“We don’t fight often but if we do, we would just talk normally or crack jokes and we’ll be okay again.”

 

It was a hot summer day, and the dance studio was stifling despite its air-conditioning. Sweat trickled down Youngmin’s brows as he stared at the mirror. The boys had been training non stop for four hours to polish their choreography for their new comeback. In his perspective, his moves were perfect enough but for some reason, the choreographer was very unsatisfied with him.

 

“Your body is too rigid! You’re out of synch! Smile more!”

 

It has been exactly four hours and the choreographer decided to show some mercy by giving them an hour break. Before he left the room, he gave a stern glance at Youngmin, telling him silently to keep practicing. Youngmin collapsed to the floor, prying away his sweat-drenched shirt from his body.

 

“I think I’m going to die. My body can no longer move,” he whined. Donghyun threw a water bottle at him, which landed rather painfully on his stomach.

 

“Get up, you heard the teacher. You need a bit more practicing.”

 

Youngmin sat up and took a large gulp of water before turning to stare at the window glumly. “Maybe I’ve upsetted him in the past. He hates me, I’m sure, that's why he's torturing me,” he grumbled.

 

Kwangmin, who was busy wiping away his sweat, interrupted. “Come on, don’t think like that. The teacher is a professional, I’m sure he saw some flaws in your moves. I can see some where it needs to be worked on.”

 

At that moment, he didn’t even know why, Youngmin’s temper flared. Perhaps it was because of his exhaustion but he snapped back at his twin. “As if you’re the one to talk. You can’t dance in sync with everybody else, always in your own world!”

 

Kwangmin's face turned red at that accusation and he glared at him. “Hey, at least I corrected my mistakes. It’s like you never listen. I’m pretty sure the teacher is fed up with you by now, that’s why he left,” he shot back.

 

“Yah!” Youngmin threw the bottle to the floor in anger and stood up. “You dare say that to me?”

 

“Yeah, I do, because it’s true!” Kwangmin shouted.

 

Youngmin's face contorted in anger. He was about to retort but Donghyun quickly went in between them.

 

“The two of you, stop shouting at each other! Sit!” he ordered, pointing to the floor. The twins obeyed him albeit reluctantly and sat as far away from each other as possible.

 

Donghyun shook his head at their juvenile antics. “Look, arguing like this would not solve anything. Youngmin, what Kwangmin said was true. You do need to improve more. I know this is a difficult dance but we will all go through this together. We’ll stay at this studio and help you out.”

 

 

He turned to Kwangmin. “And you Kwangmin, instead of saying things like that, you should approach him gently. Your brother is at a point where his frustrations will pour out as anger so you need to choose your words wisely.”

 

The twins stayed silent and refused to look at each other. Donghyun sighed tiredly before kneeling down to their eye level. “The others and I are going to grab some refreshments while you two are going to remain here. When I get back, I expect you to be nice to each other again. Got it?”

 

“Yes,” they muttered begrudgingly.

 

Donghyun then ushered the other boys out of the room and shut the door behind him, leaving the twins alone in the studio. They remained silent and looked the opposite way, refusing to make eye contact. Kwangmin played with his shoelaces while Youngmin pondered about what he did wrong. He replayed all the steps in his mind but could not recall where the imperfection was. Groaning in frustration, Youngmin grabbed his abandoned bottle and chugged down the remaining water.

 

Kwangmin glanced at his twin from the corner of his eyes. He could see that Youngmin was still quite parched since he crushed the bottle in his hand. It was a bad habit of his that he developed during their trainee days. Silently, Kwangmin got up to his feet and walked to the chiller at the corner of the room. With a cold water bottle in hand, he went up to the other boy.

 

Youngmin was a bit startled when Kwangmin suddenly handed him a bottle. He took it from his hands and muttered a quick thanks. Unscrewing the cap, he sipped the water, cherishing the cool sensation as it slid down his dry throat. Youngmin felt a pang of guilt then. He shouldn’t have yelled at Kwangmin like that. He has never raised his voice at his twin before and he didn’t know how he could’ve let his frustrations take over.

 

With a sigh, Youngmin leaned on his palms. “Do you think the hyungs will buy anything for us?” he suddenly spoke up. Kwangmin froze from fiddling with his shoes, throwing a quick glance in his direction.

 

“I hope they do. I’m dying of hunger here,” he mumbled.

 

Again, Youngmin felt guilty. Kwangmin was scolded by Donghyun and couldn’t join the others because of him. He reached for his backpack in front of him and started rummaging through it. Youngmin pulled out a packet of biscuits and threw it to Kwangmin.

 

“Eat that first.”

Kwangmin proceeded to munch on the cream biscuits and the room fell silent again. After a few minutes passed by with the boys sitting in a comfortable silence, Youngmin decided to get some work done. He started dancing again, going step by step as taught by the dance teacher. Kwangmin stared at him, nibbling on his last biscuit. It was then he noticed what went wrong.

 

“Ah, you got that part wrong!” he pointed out. Youngmin stopped his moves.

 

“What do you mean? It’s supposed to be like this, isn’t it?”

 

“Do it again!”

 

Youngmin frowned in concentration while repeating the steps. Kwangmin swallowed the last of his biscuits before getting up to join his twin.

 

“No, no. You’re supposed to twist your right leg like this while your left hand has to twist upwards like this.” Kwangmin demonstrated the movements slowly as his twin focused on his limbs.

 

“Ah!” Youngmin exclaimed. “I thought I did it right. So the step is really like that?”

 

“Of course! That’s why I told you that you need to pay attention more.”

Youngmin smiled sheepishly before mirroring his twin’s moves. “Like this?” he asked.

 

“Yes, yes.” Kwangmin replied. “You’ve got that part right. Maybe we can actually go back early today. How about we start from the beginning?”

 

He nodded in reply. Kwangmin the music and the duo started dancing perfectly in synch.

 

Donghyun approached the door to the studio slowly, his ears trying to pick up any strange noises that could come from the room. Truthfully, he was a bit afraid that the twins would still be arguing since a fight between them would delay their progress in perfecting the choreography.

 

“Hyung, do you think they’re okay?” Jeongmin whispered, his hands carrying bagful of snacks and refreshments.

 

“I’m sure they’re fine; they’ve never fought for more than a few hours,” Donghyun answered.

 

“But then,” the shorter boy said, “Youngmin was really angry just now. I haven’t seen him yell at Kwangmin like that, ever.”

 

Donghyun peeked inside the room from the round window at the door. His heart immediately lifted at the sight before him. He pushed the door open and immediately the sound of laughter reached their ears.

 

“See, what did I tell you,” Donghyun smiled. “They’re brothers, of course they’ll work out everything in the end.”

 

The four members joined the laughing twins on the floor, goading them to share the funny joke. Ice cream and bread were passed around and soon, their spirits were lifted once again and they continued training in order to show a perfect image to their waiting fans.