Nine years ago…

Myunghee was on her way to the school’s studio for dance practice. It was 6 am in the morning and like the good student she was, there was still an hour till it started.

The school was so quiet, only the soft tapping of her footsteps can be heard that stretched a hallway.  Even if the lights were open, the gloomy lighting of the dim rising sun gave a murky and eerie atmosphere. Rumour has it, that walls whispers to one another and there would be white figures that dwelled the school grounds.

No wonder students were too scared to come so early in the morning of a winter’s day. Most students were very superstitious in ghosts at those times and said that school has one of its own. But Myunghee never really did believe in such things. She had never seen one and so she’d never let the rumour give her fear.

She had been to the school earlier than 6 in the morning and departs later than 7 at night. Not once she saw any supernatural practices and so she never fret going by herself. After all, it was Sun Myunghee, known as the school’s ‘solo artist’. She barely talked to anyone with only one exception, her best friend, Byun Baekhyun.

As she was close to the entrance of the studio, she could hear faint music. A basic rhythm yet with fast beat. Step by step, the closer she got, the clearer the music playing for her ears to hear. When she scuttled towards the door, she took a peek through the clear square glass window. And there she saw a swan prince. The figure danced so smoothly. Her eyes followed the flowing limbs that synchronised with the beat of the music. She could see the running emotions displayed on his face, like furrowing his eyebrows whenever making a difficult stance. His handsome complexion glistened of sweat which showed his passion. Ballet or not, this boy was a talented dancer.

She leaned more and more to the door, giving it more pressure. When she was full of mesmerisation too much pressure was given to the door and so it abruptly swung open and her body met the hard floor.

Myunghee agonised under her breath as she noticed the bruise that formed on her left knee. On the other hand, the music stopped playing and the unknown dancer rushed towards her.

“Are you okay?” he questioned while she didn’t dare to look up of embarrassment, though his touch on her shoulder and warm wind from his breath made her cheeks flush red. Myunghee remained quiet. She rubbed her elbows to lessen the pain and slipped her bag back to her shoulder.

There was a short, awkward moment of silence and the boy decided break it, “Uh… I’m Kai by the way. I just transferred here last week.” In the midst of contemplation whether to speak or not, she slowly stood up still avoiding possible eye contact.

As expected, the boy Kai was taller than her when he stood up in front. Confusion aroused him when she remained silent while rubbing her elbows.

“Does it hurt? I can get a pack of ice for you.” Before he could make another step outside, Myunghee finally spoke up, “N-no it’s fine.” She made a soft exhale and held out a hand.

“I’m Myunghee.” Her sweet voice made him smile as he gripped her hand to shake it. Once he let go, he returned to his station and took out the CD from the stereo.

“Are you here for dance practice?” his sweaty backside was facing her as Myunghee crept towards the opposite corner from him. After the embarrassing fall, she couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. Embarrassment was something she absolutely disliked.

Kai finished organising his belongings as he approached the tensed up girl with a towel around his neck. She made a quick glance at him before letting her eyes look elsewhere. As an answer for his question she nodded and still no verbal communication was given to him.

“I guess you don’t talk much…”

“Not really. I’m just not fond of it.” She replied as she finally faced him properly, admiring his plump pinkish lips smile.

“About time you looked at me. There's nothing on my face, right?” He softly chuckled which brought sweetness to Myunghee’s ears as she nodded and responded, "No, just your face." Her uneasiness progressively lowered as his friendly aura gave warmth. Together, they conversed even if there were short awkward intervals in between.

For another hour or so, one by one, the population of the room grew as the attention was primarily on Kai. Girls immediately gathered round their groups and burst with gossip and some were eyeing him flirtatiously. Within matter of minutes, Kai was already surrounded, making new friends. While Myunghee, watched intently from afar, stretching on her signature corner before the class commenced.

Once the teacher entered the room, the students scattered to their rightful positions and waited for the instructions. Myunghee did one last stretch with her arms as she briefly revised dance steps. However, all throughout the lesson, no matter how much she tried to concentrate, Kai would always cloud up her mind. Particularly the reason because he was going to be her partner for the next four weeks.

The class came to its end and Myunghee did not hesitate to leave the noisy classroom. She had no reason to especially her new partner was the new eye candy of the school, it was best to not get in the way. Quite sad but she was used to it. It wasn’t like it was to change anything. New people, new eye candy, so what? She had nothing to associate with them. Just be the ‘solo artist’ like she was, Myunghee assured herself that there would be nothing to be concerned about.

Well that’s what she thought for the next few weeks. Her silence in the society did not exactly give her peace. It started with malicious