Jongin blankly zoned out once again from his friends’ conversations. As much as he loved spending time with his close friends, he wasn’t interested in whatever they were talking about today.

One of his friends noticed Jongin’s uncomfortable manner and gently nudged him. “Kim Jongin, are you daydreaming again?” Jongin heard someone lightly comment beside him. Jongin couldn’t help but smile with his best friend, but later elbowed him which caused him to cutely wince and rub his shoulder. His best friend quickly raised his hands up in defence. “Alright, alright. I’ll stop annoying you,” he promised, causing Jongin to chuckle. “So, why the long face?” His best friend asked, obviously sensing that Jongin had something on his mind which was troubling him. 

Jongin let out a drained sigh. “My dad wants me to study aboard Kyungsoo,” he finally announced the news. 

Kyungsoo wasn’t the only person who heard the statement, his other friends did as well. “What?” Kyungsoo could only let that word come out of his mouth as he stared at Jongin with wide eyes.

“Not only is he pressuring me to study law so I can take over his stupid Law Firm, but now he wants to ship me off to some unknown country,” Jongin angrily growled in frustration.

Even though his parents were constantly making Jongin do something for their own benefit, he didn’t argue with them. He simply did what he was told as he wanted to avoid drama. As much as he tried to please them and to make them proud of what he had done for them, they simply kept on ordering him to do more things. Why couldn’t they for once praise him for the things which he had done for their sake? Now, Jongin had had it.

He didn’t want to go to some foreign country and live on his own. The thought of it made him feel uncomfortable. He shook his head to clear the image away. Yesterday night, he had gotten into a huge dispute with his parents. Jongin had sternly stated to them that he wasn’t going to study abroad, simple as that, but of course they were beyond furious. It was as if he had just committed a huge sin.

“Well, that ,” Baekhyun, one of Jongin’s close friend commented as he wrinkled his nose.

Chanyeol nodded in agreement, but continued to eat his lunch while Junmyeon lightly patted Jongin’s shoulder for comfort. “Let’s all hope that your dad changes his mind,” he tried to assure that everything was going to work out, but Jongin knew that Junmyeon was simply doing this to comfort him. He was just being another good friend. Jongin couldn’t blame them. Junmyeon couldn’t do anything about it either, no one could change his dad’s mind.

“Yeah, let’s hope,” Jongin muttered even though he didn’t even believe in the word hope.

Kyungsoo knew that Jongin was still feeling pissed off about the whole studying abroad topic so he decided to change the subject. He didn’t want to waste time comforting Jongin when he knew that it wouldn’t work on him. “I heard that you got into a fight with Taejoon,” he brought up the topic that every student in this Academy was talking about this morning.

“I didn’t even though I really wanted to beat the out of him,” Jongin honestly replied, making his friends chuckle in amusement. “Why? What rumours are spreading in this damn school this time?” He asked while rubbing his eyes. Kyungsoo could clearly tell that Jongin hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.

Sehun, the youngest one out of their group was the one to answer his question. “They say that you apparently saved this... chick,” he unknowingly his lips as he curiously looked at Jongin. “Is it true?” He couldn’t help, but ask the question.

The rest were also curious. They found it a joke hearing that Jongin had actually helped some random girl from their Academy when they clearly knew that Jongin hated everyone apart for the five of them. They all had been childhood friends ever since kindergarten.

Jongin avoided their gazes as he grabbed a sweet bread to chew on, not wanting to answer the question. His friends didn’t give up as they kept on staring at Jongin which then soon led him to explain what had happened yesterday after school. He didn’t tell his friends who the girl was though. “It’s not a big deal,” he whispered while rolling his eyes. 

“Oh sorry, we didn’t know that you are so keen on helping the innocent,” Baekhyun sarcastically commented and hi-fived Chanyeol who was already laughing.

Jongin was glad that his friends hadn’t asked him why he had done a good deed because he actually didn’t have an answer to that question himself. 

However, Junmyeon cleared his throat, trying to get everyone’s attention. "So the random chick was the reason why you decided to skip practice," he decided to bring up the topic which Jongin had already forgotten about. Jongin looked away from his gaze, he knew what Junmyeon was going to ask. “Why did you skip practice?” Junmyeon asked in a serious tone.

His friends wanted to know as well. They were all slightly disappointed in Jongin when he didn’t show up for practice yesterday. They all had never once missed, or skipped their lesson and practice. Plus, they all knew how much Jongin loved to dance, he was the main dancer for crying out loud.

