The first thing Jongin did when he woke up was to throw his alarm clock on the ground. He had the worst night of his life, rolling over on and on in his bed until falling asleep of exhaustion only to have nightmares about his solo turning into a catastrophic duo with an atrocious rag doll who was in fact controlling him with red threads as a puppet on stage.

A sleepless night would have been more restful I bet…

He sighed loudly, rubbing his numb face and heavy eyelids before getting up to take a hopefully energizing shower.

Once cleaned and dried, he checked his weight on his connected scale, yawning while waiting for the verdict and tsked at the result. The lack of sleep had made him gain one kilo of water mostly, so he growled at his anticipated breakfast made of diuretic fruits.

He went back to his room and picked one of the already prepped outfits that he usually stored after doing his laundry; that way, no time was lost on what to choose to wear each morning.  Gaining time was synonymous with gaining more experience in dance and mastering moves quicker for the valedictorian.

After checking his schedule and making sure he had everything needed in his duffle bag, he put his arms under the handles and carried it on his back. He took his ear buds out of their case and plugged them into his ears, lightly pressing the right one to play his running playlist and finally exited his room, wishing the fresh air would wake him up completely. He stretched in the empty elevator since it was almost two hours before class hours and started his running circuit headed toward the cafeteria, barely open when he arrived.

The sensor near the take-away area entrance scanned his watch and a message was sent to the kitchen in order to prepare his breakfast according to his daily data. He went straight to the take-out counter and waited for his meal, taking a paper napkin to wipe off the sweat forming on his forehead and neck. He thanked the waiter handing him a paper bag after a couple of minutes and exited the still empty place to reach a practice dance studio. He walked hastily through the multiple corridors, picking with his fingers some watermelon pieces contained in a cardboard cup.

Once arrived in front of the studio glass door, he had already finished his fruit salad and gulped his matcha latte. He threw the trash in a bin nearby and entered the seemingly deserted room. As always, he let his duffle bag beside the entrance and stretched every articulation and muscle before facing the mirror wall to begin working on his jumps with the Satanella variation.

His limbs, as animated on their own, moved harmoniously, chaining the different figures until being satisfied with his balance and amplitude. After thirty minutes, Jongin took a break to sip some water and dry his head. He had always been envious of those who were able to exercise without sweating, at least not on their face, that was so inconvenient. His nemesis was one of them, memorizing choreographies in no time and keeping his face dry even after two hours of practicing. He had fought against him this whole year to obtain that solo...scratched that…that duo. Baekyeol was assuredly laughing at him now, with his annoying rectangular smile he had inherited from his father.

He shook his head to regain focus and was about to start his street dance choreo when the studio’s door opened revealing a young female student in an asymmetric green yoga outfit half covered with a sort of harness. When she came in, Jongin noticed hi-tech wrist and ankle bracelets completing her strange equipment.

“Can I help you?” He politely offered despite his annoyance for being interrupted. Curiously, the intruder was fixing intensively at his lips instead of his eyes, yet she was not roaming her stare up and down his well-toned body as most of the female and some male students were usually doing so when encountering him. He was used to the mix of envy, jealousy and admiration, he was triggering from others, it was part of his dancer job to attract attention after all.

The student lifted up her right index finger to him, gesturing to him to wait while she got her smartphone from her pocket and dial on it, then gave it to him but stopped him when he tried to look at the screen.

“What the…?!” he complained before being cut by a feminine voice coming from the device.

“Hi, Sae Ra. Need me?”

Sea Ra? The name was ringing a bell in Jongin’s mind. The said woman nodded.

“Alright, I have five minutes before my next class, so make it short.”

Jongin couldn’t help but look at the screen by turning it toward him once again. His eyes went round as he saw the exact replica of the person in front of him.

“What is going on? Who are you?” He addressed the second young woman that instantly rolled her eyes at him.

“Hi, I’m Lee Sae Ri, Sea Ra’s twin sister and her occasional interpreter. Now turn the screen toward her so I can see her please, I’m not planning to be late for the sake of you, no matter how fit you seem!” She curtly demanded, getting impatient. It was always the same thing to deal with… she thought.

“Huh…” He did as asked, quite stunned by her authoritarian aura and frank statement. And when he did, he focused once again on Sae Ra who started to move her arms, hands and fingers so fast that he thought that she was doing some finger dancing.

“Hi, I’m Sae Ra.” Sae Ri’s voice uttered, confusing Jongin at first, “I’m deaf and mu… Aish! You are not mute, damn it!” Sae Ri protested, making her sound as she was talking to herself. It was so weird for the male, but at least, he was able to connect the dots while the sisters were fighting.

Sae Ra was now angrily signing to her sister, speeding even more her gestures, conveying her annoyance by giving more strength to her moves, the impact on her skin echoing each time in the silent studio. Her primary neutral face expression morphed into frowned eyebrows and wide opened eyes, while her shoulders kept rising and

“An equally special student for you to perform with.” Dean Junmyeon had said yesterday. He knew, that old fox knew, damn it! Jongin clenched his free fist in his hair, shaking his head while closing his eyes, in a vain attempt to deny the truth. What the ing hell!? How can I dance with someone who can’t hear the music, the beat, the intensity of the notes…!?

The dancer sensed a soft tap on his forearm and opened back his eyes to notice Sae Ra standing close to him. She was pointing her ear then him.

“Yes, sorry, I’m listening.”

She beamed him a genuine smile and signed again at the smartphone’s screen.

“So, I’m deaf and… don’t talk…” Jongin heard the reluctance in her twin’s voice and smile and the slight difference of words used to describe her. “I was assigned to work with you for the Academy gala’s show. I have thoughts of different ideas but since my sister doesn’t have the time to translate them, I will ask you only one thing for now.” She paused before questioning. “Have you ever experienced deafness in a way or another? Through your friends or family or by yourself after an accident with temporary effects?”

He shook his head after tilting it, not quite understanding the purpose of her curiosity.

“Alright. The gala’s theme is the discovery of a new world and I would like for the public to enter in the deaf one. In order for you to comprehend my world, and my own perspective of yours I would like to suggest that you do an experience with me today. It will be easier for you after that to express through your choreography what it is like to be deaf and to live among hearing people.”

“…Okayyy?” Jongin was impressed she had already thought about that for the show when he had only sulked until this morning about his non-existent solo. “What does this experience consist of?”

She rummaged into her bag and gave him a little box with some soft earplugs. “It will block any sounds, so you can fully experience deafness. I will accompany you through the day, to avoid dangerous situations since you are not accustomed to it.”

“All day long?! But…But I have classes and I want to practice too!” Jongin started to whine, making Sae Ri chuckled through the phone while still on speaker mode. She might have signed something about it to her sister because he noticed her smiling eyes since she hid with her hand on it, then she signed once again.

“I have a special authorization coming from the dean. And you can still practice once we are back; my part time job starts at 5p.m.” She shrugged.

Aish! I will make sure to visit a shaman and curse you, Dean Junmyeon! He boiled inwardly.

“Okay, but only for the sake of our performance. I’m warning you; I don’t like wasting my time and I have high expectations. I‘m aiming for nothing less than a double standing ovation after our duet ends. So, your experimentation has to be worth ditching classes, right?”

He heard the interpreter mumbling without hearing it clearly, but was quite sure she was criticizing him. He couldn’t care less. He had a life plan and nothing was going to mess with it, not even deafness and twins.

It was, for sure, without counting on his parents playing with his fate behind his back.

****

“HI, Jong In … Should I expect a phone call every evening from one of the three of you? ... Yeah, yeah, Sae Ra received the on-skin sound device you recommended for her show. It was quite impressive when I tested it too, maybe I will order some for the academy … You want our engineering section to work on an evolved version? You already talked to Chanyeol? Ahaha, of course he will be excited about it. Alright, Sure, I will contact Not Impossible Lab to set up a call meeting with him… Yah! I sounded like my secretary. Should I remind you I’m the Dean of the best Korean university?... Ne…Neee Mister majority shareholder, neeee… have a good night too.”