“He fell.”

            “She fell.”

            Both Hanbin and Rhine said at the same time. As they processed with the other one just said, they looked at each other. Rhine looked at Hanbin with eyes wide in disbelief. Realizing what just slipped out of his mouth, Hanbin avoided everyone’s eyes and ran his hand through his red hair. He couldn’t believe he just lied right in front of everyone like that! But what he couldn’t’ believe at all was that the girl had also lied. The girl didn’t look like someone that would lie, but then he should know better than to judge a person by their appearance.

            The guy trainees; unsure of whose claim they should believe, looked from Hanbin to Rhine. To the guys, they couldn’t decide who was telling the truth and who was lying. It dawned on them that something felt odd. Their leader had never lied in front of them like that before. Sure, Hanbin joked around and all, but he never lied. What’s wrong with him? Did he honestly think that they would believe him after seeing him on the ground? Trying to decide who to believe, the guys stared at their victims, who both looked just as guilty as they shifted uncomfortably in their spots.

            “Hanbin,” the shorter guy started. “You were on the floor, how could you say that she was the one that fell?”

            Hanbin sighed and looked at the guys, wishing they would just let it go. Judging by their expressions, he knew they wouldn’t let him off so easy. He knew he should tell them the whole story, but hesitated. How could he tell them what had happened between the foreigner and him? They would endlessly. Hanbin couldn’t live with their snickering and knowing looks. He also couldn’t risk telling them that he liked it when the girl was in his arms. No, he decided, the guys couldn’t know the whole truth.         

            Just when he opened to mouth to speak, Rhine realized that her next class was going to start in less than a minute. In fear that she would be late, Rhine quickly bowed towards every single one of the guys. Hanbin stared at her with mouth agape, couldn’t believe that she would interrupt him.

            “Have a good day,” Rhine glanced apologetically at Hanbin.

            As she quickly passed them, the guys bowed and she slightly bowed her head as she made her way towards the exit. She could still feel her face flushing and she prayed that incidents like that never happened again.

            “Forget it,” Hanbin said fiercely, causing Rhine to glance back.

            Rhine was expecting him to direct his words to the trainees, but he stared right at her and she couldn’t read his expression. She didn’t know why he was looking at her, but shrugged it off as she left the cafeteria, still feeling their eyes burning into her back.

*

            “We were waiting for you!” Hei exclaimed the second Rhine stumbled through the dance practice room.

            All the members were scattered around the room in their dance clothes, looking at Rhine. The room wasn’t huge and it wasn’t small, it was the perfect size for the five of them. Long and wide mirrors stretched to Rhine’s left while a few counters were set along the opposite wall. A stereo was in a corner with a computer on one of the desks. The blinding light bounced off of the glossy wood floor.

            “I’m so sorry,” Rhine breathed as she tried to catch her breath.

            She had run all the way to the practice room after exiting the cafeteria. She was afraid that she would be late, which she was by a few minutes. Rhine couldn’t let them wait all morning for her and she wouldn’t forgive herself if they lost some practice time. She was starving, but she tried her best to ignore it.

            “That’s okay, we were still trying to figure something out,” Iseul explained.

            Rhine set her bag by the door and gathered by the girls as Iseul held out a paper with words scrawled over it. The words were in hangul and Rhine had no idea what they were trying to figure out. All the girls stared intently at the paper while Rhine felt like an outsider.

            “What’s going on?” Rhine questioned.

            Realizing that Rhine didn’t know much Korean, the girls chuckled apologetically at her. “I’m sorry,” Iseul said with a sheepish smile. “We’re trying to decide on a song for our evaluation.”

            “We were deciding on western songs,” Jae explained.

            “Yeah, preferably hip hop songs,” Eiseu chipped in.

            Hei turned to Rhine, “You’re from America, right? You should know a lot of hip hop songs.”

            The comment made all the girls look at Rhine expectantly. Rhine ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to search through her memory for a song that would be good for dancing. Ever since she was three years old, Rhine loved dancing. Recalling all the times that she randomly danced no matter where she was brought a smile to her face. She used to be so carefree and playful, but all that changed when her ex cheated on her. Everything she knew transformed after he destroyed her and Rhine wasn’t the same anymore.

