Kara’s “Step” blared over the stereo on the rooftop and I moved to the rhythm. It was the weekend, and there were still a few hours before I had to be at Pledis. I tried not to think about how I would have to face the CEO today to ask him to surrender two trainees to me.

Instead, I thought about this final project that was haunting me. It was hard to come up with a dance to explain only using words that didn’t just look like a kid jumping around at a carnival. I’d decided to use animals as references, but it was hard not to look like I was playing zoo charades.

“Ugh!” I groaned loudly. “Why is this so hard?!” I asked no one in particular.

‘I think you’re having a hard time with this description thing because you’re so involved in the process,’ Joshua offered, rather unhelpfully.

Of course I’m involved. It’s my project. It’s my dance. My phone rang, and I took it as a sign to take a break. When I saw who it was, though, I frowned. Why are you calling me?

‘Just answer the phone.’

“Hello?” I asked as I answered.

“Hi!” came the voice of a girl, definitely not Joshua. “I’m Park Jinhee, it’s so nice to finally get to hear your voice!”

“Oh,” I said, taken aback. “Hi. I’m Kwon Alice.” A warning would have been nice.

“Oh, I know. Joshua has told me about you. Anyway, I am here to help you. I hear you’re having trouble with a dance project?”

“I… Um…”

‘Just tell her you need her help, please. Get her off my back, she’s been dying to meet you.’

“I guess, yeah,” I said hesitantly. “I do kind of need help.”

“Great! Joshua has explained what the project is. I’m a student, too, so I know the struggles of the stress of a project get in the way of actually succeeding in the project. So, how can I help?”

I literally don’t know what to tell her to do?

‘Maybe if she sees your dance she can give you tips on how to describe the moves?’

I sighed. “I guess I need an outside eye to help me figure out how to describe certain moves.” I could have gotten Sungkyung to help me with this.

“Cool! If you want I can video call you. Or, maybe, you could just record the dance and then I’ll send you what I think you should say.”

“Yeah, I think the recording would be most efficient,” I said. “Hey, could you do me a favour and pass the phone to Joshua?”

She said, “It’s on speakerphone. He can hear you.”

I said, in the sweetest voice I could muster, “Hey, Joshua, could you do us both a favour and take the phone off of speakerphone and hold it real close to your ear?”

I waited for his, “Okay, what’s up?” before I said anything.

I took a deep breath, and screamed into the receiver end of the phone. “You know I don’t like people watching me dance! Especially someone I don’t know! The only time I’m okay with it is if it’s an actual performance! Which this is not! What made you think this was a good idea?!”

A glance into his head let me know he was holding the phone away from his ear. Jinhee was laughing. “Did you really have to yell that over the phone? You could have easily just thought that to me.”

“I wanted to yell, and hurt your ears,” I responded.

“Well mission accomplished.”

“Good. Now the only reason I’m going through with this is because Jinhee sounds too nice to swear at. So you’re going to do two things. First, you’re going to also be there when she is watching the video and also submit your suggestions for descriptions. Second, you’re going to explain to me exactly what made you think you could just interfere with my project like that.”

“Okay to the first thing. As for the second, look. You seemed like you were struggling with this project and Ms Yoo said you needed to pass the project to graduate.”

“And what’s it to you if I graduate on time or not?!” I asked, still angry.

“I need you to graduate so that you can get your own rest and not leech off of mine!” he yelled.

The line was silent for a few moments. Jinhee wasn’t laughing anymore.

“I’m sorry for yelling,” he started. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“No,” I said. “I’m sorry. I should have realized. I should be thanking you, not yelling at you.”

“Just… do your best. You are an extremely talented dancer. You’re stressing yourself and me out for nothing. You’ll do great no matter what. No one knows how to dance better than you do.”

I took another deep breath, for completely different reasons this time. “Thank you. That really helped.” I heard Jinhee’s voice asking if I still wanted her help. Before Joshua could ask, I answered. “Yes, I do. Tell her I say thank you.”

“Don’t forget who you are, Alice,” Joshua told me in a soft, reassuring tone that really felt like home.

“Thanks, Josh.”

“No problem. Now, don’t be late to Pledis. The girls are waiting for you, and Kyla needs you, too.”

***

Jenny was talking on the phone with Jongin, telling him things like how much she misses his voice, and how she can’t wait for the next time they can see each other. She also said a few mean things, though it felt like those were just teasing.

Thalia had taken Jason out to go golfing with her parents.

Why was I even at the Park residence? I miss Simon.

No, I miss my routine in Korea much more.

To pass the time, I pulled out my phone. I called Vernon, but he declined the call. I received a text right after, saying he was at Sungkyung’s. Huh. I wondered if those two were dating, or if they were just keeping it casual. But then I remem