Four in the morning. That was the time that most your days would typically start. Some days you were unlucky and they would start a little earlier at three. On other days you were lucky and they wouldn’t start until six. Yet, today was just a typical day. Your alarm went off like it usually did and you reached over, trying to grasp for your phone and turn the cacophonous abomination off… if only for a moment before it sounded again. You snoozed your alarm about three more times before you were fully awake, knowing that you couldn’t put off starting your day any longer. So you rolled over onto your stomach and through sleepy eyes, you started looking through your messages.

The first few messages were from the company you worked for, updating you on your group’s schedule for the day. You were one of three managers for a girl group, and it seemed like there was a change in their broadcast performance times, shifting their later schedules earlier to accommodate for that. Following these messages were some from the other two managers, trying to coordinate with you about the best way to divvy up the girls’ schedules so that they would make it to all of their events on time. They had suggested that you take three of the girls across the city for their variety show filming while the two of them took the remainder of the girls to the fan-signing and then back to the company for dance and vocal practice. You let them know that you were okay with that before slowly sitting up in bed, trying to get your bearings. When you felt like you were awake enough to stand, you headed out of your room and towards the bathroom so that you could start your day.

Twenty minutes later you were out of the shower and had applied the first layer of your facial routine before heading out to the kitchen to make your daily liquid energy; coffee. Rummaging through your cabinet you pulled out the coffee grounds and got some water, starting the coffee maker when everything was all squared away before looking around for something to eat. Knowing that you hadn’t gone grocery shopping in over a week, however, didn’t leave you with many options, and you had to resort to a simple piece of toast with some jam for the time being.

As you were pouring your coffee into your cup that sat on the island opposite of the coffee maker, your eyes caught sight of something that you were pretty sure wasn’t there the night before. A small box wrapped in a lovely golden bow sat on your counter, just a little bit to the side of where you would place your coffee cup every morning during your daily routine. Honestly, this present greatly confused you. You didn’t remember bringing something like this home last night, though yesterday’s schedule was pretty jam-packed and you were rather exhausted afterward. Still, you felt like you would have remembered bringing home such a beautifully wrapped gift, wouldn’t you? So just where did it come from?

Letting your curiosity get the better of you, you gently picked up the box and examined it, noticing that it was fairly light in weight and that it didn’t sound like there was anything inside of it, at least, nothing was rolling around in there. Though it was out of your usual routine, you decided to abandon your coffee for the time being in favor of the gift and slowly unraveled the ribbon, gingerly removing the lid when you could do so. Doing so cautiously revealed to you that the small box contained a series of envelopes, all lined up neatly in a row. On top of it was a card, which read ‘To the lovely woman who stole my heart,’ and in that instance, you knew exactly who had placed this box here, and a giant smile grew on your features.

This had to have been a gift from Seongwu.

But if it was, when did he even leave it here? You knew for a fact that it wasn’t here last night. The island was on your way into your apartment and that was where you usually dropped off your keys. You definitely did not see it last night. So did he drop it off earlier? But if he did, how did you not wake up at the sound of your door opening? Were you that out of it? Not only that, but did he just drop it off and then leave immediately after? This particular thought made you sad, as you knew that he was leaving for his overseas schedules. Knowing that you could have seen him one last time before he left, but failing to do so, made you a bit sad. Yet, you tried to not let that bother you as you flipped the card over to read the back, the contents of it making you giggle.

Surprise! You didn’t see this coming, did you? We’re going to be away from each other for a bit longer this time around, and I guess I’m just feeling a little emotional about it because we’re really close to the holidays. Even though we can message each other any time that we want, I also wrote you some letters! Yes, I know it’s cheesy and that you’re totally going to make fun of me for it when I get back. Don’t even deny it, because I know it’s coming.

But!

These aren’t just any letters. In each of these twelve letters, I’ve written about some of our most memorable memories together. I guess you can call them our greatest hits? I know, I know it’s cheesy, but these memories are really important to me. So, for the next twelve days, I want you to read a letter each day and think back on the particular memory I mention. I swear it’ll be worth it! So please do it for your Seongwu that you love so dearly!

I can’t fit anything else on this card, but please start with the first letter today! Thanks, babe~!

