I took a seat at the bar to watch the couple dancing on stage. Despite their slightly awkward movements, their expressions made the dance a pleasure to watch – they were simply dancing together and were enjoying themselves.

“Can I get a drink ?” I absentmindedly asked the bartender who was stood behind the bar beside me. When I turned my head to face him, is eyes widened in recognition and I was slightly taken aback. I hadn’t thought about any of the staff that may know me – I’d visited this club often enough for them to know me.

I hastily lifted a finger over my mouth, gesturing for him to not say anything and, thankfully, he nodded in understanding and walked towards the glasses. I watched him return a minute later, holding a drink which he then placed in front of me with a smile. I turned back to see the dancing couple smiling and bowing before exiting the stage.

 “Any more contestants ?” The  DJ called out to the crowd. I sighed and twisted away, raising my drink to mouth.

Suddenly a hand wrapped around my arm and I was yanked from my seat, barely managing to place my drink on the bar before it could smash on the floor. Although I couldn’t see the person, I knew exactly who it was pulling me through the crowds of people towards the stage.

“What are you doing ?” I yelled over the loud music, amongst crowds of students, as I pulled him to a halt beside the raised platform.

“Didn’t you want to dance ?” He mischievously grinned at me. I unknowingly smiled and he took my expression as a yes as he pulled me up the steps into the limelight.

The familiar feeling of the bright spotlight burning my skin came in a rush as my vision cleared to see a sea of faces watching Luhan and I stood on the stage. A could see a few people muttering to others beside them – students I knew; I studied with them. It must be a shock for them; Minyoung was long gone now, my appearance was anything but similar …

The music started playing, it was a song I never heard before, never mind danced to before. I closed my eyes and tried to get a feel of the rhythm instead of panicking as the steady tune pumped from the speakers when the music abruptly shut off. My eyes shot open as a new song began playing. This song I knew – Now by Trouble Maker. I glanced over to the music deck to see Hyori stepping away from the controls, she made eye contact with me and smirked sneakily before laughing and jokingly holding her thumbs up for good luck.  I felt Luhan’s hot breath beside my ear as he leant over my shoulder from behind me.

“You know it ?” he teased as I gave him a small smile and raised an eyebrow, turning to face him.

“As long as you can keep up” he chuckled slightly at my remark before we stepped away from each other and breathed in the music.

His dance which once captivated me, now motivated me, the thrilling feeling of dancing together as one, it flowed through my body as I forgot the secrets he is hiding from me, I concentrated on his eyes. His eyes which gazed deeply into my own, not breaking eye contact, the light obscuring the  brown chasms, his soul shining through. There were no barriers between us in the moment, we were free, forgetting the audience watching in awe throughout the song.

Our limbs loose, our actions fluid, our breathing rapid. We moved on the stage, pressed against each other, blood running through our veins, dancing together, existing together - lost in the hypnotic melody taking control of our bodies.

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The next day …

Walking down the school corridors, I could feel people watching me. Some stared in admiration, others with malice and jealousy. The attention was so unfamiliar in university that I cowered under their stares, pushing my glasses up my nose and hiding behind my appearance as Minyoung.

I hadn’t spoken to Luhan since the night before, when we’d won the competition. I didn’t know what to say to him, the connection we held through dancing was strong, but his involvement with Sehun still troubled me.

By the time my classes for the whole day had finished, it was dark outside. I was sat on a desk in a free study room, looking through my books, on my own.

All of a sudden, a shadow fell over my notes and a piercing cold spread over my shoulders and down my back, tumbling over my face. The prickling sensation caused by the ice-cold water was abrupt, my body quickly began to shudder and shake as I cried out in surprise, looking up to see three girls stood over me, smirking. They were well-known in the university – the ‘popular’ girls, the ‘rich’ girls, the ‘spoilt’ girls, the ‘pretty’ girls … whatever you knew them as …

I shook so furiously that I couldn’t even articulate a curse towards them as one girl grabbed me by my t-shirt and dragged me to my feet, dripping wet, barely standing on my quivering knees.

“Minyoung’s so smart …” they jeered, pulling at my clothes... “Minyoung’s so pretty … Minyoung’s such a great dancer …” My clothes were ripped and torn away, shredded until I was shivering covered in strips of fabric that were barely recognisable as clothing.

“S-s-t-op-p i-i-t-t” I managed to whisper, my voice stuttering and weak but they simply sneered in return and laughed in my face. One girl leant towards me until we were eye to eye.

“Do you know what Minyoung can’t be ?” She taunted, a malevolent smile playing on her face, “Minyoung can never be Luhan’s girlfriend.” She glared at me spitefully “so back off …” she snarled, giving me a rough shove causing me to lose my footing and fall onto the floor. I was freezing and couldn’t even utter a work in response but only curl up where I lay on the floor, trying to save the little body heat that remained.

