Dahye? Who does this kiddo think he is? Who gave him the right to call me by my birth name? Only my family and my closest friends that I have made before my debut call me by my real name. 

"You must be Dahye, right?" The stranger repeated. "I heard from my manager that you are just a year older than me. Can I call you 'noona' then?" The stranger rambled excitedly as he held my hand and pulled me along into the extremely bright dance room.

I shook my head and willed my eyes to adjust to the brightness. It took almost five seconds before I could finally see and observe my surrounding. The stranger stood quietly in front of me, still holding my hands, as he stared at me in confusion.

"Are you okay, noona?" His voice filled with concerns.

I could see him now. Finally! My heart screamed frustratedly. The stranger was about a head and a half taller than I was while wearing my favourite pair of ballet flats. I tilted my head up and looked right into his big shinning eyes. 

Park Chanyeol? I thought as he stared intensely into my eyes. Park Chanyeol? The name was a familiar ring to my ears. I thought hard, trying to remember where and when I had first heard of that name. Nothing came up.

"Dayhe?" He persisted. "Noona?"

"I am not that much older than you and we will be nothing other than mere colleagues and stage partners. You can call me Heize instead." I said coldly as I struggled away from his tight grip and headed towards the only table at the back of the room.

I dropped my bag on the table and began setting up my laptop and my equipment while Chanyeol stood at the entrance of the dance room, staring dumbfounded in my direction.

"What are you waiting for?" I called out forcefully as I readied my belongings for a discussion. "I am a busy woman."

Hesitantly, he pulled, quietly, two chairs from the other side of the room towards the table and I. He dropped himself onto one and gestured me to take the other chair. 

"Do you know who I am or where I am from?" He asked.

"No." I said. "And I don't care. As long as you show me that you can rap and we have 'the' chemistry on stage, we can be partners for this round." 

"My manager told me that you were sent to do this by your boss. I am sure we both did not have a say or a choice in this decision. So, we just have to work it out fast and get this over and done with." I continued.

"You think that I am doing this because Lee Soo Man told me to?" He questioned, curiously.

I nodded.

"Really? That's what they told you?" He laughed and shook his head, as though he found the situation completely ridiculous. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked right into my eyes. I shivered.

"So..." I began as I felt a weird tingling sensation down my spine. "How long have you been rapping?" 

"Since I was 16. Fyi, I am 23 now." He said softly, not shifting his eyes away.

"Good. I hope we maintain a professional relationship until the end of this." I said coldly as we waited for my laptop to boot up. "Show me some raps that you have done while we wait."

"Sure." And then he began.

-Insert your favourite PCY rap here-

When he was done, I stared at him in disbelief. Wow, this dude here has a really nice and deep voice. I thought. But his rap is missing something... Some important ingredient... What is it? 

"Hey." He waved his big hand in front of my face as I looked up, dazed. "Did you just zone out?" He said, slightly annoyed.

"No." I shook my head furiously. "I like your voice. But it's missing something. I can't really put a picture to what was missing. I need time to figure that out."

"Missing something..." He repeated. "They told me the same thing, you know. My rapping instructors. They said the same thing..."

"They liked my voice but not completely." He continued when I said nothing.

We both paused and sat there for a good five minutes in silence. 

"Don't worry. I will help you figure that out. For now, let's decide on the type of rap that we are both comfortable with." I said calmly, hoping to take his mind away from whatever that was bothering him.

Then, we lost track of time.... We discussed about our favourite raps, our idols, our dreams and our passions. Chanyeol had always wanted to part of a rock band as he was musically inclined and could play a few dozen kinds of instrument. 

However, he was forced into a boy band because of his pretty boy features. Singing and dancing had never been his forte so he could only take on the role of a rapper. Despite his pretty boy features, he was not crowned the visual of the boy band because, apparently, the other members were as equally good looking or even more blessed than he was.

Over the years of vigorous training, he found a new passion in rapping but he was trapped in the idol abyss for a long long while. His schedule was packed to the brim that even with as little as an hour of sleep each day, he had to focus on building up the brand and reputation of his group. He had almost no time for himself. He had sacrificed his youth and his teenage years for this very company that had invested and groomed him. He had to give back. He had to conform. He had not been himself for a long time.

It was not long before we started talking about our life. I told him about my ex-boyfriend and my underground rapping experiences and he told me about his ex-girlfriends. 

Before we knew it, it was almost 4am in the morning.

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