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Today was Friday, the day that the one and only famous choreographer Keone Madrid would be teaching downtown in Seoul. It was also Hanbyul’s, Kim Hanbin’s little sister, recital.

 

“I can’t go.”

“Don’t lie to me. You just don’t want to go watch your sister perform, am I right?”

Hanbin groaned at the accusation. It was true, of course, but the way she said it made it sound so selfish, and Hanbin liked to believe he was a selfless person. “Ugh, Mom, I already told you I have other plans tonight. The guys and I have an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend this workshop by this super famous choreographer, and I have to go or else I’ll die!” he exclaimed, making exaggerated hand gestures. “Besides, the studio’s hosting it, so it only makes sense that I attend out of respect to the choreographer. I mean, Byul will have plenty of other performances that I can attend later in the future anyways.”

“Kim Hanbin!” His mother snapped in disbelief.

The said boy flinched immediately, lowering his head. Okay, maybe he wasn’t exactly selfless.

His mother paused, realizing that she was raising her voice and took in a deep breath. “I already told you what’s expected of you as an older brother; you know how much your little sister wants you to come see her recital.”

Hanbin deeply sighed. “I know but--”

“But, you know what?”

 The boy raised his brow at her sudden change of tone. “What?”

“I’m going to let you make your own decisions and take responsibility for them.”

His eyes widened. “So are you saying…”

“You can go to your super important, once-in-a-lifetime workshop, but you’re going to be the one who’s going to have to break it to your little sister that you can’t attend her opening night.” Mrs. Kim calmly said while preparing breakfast.

As if those words went through one ear and out the other, Hanbin jumped up in victory. “Yes! I’ll make it up to her, I promise. Thanks, Mom. Love you!” the teenager immediately shouted before dashing out the apartment to head to school.

The excitement only stayed with him as the day progressed. Unbeknownst to him, someone else in the city of Seoul was excited as well, but for a different reason.

 

“Hey Jinah?”

Sitting in a circle with her two best friends, the said girl looked up to see Jongin in front of her with a nervous smile. His school uniform was firm and pressed (there was not the slightest wrinkle), and his hair was just the exact opposite: messy and ruffled (a habit of his). In all honesty, he looked gorgeous.

The girl gave him a slight wave. “Oh, hey Jongin. What are you doing here?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go get a burger or something after dance practice today,” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish look.

Bada and Gaeul exchanged knowing looks, and Jinah felt that somehow this was déjà vu, except this time she was in Bada’s shoes. If it was any other day, Jinah would have complied, because who didn’t like a good burger? Unfortunately, she was busy tonight.

“Sorry Jongin. I can’t. Tonight’s my work place’s annual children recital, and I have to be there. You can come if you like.” She could see the disappointed look on his face and immediately felt bad. “Maybe we can go another day. Is that alright?”

Hearing that, Jongin lit up with hope like a Christmas tree.

 However, he masked it all under a smug smirk. “I’ll hold you to that, Jinah. Alright, have a good weekend.” Jongin then chucked up a peace sign and left to class.

Bada scoffed as the boy walked further and further away. “You’d think after being ‘friends’ for two and a half years he would at least acknowledge us out of courtesy. Am I right, Gaeul? I’m so offended.” She turned to the latter who only shrugged.

“Love can make you blind. All that boy sees is Jinah, Jinah, Jinah.”

Jinah rolled her eyes as she took a bite of her lunch. “Ha. Ha. Let’s not get carried away now, you two.”

This unrequited crush had been going on for a while now (a year or so), and for some reason, Kim Jongin had never given up pursuing her heart. She wasn’t the type to play dumb (she was very aware of Jongin’s crush although she outwardly denied it all the time), but the girl wasn’t a either. If she couldn’t return his feelings, the least she could do was be genuine friends with him.

And that’s what they were. Friends.

Often times, she wondered why she couldn’t just save everyone the trouble and just date the poor guy. Jongin was nice, and no one could deny his good looks. So why wasn’t Jinah attracted to him? She felt bad.

As she glanced to see the figure in the distance disappear, she internally sighed.

Why couldn’t he have liked someone else?

Shaking her thoughts away, she smiled small. “So are you guys planning to come to the recital? I’m doing a surprise performance at the end.”

Bada groaned. “I wish. My dearest mother grounded me after she found out that I got another detention for supposedly skipping my first one. Funny thing is she’s the cause of it! I can’t even go to dance practice later on. She’s forcing me to stay home like a prisoner.”

