ON CUE | HYUNHO ⚘

one. (prologue?)

⚘ The beginning of an era. ⚘

I stare at the wall of names as I wait. There are so many respectable dancers listed on that wall, ones that even I have looked up to for years. I sigh. One day, I hope people will look at my name and envy me.

My foot bounces up and down, as I continue to chew on my lip.  As nervous as I am, I can't help but wish they took the graduation ceremony more serious. I mean, we may not have been med students or lawyers but you can at least give us our degrees in an air-conditioned room.

"Hwang Hyunjin." The loud voice of a women booms through the room like it's not meant to be, echoing off the walls.

I take a deep breath before I stand up, dusting off my nice black dress pants. This is the first time I haven't worn sweats in almost a year, so I'm a little uptight.

I begin to walk down the rows of chairs, people smiling at me. I look to Felix, a long time friend of mine. He gives me a huge smile with a wink, and I just look away with an even bigger smile.

I step up onto the stage and walk to the older women, bowing. She bows back to me with a smile before turning back to the microphone. My eyes go to the degree she is holding, and I almost want to cry.

"Hwang Hyunjin," she says my name clearly this time. "Has aced every test since he has gotten here. He truly is the dance prodigy at our humble abode, so it is honestly a privilege to hand him this."

She turns to me, bowing again and handing me the plaque. "You did good, I'm beyond proud to say you were my student. Thank you for spending your time here, and congratulations for making it this far. You have a bright future ahead of you."

I smile back to her and bow yet again, before standing up straight and taking the plaque from her. She gives me a wink before turning back to the crowd. I turn as well, bowing to them as they clap and cheer for me.

"Woop!" You can hear Felix's voice more than anybody else's.

I chuckle to myself before I walk off the stage again, heading back to my spot. I sit down and it doesn't even take a minute before Felix is sitting next to me with a huge smile on his face.

"You made it." He says eagerly, grabbing my arm to shake me.

"Shh." I say, putting a finger to my lips.

He gives me a look, scoffing. He doesn't let go of my arm, instead he holds it with his arms as he turns back to the stage. I smile. I know he isn't going to last long, he doesn't like silence.

Maybe it was a mistake to invite him to my graduation.

Felix is the same age as me, but he went to college before me. He graduated last year from a different school, and joined a dance group. He's pretty known, which is why people are whispering as he holds my arm.

I look around the room, before leaning closer to Felix. "They are taking pictures of you, you should let go of me." I say, with a sly smile on my face.

He looks to me, before placing a finger on my lips. "Shh." He mimics, before giving me a proud smile and turning away.

I just scoff.

The rest of the graduation went slow. Which, is kind of shocking considering there isn't many students. I guess they just wanted to drag it out. They did give every student a moment of praise, mine was shorter than others though.

"That was kind of lame." Felix says, standing up out of his chair.

I chuckle. "People can hear you, be a bit quieter." I pick up my plaque, and look around the room at everybody else. Some are looking back at me, but look away when our eyes meet.