She was late. She knew she was late and she knew how bad it would make her look to everyone, especially to her teacher, the man she was trying so hard to impress so he would give her the main role on their knew play. They were doing “Swan Lake” for the fifth time since she was there. It was the play the audience loved the most, and that was why they were going to do it again. Also, her instructor said he was going to change a few things when it came to the story so people would enjoy it even more and see the well known play with brand new eyes. There was no doubt it would be one of the best plays they would perform and there was no doubt it would bring their company to a whole new level. Everyone was incredibly excited and there were already rumors that the main star would be Jeon Hyosung, even thought the main dancer had not yet been chosen. All of the female dancers were almost killing themselves at practice, wanting to show they were the ones who should be the main star but everyone knew it would be Jeon Hyosung because…because she was perfect.

“I’m glad you decided to join us Mss. Song.” She stopped her tracks and looked to her instructor. She was sure he wouldn’t see her enter the practice room, but the man looked like he had eyes on the back of his head. She hated it. She hated him. She hated him with a passion that she was sure one day it would be visible. The room went silence and all dancers looked at her. “I apologize Mr. Lee. I promise it won’t happen again.” She said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear as she bowed. The man looked at her. His eyes looked like they were going to burn her if he had the chance. “If you want the main role you don’t show it.” He paused and continued looking at her, making Jieun even more uncomfortable than she was before. “Mss. Jeon has been here since 5AM. You should follow her example.” She knew it. She knew her instructor was going to compare her to Jeon Hyosung. She was surprised he didn’t do it right as soon she entered the room. “When all dancers leave, you’ll stay here practicing until I say it’s enough.”

All she could do was nod. She couldn’t complain, she couldn’t even open . “Now join the other dancers for the warm-ups.” Jieun nodded again. She placed her towel and cell phone on the floor, on the small corner that she always called hers and went to the bar in the middle of the room. There, she stood behind her best friend. “…I’m so sorry Jieun…” She never understood why Jeon Hyosung apologized when the two of them were compared. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t her fault she was perfect and amazing. It wasn’t her fault that everyone loved her. It wasn’t Jeon Hyosung’s fault. It was Jieun’s . “It’s okay…He just likes to annoy me.” Jieun said with a fake smile. Her friend continued looking at her with worried eyes and started biting her lips. She couldn’t understand how Jeon Hyosung could be so sweet. She was sure that someone with her status, someone that was complimented every single day by everyone would have a huge ego and would act like she was bigger than everyone. Jeon Hyosung wasn’t like that. It seemed the more people loved her the more humble Jeon Hyosung became.

“Hey, are you going to do anything tonight? Dongwoo wants to know if you want to go out with us.” Jeon Hyosung said with a bright smile. Jieun on the other hand started biting her lips and looked at her friend with sad eyes. “Can’t…my mother…” She didn’t need to say anything else. Jeon Hyosung knew how her mother was and knew that there was no point on insisting on it. Jieun hated it. She wasn’t a child. She wasn’t a baby and yet, her mother didn’t allow her to go out with friends and actually have a life. The last time she tried to go against her mother she found herself locked on her own bedroom and wasn’t allowed to leave unless it was for practice. It was ridiculous but there was nothing she could do, only bear with it with a stupid smile on her face.  “Places everyone!” They heard the instructor. It was time. It was time to do something she hated and it was time to prove to that man she was indeed good enough to take the spotlight at least once in her life.

“Again!” He shouted and Jieun tried her best not to glare at him. She was exhausted and all she wanted was to take a nice shower and sleep. She had been left alone with her instructor for about 3hours now and he was literally killing her. He was making her do pirouettes and jump around like she was some sort of doll. No matter how much effort she putted on them, he was always telling that she wasn’t good enough, that she wasn’t trying hard and that she was just showing him that Jeon Hyosung was indeed meant to be the Swan Princess once again and that she would never become as great as her friend. How was she supposed to give a good performance to her instructor when he continued saying those mean words to her? How was she supposed to show something wonderful when he was trying his best to break her spirit? 

She took a deep breath and started dancing again. The music started and she was doing her best. As she did it, she couldn’t stop but stare at him. She could see he wasn’t pleased with her dancing. She could see he was getting frustrated with everything she was doing and because she was thinking too much about his facial expression, she missed a step and the rest of the dance became a mess. “Stop! Stop!” He shouted and made a sign for the pianist to stop the music. She looked up to him and saw how angry he was. It looked like he was ready to rip her head off if he had the chance. “You over think! Your moves are to studied! You have to feel them, not think about them.” She opened to speak, to defend herself, but before she could say a word, he rolled his eyes and passed a hand through his hair. “You’re wasting my time. I thought you had potential, but I think I was wrong.”  Those words were like a dagger in her heart and she couldn’t believe how much it hurt. She started feeling tears on her eyes and to prevent herself from crying, she closed her hands into fists and started thinking about something else.

“…We’ll try again tomorrow.” With that, he left the room not even bothering himself with Jieun anymore. She waited for his steps to be completely gone and in a blink of an eye, she collapsed on the floor and the tears started falling. She had no idea how it happened so fast, but when he closed the door she lost all of her strength and felt on the floor and a sudden weight over took her heart. It was like she couldn’t even breathe. To make everything worse it was like his words were stuck inside her head and wouldn’t leave. How could he say she was no good? How could he say that she was wasting his time? She was trying her best! She was giving everything she had to impress him but instead he was stepping on her and was saying she wasn’t good enough.

She was so distracted she didn’t hear a few steps going closer to her. It was like the whole world around her didn’t exist at that moment. “Here…” She had no idea how she managed to hear the voice but when she did, she opened her eyes and saw a small, white handkerchief in front of her. She looked up and saw a very handsome man with dark hair looking at her with a very gentle, beautiful smile. She took the handkerchief and couldn’t help but wonder from where did this man came from. “T…Thanks…” She managed to say between sobs. He sat in front of her and smiled a little more than before. His smile was indeed charming and she was sure that he had millions of girls after him just because of it. “Don’t cry….Beautiful girls shouldn’t cry.” She blushed when she heard those words and looked down to her hands. On a normal day she would probably smile to that comment but at that moment, all she could do was stare to her hands and continue to sob.

“Howon can be a jerk sometimes, but he’s a good guy. He just wants to push you at your limits to see if you have what it takes.” Jieun couldn’t help but wonder why this man was calling her instructor by his first name. Everyone that knew him knew they had to call him Mr. Lee otherwise there would be problems. “Y…You know him?” She managed to ask. He nodded and smiled. “Yeah. We are friends! He’s the one who got me this job.” She raised a brow and he smiled more. “I’m the pianist.” He paused for a moment. “I’m not surprised you never noticed. You’re always so focused on your dance that I’m surprised you even hear the music.” She looked down to her hands embarrassed. How could she not notice that the pianist, the man that had been playing the songs she had been dancing for almost three years was this handsome, caring man? “…I…I’m sorry.” She whispered and he smiled at her. “Oh don’t worry! At least now you know!” She saw him getting up and she was very surprised when she saw him extend his hand towards her. “I’m Nam Woohyun. Nice to finally meet you Mss. Song.”