Baekho’s POV

This was the fifth time we got to this verse, the fifth time the song went off without a hitch until now, and the fifth time that Ren and I had to pick JR off the floor. It was a complicated dance move. Well not so much as complicated as much as it had everything to do with trusting the members behind him. And JR trusted everyone in the group, but for some reason, when it came to this, he just didn’t have faith.

“We can’t keep doing this.” Ren said. “If you keep falling, we’ll never get through this song. And if that happens, our dance will have to be re-worked and I don’t want to change half the steps when I’ve just got them down.” He scolded our leader lightly, pouting.

“It’s not my fault!” JR said and turned to the other two. “Why can’t you two catch me?”

“We do!” Minhyun said. “But then you get all nervous, you buckle and fall on your own.”

“Yeah, we can only do so much before we have to let you go. You try to take us down with you.” Aron said, shaking his head.

“Well that wouldn’t be an issue if-“

“Alright!” I called and sighed. I felt a headache coming on. I usually go them when we all got in arguments. I hate arguing with the others. It destroys a little bit of the foundation of friendship our group is based upon each time. “Look, let’s just all take a break.” I suggested. “We’ll re-group and try again.”

“Who made you leader?” JR growled, glaring at me. Damn, what was up with that? Why was he acting so strange? Ever since that night talking with Minhyun, it seemed no one had been the same, but at the same time, everyone acted as if nothing happened. It was confusing the hell out of me. The only person who acted normal period was Ren, thankfully.

“No one! But when you’re so upset like this, someone has to take charge until you can calm down.” I said, staring him down.  Our eyes locked for a long while before he finally broke away and turned, leaving the room.

“Wow.” Minhyun whispered, shaking his head. “I mean, there have been times where I’ve forgotten to hold out my arms.” He said gently.

“And sometimes I’m a little slow too.” Aron admitted.

“Look everyone is at fault.” I said.

“How are we at fault?” Ren asked.

“Well, remember the second attempt. We did our part a little too long, so JR hit us as he went forward.”

“Oh yeah.” Ren said and nodded.

“So let’s not fight about this anymore alright? This is a hard song, with a powerful message. We need to get the steps right before we comeback. We can do this.” They all smiled, agreeing with me.  Ren often shared with me how much he thought I should be the leader. Though I often thought I could make a good leader, I didn’t want to be. JR was an awesome leader as it was; he just sometimes forgot his role when he got worked up.

“Alright, break time!” Ren cheered, rushing from the room to do god knows what.  He was cute, I would give him that. But I’m pretty sure someone slipped him sugar and I gave Minhyun that knowing look.

“It wasn’t me. I swear!” Minhyun said and grinned.

“Right.” I said and shook my head, making my way over to my bag, digging out the water bottle I had brought with me. It was going to be another long day.

~*~*~

~A Few Hours Later~

“One, two, three, four.” JR counted. There was no music playing. After several more attempts, it was clear to all of us that we would need to do more than just practice with the music. Something was going wrong with the choreography. So we were back to square, counting the steps as we moved.

“Five, six, seven, eight. And one, two, three” His counting died down when, for the first time, we finally got him thrown back and forward correctly. We broke out in cheers and moved into a group hug. It was such a huge accomplishment on our part. Now how come we couldn’t get it done with the music?

“Great job everyone.” Manager-hyung called as he moved from his spot in the corner. “You did an excellent job working this out.” He told us. Pulling apart, we bowed to him, giving our thanks for his praise and stood at attention, ready to take any advice he had to give us.

“You’re still having issues with the dance put with music correct?” he asked. We looked at each other before nodding.

“Alright, well, I thought I would bring in someone who could help you with that.”

“Our dance instructor?” Aron asked.

“No. Well not your dance instructor, a different one.” Manager-hyung said. He moved back to the door and opened it. We all leaned to the right, eager to see who our hyung had brought in to help us. There was nothing for a moment, building up the anticipation.

“Hello.” Voices greeted as a small group of five walked in and bowed to us. It took a moment for me to recognize the men. I had only seen them once, and that was when they were doing their goodbye stage, and we had done our comeback stage for Face. It was Love Defenders sunbae. They stood before us and bowed, and we returned the bow.

“Protecting innocent hearts, we’re Love Defenders.” They greeted, each making a heart with their hands.

“Show Time Nu’est Time! We are Urban Electro Band Nu’est!” we greeted with a bow.

“Boys, I actually was bringing in only one member, but when I got in contact with their manager, they had been in the middle of shooting, so they all came together.” Manager-hyung said before turning to the other members. “Please introduce yourself.”  They nodded and grinned.

“Hello, my name is JaeMin and I’m lead rapper.” The tallest boy spoke, bowing.

“Hello, my name is Kai and I’m leader and main dancer.” Kai looked a bit mean, especially wearing those black glasses.

“Hello, my name is Chiko and I’m the maknae and vocals.” The shortest greeted, giving us his cutest smile. He was adorable, but not as adorable as my Ren. ‘My Ren? When has Ren become mine? You’re losing it Baekho.’

“Hello, my name is Kouji and I’m responsible for visual and sub vocal.” The older looking male responded, bowing to us. He was odd looking, but he seemed nice.

“Hello, my name is Adrian and I’m main vocal and visual.” The last greeted and bowed to us, smiling. “Oh, and I’m in charge of international conversations.” He said, speaking perfect English, like Aron did.

“Alright! Another foreigner!” Aron cheered happy. He was a silly hyung. I could picture him and Minhyun together. Two goofy people together. It would be interesting to say the least, because Aron was interesting.

We looked to our manager, wondering if we should do our own introductions, but he shook his head and continued on.

“Love Defenders is a big fan of yours.” He said and smiled. “And they have offered to help you with your dance steps.”

“Actually, Adrian-hyung is going to help you.” Chiko said and smiled at us. “He creates all of our dances and has even worked with other groups.”

“It’s nothing special.” Adrian said and waved his hand. “I like dancing.” He answered. “So, let’s not waste any time alright? I want to see you practice.” He told us.

“Alright.” JR agreed. He nodded to the rest of us and we moved into position as the group moved to the side, taking seats on the floor. Our manger manned the stereo, starting our song. I wasn’t nervous. The first half always went well. It was the second half I was nervous about. We were half way through the second chorus, nearing the part we all dreaded when the music suddenly stopped. We turned and watched as Adrian approached.

“We actually were watching you practice without the music.” He admitted. “And you all did well from what I could tell. But your practice is actually at a slower rate than with music.” He explained. “I think that’s what’s wrong. The tempo of the counting isn’t fast enough.”

“That really has an effect on our dancing?” Minhyun asked. He was so intent on learning, and I was too. Adrian-hyung seemed so versed in the art of dance. It made me wonder how long he had been training.

“Yes it does. Because if you’re used to a slow tempo, suddenly adding a faster pace will mess you up. And I noticed that JR actually stumbled a bit through the chorus.” He said before smiling. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve notice all of you stumble slightly, but this is the part you’re having trouble on right?” he asked. We nodded. This was the bad part, but now we knew, we all were having trouble.

“Alright then. I can help, but please understand that I mean no ill harm.” He said and bowed to us. We bowed back and smiled.

“Of course hyung. We’re eager to get this right.” I said and nodded.

“Great. So first, I’ll do the slow count JR had earlier, then I’ll pick up the tempo. Afterwards, I think individual help would be beneficial.” He said and glanced to our manager who nodded.

“Whatever needs to be done.” Manager-hyung said. Adrian nodded and looked back to us.

“Alright, starting from the second chorus.” He said as he moved around us to stand in front of the mirrors. “One, two, three, four.” He started counting. We started dancing easily, encountering not a single glitch. He stopped and we paused, staring at him.

“Taking it from the top of the second chorus, I’m going to do the faster pace. Ready, here we go.” He said and started. “One and two and three and four.” He counted. “Five and six and seven and eight.” He said, even snapping along. I had to admit, this was a much faster pace he was counting to than what JR had been doing. It was almost in sync with the music of our song too. And like what happened with the music, we stumbled and Ren tripped, falling.

“Are you alright?” Adrian asked, moving to him. He stared down at Ren and the other looked up at him. They shared this look and I couldn’t help the low growl that left my lips. I don’t know why I did that, but it felt like Adrian was moving in on my territory.

‘What? Ren wasn’t a piece of property? Why would I think that? Not like he was like that anyway. Get a grip Baekho!’

“I’m fine.” Ren said as he took Adrian’s outstretched hand and stood.  Adrian nodded and smiled at him before looking back at the others.

“And this is exactly why you need more practice with the faster pace before adding the music.” He said.

“Hyung.” Minhyun said. “Please teach us. We have so much to learn.”

“Please, help us be our best.” JR added.

“It’ll be my pleasure! But please, call me Adrian. I hate feeling old.” Adrian teased and smiled.