2017

JENNIE

“You’re still here,” Hanbin said.

He barged into the practice room so suddenly, I didn’t realize it was him until I saw his reflection on the mirror.

I turned around,

“I see you are, too.” 

I looked up at the wall clock hovering above his head, trying to catch my breath.

It was almost 5 am.

Looks like I’ve been dancing for 5 hours.

He handed me his water jug, gesturing for me to drink.

I gave him a strange look as I took the bottle and downed it.

His face emanated of concern as he watched me, like he wanted to ask a dozen questions but didn’t know where to start.

Why was I still here practicing til I dropped, for one.

But he didn’t ask.

I liked that about him.

When it came to work, he never needed to ask me to know what was up.

He just understood.

If it were somebody else, I would probably be told off for working unnecessarily hard.

But Hanbin is the same.

Deep inside, I knew he knew we shared the same sentiments about all this.

And immersing ourselves in work was the only stress reliever that worked best.

“Are you done for the day?” he took the empty bottle from my hand and placed its cap back on.

I broke away from my stare and glanced at the clock again before nodding, “You’re here to pick me up?”

He smiled, “No, I was just passing by the hall and thought the lights in this room were left o