeply and turns to look at her, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Just do well for this evaluation performance and the one coming up at the end of the year and I’m sure, you’ll be in Juilliard in no time and ah, don't fail your finals, either,”

She’s dumbfounded by the thought but there’s no lie that there’s something bubbling up from within just thinking of studying in Juilliard, achieving her degree there just like her father… it would mean the world to her—even if she doesn’t pick up dancing as a career, this goal has been on the top of her list of all time—apart from getting a good job and not to live on the streets. She’s mumbling softly, her voice coming out as a whisper when she says, “Then… we…”

He snorts and ruffles her hair, “Aw, now you’re worried about me? If you’ll never see me again?”

He sees how she stiffens and she brushes it off with what the hell as her eyes looked elsewhere. He’s smiling and snaking an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer and then she’s inhaling the sweet smell of his cologne, “Don’t worry about me—your dreams are more important,”

What if you’re my dream?  The quiet part in her mind questions, and she’s trying not to think so much about it. It’s best to enjoy the time now.

Quietly, she blinks up to him and his eyes are staring idly ahead to the greenery, “Besides, no one said you can't work and still learn at the same time and I never said my parents only had one restaurant,”

Then he’s looking down on her, mischief playing in his eyes and she’s swearing, shoving him away until he lands on his side but her heart definitely hopes for the best, “Idiot.”

 

 

---

 author's note;  i believe it's possible for anyone to still want to learn because there's no age limit as long as you're determined and have passion. in other words, if this seems like and bull, i... know what you mean but it's not impossible. yep. yepz.