Riley was exhausted. She had spent a very long day in classes trying to make enough time for vocal lessons, acting and to spend time with her friends. Adding in their new cleaning duties wasn't an easy task. She wanted to whine and complain that she shouldn't have to do anymore cleaning, but she held it all in.

 

She watched as her best friend, HyeMi, stormed into the room. It had become a habit for the past couple days and Riley knew exactly what had happened. She sighed, her thoughts returning back to JongUp. In a way she could understand him. Who would want to dance after being told that their brother would never be able to dance again and much less, walk. What she didn't understand was why JongUp continued to be enrolled in the dance classes. It was unfair to everyone, like Hyemi, who desperately wanted to learn.

 

Suddenly, at the other corner of the room, Ren jumped to his feet and ran out of the room. SungJong, Ren's roommate, quickly followed him while Kan followed more slowly. Riley sighed, wondering where they were going when they hadn't even been able to start cleaning yet. She didn't want to be cleaning all night, which was what had happened the past couple nights.

 

“Don't worry! We'll be right back!” Kan flashed a smile before disappearing out the door. Riley stood up, preparing for a quick but detailed talk. This would probably be the only chance they would get all night to talk alone.

 

“I'm really sorry about JongUp. I know that this is not what you had expected to happen and that you were supposed to be learning a lot more. However, I don't think that there is anything more I can say to him. If he doesn't want to dance, then nothing I do or say is going to change his mind. I don't even think I could convince him to drop the class.”

 

She took a deep breath, knowing that she was getting too upset over the situation. She was frustrated too. She had believed that she would be able to help JongUp and she would be able to solve all of the problems that were occurring so he would be able to perform with BAP. Everything seemed to be going in the opposite direction that she had hoped they would.

 

“It's ok, I just thought that you would be able to get him to come to class.” HyeMi responded, but still looked upset. Riley walked over to the wall, leaning against it.

 

“Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I thought wrong about JongUp and about coming here. I'm starting to regret my decision and I'm sorry to have forced you to come here with me.” She looked at the floor, seriously thinking about if she should leave the school before things worsened.

 

“Hey...” HyeMi had wanted to say something, but with the sound of the door opening, she quickly stopped talking. Riley looked to the door to find Kan re-entering the room. She gave him a half smile, not able to be her usual cheerful self.

 

“What's wrong?” Kan walked over to her, standing beside her as he waited for an answer. She couldn't even look up at him, so instead she glanced over at her friend. HyeMi shrugged her shoulders at her, but Kan quickly grabbed her attention.

 

“Come on! Lets go for a walk!”

 

Kan grabbed her hand and led her out of the room. She had no choice but to walk beside him. At first she was determined to open up to him, but his persistent nature and silly smile got her to open up. She couldn't help but to be happy that he was there to brighten her mood.

 

“Don't worry! I'm sure your acting is just fine.” Kan encouraged, nudging her. She couldn't tell him the real reason why she had been upset because she was afraid he wouldn't understand. She smiled weakly back, but didn't respond. They were about to turn around to go start their cleaning duty when they ran into JongUp.

 

“Hey JongUp!” Kan said casually, but JongUp just looked between Kan and her. It was even more strange when JongUp asked to speak to her alone. Kan gave her a sideways glance before nodding and returning in the direction in which they had walked.

 

“What do you want?” She asked, deciding to be strong in front of him. She walked over to the other side of the hallway, giving her a reason to not look back at JongUp.

 

“Umm...” He awkwardly rubbed his neck as she waited for him to respond.

 

“Well?...”

 

JongUp turned to her, obviously noticing her horrible attitude. She had no desire to talk to him, she didn't care what he had to say. He had yelled at her before and now she was wondering what she had ever seen in him. What had ever made her want to help him?

 

“Why...the other day why had you wanted me to dance again?” She couldn't raise her head or answer him. She was scared to spill out her real reasons to why she had come to this school. She took a deep breath, looking down the hall away from JongUp.

 

“Listen...I don't have time to answer these questions. I have other things I need to do.” She wanted to escape as quickly as she could and was about to walk away when JongUp grabbed her arm to pull her around.

