White, black, grey cars zoomed past her as she walked back to her home from the cafe. Looking up towards the sky, Hana took in a deep breath. Her heart felt lighter after her encounter with her brother, all the feelings that burdened her has now lifted. She was curious on the reasons why she was treated like she did for the past years, but she figured that that would be a story for the next time they meet. Who would have thought that she’d be looking forward to another meeting with her older brother of 2 years. Clutching her necklace, she silently wished that her problems that remained would be solved too.

As she was nearing her house, from the distance, she caught the glimpse of what she can only decipher as the tanned boy called Jongin, kicking the pebbles on the ground by the pavement. Was he waiting for her this whole time?

The closer she got to him, the more distinctive his features became; his fluffy dark brown hair that blew with the breeze, those puppy-looking eyes that looked like it could contain the stars  themselves, his plump lips curving into a charming smile as he took notice of her coming down the slope towards him and the way his tall figure turned towards her. Everything about him just screamed perfection.

“Earth to Hana?” asked the boy, waving his hand in front of her face. Hana snapped out of her thoughts only to realise that she had been staring at him as she slowed down her pace on the way to the house. “What were you thinking so hard about? Me?” he jokingly added, letting out a small laugh.

“N-no!” flustered, Hana objected as she shoved away the thoughts of even thinking that Jongin was perfect. She reminded herself that this was the guy who ordered her around and a lot, “Who would even?” she awkwardly replied with a lame attempt of a scoff. Despite that, she was reminded of the times when the said boy would help the lost little kids at the amusement park, where he was there for her when she broke down in tears, and though he was teasing her, he would always not go overboard with it.

“Why are you even here, Jongin?” the girl questioned after clearing , shaking away the ‘unnecessary’ ideas and memories that popped up in her head.

“Isn’t it obvious?” replied Jongin, the dimple on his cheek showing as his smile widened, “I was waiting for you.” he continued.

There was it again; that thump in her chest. The answer to her question was already pretty obvious but hearing the boy in front of her say it out loud still caught her off guard. Calming down herself, she opted to just nod and hum a note of acknowledgement towards his reply.

Before she could excuse herself and head inside, Jongin stopped her with a simple call of her name. Thump.

“Are lessons continuing tonight?” sheepishly, he asked, referring to their dance practices that were put into a halt due to his absence. Although they did have one practice session last night, it was more of stress-reliever than a proper routine.

“You better not go missing so suddenly then,” Hana responded sarcastically as she dismissed her sudden flustered feelings, waving him goodbye as she went through the door to her house. He waved back in response and turned around to head home.

~.~

9am came by in a second as Hana finished folding the last of the clothes in the living room. She glanced to her right, seeing the towers of neat, folded shirts and pants organised properly. With her already calculating how her allowance should be utilised, it was only good for her to stop this side job. The house’s bills are able to be paid, food expenses can be bought and she’d still have extra for her own uses. Probably she should talk about this to her father.

It has been a few days since she last had the chance to talk with her father. Ever since the fight, the man would only ever give her orders through notes on the fridge or either give a grunt as his response. Though it would have been intended for her to feel like he was being cold to her, she didn’t miss the sad expression in his eyes. Is it possible that he actually felt guilty for slapping her? Because she actually felt bad for shouting at him and blaming him for everything.

Something somehow also changed since then. Her father was nowhere to be seen gambling and instead, she has always bumped into him in the middle of the night, a construction helmet and vest in hand. He had actually stopped uselessly gambling and drinking, and went to work at the construction site nearby.

Did her sister have a hand in this change too? Just like Chanyeol?

The sound of her alarm snapped her out of her train of thoughts; 10 minutes to 10pm. Hana stood up and walked over to her room, preparing herself to go out for dance practice. Standing in front of her full-body mirror, she scanned herself.

Sporting a simple grey hoodie and black sweatpants, she wondered if she should change into another top. How many times has she worn this outfit to the studio for practice? As she reached for hair and pulled it up for a ponytail, she was suddenly reminded of Sehun’s words on how she looked prettier with her hair down. Should she try leaving her hair down for once? Probably. And when did her lips look this pale and dry? Almost instantly, she picked up the lip balm in the drawer of her study desk and applied some of it to her lips.

Wait. Why was she suddenly so conscious of how she’s going to look when all she’s doing was meeting Jongin for dance practice?

“This is ridiculous,” she scoffed to herself when she realised what she was doing, “It’s only Kim Jongin, you idiot. Let’s just go out like this.”

~.~

It definitely surprised Hana when she saw the lights in the dance studio were . As far as she knew, there was no electricity in that building since no one practically used it besides her, Sehun and Jongin. Did someone finally buy the building and is actually using the said place.

With careful steps, she made her way to the studio. Sounds of music playing started to be heard when she was getting closer and closer. Someone was definitely using the room.

Upon reaching the glass door, Hana caught glimpse of Jongin dancing in the middle of the room. Even though she had seen him dancing multiple times, it felt like she was seeing him for the first time. His movements were so gracious but sharp at the same time. The way he slid and moved across the floor looked so effortless. But what had Hana so mesmerised was his expressions; through different parts of the songs, his facial expressions would change accordingly.

Hana leaned on the frame of the door, arms crossed, figuring that it would be best to not disturb him until he finished the song. At least she had time to think of the song and routine that they should do for the competition, if that was even possible because all she could do now was watch the boy in the room dancing his heart out.

Luckily, she caught herself staring right when the song ended. She mentally scolded herself for being so lost in her thoughts. Giving a knock on the door, she pushed it open and stepped inside once Jongin turned around to realise that she had already arrived.

With a bottle of water in one hand, the taller boy used his other hand to wipe his sweat away with a towel. Ruffling his hair that was all over the place, he sat down on the floor, legs spread out as he huffed. Hana followed and sat in front of him, pointing up towards the lights.

Jongin understood what she meant to ask and stated, “Oh, I found the master switch to this place. Flipped it and ta-da!” spreading his arms out, “they . You guys should really check the whole building. I thought this place just didn’t have any electricity, but they had a generator back there.”

That piece of information was definitely new to Hana. As far as she could recall, Sehun had told her that her couldn’t find a way to turn on the electricity when she asked him when they were 14. Maybe he missed that part of the building.

“Anyway,” she brushed off the thought, “Have you thought on what song we should change to?”

As discussed before his disappearance, the both of them agreed that it would be better for them to change their performance to a more lively and playful dance rather than a sad, bittersweet one. The theme they had to follow was ‘romance’, so there are bound to be all kinds of interpretations on romance. And seeing how it’s autumn, they figured that most of the participants would go for a mellow act. In a way to stand out, both Jongin and Hana decided to think of playful concepts and would go over all the ideas when they meet up again.

“Well, I was thinking of using ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ as the song,” Jongin started and continued explaining, bringing out a notebook from his backpack by the mirror. While he clarified on the choice of the music, Hana tucked her hair behind her ear when she noticed that it was going to be in the way between them and disturb him, “Then, we can use the dance as a way of telling a story from the song. How in love the couple is and how they don’t want to let each other go. Would that be okay?”

Hana could definitely see how they could execute the performance and it was at least better than her having little to no idea at all. With 2 weeks left until the competition, they should hurry and start choreographing, sharpen and finalise the act they are going to perform.

“Yeah, that’s awesome,” she agreed, giving a nod of approval to the boy in front of her. There were a few questions she had in the back of her mind, but maybe she’ll have those answered as they continue with the practice, “Do you have a choreography in mind?”

With that, Jongin stood up, placing his things back in his backpack and began demonstrating. Enthusiastically, he turned and slid across the floor, showing her where each of them would be during which line of the song. It was such a sight to behold watching this giddy boy explaining the steps for the dance as this would be the first time he would be the one teaching her a dance since the time they started practicing together. As soon as he finished showing all the steps, he held out his hand; a signal for her to start repeating after him.

5, 6, 7, 8.

Jongin glanced to her left, looking over the girl who was following his moves. As he explained where and how this part of the song to express, he noticed that there was one thing that she kept doing; shifting her hair back, away from her face. It was a very amusing sight to see Hana being annoyed by her stubborn strands of hair.

He recalled when he saw Hana by the door frame of the practice room. Though it wasn’t his first time seeing her with her hair down, she definitely made his heart skip a beat. Every time she tucked her hair behind her ear when he was explaining the song and choreography from his notebook, he could feel a blush creep up towards his ears. From her eyes to her lips, even her forehead, everything about her was beautiful.

Giving a small laugh, he approached Hana who was struggling more and more with her hair. He mentally thanked his little sister for always borrowing his jacket because luckily, he had a hairband inside the pocket of his clothe. With a short ‘may I’, Jongin stood behind her, nervously bringing his hands up to gather Hana’s hair behind her.

All the confidence he had before dissipated as he shortened the distance between them. Being this close to the girl he realised he liked was definitely causing his heart to speed up. Unknowingly, he could pick up a floral scent from her hair as he tied it into a messy bun. At a time like this, he was glad that they were not facing the mirror in fear that Hana would notice if he was blushing or if he showed that he was flustered.

“It’s done,” he stated, his voice soft to hide his nervousness. Jongin was too lost in his thoughts that he barely had any time to react when Hana turned around to face him. His heart felt like it was about to explode when he became fully aware of how close they were. From the way she blinked to the way she bit her lower lip, he became too conscious of all of her actions in that second of staring at each other. The hands that he had beside her small head seemed to be moving on their own, gently holding the sides of her temple. Slowly, as though he was afraid he might scare her away, he brought his lips closer towards her forehead.

It was soft; the way his lips touched her skin. He kept the kiss brief and pulled away almost instantly to look at the girl he was holding, nervous that she would react negatively. Maybe too nervous that he released his hands and had to add his own comment first.

“W-with a kiss on your head,” hoping that he was forming proper words, he stuttered.

“Huh?”

“That’s a part of the lyrics where the writer brings her a coffee with a kiss on your head,” added Jongin, gulping down the anxiousness, praying that the his voice wouldn’t show it. Would Hana accept his clarification on his sudden action.

Before he could hear a reply from her, a knock on the door snapped them both out of their thoughts.

It was Sehun.

Author's note: Hey guys~ So I decided to upload this chapter a day early because I'll be busy celebrating Eid tomorrow. I have a question though, do you guys prefer weekly updates with longer chapters or shorter chapters but twice a week updates? 
To those celebrating, Eid Mubarak to everyone ^^