“Wait...so he didn’t walk you home?”


“No, but--”

“What the hell?” Scarlett exclaimed with agape, looking offended. “He just left you there! That stupid prick--how could he just leave a girl like that?”

Daphne peered out of the kitchen window longingly, a smile creeping on her lips as she reminisced her frolic with Yoseob last night. Snow fell magically outside, leaving a thin layer of frost around the edges of the windowsill as it created a gorgeous, white blanket on the ground.

She turned back to look at Scarlett who looked like she was fuming. The two girls were sitting comfortably on the couch as Daphne retold her story last night to Scarlett. After hearing about Dongwoon, Scarlett immediately disapproved, her expression sour.

Taking a sip of her tea as she curled up in her blanket, Daphne sighed. “Scarlett, I told you already! He was in a hurry since s were going to scold him, so it’s not his fault.”

“He should have at least told you how to get back home,” Scarlett ranted, shaking her head in dissatisfaction, so angry that she almost spilled her tea as she spoke. “I mean, shouldn’t he care about your safety? It was really late in the night!”

“I made it back okay, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, no thanks to him,” Scarlett grumbled, kicking Daphne in the shin playfully. “Can’t believe you would like a prick like that...”

“He’s not a prick!” Daphne said, surprised at the volume of her voice. Quickly, she mumbled, “And I don’t like him.”

“What, you guys almost kissed and you’re gonna sit there and tell me you don’t like him?” Scarlett rolled her eyes, kicking Daphne once more. “This guy, Dongwoon...is he better than Yoseob?”

“I don’t know,” Daphne exhaled, her heart heavy as the topic of her love life came about again. “When I’m with Dongwoon, I forget about Yoseob. When I’m with Yoseob, I forget about Dongwoon. Every time I think I like one of them, the other does something that makes me flip-flop.” Her forehead creased with frustration. “This is so stupid.”

“Well, if you want my opinion,” Scarlett said, “Yoseob sounds like the better catch. He’s always been there for you, hasn’t he?” She laughed, not knowing why Daphne was having such a hard time figuring this out. “He even ran to your side just to get you home safely! What are you so confused about?”

This question had popped up in Daphne’s mind numerous times, but she never had an answer for it. It was so painfully obvious that Yoseob was the right person in every single way: caring, kind, forgiving--just about every single good attribute that a person looked for, but her mind always came lingering back to Dongwoon. He was...different. Although he was certainly lacking in some aspects, he was suave and always knew how to make her heart burst at its seams. The adrenaline rush that she felt with him was undeniably addicting.

Daphne was never one to take risks. She lived life with a seatbelt on but she felt that seatbelt unbuckling little by little every time she was with Dongwoon, and it excited her.

“I really don’t know...” Daphne sighed as numerous thoughts swam in her head. “I hate boys.”

“Yah, Dongwoon,” Yoseob nudged Dongwoon in the arm urgently as they rummaged through their closet, getting dressed. “How could you leave Daphne noona like that?”

“What?” Dongwoon was looking through his shirts but abruptly stopped, looking at Yoseob with a perplexed expression.

Yoseob sighed, aggravated. “Yesterday. You left Daphne noona in the outdoor tent! Did you know she got lost trying to find her way back home?”

“What, really?” Dongwoon’s eyes widened in shock, guilt creeping inside of him. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Yoseob rolled his eyes as he pulled his shirt on, jabbing Dongwoon’s head gently. “She called me really late last night for help.” It took all of Yoseob’s free will to repress his smile as he recalled his walk with Daphne last night in the snow. Her laugh was still ringing in his ears and he could still picture her angelic smile, causing his irritation with Dongwoon to lift slightly.

“Aish, it’s not my fault! Doojoon hyung made me rush so I left without thinking...”

“That’s not--”

“Wait, she called you?” Dongwoon’s mouth hung open in realization as he stopped pulling his shirt over his head, his stomach exposed. “Did you go?”

