CHAPTER 3- STARING AND PAIRING

 

JOY'S POV

 

            It's been two weeks since the start of classes. I got back to Seoul yesterday afternoon with Yeri. I had to wake up early in the morning the next day to jog. I changed into my sweatshirts and rubber shoes and was suddenly surprised when Yeri snored out of nowhere.

 

            "Aigoo. This kid really needs to exercise." I walked towards her to shake awake. "Yeri-ah, let's jog."

 

            "Ah! You go alone. I'm still dating with Prince Charming in dreamland," Yeri said, shaking me off with one hand and going back to hugging her precious pillow. I snorted and walked out of our room. I jogged down the stairs and out of the gate of our dorm. I crossed the street and entered our campus. I headed to the big field and started warming up. I loved the feel of the school early in the morning when the sun was not yet completely up. I breathed in the fresh air and used the bench beside me to help in my stretching.

 

            After warming up, I started walking around the big field first. I enjoyed the view of our school while swinging my arms front and back, up and down. After a few moments, I started jogging.

 

            I passed by the auditorium when two vans suddenly passed by me carrying some male passengers who came down wearing what seemed like  soccer uniforms.

 

            "Must have come here early to practice," I thought. I continued jogging when suddenly, a flash of orange hair came out of the van. Oh, him. He looked at my direction and I just pretended not to care and took out my phone from my pocket to adjust the volume of the music player. I put it back in and continued running.

 

            I secretly watched them as they started stretching. They all seemed like fine guys though, but looking at the orange haired guy, he had that air of arrogance around him. Yeah, I still find him annoying. And crazy.

 

            He suddenly came running like a mad man and jumped at the back of one of his team mates, laughing. They started horse playing like kids when the ash haired kid called all of them up. 'I guess he is their leader,' I thought. They had a little meeting and they were divided into two groups, six members each. Orange haired guy was playing the goalkeeper. Their game started.

 

            Thirty more minutes of jogging and I decided to go back to the dorm. I arrived there seeing a stretching figure of Yuri-eonnie doing some weird yoga poses.

 

            "Aigoo, you should have woken me up to. I also wanted to jog," she said as she reached for the tip of her toes.

 

            "Oh I did not know eonnie. And besides, you were so sound asleep," I said as I took my cup and got some water to drink. "Anyway, where's Yeri?"

 

            "Already taking a bath."

 

            "Oh, okay. Anyway, eonnie, is Boa-seonsaengnim that strict?" I asked the older girl. She looked at me, looking amused. Yes, Boa-seonsaengnim does make me nervous.

 

            "Yyyyyeeeessss. She is a bit severe," Yuri said with a smirk on her face, obviously joking at me.

 

            "Eonnie! Seriously?" I sat on my bed and took off my rubber shoes.

 

            "Like I said, Joy, Boa-eonnie is a terror but well, if you prove your worth to her, you'll get her respect. Just work hard on that. You see, even when we are cousins, she started out harsh to me, too. I really had to prove my worth to her and not only get her approval, just because she is my cousin. So yeah it takes a lot of hard work."

 

            I walked to the bathroom with Yuri-eonnie's word swarming in my head. Almost everyone in the class is afraid of Boa-seonsaengnim, me included, but somewhere inside me, I want to impress her. It's not because she is famous in Korea for being a great dancer but because I know I will learn a lot from her. Just like Yuri-eonnie who now got accepted as a trainee in one of Korea's famous entertainment agencies, I also want to learn from her.

 

            I got ready for school and took a quick, light breakfast. Yeri left first because they have their first presentation today. I changed into my practice clothes and left for school. I walked into the school gates and passed by the benches towards the building. A familiar face caught my attention on my way towards the dance studio. Mr. Cold Eyes, ah, no, I mean Nam Taehyun. He stared at me blankly and continued walking straight onwards. Did that guy leave his tongue at home? Does he not even know how to greet someone? Or maybe I'm invisible? No way, the girls call me a giant. Anyway, why do I even bother him not noticing me. I don't even like him. So I just continued walking to class but somewhere inside me felt annoyed though. That kid is actually getting on my nerves for some reason. I entered the dance studio.

