Victory tasted so sweet and the idea of walking up to Kim Jongin’s practice room to deliver him the good news wasn’t a burden at all. She was the one who was actually winning. The discussion with her father had ended right after bringing up the young man’s name and that proved once again the little willpower of the man when it came to his only daughter. Not only she had saved herself from hearing about Nebulae for the next months, but she had also received her father’s apology for ‘bothering’ her and for ‘giving her too much worries’. Which meant more months of pleasant idleness. The doors of the elevator opened in front of her, an employee rushed quickly to free the way for her. That reverential terror everyone seemed to harbor for her inebriated her and made her feel even more powerful. The door of the practice room where Kim Jongin should have rehearsed was left ajar. Loud chitchat was coming from it. She stopped outside the door, careful not to make any sound. She heard a male laugh, followed by some girly voices. They surely weren’t rehearsing.

Jongin-ah do it again, please!

The tone was excessively cheesy and caused more laugh. Jongin was imitating someone that Seulgi recognized to be the comic of a television show. His impersonation had to be very funny if it was able to originate that much noise, or maybe his audience was made of ditzy girls.

Doyeon can twerk, right? How do you do that?

That name made her dangerously raise an eyebrow. The group of faceless ‘chicks’ now had one. They really were her nightmare and kept on tormenting her. She didn’t even wait to hear another general laugh. She made her entrance, with her shoes ticking on the parquet under her strides and, on her face, a glacial expression that froze the atmosphere. From her point of view that could have almost been an ironic situation: Doyeon, visual and main dancer of Nebulae, was pushing her pelvis against the man’s one, the other members of the group were sitting on the floor, some of them with their hands covering their faces, some of them even laying on the ground because of the y scene they were witnessing. Smiles died.

What a charming scene.

She coldly hissed with her eyebrow still raised higher than usual. Those who were sitting on the floor stood up in less than a second. She crossed her arms scanning the faces of the girls.

Glad to know you’re having fun. Ah! And my father believes you’re ready to debut. Don’t make me laugh.

Her gaze flashed on the incredible, talented, dear Doyeon who, with still opened, only looked like a goose with no skills to her.

And you have the courage to periodically complain about your missed debut when you spend your time… entertaining like this?

She stared at the girl, challenging her to contradict her. She wanted her to rebut so that she could have a good reason to throw her out. Just one word, only one, and Doyeon and Nebulae would have ended without even starting. Unfortunately she glimpsed a movement of the male dancer and she realized he was about to speak and defend the young girl. She moved her gaze to Jongin to freeze him before he could start talking.

Your career is already on the verge of ending without you adding something.

It wasn’t exactly true, but it didn’t matter. She was the one who got to decide who should win and who should lose, and he knew it. She looked at him swallowing all the words he wanted to say and she felt triumphant. Her heart was about to burst. Holding power was what she could do, what made her feel good. Winning. Whether it was right or wrong it didn’t bother her sleep, so it was fine. She looked once again at Doyeon who, this time, lowered her head.

Leave. Do some practice if you want to debut — and you...

She said pointing at the young man while the 7 girls were picking up their stuff ready to leave.

You’d better focus on your career. I had to beg my father to grant you a comeback.

She accentuated as much as she could the plea she had never done. She had to slowly insinuate doubt into his head in order to buy his loyalty and she had to make clear to him, and also to Nebulae, that she was the one who could decide the future of the artists. As long as they were under that label they had to win her favor, otherwise they could go somewhere else. And she wanted no one to misunderstand.

We don’t want ungrateful artists who think everything is due to them…

That was addressed more to Nebulae than to Jongin. The girls lowered their heads to greet her and got out of the room. Seulgi stared at them walking out with piercing eyes and flared nostrils. If she were a dragon, she would have spit fire. She hated them and she would have done anything to make them hate her in the same way. She needed an excuse to throw them out… but that wasn’t the time to think about it. She wasn’t an impulsive person, on the contrary, her moves were planned in advance and even her most unusual behaviors were chosen between a limited list of possible reactions; all of them aimed at making her the victim of the situation, resulting with her victory. The door closed behind the last member of Nebulae, Heejin, and she ce again towards Jongin. Maybe because of that movement the young man woke up from the state of numbness in which he had fallen and moved from the point where he was standing to pick up a towel. The girl walked towards him, as if he couldn’t hear her from the 3 meters between them.

I don’t usually like being tossed around like a mailman, but you know, I thought the best artist of the label deserved a more suitable treatment… as equals. But–

She aggressively smacked her lips.

Clearly I was wrong. That was embarrassing.

Did she wanted him to feel guilty? Maybe. But her main goal was to make him apologize for his behavior. Not because she found it inappropriate or actually embarrassing, but just to give herself a treat. The young man put the towel behind his neck, making it fall back on his shoulders. The fact that he was doing everything extremely calmly, as if her words didn’t frighten him at all, as if they didn’t have an effect at all, made her furious. Fortunately she got a lot of nerve.

A bit like your scene, Seulgi–

She had to correct herself: apparently the people who got a lot of nerve where two.

It had been years since the last time he had called her by her name without disdain or bother in his tone. Kim Jongin and Kang Seulgi had been friends, at least for part of their lives. She came from a wealthy family, he used to change school every year because of his father’s work, they met when they ended up in the same school, it was a day of spring, both of them twelve years old.

Hey Jongin! You can’t use the boy’s toilet! Ask the girls if you can use theirs! — Oh you do ballet? You dance with tights? Girl! Their laughs sounded piercing to Jongin. He was just a kid and at 12 years old one shouldn’t feel so… inadequate. Alone. Wrong. Every time he changed school it was the same story all over again. At the beginning, when he was a kid, it hadn’t bothered him. Just as doing ballet had never bothered him. His parents had always wanted him to do what he loved. Being forced to change school every year… ballet had always been his constant. It kept him busy. But now he was starting to want friends, something more permanent. Everyone had someone to do their homework with in the afternoon or to go to the park with. He didn’t. Because he had long hair? Because he did ballet? Well, he would have changed his fate. 

It was trying to change it that he met Seulgi. 

What are you doing? someone had secretly entered the room behind his back. He had just raised the scissors in front of the mirror. He turned around and looked at the girl with big eyes that was curiously staring at him from afar. 

What do you want– go away! This is the boys’ locker room! He shouted at her. He knew who she was. He knew her and he despised her. She was one of his classmates, popular, pretty, intelligent and rich, Kang Seulgi. Everyone knew her and everyone loved her. He thought that many of them were just pretending to like her, but he couldn’t tell her, they had never talked before. He had heard some conversations though, everyone wanted to join Seulgi’s father’s agency and having her as a friend could be a way of succeeding. 

I don’t think you should cut them, they’re cute! Seulgi told him, her hands behind her back, without the courage of getting closer. Perhaps the scissors he was holding frightened her a little. 

They’re cute if you’re a girl! I’m not a girl! And I don’t want to be cute! he shouted on the verge of crying. It looked as the young girl in front of him didn’t know what to say and she moved her hands to show what she was hiding behind her back. He didn’t recognized them at first, they looked like a rag, a soiled toy, but then a couple of black laces gave shape to what didn’t have one. 

Where did you get those? Give them back! he jumped taking them from her hands. They were his ballet shoes. A couple of big black ballet shoes, with laces. He used them to dance. That morning he had decided to get rid of them by throwing them in the trash in the school yard. He angrily stared at the girl, who lowered her head. 

I thought of taking them if case you changed your mind… No, he had taken his decision, he would have never worn those shoes again. He hated what they represented. They were the reason behind his constant loneliness.

I wanted to ask you if you could show me how you dance and if you really don’t like it you can throw them away. Seulgi’s voice was small, but he was sure he heard well. Her head still low, without the courage of looking at him in the eyes, the young girl was staring at her feet. With the scissors in his hands and the intimidating attitude he had probably scared her. That wasn’t what his father had taught him: ‘beyond all things, remember to be human’. He put the scissors in the sink. 

I’m sorry if I scared you the girl in front of him looked up, her eyes tighten up and a long line of white teeth peeped between her lips. She was smiling at him. He smiled back.

In just a few months they had become inseparable. It was Seulgi who had introduced Jongin to Dinasty making him, at only 13 years old, the youngest trainee the label had ever had. He debuted at 17 years old, not without any controversy: he was too young for the idols’ world. At 23 years old he was the most famous South Korean artist ever. He had had everything from life: money, the chance of doing what he loved the most, dancing, without feeling lonely anymore. And yet, somewhere in those 6 years, Seulgi and him had stopped talking. Now they were two strangers, even if they had shared more than anyone else could imagine. Now she was the boss: arrogant, full of herself, despotic, self-centered. He was just him, and that was enough for her.

I might be wrong, but it looks like you care more about Doyeon than your career… tell me if it is true, we can fix it.

She hadn’t gone there to be fooled by someone who owed her everything. She was sure he had acted like that in the heat of the moment, but she wanted to be clear about who had the right to make sarcasm and give passive-aggressive answers. And he surely wasn’t. He seemed to remember it while she was moving her weight from one leg to the other. She knew Jongin as much as he knew her, even if they had changed some things were still the same, in particular the endless kindness of the young man, always ready to take a step back, even with her who, if things depended on other people, was the one to be blamed.

You’re right, I’m sorry.

She puckered her lips satisfied. It hadn’t changed that much. And she had obtained what she wanted. She smiled, a sour and insincere smile, but her eyes weren’t.

I knew we could understand each other, we have always done it, haven’t we?

She hysterically laughed while watching the young man getting lost in some painful long gone memory. She almost felt sorry for him, it was pitiful how he sought shelter in the past. The discussion ended there, there was no further reason to act cruelly, he would have remembered that conversation for a long time. She turned her back and got out of the room. Jongin: 0. Kang Seulgi: 1.

Autor's note:
Valentine's Day arrived in Italy too. It's finally midnight and i wanted to share a new chapter with you guys. I thought about it a lot and i really wanted to thank you for how well the 1st chapter did. I wasn't expecting likes nor that people would have subscribed to the story and yet i found out i was wrong! I was really touched and that's my personal way to say thank you to you for the support ♡ This 2nd chapter was the first time i got to write about Jongin and i wanted him to be a really good guy, you know? And also they already knew each other! What do you think is gonna happen next? 

If you like the chapter give it a thumbs up, comment anything in the comment down below and subscribe if you like the story. Wishing you all a happy Valentine's Day and if you don't have someone to celebrate with then it doesn't really matter. I won't celebrate either haha

I'll see you soon on the next chapter ♡