“Of course I did,” Yoseob replied nonchalantly, his lips twitching slightly as he held back his urge to smile smugly at Dongwoon. “I still can’t believe you left her there in the cold, for god’s sake.” He shook his head in disapproval, adjusting his pants. “You should be--”

“Hyung, I don’t wanna hear it,” Dongwoon mumbled bitterly as he finished dressing, leaving the room without warning. His head was aching with questions, wondering why Daphne hadn’t called him.

“Good,” Yoseob finally cracked a smile, not bothering to restrain it anymore. “He’s jealous.” He let out an exaggerated cackle, giddy. His small celebration was put to an end, however, as Doojoon’s voice pierced through the closet doors, beckoning Yoseob to hurry up.

The weight of Daphne’s eyelids felt considerably heavier today as she mustered all of her energy prying them open. With practices being almost three hours longer in preparation for BEAST’s first concert, sleep was beginning to become a foreign concept to her. There were so many things to do that not a single second of her day was wasted, allowing no free time. School, her mother, practice, and most of all, boys, the root of her troubles, but she somehow managed to continue to push through, not allowing fatigue to catch up with her, but her momentum soon lost speed as the workload and stress continued to exponentially increase.

“Just keep swimming!” Scarlett had once told her, cleverly using a quote from one of her favorite children’s movie. But what good was swimming going to do if she couldn’t breathe?

As she maneuvered her flexible body into the last dance move of the routine, she felt a huge wave of relief wash over her as Jihee turned the music off, signaling that group practice was over. That gave Daphne five minutes of attempted recovery as the fortunate members of the back-up dancers were allowed to go home. Daphne, however, to her dismay, had to stay behind for the pairs performance.

She leaned her head against the cool wall, shutting her eyes tightly as her consciousness slowly began to leave her. Her shoulders relaxed greatly, her mind beginning to drift, but luck was simply not in her favor today--or at all.

“Peekaboo,” a familiar voice whispered in Daphne’s ear, eliciting shivers from her body as he prodded her gently in the arm.

Her slumped body recoiled from the figure, confused as to what was happening. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, her eyebrows furrowing, clearly peevish. A smile managed to grace her worn out face as she stared at the person in front of her.

“Yoseob, I hope you know you just interrupted a lovely nap,” whined Daphne, lightly patting her cheeks to instill some life into her.

“Daphne noona,” Yoseob squatted next to her, resting his arms on his knees, “you’re growing old!”

Daphne scowled after hearing the furthest statement that she wanted to acknowledge. The bags under her eyes had grown immensely and she was beginning to think that white hairs were bound to sprout out of her scalp sooner or later, which only further worried her.

“It’s all from you, Yoseob-ah.”

“No way! I think it’s from not spending enough time with me!” Yoseob flashed a quick smile before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You look really tired though.”

“It’s nothing,” she reassured. “Hey, let’s go play in the snow again after practice,” suggested Daphne, feeling her energy developing as she thought of the pleasure they had the night before.

Yoseob chuckled at her childish remark, his heart warming to see her so happy at such a minuscule thing. Inside all of that brashness and exhaustion was just a girl who wanted to enjoy life and what it had to give to her.

“Sure, but since you don’t seem to answer my texts, I’ll go to your practice room once I’m finished to pick you up!”

“Sounds good,” Daphne beamed, her spirits lifting as she thought of the wonderful substance tickling her nose once more.

Their conversation soon struck an end as Dongwoon stood in front of them, his tall figure looming. “Hyung, we have to practice with our partners now.”

Yoseob sighed quietly, eventually standing up and waving goodbye to Daphne. “I’ll be coming!”

Daphne merely laughed and waved as she saw Yoseob walk away. Dongwoon shot Daphne a curious glance as he pulled her up to her feet, his eyebrow raised.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before Daphne could respond, they were interrupted by Doojoon, his hand heavily laid on Dongwoon’s shoulder as his eyes were sternly fixed on Dongwoon.

“Remember,” Doojoon whispered seriously, “don’t screw this up.” He lifted his hand off of Dongwoon’s shoulder and turned to Daphne, his stoic appearance suddenly turned kind. “Hi, Daphne. Bye, Daphne.” With that, Doojoon turned his heel and left the practice room.

