Hoya gulped as he stared the huge building before him. The passers-by were giving him judging and weird looks. Hoya decided to just man up and go in. No point chickening out when he had walked all the way here. He mentally scolded himself for not driving here.

‘How may I help you?’ The receptionist of the dance studio looked up from her phone and asked, she had a lot of piercings on her right ear but none on her left.

‘I, um, I’m here to find one of the dance instructors.’ Hoya rubbed his nape awkwardly.

‘Which? I can help you see whether he’s free now.’ She pulled out a file from the drawer.

‘Dongwoo.’

‘Oh! Dinowoo? His lesson just started. You may have to wait for an hour, you can sit there and help yourself with the drinks and snacks.’ She smiled and she gestured at the small room located near the back of the long stretch of corridor and Hoya just murmured a thanks to her before sitting on the sofa and read the newspaper from his phone’s app.

Hoya decided to listen to some of his favourite music while reading the boring article to kill time since he didn’t have any games on his phone. An idea popped up in his mind, he closed the app and went over to the receptionist.

‘Um, is there a free room for dancing by the way? I feel like practicing.’ Hoya asked the receptionist.

‘Yes of course! Go down that corridor, turn left, last room. It is a vacant room for public to practice their dance. You can use that. I’ll tell Dinowoo to find you there.’ The receptionist politely said and Hoya thanked her.

Hoya opened the door of that room and switched on the light. The whole room was spacious and there was even a stereo set for him to plug in his phone to blast the music. Perfect. Hoya smirked at his own reflection from the wall of mirror. He his music and got into position. The room was air-conditioned, so Hoya didn’t feel any heat attacking his body while he danced. He was wearing his favourite dance shoes, so he had absolutely no problem in dancing. After god-knows how long, the room’s door was opened and Hoya stopped dancing to see who that was. It was Dongwoo.

‘Hey.’ Hoya greeted.

‘Nice dancing skills you have. Care to join me in the studio?’ Dongwoo asked while smiling and Hoya hesitated, Dongwoo immediately laughed seeing Hoya’s reaction. ‘I’m just kidding, I know your parents won’t be fond of it. Sorry for waiting so long. I forgot to tell you my schedule the other day. Should’ve, to be honest, so that you don’t have to wait for so long.’

‘Nah. It’s okay. There’s a nice room here to practice dancing so why not? I’m glad that I came early and discover this place.’ Hoya smiled.

‘Well, want to go for lunch? I’m dying of hunger.’ Dongwoo rubbed his stomach.

‘Sure. Lead the way.’ Hoya stood up and took his phone, not forgetting to turn off all the lights.

They had lunch at a nearby restaurant, and Hoya was surprised to find out that Dongwoo actually liked to eat bibimyun, because it was Hoya favorite food. They talked about a lot of random stuff, then slowly, it switched to the dance topic once again.

‘Hoya, I’m just curious, who taught you how to dance?’ Dongwoo took a sip from his lime juice.

‘There isn’t anyone to teach me, since my parents are into business, well, to be honest, I’m the only one in the family that is into the performance side, that was the reason my parents had banned me from entering the dance academy in my university, which, of course, I was seriously irritated but I had no choice since they were the source of money for my university life.’ Hoya smiled bitterly, Dongwoo shot him a sympathized look but Hoya just shrug it off.

‘I’m sorry. Shouldn’t have talked about these sort of stuff. It totally spoil your mood didn’t it?’ Hoya looked down on the table with a guilty face.

‘It’s fine. You have to let it out, you know. If you don’t, you’ll just explode one day and god knows what’s going to happen.’ Dongwoo smiled brightly at him instead. ‘Moreover, I’m the one who sated the topic so don’t blame yourself. It’s my fault that I brought up the matter.’

They left the restaurant after Dongwoo insisted on paying the bills and Hoya almost made him swear that he would let Hoya treat him next time. Dongwoo went off again as he had another class starting in just twenty minutes’ time, so they quickly exchanged numbers and parted their ways. Hoya wore a rare grin as he walked home, listening to some hip hop songs.

‘Hyung, how’s your day?’ Sungjong came back around 9 p.m. and saw Hoya watching the television once again. ‘Dear god, please tell me that my brother didn’t spend his whole Saturday rotting away in front of the TV or else I’ll smash it immediately.’ Sungjong let out dramatically and Hoya glared at Sungjong. He seriously thought that his brother should have joined acting school or major in acting instead of designing. Sungjong’s simply too exaggerating!

‘No I didn’t.’ Hoya frowned.

‘Thank god!’ Sungjong exclaimed. ‘So tell me, my dearest and only hyung, what did you do today?’

‘I meet a friend and had lunch with him.’ With the sides of his lips lightly lifted, Hoya said.

‘Hyung, since when you have a friend apart from dancing and your husband, you bed?’ Sungjong placed a hand on his chest and looked shock and Hoya just rolled his eyes before he realized that Sungjong used the word ‘husband’ instead of ‘wife’.

