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RACE YOU TO HER HEART; 
Chapter 6: Chasing Im Nayeon (VI)

 

In the blink of an eye, it was already a week before the end of the school year. 

Dahyun panted as she squated down on the empty field next to Nayeon. She had just finish her evening run. As she raised a towel to wipe at her forehead she stared at the older girl in front of her, who was as still as a statue, busy reading her biology textbook. Behind her the sun was already setting, and the sky was a burst of pink and orange. 

'Beautiful...' Dahyun thought.

For a second she was confused over what she was refering to... was it the sky?

Or was it... Nayeon? 

 

Maybe it was both. 

 

Dahyun sighed, "I see you're working hard, unnie. "Without looking at Dahyun, Nayeon handed a bottle of water to the younger girl. "Well, you're pretty hardworking too, drink up."

"Thanks," Dahyun said, taking the bottle from Nayeon. "I guess we're both hardworking... only at different things."

Nayeon giggled softly. "Perhaps so."

Dahyun gulped down some water before she decided to plop her head down on Nayeon's lap. "Ah, I'm tired," she breathed. Dahyun smiled to herself as she closed her eyes for a moment, she was suddenly very thankful for everything in her life.

Just a couple of months ago she'd be feeling like throwing up instead of feeling like this; being plain tired. She would be tired all the time, would have felt like her head was about to blow up or that her lungs weren't functioning like it should be and her legs did collapse on her anytime. She'd also probably be alone, worrying about passing out any minute, maybe even having a chance of dying on the streets if nobody had found her... But now she was just tired. And she was glad.

She was glad because she is able to do what she loves now.

She was glad because... 

Nayeon was here with her. 

.
.
.

'Feels like a dream...'

 

"Ew you stink," Nayeon said in a playful manner.
All of a sudden, Dahyun felt like she came back to reality.

"Huh? I do?" Dahyun said surprised. She immediatlely sat back up to sniff at her own shirt.

"Just kidding," Nayeon said with a smirk. 

And Dahyun rolled her eyes at the older girl, throwing her sweaty towel at her.
Nayeon laughed, "hahaha ew don't throw your sweaty towel at me!"

"Yah, you are the one who stinks Nayeon unnie!" Dahyun huffed pretending to be mad, as she tried to stand up.

But Nayeon pulled her back down. "Hey, come back here silly," she said as she tugged at Dahyun's hand. "You smell great okay, you could be compared to flowers." Dahyun giggled at Nayeon's exaggerated statement, rolling her eyes again as she sat back down next to her. Nayeon motioned for Dahyun to lie back down on her lap instead, and Dahyun complied. She then took the water bottle back from Dahyun's hand, drinking from it. 

Dahyun stared at the older girl. She couldn't help but blush when Nayeon's lips met the bottle as she thought about how her very own pair of lips were just on the same bottle a few seconds ago.

'Ah, why am I being like this...'

"I have something for you," Nayeon said after awhile.
She pulled out two small slips of paper from her biology text book and Dahyun looked at them curiously. 

"Um... It's my first official performance showcase to the public," Nayeon had said as she handed Dahyun two tickets.
"Here, you can uh... bring along a friend if you want? Anyway, I really hope you can come." 

Dahyun sat up again, looking at the tickets in her hand.
Then she looked at Nayeon, whose biology textbook was now tossed aside and attention was fully on Dahyun. 

Dahyun grinned.

 

"Sure, I'd love to watch you sing, Nayeon unnie."

 

-

 

It was a friday evening and Dahyun had track practice. Dahyun loves running and she loves attending track... But she decided to skip practice for Nayeon's recital. And she also decided to bring (or rather, force) someone along... a rather reluctant Jackson Wang. 

Dahyun was absolutely thrilled that evening. She wore a new white dress (well it wasn't actually new... she just never wore it, deciding to save it for a special occasion), letting her hair flow freely below her shoulders, and did a tiny little braid down one side of her hair. 

Jackson on the other hand, just threw on a pair of black jeans and a black pullover. He kept staring at Dahyun as they walked side by side towards the concert venue. 

"What's wrong with you," Dahyun let out.

"Wha- Nothing's wrong?" Jackson said, still eyeing his best friend.

"Then stop staring at me like that geez..." Dahyun said. "It's weird." 

"I'm trying to get use to it," Jackson replied instead.

"What?"

"It's my first time seeing you in a dress like that," he said while pointing at Dahyun from head to toe. "Hey and is that... make-up you have on?" He tried reaching a finger to touch Dahyun's lips, that were tinted a nice shade of pink, but the girl swatted his hand away.

"No Mandu, you'll smudge it!" Dahyun pouted and Jackson grinned playfully, trying to mess up Dahyun's make up delibrately this time round. "Yah stop it Jackson Wang!" Dahyun scolded, giving him a slap on the arm.

"Ow! Okay fine, you didn't have to hit me you abusive tofu!" Jackson sulked.

"Serves you right!" Dahyun said victoriously. "But... Um..." Dahyun stopped walking. "Do I... look okay?" She asked nervously. 

Jackson looked at her as he walked around Dahyun, and Dahyun bit her lip.
Then Jackson stopped in front of her, frowning while he placed a hand on his chin, as though thinking seriously. 

"What?? Is it that bad?" Dahyun rambled out.

"Nope," Jackson said later raising a tumb up. "You're pretty today," he said, a matter of factly. 

Dahyun sighed in relief, playfully pushing Jackson while the latter laughed. The two friends continued walking. 

"You scared me for a second I thought I had to go back home again!"

"Huh? What for?"

"To change!"

And Jackson laughed again.

 

-

 

They arrived at the concert hall on time. 

While entering the place they saw many students around Nayeon's age and some adults too (probably parents).
Another thing that was obviously noticeable was the amount of couples present.
Almost everyone came in pairs.

Dahyun looked at the couples with mixed feelings.
On one hand she felt a little annoyed at their public displays of affection...
but on the other hand she can't help but feel a slight sense of envy. 

What is it like to be with someone like that? She glanced at the couple in front of her, queuing up to enter the concert hall. She watch the girl giggle exaggeratedly over something the boy said... and Dahyun wanted to cringe. But then the boy placed a gentle peck on the girl's forehead and Dahyun felt a small blush crept up her cheeks. 

Dahyun wasn't really sure... how to feel about this subject. She has never really thought about it either. But she thinks she does like the idea of it...

 

The idea of being in love. 

 

As Dahyun was pondering over that, a familiar face flashed through her mind all of a sudden.
 

Nayeon unnie...?

Dahyun shook her head, feeling slightly confused.
However, she didn't gave much thought to why she suddenly thought of Nayeon though... after all, nowadays, the bunny teethed unnie was always on her mind.

But then a familiar voice rang through her head.
"That's right," Dahyun remembered Nayeon telling her during one faithful bus ride home.


"You're too young to be dating anyway..."

Dahyun sighed.
Somehow that statement Nayeon made still bothered her.
 

"What's wrong dubu-yah?" Jackson asked, eyes wandering to where Dahyun was looking at.

"Huh?... Oh... Uh... There are couples everywhere..."

"So?"

"I don't know... it makes me feel a little... weird," Dahyun admitted.

Jackson chuckled at that. He then decided to playfully mimic the couples by extending his elbow for Dahyun. "My lady, may I walk you in?" He said in an odd accent as they neared the ticket usher.

Dahyun laughed lightly, hooking her arm onto his. They then proceeded to skip like young lovebirds (or rather more like young children) into the hall, the both of them chuckling out loud... until they got shushed by a random old man. 

Even though he claimed he had no interest in attending this recital, Jackson was quite excited to be there. "Woah Dubu! The hall is huge! Look at the pillars and furniture in here!" He gasped. "It looks so grand!"

"Yeah I know right," Dahyun replied. She was quite amazed herself. However, the amazement she felt can never be compared to the amazement she felt later on when the performance started.

To be honest, Dahyun wasn't expecting much at first. The only thing she understood from the term 'show chior' was the chior part. 

So Dahyun had expected a bunch of people to show up, standing in neat rows to sing boring old songs, that she has probably never even heard of, in high pitched voices. (Which was fine. Dahyun didn't really care since she was only there to support Nayeon.) So imagine her shock when she saw people dancing amazingly on stage while hearing them show off their brilliant vocal skills by jamming out to their own renditions of recently trendy music that she herself has indeed actually heard of.

"Oh my God..." Dahyun heard Jackson gasped next to her. "This is actually cool."

Dahyun couldn't have agreed more. was still slightly opened in shock. "Yes... yes it is."

They both had fun watching the performance, even singing and clapping along to some of the songs which they happen to know.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, we present to you our freshmen showchoir!"

The audiences clapped, welcoming the next performance with enthusiasm.

 

-

 

When Nayeon appeared on stage, Dahyun thought her eyes almost fell out of their sockets. 

The older girl stood in the middle of the stage, with her back and half her face facing the crowd. The spotlight was shining on Nayeon, whose hair was beautifully flowing below her shoulders and had slight curls in them. She was dressed in a beutiful red and black dress, victorian style, with a modern twist. The back of it had a low v-cut... revealing Nayeon's smooth .

Dahyun almost choked on air.

'Oh God, somebody please cover her back.'

Next to Nayeon was a tall, fair, well built guy. They both stood still in a sort of pose, as though gazing at each other, before the music started to play.

"Woah... that noona's really pretty." Jackson gasped pointing at her. 

"T-that's Nayeon unnie..." Dahyun breathed.

"What??" Jackson turned to Dahyun in surprise. "Dang... she's hot." He said, openly gawking at Nayeon... and her .

Usually, Dahyun would have rolled her eyes at this type of comment her best friend made (and even slap him on the arm). But this time round... Dahyun couldn't help but quietly nod...

 

-

 

Dahyun didn't know how she should feel after the entire performance.
She didn't know it would trigger so many different emotions within her and cause her so much... distress?

Well firstly there was Nayeon's beauty leaving her in a daze.
Seriously... Dahyun had just stared at her like a fool...

she couldn't keep her eyes off Nayeon.

Then there was that stupid dress that revealed so much of Nayeon's - which got Dahyun quite worried because if Jackson noticed (and was clearly checking her out)... imagine how many more people in the hall was actually doing that too.

Later Nayeon started singing and her crystal clear voice just enamored Dahyun's ears. 'Woah...' but that didn't catch Dahyun's attention for long because something else shocked Dahyun even more that night. 

The epitome of all the things throughout the recital that were constantly causing Dahyun mini heartattacks that night was when that tall guy, who was Nayeon's partner in the performance, started touching Nayeon. 

Dahyun's jaw dropped when she saw his scandalous hands (according to a distressed Dahyun) sliding down her back... and then holding onto her waist. 

Well, maybe Dahyun was just overreacting, after all - to everyone else - the two were merely just dancing and singing together on stage. But Dahyun didn't think of it that way... not at all.

Other than being shocked, Dahyun found that she was quite pissed thinking about how that guy must be taking advantage of her Nayeon unnie. She wanted to get out of her seat, run to the stage and yank him away from her. 

She couldn't possibly do that though. 

So the performance went on and she continued watching... with a million thoughts racing through her mind. 

Who is the one who choreographed that stupid dance?

Who was that guy? 

Yes it's a performance but... why was Nayeon unnie letting him touch her?

Could they be... dating? 

Eventually Dahyun thought about the possibility of them being a couple. They did seem to have chemistry... They even looked good together. They also seemed to be enjoying themselves, dancing so closely - and rather intimately - together too.

Dahyun gasped to herself. 

'No way...'

'But why not?'

Yes, why not? Nayeon was in highschool... which (according to Dahyun's brother, the media and all her friends) was the age to be dating.
Besides, the guy was rather good looking and seemed like a nice person too. 

'Okay so what if Nayeon unnie is dating?'

'I should be happy for her... right?' Dahyun thought to herself.

But why is it that she doesn't feel very happy about it? 

And most importantly...

'Why am I so affected by this?'

 

-

 

Later on, during the intermission, Dahyun went backstage to visit Nayeon...
or perhaps the right description would be to "try and catch a glimpse of" Nayeon. 

The backstage was a mess of costumes and people in costumes and more people with microphones and other equipments running around. 
After trying her best not to bother anyone by walking around aimlessly by herself for a while (and even being bumped into a couple of times) Dahyun finally found someone in a similar costume that Nayeon was wearing previously.  

"Um... excuse me?" Dahyun said to the back of a girl she spotted, but the said girl didn't seem to hear her.
So Dahyun decided to tap on her back.

The girl turned around quickly, and Dahyun recognized that she was one of the "pretty unnie" (according to Jackson) that was singing on stage with Nayeon just now. She looked at Dahyun oddly and Dahyun bowed a polite "hello", flashing a small smile to her. Dahyun had initially thought that she was one of Nayeon's friends. But apparently, she was wrong.

"What?" The girl snapped at Dahyun, clearly stressed out.

Dahyun looked at her for a second, slightly taken aback.  "I'm sorry but... do you happen to know where Im Nayeon is?"

The girl rolled her eyes at Dahyun and suddenly she didn't look that "pretty" anymore. She looked around, clicking her tongue at Dahyun as though thinking why couldn't the younger girl go bother someone else instead. 

"Aish, I don't know where she is! Why is everyone looking for her!" She sighed dramatically. And Dahyun swore she almost wanted to stab the girl with the flower she was holding then (but luckily she decided that she wouldn't want to ruin the delicate gift for Nayeon on someone like that). 

"There!" The rude unnie finally pointed, "Nayeon is probably somewhere over there, changing or entertaining her minions."

"Her minions?" Dahyun mumbled curiously to herself, looking at the direction the girl was pointing at.

"Now go away and leave me alone, I need to practice for my next number!" She huffed, before storming off. 

Dahyun shrugged, shaking her head at that unnie's rudeness, before walking towards the direction she had pointed at.

She did end up finding Nayeon though... or so she thought?

Well, it most definitely did look like Nayeon from afar. However, actually going up close to meet the older girl was another story. You see, Nayeon, with a talent for singing and (now that Dahyun had actually seen her dance on stage) dancing, seem to have her own little fanclub of students (mostly boys). Even though Dahyun was pretty sure she had caught sight of Nayeon first, she couldn't even talk to her because out of nowhere a group of students had dashed in front of Dahyun and surrounded her Nayeon unnie.

'What in the world?' Dahyun thought as she was suddenly left at the back of a small crowd.

"Nayeon-ah you were great out there!"

"Nayeon noona I was cheering for you! Did you hear me?"

"Nayeon unnie, this is for you!"

"Nayeon-ah! You're so pretty today, let's take a picture?"

Was all Dahyun could hear as she tried jumping behind some guys who were much taller than her, that were all obviously blocking her view. The good news was that it was confirmed that the girl she spotted was indeed Nayeon.

There was so much noise, with people squeezing and shoving about, when someone accidentally bumped into Dahyun (or more like shoved her) causing the girl to lose her balance. Dahyun didn't even have time to react, as she suddenly found herself falling onto the wooden floor with a dull thud. 

"Ouch..." Dahyun muttered as she landed on her bum and her hands on the ground. Well that surely hurt.

"Hey woah, be careful there," a voice said, before a guy's hand came into Dahyun's view. Dahyun looked up, grabbing onto the hand offered to her. She was surprised to see that it was Nayeon's dance partner who had helped her up. 

Now dressed in a blue vested tuxedo, the tall guy was even better looking up close, with a smooth complexion and broad shoulders. 

"Are you okay miss?" He asked looking genuinely worried... which made Dahyun feel a little bad for being upset over the thought that Nayeon and him were dating.

Dahyun nodded, looking down at the flower that was now wrapped in paper that was sort of crumpled. She frowned.

"Your hand's hurt," Nayeon's partner pointed out. 

Dahyun raised her eyebrows, glancing at her hand. Suddenly she could feel the sting caused by a couple of scratches at the bottom of her palm.

'Oh wow this ...'

"Oh it's okay... it's just a scrat-" Dahyun tried to say but she was cut off when the guy reached for her hand. He swiftly tugged a shocked Dahyun towards a corner, making her sit down on a chair. Then he got a water bottle to rinse her wound (ignoring Dahyun's words, even though Dahyun kept insisting that she was fine), and wrapped a piece of cloth (some sort of handkerchief?) over her hand. 

'What is this... a tv drama?' Dahyun thought, bewildered at the situation. All she could think of then was how the water from the water bottle was all over the floor at the area they stood. And it was all because of her. 'Isn't this the backstage of a concert hall? How could he just... pour water all over the floor...? Won't he get into trouble???'

"Um.... t-thank you sunbaenim?" Dahyun stuttered out, confused and slightly guilty, when he was finally done. 

"No problem," he said with a wink before standing up (and that's when Dahyun realised he had been kneeling on one knee the entire time... which made the situation even more bizarre). "I'm Nichkhun by the way."

Dahyun stared at him still trying to register what just happened. 

"Were you looking for Nayeon?" He asked. 

'Oh that's right Nayeon unnie!'

Dahyun nodded in reply.

"Well, I think you should just go back to your seat first, since you won't have much time now to talk to her anyway," he said with a shrug, in a odd tone as though dismissing her.

Dahyun looked up at him confused. 'Gosh why is he so tall...'

"I have to go tell her we're going back on stage now," he told Dahyun while looking at the group of guys and some girls near them, probably still surrounding Nayeon. "Right after I get rid of these noisy, bratty, annoying people..."

Dahyun giggled at the way he described them. She definitely agreed with him on that.

"What's your name though?" He asked smiling at Dahyun now.

"Oh- uh... I'm Dahyun. Kim Dahyun."

"Okay, I'll tell Nayeon you came to look for her then." 

Dahyun nodded gratefully. "Thanks Nichkhun sunbaenim."

"No problem. You can probably try to find her after the show though," he said, looking at his wrist watch. "Though I doubt she has the time to even meet you..." He mumbled looking at the direction where Nayeon was previously at. "Gosh we're in such a rush today," he sighed, hurriedly taking a sip from the bottle he used to wash Dahyun's wound previously.

"Do have anything you want me to help convey to her for now?" He then said, sort of half heartedly, while already starting to walk away.

Dahyun nodded again. But she doubt the tall sunbaenim even noticed.

"Please tell Nayeon unnie to..." Dahyun hesitated for a moment, thinking if she should even be saying this to a Nichkhun who was kind of a stranger to her and was now rushing off.

 

"... cover up her back."

 

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A/N: Hi there!:) Here's an update for y'all. I apologize for the wait (it seems I was later than usual with this one), but I had school work to settle so :/ Hehe anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. A big thank you to anybody/everybody for still sticking to this story, and also to those who commented THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS:) I love reading them no matter how short/long. The next update should come in hopefully a about a week? (I'll try to be quicker if possible hehe) Until then, have a great weekend ahead!:)

~strangemagnet