Jiyong was sitting, rather relaxing, in his chair. He rested both of his feet on the desk in front of his. He tossed the little red apple back and forth while listening to his underling's report.

"Boss, her name is Ahn Sohee. She's a student at Seoul Arts High School."

Jiyong immediately stopped playing with the apple upon hearing the name of the school. "What a coincident." He chuckled as he placed the apple down on the desk with force.

"She came to our school to participate in the district ballet competition being held at our school. A lot of schools are participating--" 

"When?" Jiyong asked.

"This evening at 6:00 PM."

"I don't think I can do it." 

"Yes, you can. He's not gonna do anything. Yesterday was an accident. It happened. It ended." Sunmi tried to provide some comfort to her distressed best friend. 

Sohee bit her lower lip, contemplating her options and their consequences. "I'm too scared." 

Running low on patient, Sunmi held Sohee's shoulders and asked, "is your fear bigger than your dream of becoming Korea's number one ballerina?"

"Sohee ah. My foolish mandu. You've been working so hard for this competition. Look at your feet. You can't let a blondie gangster wannabe scares you like that!" Sunmi pleaded as she was growing impatient. "It's going to be your turn after this performance. If you don't go on that stage you'll forever regret forgoing your hopes and dreams."

Sohee closed her eyes and took one deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves before agreeing that she needs to get over her timid personality. "You're right. I have to be stronger. I can't let my fear control me. I'm going to perform and I will put on the best performance for the judges to see." 

"That's my girl." Sunmi clapped her hands, jumping up and down in excitements when the emcee announced.

Contestant #4, Ahn Sohee performing "Lake Swan"

"That's you." Sunmi confirmed.

"That's me!"

"Go!" 

Sohee stood behind the dark blue curtain, waiting to start her performance. The piano played a classical romantic song as the curtain opened to reveal Sohee's slender body in the white ballerina dress that is bedazzled with jewels. As timid as she was in person, she completely changed once she's on stage. She held her head high while wearing matching swan feather headdress. She stretched her lean legs and took four big steps to position herself in the center of the stage. The performance continued as she showcased her elegant leaps, demonstrated her perfect pirouette turns, maintained her balance with the arabesque, her strong soubresault and everything she's spent her entire life practicing on. 

She danced to the lovely music that filled the theater. Her performance was nothing short of perfect. Her body structure, her perfect techniques, her confidence, and her smile captured everyone's attention, including Kwon Jiyong. He stayed fixed in his seat at the back top row as the audience gave Sohee a round of applause for her mesmerizing performance. 

"Hyung, aren't you gonna clap?" Seungri, one of Jiyong's trusted underlings urged him to stand up. "C'mon hyung, even I'm clapping." 

Jiyong raised his eyebrow at the comment. Perhaps self-acknowledging that the performance was mesmerizing. But if he did, he was now showing. He stood up and left through the closest exit door. 

"Hyung! Where are you going?" Seungri half clapped, half resisted leaving the theater. "Aish! I want to watch more."

Seungri finally decided and began running to catch up with Jiyong. "Hyung, wait for me!"

"He always does whatever he wants!" Seungri talked to himself as he ran.

"I heard that." Jiyong stopped in place, causing Seungri to crash, head first, into Jiyong who did not move one inch from the effect.

"Oww!" Seungri whined, massaging his head. "Aren't you gonna wait around to see who wins?" He continued.

"I don't need to." 

Congrats!

Sohee unnie, congrats! 

Unnie, congrats! You deserve it!

Let's take a picture together!

The backstage was filled with noises as people crowded around Sohee in celebration of her winning first place.

"Thank you, everyone, thank you." Sohee made multiple bows to all those around her. She was filled with many emotions running through her body as she gave her thanks. She couldn't believe that she really won the title of Seoul's Teen Ballerina. She was now one step closer to her dreams. Not only that, but she also overcame her fear of people. 

"Sunmi ah! I did it!" She jump-hugged her best friend. 

"You did it!" Sunmi responded as she spun Sohee around when a male's voice disrupted the celebration. "Excuse me ..." 

The two girls stopped and turned their attention to the source of the voice. 

"Hi, my name is Sanghyun. Park Sanghyun. I'm the guy you saved yesterday." 

Sohee and Sunmi turned their heads to look at each other before realizing that they were facing the victim of Jiyong's violence bullying.

"H-hi, are you okay?" Sohee asked.

"I mean I got pretty bad bruises and cuts, but yeah I'm fine. I'm alive. Ha ha." Sanghyun scratched his head feeling the embarrassment of the incident. "Anyways, thank you so much for saving me yesterday. If you didn't walk in on us, I might've been hospitalized by now." 

"Uhh, you don't have to thank me. I didn't really do anything ... I just accidentally--" 

"No, I do have to thank you. You're my savior."

"Savior? Isn't that a little --" Sunmi interrupted.

"Anyways, congrats on your victory! I was watching you in the audience and your performance was really amazing. I was speechless actually. I didn't know what I would say coming here to see you like this..." Sanghyun continued. His cheeks heated up as he blushed.

"You were in the audience?" Sohee asked. She was surprised that he came to watch her perform. 

"Yeah. I had a peek of you while they were beating me, and I saw that you were wearing ballet clothing so I thought you'd be part of the event our school was hosting." He replied.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did they jump you?"

"Ahh, it's a long story ... How do I say this ... Umm" He shifted uncomfortably, unable to find a suitable answer when Sunmi reminded, "Yah, Mandu! We have to leave. You're gonna miss your curfew!" 

"That's right!" Sohee jumped at the realization. They rushed to gather their things, only stopping to say bye to Sanghyun. "It was nice to meet you, and thank you for coming by." Sohee bowed to him before running at the door. 

"Alright, I'm heading that way. Bye." Sunmi said her goodbye before heading turning the corner for her house. 

"Be safe!" Sohee shouted the reminder.

She tilted her head to look at the shining moon. She smiled in silence as to let herself finally absorbing everything that happened today. She was happy and proud of her accomplishment. She closed her eyes and breathed in the night's cooling air.

For a short second, she questioned that all of this might have been a long dream that she was dreaming. She bit her lower lip and slowly opened her eyes to check whether it was a dream or reality, only to be shocked by Jiyong's presence. 

"Ahh!" She jumped.

"Surprised to see me?" He asked, leaning against the doors to her house.

Fears were taking over her. She was looking at her surroundings, searching for someone when he spoke again. "Don't bother. It's just you and me." He pushed himself up from the doors and walked towards her, just as she took small, timid steps backward.

Against her will, he pulled her arm and brought her closer to him. 

"Congrats." He said as he handed her a big bouquet of flowers.