VI: Forza
Nocturne Academy
"Ah, both of you are really hardworkers," Joon steps in the dance practice room with the other representatives of NASCA. "I think you have done with your practice for tonight."
"I'm working on the vocal," Yoseob folds his music sheet. "And we're waiting for Hin for the group practice."
"Ah, yes, yes," Joon chuckles while Hin approaches Yoseob. "Hin has been really busy this week because of the headmaster's request. Your group must work really hard without her, right?"
"Joon," Hin glances at him with caution in her tone. "I think you need to meet your group."
"I'm just curious," Joon steps closer to Hin, standing right behind her. He leans closer until his lips reach her right ear. "Can you make it happen in one week, Hin?"
Joon pulls away and puts his usual charming smile, "Well, I can see that the other members of the group are not here. Are you going to practice with just three members?"
"We can't start the practice if you still here," Gikwang blurts out coldly. He doesn't like Joon. Since the day he saw him at the opening ceremony, Gikwang knew that Joon is the dangerous person within NASCA representatives.
Joon looks at Gikwang, amused by the fact that a freshman has such an impolite manner towards him. He walks to Gikwang and mutters calmly, "It will be really interesting. The President of NASCA and the best students of entrance examination."
"Well," Joon turns around and smiles to Hin, "I'm going now with Yonghwa and Jieun. You better be careful."
"Ah, I almost forgot," Joon stops his step suddenly when he just reached the door. He turns to look at Yoseob, "Yang Yoseob, Miss Cho asked me to tell you that she is waiting for you in her office to discuss about your project. Now."
"A-alright," Yoseob stands up nervously. He nods slightly to Hin as a sign that he will return as soon as possible after meeting Miss Cho.
Miss Cho has assigned each student to work on personal project to be collected next week and Yoseob has finished the project before anyone else so Miss Cho is interested in exploring the project with Yoseob in person.
They leave the dance practice room, leaving only Hin and Gikwang alone.
It's the first time they are left alone. Hin always stay close with the other three NASCA representatives and this week they barely saw each other, thanks to Mr Song who had a special request to Hin as the President of NASCA. They have been discussing about new rules for NASCA every night.
"You have doubt," Gikwang murmurs as he suddenly has stood behind Hin in a blink. "A week is indeed impossible for us to perform and beat the other group."
Hin closes her eyes, staying calm as usual. She knows that Gikwang is reading her mind; that's why she is trying to block her thoughts now.
"I've been wondering why I couldn't read your mind before," Gikwang leans closer and lands a kiss on Hin's neck. "It's strange how I couldn't read your mind even though we're not in NASCA secretariat."
Gikwang wraps his right arm around Hin's waist, pulling her closer to his body as his lips start to explore Hin's neck. He is trying really hard not to sink his cold fangs on her delicate neck.
"That Treasurer of you must be a really strong Elf if he can block your mind from being read by me," Gikwang trails his finger on Hin's collarbone, enjoying the taste of her skin, inhaling the delicious scent coming from the girl. "Now that he's not here with you, you're nothing special."
"Control your lust for blood, Lee Gikwang," Hin finally speaks out when Gikwang's fangs have appeared. "You will be counted as breaking the rule if you drink my blood. I think I have warned you beforehand."
Gikwang loosens his grip around Hin and steps back, controlling his lust over Hin. Hin has a really tempting scene that makes Gikwang lost his control over himself for the first time since he entered Nocturne Academy.
"You better be careful," Hin looks at Gikwang with her hazel eyes. "I'm sure you don't want to be considered in our black list because an attempt to harm President of NASCA."
"You're supposed to be the one who needs to be careful," Gikwang smirks; his fangs have disappeared again. He knows now what Joon meant about his warning to Hin before he left. "I wonder how you can survive this long without any special power."
"Because all students are treated equally here," Hin replies calmly. "I think you have warned beforehand."
"Tell me," Gikwang has moved in a flash again, standing right behind Hin. He can't fight back the urge to feel the scent of the most influential student in Nocturne Academy.
Once again, he leans really close to Hin, inhaling the sweet scent, kissing her hair with a smile playing on her lips, "Will you mind if I taste your blood if I become the major representative?"
