Not Alone || Jung Jaehyun

Chapter 9 | "break me"

"What are we doing here, Yuta?" She asked as she was now standing in the middle of the empty quad.

"Just trust me on this, I think I know what your issue is." Yuta said, pulling her to sit down. "I need you to think about this combo. When you're performing, what's running through your head?"

"That's easy." She scoffs out. "Im going through the choreo and trying to remember all my corrections."

"Okay, good. Now, think about the audition, what were you thinking about when you were performing?"

She paused, trying her best to remember what was going through her head on stage but all she could remember was the sound of the music.

"I guess nothing. I didn't really think. I just... let the music fill me."

"That's right. And that's what your problem is. You're so worried and thinking so much about not screwing up that you're not able to dance your best." Yuta pulled out his phone. "I'm going to play the music and I just want you to listen to what your body is telling you, whether that be to do the combo, improv, or not dance at all. Just follow your gut, okay?"

She nodded standing up as Yuta turned on the music. Hyemi closed her eyes as the hip hop beats drummed in time with her heartbeat. She let the music fill her head, the sound running through her veins and filling her with energy. She didn't even realize it, but she unconsciously started to dance.

She was only snapped out of it by the sound of Yuta clapping.

"I knew you could do it! That was it, Hyemi! That was exactly it!"

"What do you mean?"

"Hyemi, you just did the combo perfectly, and not just that, but you had a different energy this time, you looked like you were having fun." Yuta said with a laugh. "That's what's been missing this whole time. The fun. The happiness. The passion. You've been so nervous that you lost the joy of dance."

She smiled, nodding her head and running up to Yuta, the two of them hugging one another with big grins.

"You just have to remember to go to that place when you dance. Let the music fill you and trust yourself. You're incredibly talented, Hyemi, you just have to believe it."

"Thanks, Yuta. You're totally right, I never even thought of that."

"Well that's what I'm here for, to help you see the beauty in yourself that everyone else does."

She felt her cheeks heat up at his comment, Hyemi turning to look away from him in embarrassment. Yuta noticed how flustered he got and suppressed his giggles, thinking to himself about how cute she looked. He instead grabbed her hand and dragged her off the quad.

"Let's go back and show them why you deserve to be here."

- - -

"Did you finally fix your horrible dancing?" Jaehyun sneered as she and Yuta walked back into the room.

"Yeah she did. Where is everyone else?" Yuta asked, noticing everyone else gone.

"Went to go fill up their water on a five minute break, you're welcome to go if you want."

Yuta turned to Hyemi, gesturing for her to go as well but she shook her head, holding up her full water bottle. He just nodded before ducking out of the room, leaving her and Jaehyun alone.

"So, did you fix that shit you called dancing from earlier?" Jaehyun growled as he stared at her from across the room.

"Hopefully it'll be up to your standards." She seethed through clenched teeth, doing her best to hold her tongue. He was really starting to get to her now.

"I doubt it. I was never impressed by your brother either, but I had hope you'd be better. Seems like my judgement was wrong." He sneered at her.

"Okay that's it!" She yelled out, walking straight up to him. "What is your problem, man? Why do you have to be such an asshole all the time? I get that you're a good dancer, but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like this. To treat anyone like this. You might be a champion but guess what, without this team, you can't do anything. You need us like we need you, and I'm sick of being treated like dirt!" She fumed, yelling at him now.

"Hyemi-"

"No. I'm not done yet. You might be used to running people off, but not me. You can try as hard as you want but I'm not going anywhere. You're not gonna break me. So we need to learn how to get along, or this is gonna be one hell of a year for the both of us."

"Are you finished?" He asked, staring at her with a bored expression.

"Uh... y-yeah I, uh, I am."

"Fine. I hear you. So I'll just say this: if you really want my respect, earn it. With this next dance. Prove to me that I was wrong."

The two stared one another down before being interrupted by the sound of the door opening and the other members flooded in. Jaehyun and Hyemi straightened up, taking a step away from one another as Hyemi joined the others by the wall.

"Have a good break?" Jaehyun asked with a frown. All the members nodded. "Good. Then it's time to look at the combo again. I trust that you're ready to perform like an All Star now, right? It's time you earn that jacket. Hyemi. Let's see it." Jaehyun said upon their arrival, motioning her into the center of the room.

She looked at all the rest of her teammates lined up against the wall, ready to judge her. She scanned through them until her eyes eventually landed on Yuta, he gave her a wink and a small nod. Hyemi let out a breath before nodding to Jaehyun to start the music.

She closed her eyes as the beats came through the speakers. She let the sound invade her body and push her forward. When she opened her eyes, there was a smile on her face, the world around her dancing with life and color as she moved.

She knew she had done it when the music stopped and Jaehyun stared at her, his eyebrows raised in surprise. Yuta was the first one to break the silence, clapping loudly for her performance and soon everyone else joined in.

"Now that's what you call an All Star performance!" Yuta exclaimed, running up to high five her and pass her a water bottle.

"That was so good, Hyemi!" Chaeyoung said, flashing her a smile.

She quickly thanked her teammates before turning to Jaehyun, his expression unreadable as his eyes swirled with a mix of emotions as he stared at her. Eventually, his head moved with the slightest nod.

"Not bad. Go ahead and take a seat, Hyemi."

It wasn't much, but the small praise, or more importantly the lack of criticism, was enough to get her smiling. The way he looked at her was different than before. He looked at her like a dancer, not like a pest. She squeezed Yuta's hands in excitement as she went to sit beside him against the wall while Jaemin stepped up to perform.