Chapter twenty-two:

Yoseon’s POV:

I looked at the clock.

4:55pm.

5 more minutes till we were scheduled to meet

After Mr. Hong’s lecture yesterday, Ms. Park told me (curtly and coldly, if I should mention) to meet her here at 5pm for dance lessons.

Could I be honest?

When Mr. Hong suggested, no wait, practically DEMANDED Ms. Park to start lessons with me immediately yesterday, I felt...relieved.

Wait, scratch that

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually felt…thankful.

Yes. You didn’t hear me wrongly.

I was thankful that Mr. Hong instructed Ms. Park to give me one-to-one lessons

In fact, some might even say that I was…almost…happy?

I couldn’t believe that I was actually eager to start a lesson with her.

Desperate, in fact. I couldn’t wait for it.

Hold on. Don’t get me wrong. It’s NOT what you think. Heck no.

 I just wanted to nail that dance as soon as I could, to get that load off my mind. And I knew that Ms. Park, no matter how unbearably annoying she was, could help me do so.

It’s not that I WANTED to spend them with her, definitely not

But I NEEDED lessons with her. BADLY. And I wanted to master that darned dance as early as possible.

Unfortunately, the room was still empty. She wasn’t here yet.

Darn.

Might as well try to practice first…

Maybe a miracle would happen, and I could FINALLY get past the 5 second mark and perfect the dance, without needing the help of Ms. Park

*Yeah right* A small part of me replied unhelpfully, demoralizing me greatly before I even started to try.

I entered the room, and started to watch my solo dance for the millionth time.

UGHHHH. WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SO DIFFICULT?

I tried to imitate the instructor doing my solo dance, but I just couldn’t get it. I had watched the video so many times, I could memorize all the moves already, but I just couldn’t seem to execute them out. It just wasn’t my style. I’ve never tried these kind of dances before.

Why did CUBE have to give me such a difficult solo choreography?

Okay. Here goes nothing.

I stood up after watching the video once, and got into position.

The first five seconds or so were okay. I could catch and imitate those dance moves.

But after that…

Well, let’s just say that the little voice in my head was right

“UGHHHH!” I groaned in frustration, and stopped the music. I was never going to get this move down. Five seconds into the dance, and I was stumped. WHY? Because of one particular move. One particular move called GLIDING.

How is it possible to glide your feet so effortlessly? No matter how I tried, I looked extremely stiff and awkward doing it. I just couldn’t slide my feet naturally. I could only walk, not glide.

So I picked up the remote control, and re-watched the video once again…

And again…

And again…

Your POV:

After a quick bite at the cafeteria, I looked at the watch. It was 5pm. Time for my one-to-one dance lesson with Yang Yoseob.

Aishhhh! Relax, Park Eunmi! It’s just a dance lesson! Just…teach him! Like a professional! What’s wrong with that? It’s either teach him or get fired! it up!

So I quickly took the elevator to the third floor and hurried down the hallway, to the dance practice studio.

I could hear ‘It’s not me’ being played a distance away…

As I got closer, I noticed that the lights in the dance studio were also switched on.

Which was weird. I didn’t recall anyone having lessons now, especially not BEAST. And I booked that studio…

I peeked into the dance studio.

Oh.

It was Yoseob.

And he was practicing the steps for his solo dance.

I could see the solo dance for ‘It’s not me’ being played on the projector, and he was imitating the dance steps.

Wait, no, wrong use of words.

He was TRYING to imitate the dance steps. Trying so hard. Trying like I’ve never seen someone try before

But still failing

“UGHHHH!” I could hear him groan, frustrated. He replayed the video and kept messing up at the same part, the part where he had to glide his feet and travel sideways.

Now I knew what Mr. Hong meant. It was really bad.

In fact, it was so bad, that even I felt bad for him

He looked extremely stiff gliding. In fact, it wasn’t even called gliding, what he was doing. He was practically walking, like a robot. He just couldn’t glide, and was struggling.

Judging from this, I could tell that he was having serious difficulty learning the dance.

That was huge trouble for him, since most of the dance required him to…glide…

He looked really angry at himself, and he even looked weary, like he was going to give up.

As I watched him struggle, I felt a pang in my heart. It was pretty heartwrenching, no matter how angry I was at him, to see how angry and frustrated he got trying to learn his solo dance. The poor guy was trying, he really was. I could tell.

But he just couldn’t do it, no matter how hard he tried

Okay, Ms. Park! Time to do your work!

I slowly opened the door, and entered. He was too engrossed in the dance moves that he didn’t notice my presence.

Here goes nothing, Park Eunmi!

Remember, it’s just a lesson!

Just relax!

Yoseob’s POV:

UGHHHHHHHHHH!

WHY COULDN’T I GLIDE MY FEET?

WHY WAS IT SO HARD?

I swear, I was never, EVER going to get that move right.

I was going to screw up on stage, in front of everyone

I was going to make a fool out of myself

I was going to disappoint everyone

I WAS GOING TO DIE

What to do? What to do?

I sighed, frustrated and exasperated. I could even feel tears of frustration at the corner of my eyes.

I had never cried during work before.

Not during the harsh training period

Not during the times we were being drilled for our comebacks

Not even when I was told that I would have to pack my things and leave the agency because I ‘didn’t fit the image of the group’ (Thank goodness sunbae Rain gave me another chance to stay)

(A.N. Did you guys know that Yoseob was almost booted out of BEAST? I’m not making this up – seriously. I can’t imagine BEAST without Yoseob. Thank goodness for Rain! We B2UTIES are TOTALLY indebted to Rain now)

But the stakes were too high.