“That ,” Jinah commented with a pout. “Well, what about you, Gaeul?”

The other shook her head. “Can’t. Today’s my one-year anniversary with Sehun, and we’re planning to go somewhere fancy.” There was the slightest tint of pink on her cheeks, causing the other two to exchange suggestive looks.

“Is that all you two will be doing?” Jinah teased, raising her brows up and down in a playful manner.

“Oh my god, no! Nope. Uh-uh. We are not going to discuss this. Bye!” Gaeul hissed, quickly getting up and taking her leave. The remaining two drowned themselves in a fit of laughter before following their flustered friend to class.

Hours dragged by, and school eventually ended for the day which meant two things.

Jinah had to go prep for the recital and Kim Hanbin had to break it to his little sister that he wasn’t going to make it to her performance.

There was a quiet voice in the back of his head, telling him that if he really loved his little star, then he would give up on going to the workshop and instead go to the recital. But… the boy wanted to be selfish. Yes, he felt bad, but the excitement overpowered the guilt.

“Yo, Hanbin! You ready for tonight?”

Hanbin scoffed as he left his doorstep, the question insulting him in all too many ways. Ready? The guy was born ready for this. Dancing, to Kim Hanbin, meant so much more than what the average person could understand, and dancing alongside legends (learning from them as well) meant even more. So yeah, in other words, he was ready for tonight.

Not only were he and his friends going to partake in Keone Madrid’s workshop, but it was all happening at their very own studio. It was an honor, a freaking privilege, to have such a talented dancer at their home base.

“Where are the others?” Hanbin asked, noticing that three other people were missing: Kim Jinhwan, Kim Donghyuk, and Goo Junhoe.

Bobby pointed his thumb in a certain direction. “They went ahead of us.”

“Said they wanted to shake Keone’s hand before you get to it,” commented Yunhyung.

“Bastards,” chuckled Hanbin. “Alright, let’s go.”

As the three came nearer and nearer to their destination, they came to found a large group of people crowding the studio. Exchanging confused looks, they jogged up to the place to see what all the commotion was about.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Hanbin loudly asked. He was profoundly ignored as the people complained to one another, bashing the studio and its lack of professionalism.

“Give us our money back!” someone in the crowd angrily demanded.

“You cheated us! Keone’s not even coming to this filthy place!”

“Yeah! Why would he?! Look at this dump!”

Hanbin furrowed his brows. “Hey! What the hell are you guys talking about?”

Yet again, no one answered him.

Not being able to take it anymore, he then bravely pushed his way through the crowd and into the front door. He didn’t mind that he bumped into many shoulders and elbowed several rude people in the crowd (most of them deserved it anyways). Bobby and Yunhyung followed closely behind, doing the same.

“Bobby, get rid of the crowd!” Hanbin hollered before entering the studio. “Yunhyung, you block the door!”

He received a unanimous ‘yes sir’ and headed on inside the building.

 “Alright, if y’all don’t leave, I’m ing call the cops on each and every last one of you!” Hanbin heard Bobby threaten outside.

“Hyung!” Hanbin turned to see Jungkook running up to him, wearing a look of relief.

“What’s going on? And what the hell happened to your face?”

Embarrassed, Jungkook looked away. “I fell.” He then cowered under Hanbin’s hard gaze and sighed, bringing his hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay, truth is I was pushed by some bastard outside, but I’m fine. I’m serious!”

After accepting the fact that the young boy was all in one piece and ultimately okay, Hanbin demanded to know what was happening to his beloved studio. He listened to Jungkook explain the situation and eventually frowned at what he was told. So in summary, Keone Madrid was not coming to their studio. Yes, that part particularly , especially to Hanbin, who had been looking forward to learning from him for a while now, but that unfortunately wasn’t the worst part. Hanbin immediately strode into Jason’s office (Jason was the owner of the studio and also a close mentor of Hanbin’s).

“Is it true?” Hanbin demanded.

Jason sat behind his office desk and calmly brought his hands together. “I’m afraid it is. We received a letter of notice just this afternoon. I don’t know what to tell you, kid.” Jason tossed the letter in front of Hanbin, but the latter didn’t even need to read it to know what it said. “There’s nothing we can do.”

He stared at the piece of paper in resentment as his eyes flashed in recognition.

