Soojung crashes on the floor with a heavy sigh as soon as she opens the door of her new dorm room. The dark room is empty except for her so she assumes her roommate is still in class. There are two beds on opposite sides of the room, the one on the left has a pink bed sheet and a rabbit stuffed toy on top of it. Soojung refuses to go anywhere near those so she pulls her suitcase behind her as she hobbles towards the other bed. She kicks her suitcase under the bed then drops her weight on top of the mattress before lying down on her back. She closes her eyes and tries not to think about the family she left.

When Soojung wakes up again, it is to the sound of the door opening and closing loudly. Then there is a startled gasp and Soojung opens her eyes to find a tall girl hovering above her. She has pale skin, bright eyes and long black hair. The girl stares at Soojung with obvious curiosity for a moment before smiling widely. Soojung pushes herself on a sitting position and the girl steps back a bit.

“Hi?” Soojung murmurs.

“You must be my new roommate!” The girl giggles. “You’re Soojung right? My name is Jinri.”

She offers out a hand to Soojung who accepts it awkwardly. The girl, Jinri, gives her a firm handshake and Soojung notices that despite how smooth the skin of the girl looks, there are still barely noticeable roughness on the pads of her skin. Soojung crosses her legs as Jinri sits at the end of her bed. The girl prattles about how Soojung would love the school and how Jinri would introduce her to her group of friends.

“You will love them.” Jinri promises.

Jinri is surprised at how well her friends accepted Soojung in their group. She feels a swell in her heart as she watches the shy girl interact with the group. Beside her, Kyungsoo laughs as they watch Jongin bombard Soojung with questions about her classes since they are both dance majors. The four of them are all sitting on the wooden floor of an abandoned bungalow near the river just a couple of meters behind their dormitory building. Jinri and her friends found it last year and it has become their secret place ever since, and now they are letting Soojung in their little secret.

A small cough interrupts them and they all turn to find a young man by the entrance of the bungalow. Jinri smiles at him and Jongin says a loud “finally!” when the man sits on the other side of Jinri. Their shoulders brush a little and Jinri bows her head as she blushes because of the small contact.

“Hey Taemin.” Kyungsoo greets him.

Taemin waves at him before nodding towards Soojung’s direction. “Is this Jinri’s stray cat?”

Soojung raises an eyebrow at his question and Jinri playfully swats his arm.

“Don’t be rude.” Jinri scolds. “She’s my friend.”

“I was just kidding.” Taemin says before grinning at Soojung. “Hello. I’m Taemin.”

“I’m Soojung. It’s nice to meet you.” Soojung says.

“Why were you late again anyway?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Got held back by some of the professors.” Taemin shrugs. “They want my choreography to be perfect.”

“I’m sure you can do it.” Jinri says and Taemin smiles at her.

Jongin then stretches his arms and exclaims about how he feels this year will be the most exciting one ever and Jinri smiles fondly as she looks at the faces of all her friends. She couldn’t agree more.

Jongin watches with bated breath as Soojung dances. The girl isn’t the best dancer in class, but all the raw emotion she expresses with her every move makes up for it. He is supposed to focus on his own moves but he can’t seem to take his eyes off the girl.

All the students breathe out sighs of relief as the song ends, the instructor gives them a five minutes break and they all scatter out into their own corners. Jongin flops down on the floor beside his bag, Taemin hands him a bottle of water and Jongin smiles at him, a wordless thanks. His eyes wanders around to find Soojung again, he finds her standing in front of the mirror, one hand on her waist and the other holding a bottle of water. Her long brown hair is held up in a loose bun but some strands have fallen down beside her face, sticking to her sweaty cheek and neck. Jongin thinks she still looks gorgeous.

Jongin wipes a hand down his face and groans. Taemin looks at him with furrowed eyebrows.

“What’s up?” Taemin asks.

“I’m so screwed.” Jongin groans again. “I think I have a crush on the stray cat.”

“Oh,” Taemin says.

“I can’t do anything about it though,” Jongin laughs bitterly. “That girl’s not here to find romance.”

The instructor announces the end of their break and the students all gather in the middle again to find their positions. Jongin takes a deep breath and concentrates on the music. He stops thinking about anything else and just lets the beat control his body.

When the class ends Jongin hoists his bag over his shoulder, he turns to find Taemin but the young man is still standing in the middle of the room. Jongin waits until all the other students vacate the room before moving to stand beside his best friend.

“Staying here?” Jongin looks at their reflection in the mirror.