 

            "Hey," I greeted Seulgi and Irene who were already doing some stretching.

 

            "Hi Joy!" They both greeted. "You better start the warm up. Sunbaenim might arrive soon," said Irene. I started stretching and we were suddenly joined by Chrissa, Sohyun and Yoojung.

 

            "Good morning!" greeted Chrissa. "Have you heard the news?"

 

            Our attention were held at the smaller girl. She and the two other girls looked so excited at the news they got it was shown all over their faces.

 

            "Let's do jazz!" exclaimed the over-excited Sohyun.

 

            "Or maybe we can do ballet," piped Yoojung with her dreamy eyes.

 

            "Aigoo, shut it the two of you. Let's tell these girls first about the news.

 

            "Ah, yeah, yeah." The two said together. They all looked at us like puppies excitedly wagging their tails.

 

            "You know about the University Day we hold every year right?" asked Chrissa.

           

            "Yes, that's usually held on the last week of May right? There are lots of activities in school during that time. Why?" Irene asked.

 

            "Boa-seonsaengnim, she has this competition between groups for freshmen students every year. This is to choose who among us should represent the freshmen for the dance competition on those who major in Dance during the University Day. You see Dance Majors have a separate competition during the U-day. We will be competing against the higher years so, basically, Boa-seonsangnim will be dividing us into groups to choose who will represent the freshmen." Chrissa was bouncing on the balls of her feet and obviously got too excited about the idea.  The class sudenly became quiet as Boa-seonsaengnim entered the class.

 

            "Okay, everyone. Sit down. I have some news to make," she said as she made her way into the classroom. Everyone scuffled to their places. I took a seat on the floor in between Irene and Seulgi. Chrissa, Yoojung, Sohyun and Taehyun sat in front of us. I looked at Taehyun's side profile as he was talking to one of our male classmates. How can he be so pretty for a male? I thought.

 

            Wait! What did I think about JUST NOW?! I mentally slapped myself for having those thoughts. How can I have those thoughts? I got back to my senses as I felt Seulgi's hand rest on my arm.

 

            "Joy, it's your turn," she said as she handed me a box with pieces of folded paper inside. "Pick one." I followed Seulgi and took a piece from inside. She passed it on to Irene.

 

            "What is this for?" I asked the two.

 

            "Molla. Seonsaengnim just said to pass it on and pick a piece," Irene answered. We waited for the whole class to get a piece and stared at Seonsaengnim, waiting for an explanation to this.

 

            "Okay, so everyone got a piece?" she said as soon as the fishbowl was back to her. "Great. So please open it."

 

            Green, I thought, after seeing the circle inside the folded paper. I looked at Irene and Seulgi beside me. Irene got a pink while Seulgi got a yellow one.

 

            "Now you see the colors on your paper? That will be your team. Find your team mates everyone. I'll explain to you the mechanics after that." Everyone scuffled while starting to find their teammates. I guess this is what Chrissa had been talking about a while ago. I saw her excitedly running to Irene as they are both in Team Pink. Yoojung hopped to Seulgi's side with the other Yellow team members. The other teams are Violet and Blue Lastly, my team the Green Team. Five members in five teams. I will be working with these people for the first time. I smiled and faced my new teammates and my eyes landed on the last person in the team, Nam Taehyun.

 

TAEHYUNG'S POV

 

            Our team from Performing Arts Department arrived at the field to start practicing soccer. As I got down from the van, I scanned the field at the early morning and breathed in some fresh air. I started warming up and suddenly saw a familiar figure jogging around the field. Oh, it's her, I thought. I stared at her as she made her way around the field.  I tried distracting myself with my teammates, horseplayed a bit with Hoseok, teased Jin-hyung run around like crazy kids with Jimin and Jungkook until we got reprimanded by the lethargic Yoongi-hyung and our leader, Namjoon hyung. Anyways, I always wonder how this lazy Yoongi-hyung can play soccer with that amount of sluggishness.

