It was finally the day of the evaluation and Jieun stood on the side of the stage, waiting for her turn to perform. Sehun was beside her, warming up his body.  She breathed in and out slowly, trying to control her nervousness.  Sehun looked over to her with a reassuring smile.

“You’ll be fine Jieun! Loosen up a bit. You look so stiff.”  Typical Sehun.  As blunt and to the point as usual, Jieun thought.  At least he could count on Sehun to always tell her the truth.

“Why are you so calm?!”  She answered back.  She was all nerves while he was unusually calm and collected, despite that they both had a performance to give.

“Have you prepared as well as you can?” He asked.

She nodded in response.

“Then there’s nothing to worry about.  You’ve done what you’ve can to prepare already.” 

Jieun looked at Sehun like he was being ridiculous.  “How can it be that simple?  What if I make a mistake?” 

“You know what I think when I go on stage?”  As Sehun said this, Jieun swear she saw his eyes light up and she saw a different Sehun.  “I go in without a care in the world and perform to my heart’s content.  That’s all you need to do.”

“Easy for you to say.”  She scoffed.  Sehun wasn’t the type to worry and overthink things like her, he didn’t see how hard it was for her who worried about everything.

He lightly placed his hands on each of her shoulders, massaging them trying to get her to loosen up and bent down slightly so that he was eye level with her.  “Jieun, when you go out there, just know, you are capable of doing this.  And it’s not the end of the world if you don’t do as well as you’d like.”

As he said this, she saw from the corner of her eye, that Jongin was standing in the back, near the entrance of the backstage door.  She could feel his eyes on her, but his face didn’t betray any emotion.  He just stood at a distance, looking at her. 

Thanks to him, Jieun had been thinking over and over again, as to why he kissed her.  He was just playing around?  He was just teasing her?  He did poke his tongue out at her.  Or did it mean that he liked her?  But she dismissed the last thought that would probably be the least likely reason.  Why would someone like Jongin, like someone like her?

But now wasn’t the time to think about that, she heard Ara’s song finish and as she walked into the wings, where she and Sehun were standing, Ara smiled at Jieun and said, “It’s your turn. Good luck!”

She took one last look at Jongin in the background and noticed his gloomy demeanour.  Was he still not ok?  She thought.  It seemed that his condition hadn’t improved much from last time.  Sehun then lightly patted her on the head, “No more dazing out! Go Jieun, go show them what you’ve got!”

As she stepped into the bright lights, it felt overwhelming.  She couldn’t see clearly into the audience, which made up of the other trainees who had finished performing, or the judges in the front, because of the darkness.

She quickly introduced herself.  And then as she the music started, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

It wasn’t the first time she had performed at an evaluation.  But each time, she could feel her insides shaking like crazy.  However, unlike those times where she no one else, but she now had people who cheered her on.

I bet if you unleash that confidence, you’d be amazing. 

Those words Jongin had said to her, they echoed in her mind every time she practised. It had given her a type of a warmth and reassurance, that she could do it. 

So as she belted the notes in her song, she tried as much as possible to show her confidence.  This was singing after all.  Singing was what she loved most, practiced the most, and the skill she was most proud of.  How could she just waste it all just because she didn’t have the confidence?

After performing her song, the music immediately changed into the dance music.  Everyone in her class had been given the same routine.  And many others before her had already performed the dance.  The judges in front of her knew what to expect, and were probably bored of the routine already and she had to prove them wrong. 

Lift up your chin, you should really look up more. 

She still remembered that gentle smile during that conversation.  It wasn’t so much his advice was the best she had ever been given, but it was one of the those times where someone had made her realise, that she hadn’t reached her limit, that she was capable of achieving more.  Although that didn’t make a fantastic dancer straight away, it had given her a new energy.  Energy she could channel into improving her dancing. 

The dance steps were familiar to her.  She had spent countless hours practising, but those hours didn’t mean anything unless she should showcase her dancing.  Every step, every twist and turn, she tried her best to make sure each move fluidly flowed into the next. 

And then it was over.  Her heart was still pumping hard as she walked back into the wings of the stage.  Sehun immediately came up to her with a smile plastered on his face.  “You were great Jieun.”

She smiled back, “Thanks Sehun.  Now, it’s your turn.”

“Yep.  Cheer me on, ok Jieun?”  He said before walking onto the stage.

She quickly gave him a thumbs up as he looked back at her briefly before he introduced himself on stage. 

She hadn’t realised that Jongin was standing behind her so when she turned around to walk back to go backstage, she got a fright seeing him stand less than an arms length away from her.

As she met eyes with him, she could somehow feel that he was staring at her particularly intensely.  Was he angry about something?  She had no clue, because as always she couldn’t figure him out.

“Hey Jongin.  You’re after Sehun, right?  Good luck.  I’m going to go sit in the audience to watch Sehun perform, so I’ll see you later.”  She wanted to ask him if he was ok, but found herself saying something else instead.   As she was about to walk around, Jongin, he moved across to block her.

“Can I ask you something?”  He asked.  His eyes looked towards her wit