“Wow, he’s got some great dynamics, doesn’t he?”

You heard Jingu’s voice before you saw her, though your eyes were still focused elsewhere. Elsewhere being across the room of the men’s studio, on the seemingly best male dancer of Cube Company.

Rolling your eyes and turning to look at her, you replied, “Don’t we all? We’ve been working dynamics all year.”

Speaking seriously though, the whole company had been working on extreme dynamics and strict uniformity for a large portion of the off season and even though you had done these exercises before, you weren’t used to doing them so often and as vigorously as Hyerin demanded.

Jingu laughed and poked you in your side. “Yeah, I think I smell a new production in the making here.” You watched her as she set her things down and stretched before taking a seat next to you. “Also, would you stop pining after him if you’re never going to say anything?”

You looked back to the male dancer and felt your lips curling into a smile. Jang Hyunseung was supposedly the best dancer in Cube Company, but he could easily be the best dancer in the district, even rivaling Lee Howon or Jung Yunho. “I can’t just tell him, Jingu. What if it like, breaks his attention or something?”

“Yah! I didn’t mean now!” Jingu said playfully, lightly hitting your shoulder and pulling two water bottles from her bag. She handed one over to you and returned to watching the male dancers, eyes drifting from one to the next as they practiced. “I meant more like some quiet time before the next production is announced or something. So he can take it in well, you know?”

“Whatever,” you mumbled, opening your water and taking a sip, eyes wandering back over to Hyunseung’s dancing form.

Jingu was your best friend in the company. You’d known her for only a year, since last season actually, but you both had matching parts in last season’s production of Lights Go On Again and always helped each other out after hours.

“Girls! Back to the studio, break is over!” Hyerin’s voice rang out from the hallways.

You tapped Jingu’s shoulder as you stood and gathered your things to leave the room. She met your eyes and you both rolled them and stifled your laughter, quickly shuffling out of the men’s studio and down the hall into the women’s studio.

Hyerin called the girls back into formation and started scrutinizing right away.

Rolling your eyes again, you stepped into your place in the formation and started stretching, bending at the waist and reaching for your toes. You counted slow and even beats.

Hyerin was the Sub Advisor and usually stepped in when the Lead Advisor was busy in a meeting or taking a day off, which she seemed to be doing a lot more lately. Other than watching over the girls and leading the stretching exercises, Hyerin also happened to be the next in line for the face of the Company. You didn’t necessarily despise her for this, but you did feel a bit of animosity towards her because she’d only been a part of Cube Company for two years, whereas you’d been a part of Cube for the past three years.

Huffing, you switched legs and started counting again. The reason Hyerin was above you in line for the next face was only because she had been part of another company for two years prior to switching over and charming the Director. It also didn’t help that she was noticeably prettier than most of the other girls in the company.

“Hey, you look like you’re struggling with a simple hamstring stretch. Want me to call Miss Priss over?” Jingu whispered as she stretched in the opposite direction, leaning towards you. She was smiling like she could tell your mood had gone south and she just wanted to cheer you up.

You laughed softly, but didn’t answer as you slid down into a side straddle, pressing forward towards the front of the room until you touched your forehead to the floor.

Jingu followed after into a split, keeping an eye on you as she leaned into it. “What’s wrong then? Come on, you know you can talk to me,” she persisted, jabbing you in your side.

“Nothing, I’m just thinking about the Company. Like, whose face will be the next?” You said the last part a little quieter, just in case Hyerin decided to come down to your end of the line. Even though Jingu was your friend, you didn’t want to let her know that Hyunseung was on your mind again.

The rest of the practice was completed in silence. Hyerin had visited your end of the line, asking you to speak to you after practice. You cautiously agreed and turned to Jingu.

She was already off towards the lockers and you really had to hurry and meet Hyerin anyway. Sighing, you let her go and turned to follow after Hyerin into an office.

“Hello!” Hyerin greeted you after you shut the door behind you. She was suddenly all smiles and giggles as she sat you down and started questioning. “So how are your joints lately? The Director wanted to make sure they weren’t bothering you as much as they were last season.”

You cleared your throat before answering “They’re great, in basically perfect condition.”

For a split second, there was a frown on Hyerin’s face, but she quickly forced another smile. “Oh, that’s…wonderful! Good, good…yeah,” she replied, looking from you to your file on the desk. “Okay then! That’s everything! You can leave now.”

Slightly confused, you stood and left the office, wondering what that could have possibly been about. Then you remembered Hyerin’s frown and brushed it off, hurrying to the lockers to see if you could catch Jingu.

She was still at her locker, pulling her some sweats over her tights and zipping up a thin hoodie.

That’s right. The weather was already getting cooler as the beginnings of Autumn started trickling into the city.

“So are you going to tell him or not?” Jingu asked you, pulling her hair down out of its bun and turning to look at you.

You opened your locker and pulled your outside clothes out, looking away from her. “I don’t know how to tell him,” you replied, quickly changing clothes and letting your hair down as well.

Jingu rolled her eyes and took a brush from her bag, putting her hair up into a neat ponytail. “If you aren’t going to tell him, then just say it. It’s causing you too much stress. I hate seeing you stressed out like this.”

“I’m not stressed!” You yelled out, pausing in brushing your hair to throw the brush down. It broke in two as it hit the ground, but you didn’t even notice.

“Yeah, and I’m the Queen of England,” Jingu said before shoving her brush into her bag and zipping it up. “You need to relax and that’s the only thing I can tell you.”

You watched her leave before crouching down to pick up your broken brush. “I’m not stressed,” you repeated to yourself as you stuffed the broken brush and your practice tights into your bag before standing and slinging it over your shoulder.

Your phone went off in your bag and you sighed heavily before pulling it out and walking out into the hall to leave.

FROM: GODWOON
subway buds?

Not looking where you were going, you ran right into someone in the lobby of the building.

“I guess we could be crash buddies instead?”

You looked up and gave a small smile when you saw your best friend, Dongwoon.

Dongwoon was the one who had convinced you to pursue dancing back in high school. He had pulled you aside randomly one day and pushed the flyer into your hand. You didn’t know what made you agree to try out, but you did and he’d been your best friend ever since.

“Hey, come on. You can do better than that! Turn that frown upside down!!” Dongwoon teased, poking at the corners of your mouth with his fingers.

When you finally gave a big enough smile that didn’t look forced, he grinned and clapped a hand on your shoulder, pulling you out of the building and down the street towards the train station.

When the train arrived, you both found a spot right by the door to stand at in silence. Dongwoon hooked arms with you to keep you from falling. Your hands were feeling the chill and you tucked them into your pockets, but you didn’t say anything.

“You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but I want you to get happy, okay? Maybe we could go drinking tomorrow…” Dongwoon told you as he unhooked his arm from yours when the train arrived to your stop.

You turned and gave him a weak smile. “Sure thing,” you mumbled before stepping off and hurrying up the stairs to your apartment building.