“Jieun, wake up!” She heard her name being called for the fifth time that morning. She saw the hours in her cell phone. 7AM. No matter how many times she woke up at that hour, no matter how many years she had to get used to it, she would never like to wake up so early.  Waking up at that hour made her always have a really bad humor and would make everyone around her regret talking to her. She just wasn’t a morning person. “Wake up Jieun! You’ll be late.” Her mother still treated her like a child. She was a grown up. She was an adult for god’s sake. The last time she saw it, she was a healthy 23 year old girl. A 23 year girl who was in the best dance and music conservatory in whole South Korea and was probably the best ballet dancer that school as ever seen. But even like that her mother would still treat her like she was a little child who needed protection.

She knew her mother was living her own dreams through her own child. She knew that it was her mother’s dream to see her dance in the best stages the world had to offer. She knew it was her mother’s dream to have her daughter dance with the best of the best, even win an opportunity to work in the best dance companies in the whole world. It was no secret that her mother blamed her for ending her career as a ballerina and now was putting the pressure on Jieun’s shoulders. It was her mother’s dream. All of it. Not hers. It wasn’t her dream. Any of it, but why would she even bother to complain? Why would she even bother to tell her mother that her dream was actually sing? Why would she tell her mother that her dream was to sign with a big company and become a world famous singer? She knew that would never happen, so that was why she wouldn’t bother herself with pointless things. She was good at what she did, and for all she cared, that was all that mattered, at least for the moment.

Jieun got up from the bed and took a long, deep breath as she stretched her whole body. No matter how beautiful the sun was outside, she knew it was going to be another boring, horrible day, like many others. She would spend her day practicing, hearing her instructor saying she had no passion no matter how perfect her moves were. She would hear him say that she didn’t know how to make the audience believe she was feeling love or hate. He would always tell her that no matter how good she was technically and no matter how dedicated she was to her dance, she would always be bad in comparison with Jeon Hyosung. Jeon Hyosung was her best friend. They have known each other since they were practically babies and she knew how brilliant her friend was when it came to dancing. Her moves could not be precise and they could not be 100% perfect, but they were indeed full of passion and she could even show hate and lust to an audience. People would always praise her and tell her how wonderful she was and how big she was going to become. They would tell her she would have a wonderful future when it came to dancing and how people would want her. That was probably why Jeon Hyosung was always chosen as the lead dancer and Jieun would be the second best.

Sure, it frustrated her. It made her eat herself inside because she felt she wasn’t good enough and it would get worse when her instructor told her she was too sweet and that she had no idea how to seduce an audience like Jeon Hyosung. He even told her she should get a boyfriend to see if something inside her made her change, but instead, all Jieun felt was that he was mocking her and was just finding ways to make her feel even worse. She knew one day she would be in the spotlight, even if it killed her. But she wasn’t in a hurry. Her mother on the other hand, looked like she was going to have a heart attack sooner or later. She knew she would be the main star, even if it was just once.

After getting ready, Jieun walked through the kitchen and grabbed a small toast that was on the table. “Morning.” She said with a blank voice and her mother stopped whatever she was doing and looked to her daughter. She walked towards her, in a very elegant way, showing that she had been a dancer before. Jieun rolled her eyes already knowing what was going to happen. She stood up straight and felt her mother’s hand grabbing her chin. Her mother turned her face to the left and then to the right; her mother was scanning every inch of her skin. Her mother always told her that she had to have perfect skin and that she couldn’t have any dark circles under her eyes. Jieun just followed her mother’s rules and would say nothing. Her mother raised a brow noticing her daughter’s expression but decided to ignore; then she gave a couple of steps backwards and looked to the outfit Jieun was wearing. The young girl was wearing a light pink jacket, a white shirt, and dark jeans. “Perfect.”

Jieun gave a weak, fake smile and was ready to leave but her mother stopped her, as always. “You’re just eating a toast?” Jieun pressed her lips together. What she was about to say was going to make her mother make a scene, for sure and she really wasn’t in the mood to hear her mother, especially not at that ungodly hour of the morning. “My stomach is been giving me some problems.” Her mother looked at her and opened to speak, but Jieun stopped her right away. “We’ll talk about this later. I’m late.” Her mother showed how angry she was with the way her daughter spoke to her, but Jieun couldn’t care less. She really didn’t care, but when she saw that her mother was almost having a freak out, she decided to walk towards her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. “Love you.” Her mother gave a small smile back and allowed Jieun to leave. Jieun loved her mother. She really did. She could be insane, she could pressure her to do things she didn’t care for, but she loved her with all her heart. But sometimes…it was too much.

Once outside, Jieun took another deep breath, this time feeling her stomach hurt a little. She was used to it. it’s been like that since she was 11 so it didn’t bothered her much, but from time to time, her stomach would hurt more than usual and would make her want to throw up everything she ate. Thankfully, she never ate too much, so there really wasn’t too much to leave her system. It was one of the many wonderful things of living on constant pressure and of being a dancer. Sure, Jeon Hyosung didn’t had that problem. But wasn’t her best friend perfect? Her best friend was perfect in everyone’s eyes. She was perfect for the company, she was perfect for her boyfriend and she was perfect for the millions of audiences. Jieun on the other hand was the second best, the one people would remember occasionally, if she was lucky.

“LOOK OUT!” She was so distracted with her own thoughts she didn’t even noticed she was in the middle of the street just waiting to be run over. She looked to the man who shouted and she saw a high speed motorcycle come in her direction. Her legs and her entire body froze even thought her brain was screaming for her to jump so she could save herself. Instead she continued looking to the bike with wide eyes and she had no idea how, she was sure it was a miracle, but the man actually managed to change lines and made a loud stop. He probably destroyed his breaks in a matter of seconds. Jieun could feel her heart beating faster than it should and she could swear she saw her life flashing before her eyes and she couldn’t believe that if she died at that moment, her last thoughts would be how jealous she was of her best friend. “What the hell?” The man shouted. It was incredible how she could hear him perfectly even thought he was using a helmet. Not knowing how, she turned her head and saw him taking off the helmet. “Are you insane? Do you want to kill yourself?” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

The man was incredibly handsome. He had a very light brown hair, almost amber and incredibly messy; his eyes were very small, even thought she was almost sure he was using eye-liner and he was wearing a leather jacket, black pants and black boots. She never saw a man like that. Only in magazines and maybe on TV, even thought she never watched it. “If you want to kill yourself I’m fine with it, but just don’t do it in a way you put other’s people’s lives in danger!” He was mad. He was angry and was shouting at her face, but all she could do was look at him and nod. Yes, she felt incredibly stupid for standing in the middle of the street, but for some reason she couldn’t find her voice. Maybe she was still shocked about the whole thing. She saw him rolling his eyes and stare at her in annoyance. “….Just don’t get yourself killed…or do, just don’t ruin someone’s bike!”

Jieun continued staring at the man as he got his helmet back on but couldn’t help but hear him whisper something that she was never called before. “…Crazy …” It surprised her. A lot. Not in her 23years of life she had been called that, but before she could say something, even thought she had no idea what could be, he was long gone and all she could hear was the engine working far away. She blinked a couple of times trying to process everything and a sudden realization crossed her mind. “I’m late!”