 

“Answer me...”

 

JongUp stared into her eyes, but she quickly broke eye contact. She couldn't let JongUp get too close to her or it would be too obvious, but he refused to let go.

 

“You are ruining other people's experience here! I get it, you don't want to dance! Don't dance then, I don't care! At least give those who want to dance a chance!” She yelled at him, unable to control her feelings anymore. She pushed him away, before quickly turning to quickly return to her best friend. However, she forced herself into the bathroom so that she could wash her face before returning.

 

“Riley! Look at this!” HyeMi called her over as soon as she returned. Luckily, everyone was focusing on a piece of paper and didn't notice her tear stained face. She stood beside HyeMi who was looking down at a piece of paper.

 

Riley read through the entire paper once and then again before looking up at HyeMi who had been waiting for her reaction. She smiled widely for the first time that day. It was perfect! The school would be auditioning for a musical. This would allow her to take her focus off of JongUp and let her focus on acting and singing. It would also allow HyeMi to start dancing and practicing on her own as well!

 

For the rest of the day and the entire week, Riley worked hard at finishing the cleaning duty early so that she could use her spare time to practice her acting, singing and dancing. She wanted to be prepared for anything that this audition would throw at her.

 

Late on Friday night, she practiced late knowing that it would be hard for her to get any time alone during the weekend. She felt happier as she worked hard for the audition and felt satisfied when she left the training studio near midnight.

 

She never imagined that she would run into a group of people just outside the nurses office. She pouted slightly, watching as people paced nervously outside. She wasn't sure what was going on.

 

“Riley! Have you seen him?” Himchan grabbed her arm, breathing heavily. She gave him a strange look, obviously telling him that she had no clue what he was talking about.

 

“JongUp! You haven't seen JongUp?”

 

She frowned, shaking her head as she couldn't figure out why Himchan thought they would be together. They have hardly talked and she had barely seen JongUp the entire week.

 

“My friend got a call from the school saying that JongUp had been injured.” Himchan explained further, draining the color from her face. Himchan grabbed her arm, pulling her through the crowd so that he could tap on the infirmary’s door.

 

The door swung open almost immediately. Jaejoong, the school doctor, looked frustrated and tired. However, he let Himchan inside who refused to let go of her arm. Together, they stepped inside and found JongUp laying in a bed, asleep.

 

“How is he?” Himchan asked, worriedly. Jaejoong sat in his chair, tiredly leaning backwards.

 

“He was in a lot of pain when he came in so I put him on a lot of painkillers. However, it seems to just be a minor injury. He'll be fine with enough rest and time.” Jaejoong, instead of looking at Himchan who he was talking to, stared at Riley. She moved away from him and closer to JongUp's bed to get a better look at him.

 

“Aish...this kid really knows how to worry us. Excuse me for a few minutes. I need to make a phone call.” Himchan quickly excused himself, leaving Riley alone with Jaejoong and the sleeping JongUp.

 

“What made you decide to come to this school?”

 

Riley turned, facing Jaejoong who had chosen to speak up. She was kind of confused by the question. She met Jaejoong's eyes for a moment, which seemed to be studying her.

 

“I wanted to learn from the best.” Her voice seemed frail in the silent room, but she couldn't speak any louder. Jaejoong nodded, slowly getting up from his seat.

 

“As a young woman...why did you want to come to this school?” Jaejoong asked, shocking her. She bit her lip as they seemed to stare at each other for quite a while. She had no idea how to respond to him as a million thoughts ran through her head.

 

“Doctor Kim! YongGuk is on his way here.” Himchan stepped back inside, causing alarm. Riley bowed once, knowing that she looked just as flustered as she felt.

 

“I'm going to leave now.” Riley announced before quickly leaving the room. She tried to hurry back to the safety of her own room, but froze as she noticed that her own brother was headed in her direction. She wondered how he had been so quick to get there. She quickly turned around, running in the opposite way so that she wouldn't have another close encounter with her brother. She hurried, needing to let her best friend know that the doctor knew the truth about her.