Though Seongwu wasn’t wrong and this was extremely cheesy even for your own boyfriend, you had to admit that the idea was pretty adorable. He chose twelve memories that he wanted you to remember and wrote about them, just for you. The amount of effort that he put into this made your heart warm. You knew that Seongwu was actually quite the romantic at times, but he didn’t really like to show it outwardly. But every now and then, he’d plan these events for you, and you couldn’t help how each one of them just made you love him even more. This one was no exception.

So, complying with your boyfriend’s request you grabbed the letter that had today’s date written in the middle of it, quickly put a bit of milk into your coffee before sitting yourself on the couch, ready to see what the first letter had in store. Slowly you opened it up, not wanting to ruin the pretty envelopes he had picked out and pulled out the piece of paper, your eyes scanning the contents of the letter.

Ah, I knew that my lovely girlfriend would listen to me and open up the first letter! Congrats! You are the official owner of all of my love and devotion! But, I actually want you to think back to a time when we weren’t together yet, when we barely knew each other. Today, I want you to think of the time when we first met.

You still remember it, right? I was just starting at this company, switching over from my last one. I had all of the dreams and aspirations that anyone does when they first become a trainee. Thing was, I was really bad at choreography. Like, really bad. The teachers would yell at me all of the time for not being able to keep up.

But then one night, a beautiful angel came in and helped me learn the routine so that I didn’t make a complete fool of myself the next day. And that beautiful angel… was you! I’ve always been so grateful to have you by my side helping me through things. I’m so very grateful to have met you…

I hope you have a wonderful day, my love.

- Your Seongwu

You couldn’t help but smile while reading his letter.  As much as you meant to him, he meant a lot to you as well. Though he was grateful to have you there to help him through things, you were also grateful for him. He was definitely the more positive and outgoing one between the two of you. Whenever you were having a hard time and refused to tell him about it, he would pick up on it and ask you himself. He knew that you didn’t like to bother him with your problems, so he always took the initiative. He was also very sweet and loving, and though the two of you weren’t perfect by any means, you felt like you worked well together, complemented each other well.

Though you had to confess, it was pretty fun thinking back to that time three years ago when the two of you had met. It was back when you still thought that you wanted to be an idol. Along the way you had changed your mind, realized that you would much rather be behind the scenes than in front of all of the cameras. Still, you were glad you had tried it out because, not only did you learn that it wasn’t for you, but it was also how you had met Seongwu.

You started training about two months before he had joined the company. Learning the ins and out of trainee life was hard, but you quickly adapted to the strange hours and the rather tough expectations. You made some friends when you had first started, some trainees that had also started around the same time you had, as well as a couple that had started earlier.

“The new trainees start today! Have you gone to see them  yet?” Hyewon asked as she came running up to the group of girls.

Miyeon shook her head, but she looked equally as excited. “Not yet, but I wonder if we’ll get more female trainees this time. It would be nice to get some more girls around here. Though… I won’t complain if there are cute boys too,” she said with a giggle, making you chuckle at her response.

“Then let’s go find out!” Hyewon urged, pulling Miyeon and the other girls with her, who evidently also dragged you along.

Though, it seemed like your little group wasn’t the only one that had decided to great the new trainees. Some of the others were already there, chatting amongst them. As soon as your group entered the room as well, you were greeted by some of the other trainees and were instantly invited into different conversations, your little group dispersing as soon as it had formed.

Dongjun, one of your closest friends had pulled you into the group he was talking with and promptly introduced you. The new trainees introduced themselves to you as well and you did your best to commit their names and their faces to memory. And that was when you met him. In his baggy clothes that were definitely too big for him. With that beret on that covered his messy hair, he gave you a toothy smile and introduced himself as, “Ong Seongwu.”

You had told him later that you had actually found him quite cute when you had first met him, but you were just unwilling to say so. Seongwu, being Seongwu, teased you about it endlessly, he still did, calling himself ‘that handsome trainee that caught your eye’ but you supposed that he wasn’t wrong either.

After meeting him that first time, you didn’t really have many interactions with Seongwu after that. You would greet each other in the halls if you happened to catch either other’s glances, but you had probably only spoken to each other on one other occasion when you were waiting for a practice room to clear out. However, even though you didn’t interact with him much, you definitely heard about him… a lot. The girls in your little friend circle were head over heels for him, and would always come back with new information that they had learned about him. They had heard from some of the seniors that he wasn’t doing so great in his choreography lessons and that had become the topic for the night.

“He’s really such a great dancer, but it’s a shame that he isn’t doing better in the choreography sessions,” Hyewon said with a pout.

“Is choreography just not his specialty?” you inquired, somehow getting yourself into this conversation. Honestly, you probably knew more about Seongwu than you ever needed to know, but here you were.

“Unnie, he’s such an amazing freestyler, but for some reason, Dongjun-oppa was telling me that he just can’t grasp choreography,” Miyeon said. “Oh, maybe unnie could teach him. You’re pretty good at choreography!”

You made a bit of a face. “Miyeon, I’m not that good. I shouldn’t be teaching anyone anything,” you countered, looking back down at the papers in front of you.

“I don’t know, I think you’re pretty good. Maybe you could help him to not fail his evaluation at the end of the week,” Eunbi chimed in, giving you a bit of a devilish smile. You didn’t like it, and you had no idea what it meant.

“Oh! Eunbi is right! If you can help him, then he’ll definitely pass. You have to do it. You have to help him stay!” Hyewon pleaded.

You never liked being in this sort of situation, and instead of dealing with it, you just politely excused yourself, saying that you needed to go and practice the new song that you were learning for your own evaluation.

And you really did have every intention of doing so… at least, until you passed by the practice rooms and realized that one of them was still occupied. Your curiosity got the better of you and you walked over to it, peeking in through the little window in the door. And you were a bit surprised to see who was there.

Seongwu.

You wondered how long he had been there. Usually, the only people that were here this late were the trainees that had been around for a bit longer. A lot of the newer trainees didn’t usually put in this much time. Or rather, if they couldn’t cut it here, they would just find a different company. But he was… he was really working hard. But you could see why everyone was so concerned about him too. As you watched him through the tiny window, you could see that he was going through the motions but would often have a hard time if there were too many connecting parts. When sections would pick up, he’d get a little noodlely with his movements. They weren’t nearly as crisp and clean as some of the other male trainees.

Your heart ached a bit while you watched him. You could tell he was putting in an effort, but he just wasn’t getting the results that he was expecting. Though you didn’t want to admit it, your friends were right. It would have been a shame if he failed. And at that moment, against your better judgment, you slowly opened the door to the practice room, letting yourself in quietly, trying not to disrupt him mid-routine.

When the song ended you slowly approached and made yourself known. “Um excuse me…” you started, the male in front of you almost jumping five feet into the air. As soon as he had heard your voice he turned around and looked at you, eyes wide. You weren’t quite expecting this reaction from him, but still, you took the opportunity to approach him. As he got a clearer look at your face, you could see that he recognized you, and this seemed to embarrass him.

“I-I didn’t expect anyone else to be here so late,” Seongwu said nervously. He thought that everyone would have headed back to the dorms at this hour.

“Usually there isn’t anyone here, but I wanted to practice for my vocal evaluation so I stopped by. I saw the light on here so I wanted to see who else might still be around,” you explained, watching as his eyes got a bit wider, his cheeks turning a tint of pink.

“H-how long have you been here?” he asked, wondering how much of his fumbling you had seen. He knew that no one really saw him as a good choreography dancer, but it was still embarrassing. He didn’t like being bad at something, but honestly, he wasn’t sure if this was a hurdle he could overcome on his own.

Part of you had thought about telling the truth, that you had been watching him dance for the last couple of songs. But you decided against it as a little white lie might ease his fears a bit. “I haven’t been here that long. Maybe for about half a song?” you replied, watching as he seemed to relax a bit, upon finding out that you hadn’t seen all that much.

“I’m really bad, aren’t I…” he stated. It wasn’t even a question at this point. He had resigned to how inexperienced he was at this type of thing. He just needed to do better.

“Y-you’re not that bad…” you responded, but even you could see that he didn’t believe you. And at that moment, you felt the need to help him. It wasn’t because your friends had asked you to, or that he was cute, but you could tell that he was really working hard at this. It was something that he was passionate in, he just needed a bit of help.

“Come on, you don’t have to lie to be nice. I know I’m bad and that I need to do better…”

“Then let me help you,” you suggested, and though you could see the hesitation in his eyes, you could also see his willingness to learn. And without thinking about it any further, Seongwu accepted your help. The two of you stayed and learned the dance into the early hours of the morning.

And that was how you had met and befriended Seongwu…

 

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A/N: I hope that everyone enjoys the first chapter. This one is a bit slow as we are just finding out how Seongwu and the reader met, but hopefully for future chapters, they will progress a bit faster. Do feel free to let me know what you think ^^