And if I were to screw this up…

I imagined how disappointed everyone would be

The B2ST members, for ruining B2ST’s good name

Mr. Hong, for letting him down

B2UTIES, for giving them such a bad performace after they had sent me so many tweets encouraging me…

“Try doing this first, to practice the gliding action.” I heard a voice softly coming from behind me, disrupting my chain of thoughts. When I turned around, I saw Ms. Park standing behind me.

I took a look at what she was doing. She was sliding her feet slowly on the spot.

She made it seem so…easy

Like it was effortless

She probably knows how to nail this move

After all, she IS a dance teacher

Forget about your pride, Yang Yoseob! Aishhh! Just for once, forget about it!

This is much more important

I wanted to roll my eyes, to leave the room this instant. But I couldn’t.

I was desperate. It was either learn this dance or die.

So I hesitantly copied her. As expected, I was pretty stiff. I just couldn’t glide. I growled in frustration again.

Well, THAT didn’t help at all. Thanks a lot. I wanted to snap.

“Calm down, calm down…” She reassured me. Her voice was surprisingly soothing. “How about this?” Her left foot was on tip-toe while her right foot was on the floor. Then she switched, her right foot being on tip-top while her left foot being on the floor. She kept repeating the same action over and over again.

That looks pretty easy, I can do that

But how the heck is this supposed to help me?

Aishhh. Whatever.

After all, you have nothing else to lose. Just try it!

So I copied her, repeating the action over and over again. It was pretty easy, and I didn’t see how it could help me learn to glide my feet.

“Okay, now instead of going on tip-toe, balance yourself on the balls of that foot.” She instructed, and demonstrated the action. I followed her easily.

“Okay, now try to walk to the left but resist a little. Try to pretend you’re on a travelator that’s moving to the right, and you resist it and move to the left. You should feel a lot of friction between your feet and the floor. Try it!” She demonstrated, gliding sideways easily.

I was pretty skeptical. I didn’t believe that it’d actually help me glide sideways, but I tried it anyway. After all, I had nothing to lose.

Okay, I’m on a travelator…

And I’m doing the movement to the right. Moving against the direction of the travelator…

I want to move right but my feet are taking me left…

“Look at the mirror.” A voice interrupted my visualization. “That’s the movement.”

I took a look at the mirror skeptically. Yeah right. As if that move was that easy to learn.

Then I gasped.

Wow.

I WAS really doing it.

I WAS gliding sideways easily

It was still a little stiff and a little awkward, but it flowed so much more and was so much more natural than the previous times…So much more…

Wow.

Who knew that her advice actually worked so well?

“Not bad.” She admitted, hesitantly, almost unwillingly, which made me almost want to smile in pride. “Now let’s try that movement again, faster this time. 5,6,7,8!”

Your POV:

[Two hours later…]

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Yoseob was gliding sideways perfectly. It flowed together with the music, and looked unbelievably natural. He made it look so easy, it was almost impossible to imagine that he was struggling with this move two hours ago.

“How is it?” He asked me, rather hesitantly.

I resisted the urge to smile, and I kept a poker-face on. “You can be the judge of that. I filmed down your performance. Check it out and see for yourself.”

He immediately took a seat beside me and I played the video. It captured every single action perfectly. It made him look even better than I had observed just now.

After the video ended, I turned to see his reaction.

His big eyes bulged out. His jaw hung open. He was speechless.

I tried my hardest not to smile or giggle at his reaction, and kept a poker-face on.

“That was…” he said softly, “Okay? Wasn’t it?”

I nodded hesitantly. It was actually better than okay. It was AMAZING. It was BRILLIANT.

But I couldn’t give him that satisfaction.

“It’s better.” I said simply.

Then, for the first time I’ve interacted with him, he smiled

It was a small smile, barely noticeable, but he did

Yang Yoseob smiled

When he smiled, his huge eyes would sparkle, and his cheeks would flush slightly red. His cheekbones would lift and he looked like a totally different person altogether.

He really should smile more often. He has no idea how adorable he looks when he smiles…

For some reason, it really warmed my heart to see him happy and cheerful for once. It was really a nice change from being gloomy and moody like he had been the entire week.

Wait

What are you thinking, Park Eunmi?

Jerk. Jerk. JERK.

 “Look. It’s seven already.” I pointed to the clock, trying to take my eyes off that smile of his. “I have to get going.

“Come here tomorrow, at the same time. We’ll work on the rest of the dance.” I used my coldest, firmest voice, like the voices those super strict headmistresses used in schools.

Then I grabbed my bag and left

Trying my hardest not to turn back

----------------

Heyyyy (: I'm sorry I couldn't update for awhile, schoolwork's killing me, I swear x.x Are you guys busy too? I noticed many of you don't comment any more D: But hey, I totally understand if you're too busy to comment really long comments, but I wouldn't mind if you guys dropped a really short comment here and there so that I know you're still reading this kekeke :D really worried :/ where did all of you go D:

Anyway, hope you liked this 2000-word chappie! (: I extended it to make up for my lack of updates recently (: I'll try to update as soon as I can :D

Meanwhile, you guys know what to do! COMMENTCOMMENTCOMMENT kekeke :D and upvote if you can (and want to) :D

Love you guys~

BTW, did you guys watch Seobie on Weekly Idol? :D it's on youtube :D HE'S SO CUTE THERE! I was dying and spazzing so badly! Go watch it!