By the time we finished eating we were just in time for the next bus that would take us to the area around the studio. Jun and I entered the dance room together, much to the pleasure of the girls when they saw us. The feeling in my gut told me I was in for a week’s worth of teasing for this on the way home. Class started and the class ran through the large group dances and the class dance as well. After cleaning and instructing from Jiyong-sunbae we went straight to work. We ran the piece once, adding in everyone’s pair solos so Soonyoung could advise us on how to make them work better with the rest of the dance and the song. He didn’t say much as he wanted to keep our individual styles but he did tweak our positions to make adequate room. We all decided to work on our solos, cleaning and adjusting them to fit the song, but because our room was a bit crowded Jun and I decided to use one of the smaller practice rooms. Luckily for us most of the groups were too big to fit in the smaller rooms so we found an empty one with ease. We worked on our solo, making minor changes here and there to make it flow better as Soonyoung suggested. Suddenly, in the middle of running it once again, I heard a knock on the door. We finished the choreography and when the music stopped I jogged over to the door. A girl stood there awkwardly and I smiled.

“What’s up? Did you need something?” I asked in a cheerful tone.

“Actually… can we borrow Jun for a bit? Jaemin changed some of the choreography so he wants to teach it to Jun as soon as possible so he can practice,” she explained.

“Well actually…” I heard from behind me. I jumped at the sound and snapped my head to see Jun towering over me from behind.

“It’s fine Jun-sunbae. I needed a break anyways. Plus if you still don’t come back in… 10 minutes? I can always practice on my own,” I said before he could finish his reply.

“Are you sure?” He asked unsure of leaving me. I gave him a smile and nod to reassure him.

“Okay. Don’t slack just because I’m not here,” he teased before following the girl to a different practice room.

      I closed the door with a sigh and went to lay down in the center of the room. I guess I did practice too hard. My heart was racing, it seemed the most evident when Jun stood behind me. After a few minutes, I collected myself and drank some water before I started practicing again. Every missed part put a frown on my face but I continued to push myself until it seemed like I was messing up more than usual so it was time for another break. Looking at the clock, it’s already been an hour, I guess Jaemin changed a lot more that the girl made it sound. I decided to have a longer break this time and mess around a bit. Plugging in my phone, I put on “Beautiful Liar” by VIXX LR and sat in the center of the room. Back when the song came out, I loved the song so much that I took the small part of choreography the song had and choreographed a contemporary piece.

      As the song started my body began to move on it’s own. Although I was a bit rusty, overall I was doing pretty well. It made me smile as my body didn’t forget the years of classical training it underwent back in middle school. As the song closed, my body moved to end with a triple turn but on my 3rd time around I nearly fell over because I spotted someone in the back of the room. I caught myself and turned to look at the culprit as a blush rushed to my face. It was Jun, he had returned and just stood there with a smirk on his face.

“So this is what you’ve been hiding the whole time. Tsk tsk. I was wondering why you seemed stiff while learning our dance,” he teased.

“Shut up. How long were you watching?” I shot, ignoring his remark.

“About halfway through?”

“Stop teasing, it’s embarrassing. I was sloppy since it’s been awhile since I last did some proper contemporary,” I whined. Suddenly I felt Jun’s arm drape over my shoulder.

“Don’t be embarrassed, it was good. The choreography was nice too,” I nudged him with my elbow and rolled my eyes.

“You’re just saying that to be nice.”

“Hey, I mean it. Actually I was thinking when I saw you dance. How about we throw in some contemporary into our solo? We’ve been focusing on hip hop but it felt like it was missing some of your style,” he explained.

“Do you really think it can fit? I’ve tried some things on my own and none really felt right.”

“Of course, everything will work out and now you have me so we can work it out together.”

      With the new found idea we both had a burst of energy as we worked through the changes. By the end of the night we showcased it to Soonyoung once more and got the okay. The rest of the week was cleaning and and drilling so by Thursday, it was good enough to the point that everyone was pleased with their performance. The next day when it was time for final check in it was basically like a full run of the show. Everyone was in costume and the dances were being run in the biggest dance room on the basement level. As the performances rolled on, it was easy to pick up that everyone was anticipating our performance since everyone thinks we’re first timers.

      Once it was our turn we entered stage and got in position. We all wore black jeans but varied on the tops to add our individual touch. Minghao and Minah wore matching red hoodies, while Chan and Seohee wore basic white t-shirts paired with denim jackets. Soonyoung and Su-min wore  orange baseball tees with white baseball caps and Jun wore a baby blue dress shirt that matched my off the shoulder top. While we were performing I could see a few of the students’ jaws drop, especially the girls who used to be a part of Soonyoung’s group, and there was no helping the smile that grew on my face at this accomplishment. After we went through the whole show, Jiyoung-sunbae gave the class a list of things that needed to be cleaned before dismissing us.

“I’ve missed this rush! It’s been months since I last had a good session, stupid school,” Minah exclaimed as we exited the studio.We all laughed at her enthusiasm.