Nonetheless, Hanbin wordlessly walked outside. He was met with nine friendly faces, and he felt slightly comforted but still enormously bothered.

“So?” Junhong, one of the frequent dancers there at Lifestyle studio, quietly questioned. “Is everything alright?”

Hanbin silently shook his head and continued to walk away.

“Where are you going, Hanbin?” Junhoe called out from behind.

“Leave him alone,” Jinhwan, the eldest, said in a hushed tone.

Hanbin stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and left the building. He couldn’t believe it. This was a nightmare. The studio was going to be demolished, the one place where his worries ceased to exist. Now… it was going to be destroyed, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Maybe this was karma for breaking his princess’s heart and making her cry. He had told her he had other things to do than to go watch her perform. Hanbin bitterly chuckled and decided that he should go buy some flowers to compensate for his selfishness. It was his sister’s first recital after all.

 

Meanwhile in one of Seoul’s most prestigious performance halls, people were beginning to fill up the auditorium for Navi’s annual recital.

Backstage, Jinah noticed one certain little ballerina missing. Kim Hanbyul was nowhere to be seen. She stopped a passing group of ballerinas. “Have you guys seen Kim Hanbyul?”

“She’s over there in the corner, hiding, ssaem.”

“Hiding?” Alarmed, Jinah went to go find her. She turned to see the little girl in the said corner with her head hanging low and slowly approached her star pupil, crouching down to her level. “What’s wrong, Hanbyul? Why are you crying?”

The little girl sniffled as the other ballerinas giggled in excitement and prepared for the big performance. “Hanbin oppa told me that he can’t come today, because he’s busy. But… I heard him tell mommy that he wanted to go to a dance workshop... whatever that is.”

‘What a jerk!’ Jinah immediately thought. “Ah, so that’s what’s wrong.” She patted Hanbyul’s head with a small pout. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. He’s going to miss out on your lovely pirouettes, and that’s his loss.”

Hanbyul straightened out her tutu and sighed. “Yeah, I guess. I just wish he was here, so I can show those other girls that even that I don’t have a daddy like them, I have a cool, big brother.”

‘Aww... poor child. Ugh, I knew that guy was bad news! Selfish jerk!’

Nodding, Jinah comforted the little girl. “I’m sure your big brother loves you a lot, Hanbyul-ah, and I bet if you wished really hard on a star just like yourself, he’ll be in the crowd, watching you.”

Hanbyul’s eyes lit up with hope. “Do you really think so?!”

Jinah sadly smiled. It was terrible of her to give an innocent child false hope, but it was hope nonetheless. “Mhm, now get out there and shine bright.” Jinah watched Hanbyul clasp her hands together, shut her eyes tight, and quietly whisper to herself before she ran off to join the other ballerinas.

With a slight shake of her head, Jinah then walked up to the side of the curtains to sneak a peek at the crowd. It looked like there was a full house, and the jitters were beginning to take their places in her stomach. This always happened right before a performance, but it was a good feeling, and Jinah liked it. She took one last glimpse before tending to the children.

The recital momentarily began.

There were eleven pieces in the show, including Jinah’s surprise ending performance. All the ballerinas from Navi performed together for the opening piece, and each age group as well as each skill group then followed suit as they were given solo performances to represent the classes they were in. There were beginner, intermediate, and advanced pieces, and each varied with age.

Four performances had passed when Hanbin finally entered the auditorium. He quickly looked over the program to see if he had missed his sister’s performance.

A breath of relief escaped him when he realized his sister’s act was the second to last performance in the entire show. He scanned the audience to try to find his mother and when he did, he quickly headed towards the respective direction. “Excuse me, is this seat taken?” he asked quietly. His mother mindlessly shook her head no, her attention solely directed to the stage. “I hope I’m not too late,” he then murmured.

Mrs. Kim nearly jumped in surprise after realizing her son was seated next to her. “Hanbin? I thought you had a workshop?”

The said boy sent her a small, tired smile. “Something came up." 

"What happened?" 

Shaking his head, he sighed. "I'm here now, and that's all that matters."

Usually, Hanbin would cringe at the thought and the sight of anything ballet-related. He personally thought ballet wasn’t up to his standard definition of dancing. To him, anyone could turn, leap, and dance like there were sticks attached to their bodies (he genuinely thought that would explain why ballerinas were stiff in all areas). However, he decided to it up for the sake of his sister.