The three girls turned their back on me and left the classroom, I didn’t fail to notice the recognisable clicking noise as they locked the door behind them and I was left alone, trembling in a heap.

My ears pricked at the sound of shuffling in the adjoining study room. The handle rattled before the door swung open revealing an annoyed looking Luhan – he took a step towards the door before he noticed me crouched in the corner, shaking in ripped clothes and his eyes widened.

“Min ? Minyoung … what happened ?” He rushed, taking off him jacket, kneeling beside me, and hurriedly wrapping it around my shoulders, covering up my bare skin. He shook my shoulders lightly and stared into my eyes. “Min … what happened ?” although he spoke in an authoritative tone, his concern was evident on his face. When I didn’t reply, he simply sighed and sat down beside me, pulling me into his embrace to warm me.

I must have sat in Luhan’s arms for at least an hour, slowly warming myself up, I had stopped shivering, my breathing had slowed down to a normal pace and I could feel all of my limbs once again; the numbing brought by the ice water had faded. I stirred and straightened my back, pulling Luhan’s jacket further around my shoulders to cover myself up. I turned to come face-to-face with Luhan who was staring at me, trying to figure out how I came to be in this position before he voiced his question out loud.

“Are you going to tell me what happened now Minyoung …?” He breathed, I wanted to tell him but neither did I want to hurt him.

“There were three of them. They poured water on me, ripped my clothes and ran off, locking to door. I didn’t even see their faces.” I lied, if he knew who they were, he could almost definitely guess that it was jealousy that provoked the attack.

“Why ?” He asked further.

“I don’t know …” I lied again, hanging my head as not to make eye contact in case he could tell I wasn’t being truthful. He was looking at me questionably when I spoke up. “What are you doing here ?”

“Ahh … I was finishing a project in the adjoining room, with headphones in, when I saw some students run up to the door and lock it. They didn’t notice me in the corner but when I went to check if this classroom had also been locked, I found you like this …” he explained “… I guess this door is locked too, right ?” I just nodded in reply, standing up to stretch my legs and brush my fingers through my damp hair.

“Well … thank you …” I mumbled quietly and he laughed at my awkwardness and stood up beside me.

“Do you realise this is the second time I’ve saved you ?” I cocked my head in thought when he clarified: “today, when you probably would have died of hypothermia in this freezing school, never mind being drenched in water and when we first met, at the night club, remember ? Or had you drunk too much …?” He teased, I just pushed him jokingly away.

“Right …”

“You know, Minyoung, if I save you a third time you have to grant me wish …” he voiced out loud … when I gave him a weird look he pouted slightly … “it’s a rule …” we both laughed at his childishness.

“You’re on” I agreed to his proposition, it was the least I could do, he had saved me twice already and I owed him a lot. I paused before bringing up the topic which had been playing on my mind for the past week “… how did you and Sehun cross paths in China ?” I asked hesitatingly, his breath hitched upon hearing my question. “You don’t hav-” I started but he interrupted.

“No … you deserve to know …” he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again widely, breathing heavily “when I lived in China … I got into trouble … lots of trouble … Sehun was working with the police force that got involved with me … I guess I hung around with the wrong people, got myself into the wrong lifestyle, started depending on the wrong things in life … I moved here to get away from it all …” the pain that laced his speech that came with the memories was obvious and I grabbed both of his arms and looked at him in the eye supportively; I was glad he was able to tell me this much …

“Don’t worry … don’t worry … it’s okay …” I whispered to him as he tried to calm himself down and stop his fists from tensing and relaxing in a frenzied manner. 

“I don’t know who I can trust …” he murmured in despair.

“Luhan … you can trust me … I promise …” I replied, he let out a long breath and met my gaze.

“I try to Minyoung … I really do … more than anyone else …” he leant forwards, closing the distance between both of us and sweetly pressed his lips against my own. My heart fluttered lightly as I placed my hands around his shoulders and kissed him back. He lifted his hand up to gently brush my hair back and hold my face in his hands, deepening the kiss and pressing me up against the wall with his own body. Then he pulled back and pulled me into his arms, my head resting on his chest as he clutched me and sighed. “I’m sorry … but thank you …” I tried to calm my racing heart as he held me, what was happening to me ? Did I … like him ?

We ended up asleep on the ground, leaning against the wall, my head resting on his shoulder, until we were found early that morning by the cleaner. We hurriedly got up and left before any questions were asked, Luhan dropped me off outside my apartment, we spoke almost as if last night hadn’t had happened.

One thing was for sure though … last night definitely did happen and I wasn’t going to forget it … not a single bit …

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