Yerim can see how pale Namjoon and Wendy are, despite the three of them joking non-stop since the end of the debate. Their team had advanced to the grand final  whereas Jisoo's team is competing for the second runner-up.

"Hey," she reaches out to squeeze Namjoon's shoulder comfortingly, "we're going to win."

"I know." Namjoon pauses before continuing. "No, actually, I don't. My rebuttals aren't as attacking as usual and my extension was so-so."

"But the other team had wrong stances from the very beginning."

Namjoon exhales heavily. "I just hope our case is sufficient."

Yerim was about to answer when the MC came up onstage. Yerim, Wendy, Namjoon, Jisoo, Jimin, and Hansol held hands. Moment of truth, Yerim thought. Please let us win. After a few sentences of opening from the MC, she started to announce the winners.

"And the best speaker of Korean English Debate Championship is... Kim Namjoon from Seoul High!"

The grip on Yerim's left hand tightened and the six of them screamed in joy, Yerim hugging Namjoon before letting him go on stage to receive his award. Namjoon has been awarded best speaker title for numerous times but it's still an honor to be awarded as one.

"Next up, second runner up goes to... Seoul High B!"

Jisoo and Hansol held each other tightly while tears of happiness sprang to Jimin's eyes. It's been awhile since their team is called on stage to receive an award. And it's been a torture to see the other team being called as the champion. The three of them ran on stage, smiling widely when the camera snapped their picture holding the trophy and certificate. The six of them hugged for a few moments after team B is back to their seats. They went back to holding each other's hands and praying continuously, the last award being the announcement of the champion.

"The moment that we've been waiting for! For the announcement of the champion, we'd like to invite the core of adjudication in chamber 1, Nam Eric, to come on stage."

Yerim knows Eric-oppa because he coached their teams on some occasions where Ailee-unnie wasn't able to coach them. He's nice but strict and very smart and he's a versatile speaker; his case as a first speaker is worth the score 78, his extensions are out of this world, his clashes and rebuttals are strong and destroying. Plus, he's handsome; therefore the favorite coach and adjudicator of almost half of female-gendered member of debating society.

Eric goes on stage, taking the mic from the MC. "The motion in the first chamber was 'assuming pure altruism exists, This House Believe That altruistic people are dangerous'. The debate between Seoul High A and Korean Leadership Academy was above average with speaker scores ranging between 76-78. The result is a split decision, 4-3, and the champion is... Seoul High A!"

Relief washes over Yerim like she's been staying under water and now she gets the chance to breath, causing her to slump over in her chair. Wendy yanks her hand and pulls her on stage to receive the award.

Taehyung and Hoseok are already waiting in front of the building with their cars by the time they're done celebrating (re: taking lots and lots of pictures). Yerim raises an eyebrow at the sight of Hoseok but grins nonetheless when she sees them and runs to hug them. "I'm guessing you won?" Yerim nods fervently, pointing at the trophy in Wendy's hands.

Namjoon puts his hand on Yerim's shoulder. "Your sister is incredibly talented, Tae. Such a shame she's going on hiatus soon." Taehyung laughs.

"Well, I'm supporting whatever makes her happy. And thank you for taking care of her."

Hoseok slings his arm around Wendy's shoulder, eliciting a gasp from Jimin and Hansol. "Noona," Hansol stares in shock, jaw going slack, "since when are you remotely attracted to Hoseok-hyung?"

"Yah! You are getting 2x8 flexibility counts just for that comment." Yerim laughs as Hansol repeatedly apologizes to Hoseok and begs for forgiveness. The dance team members don't call flexibility exercise 'flexibili' for nothing.

"Now she's going to be in the care of Hoseok. We're going to miss you and your snide remarks and crazy antics." Wendy ruffles Yerim's hair.

"We've got Jimin for that, unnie." Jisoo joins in, earning a punch to his shoulder. "But yeah, we're going to miss you, Rim. I'll personally look for you on stage at the Arts Showcase."

Yerim says goodbye to them and going inside the car, where Taehyung turns on the machine already. They wave one last time and Taehyung drives off.