By the time the second to last performance came around, the crowd swooned at the adorable sight of four year-olds dressed in tutus (with the occasional boys dressed in their sleek black tights). Names were shouted to catch the attentions of the children on stage. Immediately, Hanbin stood up on his feet and belted out his sister’s name.

“Hanbyul-ah!”

He watched his little sister turn to search for him and when they locked eyes, Hanbin could see the glow on her face that hadn’t been there before. She refrained from waving, but her smile was so big that he knew how much he being there meant to her. It made Hanbin feel as if he should have just decided off bat to come here instead of going to the workshop, that way he wouldn’t have found out about the studio… at least not yet anyway.

The music momentarily , and on cue, the little dancers began to dance. Hanbyul was placed at the very front due to her miniature height, and Hanbin had a clear view of her, and slowly his lips curved upwards.

From the side, Jinah proudly watched her pupils. A wave of nostalgia hit her as she gazed at the children dancing along the piano notes. She vividly remembered her first recital as a young girl and how her Aunt Sorah would scream at the top of her lungs just to support her little niece.

There were a few oohs and awws from the crowd as the children’s performance went on.

Ultimately, the audience enjoyed the stage and loudly applauded once it was over. The parents hastily stood up to take photos of their precious ones, and Jinah waited until the curtains were closed to step out and compliment her students.

“Miss Im! Miss Im!” the children shouted in giddiness.

“Shhhh, hold on, we have to be quiet. The show is still going on.”

The group of dancers fervently nodded their heads and silenced themselves.

Jinah happily, although quietly, clapped. “I just want to say I am so happy to have such a talented class. You guys did a great job out there, and I’m so proud of everyone.” She ruffled the head of the nearest student and chuckled. “Follow Mrs. Cho and she’ll take you guys back to the waiting room for some milk and cookies. Alright?”

The children exchanged excited looks and quickly followed the said woman. All but one left.

“Unnie?”

“Hmm?” Jinah turned to see Hanbyul still by her side and tilted her head. “Hanbyul. Why haven’t you left with the others yet?”

The little girl blushed and played with her fingers, unable to face her. “I just wanted to say thank you. You were right about wishing on a star. I saw Hanbin oppa in the audience with mommy, and it made me happy.” At that moment, she properly stood up, formally placed her hands in front of her stomach, and respectfully bowed. “Thank you. You’re the best teacher ever!”

Jinah chuckled at how adorable Hanbyul was as she watched her dash off to the waiting room.

‘Guess he came after all, good job, big brother. Brownie points to you.’

Jinah then quickly left to go prep for her performance.

“And for tonight’s closing act, we have a surprise performance from one of our very own instructors here at Navi, Im Jinah. Please welcome her!”

Hanbin’s ears perked at the familiar name. ‘The pole dancing ballerina? No way.’

The crowd politely clapped to welcome her onto the stage as the lights dimmed to a blue tint.

 From the side lines, Jinah clutched onto the fabric of her old sweater as she took in a deep breath. “This is it,” she whispered to herself. All her hard work for the past few weeks was for this very moment; perhaps after this, she would be able to sleep in peace (something she hadn’t been able to do for a while). Her black dress loosely flowed down to her thighs as she walked onto the stage, the music slowly taking over her moments.

In the audience, Hanbin watched with anticipation. All he knew about this Im Jinah was that she was a ballet instructor by day and a pretty good pole dancer by night, but even that didn’t say much about her skills as an overall dancer. Therefore, he wanted to see just how good the ballerina was.

What he didn’t expect was to be moved by the way Jinah danced.

His eyes never left her for a single moment. Jinah had captivated her audience through her fluid spins and elegant leaps, and Hanbin would never admit it, but she had captivated him as well. Through these movements, Hanbin could clearly tell there was a story behind this certain piece by the way she danced with the sweater, and the feelings he were receiving on the other end… well, something must have had happened to Jinah for this piece to be inspired.

Jinah spun along to the piano notes with the sweater in her possession. Towards the end of the performance, she threw the sweater away as if to rid herself from the baggage of perhaps an unhealthy relationship only to run back to the item in clear desperation and dedication.

The music came to a fade, and momentarily the audience cheered.

The recital was over.

 

“You did amazing, Jinah!”

“Great job!”

“That performance was breathtaking. I loved it!”

Jinah sheepishly smiled at the waves of compliments that came her way. “Thank you,” she continuously said, receiving bouquets from her co-workers and several generous parents.

