Soomin got out of her manager's car, confused. "Where are we? You told me to dress comfortably in sports wear but this doesn't look like anything to do with sports." Before her manager could reply her, the staff came over to greet her. 
 
She followed quietly as they brought her up to the second floor. "Kai has already begun filming inside." The producer informed her as he motioned for her to enter. 
 
She pulled the door open slowly. The sight before her shocked her slightly. It was a dance studio and Kai was already dancing. The music was loud and his moves were quick and gentle. She tried to avoid watching but she couldn't help it. She thought about how Kai used to dance just for her in between their practice time. He would show her his latest moves. It impressed her greatly. Of course, now, he didn’t dance just for her anymore but for everyone else too.
 
Kai noticed her staring at him dancing from the mirror and let out a smirk. He pulled his cap lower over his face and continued to move to the beats with even more confidence and energy. When he was finally done with the dance, he turned towards Soomin and smiled. “You’re here?” He greeted her while panting.
 
She nodded and smiling slightly. “So… what are we doing today?”
 
He walked over to his bag, picked up his water bottle and a card. “I received a mission card when I got here.” He hands her the mission card while he takes a huge gulp of water. He chuckled as he noticed her watching him drinking water. “Hey, read the mission card.”
 
“Oh, right.” She blushed slightly, realizing what she was doing. She read the card quickly and sighed. “We have to learn a dance today and perform it at one of the year end concerts next week?” She was shocked. How was she going to learn and perform this dance? She didn’t have much movement even in her own performances. Was it even possible for her to do this full dance with EXO’s dancing machine?
 
The instructor came in and started teaching them the dance. The beginning of the dance seemed simple enough. Soomin was able to follow and keep up. It reminded her of her trainee days in SM where she practiced dance everyday. She stopped thinking about the cameras and Kai, all she was thinking about was the steps and memorizing them.
 
Little did she know, Kai was watching her the whole time. He could follow the movements even while watching her. He never knew how focused she could be. Was this how she was like while training? She worked so hard, why did she leave all of a sudden? It couldn’t be because of those other trainees right?
 
“Soomin, look here. You’ll need to stand in front of Kai and put your hands on his shoulders like this.” The instructor demonstrated the moves. He looked at Soomin eagerly, waiting for her to follow his movements.
 
Soomin hesitated. All of a sudden, asking her to put her hands around Kai, it was just too much. She gently followed the instructor’s instructions but refrained from touching Kai. “Like this?”

The instructor laughed while Kai just smiled. “You have to rest your arms on him for support. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to do this part of the dance.” 

Soomin held her breath as she held onto Kai's shoulders. The instructor nodded encouragingly. "Now you have to raise your right leg and Kai will hold it."

She raised her leg and Kai immediately held onto it to support her. The instructor was pleased and he continued to give directions to Kai. It wasn't a surprise that Kai didn't have any problems following the instructions. Soomin, on the other hand, had lost all the focus she had earlier on. All she could think about now was how close Kai was.

"Let's take a short break." The instructor said after Soomin made another mistake. He gave Kai a light pat on the shoulder. "You're doing great but you'll need to inject more emotions into the dance. Soomin is your partner not just another supporting dancer. And Soomin, you are doing great."

"Great? I'm making so many mistakes." She sighed as she watched Kai walking away shaking his head slightly. She knew Kai was starting to get annoyed. Dancing was just too important to him.

The instructor gave her an encouraging pat on the  shoulder. "I can tell you really like him." He whispered and winked before walking away.

The rest of the dance practice was pretty much the same. Soomin tried and tried but she couldn't get the parts with Kai right. Kai was being patient and he would show her how to do it time and again. But she knew he was only acting for the cameras. The more she thought about Kai, the more mistakes she made. The instructor was definitely wrong, how could she like Kai? Kai wouldn't even stand up for her against the other trainees who had been bullying her. Why would she like someone like that?

Finally it was time to end filming for that day. They thanked the instructor and she promised to keep practicing the dance. He allowed them to use the studio even after the filming staff left.

In a few minutes the filming staff left and the two of them were left alone in the studio. Soomin stood up quickly and continued to practice.

Kai looked at her in disbelief and sighed. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? Practicing, of course. We have to perform this next week! On live television!" She said quickly before resuming to practicing the steps.

He got up and moved to stand in front of her. "I meant what were you doing today? Why was it that you couldn't do any of the steps while dancing with me?" He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "The audience would think you don't like me and all those articles will come out again!"

"Why are you so worried about what people are thinking? You know what? I'll practice on my own. See you next week, Kai." She picked up her things and stomped out angrily.

Posted on 8th April 2014. 

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