The Siren's Song

Chapter 86- dancing with fire

HABAEK POV:

Knowing that she'll step back on that stage, that she'll step back to compete, to dance once more has my heart racing with a mixture of excitement, adrenaline and sheer happiness.

Because I knew what the stage meant to her, I knew that when she danced, when she performed she was able to forget for a short while that she was a siren, she was able to remove herself from that taint she saw the label as and was for a little bit of time; free. Free from it all, not a siren, not (Y/N), just a dancer. Just someone who became part of the music, part of the dance.

And moving to sit in the audience with Mi-sun brought back that same feeling of pride and giddiness that every dance season she'd competed in had brought me. I feel Mi-sun cling to my arm in her own excitement, bouncing and vibrating with the force of her joy.

"I can't believe it. She'll be on stage again." Mi-sun says in a hushed whisper, awed and so, so happy.

"I can't either. Has it really been decades?" I ask, disbelieving. Unable to fully process that at some point, it was going to be cherub stepping up onto the stage, it was going to be her dancing once more.

It felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest, thudding away quickly, fiercely with how nervously I was anticipating her dance, I'd already had to blink back that sharp stinging in my eyes when I'd stepped through the dressing room and caught a glimpse of her, ready to get up on stage any second. It had felt real then, that brief glimpse had been enough to kickstart those butterflies in my stomach and that sensation had only grown as we moved to sit down in the audience.

Mi-sun shifts in her seat beside me, her vice like grip not lessening on my arm as we settle, her squealing only quietens when four figures approach with smiles and equal looks of excitement on their faces. Namjoon bringing up the front with Taehyung, Yoongi and Jin following behind, sitting down in the seats beside us.

Namjoon's dimpled smile is out in full force, something I'd associated with whenever he got passionate about research or excited to share something, sitting on my left.

"Excited Habaek?" he asks, eyes sparked with warmth and giddiness.

I nod, eyes turning to glance at the currently empty stage.

"Very. I can't wait to see her dance." I confess, voice soft and full of longing, that restlessness building and bubbling away.

Excitement wasn't a word that could describe how every fibre of my being was restlessly shifting, impatiently waiting for the sight of her stepping up. Excitement couldn't describe the way my body was buzzing, my heart was racing and my mind swarming with thoughts, with countless streams of memories melding and merging.

"She's performed before? Competed?" a deep voice asks and when my eyes slide away from the stage it's to see Taehyung leaning forward, eyes bright with curiosity, head cocked at me.

"Not professionally, it's more of a passion. She's quite the energetic one around the house, we've been lucky to see her grow as a dancer." Mi-sun cuts in, voice soft and beguiling, not giving away that (Y/N) was a dancer, we couldn't give that away.

How would it ever make sense? How could we say that (Y/N) was a force that had driven the dance world when she was only meant to be 22? How could we say that (Y/N) was a dance movement, a dancing sensation in herself when no-one knew her name in the industry?

Some things were to be left as buried secrets and I was glad that Mi-sun had interjected naturally, clearing up any potential curiosity before it took root.

"She dances around the house?" Jin asks, looking so endeared by the thought, lips curved up in a smile.

I smile. She was the light and soul of the house, it was just natural to see her twirling around the house, flitting around doing chores in a way that looked like a dance in itself, graceful when she wasn't being our clumsy baby that tripped over small things.