Daphne stared at Dongwoon in bewilderment, pondering what had caused Doojoon to execute such strange behavior, but she pushed those thoughts away as she felt Dongwoon’s hand on her wrist, pulling her to their own practice room.

“Before we get started, I just wanted to apologize,” Dongwoon stated glumly as they stepped into the room.

“For what?” Daphne queried, dumbfounded, finding a seat on the stool before the grand piano in the corner of the room.

Dongwoon frowned slightly as he recalled what Yoseob had told him earlier. “For leaving you last night.”

“What? It’s okay, really!” Daphne smiled at his unnecessary despair, patting his back gently. “I got home fine.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“Huh?” she blurted out, not entirely registering what he was asking.

“Yoseob told me that you called him to pick you up. How come you didn’t call me?” Dongwoon elaborated quietly but loud enough for Daphne to hear. His fingers danced along the keys of the piano, pressing down on them lightly as the bright sounds echoed in the room to compensate for Daphne’s silence.

Dongwoon exhaled softly, upset. Was Yoseob winning? He was an idiot for not walking Daphne back--he admitted that, but why had she decided to call Yoseob rather than him? Did she not think he was responsible enough? Did she like Yoseob more than she liked him? Dongwoon’s eyebrows furrowed in a frustrated line as he continued to brood.

“Yoseob was the first person that came to mind,” Daphne shrugged after she contemplated her answer. “His texts were the first thing I saw so I just called him. It’s not that big of a deal.” She stared at Dongwoon’s profile with curiosity. Why was he acting so strangely?

“Not that big of a deal...” Dongwoon thought bitterly as he kept his head down. It wasn’t like him to mope about such trivial things like these but Daphne was a special case.

“Mianhae, Dongwoon,” Daphne said comfortingly, squeezing his shoulder gently. “Next time I get lost I’ll call you, okay?” She lifted his face so he was facing her, their eyes locked. With a bright smile, she stood up and grabbed his hands to do the same, bringing him up with her. “Come on, we still have to figure out what we’re going to do for our performance.”

Reluctantly, Dongwoon nodded and complied, hearing Doojoon’s threatening words reverberate clearly in his ears, trembling slightly as he pictured Doojoon’s unbearable glare. After a brief deliberation, Dongwoon decided that it was best to drop his sour mood and not make a mountain out of a mole hill. The uncomfortable feeling still faintly lingered in his stomach, however, as he imagined Yoseob and Daphne together, but it only fueled his determination to win her over even more, and he was going to take advantage of that.

“So what are we going to do?” Daphne took the initiative to ask, plopping herself on the hardwood floor.

Dongwoon placed himself next to her and scratched his head in contemplation. “I’m not sure. I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Me neither,” Daphne’s mouth turned downwards as she racked her brain for any kind of idea that would be helpful. “We can do anything, right? We’re not limited to just dancing?” She thought back to when Jihee suggested a piano duet between Dongwoon and her, tinkering with the idea.

“I don’t think so, but I’m pretty sure dancing has to be an element in the performance.”

“Oh, right.” Her face fell slightly, realizing that the fans were probably going to sleep out of sheer boredom if they simply performed a piano duet together, but what else could they do? “Well, what styles of dancing would you want to do?”

Dongwoon shrugged, eliciting a small sigh from Daphne. They were getting absolutely nowhere.

“I’m not very versatile,” he admitted with a chuckle. “Can you do anything other than hip hop dancing?”

“I can tap dance,” she looked at Dongwoon and laughed, imagining him attempting to clack his feet together in tempo. “Oh and ballroom dancing!”

The pair looked at each other in amusement, giggling in delight. Ballroom dancing sounded absolutely absurd and they both knew it. Dongwoon felt the knot in his stomach to loosen as his jealousy and frustration began to alleviate. Daphne was simply too cute for words and the effect that she had on him was impeccable. It felt like her very presence could provide bright sunshine on a cloudy day.

“Hm, I used to be involved in ballet too,” Daphne suggested after their laughter had ended.

Dongwoon’s posture suddenly straightened, his eyes shining bright with revelation. “Let’s do ballet!”

“What? You doing ballet?” Daphne pictured the scene in her head and laughed uncontrollably, clutching her side. “I thought you said you weren’t versatile.”

“Not me. You.” He placed his finger on her nose and poked her gently, chuckling at her shocked expression.

Daphne’s cheeks suddenly felt rather warm as she felt his touch on the tip of her nose. However, she gave herself no time to become flustered. “What?”

“You can do some ballet dance while I play the piano!”

“Shouldn’t you be dancing as well? I’m pretty sure your fans wouldn’t even care about me dancing alone on that stage.”

Dongwoon closed his eyes for inspiration as he dug through his thoughts for any idea that would complement ballet. He had always admired the beautiful visual art that was ballet, and seeing Daphne perform it with such elegance was sure to make practice a lot more worthwhile. Fortunately, his brain was having a good day as another plan sprang up.

“We can transition into some hip hop number afterwards! You can do your thing while I play the piano and then I get up and join you for a dance that I’m actually capable of.”

Daphne pondered briefly as her mind began conjuring up images of their hypothesized performance, and it wasn’t bad at all.

“That actually sounds decent,” Daphne nodded her head slowly, excited to finally come to a conclusion. She stood up quickly and briskly walked to the piano, motioning Dongwoon to follow. “Come play so I decide some moves for the ballet piece!”

Dongwoon did as he was told and sat comfortably on the stool, bringing his broad hands upon the piano keys delicately. He played a slow tune on the top of his head and saw Daphne nodding her head slowly to the tempo, closing her eyes to completely visualize the dance moves.

“I’m a bit rusty though,” she said suddenly as Dongwoon continued to play, her eyes opening. Her heart fluttered as she observed Dongwoon’s hands cascade so fluidly down the keys, lightly touching the right notes to create a soothing melody that rang beautifully in the room. She couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

“Show me something,” Dongwoon looked up at Daphne and smiled as he continued to play. Before she could refuse, he pouted cutely. “Please?”

Laughing, Daphne stood on the very tips of her toes, slowly twirling, but her balance soon gave way as she felt her toe slip, feeling gravity pulling her body to the ground. However, before she could make contact with the floor, Daphne felt a pair of hands wrap around her back comfortably, the sound of the piano no longer echoing.

Her eyes broadened as she felt Dongwoon’s hot breath tickle her nose, their faces too close for her taste. The familiar blush quickly found its way to her cheeks from their embrace, his hands still firmly holding her in an awkward position, her body not entirely upright from the slip.

“I-I told you I was rusty,” she managed to utter, staring into his eyes with shock.

Dongwoon, however, had not heard a single word she had said as his mind were too fixated on her lips that seemed to . His breathing was shallow as he resisted his impulses, but his mind immediately raced to Yoseob and Dongwoon planted his foot on a decision.


“I’ve been thinking about doing this for a really long time...” he started, his words softening to a mere whisper.

Daphne was still trying to decipher his words when she felt his lips being firmly pressed against hers, capturing her breath. Her eyes were still wide open but as his hands inched slowly to her waist, pulling her close to him, and she couldn’t help but fall under his spell, eventually shutting her eyes to fully relish the moment as she draped her arms around his neck.

The practice room door slightly creaked open, but in the midst of their affair, the sound was left unnoticed.

“Daphne noona, are you...” Yoseob’s words were abruptly caught in his throat, however, as he took in the scene before him: his worst fear coming true. He could feel his heart gain considerable weight as it fell in the pits of his stomach, feeling a bit sick.

Without taking a second glance, he slowly retreated and closed the door gently, hoping that they had not heard him. His expression was grave, his eyes glinting with anger. Slumping to the floor with his knees up, he ran his hand through his head aggressively, grabbing a small patch of hair and pulling softly in frustration. He was speechless--absolutely speechless. There was nothing left to say about it.

A/N: Ahh, I know it's been a while but I've just been really caught up in school! OTL. Hopefully I can update next week-ish? We'll see! Thanks you guys for sticking with me<3.