Sehun has never been jealous of Jongin.

Never.

Well of course you can never hate someone that has been sticking with you for the past ten years; sharing the blood, the tears, and the pain- Even when he is very specialized in the same area of expertise as you do. In Sehun’s case will be dancing, ballet to be precise. It’s not appropriate especially when Jongin- the one that has been sticking with Sehun for the past decade- has never been rude towards him. They are best buds that share almost everything, from the deepest secrets to the deepest problems they have. Not to mention when it comes to ballet-in this case, most likely it will be Jongin sharing his secret techniques to Sehun. In fact Sehun thinks that by watching Jongin dances, Jongin has already shared at least 89,5% of his skills with him.

Why? Because Jongin dances well, really well; extraordinarily good in… everything; including expressing feelings, the art of pouring enough soul inside each and every movement, making each leap flawlessly perfect, not dropping his elbows, splitting in an inhuman manner, and never failing in pirouette (either it’s double, triple, en dedans, or en dehors with Fouette or without).

Alright, maybe Sehun is jelly. But just a litleee bit.

Like how today he missed the opportunity to become the lead role of a new play their ballet institution decided to hold. He had made sure that everything was perfect (he even wore his lucky underwear for today, but shh, don’t tell anyone). He had angled his chin up high, and of course he had remembered to hold his line and definitely didn’t stick his out (he worked the hell out of him for the last part, because the natural structure of Sehun’s backside makes it almost impossible).

Well, scratch all of that. He thought he had worked hard.

He thought he had worked hard enough, he thought he had done his best, and the most heart crushing part, he thought he did well.

He waited; he had been b with confidence that his name would be called, especially when he thought he finally got a clean grasp of how he should put the feel into the routine.  But he needed to let his heart sunk down along with his mouth gaping for words, as there’s Jongin. The Mighty Dance Machine that is crushing his hopes in the form of Oh Sehun’s best friend (Oh such devilish form he is taking. How Sehun hopes he isn’t so that Sehun can feel less guilty for making Jongin the subject of his envy). There is Kim Jongin that is always way up high settling himself on top of the comfortable bunch of condensed water called clouds looking at Sehun while waving-“Hi, try to catch me here’s a bait”, tough the bait is an easy one, it tricks because it is hung with a thin cord that is floating on the first layer of atmosphere called stratosphere -which is around 15 km from the ground- so that it will look so close, yet so far, because it looks so easy to grab, but you cannot see how far the cord actually stretches.

This is proven as Jongin patted him earlier this day after his loss, saying “There’s another audition, don’t worry.” While his lips curved into a genuine smile, not a fake one. Sehun knew by his observation these past years of whether Jongin put plastic smiles or organic smiles. That one really did show sympathy, and Sehun could feel the concerned vibe from him. This is really frustrating. If only Jongin walked out of the room with a scoff, Sehun could be much more in ease to be jealous over his skills. Too bad said person just gave a believe-in-second-chances smile and Sehun couldn’t help but to smile back.

Yeah of course I do believe. I even believe in a hundred and eighth chance. That will be the name of the smile Sehun gave as a reply. Wondering about the number 108? Meaning that Jongin had beaten Sehun in 107 ‘spars’ before, and now Sehun is waiting to be the champion of the 108^th. If he could. If.

So here is Sehun, again, tying his pointe shoe with as much gusto he can muster (with the sole purpose to live up the moment) for the umpteenth time. After tucking the pigtails and his lips, he now should be ready for another solo practice initiated by him as an attempt to conquer Jongin. Maybe he should add 30 minutes more to make sure he can go from the top again to the last.

He then steps inside the studio, inhaling the familiar smell of sweat and citrus- courtesy of the air freshener. Feeling into the mood, he grabs the barre, and then warms up; swinging his legs back and forth, stretching them, and at last doing countless Relevés until his body feels all hot and ready to go.

As soon as he’s finished, he grabs his ipod and scrolls out for appointed song. He then walks to the tape and ready to dock his device to the thing.

And here’s where the only fun thing of the day begins.

“You’re still here, Sehuna?”
 