            “Uh, well…,” Rhine hesitated. The song she was going to choose had a ton of cuss words and she wasn’t sure if the girls would be okay with it.

            “Yeah?” Hei looked curiously at Rhine.

            “Um, well, I was thinking about ‘Don’t Hate the Playa’ by Tyga,” Rhine said with slight hesitation.

            The song was one of Rhine’s all time favorites. The beat wasn’t the hardest to dance to, but it wasn’t easy either. Whenever Rhine wanted to dance, she would automatically switch to one of Tyga’s songs. She didn’t know why, but it was something about the beat that makes her body move on its own. She wasn’t sure if the members would approve, but there wasn’t any other song that she could think of at the moment.

            “I’ve never heard of it before,” Eiseu commented.

            “I think I’ve heard of him somewhere,” Jae said as she tried to recall where she heard the name. As she thought, her head tilted towards the ceiling as she chewed her bottom lip.

            “Well,” Iseul said with a sigh. “Let’s take a look, alright?”

            The girls seated themselves on the ground in a circle as Iseul set a laptop in the center and started to search up the song. Rhine felt herself become self conscious once the song started to play. She suddenly regretted suggesting the song because she was afraid the others might judge her. As if her tattoos weren’t enough; her taste in music wasn’t exactly the kind of music that others would expect her to listen to. The thing that she feared most was that others might judge her. She’s never been this self conscious before, but after her ex, everything about her seemed to change.

            Rhine felt herself relaxed a little when Hei started moving along to the beat. Hei seemed to be enjoying herself and Rhine wondered if any of the girls was aware of the cuss words that were constantly appearing in every line.

            “I like it!” Hei said with a light laugh as she whipped her hair and the other girls laughed.

            “The beat is good,” Eiseu said.

            A faint smile surfaced on Rhine’s face when Hei suddenly jumped up and started moving her body to the beat. The other girls laughed with glee as they watched Hei make a fool out of herself, but Hei didn’t seem to care at all. A few moments after, Eiseu stood up and started to dance with Hei. The two girls were dancing across the room as if they had no care in the world.

            “I especially like the chorus,” Jae commented as she leaned towards the laptop, having given up on trying to remember where she heard Tyga from.

            Iseul nodded in agreement, “Yeah, we could dance to the beginning until the end of the chorus.”

            Rhine nodded, “That’s a good idea because then it won’t be too long and not too short.”

            “Come on!” Hei exclaimed as she pulled Jae into a standing position.

            Jae laughed and after a few hesitations, she started dancing with Hei and Eiseu. Rhine and Iseul laughed as Jae started to goof around and wasn’t serious while she danced.

            “How was Korean class?” Iseul questioned as she started typing into the laptop.

            “It was alright.”

            “That’s good to hear. Did you already eat?”

            Rhine shook her head, causing Iseul to look over at her. “You haven’t?”

            “I was going to, but I ran into some issues.”

            Iseul raised her eyebrows, “Issues?”

            “It’s nothing,” Rhine didn’t think Iseul would want to know about her incident. It was quite embarrassing and Rhine didn’t want the members to know about it. God, they would laugh at her.

            “Do you want to get something to eat first?”

            Iseul set the laptop down and got up as she tightened her ponytail. As she picked up the laptop, she looked at Rhine in concern. As the girl shook her head, Iseul walked over to the stereo and plugged the laptop into the stereo. She adjusted the cords and music started blasting through the stereo, the bass making the room vibrate as Iseul quickly reduced the volume.

            “Here, you might want to eat this before we practice,” after Iseul set up the stereo, she walked over to her bag and pulled out a nutrition bar and headed over to Rhine, who was still sitting on the ground.

            “Thank you,” Rhine took the bar and stood up.

            Realizing that Iseul had a point, Rhine began eating. She couldn’t possibly practice for hours without food. The bar tasted like raisins and peanut and something else that Rhine had never tasted before. As soon as she swallowed, her stomach growled, instantly wanting more. Rhine quickly downed the bar as she threw the wrapper away, feeling less hungry.

            “Okay,” Iseul ordered and everyone stopped in their tracks. “The evaluation is two weeks from now and we need to come up with something soon. Does everyone agree on this song?”

            In unison, every girl nodded their heads.