“Yeah,” Taemin breathes out and he has that strange glimmer in his eyes that Jongin has become very familiar with. “I think I’m gonna practice some more.”

Jongin nods at him. “Just don’t kill yourself with fatigue.”

He starts to leave the room but just a second before he closes the door behind him, he hears Taemin’s faint words.

“I won’t.”

Taemin admits that he is currently a bit drunk. His head is spinning and the trees around him are all blurry images. He regrets drinking the alcohol Jongin brought to the bungalow for their little celebration for him getting through the first stage of his auditions. Taemin doesn’t think all the sneers and fake congratulations the other students gave him are worth celebrating at all.

There is someone talking beside him but he couldn’t understand what the person is saying. Taemin turns to look at the speaker and he comes face to face with a concerned looking Soojung. She starts speaking again and Taemin shakes his head at her.

“I- I can’t understand.” Taemin mumbles before closing his eyes because he starting to get dizzy.

He leans his back on one of the trees but then he feels his knees starting to get weak so he slowly sits down on the dirt. Soojung follows him and sits next to him. She presses the back of her hand on his forehead. Her hand is cold and Taemin flinches back, hitting the back of his head on the trunk of the tree behind him. Soojung laughs at him and he groans.

Taemin opens his eyes and Soojung is right there in front of him. She looks very different from the serious dancer that he often sees in class now as they sit under the moonlight. He sees why Jongin is so attracted to her. She is beautiful.

“I’m going to regret this.” Taemin whispers.

Soojung frowns in confusion. “What?” She says, and this time Taemin understands her.

Taemin reaches out and places a hand behind her neck, pulling her in. Soojung’s eyes widen as their lips touch. Taemin leans closer and starts to deepen the kiss, making Soojung squeak in surprise. She tries to pull back but Taemin wouldn’t let her and soon enough the girl turns pliant in his arms. Taemin his way into and a sob escapes Soojung’s mouth, the sound sending a wave of thoughts in Taemin’s brain, suddenly making him sober. He quickly realizes how wrong this is. Taemin gently pushes Soojung away, the girl blinks at him, her cheeks are red and there are tears pooling in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry.” Taemin exhales. He stands up so quickly and the motion makes him nauseous again. He can’t believe he took advantage of Soojung.

Soojung looks down, still sitting on the ground. Taemin couldn’t look at her any longer so he turns to leave but stops dead in his tracks as he sees Kyungsoo, Jinri, and Jongin standing not far from where he’s standing.

“We were wondering where you went.” Kyungsoo says before his eyes travel down to where Soojung is. “It was getting late.”

“I-” Taemin starts and Jongin glares at him stopping his sentence short.

“I’ll take Soojung back to the dorm.” Jinri says softly. Taemin looks at her and his stomach drops at how blank her face is. She refuses to look at Taemin, brushing past him to reach Soojung.

Jinri helps Soojung get on her feet before guiding her back to the dorm. Once they are gone, Jongin lunges at him with a fist landing painfully on his face. They fall to the ground and Jongin straddles him as he throws in more punches before Kyungsoo finally hauls him off Taemin.

“You’re a ing !” Jongin screams as he struggles in Kyungsoo’s firm hold. “Let me go Kyungsoo!”

“Not before you calm down.” Kyungsoo says. He turns to Taemin. “Go ahead Taemin. I’ll handle Jongin.”

“You know I like her!” Jongin screams again. “You ing knew yet you did this!”

Taemin staggers to his feet. “I’m sorry.”

He leaves his two friends behind. Jongin is still screaming profanities at him while Kyungsoo attempts to calm him down.

Kyungsoo sits on the floor just beside the CD player. Jongin’s been dancing for almost two hours now but it seems the boy has no plans of stopping. Kyungsoo’s afraid he will injure himself if this continues. He heard from Jinri how Soojung refuses to attend class.

“She said she’s not scared of him,” Jinri tells him. “Just embarrassed.”

Jongin does a spin but his balance is off and he falls down with a loud thud. Kyungsoo scrambles to his feet to run towards him.

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo worriedly asks.

Jongin lies down on the floor, panting heavily as he catches his breath. There are dark circles under his eyes and Kyungsoo sighs. He needs to remind Jongin again to stop sleeping so late.

“Aren’t you worried about Taemin?” Kyungsoo asks.

“He’s-” Jongin starts. “He can take care of himself.”

“I’m worried about him,” Kyungsoo mutters.

They’re silent for a moment but then Jongin hisses a silent “” under his breath.

