"No!!"

Yuri exclaimed. She ruffled her hair, frustration written all over her face. Donghae took a step back and watched her watching herself dance in the mirror. Her step more prowerful and full of passion after every groan and sigh she let out. 

"Again"

Yuri queued Donghae for the music to start from the beginning. Donghae pressed on the rewind button and watched her dance perfectly to the routine she made. She has a way when she dances, it mesmerizes you and captures your attention. And Donghae was definitely captivated. She stopped in the middle of the routine and looked at Donghae through the mirror, squinting her eyes as she placed her hand on her hip. He stood up a little straighter.

"Aren't you going to basketball practise or are you planning to stare at me?"

Donghae stopped the music and sat on the floor. Yuri was flabbergasted he had stopped the music instead of leaving.

“Yuri, can you please just calm down"

Donghae said, smiling at her as he tried to ease her stress. To his surprise, her eyesbrows weren't furrowed anymore and her frown turned to a sheepish smile. 

“Sorry I snapped at you. It’s just you watching me dance, alone, makes me nervous and.."

She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. Donghae cocked an eyebrow, motioning her to continue.

“I’m scared that I won’t have you or anybody by my side, on the stage during my solo act”

“It’s called a solo for a reason”

Donghae joked. He immediately regretted saying that when her lips frowned slightly as she turned away.

“I’ll be there for our hip hop and tango performance, and Taemin will be there for your contemporary performance. It’s only gonna be that one performance you’re doing alone, so don’t worry ok?”

He tried to assure her, but he saw her biting her bottom lip, an indication of her nervousness.

“One screw up could cost everything” Yuri blurted out.

“Something tells me its not just that that you’re worried about"

He said, patting the space next to him for her to sit. She sighed as she grabbed a bottle of water and sat next to him.

"I still think the judges gave me a little advantage seeing I'm Kwon Dae joo's granddaughter. What if the scouts don’t like me?“

She sighed, opening up to him.

“One, no they didn’t. Two, they are gonna love you and you should know that" Donghae assured her. "The judges here give out fair points"

"If they didn't, I would have already entered the ATC three years ago under the Basketball category because of this girl, Go Hara who had the biggest crush on me and I'm not just saying that" Donghae explained, "Her dad was one of the judges during the try outs and everyone knew he would do anything for his daughter and she kept telling me she'll get me a spot to show she was really serious about liking me"

"I didn't stop her" He continued, sheepishly " I was just as eager to play as any newbie there was, hoping to be the next Micheal Jourdan" Donghae defended himself when he saw Yuri raise her eyebrows at him. "My point is, he didn't let me even tryout because couch told him I was terrible" he said, emphasizing on the last word which caused Yuri to laugh.

"And thanks to him, I didn't embarrass myself infront of scouts and got to this stage at basketball where I'm considered and I quote coach's words one of his best players" he said, proudly. Yuri turned to look at her shoes, nodding to indicate to Donghae she understood what he was saying to her but deep down, she still had that doubt but decided to keep it to herself. 

"I should get going"

Donghae said as he stood up, breaking her train of thoughts. She looked up, feeling slightly disappointed about his departure. She weakly smiled at him. Pulling his bag onto his shoulder, he gave a cheerful wave and headed for the door. 

“Come join me and the gang for the baking thing once you’re done" 

Donghae requested. Yuri ignored his request as she waved as cheerfully as she could and waited for him to close the door. Hearing the click of the lock, she brought her knees close to her chest and burried her head inbetween them, trying to erase any doubts and fears before Taemin arrived for their duo performance. As she tried to calm herself, her thoughts instead drifted to Donghae. How she likes his company, how much he made her laugh and smile, how he touched her during those dances, how close he was, how his eyes bore into her with such intensity it felt like he was staring right into her soul, how he made her cheeks heat up and most importantly how he made her heart beat so fast she could have swore it would jump out of her chest. Even now, just thinking about him made her heart skip a beat and she unconsciously found herself smiling.

She removed her head from her knees and shook her head, trying to get rid of the thoughts and focus on her routines instead. However, no matter how much she tried, it always came back to him.

What is wrong with me, focus Kwon Yuri!

She stood up and went into her solo performance position. As she closed her eyes to imagine a crowd with scouts sitting somewhere in there, staring at her, judging her, her mind couldn’t help imagine Donghae sitting in the front row, smiling up at her. Again, she caught herself smiling. 

Why can’t I stop thinking about him

Yuri opened her eyes, staring right at her reflection. After a few minutes of silence, it then hit her. She’s only felt like this once. Her eyes went bug-eyed at the realisation.

I can’t possibly….

Yuri shook her head, not really wanting to believe it.

I can’t…can I?

She thought of all moments they had and the feelings he made her feel, finally letting it sink in

I have feelings for the boy next door

Yuri sighed, not really sure if she was ready to open her heart.

“Hey, Yuri noona!” Teamin came barging in with a smile and a cheerful wave but Yuri still stood staring at herself, not really sure what to do with the revelation.

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

“Amber?”

The girl turned around to the familiar voice, a smile ready to greet the owner.

“Donghae oppa!” 

She spread her arms, greeting him with a hug. They talked to each other, catching up like old friends and teasing each other. As they were walking up to the barn, a certain subject came up which Donghae wasn’t really sure he wanted to talk about.

“So”

Amber started.

“Any girls you interested in or are you still involve with her?”

Donghae scoffed, pretending he didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Hmm, just a scoff??”

Amber nodded, mocking him.

“So about the dance competiti-“

“Stop!”

Donghae screamed, covering his ears which earned him a fit of giggles from Amber. He glared at her, causing her to stop and cleared . Before they got any closer to the barn, Amber pulled Donghae’