Chapter Fifteen

Seoul Fashion Week.

Everywhere Sara looked, her sight was assaulted by a confusing mixture of colors. She was in awe most of the time, and could barely find her voice, except when answering yes or no to the various stylists who were attending to her. Even so, she was thrilled. She felt like her heart was about to burst from all the excitement surrounding her. There was an hour to go before she would be walking down the runway. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt like a stranger was staring back at her. All of the models, including herself, had been styled wearing a very short wig. She liked the look. It highlighted her eyes and cheekbones. Granted, it was very different from her usual wavy long hair, but she was warming up to it. Her stylist noticed the look on her face, and said to her “Don’t worry baby, you’re going to rock it”. Sara grinned up at her.

“I can’t wait”, she replied.

Leeteuk and Heechul had arrived at the show. They had spent over an hour outside chatting to journalists and taking photos. Luckily, they both had on dark sunglasses, otherwise, it would have been apparent to everyone that they hadn’t slept a wink last night. They sat down in the front row, looked at each other, and sighed. They both knew how the other felt. Last night, they had watched their ballerina walking around her apartment in nothing but what looked like her underwear, and heels. After that, they had both found it difficult to think rationally.

Heechul ignored the cameras which were flashing in his direction, and instead pondered on their predicament. They couldn’t go on staring at this girl forever. Something had to be done about it, but what? Even if he somehow got the opportunity to talk to her, what would he say?

He shook his head. There was no way he would be able to say anything to her. He’d be too embarrassed. He laughed and realized that this must be what his fans felt. He now knew what it was to admire a person from a distance, but endure the agony of never being able to get closer to them. He accepted that he was now a fan of the ballerina. He glanced over at Leeteuk and wondered what he was thinking. Did he feel the same way? Was he afraid of approaching her as well?

Leeteuk looked at his watch and counted the hours until he could get back home again. “As soon as Heechul’s not there, I’m going to try and meet her. If I beat him to it, then he can’t complain about it later”, he thought. Satisfied, he crossed his legs and relaxed in his chair, waiting for the show to start.

Donghae was backstage with Kyuhyun and Sungmin, watching them getting ready for the runway. He felt bored and listless. Nothing much interested him nowadays. There was a feeling of frustration building up deep inside of him, but he suppressed it, afraid that he might break down again, or worse, hit somebody, if he let it go. He crossed his arms and sat in a corner, brooding away. One of the designers came by to inspect the models. He noticed Donghae and went over to him.

 “Donghae-shi, I didn’t know you would be here! What a great surprise! I was planning on contacting you earlier, but now that you’re here, why don’t you join in with the other models? I need a few photos for my campaign, and I’ve been thinking of using you for one of the themes. What do you say? The posters will be all over Seoul”, he said in a persuasive tone.

Donghae looked up at him and asked “What’s the theme?”

“Its dark”, said the designer. “All black, with a y/wild feel to it. So, what do you say? Are you interested? We can set you up right away”.

Donghae laughed to himself. ‘Dark’ was exactly the way he was feeling right now. He might as well put it to some good use. He agreed and headed straight off to get ready.

Sungmin watched him going and quickly asked “Donghae-ah, are you modeling too?”

Donghae just nodded and went off without another word.

Kyuhyun and Sungmin looked at each other in confusion. Donghae didn’t know that they were only doing this job for his sake. It was part of their bargain with their manager in exchange for getting them all home from Taiwan earlier than planned. But being home didn’t seem to change anything. He was still unresponsive, sensitive, and prone to outbursts.

“Maybe it will be good for him. It will get his mind off other things”, Kyuhyun said.

Sungmin wasn’t so sure, but he let it go for now. The music had already started, and they were getting ready to go on stage.

“Yah, when did those two get so cool?” Heechul whispered to him.

“I guess they are all growing up quicker than we expected”, Leeteuk replied.

Sungmin was particularly eye-catching. He was styled in a simple white shirt and jeans, but with his youthful face and remarkable body structure, he managed to make the style all his own.

Leeteuk’s interest soon wavered once Kyuhyun and Sungmin were done, and he found his imagination wandering elsewhere, until Heechul grabbed his arm tightly and made him yelp out in pain.

“What?!” he asked.

Heechul didn’t say anything, but just pointed towards the stage, his expression unreadeable.

Leeteuk looked, and then gasped in shock.

It was the ballerina. Her hair was different, and her dark makeup made her look dangerous, but there was no doubt about it. Leeteuk would recognise her body anywhere, especially after what he had seen last night.

Heechul looked at him, and they both laughed at each other in disbelief. Then they looked back at the stage and watched in awe as the girl they thought of as a sweet ballerina struck powerful poses in her black mini dress, and then resumed her walk down the runway, all the while exuding bad girl charisma.

They decided to head backstage after the show was done to find her, but when they got there, she was nowhere to be seen. They couldn’t stay for too long because of their schedules, so they eventually had to give up the search and head back to work.

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Sara sat quietly and tried to take in everything that was happening to her. She had expected to join all the other models for the after party, but instead, she was being besieged by stylists again, getting ready for a supposedly once-in-a-lifetime photoshoot with some very famous people, or so her manager had told her.

She looked down at her clothes and grimaced. The ‘y’ look wasn’t really her. She liked the dark skinny jeans, but the remainder of her outfit was far from modest. Her back was completely bare, and the top was too strappy for her taste. Still, she had to admit, the outfit did suit the theme, and anyway, who was she to criticize someone elses hard work? Especially when they were willing to pay her to model for them. Sara sighed and rubbed her hands together to ward off the cold. It was still the middle of winter, and the present location was anything but cozy.

When the stylists declared her ready for the shoot, Sara got up and walked towards the site. She was wearing ridiculously high heels, so she held onto her manager’s hand as she walked.

He pointed to a really good looking guy whom she expected to be one of the models for the shoot, and said: “That’s Lee Donghae. You’ll be modeling with him. Do you know how lucky you are? A pairing like this never ever happens. Only this time, the companies involved had to say yes because the designer is world famous. Your photos will be everywhere Sara, not just in Seoul. This is just the kind of opportunity that can jump-start your career.”

Sara nodded and swallowed back her nervousness. She reached Donghae and smiled at him while her manager introduced her. She expected him to greet them back, but all he did was look her up and down, and then give a completely expressionless nod. He looked as if he was bored.

Sara glanced at him in disappointment. She knew that she would meet all sorts of personality types in this industry, but she couldn’t help feeling slighted by his indifference.

Everyone seemed to be ready to begin, so the director came over to the both of them to give a few last minute pointers.

“Ok, so remember, the theme is ‘Unwanted attention’. Donghae-shi is going to try to seduce Sara-shi, but she is going to act uninterested and attempt to avoid him. Does everyone understand?”

Everyone nodded, and they all got into their positions. Sara tried to do her best with all the cameras flashing at her, and she tried not to think of where Donghae was placing his hands. He was standing behind her, with an arm around her waist. It was awkward enough already because he had refused to talk to her before the shoot, and she found it difficult being so intimate with a complete stranger, but she held her frustrations in check. It was no use complaining. She just needed to do her best at this photo shoot, and when it was over, she wouldn’t have to see him again. With that conviction in mind, she sailed through the remainder of the photoshoot, ignoring Donghae in the same manner that he was ignoring her, even though at some moments, they were only inches apart from each other.

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Sungmin had spent the past half hour after the show looking for Donghae. He was finally shown to the right place, and was shocked to see his dongsaeng involved in such a huge production. The set looked like something out of a movie. Donghae and his partner were really impressive. Sungmin couldn’t make her out at first, but he soon realized that Donghae was modeling with the girl who had been in their apartment just the day before. She looked different, but he couldn’t forget her face.

He watched them closely and found himself doubting his first judgment of her. Maybe she wasn’t so innocent after all. She seemed pretty comfortable with Donghae at the moment, and some of their poses were bound to raise an eyebrow among onlookers…but still, he had been so sure about her yesterday. It hadn’t been just the way she looked. Her mannerisms had spoken for her. When he held her, she had seemed shy, and she had avoided looking him in the eye the entire time that he had been in front of her.

He shook his head and tried to make sense of the situation. Was all that an act? Or was she acting right now with Donghae? He watched more closely and saw that although the two seemed intimate, their body language showed something else. There was no passion, no real intimacy. They seemed to despise each other. Sungmin frowned and continued watching. This just didn’t seem right to him...