“Did you hurt yourself when you fell?” Kyungsoo kneels beside Jongin’s head.

“No, I just-” Jongin murmurs. “Everything’s so ed up?”

Kyungsoo hums, prompting Jongin to explain. Jongin bites his lip as he starts to formulate the words in his head.

“I like Soojung and I think Taemin likes her too,” Jongin says. “But we know Jinri’s liked Taemin since forever.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo sighs.

“How about you?” Jongin suddenly asks. “Do you like someone in our group too?”

Kyungsoo laughs at him and Jongin slaps his thigh.

“I mean if you like someone you should say it now, you know?” Jongin grumbles.

“Hmmm,” Kyungsoo taps his chin as he pretends to think about it. “I like you?”

Jongin scowls at him. “Nice try Kyungsoo.”

They stand up and Jongin turns off the music playing. They walk silently through the empty hallways of the school with Jongin walking slightly ahead of him. Kyungsoo smiles as he look at Jongin’s back. If only you know.

Soojung is worried. She had been afraid of Taemin that night but she also understands that he was drunk and probably didn’t know what he was doing. She looks at the short text message the man sent to her phone that night. A simple “I’m sorry”.

As far as she knows that is the last message Taemin sent any of them before he disappeared. She tries dialling his number again but just as the other times there is still no answer.

“Soojung,”

Jinri is sitting across her on the bed. Sooung looks up at her when Jinri calls for her name.

“Do you like Taemin?” Jinri asks. Soojung notes how less confident the girl looks now than how she usually is.

“He’s my friend.” Soojung answers.

Jinri frowns. “Please be honest with me.” She begs and Soojung sighs.

“Jinri, I used to believe in love before but after what happened to my family I don’t think I do anymore,” Soojung explains. “Besides, I want to focus more on dancing right now.”

“Alright,” Jinri says. “I just thought I need to know.”

“And now you do know that I don’t like him romantically.” Soojung states. “And what happened that night was a mistake.”

Jinri nods before standing up and walking towards the small refrigerator in their room. She pulls two cans of beer from it before climbing back on the bed. Jinri gives Soojung a can before opening hers.

“I wanna get drunk.” Jinri simply says before taking a sip of the beer.

Soojung laughs at her. “Alright.”

Jongin: i still think you’re an 9:15 AM

Jongin: but the last stage of ur audition is in three days 9:15 AM

Jongin: so get ur back here! 9:15 AM

Jinri~: you weren’t in class? 10:31 AM

Jinri~: where are you? 10:31 AM

Jinri~: taemin? 10:33 AM

Jinri~: I’m worried. pls call me back 10:34 AM

Dyo: Taemin... 04:16 PM

Dyo: We just wanna know if you’re ok. No one hates you, ya know 04:16 PM

Dyo: Not even Jongin!! 04:16 PM

Dyo: Answer me GDI 04:19 PM

Taemin: I’m okay. 04:28 PM

Dyo: GOOD 04:30 PM

Dyo: Come home! 04:30 PM

Taemin: Not yet 04:31 PM

Dyo: w h a t 04:33 PM

5 years later

Soojung grumbles under her breath as she makes the kohl around her eyes thicker. The feathers of her costume are starting to make her itch but there’s nothing she can do about it anymore. There are girls running around the dressing room as they all make haste to prepare themselves on time for the show.

She steps back and stares at her reflection in the mirror. Perfect, she thinks.

“Places!” Someone shouts and Soojung drops the pencil on the table before hurrying towards the stage. The curtains are still closed but she can already hear the murmurs of the audience on the other side. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, thinking about all the faces of her friends waiting to see her. A gentle pat on her shoulder pulls her out of her thoughts and she turns to find Jongin standing beside her.

She smiles at him and he gives her arm a reassuring squeeze.

“Good luck princess!” Jongin says before he moves towards his own place in the stage.

The curtains start to part and Soojung squints her eyes as the bright stage lights momentarily make her blind. But then she sees them, the audience and their awed expressions. She finds her friends in the front row. Kyungsoo clapping wildly as he cheers her name and Jongin’s. Jinri is sitting next to him, her eyes turning into crescent moons as she smiles brightly, and then there’s their long lost friend Taemin, who finally showed up two years ago as a world renowned ballet dancer. Taemin told them how he started dancing for local shows after he dropped out and how he slowly moved up. He married Jinri a year after he came back. They have all been happy for them.

Soojung smiles and closes her eyes again. The music starts and she takes a deep breath before slowly letting her body take flight.