The lobby was crowded as parents were up on their feet in search for their children. In the midst of the ocean-like crowd, Jinah decided to just stand on the sidelines. 

“Jinah! You talented dancer, you!”

The said girl burst into a smile at the sight of her thirty-two year old aunt.

“You came!” she exclaimed.

Sorah scoffed at such words as she approached her with open arms. “Well, of course, I came! I am your aunt.” She tightly hugged her niece, giving her a loving squeeze. “And hey, I am also your number one supporter. Here, these are for you. You did a wonderful job on stage, Jinah.”

“Thanks Aunt Sorah; it really means a lot,” Jinah replied, taking in the bouquet of pink carnations.

Sorah chuckled before gasping. “Oh! And guess who I bumped into on the way over here?”

The dancer furrowed her brows. “Who?”

“Me.”

Jinah turned to see, to her surprise, Jongin holding a bouquet of red roses. He was wearing a casual outfit that only he could amplify its simplicity: a white button up shirt with clean khakis. “What the…” Jinah playfully smacked his shoulder. “Yah, you didn’t tell me that you were going to come!”

The boy shrugged. “It was a surprise! Just thought that I should come out and support you. You were beautiful.” He handed her the flowers and in return, Jinah hugged him out of gratefulness. “Thanks for coming, Jongin.”

Jongin made a hand gesture. “Ah, it was nothing. So… how about getting that burger?”

The girl glanced at her aunt who only nodded in encouragement. She then looked at Jongin and smiled. “Sure, why not? I could use a burger right now.”

“Unnie!!!!”

The three of them shifted their attention at the giddy ballerina who rapidly ran up to them.

“Hey Hanbyul,” Jinah greeted with a light-hearted laugh.

“Let’s take a photo! Let’s take a photo!”

Mrs. Kim surfaced through the crowd with Hanbin following suit. “Aigoo…. Hanbyul-ah. Slow down.” The woman sent Jinah a small smile. “She’s been running around, trying to find you. If it’s not a bother, can Hanbyul get a picture with you?”

“Of course she can,” Jinah giggled, handing off her bouquets to Sorah who automatically became overwhelmed with the amount of flowers in her possession.

“Uh… I’m going to take these to the car before my arms fall off. I’ll be right back, Jinah.” Sorah then glanced back at Jongin. “A little help please?”

The boy blinked. “Oh. Sure.”

The two left, leaving Jinah alone with the Kim family.

“Photo time! Photo time!”

Immediately, Hanbyul ran up in front of Jinah, and they momentarily pose for the picture wearing bright smiles.

Mrs. Kim steadied the camera. “Okay. One, two, three… Say kimchi!”

“Kimchi!” they shouted in unison.

Hanbyul jumped up in excitement, causing Jinah to laugh. "You are just so hyper, aren't you?"

“Another one! Another one! Wait, oppa, come take a photo with us too!”

From behind the camera, Hanbin blinked in surprise. “Me?”

“Mhm! Come on.”

The latter shook his head. "No thanks, princess. I'll just stand here.”

Hanbyul frowned in return. “Please? Just one photo?”

Mrs. Kim nudged him. “Go on, go take a photo with your sister.”

“Scared you'll break the camera?” Jinah joked, gesturing him to come over.

Slightly scoffing, Hanbin stood there in consideration before reluctantly walking over to her side with a bouquet of tulips in his hand.

Hanbyul beamed in pleasure, looking up at her brother and Jinah. “You two are my favorite people in the whole wide world. After mommy, of course.”

“I would hope so,” Mrs. Kim chuckled. “Okay, get closer. I’m going to take a photo.”

Hanbin and Jinah made awkward eye contact before the latter turned away, her face bearing a flustered pink.

“Smile.”

And they did.

 

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Finally updated. Haha, I'm not going to bore you guys with an excuse. Just know that I finally updated! Oh, and I also changed the visual of the OC to Lee Sung Kyung. I kept the name, obviously, but I just wanted to let you guys know, unless you don't care. LOL. This is my late Christmas gift to you, so I hope you enjoy. I wonder what's going to happen next~! And for you iKon lovers, I'm not sure if I want to add Chanwoo into the story. I made this story when it was simply Team B, but for now, I'll consider it.

****This story is the first book of my In The City Lights series. It is officially titled Dancing in the Rain. In the chapter, there is a link! That is what I envisioned the performance to be (exactly, to be honest).

Until next time, much love!

--kayotic