‘Why can’t I have a friend, huh? And what’s with that husband thing? My bed is my wife, not husband.’ Hoya pointed out, he was no longer concentrating on his movie any more.

‘Well, firstly, you don’t go out except for working and your daily routine is the same, I’m pretty sure that if I’m not here and the security isn’t strong enough, burglars would’ve broken in at least a million times. Second, you only sleep, eat, watch television, and talk to me, umma, appa, your colleagues and nobody else. You’re practically living in your own cave. Thirdly, I know that you’re not straight so it has to be a husband, not wife.’ Sungjong stated one by one, even counting fingers. No matter how much Hoya wanted to deny, he had to admit that he didn’t have any friend, he was indeed living in his own cave, at least it’s comfortable enough for him. What Hoya disagree was the third point. He was hundred percent straight, he was sure of it.

I meant, come on. Look at him. Which part of him looked homoual to you? None right? If you were comparing Sungjong and Hoya, you’d most probably find Sungjong the not so straight one. Hoya snorted, didn’t even argued to his brother as he knew that it would be pointless since Sungjong was as stubborn as he was.

‘Whatever.’ Hoya grunted before returning to his room, leaving Sungjong alone in the living room with a silly grin plastered on his face. Well, maybe Sungjong could stop worrying about his hyung. Sungjong skipped around the house and did a small victory dance before retreating to his room too.

Hoya thought about what Dongwoo did. To be honest, he was pretty jealous that Dongwoo could chase his dream while he was stuck in an office. Okay, the people in his office were nice and friendly, some tried to make friends with him and some even proclaimed that they were his ‘best friend’ although Hoya didn’t even know them that well. He really wanted to go after his dream and live the way he wanted. It would be so free. Hoya sighed and checked his phone, although he knew that no one would text him or call him, but he checked it anyway. There was indeed a new message that was sent to him about three hours ago. Hoya’s thick eyebrows raised slightly. Who could that be?

To: Hoya

From: Dongwoo

Hey sup! Hope you got home safely. :) I forgot to ask you something. Since you’re good in dancing too, do you want to help me to teach the students? I know it’s pretty impolite and unfair request but I kind of need someone to help me desperately since one of my co-workers had quitted this afternoon.

Hoya was surprised. He didn’t think that his skills in dancing had reached the level where he could become a mentor of others. No. He didn’t think that it was impolite and unfair, but he was overjoyed that Dongwoo asked him, well, for once, he could do something he actually had a passion for.

To: Dongwoo

From: Hoya

Yeah, I did. I can only come in for Saturdays and Sundays since I have to work in the office. Sorry for the late reply by the way, I didn’t check my phone. :/

Hoya replied a simple message and his phone vibrated only a few minutes later to indicate an incoming message.

To: Hoya

From: Dongwoo

It’s fine! Gosh. You don’t know how glad I am that you agreed to help me. XD See you on Saturday at the studio, 7am then! Thank you so much!

Hoya smiled unconsciously as he read the message. He could already visualize a dancing Dongwoo and Dongwoo knocked onto something accidentally while getting all excited. Why, oh why, did his heart fluttered at the thought?

Monday was definitely the day that Hoya hated the most out of the seven days. First, he got stuck in a traffic jam and he tried his best not to swear. Second, he was called into his boss’s office. There he was, seated on the sofa, trying hard not to be nervous since he didn’t know what his boss was going to say.

‘Hoya. You’re one of the most efficient workers I ever had. It’s really good to have you in my company.’ Why did his boss sounded as though he was going to get sack or something? Hoya tried to stay positive, but the negativity side of him seemed to be winning.

‘I believe that a lot of people love you in the office. I want to work on several projects now. I want to see your performance and I will assign some people to help you. I give you a week to complete these.’ His boss handed him three thick files. ‘Come back to my office next Monday to show me what you’ve done. You can go out now.’

Whew. So he was not sack, well, not yet. If he screwed those projects, he most likely would be. Looked like he would miss his bed for a few nights.

‘Whoa.’ Dongwoo’s eyes widened when he saw Hoya on Saturday in the studio. ‘What happened to you?’

‘Haven’t been sleeping much since I have to rush three projects at one go. I drank coffee, so it’s fine now.’ Hoya laughed dryly, rubbed circles around his eyes, hoping it would ease the dark circles and eye bags a little. Dongwoo ran off to one of the room, only to return with a tube of things and an icepack.

‘Here you go. Just put it on your eyes for a while and this is BB cream. It’ll cover your dark circles.’

‘Do you mean, I need to put makeup? Hell no!’ Hoya jumped up, he was a man, a manly man, why would a manly man, put on gross stuff that girls cover their flaws with? Okay, maybe except his brother but it’s DIFFERENT.

‘Unless you put that on, or I’m chasing you home to catch a few winks. Because, you’ll scare off the students.’ Dongwoo narrowed his eyes. ‘So you choose. Go home or put this.’

Half an hour later, Hoya stood with Dongwoo in one of the dance room with a black face. Dongwoo nudged him on his ribs and signaled him that he should smile ad Hoya forced one out.