The voice that is even sweeter than the birds’ chirping in the morning shakes Sehun’s eardrums, sending unexplainable sensation to his heart, in result of him stopping everything he’s doing now. He freezes and watches the scene of a woman that is clad in an oversized shirt and a long thin floral skirt with brown hair tied in a messy low ponytail opening the door, entering the room, and the shutting the door unwraps before him.

“Oh… Hi Luhan. I’m still here.” Sehun replies awkwardly as the woman which claims to be 19 but looks like a 9 year old walks towards him; making herself comfortable on the piano bench in front of the tape. She then drums her fingers on the smooth surface of the closed piano, humming a short tune before looking back at Sehun. With those beautiful wide eyes that had the galaxy reflected in them. Those beautiful starry eyes. Those dayum eyes.

Sehun first met Luhan when he was 8. At that time there was a role reversal between the owner, because the older sister retired so that she told the younger to take care of teaching while she would take care of administration. By that, Sehun had a new teacher. She was younger, fresher, and most of all funnier. For short, Sehun liked the younger of the sisters that owned the institution. One day she didn’t teach because of something, but she told her daughter to supervise in her stead.

Sehun could remember the uproar the daughter of the owner caused when she stepped in. Sehun was the youngest in his class at that time, but Sehun remembered that the boys commented she was really pretty, while the girls praised her for her looks. Sehun himself, before her appearance, he had no interest because he was too busy grieving over the fact his favorite teacher wasn’t teaching. He had settled his spot in the corner of the room, refusing to move a slight bit, but boy when the daughter entered the room, Sehun got his eyes glued on her.

She was, magnificent.

And this magnificence is Luhan.

Donned in a Hawaiian-patterned dress that reached her ankles, and a beautiful face which could put idols to shame, Sehun couldn’t help but think that a Disney Princess had just came out right from the picture book. She then walked gracefully inside the studio, introduced herself, and then handed them the note her mother told her to give to her mother’s pupils but the note was prohibited to be seen by her.

(So the note sounded like this:

Dear everyone, this is me

I’m truly sorry I cannot teach you, so I present to you my daughter! She is very pretty just like her mom isn’t she?

Please be nice to her, and never, ever say harsh words to her. Please don’t curse in front of her okay?

She’ll play the piano for you. I’ll prohibit you using the tape and other electronic devices. Don’t want Xing Xing to make the tape explode, again.

P.S: She’s twelve. She’s older than all of you.

Lots of love

Your teacher)

Upon scanning the P.S, Sehun winced. He had no problem with the first prompt from his teacher, because he had always been good. But when he got to the P.S, he couldn’t help but to look at the note, look back at the girl, and look back at the note. Sure she was quite tall, but her age? So she’s a noona?

Said girl immediately adverted Sehun’s attention by lifting the piano cover, revealing its beautiful black and white keys inside. She then started playing mercilessly, in result of Sehun and the rest of the class to scramble frantically to the barre, sloppily starting their Plie from the top again.

Luhan then laughed. The most beautiful laugh that Sehun had ever seen in his life (tough she looked like a constipated squirrel). Even he could swear that sun shone when she smiled. From the way her skin wrinkled with the elevation of the corners of her lips, to the way her eyes sparkled with happiness. Everything of her captivated not only the sun, but also Sehun.

Well, seems cliché. Seems stereotypical, painfully mainstream which screams so not the cool and sassy Oh Sehun.

Guessed it?

Luhan is Sehun’s first love.

And maybe it’s Sehun’s first ‘love at first sight’

Or maybe Sehun’s first crush?

Whatever what matters now is that Luhan is still Sehun’s crush now.

Sehun finally realized that he had fell for Luhan when he noticed the irregularly fast beating of his heart whenever she was in the radius of 5 meters. Until he realized how he had such fast reaction each time Luhan’s name was being mentioned (courtesy of Jongin which pointed this out and to no end). Still not convinced, he tried to explain the reason why he was so hyped up each time Luhan found him practicing alone and not-so-secretly hoped for her to drop by, accompany him and play a song or two for him (Luhan almost always met him because of her duty to clean up the studio). Sometimes if he was lucky, and Luhan was not in her time, she would tend his wounds and bandage them up. Ulterior motive: letting her soft touch lingers in the surface of his toes, sending pleasant chills to his spine and images of rainbows to his head.

And he couldn’t find another answer either than he was in love.

Back to the present time, Luhan is now grinning from ear to ear, her eyes glittering with excitement as she suggest to play a song, like each time. “I’ll play for you, Sehunnie. You dance.”

Grinning with the same length as she does, Sehun then gets to the fifth position quickly, straightening his back and places his hands behind it; the starting position of his routine.

Luhan flips the scores a little bit, clicking her tongue when she founds the appointed one; which happened to be the audition song earlier. She presses C twice, configures the rhythm and memorizes which notes go flat or which notes go sharp. Taking a deep breath, she then presses the wooden keys forcefully, twice, before going on with the smooth intro, her fingers dancing on top of them. Meanwhile Sehun, with the familiar tone entering his ears bobs his head a little to the music, lifts his arm up and begins the routine. Somehow familiar feeling as familiar as the tone before surges trough him, making him grasp the feel once again, letting him through the dance safely, and oddly, with more excitement.

It’s not like auditions aren’t exciting, it’s just somehow he feels much more excited, and alive than ever before. Even when he is dancing in the same old studio as earlier, on the same old floor as earlier, with the same music as earlier.

The only difference that there is Luhan.

There is Luhan now which is flashing a 100 megawatt smile as she plays the music for him, godly aura radiating from her. She looks as if she is enjoying the time of her life, which makes Sehun feels like he should reply her smile with the same flashy 100 megawatt smile. So here is Sehun feeling the same feeling as Luhan does, except he expresses it through dancing.

Here in the middle of the dance floor, Sehun can’t help but to feel more alive than his usually stoic and emotionless demeanor (NO he’s not emotionless, but his face just refuses to cooperate). He can feel that each step that he makes sends pleasure to him, harmonizing with the sweetly beautiful tone from Luhan’s playing. Each Assamble he makes feels more powerful and swifter, and he feels as if he jumps higher in each Brise he does. He feels as if he’s becoming one with the music, grasping everything and molds them into one amazing dance wrapped with Luhan’s wonderful skills that Sehun can never get tired of. Not even once.

The song finally dies down, and also Sehun is dying in the middle of the dance floor lying flat on the floor. Luhan then exhales, and also Sehun, as in fact they are both gasping for air.

“You know what-“ Luhan says in the middle of her huffing and puffing. “I think Jongin is good, but I prefer how you dance.”

“Excuse me?”

“I like how you dance.”

As if on cue, roses, freesias, carnations, and all the flowers in the world with seven colors of the rainbow stick out in his head. Soon parrots and green trees are dancing along with butterflies and bees La la la la la la la Happiness! Rejoicing a happy tune before finally everything ends with his nerves getting back to work, sending shades of pink to decorate his cheeks.

“Wow. Um, thank you. I appreciate that, but Jongin is still the victor.” Sehun scratches the back of his neck, awkwardly muttering words of gratitude for her compliment of his dance and for all the colorful flowers she sent to his head. Of course Luhan didn’t mean anything to confuse Sehun and his feelings, but each time Luhan says ‘like’ to him, he couldn’t help but let his head burst into a colorful tropical rainforest. Call it fickle, but that’s love. Fickle is okay –Sehun convinced himself. It’s okay if it’s love.

“I know, silly…” Luhan ponders, setting her chin on her palm. “They always take Jongin, but Jongin is legato. You know, smooth and all?”

“But you’re allegro, fast and lively. I like your dancing.” Luhan ends it.

“S-so.” Sehun says, hiding his face in embarrassment as his face is already in at least 70 different shades of red. “You like me?”

“I-I mean my dancing.” He corrects, and makes sure he lowers his tone so that Luhan can’t hear that (The Sehun that is in love is a fickle Sehun, no offense). Luhan then laughs a little, patting his head in the manner Sehun loves most; her eyes twinkling, her cheeks glow in soft pink and her lips curved up into a small smile.

“I like your dancing. A lot.”

And Sehun mentally deletes the ‘…r dancing’