            “Good, this song it is,” she paused as she looked at Hei. “Hei, since you’re the main dancer, do you have any ideas for the dance?”

            Hei nodded with a smile and Rhine was amazed at how quickly the girl was already coming up with ideas. After each time that Hei explained an idea, she demonstrated with such ease it made Rhine wonder how she could come up with so many ideas in such a short period of time.

            “… as your left hand pops up, your right foot moves this direction. Your chest also pops out, like this,” Hei explained. “After this line, we take a long step forward and our arms form, like this. Now you try.”

*

            “That was good, we’ll pick up on it tomorrow,” Iseul said as she turned the stereo off.

            The girls were sprawled out on the floor, exhausted. Four hours of dance practice had gone by in a flash. The practice was intense and hard as it left each of them breathless. They messed up quite a lot, but slowly each of them started to get the hang of it. Rhine’s clothes were glued to her body and she wanted to shower so badly. Thankfully it was lunch break so she could head back to the dorm and take a quick shower.

            “Was it necessary to make it that hard?” Eiseu turned to frown at Hei, whose head was lying on Jae’s stomach.

            “The harder the better, right?” Hei said with a mocking smirk.

            Eiseu groaned as Hei’s words sunk in. She turned around to lie on her stomach as she buried her face in her arms. Out of all of them, Eiseu was the most exhausted. She never really had a thing for dancing and she was a bit slow, but she tried her best. Eiseu groaned as it dawned on her that she was stuck with that dance for two more weeks.

            “Um, I’m heading back to the dorm to get changed,” Rhine stood up.

            The girls turned to look at her and Iseul nodded, “Of course, but remember to come back before ten.”

            “I will.”

            Rhine grabbed her bag and headed out the door, leaving the comfort of her member’s voices. She made her way through the building, consistently bowing whenever she encounters anyone. With a sigh, she exited the main doors. The cool breeze hit her and she feels a little better. She felt suffocated in the warmness of the building. Rhine slung her backpack over her shoulders as she took out her iPod and plugged her earphones in. She started to relax as she listened to the soothing voice blaring through her earphones.

            “Hey, wait up!”

            Rhine glanced back at the voice and felt herself smile. As he was running towards her, his hands were clutching onto his pants in an effort to hold them up. She pulled out her earphones as she came to a stop. When he realized his beanie was going to fall off, his right hand pulled down his beanie. Without him knowing, he pulled his beanie a little too low and it blocked his right eye, making it hard for him to see. Just then, his right shoe slipped off and Rhine held back a laugh. Bobby stopped abruptly and turned back to get his shoe. After he slipped on his shoe, he smiled crookedly at Rhine and fixed his beanie.

            He casually walked towards her, acting like nothing had happened. He slipped his hands into his pants pockets and glanced around him. There were few cars passing by and hardly any pedestrians. His hair was slightly messy from running.

            “Aish,” he said when he was within ear shot. “You always laugh at me.”

            Rhine grinned, liking the comfortable vibe that he gave off. “It’s not that I like to, you happen to amuse me.”

            “Since when did people find me amusing? I’m cool, okay. I’m cool, not amusing,” he stated with a playful smile.

            Rhine laughed, “Okay, I get it.”

            “Where are you going?” Bobby questioned as they started walking.

            “I’m heading back to the dorm. What about you?”

            “Same,” he replied. “Today’s your first day, am I correct?”

            “Yeah, I just landed yesterday.”

            “Do you like it here so far?”

            Rhine nodded even though she wasn’t sure if she liked Seoul. It’s only been her second day there and she hadn’t seen much of the city. The city was beautiful, but it didn’t feel like home. Home. Rhine’s heart ached as her mind wandered back to her parents. To her, home was Laguna Niguel. It was the coast. It was the warmth of her father’s embrace. It was the feeling of content when she entered her house. Home was her RCF GT3. Seoul wasn’t home to Rhine. It was a completely different city with different customs. She was an alien there. Rhine didn’t know the city like she knew Laguna Niguel. It would take her a while to feel at home in Seoul, she didn’t know how long, but she knew Seoul would become her second home someday.

            “I heard you rap, is that right?” he asked.