“About that, you see… I decided to quit,” Jongin replied. He thought he was ready to hear his friends explode with comments, however braced himself for the endless questions that he was about to get asked from his friends.

“What?”

“Did you just say what I’ve just heard?”

“Are you insane?”

“You must be kidding right?”

His friends knew that Jongin was serious when they saw his facial expression. Jongin then explained the pressure he was feeling from his parents and how they thought dancing was a distraction for him. His friends sighed while they all shook their heads in disapproval.

“But Jongin, you love dancing. When you dance, nothing else matters. You know that, we know that," Kyungsoo reasoned with Jongin to think over his decision one more time. 

“Jongin, you can’t let your parents control your life forever,” Chanyeol was serious now. He was genuinely worried about his friend.

Baekhyun nodded. “I’m tired of hearing what your parents want from you. Jongin, it’s time for you to finally make your own decisions,” he encouragingly added.

This was what Jongin dreaded the most. Yes, he wanted to do that. He wanted to make his own decisions and step away from his parents' shadow, but he couldn’t.

He didn’t have any hopes, dreams or a future.

How was he supposed to live if there wasn’t someone who would tell him what to do?  

He felt like he needed someone to guide him so he wouldn’t feel so lost in his life, but he hated how his parents wanted him to do things for them. He didn’t want to admit it because he was a coward. He was actually scared as he couldn’t think of a future ahead of him. If he stopped listening to his parents, that meant he had nothing to do. He would have to simply live his life with nothing. He would disappear into the darkness just like that.

However, his friends were right.

Dance was the only thing that kept him alive. When he danced, he would always forget about all his worries. He felt free. Nothing else mattered as he was absorbed into the moment. Jongin just didn’t dance for fun, but he expressed his feelings and emotions through his dance. He expressed his frustrations through dance rather than telling someone. 

“We have a competition in two months remember,” Sehun also reminded.

For now, Jongin decided to keep this a secret from his parents. All he had to do was not let his parents find out that he still participated in the dance club. “Mrs. Shin sure is going to be angry at me,” Jongin chuckled, but his friends looked at him confused.  

“Are you talking about that one who teaches how to play various instruments?” Junmyeon asked while tilting his head.

Jongin shyly nodded and his friends burst out laughing.

“Don’t tell me you joined her club.” Chanyeol commented.

Jongin just glared at him, not finding it funny at all.

Baekhyun wiped his tears from laughing too much. “Oh god, you don’t even know how to play an instrument.” He stated, making them laugh once again.

“Ok, I get that you had to find some other club to join, but why that club?” Sehun asked as he tried to hold back his grin.

The first thing, no scratch that, the first person who Jongin thought of was Mira. She was the reason why he found himself in the middle of the club room, staring at her in awe because of the way she had played the piano. He felt something in him when he remembered the piece that she played yesterday. He was a bit upset now that he wouldn't be able to listen to her play the piano anymore.

Kyungsoo waved his hands in front of Jongin. “Were you daydreaming again, Kim Jongin?”

It was already too late.

Kyungsoo yelped in pain when Jongin punched the same shoulder which he elbowed earlier, hard this time. 

---

Daggers, Mira could feel the students staring daggers at her. She didn’t know the exact reason why a large number of her classmates were staring at her. Yes, loads of people talked behind her back, but most of them simply ignored her in class, however not today. Nearly everyone in her classroom were glaring at her, especially the girls. They weren’t even paying attention to the teacher. She decided to just ignore them and continued copying down the notes her history teacher had wrote on the interactive whiteboard. She didn’t care what they thought of her, but she found it uncomfortable.  

Luckily, the bell saved Mira as it was time for the next class. She quickly gathered her books and put her stationaries in her pencil case. Within seconds, she left the class. Just when she thought she was free from everyone staring at her, the students in the hallway stopped to glare at her.

Ok, what is going on? Mira couldn’t take it anymore.

“Kang Mira,” someone called out her name just on cue.

Mira couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of Hyerim. Not this again. She pretended that she didn’t hear Hyerim as she quickly made her way toward the opposite direction. She needed to get to class. She didn’t want to waste time listening to some attention seeker go on about how it was her duty to keep the Academy’s image from being ruined, but when she reached chemistry class, everyone’s heads turned toward her way. 

Oh great, here as well. She sat at the very back and sighed, annoyed at the fact that she had to deal with the glares once again.

---

Mira bit her lips to stop herself from smiling in glee when she heard the school bell, signaling that school was over. She wanted to return home and just sleep on her comfy bed. In fact, she was really hungry since she didn’t eat lunch today. She just couldn't bring herself to eat, knowing that a large number of students would be staring at her. 

She made her way toward the school gates, but stopped when she saw Hyerim and her minions waving their hands at her. Mira couldn’t take it anymore so she simply waited for them to walk over to her. She just wanted to get it over and done with.

Hyerim faked a smile when she greeted Mira who simply returned her a blank look. “I heard what happened yesterday after school,” Hyerim stated. She waited for Mira to say something, but she didn’t seem interested so Hyerim continued. “Did you know that some bystanders from outside our Academy saw the whole incident?” She questioned.

Mira shrugged. “So?” She asked which earned her a glare from Hyerim.

“Me, being the Executive of the Student Representative Council. It is my duty to preserve our school’s image from being-“

“Tell that to Taejoon, it was clearly his fault,” Mira quickly interrupted her, not wanting to listen to her oh-so-well-known slogan. She then turned to walk away, but stopped when she felt Hyerim wrap her hand around her wrist. This pissed Mira off. She didn’t have the patience anymore. “Let go of me,” she hissed and pushed Hyerim toward her minions who let out surprised gasps.

“You !” Hyerim shouted which shocked Mira.  

This was the first time she had heard and seen Hyerim act this way, but she had sensed that one day Hyerim would crack it at her. Mira knew that sooner or later, Hyerim would get tired of her own 'good girl' act. 

“I had enough of your existence, you seriously make me sick!” She rubbed her forehead as her so called friends worriedly rubbed her back.

Ouch, rude much. Mira wasn’t offended or anything, she found it amusing that she had finally seen Hyerim lose her temper once and for all.

“Just tell me why Jongin helped you?” She asked.

How was Mira supposed to know the answer to that question? She hadn’t figured that out herself so how did Hyerim expect her to answer that question for her? “I don’t know, you ask him,” she decided that this would be the best answer to give to Hyerim as she didn’t want to get more involved.

Hyerim chuckled. “I really don’t have the time to play around Mira,” she said in a serious tone now, her smile vanishing from her face. “What’s the relationship between the two of you?” She kept on asking questions after questions.

“Hyerim, I don’t have the time to answer your stupid questions, go ask them to someone else.” With that Mira left even though she could hear Hyerim shouting nonsense at her.

---

Mira let out a groan when she saw nothing left in her fridge to eat. 

Just what I need. She ruffled her hair in frustration.

She always ordered ready-made food for a month from a restaurant named Forte which would then get delivered to her apartment, but she had forgotten that yesterday was the last day of the month. She had forgotten to call the restaurant to order food again for another month.

Mira sighed as she quickly got dressed into something warm and comfortable. She had no choice, but to go eat out. She didn’t know how to cook, she didn’t even want to try cooking when she knew that she would set her whole kitchen on fire if she did. 

---

It never failed to amaze Mira how beautiful the city lights were at night, but it also upset her as she would be looking up at the dark starless sky.

She hated that she couldn’t see any stars from the city.

Mira entered into a near-by restaurant and smiled right away when she inhaled the delicious aroma, making her stomach grumble in hunger. She could hear the classical music being played. That smile soon disappeared when she saw couples staring into each other’s eyes, so drunk in love.

Why can’t they just eat their food and go have their romantic moment at somewhere else?

After a short while, she was escorted by a waiter who smiled as he outstretched his arm, offering her a table near the window. She was glad that she was seated away from the other people. Before he could pull out a chair for Mira, she quickly sat down on a seat by herself. She wasn’t comfortable with some stranger doing these polite things for her. Without wasting any seconds, she flicked through the menu. She then ordered a few dishes and tried to wait patiently for her meals to arrive.

Luckily after 15 minutes, or so she saw the waiter walking toward her with the tray of dishes that she had ordered. was already watering, she couldn’t wait to start eating.

---

That was delicious. She smiled happy that her stomach was finally pleased.

It had been a while since she last ate at a restaurant and she didn’t want to admit it, but she was happy that she decided to eat out tonight.

Smiling, the waiter came over to her with the bill.

“I hope you enjoyed your dinner Ma'am,” he politely said while handing her the bill.  

Mira simply nodded as she opened her bag to get her purse and that’s when she realised she had forgotten her purse back at her apartment. 

The waiter raised his eyebrows in concern. “Is there a problem Ma'am?” 

Mira sighed. Yes.