‘Jang Songsaengnim, who is this?’ One of the students asked.

‘He’ll be helping me to teach you guys today, his name is Hoya but you have to address him as Lee songsaengnim. Now, do y’all still remember the dance steps I taught you guys?’ Dongwoo let out a chuckle.

A few minutes into the dance lesson, Hoya was already enjoying everything. He didn’t have to teach anything, he was needed only when it came to perfecting every individual’s dancing skill, for example, one of the students didn’t bend his knee correctly, he would go over to correct it. It was really fun and Dongwoo invited him to perform for the students before he ended the lesson, which Hoya definitely felt embarrassed since he had never taken any lessons before. He did one of his favorite dance, and when he had finished, he looked at the shock faces of the students while scratching the back of his head.

‘I didn’t take any lesson before. I bet that you guys can do much better than me.’ Hoya said sheepishly he felt the heat going up to his face.

‘Goodness! You’re as good as Jang songsaengnim!’ The students clapped and Dongwoo clapped along with them. ‘I seriously can’t imagine if you had taken dance lessons, you will be like some professional dancer who will make a fortune!’

‘Haha! Guys, you’re dismissed!’ Dongwoo decided to save Hoya from the awkward situation he was in.

‘Please don’t ask me to dance in front of your students again. It was so embarrassing!’ Hoya grunted when the students had cleared the room, leaving only Dongwoo and him in the room.

‘Nah. You did great. Come on, let’s go to the reception, I need to pay you for being my assistant.’ Dongwoo waved his hand.

‘No, it’s okay. I don’t need to be paid.’ Hoya immediately rejected the offer.

‘No, I have to!’ Dongwoo insisted but Hoya only shook his head harder, stuffing his hands into pockets so that Dongwoo couldn’t do anything funny.

‘Fine, since you don’t accept the money, I’ll just treat you for lunch, is that okay? Or else I’m going to get amnesia for the night because of the guilt I’m feeling right now.’ Dongwoo sighed.

‘Okay, I could use a lunch anyway.’ Hoya smiled this time. He wouldn’t take Dongwoo’s money, not ever. They had a hearty lunch and talked about the most random things on planet Earth. Hoya found out that Dongwoo actually owed the studio, which came as a big surprise to him.

‘Yeah. That was why I was pretty worried since I’m getting a shortage on the helpers and instructors.’ Dongwoo looked a little worried.

‘I see.’ Hoya nodded his head.

‘Well, want to hang out somewhere?’ Dongwoo stood up from his chair, smiled brightly again. Dongwoo’s emotion was something that Hoya thought he could never figure out, since Dongwoo could be down for a minute but happy again after a few minutes. But overall, Dongwoo was a happy-go-lucky kid. He seriously needed someone as bubbly as Dongwoo in his life so that he wouldn’t be so negative from time to time. His stomach flopped when that thought ran through his mind. Maybe, he could help Dongwoo more? He might as well quit his job and work with Dongwoo, doing something that he enjoyed so much.

They didn’t really hang out, more like window shopped, which was a little weird as they were guys, but nonetheless, rather than looking at the shops, they were engaged in talking. They parted their ways again when Dongwoo received a call from the studio.

‘Well, you don’t have to help me for this since there’s another assistant. Please, Hoya, take it as I beg you, go home and sleep, don’t watch television or whatsoever.’ Dongwoo commanded before he went off and after seeing Hoya nodding.

Hoya did exactly he was told because Dongwoo’s words were most of the time right. It was seriously right since his body had enough energy to receive another blow from his boss. Okay, maybe not a blow on his head but on his mental state.

‘Hoya, I’m totally impressed by your work.’ His boss started off praising him and Hoya thanked him modestly. ‘Now, I want to tell you something. I’m getting old, as you can see. I don’t’ have any family to take over the business.’

‘Yes sir.’ Hoya replied, unsure of what his boss was trying to say.

‘I know it’s going to be hard, but I’m retiring, you’re one of the people I trust so much. I have decided, I’ll pass the company to you.’ His boss said with a solemn face, joking could not be sense from his boss face. Hoya looked at his watch to check the date. But no. It wasn’t April’s Fool.

‘But… it’s your company. I don’t think I can handle such great responsibility sir.’ Hoya stuttered.

‘No. I want you to have this company. From your work, I see your passion, and that passion of yours reminded me of how I started this company. It was a long journey, Hoya, but it worth every seconds of my time to bring this up. It’s like my own child y’know. Think about it. If you really don’t want it, I’ll think of other solutions.’ His boss broke into a small smile.

What the hell just happened? Hoya only felt that his peaceful life had come to an end and had transformed into a humongous thunderstorms.

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A/N: Hehe. Finally updated after so long. Sorry for the long wait! :( But anyway, was hoping you guys enjoyed the chapter and didn't get bored out. :/ Can you guys smell the ending coming? /sniff/ I smell it! Yeah. Next chapter will be the last chapter of 'The Magician' so do anticipate. :) Guess who comes after 'The Magician'?

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