 

            We all got to our place to start stretching but my eyes kept following the figure of the jogging girl. She was the girl I bumped into a few weeks ago. I tried to take my eyes away from her but I just catch myself staring at her from time to time.

 

            “Hyung, who you staring at?” Jungkook asked, a slight smirk spread across his face.

 

            "No one, who should I be staring at," I said in a defensive tone which I know was obvious so I immediately left him and headed to my post. Our practice continued like that but I still found myself laying my eyes on her which was weird because I rarely pay attention to girls. I think I wasn't able to really practice properly because I was waiting for her to pass by and this caught Namjoon's attention.

 

            "Yah, Kim Taehyung! Focus!" he said.

 

            "Ah nae!" I tried to keep my eyes on the ball but I can't help but look at her back view as she left the big field maybe to go back to her dorm. My attention just went back to practice when I heard my teammates scream an "Oh!" as the ball went past our goal.

 

            "Yah Kim Taehyung! Where are your eyes at?!" nagged the eldest hyung, Kim Seokjin.

 

            "Oh, joeseonghaeyo hyung!" I said. I scanned the big field again. Yeah, she left already. I sighed inwardly. Aigoo, what am I doing right now.

 

JOY'S POV

 

            "So, we're the green team," Lee Seunghoon started after we gathered as a group and Boa seonsaengnim told us to find ourselves places to meet and make a plan for our group's dance. Seunghoon was chosen as our group's leader as everyone agreed on his skills as one of the class's best dancer. We chose to go out of the classroom and find a spot in the big field and sat down in a circle.

 

            "So what do you think should we do." Hana asked. Suggestions came flooding in from our groupmates. I found all of them great, some do sound hilarious that we were actually laughing our out, Seunghoon being hilarious himself.

 

            "How about making a story out of the song?" I suddenly blurted out of nowhere. I was suddenly nervous speaking in front of them but I knew I have to at least contribute something. "You know I was thinking that maybe we could make use some transitions in music to showcase different dance styles we excel in like Seunghoon does popping and locking, Dara does hip hop, Hana does urban while Taehyun and I excel in classical ballet and jazz."

 

            "That's excellent!" Dara exclaimed, a certain glow shining from her baby face. "Though it might be a bit difficult finding a way to harmonize our dance styles but maybe we can work on that."

 

            "Yes! And I actually thought of something." Hana suddenly had a sly smile running across her face.

 

            "Hmmm, what is it?" Seunghoon asked, smiling too, seemingly understanding what Hana had in mind.

 

            "Joy said we must have a story line right? So how about a love story. It makes sense, right? These two here have the same genre they excel in anyway so let's pair them up." The three seemed to enjoy it, teasing the two of us as they all joined in a high five.

 

            "So, what do you think, Taehyun?" Seunghoon asked him.

 

            "Well, it's okay. Whatever the group agrees in, I'm okay with it," he said.

 

            "Good it's settled then!" Seunghoon said happily. The three smiled in victory. I turned red in embarrassment but the idea came from me right? I sighed deeply not knowing how I should really feel now.

 

TAEHYUN'S POV

 

            I stared at Joy as we walked back to the dance studio to get our things. So, it’s final now. The group has agreed to pair the both of us for the team’s presentation. The class’s first ever group project. I know fully well that this past weeks were quite awkward with her and her friends even when my cousin, Chrissa, Yoojung and Sohyun became closer with them. So, I guess I need to make it up to her then. I know I am really an awkward person. Well, to put it clearly, I appear to be cold and unapproachable to a lot of people, but that is just because I am shy. So, well, maybe I can be friends with her. I guess, I must try. I guess I should make it up to her.

 

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Hello everyone. It has been ages since I last updated, I know and I’m so sorry for making you wait too long. It’s just that, I have been so busy the past few weeks with work and I have been thinking of career shift. Aside from working in a bank, I am also working as an English teacher to foreign students. Right now, I am about to enroll as an Education student, which I realized is my real passion. Studying business before was something I did just to enter a university but now I think I found my true calling. =) BTS’s “No More Dream” really suits me huh? But then now, I found my dream. Haha. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter.