Chapter 11: It's Difficult

[Leeteuk's POV]

Monique and I had arrived at the dance studio a few minutes before Eunhyuk, Siwon and Henry. Her and I just talked, but it was evident that she was still ill considering she was pale and sweat continued to trickle down her forehead.

It's easy to say I felt guilty, thinking that I could've prevented her from being in such a condition, but she continued to laugh and giggle like her body wasn't trying to fight off any kind of sickness.

She and I had sat with our backs against the mirrored wall, chatting and laughing when the door opened to have my three dongsaengs walk in.

All three looked worn, but Eunhyuk-ah seemed to be especially worried for Monique's condition.

"Monique-ah! Do you feel alright?" He had sprinted to Monique's side in a matter of miliseconds to check up on her. She just smiled softly like it was a normal question and nodded, hopping up from her sitting position. I grabbed her wrist as she began to walk away and pulled her down.

"And where do YOU think you're going?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She turned to face me, her other hand resting on the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"But Oppa~, I feel fine enough to dance. Can I please? Pretty please, Oppa?" She pulled her wrist from my grasp and clasped her hands together, looking up at me cutely with pleading eyes.

I pressed a palm at my forehead, trying to think of the most logical thing to say. "You're here to see if she's okay, Teukie-hyung. What's the point of you being here if she just sits out?" Siwon asked.

I sighed, "So you're saying since I'm here, something SHOULD happen to Monique-ah? That I'm wasting my time just sitting here?" Siwon's eyes widened as he started waving his hands out in front of him.

"That's not what I meant, hyung. I'm just saying that she should learn the material. Noona only has a couple days left to have all the routines sharp. Even Eunhyuk-hyung has problems with being sharp, and he's practiced it since the beginning!"

I ran a hand through my hair as I thought it through and sighed, "Fine, just don't push yourself too hard, arasso?" I looked up to see Monique's hazel eyes flash with happiness and life, nodding while a smile etched across her face. Seeing her smile like that made me smile.

The four dancers made their way to the middle of the marble floor, stretching and warming up and soon beginning the routines that I had spent months perfecting, and still messed up every now and then. I watched as Eunhyuk walked Monique through each piece of the dances- but she quickly caught on and danced the routines with ease and perfection.

Eunhyuk, Siwon and Henry stepped aside as they watched Monique perform by herself to our Bonamana dance to see what she needed help on, but she hit each beat and movement sharply and on que with ease and nearly no difficulties.

Sweat drenched Monique's back and forehead after an hour of practice, but didn't complain once as the five hour session continued. She breathed heavily, but still had her breaks with everyone else, even though she obviously was working harder than the others in the room.

My phone rang after 2hours in the dance studio, about to begin my first interview of the day. I watched the others practice as I answered the questions with ease and personallity- something I had learned after being in the entertainment industry for so long.

"So, Leeteuk-ssi, do you have a girlfriend? Our viewers are curious," the woman on the other end of the line asked, linking to a radioshow I was to guest star on, but obviously couldn't make it.

I thought the question through carefully as I tried to stay calm and answer with ease and little trouble, "Well," I started as I watched the girl in the middle of the room focused on her dancing, letting out my signature laugh and finished, "I've got my eyes on someone."

The woman on the other end of the line 'awed' and tried to push for details on the "mysterious lucky girl," how she had reffered to her. I rolled my eyes as I heard her babble, and just let her speak, and only responded with "it's a secret' and 'if I said something, the entertainment industry will be turned upside down.'

Soon, the conversation and endless questions ended and 2 other phone interviews soon ended as well with similar questions and answers. I looked up after my last interview ended and sighed. I watched Monique in awe as she concentrated on her moves and transitions for 'Don't Don.'

She was, no doubt, a hard worker who had drive and passion for what she did. We had already been at the studio for 3hours, leaving 2hours left till the end of our session, but she continued to perform and concentrate to the instructions and tips Siwon, Eunhyuk and Henry were giving her.

As Henry instructed her on the footwork for the middle section of the dance, the door flung open to reveal our big manager. We all turned in shock at the sudden entry and froze at the angered expression on his face.

He strided towards Monique, the boys backing away from Monique as he slapped her across her face. Her body fell to the floor from the impact as the manager stood upstraight and looked down at Monique in disgust, silence taking over the small studio.

I quickly ran towards Monique's body, looking up at the man in confusion and anger, "What?! What right do you have to hit a girl?!" I yelled as the silence from the slap subsided. Eunhyuk, Siwon and Henry soon found their way next to my side, bending down to aid Monique.

"How dare you! Just because you can't hold your drinking you have to make the most successful group that I founded to skip out on their schedules?!" He seemed to ignore me as he directed his words to Monique.

Monique's head hanged down, I could see the red mark on her left cheek as her pulled back hair was falling out of its ponytail and into her face. She stayed silent, and took in what the manager had said in solemn peace.

"Don't forget your place, you stupid ! Just because you were able to magically get here from knowing the group, doesn't mean I can't replace you! If this ever happens again, I will kill you!" As he went to storm out of the room, I yelled at his turned back.

"It was my decision to skip out on my schedule today to take care of Monique-ah, and don't you dare call her a 'stupid ' ever again! She's working harder than any choreographer and is fighter her current condition to succeed in it! Don't you have a heart and care for people? That's the number one reason why I cut on my schedule today- cause I care for her!" As I finished screaming at the older man who gave me my current position in Super Junior and fame, I noticed he had turned around and faced me with intense eye contact.

"Are you saying you're willing to throw away our position of leader for one of the most popular boybands in the world for this girl? All the hardwork? All the pain and suffering?" He asked coldly, his eyes sternly fixed on me.

"This was a one time thing- she was seriously ill, plus there were no major interuptions on my schedules today since I was able to fulfill all the interviews over the phone. Am I willing to throw this all away for her? Maybe. Are you willing to throw away one of your most popular members and think you can just get away with it with E.L.F around? The pain and suffering?! Most of it has been from this complany and how illy they take care of their celebrities and the fans!"

The manager glarred at me and turned, "Do what you want- but if that dancer can't control her drinking next time, she better not bother coming back." With that, the man in the black suit left the studio.

I turned to Monique who was on the floor still, but had her legs slowly being curled up into her chest as she lightly sobbed into her knees, her reddened cheek probably stinging from the action. I bent down in front of her as Eunhyuk, Henry and Siwon continued to try and comfort her by patting her back and whispering soft words to her.

"Monique-ah." She didn't look at me as I said her name, "Monique-ah, look at me," I tried pressing her, but still to no awail. I then softly grabbed her hands from her face and pulled them away gently.

"L-Lee-teuk- O-pp-a," She stuttered harshly between sobs. I grabbed her small body and hugged her into my chest, pressing a hand against the back of her head to be burried into my shoulder, letting her cry out whatever she was feeling.

"Shh, it's not your fault," I attempted soothing her, but she just shook her head and grumbled into the fabric of my shirt.

"I-It is. If i-it wasn't for m-me, you wouldn't have h-had to gone through that with y-your m-manager," she confessed as she sobbed even harder. I shook my head.

"No, it's been like this for awhile, this situation just made me go over tolerating ther ordeal," I hugged her tighly before releasing her from my grasp, wiping away her tears with my thumbs, a soft smile tugging at my lips as her eyes studied my face."Now, let's continue to work on the routines," I said cheerfully as possible, trying to get her excited for her favorite activity.

"Hyung," Eunhyuk spoke from behind Monique's curled up body, I perked my head up and looked into his brown eyes, "I think that's it for today- let her rest for a bit, maybe she'll be able to practice when we get home. She has to remember everything now, but I doubt she'll have problems with that."

I smiled and looked at Monique's redened eyes,"Is that what you want to do?" I watched as her head nodded slowly.

I sighed and nodded, "Okay, let's go."

But I knew something was up with her, I knew her well even though we've only known each other for about a week- but I could tell she was the type of person to just express the anger into what they loved to do, and in her case, that would be dancing. I picked up her weak body and walked out of the studio in thought.

I told her it's alright, how come she doesn't believe me?

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

Author's Note:

Sorry it took me awhile, I had writer's block >< Also mianhe for how short this chapter is :O It's probably the shortest one I've written :O But I promise it'll get better with time and edits- just please continue to support this story :) School's coming up in a week for me, so jengmal mianhe if my updates become less than they used to, I'll be balancing 2 Advanced Placement classes, Newspaper and dance club, so forgive me if it takes a while to update = = But I'm not on hiatus, and I PROMISE the chapters will be getting better with my updates, just continue to subscribe/comment :) <3 Love you all! <3

XOXO Monique XOXO