“How about we go out somewhere to celebrate a job well done?” Seohee asked excitedly.

“You just want food,” I laughed, rolling my eyes.

“”We should go, my treat! You guys did well for only having two weeks to learn this,” Soonyoung answered from behind us and that is how we ended up at the convenience store. Luckily, they stay open pretty late.

“Of course this is what we should expect from a broke college student,” Su-min teased.

“Hey in my defence, my paycheck doesn’t come in until next week,” Soonyoung argued as we entered the convenience store

“Welcome in.”

“Jisoo-sunbae! So this is your second job… so does that mean we get a discount?” Seohee greeted.

“In your dreams, if my manager catches me I’ll get in trouble.”

“Well that’s fine too, I’m not paying anyways,” Seohee commented happily, going to search for something to eat.

“Did you guys just get out of practice?”

“Yeah, Hoshi-hyung said he would buy us food for a job well done,” Chan explained.

“This is all he could afford because he already blew his paycheck buying Jihoon-hyung a new stereo. He’s been giving Hoshi-hyung the cold shoulder for the past month,” Minghao added.

“That’s Jihoon for you, especially when it comes to his musical equipment,” Jisoo nodded in agreement.

“Hey if you keep complaining, I won’t buy you anything,” Soonyoung threatened.

      Minghao shrugged his shoulders but still went to search for food. Once we all picked our assorted foods, Soonyoung paid and we sat at the indoor table chatting with Jisoo. Since it was one in the morning, it was rare to get a customer so Jisoo joined us at the table. Soonyoung and Chan were constantly cracking jokes that there was never a dull moment in this conversation. Among all this merry making and fun, my eyes couldn’t help but wander to watch Jun. How he laughs at the bad jokes, and how he always leaned on those around him as he laughed, or how he always made sure everyone was taken care of, or how he basically tidied up to make Jisoo’s job easier…

“Hyemi!” Su-min was waving her hand in front of my face, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Huh?”

“Did you even hear anything we said for the past five minutes? We’re going now.”

      She playfully nudged my side under the table causing me to jolt a bit, before I shot her a glare. Her eyes darted in Jun’s direction and I rushed her out of the store. The boys offered to take us home, since it wasn’t safe for girls to walk around this late, but we assured them that we already called a cab. The boys were sweet though and insisted to wait until the cab came before going.

“So how was your date with Jun? Since we’ve been constantly practicing we haven’t found time to hear all the details,” Minah asked, wasting no time once we were in the cab.

“It wasn’t a date, but it did go well. I found out more about him which helped while we worked on the solo. I also got to meet Jihoon, he’s the one who wrote the song we’re dancing to.”

“Ugh, so boring. Solo, solo, solo. That’s all you talk about with him. You could have figured out if he is dating someone or what his type was,” Seohee complained.

“I doubt he has time for a girlfriend when he’s double majoring but sorry for not asking. Mingyu did say he was a flirt though, but knowing Mingyu he’s just teasing Jun-sunbae.”

“Mingyu?” Su-min questioned.

      Before I could retell that day’s events, the cab stopped and we split the fare. Since tomorrow we all had a day off, we planned to have a sleepover so we all headed to my apartment together. Once we were settled I recounted the events of that day. Mingyu’s mess, getting coffee with Jun, working on the solo, meeting Jihoon, and running into Seungkwan when we went out to eat. The girls read between every line and kept making weird connections, making me roll my eyes so much I was surprised they didn’t fall out of their sockets.

“Even Mingyu and Seungkwan can see that you like Jun!” Minah teased.

“Mingyu was teasing and Seungkwan guessed, he didn’t even know I was with Jun-sunbae.”

“Well if we ask Seungkwan, he would totally say he ships it,” Seohee laughed.

      We continued to chatter until some ungodly hour and slowly one by one fell asleep. I was first to get up from the comforts of my blanket and started on breakfast for everyone, or maybe lunch, once I realized what time it was. When I was done, I called them all to eat. After twenty minutes of everyone slowly pulling themselves from sleep, we had a pleasant lunch before we got ready to go out. As we were leaving my apartment, I caught sight of Mingyu and Wonwoo so I called out to them.

“Mingyu, Wonwoo-sunbae! Where are you guys off to?”

“Oh hey guys! We’re going to go run some errands,” Mingyu replied.

“Are groceries one of them? I was just about to drag the girls to come with me to the market.”

“Well it is part of the list, you guys just want to go together?” Mingyu offered.

“Sure! The more the merrier,” Minah stated, casting a playful glance at Su-min who playfully bumped shoulders with her.

“So how is practice going?” Mingyu asked as we all began the walk to the grocery store.

“It’s going really good. We can’t wait for the showcase tomorrow,” Su-min gushed.

“Wait, are all of you guys performing?!”

“Yeah?” Minah replied, perplexed.

“So all of you guys danced and no one wanted to tell me?!”

“Again Mingyu, you never asked,” I retorted.

