Don’t be fooled by my actions, because I am always wearing a mask.

SEVEN

In the afternoon of the next day, she made her way to the dance practice room like every day, but the moment she opened the door after knocking, she gasped at the amount of the people in the room, all panicking and talking and some of them were shouting, she furrowed her eyebrows at the state of the room feeling panic that something happened to Zelo but when she glanced to the corner of the room, she took sight of Zelo who was crying quietly in Daehyun’s arms, while the latter one tried to calm the younger.

Frowning slightly at the sight, she walked slowly to the two boys, when they noticed her, Daehyun retracted his hand from Zelo’s back while the taller boy shifted awkwardly while rubbing his teary eyes and sobbing lightly.

“What happened?” she questioned, quite puzzled and clueless, looking back and forth at the two standing in front of her.

“Well you see I heard a commotion happening in here when I was in the hallway, so I came to check on Zelo and the other boy, and then I found many people here going around and apparently, Jongup’s partner injured himself while dancing, and Zelo was so shocked and horrified at the scene” Daehyun explained

Looking at her surroundings she noticed the nurse kneeling beside a whimpering boy who laid there covering his probably teary eyes while biting hard at his already bleeding lips hard to ease the pain, a dance teacher was there with some students, they tried to help the nurse but she rejected their help knowing fully that it wouldn’t be effective, Jongup stood beside the nurse, eyebrows knitted in worry and helplessness; no trace of the innocent smile he always wears.

“Is he going to be okay?” she asked in an almost unheard murmur, her question to none on particular, she wasn’t even sure who was she asking about, Zelo? Jongup? Or the injured boy?

But soon she felt a warm hand taking hers, and holding it tightly in a comforting way

“Yes he will” Daehyun replied with a sweet heartwarming smile, his answer was as vague as her question but she was satisfied, with that she squeezed his hand mirroring his smile

After some time, the nurse declared that the boy had probably broke his leg and that they should take him to the hospital, the dance teacher and Jongup followed the boy into the emergency car as soon as it took the boy, and the others took their leaves

“Zelo is so sad about what happened to the boy, now they can’t perform their dance, no one know their moves but Zelo” the boy commented as the trio made their way to Daehyun’s car, he sniffed a bit, blinking rapidly to hide his tears

“Why don’t you help them?” Daehyun suggested, rising his eyebrow, his best friend hit his shoulder slightly with a glare on her face, and he chuckled at her don’t-give-him-ideas look

“Too late” Daehyun whispered with a smirk as he pointed at Zelo who had a determined expression, and she swore she almost saw fire in his eyes

“Noona, hyung is right, Jongup hyung always helped Zelo and took care of him, Zelo wants to pay him back”

She looked at him with worried and concerned eyes but he stood his ground and kept looking at her hopefully, she turned to look at Daehyun giving him a helpless look, but all he did was smiling reassuringly while nodding slightly, she sighed heavily thinking deeply about Zelo’s

“I-I..” she stuttered under her breath, not sure about what to say but looking at Zelo’s eager look, and how he was so determined to help the dancer stunned her and she just couldn’t refuse, beside there was nothing wrong about helping someone out she was just worried about his safety

She nodded weakly muttering a low “okay” under her breath, that simple word made Zelo jump in excitement thanking her for giving him this opportunity while Daehyun just chuckled at the cute boy

Finally entering the car, Daehyun sped up his way to her house while Zelo started blabbering happily about the dance and the performance and how he was so excited to offer Jongup his help, Daehyun hummed agreeing with whatever Zelo said while the girl sat there trying to remember the date of the performance, but nothing came to her mind.

