Week three consisted of partner work. SunKi paired the boys off to learn their dances for the week. U-Kwon was paired with Dongwoo, making it the second time he was put with the best dancer. He briefly wondered if this was done on purpose, as some kind of way of motivating him, but U-Kwon knew that if he asked he wasn’t going to get an answer. Instead, he went to the room he was assigned and got to know the smiling boy he was grouped with.

U-Kwon started warming up, watching Dongwoo warily. The latter was bouncing up and down on his toes, smiling and humming to himself. U-Kwon thought the kid was strange in the very least, but when their mentor came to teach them, it was like Dongwoo turned into a different person. His eyes focused and his jaw clenched into a determined line. Suddenly, U-Kwon felt a lot better about his partner.

Three hours later, the two decided to take a break and head down to the cafeteria for lunch. Halfway through the meal, U-Kwon heard a musical laugh. Turning quickly, he noticed the girl from before, Min, at the table next to him. She looked up and locked eyes with him for a moment. He turned back to Dongwoo, trying to keep his heart from beating out of his chest.

“Hey. You’re training here, right?”

U-Kwon looked up and there was Min, standing above him, waiting on him to answer her with her head tilted to the side.

He nodded. “I’m still in the selection process,” he said.

“I’m Min. I’ve been training here for two years.”

“I-I’m YuKwon.”

“That the name they give you, or the one you were born with?”

“Both.”

“I like it. Anyways, good luck. Maybe we’ll get to dance with each other in the near future.”

Again, U-Kwon nodded. “That would be nice.”

Min giggled again before heading back to her table of friends. U-Kwon glanced at Dongwoo and the older boy had the biggest grin plastered on his face. Ignoring him, U-Kwon got up and got another energy drink to take back to their practice. When the two finally left the cafeteria, U-Kwon snuck a last glance at Min’s table. She caught his eye and waved causing him to blush, although he did wave back.

“You like her?” Dongwoo asked.

A non-committal type of sound came from U-Kwon’s throat. “She’s cute.”

“Let’s get back to practice so you can impress your girl.”

The thought of Min actually being his girl made U-Kwon smile. He threw himself into the next few hours of practice. Taking only one other break. When SunKi came around, he actually stopped to compliment the two for once. Seeing that as a good sign, U-Kwon resolved to go to his regular gym and practice some more when they were dismissed.

The next day, U-Kwon was determined to show that he was more than an average dancer. By the end of the first half of practice he was drenched in sweat. He met up with SeungRi and B-Bomb for lunch, both of whom had horror stories about their partners.

“Seriously though, that kid is weird.” SeungRi was complaining, as usual, but this time he was talking about his partner, Taemin.

“He’s not weirder than Jongup,” B-Bomb argued. “I think the kid is slow.”

“He’s a brilliant dancer though,” U-Kwon said. “He spaces out but he was pretty good when Seunghyun and I were with him last week.”

“I don’t care how brilliant he is, he’s creepy! He just looks off in the distance and he’s always smiling. Who the just smiles like that for no reason?”

“Um…hello? I have the most graceful SOB in the world with me! It’s like dancing with a girl. It’s actually worse than being partnered with Kitty. At least Kitty pretends he doesn’t know he’s good, but Taemin just gives this smirk like he knows he’s amazing.”

“Why do you insist on calling me Kitty still?” U-Kwon complained. “Aren’t we too old for that? Anyway, you’re better than that kid Seunghyun. You just have to try.”

“I do try but it’s not helping. He even got a pair of red shoes this morning…and I don’t even know why! I end up in a puddle of sweat at the end of the day and he just stands there not even breathing hard!”

“Jongup doesn’t sweat either. It’s just another level of his creepiness,” B-Bomb concluded. “What about Dongwoo?”

U-Kwon shrugged. “At first I thought he was weird too, but he’s not so bad. He laughs a lot, and he’s kind of loud, but I like working with him.”

“How’d you end up with the only normal one? Some guys have all the luck.”

“Hey…YuKwon, right?”

The three boys looked up to see Min, flanked by three other girls, who were giggling among themselves. The tips of U-Kwon’s ears burned red as he was addressed.

“Yeah. What’s up Min?”

“I just wanted to say hi,” she said cutely. “Oh, and I hope you make it to next week. If you do, we may get our chance to dance together.”

“I’ll do my best then.”

“Well, see you around.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

The minute the girls were out of earshot, SeungRi started up. “Since when are you and Min so friendly?”

U-Kwon shrugged. “She introduced herself yesterday when me and Dongwoo were eating.”

“Looks like our little Kitty is growing up.”

“Oh shut up Seunghyun. I’ve gotta get back to practice.”

U-Kwon headed back upstairs to the practice rooms but was stopped by SunKi in the hall. The senior dancer wanted to see the younger after he was dismissed. U-Kwon hoped that something good was about to happen. He tried to push it out of his mind until rehearsals were over, but when he and Dongwoo were dismissed, U-Kwon was suddenly really nervous.

“Calm down,” SunKi said. Despite U-Kwon’s best efforts, SunKi could still see him shaking. “I just wanted to say that I’ve seen you improve. I bet you’re wondering why I haven’t said anything to you during groups, right?”

U-Kwon nodded warily.

“Quite frankly, I’m waiting for you to impress me. I know you’re good. I could tell that on the first day. What I want from you is for you to reach your full potential. The day you dance the way I know you can, is the day I’ll recommend you as a full trainee and let you skip the rest of this boot camp.”

“Really?”

“Really. But, whether you’ve done enough is determined by me. I like you, but if you slack off just a little bit I will not hesitate to cut you.”

U-Kwon nodded excitedly, suddenly energized. “I understand. Is it okay if I stay here a while longer? I want to continue practicing.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. Stay as long as you like. This part of the building is never locked.”

 U-Kwon headed back to the practice room. He text SeungRi and B-Bomb to let them know he was going to be late, then got comfortable in the practice room. The stereo was already set up so all he had to do was press play and watch himself in the mirror. It wasn’t until 1 AM that took a break.

There was a loud bang and U-Kwon headed to the doorway. He could have sworn he was the only one in the building, but the music had been so loud that it was possible he was mistaken. Thinking nothing else of it, U-Kwon practiced for another couple hours before packing up and going home. SeungRi usually played music until he fell asleep so it was weird for it to be quiet from his room. Now that he was starting to feel the full extent of his weariness, however, U-Kwon shrugged it off and fell straight asleep.