“I would have thought Minghao would have told you,” Wonwoo added.

“Hyung you knew too? I feel so betrayed by all of you.”

“Okay, tone it down drama queen you’ve been hanging out with Seungkwan a little too much apparently,” Minah said with a shake of her head.

      By the time we made it to the grocery store we all somehow ganged up on Mingyu with only Su-min to defend him, much to the pleasure of us girls. That meant, at least for today, I won’t be the only one who gets teased. After we finished grocery shopping we parted ways with the boys as we headed back to the apartments. Once they were out of earshot the teasing began.

“Wow you’re even gonna protect you boyfriend when he is being extra?” Minah teased.

“He’s not my boyfriend and it was an unfair battle. Four against one.”

“Mhmmm, but would you do the same if it was anyone other than Mingyu?” Seohee joined.

“I am an innocent bystander this time. Take this as payback for this past month and a half of teasing,” I announced, sticking my tongue out at her.

“Wow I barely teased you compared to these two and you abandon me. I’ll remember that next time,” Su-min stated.

      By the time we reached my apartment, Minah and Seohee had their fill of teasing and as we were putting away the groceries all of out phones rang with a text notification. The message we got was disappointing.

To: Hyemi

From: Jiyong-sunbae

Hey guys class is cancelled today! Take this as a chance to rest and make sure you’re in top condition for tomorrow’s performance. See you all tomorrow.

      I didn’t have to even ask to know they got the text too, and by the look on their faces they are just as disappointed as I am. Obviously joining with only two and half weeks to learn and clean a whole dance would make anyone feel very underprepared.

“Well if there is no practice today, let’s just practice here,” I decided.

      Everyone nodded in agreement and we cleared the living room, making enough space for all of us to be far enough apart not to hit each other. We went straight to practice after a short warm up. It was a bit difficult without a partner but it helped more because that meant we couldn’t rely on watching the boys to make sure we were on time and doing the right move. We were so into practicing that we didn’t notice the knock on the door until the doorbell rang throughout the apartment when the song ended. Once I opened the door I was greeted with the smiling face of Mingyu, Soonyoung, Jun, Minghao, and Chan.

“Mingyu? And everyone else? What brings you guys here?”

“Our friends, including these four, came back to my place to ‘study’ but I’m pretty sure they just wanted to eat. But anyways we forgot to grab some eggs at the store, can you spare some?”

“Wait so Hyemi-noona is the ‘food fairy’?” Chan questioned.

“That would be me, come in and I’ll go grab them. The girls are over too by the way,” I responded, catching Jun’s small chuckle as they all came in.

“Wait how did you know about the nickname?” Mingyu asked as he followed me to the kitchen. The other boys greeted the girls and were chatting in the living room.

“I heard it through the grapevine,” I teased.

“How much did you hear from Jun-hyung?”

“Well I heard that you constantly feed twelve hungry college students and I was notoriously dubbed the ‘food fairy’. But question, why can’t you call Jihoon a fairy?” I asked, making the taller boy shivered at the thought.

“Jun-hyung is such a traitor. That was supposed to stay between the thirteen of us.”

“Well that will be a wonderful story to hear in the future, here are your eggs,” I laughed as I handed him the carton of eggs.

“Hyemi, you guys were practicing? Didn’t you get Jiyong’s text to rest?” Soonyoung called from the living room.

“Yeah but two and a half weeks is definitely not enough time to learn everything so we were just getting in some extra practice. We’ll make sure not to over work though so we’ll be ready for tomorrow,” I smiled as I entered the living room, Mingyu following behind me.

“Then how about we join you guys? It’s best to practice when the whole group is here,” Soonyoung offered.

“And you can come over to Gyu’s later and eat with us,” Minghao offered, earning him a playful glare from the other boy.

“Eating Mingyu’s food? I’m so in,” Minah agreed.

“Well if it isn’t much trouble to Mingyu…” Su-min asked cautiously.

“It’s no problem, we’ll just have to go back to the grocery store soon,” he laughed.

“We’ll be counting on you then Mingyu,” I stated as he began to leave.

“I’ll text Hao when foods ready. You guys better be quick if you want to beat eight hungry guys.”

      With that we went back to practice. It was more cramped now that there were more people so we practiced in sections, first focusing on the group choreography then taking turns on the solos. After practicing, we headed down to Mingyu’s and Wonwoo’s apartment where I got to meet the final three to complete Jun’s extra large friend group. There was Hansol who was Seungkwan’s best friend, Seokmin who was Soonyoung’s partner in crime, and Seungcheol who was titled the supposed “father” of this rowdy group. Seungkwan wasted no time in getting the details between Jun and I once he saw the girls and, just like the girls said, he totally shipped us together. Luckily with how loud everyone was, that conversation was lost to the antics of Seokmin and Soonyoung. It was no wonder they were best friends, they were both loud and energetic. The rest of the night was filled with laughter, smiles, and light anticipation for tomorrow.