Taking a break from the sequential chapters to bring you an... addendum to chapter 7, in a manner of speaking. The story will continue after this "interlude."

THE SPOTLIGHT WENT OUT. The noise of the crowd was reduced to an excited hum. Every now and then the hush was randomly punctuated with a wolf whistle or shrieked endearments.

In the darkness a stagehand took the microphone she was holding. Shin Hye prepared herself in the few seconds before the music came on.

She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. Her mind busy with nervous thoughts and doubt. She felt her fingers curling into tight fists at her side. This wouldn’t do. She needed to focus. She needed a drink. She needed to find her center. But she also felt the need to find a pillow to scream into. Or a bag to get sick into. Or…

Stop it!

Her purpose. The sole reason why she was even about to do what she had planned to do for months.

She remembered the look of resignation on his face when he let her know how he truly felt about her.

Min Ho thought he was too late. That he had lost all his chances because he confessed merely a month before he had to leave for service.

She could still see his eyes—how the light started to come back in them as they turned from defeated to ecstatic. 

They were laughing, hugging, and they were crying. He kept asking if she was sure. In between him holding her tightly to his chest and then pulling away to hold her at arm’s length so that he could see her face. He asked her again. And again. Was she sure?

“Are you sure?”

Sure of the promise she just made. That she’d wait for him.

She nodded. She was smiling. She was sniffling.

And he hugged her again, her face pressed so tightly against him she could barely breathe. But she understood. Suddenly she felt the air again. He searched her face, her eyes.  

“Really?”

“Really.”

He finally must’ve found the answer he needed in her expression because the corners of his mouth started to turn up and his eyes started to turn a glassy red.

She kissed him before he could smile or cry or crush her to him again.

She was chuckling to herself when the first chord started. Her shoulders now relaxed, her fingers hanging loose at her sides.

When my legs don’t work like they used to before

And I can’t sweep you off of your feet

The stage lights faded in gradually. And in the varied degrees of the growing light the audience could make out the silhouette of a tall man slowly approaching a woman standing downstage. When the man was about a half-step shy of her back he stopped. Gently, he placed his hands on her shoulders.

My mind’s playing tricks on me, Shin Hye thought then. He almost smells like him! Talk about vivid imagination!

She felt the tips of her partner’s fingers skim the sides of her arms, a trail of goose bumps in its wake. His hands then traced their outline before his arms reached across her, folding her in his embrace. She leaned into him, getting comfortably lost in the moment. A feeling of a different kind of familiarity played along the edges of her mind. She dismissed it at once, her mind leaping to the next move in their dance as the song flowed into the next stanza.  

Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?

She could feel his warm breath tickling the spot where side of her head met the topmost tip of her right ear.

Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?

The lights were just about at full blast and the roar of the crowd was overwhelming.

She was so deep in character, the audience wild reaction barely registered in her mind. That is, until a couple of the fans in the front row went absolutely nuts. They were sobbing, fainting, jumping up and down, pushing against security. They yelled a familiar name.

They must’ve thought it was him. Got to hand it to the coordis to perpetuate the fans’ ship. Wonder how they styled the heck out of my dance partner to get such a rise from them?

She'd know soon enough as she felt her partner’s hands guide her to turn the hundred eighty degrees to face him.

Time seemed to crawl to a stop. 

Looking at the man standing before her, she almost felt like those front-row fans. She blinked at the sight of him a couple of times.

Even her imagination was not that good.

“Y-you.” she managed to get out.

His smile was dazzling.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!”

“DON’T JUST STAND THERE! DANCE!”  PD-nim barked into their in-ear monitors.

At that sharp command Shin Hye snapped out of her trance. She went through her moves on autopilot, trying not to think about who she was dancing with.  It would be easy enough if she didn’t have to look at him. But that was nearly impossible in this choreography. She gritted her teeth and went from one sequence to the next.

Min Ho, on the other hand, was an absolute nervous wreck. But when he saw the panic clear in Shin-Hye's eyes each time they met his he knew that he didn’t have the time nor the luxury to feel scared.

He’d have to work hard to make sure she didn’t lose her composure. And he needed to convince her that she could lean on him.

It reminded him of the time when she first showed him the routine. They had sneaked out during his break and she couldn’t contain her excitement. She talked too fast, her hands gesturing wildly as she explained her idea for the finale.

She demonstrated then how she’d dance around her par