Selema Tatsumoto. despite being exhausted from lack of sleep, executed each move with precision during the rehearsal for the ballet scene. She was one of the fortunate people picked to dance in Phantom of the Opera at the camp, but her tired, heavily sweating feet felt otherwise. This was the third time the group rehearsed, and Selena was already close to quitting. 

Her chronic insomnia was the reason for her constant exhaust. Ever since her father, Roy, died in that car wreck with a drunk driver, she was unable to sleep because of the nightmare that followed. How Selena managed to survive it was way beyond her.

As the choreographer, Ms. Rush, called out orders and dance moves, Selena scanned the room and envied how effortlessly the other students seemed to dance. Then, she gazed at her rival, Lee Joon. The grace and rhythm in every twist and turn he did made Selena absolutely envious. The carefree look in his face irritated her even more.

Lee Joon is the best dancer out of the whole group. It may be because he comes from a long line of elite dancers or his dedication to the art. Either way, Selena was determined to beat him with everything she had. Or at least die trying. She was tired of people comparing the two. It seems as if no matter how hard she practiced or trained, Lee would come out on top. Ms. Rush even favors him out of everyone else in the group. How could someone so clumsy in reality be so graceful at dancing in the studio? The answer was way beyond anyone else's head.

For the rest of rehearsal, Selena was silently praying that Lee would fall until Ms. Rush called out, "Okay, that's enough for tonight. Everyone, go back to your rooms and get enough rest.

Selena spiritlessly chuckled at the thought of actually getting a good night's rest as she headed for her bag and followed everyone else out of the studio. She traveled down the hallway to the girls' side and went into her room in which she has to herself. Selena the shower head in her bathroom and washed away some of the stress and sweat. When she got out, she changed into a different outfit and slipped on her robe. A loose braid was her choice for a hairstyle as she tried to go to sleep.

Selena and her father are on their way back fro her performance in Swan Lake.

"So, how did I do, Dad?" Selena asked as she fastened her seat belt.

"You did really good," Roy replied. "That was one of your best performances." 

"Too bad Mom couldn't come, though."

"You know Aoi always works over time on Fridays."

"She always has to work, Dad. When is Mom ever gonna have time for us?"

"Selena, Aoi is trying really hard to be there for you, but someone has to be the breadwinner in the family. And since I got laid off last month, and you have school and the dance classes, who do you think has to do it?"

"Well, yeah, but it's New Year's Eve, Dad! I didn't think she was gonna have to work on a holiday!"

"Selena-"

Before Roy could finish his sentence, a Hummer ran into the driver's side of the car on full impact, crushing Roy's lung and killing him instantly. The driver and his friends were clearly intoxicated from the wayward way the Hummer was driving. Glass flew everywhere like a swarm of bees. A loud ringing was introduced to Selena's ears that never left.

Selena woke up with beads of sweat covering her forehead. The silk of the rove clung to her stomach, forcing her to take it off.

"When will this dream ever end?" Selena griped.

She slipped on her flats, opened the door and trudged down the hall until she saw the kitchen door. She entered the room and heated up a cup of water to prepare for her chamomile tea.

All of a sudden, she heard the door open. Unexpectedly, Selena was standing face-to-face with her greatest opponent.

"I see you couldn't sleep, either, huh?" Lee smiled.

Selena, doing her best, to be polite, replied, "No, I couldn't."

Lee opened the cabinet for a mug and heated the water to make his tea. "Why can't you sleep?"

"Why can't you sleep?"

Lee remained silent for a moment and stared at Selena before guessing, "Bad dream?"

Selena's almond-shaped eyes popped out of her head. "How did you know that?"

"Your hands are shaking, your eyes are bloodshot, you're sweaty and cranky, and your bags under your eyes have bags."

"What?!"

"Shh, I'm just playing. That's what you get for being mean."

Selena let out an irritated grunt before plopping down in a seat next to her and drank her tea.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No. Why do you care?"

"I care about people, Selena. Plus, you'll feel better if you do talk. I'm listening."

After thinking long and hard, Selena finally gave in and told Lee about her recurring nightmare. When she was finished Selena was on the verge of tears. "And every year on the anniversary of his death, I can't breathe, but to you guys it's a celebration of fireworks and partying. On my father's last day on earth, I went off on him for no reason, and the importance of our argument died right along with him."

"Wow," Lee exhaled. "I had no idea you were keeping all of this in."

"I should've died instead. He was a good man, and I was being a spoiled brat."

"No, don't say that, Selena. We all say thing to people we care about that we wish we could take back....like me."

Selena wiped her eyes and listened inventively to his story.

"My mom was an amazing dancer. Top of her group. She used to be a dancer for Cirque du Soleil. La Nouba to was the show, but all of that changed when she got fired one night because it was found out that she was taking crystal meth to help her lose weight so she could tumble more easily. When Mom, lost her job, everything else came tumbling down with us like dominos. We got evicted from our home because she spent most of our money on fixes. She sold all of the trophies I won for dance competition if she didn't have money. After all the trophies were gone, she turned to her last resort: tricking. Her dealer, Inati, made her turn tricks for meth. He would beat her every time he felt the money wasn't enough.

"Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, so I ran away after I told her I never wanted to see her again. Little did I know that the night I said that to her would be the night she turned her last trick. Every night after that, I kept having nightmares about how Inati would beat her, and each dream was worse than the last."

Selena, disgusted with herself, sobbed uncontrollably. "I had no idea how hard your life was. I wasted so much time hating you for making mine so hard without realizing how much rougher you had it."

Lee scooted his chair closer to Selena's and embraced to the sobbing teen. "I forgive you, and I know I'm in no place to say this, but you need to learn how to forgive yourself. That's why you have insomnia from depression. I spent my life on the run dancing for money as a street performer, but Ms. Rush came up to me and asked for me to be her apprentice. I guess you can say she's somewhat of a surrogate mother to me. She saved my life, and my passion for dancing was returned to my heart once more. Now, I'm here to help you.  There was nothing you could do about what happened to your father, just like I couldn't do anything about what Inati did to my mother, but you can start by embracing the good times you guy had together instead of beating yourself up about what you said to him.  That's how you can start."

Selena looked into Lee's eyes and replied, "Thank you, Lee."

"Try to get some sleep, Selena. We've got a big day ahead of us. Remember what I said."

Selena nodded and placed her empty mug into the sink before making her way into her room. She glanced at the picture of herself at age 6 and her father. She smiled and leaned back into her satin pillow. About half an hour later, she felt warm arms encase her. Startled, she turned to the right to see Lee holding her.

"What are you doing here, Lee?" Selena whisper-shouted. "Do you know how much trouble we can get in if anyone saw you in here?"

Lee smiled calmly and reassured her. "Don't worry. I got permission from Ms. Rush. She used to do this with me whenever I had a nightmare. She understood that I was helping out a friend. Good night."

Selena chortled quietly and returned to the deepest, sweetest sleep she's ever had in a long time.

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I don't know if this can be counted as a romantic story, but I guess this would have to do. The model I used for this story is Thelma Aoyama. I know I used Lee in my other story, but I couldn't think of any Asian male idol that could do ballet off the top of my head. As for Golden Spirit, I'm thinking about scrapping it. I don't know if I really like it that much now as I did when I first wrote it.

I'm also open to suggestions of which story I should write in a fuller version. Let me know what you guys think. Thank so much for your support. ☺♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥☺