It took place after Suzy completed her registration and looking at her own iPhone, which it already showed more than three hours after noon. She never had properly eat whenever she needed to go for a try-out, since it would be causing her sick even before it started. Kai, being in the same spot, was not yet had his meal since he had back-to-back classes starting at eleven in the am. In which it has still surprised Suzy when he asked her to go for lunch.

“Can you hear my stomach grumbling?”

Kai questioned her when they were exiting the place’s double doors.

“Hmm…” Suzy rubbed her chin. “To be honest, I don’t hear anything for quite a while from you.”

He snickered as he threw his face off the looking girl.

“Very well, then…” He stared at her once more. “Mind if you accompany me for a very late lunch?”

She raised an eyebrow as attempting to hide the astonishment of having him asking for her company.

“Well—“

Suzy replied yet Kai cut her when she has not even finished a word.

“If it takes you too much just to even agreed to eat with me, maybe you can ask Chanyeol…” Kai began crossing his arms. “I wonder if he lets me to eat with you.”

Suzy frowned. “Yah! Oppa is not the type to prohibit me to have meal with anyone…”

“Whatever,”

Kai uttered as taking out a pack of cigarettes from his duffel bag, as he spoke again after lighting one of it.

“Just give him a call and ask him if he wants to join us. It’s been a while too of I don’t talk things to him.”

Suzy did then as she has been told to, and it took about three rings for the thought person picking it up.

“Hello…”

“Hello, oppa?”

She glimpsed to the other guy who was puffing nearer to the huge bin.

“Where are you?” she continued speaking over the line.

“Still in the area near the old campus building… I was with Baek, eating the shared BLT I brought from home with him at the park just before he left me to class in a minute ago. Wae?”

“I’m just thinking to ask you out for late lunch, but if you’ve had your meal then—“

Kai snatched the mobile from Suzy’s grip as he kept watching the phonecall she had with him.

“I’m asking your girl to accompany me having lunch and should she ask your permission first?”

Kai spoke through it, as it took a jiff to the person across the line to realize.

“Kai, is that you?”

“Yes—“

Before Suzy grasped her phone back and put it on speaker so for the two of them to listen to it clearly.

“Oppa,” she muttered.

“You’re with Kai right now, Bae?”

Kai answered it shortly, “Yes, she’s with me and please do tell me if you have a problem.”

Suzy then smacked his raven head lightly.

“Ow!”

“Bae, are you okay??”

“Oppa, that wasn’t me.”

Kai’s dark eyes had dilated as he pierced stare at her. “Why should you hit me?”

“So that you stop being a jerk and let’s talk about what we intended earlier,” she was back speaking over the phone. “Oppa, we’re at this dance studio near the theater and I think we’ll be eating at somewhere nearby—“

“Okay,”

“Yah, what do you want to eat?” She asked Kai directly.

“I want to eat chicken and coleslaw.” He responded before lighting his second cig at the time.

“Okay,” she replied him as talking once more on to what was on hold. “Oppa, we’ll be at the diner on the corner of this block… Will you be joining?”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes, Bae.”

And right after the call ended, both were beginning to walk to the said place.

“Told you he won’t be off guard to just let you eat with me.”

Kai smirked, appeared to tease Suzy as she merely scoffed toward him.

Kai took time to look around and thought of why it was still jam-packed or maybe people just enjoyed to have their afternoon tea also in the place. Suzy’s quick glance had eventually resulting them getting a table by the corner, as Kai was seeking at the reverse side, she then dragged him by seizing his slung bag. In which it made him startled to be pulled away in between the crowd.

“Yah, yah…” Kai cried as she made him sat on one of the chairs. “Can you just hold my hand instead?”

Suzy frowned, “Do you want me to hold you that bad?”

She reacted with smirk and he didn’t have plenty time to retort as a waiter suddenly appeared and handed them the menu. He offered them the coffee on decanter, but the two were going straight of ordering what they wanted to have meal.

After settling on their order, Kai stared to Suzy, whom sat face to face at him.

“So, how’s life?”

He asked, resting his chin on the arm on top of the surface, as she was sort of doing the same, locking stares likewise.

“Life is good.” Answered her, bluntly. “It’s always good, isn’t it?”

Kai was raising an eyebrow toward the girl, who was smiling in front of him.

“It is good only to some people.”

“No, it’s not.” She countered. “It is good to all of us, it depends of how we are dealing with it.”

Kai chuckled, but no one— not even Suzy who knew him better than anyone— could read what was the meaning behind it.

At that point, he asked her again.

“So, you’re happy with him?”

It made her fell into hush for a while, but she needed to be composed and to reply him straight.

“Depends on what measurement of what you called happiness itself.”

Kai sighed when he threw his back to the chair rest and then he crossed his arms whilst still looking at her.

“You made it so difficult of how am I going to let go,” Kai uttered. “If you are being so obscure.”

Suzy reacted after not so long the waiter was coming to serve the meal they ordered before.

She said, “I never regret any of decision I’ve ever made, and that’s one thing for sure.”

Whether it was her answer that caused him fell into complete silence, or the reality in where he was the one that always ran away whenever an essential decision was needing to be made.

Chanyeol has arrived when the two was just playing with the utensils they had with the set of chicken and waffles across, and he couldn’t understand why they were looking at each other so solemnly.

“Hey, you guys… Why are you not eating your food?”

The giant asked thoroughly, as he took a seat next to the girl.

“I’m not hungry.”

Kai answered before getting up and took his stuff on the go. He didn’t even say goodbye as he was leaving the pair, utterly watching his back fading when departing from the eating place.

Chanyeol, then, eyed to Suzy on his side.

“You said that he was the one who’s asking to have lunch?”

And she shrugged, replying. “I don’t know, maybe he lost the appetite. He really didn’t touch the chicken, you can have it if you want.”

Chanyeol was merely shaking his head, at what time then he did so as she asked.

It was finally Suzy’s first day of having the dance lesson. It was the first Monday in December, and she was grateful since she has struggled to get through the weekend in where she needed to act as normal as she could. Toward Kai, who was not even saying a direct sentence at her in between it, and she also remained to conceal the irritation ever since Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Sehun wouldn’t seem to have any clue.

She was deeply hoping that her biggest nightmare of having Kai as her dancing instructor would not be coming true as she walked through the hallway to the studio room. However, God always worked things in such mysterious way, which anyone could never guess what was behind it. As soon as she opened the sliding door, watching the clock to have less than ten minutes before starting the course. Kai was the first person she spotted there— because he was sitting near the entrance, doing some of light warm-ups, with his loose gray t-shirt and similarly black trainers and pants— in between the entire fourteen other attendees beside herself. She knew that it won’t be very easy to go through.

In another minute, a good-looking Asian guy came in with a list on the board of his hand. He had such a good figure, with just white tees and much darker bottom, and probably nearly tall as Kai. He greeted the tanned person first before began to count the students who had been in the place.

“Okay, so I guess everyone is already here.”

The guy stated to the class before was starting the introduction.

“First of all, I want to thank you all for joining our Intensive Dance Course Program and as I have read all fifteen of your registration customs, I believe that all of you had some good basics. And I hope when we’re going to have our tenth session in the 23^rd, if you all are following our timeline accordingly, you guys will be nailing the routine we have prepared to decide whether to certify you guys or you can redo all the trainings.”

More or less, he explained later about the precise timeline, where everyone will have to double the training time into three hours compared to the usual ninety minutes. And they will have the class once in two days, since it really was an express course to be qualified.

“Before I forget,” the guy clasped his palms into one. “My name is Lay and I will be your official Jazz Ballet instructor along with my friend…”

He directed to the tanned guy who was standing behind him.

“You can call me Kai.” who responded shortly.

As Lay was resuming, “Kai is actually my junior who’s still enrolling in the number one Dancing Institute we had in this country, which I have graduated from… But, with his extraordinary talents, I trust him to help me assisting with you guys. So, can I have some applause to cheer you before we start our first intense session?”

Lay seemed like a joyful person, especially equaled to the other, who just clapped his hands a couple times. However, both of them were extremely nice to be looking at, and that was probably why the students were mainly girls as they had only five other guys in the room.

After that, it was the time for the students’ introduction. Suzy was the last one up since she chose the spot in the most corner, for the reason she didn’t fancy to have encountered one of the instructors in the first place.

“Hello, guys… My name is Bae Suzy, just call me Suzy. And I have learnt some modern dance since high school. And that’s it…”

She concluded as fixing her hair bun in advance of starting the practice.

“Why are you here taking this class?”

Kai was up to said some words, in which stunned almost everyone in the room, since he did not say anything to the previous learners. Not even to some of them who forgot to tell their aim of taking the course, which she did apparently.

“Um, did you know her?” whispered Lay.

Suzy just nodded, “I’m auditioning for a musical play.”

“Wow! I wish you will be successful after learning things from us.”

Lay spoke, before he gestured to his last student just in case she wanted to say something else.

“Okay, so… I just have one rule which I really hate if people coming late to my class.” He smiled so widely then. “Besides that, I will be content if you guys can keep up with us as we will require you to master the Jazz walks, square and layout before this session ends. As now we can start with some plié, alright?”

He eyed to his companion once more, “You want to add anything, Kai?”

Kai was merely moving toward as he crossed his arms, speaking to the whole class.

“Just be thankful because you have Lay here… If I conduct this on my own, I expect you to do a perfect pas de bourrée before you can leave for home.”

By Wednesday, which means it was the second session would began for the class after lunch. Chanyeol was dropping Suzy off— maybe after they were having meal together before— whereas Kai was also had arriving with Lay from the other pathway as they all met at the entrance. He noticed the appearance of the stunning pair, as he let Lay going in first, saying to greet some of his friends.

“Kai!”

The cheery, and almost full of positivity giant waved to his tanned best friend, as the girl beside him tried to not looking since she hated Kai for being so tough toward all the learners. It wasn’t Lay that had been strict to all of them, as it was Kai on the contrary.

“I trust her with you and please give a proper lesson today…”

Chanyeol assisted Suzy as she walked through the few set of steps, with Kai waiting by holding the double glass doors.

“Sure, Yeol…” he smirked. “But, it depends of someone’s ability have to speed up to catch with the others.”

Suzy rolled her eyes and then waved to Chanyeol to part on the verge.

“I’ll see you later, oppa…”

“See you, Bae… If something comes up and I can’t pick you up, just go home with him, okay?”

Kai made sure if Chanyeol was really referring to him, as he noticed the girl fakes a grin to send him out of the place. Both of them, then marched together with no words spoken to the dance studio.

Lay recognized Kai was entering the room with Suzy, although they quickly chose the farthest spot to settle, away from one another. Both were undoing their coat to reveal the cropped tees— revealing the the girl’s surprising abs and his toned arms— also trainers for the practice. He moved closer to his fellow teacher then, while speaking in general tone as half of the class who were there could hear it.

“Did you guys know each other?”

They all sure he was bring up to Kai and Suzy.

“He lives across my loft with my best friend.” She responded, simply.

“Oh, so you guys are friends…”

Lay carried on as some of the other students were nodding according to the circumstance.

Kai scoffed, before he sat on the floor to begin warming up as watching over her.

“If you said so.”

The course on that day, divided the students into two groups led by Lay and Kai. The more senior in the position had eight learners in his side, including Suzy, which made it was less intense as Kai’s was more concentrated. They were still learning moves by detailed and that was why they needed to be more focused.

But, as the time went by, both Lay and Kai have blended in as they partly switched side to identify if either one had missed some details which the other could not detect.

“You had wrong alignment during your grand plié.”

Kai muttered as he walked pass Suzy with his arms crossed, spotting more of their fault.

She did not took it full heartedly since he was the instructor and he surely knew better.

But then, it started to exasperate her when she realized he kept complaining only to herself.

“Can you do the exact posé with correct pointe just like both people in front of you did? Look at your surroundings.”

It was when he passed her for the third time in the next thirty minutes.

Suzy could feel her blood started boiling into her cheeks, yet she kept it toned down even after Lay and Kai really switched drilling the group. The tanned guy even made the group did some set of routines, which include the pirouette and piqué turn where Suzy didn’t know much about the difference.

“That’s retiré devant, not the derrière. Did you sleep when the entire class is hardly practicing?”

Again, Kai had harshly marked his seemed most favorable student for the nth time on that day.

Suzy lied down on the floor after Lay stated the Jazz hands, whenever he was finishing the session. Some of her new friends in class patted her, since they knew one of the teachers was cruel to her and she had used more than her full strength to survive. Even though, she began to think it might be because she was not doing it as good as some of the others.

Kai walked with a bottled water on his hold, approaching the lying Suzy as he offered it to be drink by her.

“Don’t just give up and will you be here on Friday?”

She didn’t know what had made Kai’s face looking so bothersome as he handed it with full smug plastered on it. And Suzy did not even say a ‘thank you’ for his gesture. Not too long, after Lay then proceeded to them after sending some of the students leave outside the studio.

“I don’t think Kai would be that tough even to his own friend, and he did surprisingly.”

Lay said to the girl who got up and sat to finish the drink in one go.

“Maybe because you know your best friend needs to be drill more than anyone else.”

Kai replied with his signature smirk, not minding the girl who eventually was on her feet, and so ready to counter him.

“You know what, Lay…” Apparently, she had something to say to the other guy. “We used to date and yes, we are best friends even up till now. But maybe, we become exes because this one chose to be a jerk.”

Suzy was surely saying it because she had enough of Kai’s firmness. Whereas the said guy almost had his jaw dropped with Lay, on the side, dazed whilst restraining to let out his laughter.

A/N: