A knock sounded on the door. Oh seongsang-nim cut the music, and everyone stood there, panting.

“Is it okay if I interrupt?” Manager Kim’s head poked through the door.

They all knew it was perfectly within his rights as a manager to interrupt the rehearsal, but he was just nice like that and asked. Oh seongsang-nim nodded and gestured for him to come in.

“I see you’re working quite hard,” he commented as he took his usual position on the floor. “How is the choreography coming along, Dae Hyun-sshi?”

The choreographer bobbed his head with a thoughtful expression. “Okay. We will need to work harder.”
 

Manager Kim nodded, satisfied with that answer. “Good. But the reason I’m here today,” he addressed the kids, “is about the pairings. Remember the footage we took at Lotte World?”

“How could we forget?” Sunhwa muttered under her breath.

Hyun Jin nudged her gently, grinning, and Sulli and Luna smiled at their friend’s reluctance.

Onew answered for everyone. “Neh, hyung.”

“We’ve reviewed the tapes,” Manager Kim explained, pulling out a crisp sheet of paper from a manila folder. “And decided the pairings. You will begin rehearsing in these pairs from now on, and these will be the people you perform with for our promotions. Arasso?”

“Arasso,” everyone chorused.

He gave a warning frown. “And I don’t want any objections. These were decided with every opinion and angle in mind and I won’t have you all undermining the process. These pairs are the foundation of the dance and our promotions rest on them.”

Manager Kim made eye contact with everyone as they nodded seriously. Sunhwa secretly hoped that she would get someone that wouldn’t be awkward. Maybe Onew, or Minho perhaps.

The manager looked around one last time before clearing his throat and beginning to read.

“Luna and Onew.” The first person smiled shyly and looked over at her oppa, who smiled back cheerfully and gave her a thumbs up. Sulli squeezed Luna’s arm softly.

“Sulli and Jonghyun.” Jonghyun grinned lopsidedly and sent a wink to Sulli, who winked back while giggling.

“Hyun Jin and Taemin.” Said girl gave a little squeal of delight, waving excitedly at Taemin. He looked a little confused and even a tiny bit disappointed, but waved back all the same and acknowledged her with a nod of his head and a smile.

“Victoria and Minho.” The ice queen scowled fiercely and tossed her hair over her shoulder, glowering at Minho, who steadfastly ignored her. Sunhwa caught a slight eye roll from his direction.

“Sunhwa…” Her mind spun. There was only person left, but she kept hoping…hoping against fate and whatever outside forces were out there that that person’s name would not come out of Manager Kim’s mouth.

“…and Key.”

Sunhwa froze. Her mind was blank for a second, and then thoughts started flooding in, most of them dealing with certain choice words and Key.

“What? No! I refuse to dance with that peasant,” Key spat, not even looking at her and glaring at Manager Kim.

Sunhwa silently agreed with him, but didn’t say anything. She trusted SM and management’s decisions, but why did it have to be him?

Manager Kim said calmly, “Key, we already talked about this. We saw fit that you and Sunhwa dance together. What did I say about objections?”

Key opened his mouth to retort, but Jonghyun put a hand on his arm. “Not now,” he whispered.

He closed it sullenly, the coldness not absent from his eyes. Sunhwa scoffed to herself.

“If that’s all,” Manager Kim said, looking around at the kids with a benevolent expression that almost dared anyone else to say anything at the same time. He gathered his things into his folder and stood up. “I’ll be going now. Work hard, okay?”

Oh seongsang-nim stood up too, and everyone else did the same hastily. “Thanks, Sang Ki-sshi.”

Manager Kim nodded at him before opening the door. “Proceed, Dae Hyun-sshi. Fighting!” He raised a fist and left.

There was a short bout of silence before Oh seongsang-nim cleared his throat. “Well? You heard the man. What are you waiting for?”

Everyone muttered apologies as they got into formation again.

The choreographer and dance coach clapped his hands sharply. “Get into your pairs. We’re starting from Minho’s first intro.”

Key strode over to Sunhwa haughtily, but she gazed back at him coolly before the music started up again.

-

Sunhwa let out a breath as she closed the door to her family’s apartment. She still hadn’t found the strength or will to move out yet. She hated herself for it, but for now, she was staying put. Besides, while she was here, she still had her mom’s cooking. Sunhwa couldn’t cook to save her life, despite her love for food, and the few times she had tried had resulted in messy, burnt disasters, and a solemn vow never to try cooking anything more complicated than ramen again.

She blinked at a light that was still on in the kitchen, and recognized the small figure of her mother. “Umma?”
 

The woman started and then looked up. “Sunhwa yah.” After a pause, her mother added, “You’re back late.”

Sunhwa resisted a groan of frustration and instead settled for rubbing her temples. “Neh, rehearsal ran late today.”

Her mother shot her a disapproving look, looking up from the papers. “So you didn’t go to work today?”

“I went for a little bit before,” she said, looking at the floor.

There was the sound of paper shuffling and a sigh. “Sunhwa yah, you can’t just ditch work every day.”

“I’m not ditching! The manager knows about my schedule,” Sunhwa defended, gripping her duffel a little tighter.

Another sigh. “You know you can’t keep this up forever.”

“Why not?” she said defiantly.

“Because you’re coming home tired and late every day, sneaking around the house, not making any money, and none of this is paying the bills!” her mother snapped.

Sunhwa was shocked. She had never brought up bills before. “Well, I’m sorry I’m just leeching off of your money. It must be so hard to see your daughter becoming a failure like this,” she retorted icily.

Her mother rubbed her eyes tiredly, and for the first time, Sunhwa noticed the dark circles underneath. She took a deep breath. “Sunhwa yah…I’m sorry. That just came out. Work’s been difficult lately and I have a lot on my mind.”

As much as Sunhwa wanted to stay mad at her, she couldn’t. “It’s okay, umma.” She paused, and added a bit reluctantly, “I’ve been rude and stressed to you, too.”

Her mother smiled, gesturing for her to come closer. “Come here.”

Sunhwa walked to her side and received the hug. Her mother held her arms loosely afterwards and looked up at her. “Sunhwa yah, I know things are tough right now, but we’ll work it out. Arasso?”

Sunhwa swallowed, pushing down the objections bubbling up in uncomfortably. But she plastered a smile on her face and answered, “Arasso.”

Ahh I feel like my titles are getting progressively worse...mianhe. I also apologize for not updating sooner, but I was at an orchestra event for a few days. It was fabulous :) But this chapter is long, right? I'm quite satisfied with it. xD

Thanks to all my lovely subscribers/readers for reading! Don't be shy, go ahead and comment. :P

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- tigress