[19.17] yerim k.: GUK
[19.17] yerim k.: I WON
[19.17] yerim k.: 📷photo
[19.17] jeongguk, jeon: [incoming call]

"Hey, congratulations," was the first thing Yerim heard when she pressed her phone to her ear. "Thank you! But why are you calling just to tell me this?"

There's a brief silence on the other end of the line. "I— I wanted to hear your voice. Is that wrong? I'm so sorry if I'm bothering you—" Jeongguk's hesitant voice was cut off by Yerim.

"What? No! I was just curious, I mean, I'm very happy that you called. I didn't know I was that important that you called just to congratulate me. It means a lot to me. Thank you."

"Well, you are. Important, I mean."

Warmth spread throughout Yerim's body like she just drank a cup of hot chocolate. She can feel the butterflies in her stomach going crazy, she can't stop smiling and her heartbeat is starting to pick up pace. She can't handle the nervousness so she ended the phone call.

"I've gotta go, Guk, thank you for calling me. It just made my whole day substantially better, I'll talk to you later?"

"Sure, bye, Rim!"

Click.

Taehyung glances over at her. "Jeongguk called you?" Yerim smiled broadly, unable to contain her excitement. Then it quickly turns into a contemplative frown. "Oppa, why do you think he called?"

"Didn't you ask him earlier?"

"He said because he wanted to hear my voice and he said that I'm important."

Taehyung laughs. "That means he has a crush on you. I was like that before I asked Joohyun-noona out."

Yerim can only let the thought of that sink in.

Has he a crush on me?

Now that Yerim has won, her seniors gracefully let her focus on dancing. Her next practices are still filled with basic and hits until one day Seulgi announces the concept of dance team on Arts Showcase.

Since they are assigned as winter-seasoned artists, they are presenting a story about two homeless teenagers, one boy, and one girl. They're going to depict the sadness within the joy of Christmas itself, which is portrayed when the two homeless teenagers are watching rich people shop for Christmas presents. They're going for semi-contemporary dance, which means Soonyoung and Mina will be the main dancers and the rest of the team, minus the captains—because they are the ones who creates the choreography—will be the rich people.

Yerim is thoroughly enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. She's going to be onstage in front of hundreds of people and even if she's not the main character, she gets to dance. Not the dancing that she used to do in the confines of her bedroom or the ones in front of the TV that is showing music shows every Friday.

She wants to know how does it feel like to be attached to dancing itself; spending hours every day just to perfect the routine. Jeongguk, in one of his rants to her, warned her ahead that showcase practice is equal to being in hell.

Yerim doesn't necessarily agree.

Although the practice itself was hell on earth, but being in the team proves that hell is bearable enough when they're together.

(but the practice really was like hell.)

They practice for approximately 5 hours a day, every day of the week. The warming up is already draining as it is and the rest 4 hours are spent with full power with occasional breaks in between. Yerim is both mentally and physically exhausted when she reaches home, but the fact that she got into this state because of something she entirely chooses to do and actually enjoys it, it's worth all the while.

The dance team is a family. In order to be a good performer on stage, the chemistry between each member of the team is also very important because it's what makes a team, a team. She learns new things about the members day by day. Like how much Soonyoung loves to do aegyo, or how Momo's hand can never stay put, or the constant bickering that happens between Lisa and Bambam are never long-lasting nor serious.

But amongst other things, one of the reasons Yerim is very, very happy at practice is—no doubt—Jeongguk.

It's true that their relationship is rapidly progressing, from not knowing each other at all to going home together every day and the occasional late-night FaceTimes. Her heart still skips a beat whenever she sees his name on her pop-up notifications but the feeling of seeing him, that's already on a different page.

Jeongguk is always there to help her. He helps her with the moves, sometimes the face expression, mostly about dancing. But there's this one time when she was complaining about one of her assignments. She knows that he's not good at this particular subject and she just wants to tell him about it, not because she wants him to do something about it. The next day he helps her complete the assignment because he studied the subject all night long. And the only reason Yerim found out was because Tzuyu's in his class and she saw him sleeping through 2 periods, so she asked him why is he so sleepy.

"He answered, and I quote, 'I studied math all night long because I wanted to help Yerim with her assignment.'" was how Tzuyu told her.

Yerim is afraid that she'll get her own hopes up.

But what if Taehyung is right?