            Bobby wanted to know everything about her. From the very first time he saw her, he knew she was different from the rest. She had captivated him instantly. It was probably because they shared a connection, both having came from America. Or it was because of her eyes that intrigued him. Bobby felt comfortable around her instantly. He hadn’t felt that way around many girls before and it was a wonder how Rhine could make him feel that way. It was ridiculous, but he wanted to befriend her.

            “Where’d you hear that?”

            He glanced at her, “You mean you don’t rap?”

            Rhine laughed and shook her head, “I do.”

            He raised his eyebrows, “You could’ve just said so… We should do a rap duo!”

            The suggestion made him grin, but only made Rhine amused. Bobby seemed so outgoing and happy, reminding Rhine of Hei. Bobby seemed to like the idea a lot as she tilted his head and pondered the thought. A rap duo with a girl would be fantastic since he’s never rapped with a girl before.

            “You seem to like the idea a lot,” Rhine noted.

            “You can’t deny that it isn’t a good idea.”

            “But you’ve never heard me rap before…”

            The thought suddenly came to Bobby and he furrowed his eyebrows. Rhine was right; he didn’t know what Rhine sounded like. Although he was clueless about her rapping, he was positive the girl was a good rapper. If she wasn’t, why would Mr. Yang pick her over everyone else? Bobby instantly became curious of her rapping style as he made a mental note to watch her audition clip.

            “Then you should rap for me right now,” he suggested.

            “Right now? No.”

            “Why not? I’ll rap for you.”

            Rhine shook her head, “Maybe next time.”

            To Rhine’s rescue, they reached the dorm building and she ran her fingers through her hair. She turned to look at Bobby and his smile was so big that caused Rhine to smile back. She didn’t know what it was with him, but she liked his happiness. Her life seemed to be filled with gloominess and meeting someone like Bobby was a good change.

            “Ah, is your dorm here too?” Bobby surveyed the building and Rhine nodded.

            Rhine stopped in front of her dorm door and searched her bag for her keys. Bobby looked at Rhine with a grin as he pointed to a few doors down.

            “I’m staying in that dorm.”

            She turned her head to look in the direction that he’s pointing after she pulled out her key. His dorm was across from theirs, but a few feet down the hall. Rhine didn’t know that there were other trainees living that close to them. The other members hadn’t bothered to mention anything to her and she was a bit confused. If the girls were interested in the boys, shouldn’t they have mentioned to her that the guys were living just down the hall?

            “This is good,” he said. “If you ever get lost, you know where to find me.”

            Rhine smiled and pushed her key into the lock. “Thank you, I’ll be heading in now.”

            Bobby nodded his head as Rhine bowed and entered the dorm. He was still standing there when she closed the door gently in front of him.

*

            After taking a quick shower, Rhine slipped into a pair of light blue jeans, a hot pink sweater and her white Converses. In a hurry, Rhine hadn’t bothered to dry her hair as it hung loose a wet around her. After applying a layer of facial cream, she went into the kitchen. Rhine rummaged through the cabinets and grabbed a few nutrition bars as she stashed them into her backpack just in case she didn’t have time to eat in between classes.

            As she was getting ready to head out, she heard a familiar voice from outside the door. It caused her to freeze in her spot for a split second.

            “Why are we waiting so long? We’ll be late,” the familiar voice said.

            There came a faint chuckle after and then muffled voices. Her arched eyebrows furrowed, were people outside the door? Rhine took a hold of the doorknob and waited until the voices started to fade. When she was sure there’s nobody outside, she pulled open the door. To her surprise, the moon walking boy lost his balance and stumbled into her. She realized that the boy had been leaning against the door.

            “Whoa!”

            Rhine stumbled when a pair of strong arms reached out and steadied her. Her head jerked up to meet the warm eyes of Bobby. He looked at her with concern as he pulled his arms away. Behind Bobby, Rhine locked gazes with the other boy. A flash of surprise crossed his face, but disappeared as soon as it came. He glanced down as he fixed his snapback.

            “Are you all right, Rhine?”

            She turned her attention to Bobby and she nodded. Her face felt warm when she turned to face the other boy and bowed.

            “I’m sorry,” Rhine apologized.

            What she really meant was that she was sorry for everything. She was sorry for watching him moon walk without him knowing, she was sorry for making him fall earlier that day, and she was sorry for bumping into him just now. Even though she knew it was her fault, she couldn’t bring herself to explain to him how she felt. She’d be way too embarrassed.

