Yu Kwon and Min Hyuck were watching themselves dance in the mirror.  Jae Hyo was sitting against the wall across the studio with his head down, it looked like he was sleeping.

            I looked to Ji Hoon.  “What’s going on?” I asked again.

            “What do you mean, what’s going on?  There’s your group.  Block b’s dancers,” he explained pointing to Yu Kwon and Min Hyuck, who were now shoving each other around.  Ji Hoon stepped closer to me and whispered, “Now you have no excuse not to go to your audition.”

            “But…but I don’t know if I can make a routine for us,” I argued, unsurely.

            “They can help you.  They’re here to add a little hip hop to your audition.  They’re good at choreography.  Especially Min Hyuck hyung.”

            “But you guys are so busy, I can’t ask you to-”

            Ji Hoon cut me off by covering my mouth with his hand.

            “Yu Kwon hyung!” he called out when he let his hand drop.  We walked closer as Yu Kwon and Min Hyuck looked over at us, smiling.  Jae Hyo seemed to wake up at the sound of Ji Hoon calling.  “Leah is worried that you two will be too busy these two weeks to help her.”

            Yu Kwon smirked and looked at me.  He cleared his throat and coughed the most disgusting, hacking cough I’d ever heard in my life.

            “No worries, Leah.  Hyung and I must have caught what maknae had a while back,” he explained.  They lied.  Just like when Ji Hoon lied to come see my audition.

            I could have jumped on all of them right then and there I was so grateful.

            “Manager hyung says we should rest until we feel better.  We’re just practicing for our new music video,” Min Hyuck added with a shrug.  “We can work during the day when you’re at school and we’ll meet at night to practice.  I mean, we’ll rest at night.  Since we’re sick and everything,” he added a cough at the end and then grinned widely.

            I laughed.  “You guys are the best.  I don’t know how to thank you.”

            “Send us more food,” Jae Hyo piped up.  He had walked over and stood next to me.  Smirking as he shot a glance over to Ji Hoon standing on the other side of me.  I giggled and nodded, telling him that I would.

            “Are you going to dance, too, Jae Hyo?” I asked after.

            “No, I’m just here because we don’t have a schedule tonight, so I wanted to watch you dance,” he explained.  “And, Leah please, call me oppa.  We’re friends now, right?”  Ji Hoon cleared his throat.

            I tried my hardest not to laugh when I looked from Ji Hoon to Jae Hyo.  “Ok, Oppa, if you say so.”  I batted my eyes at him.

            Ji Hoon jutted out his lower lip and looked to his other hyungs for help.

            “Aw, maknae, did the mean ballerina make you sad?” Min Hyuck asked with mock sympathy.  He patted the younger boy on the shoulder.

            I lost it and cracked up.  Regaining my straight face, I wrapped my arms around Ji Hoon’s shoulders and rested my head against his chest.  “Come on, Ji Hoon, you know you’re my favorite oppa.”

            Jae Hyo rolled his eyes at Ji Hoon’s smug look.

            “Can we get started now?” Min Hyuck demanded flatly.  I let go of Ji Hoon and stepped away from him, still smiling.

            “Can you dance in jeans?” Yu Kwon asked, looking at my clothes.

            “Oh, no, but it’s ok.  I left some clothes here in the back room.  We’re going to start tonight?” I wondered, looking between the two Block b dancers.

            “Yes, well, but not yet,” Min Hyuck said.  He checked his watch then eyed Ji Hoon.  “Where is she?  She said she’d be here.”

            “Who?”  Ji Hoon just smiled at me when I questioned.

            As if on cue, we heard frantic footsteps thumping up the stairs outside.  The door flung open and Hye Rin was panting as she tumbled into the studio.

            “Sorry!  My class ran late,” she apologized as she kicked off her shoes, tossed her bag off to the side, and ran over to us.

            “Hye Rin!” I chirped.  I hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks.

            She smiled brightly at all of us and then bounced over to hug me.  “Why didn’t you tell me you needed to come up with a group dance for your new audition?  Didn’t I ever tell you?  I was a dancer for years when I was in school.  I had to stop during my last year of high school and now that I’m in college, I don’t do it, but I bet I still have some moves,” she told me with a playful pout.  “You didn’t even think to ask me.  Ji Hoon here had to come to the café and talk to me.”

            “But aren’t you busy with school and work and stuff?” I wondered.  “I didn’t want to bother you.  I wasn’t even going to do it,” I added in a mutter under my breath.

            She gave me a light shove.  “It’s only for a couple of weeks.”

            I smiled gratefully at my friend.

            “Well, let’s get started then!” Yu Kwon cheered.  He and Min Hyuck walked over to the table with the speakers to set up the music. 

            “Hyung, let’s go sit over here, out of the way.  Away from Leah,” Ji Hoon grumbled tugging on Jae Hyo’s arm.  Jae Hyo winked at me, but let himself get dragged to the other side of the studio and sat on the floor with a still ruffled looking Ji Hoon.

            “Leah,” Hye Rin whispered as she stretched her arms over her head.  “If we do some couple moves in this dance, you give me Yu Kwon or I’ll break your legs in so many places you’ll never dance again.”

            I tried to stifle my giggles.  “I thought Tae Il was your favorite,” I whispered back.

            She shrugged.  “I’ll take who I can get.  Don’t get me wrong, B-Bomb is a hottie, but there’s something about Yu Kwon’s smile that makes me want to squeeze him.”  She glanced over at him still fiddling with the speakers.  “I’d sacrifice our friendship to rock out with him.”

            “He’s all yours then,” I allowed.  “I want to stay friends with you anyway.”  She bounced up and down as the boys came back over.

            “We started thinking of some moves to this song when Ji Hoon told us about the audition.  If you don’t like it, we could pick something else,” Min Hyuck stated.  I listened to the music.  The song had a good beat. 

            “No, this song is great.  Good choice,” I replied.

            “Cool.  Let’s warm up and then we can get started,” he stated.

            Hye Rin inched closer to Yu Kwon.  I giggled again.

            “Let’s do it then,” I agreed.

            After almost three hours of working on the basics of the routine and tweaking certain parts, Hye Rin curled up into a ball, hugging my legs.

            We decided to call it a night.

            “Thank you, Ji Hoon, for doing this,” I told him once everyone else had left.

            He actually blushed a little and shrugged, tugging on his beanie.  “Besides the fact that I want you to stay in Korea more than anything,” he paused as his ears flushed red.  “I want you to be happy.  Dance makes you happy.  Life is too short to not be doing things that make you happy.  Plus you’re a beautiful dancer, the world should see that.”  I felt like such a girl as I bit my lip, feeling overly emotional at his words.

            I wanted to kiss him.  To throw my arms around him and feel him against me.  I wanted to tell him how crazy I was about him and that it didn’t matter how young or old we were.

            But the realistic voice in my head told me that I may very well get rejected from Seoul University too and, as much as it hurts now not to touch him, it will hurt an infinite number of times more if I have to leave him after giving into my feelings for him.

            “You’re the best, Ji Hoon,” I smiled, clapping him on the back.

            I tried not to make it look like I was in such a hurry to leave the studio, to get away from him.