“Jan Di-ah!” the cheerful voice called across half the courtyard, loud, yet barely audible from where Geum Jan Di stood – because, let’s face it, the courtyard of Shinhwa High was just so ridiculously large.

“Yah, Jan Di-ah!”

Second time she was called, the girl paused in her step, turning slowly. A perplexed expression washed over her features and lingered for a moment before she noticed the owner of the voice – and was swept in a hug only a moment later by that same person.

“T-Tae Min,” Jan Di stumbled backwards slightly and was released from the hug immediately after, as the boy before her allowed her to regain her balance. “Oh, annyeong…”

“What’s that,” Tae Min gave a half-pout, faking hurt. “You should be more happy to see me.”

Jan Di gave an awkward chuckle. Tae Min did not miss the tired look in her eyes.

“Mianhae, Tae Min… even though I promised…”

“Don’t worry about it,” the other said quickly, offering a small smile. “Just don’t overwork yourself.”

“Ah… ne,” Jan Di looked doubtful, making Tae Min’s smile slowly slip into a frown.

“Yah, Geum Jan Di. Don’t do it, or I’ll hunt you down and you’ll be sorry then.”

She managed a smile at that, nodding sharply.

“Ne.”

*

Tae Min was a dancer. Through his earliest memories he learned, he knew – he felt that dancing was absolutely a passion of his. It didn’t matter that his parents were in the entertainment business, or that they owned one of the larges entertainment agencies. He poured his heart into dancing and got to show off on stage, and he was happy. Tae Min never thought to ‘use his parents’ in his pursuit for the top, but… as it was, he felt his worth was being called into question.

First chance he got, he asked them not to do any more favours for him – he was good, he knew he was good, but he wanted to become the best, to try his hardest on his own. They let him do as he pleased… sort of. With Tae Min being the only heir to the business, it was impossible for him to dance under anything other than SME. Which in itself, did not feel like he got that bit of personal freedom he desired.

Tae Min was a dancer. But he was not being acknowledged as one such.

People were always saying, “He’s only that good because of his parents” and “He has no real talent, he’s only so high up because his family owns the agency”.

Not to say he wasn’t popular at school. They knew his family was influential, too. In front of him, there was always an endless line of admirers… no, -ups. Behind his back, there were always the rumours and whispers. And it irritated Tae Min beyond belief.

Geum Jan Di was his first true friend at Shinhwa. First one true friend, that is. She was a poor scholarship student, not exceptionally smart or pretty, but she had the qualities Tae Min valued the most in a person – courage and honesty.

Jan Di did not care for the amount of money someone had, or what kind of business one’s family owned, or any of the stuff those damned rich kids seemed to care about. It amused Tae Min greatly how easily she stood up to the great Goo Joon Pyo and his little posse of friends.

It was probably why he approached her in the first place.

The promise Jan Di made over and over again, but failed to keep, was to come and see Tae Min dance. She was his friend, and he felt the need to show her his dancing skills. Because she was his friend, he wanted her to be his one true judge, that would tell him straight up whether he was any good or not.

Tae Min was not angry with her for not keeping up with her promise – he would invite her every once in a while, and she would try her best to make it to his practice. But he knew she had her part-time jobs and other… well, issues. At one point, he offered to provide a financial help for her family, but of course Jan Di being Jan Di stubbornly refused. And Tae Min respected her decision. He never dared pressure her about anything.

Soon after Jan Di got seriously involved with the F4 and the great Goo Joon Pyo began making his existence very much known to her, Tae Min found himself being dragged along on sudden trips and events with them. He met Chu Ga Eul around that time, Jan Di’s childhood friend, as she too was sometimes taken along – apparently kidnapping just one person was a problem, so taking Jan Di’s friends along seemed like a good idea to Joon Pyo. But what bothered Tae Min at such times were the arrangements made – Joon Pyo wanted to spend time just with Jan Di, so Ga Eul and Tae Min were thrown into care to his friends, Yi Jung and Woo Bin.

Sometimes it was the four of them, sometimes it was just Ga Eul and Yi Jung, and Tae Min would be left with Woo Bin. It was awkward, especially when Yi Jung took care in complaining how “Ji Hoo always disappeared before being assigned babysitting these two”.

These twobeing Ga Eul and Tae Min.

It was more along the lines of weird, though, when it was just Tae Min and Woo Bin – the awkward moment when their eyes met once, when Tae Min totally caught the other staring at him, included.

*

“Woo Bin, we’re going to be late…”

Woo Bin blinked twice, snapping out of his somewhat dazed-like state. He glanced away, towards Yi Jung, nodding shortly before hurrying after the other.

“Mianhae, Yi Jung-ah. I was just-”

“Arraso. You were just looking at Tae Min hugging Jan Di.”

“Yah, Yi Jung-ah. It’s not like that.”

“Oh? Okay then. Did you get jealous?”

“I said it wasn’t like that,” a frown crossed Woo Bin’s lips as his friend offered a signature smirk of his. Yi Jung knew him well… but this was something Woo Bin himself didn’t know, so how could Yi Jung possibly…?

Ah really, he was just making fun of him again.