            In the midst of everything, Rhine wondered why her prayers weren’t heard. She had prayed to never see him again, but she kept running into him. How many times did she have to cross paths with him? She’s positive he’s sick and tired of seeing her face.

            The guy bowed, “I apologize too.”

            Rhine turned around and locked the door. She could feel both of the guys’ eyes burning into her soul as she turned back around. She slipped the key into her backpack.

            “Hanbin, this is Rhine. She’s the new trainee,” Bobby introduced. “And Rhine, this is Hanbin. He’s also a rapper.”

            Rhine looked at Hanbin and managed a smile. He slightly nodded his head at her as once again, he bowed and she followed his example.

            “Nice to meet you,” Hanbin slightly smiled.

            “Nice to meet you too.”

            Rhine couldn’t believe it’s their third encounter and it’s the first time they were introduced to each other. Even though it was a little awkward, it wasn’t as bad as the incidents before. Rhine was grateful about it; she wouldn’t be able to stand another embarrassing encounter.

            “We were heading back to the building and thought we’d wait for you,” Bobby explained.

            At that, she turned her head to Bobby and wondered how long they were waiting outside of the door. Even though Bobby said we, Rhine sensed that it was Bobby’s idea and Hanbin had no say in it.

            “You didn’t have to.”

            They started to walk towards the exit with Bobby in the middle. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel about them waiting for her. She remembered her ex boyfriend waiting for her in the past and she had felt special. But Bobby wasn’t her boyfriend nor a friend; he was someone that she just met. Was she supposed to feel special?

            “We thought you’d want company and besides,” Bobby started. “We were afraid you’d get lost.”

            Rhine smiled and turned to look disbelievingly at Bobby. “It’s unlikely that I’ll get lost, but thank you.”

            “You don’t seem from around here,” Hanbin suddenly spoke up.

            “She’s not,” Bobby chimed in just when Rhine was about to reply.

            Realizing that he answered too quickly, Bobby let out a chuckle. Hanbin’s mouth was ajar as he looked at Bobby and Rhine smiled. She wasn’t sure why Bobby had sounded so excited to respond to the question.

            “Where are you from?”

            The moment Hanbin and Rhine locked eyes; it sent a shock down her spine. She saw her ex right before her eyes. Rhine saw his faint yet blunt smile, his coffee brown eyes, and his stunning face. Her chest constricted just when the image vanished. She didn’t know why she suddenly saw her ex considering the fact that Hanbin didn’t remind her of him at all.

            “America!” Bobby’s eager response to Hanbin’s question snapped her back to reality.

            Neither of the guys noticed that Rhine was distracted as Hanbin casted a long glance at Bobby. He laughed and slipped his hands into his pants pockets as he leaned forward. Bobby seemed to be joking with Hanbin, but Hanbin didn’t seem amused at all with Bobby’s outbursts.

            “Would you like to answer the next question, Jiwon-ah?”

            At the mention of his Korean name, Bobby’s eyes widened for a split second. He then grinned, showing off his eye smile. He shook his head innocently and Rhine laughed as she looked over at Hanbin. The awkward atmosphere had transformed into an atmosphere that made Rhine relax.

            When they entered the lobby, Rhine turned to face the guys and bowed. “Thank you.”

            The guys bowed back and Rhine met Bobby’s eye smile, causing her to smile back. “It’s nothing; if you want I could walk with you every day.”

            She smiled, but shook her head. “Have a good day.”

            They bid their farewells as they headed in opposite directions, but Rhine could still feel their eyes on her. One of her talents was sensing others watching her because she grew up being the outsider and people would constantly watch her as if she wasn’t human. Having people look at her constantly, she knew whenever people she was being watched.

            At first, Rhine didn’t want to walk with the guys. She thought it would turn out awkward and more humiliation, but she was wrong. To be honest, she kind of liked walking with them. It made the walk seem faster and more entertaining. Rhine was beginning to like the idea of walking with Bobby every day.    

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I edited the chapter... Well, the last section but yeah. :) Oh, you should listen to 'Don't hate the playa' by Tyga! I love Tyga ♥ Haha. Anyways, have a good day lovelies :)