"I think you better watch your attitude," Hin moves her hair to cover her neck, knowing that Gikwang will be more tempted if she stays still. "Don't hold your arrogant attitudes."
"Trust me, I'm trying to maintain my attitude," Gikwang touches his own lips carefully, enjoying the sweet taste that lingering on his lips. "Have someone told you that your blood will taste better if you let a pure blood vampire drinks it first?"
The door is swung open all of a sudden. Yoseob walks in the room without any idea about what happened in the room after he left.
"I'm sorry," Yoseob bows to Hin. "But I have a bad news for all of us."
Hin frowns. What did he mean about bad news?
"I will be assigned to finish my project about music history, starting from tomorrow night for four days," Yoseob can't hide his uncomfortable feeling towards this news. "When I was on my way back here, I overheard Mr Kang was talking with Eunjung. He was asking her assistance to help her for five nights because there will be a special performance from Department of Opera in two weeks."
"And Mir is going back to his hometown due to a meeting between his family and the harpies," Gikwang cuts in, reading Yoseob's mind. "Mrs Kim has announced it in the class."
"What kind of coincidence is this?" Yoseob bites his bottom lip, feeling that something suspicious is happening. "Junho was absence as well for tonight's class."
"You know," Gikwang takes a glance at Hin, "I think your Vice President has something to do with all these coincidences. We can't practice with full team if this keeps happening."
"Let's just focus on the vocal and dance moves for now," Hin keeps her calm attitude. "There's nothing we can do about the unfortunate happenings."
"Unfortunate?" Gikwang raises his eyebrow. "I really think that someone set us up."
"I think we must focus for our performance now," Yoseob speaks out. He knows that something strange is happening but Hin doesn't want to bring it up between them. After all, he agrees that they must do what they can do for now.
"Mr Song will watch our performance next week," Hin tells them casually. "Don't get distracted by other things for now."
"Then I guess we don't need a practice for tonight," Gikwang moves in a blink to the door. "We just need to practice our part by ourselves, right?"
Without even waiting for any reply, Gikwang leaves, moving with his incredible speed. He doesn't care about the group. All that he knows that he needs to pass this test next week with his best performance.
Yoseob sighs heavily, messing his own hair with frustration, "This is so not good."
"Based on your information, I assume that we only have around three full nights to practice together," Hin takes out her music sheet from her portfolio. "I think we must rearranged the music if we only have three nights for practice."
"Rearranged?" Yoseob tilts his head. "Still, three nights are impossible to perform with six people who barely know each other."
"That's why I think we need to rearrange the music," Hin reads the music sheet quickly. "The most difficult part for us is the dance moves. We need to practice really hard for the difficult dance moves."
"Are you saying that we're not going to perform with dance?" Yoseob approaches Hin, curious about where the conversation is heading to.
"No, dance is one of the important values in the test," Hin explains while her brain is working to find a solution. "But we can combine our vocals for the music, showing our vocal skills before showing our dance skills."
"And how can we actually do that?" Yoseob stares at Hin. He doesn't understand what this girl is thinking or what kind of brilliant idea she has, but somehow he knows that he can believe in her, despite the fact that they almost don't know each other.
Hin looks at Yoseob carefully and it actually makes Yoseob nervous. His cheeks start to blush while the girl looks at him with her hazel eyes.
"It's a good thing you're a human," Hin taps Yoseob's shoulder lightly with the portfolio. "Let's work on the music arrangement in the music room."
"W-wait," Yoseob grabs Hin's wrist quickly. She looks at his eyes without any expression.
"What are you?" Yoseob finally asks the question. He has been really curious about it yet he doesn't know who to ask for about this information. He is embarassed to ask this question to a teacher or even his classmates.
"We are treated equally here, Yang Yoseob," Hin answers with monotone. "I don't think it's an important matter."
Yoseob releases his grip. Hin leaves the dance practice room, heading to the music room. Yoseob follows her in silence.
He knows he will find out about it sooner or later. But for now he just needs to concentrate on the next week performance.
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Glossary #6
Forza: musical force
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