“Hey tell me, when is this performance?” she asked the boys, looking curiously at them

“Tomorrow night” Daehyun replied nonchalantly while Zelo nodded eagerly and she gasped at them, shocked and bewildered

“Are you serious? Tomorrow? As in the next day? It’s very near, are you sure about this Zelo?” She glanced worriedly at Zelo who sat at the back seat and he nodded firmly “Zelo is so so sure” he seriously said, but the two adults couldn’t s hold in their chuckles at the cuteness of the kid

“Well if you think so” she replied and was surprised when she heard Zelo saying “I believe so”, she glanced at him quite taken-back, at how his word were firm and serious, and how for the first time he didn’t talk about himself as a third person

Maybe Zelo is growing up, he sure is

After reaching home, Daehyun bid them good-bye reminding her to call Jongup later, she reassured him that she won’t forget before taking off, giving Zelo a snack she took her phone to call the dancer, few rings and he answered

“Hi” came his voice, a bit tired and restless

“Oh hey Jongup, is your partner okay?” she asked still concerned about the boy “Oh yeah he is, he is doing fine right now, apparently he broke his leg, nothing serious or out of ordinary, what about you?” the boy asked back

“I am fine, the question is are you?” she demanded and he made a little attempt to chuckle but it was so dull and held no humor in it “honestly I don’t know, I worked so hard for this performance and now my partner is injured and no one can help us in such a short notice, and I can’t do this alone, nor can I cancel the performance, it’s important for me and my future” he replied sadly and that’s when she remembered that just like Daehyun, Jongup had a scholarship he earned by his talent, and he can’t afford to disappoint the school now

“Well Jongup I might just know the perfect partner for you” she informed secretly smiling

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After hanging up with Jongup she went downstairs to tell Zelo about the news, when she reached the living room she found Zelo playing with the puppy as usual, when he noticed her he let go of the dog and looked at her with curious yet hopeful eyes

“I told Jongup about your offer and he was so relieved and thankful, you did good Zelo” she informed patting the boys head, who just blushed and ducked his head away from her reach, and she chuckled at his cuteness

Knowing that the next day would be a long tiring day she made an early dinner for both of them, after finishing their food and feeding the dog, she made sure Zelo had wash up and was comfortable before turning the living room’s light off and went to her room, the moment she laid in her bed she reached for her phone and called her cousin

“Hi cousin, missed me already?” Yixing greeted with his cheerful yet playful voice and she couldn’t help with the big smile plastered on her face

“Well yeah I did miss you but I called for something else” she told him and she heard the boy sighing heavily “so should I call him now, or?” he asked dully knowing fully that his cousin had probably picked a fight with Daehyun, he wasn’t complaining really but just the thought of the two best friends fighting didn’t appeal to him

“Not this time Oppa, well you remember the boy I told you about who keeps Zelo Company in the evening? The dancer Moon Jongup?” she questioned and Yixing hummed in agreement “well he has a performance tomorrow and his partner injured himself today and now he is not capable to participate in the dance, so Zelo had offered his help to Jongup as he is the only one who knows and practiced the dance before”

Yixing stayed quite for a while not knowing what to say before he mumbled “and what’s wrong with that?” and with that she frowned her eyebrows

“Isn’t he sick? Maybe something would go wrong, I don’t know I am just worried about him” she replied in a whisper not sure why she was paranoid to such an extant

“From what I am seeing you are the sick one, seriously stop stressing yourself out of nothing, and you know what! this is actually good for his health, interacting with people is very useful in his case and could help him into growing up, he may be a seven years old boy but if you give him a bit of your time and attention you would notice that he is growing up too and he may even turn normal in the future, you just have to be patient and carful with him”

“Thank you Oppa, I will try my hardest I promise” she heard him sigh after what she said but she didn’t comment on it as she didn’t know the reason of his somewhat distress

“Anyway, call me if anything happens, and make sure Daehyun don’t hear you calling me Oppa unless you want me dead by tomorrow” after hearing her chuckled he bid her good-bye and hanged up the phone

Putting her phone aside, she sighed heavily as she stood up to get ready to sleep, oblivious to the new message she just received

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When she woke up the next day, she remembered that Jongup had asked her to bring Zelo along with her this morning so they can rehearsal for the performance, so the first thing she did was blindly taking her phone and calling Youngjae asking him to give the nanny the day off

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