At dance rehearsals, Qiu Qiu generally focused more attention on Zi Lun and Niu Nai. These were the group's least trained dancers. But Zi Lun worked hard and Niu Nai was a quick study. Zi Lun usually left practice drenched from her effort. Though she couldn't master the moves as quickly as the others, she never gave up. Her stubbornness made her a good performer even when she needed to do extra hours in the studio on her own time. Niu Nai's moves took a while to perfect, but when she succeeded, she was completely accurate. Despite her long legs, her posture was usually as Qiu Qiu requested. Apart from her initial awkwardness, eventually, she had the tightest moves of the bunch, second to Qiu Qiu.

Qiu Qiu broke up the group to give Zi Lun a bit of extra help. The girls watched patiently as their trainer held Zi Lun's shoulders square while she practiced the latest move. Because these two were prone to goofiness, only seconds passed before they began waltzing around the room. Qiu Qiu flashed her adorable gummy smile while Zi Lun's nose wrinkled from giggling. As usual, the smallest details drew Niu Nai into reverie. She watched their waltz and drifted into an imaginary world. They were wearing tuxes in a glittery ballroom instead of a sweaty studio.

True romance: they stared into each other's eyes. They held hands. Qiu Qiu whirled Zi Lun in large, slow circles. Zi Lun's eyes twinkled as she smiled kindly at her partner. As the imaginary music came to an end, the girls stood still and drew each other closer. They seemed to be frozen in time, as their gaze remained unbroken.

Qiu Qiu touched Zi Lun's cheek. Zi Lun returned her affection by leaning forward to plant a tender kiss on her smiling lips. As Niu Nai's heart melted, she realized she'd once again, slipped into a romance coma. She blinked her eyes and pressed her fingers into her closed eyelids in order to wake herself out of her daydream. Thankfully this time, nobody had noticed she'd drifted off. She so loathed having to listen to An Na chew her out. Though she was never mean about it, it just made her feel like a flakey failure.

She vowed to work extra hard for the rest of rehearsal, but after two hours of arduous effort, she started feeling exhausted. Knowing that her mind wandered more when she was tired, she feared another interruption in her focus. She tried, she really did. She wanted to listen to An Na's instructions, but her attention was waning, and rapidly so. Why did An Na have to be so attractive when she played Boss? Her assertiveness and vitality, even after an entire day of work, was impressive. She was always organized and composed, even when worn out. She usually had just that bit of additional energy to round up the troops. That was precisely what she did, presently.  She summarized and concluded all salient points so that they could hit the showers, get some grub, take a nap or any combination of the above.

Niu Nai's mind was already on the nice hot shower she was looking forward to...

Shower...mmm...

Relax sore muscles...ahhh...

She pictured herself standing under the stream of soothing water, but suddenly she wasn't alone. The longer An Na babbled, the more vividly she entered Niu Nai's shower fantasy.

An Na's spiky faux-hawk flattened as she accompanied Niu Nai below the shower head. Her arms s around Niu Nai's shoulders. The nice thing about a daydream is that nothing was impossible. In reality, An Na stood more than a head shorter than Niu Nai, but in dreamland she had no difficulty lacing her fingers at the back of Niu Nai's neck. She need not stretch, and Niu Nai could stand tall without awkwardly hunching down so An Na could reach.

The water trickled in ribbons from Niu Nai's wet bangs as she looked at An Na. The droplets got into her eyes, so she closed them. The leader turned Niu Nai to face away from her. She traced her fingers along Niu Nai's midsection and kissed her broad back. Leaning her cheek on her shoulder, she rested her hands on Niu Nai's full bosom. Cupping the soft mounds, she breathed into the wet skin of Niu Nai's shoulders.

Niu Nai enjoyed her flight of fancy with eyes closed. An Na's embrace had the same impact as a massage. The day's workout left her body and then...

"Niu Naiiii..." An Na cooed.

Niu Nai opened her eyes.

"Dude, are you already asleep? At least wait until I'm done talking - then go home and sleep in your bed!" An Na cocked her head in disbelief.

Niu Nai came out of her trance and realized she'd been sitting there on the dance studio floor, eyes closed while everyone watched her. They wondered if she'd passed the exhaustion stage and gone straight into a narcoleptic episode. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Bowing her head slightly, she stammered,

"S-sorry, Boss."

"Space cadet!" Qiu Qiu laughed.