Innocence // STRAY KIDS' Han Jisung

twenty-six

The rehearsal. 

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The choreography itself was beautiful.

On the very beginning, the four boys were sitting at the back looking down, as if they were heartbroken. Then, a beat later, the girls would appear behind them, almost as if they were falling on top of them in a back hug. However, this time the only couple on the front were Jeno and Mirae.

It was a moment of heartbreak: the boy, in this case Jeno, wanted to hold the girl, interpreted by Mirae, but she moved too fast, so the only thing his hand held were her leg, which she extended beautifully while looking away, as if she wanted to leave.

Then, he pulled Mirae forward, completely covering him. She looked down as if she was a doll, while in reality the only thought that was running through her mind was please, don't fall, please don't fall. He moved her side to side as a marionette before doing a few movements together in an almost perfect synchrony.

A few movements later, the first pirouette came: Mirae did a half-moon but held herself onto Jeno's waist, finishing with one arm locked with his and almost no space in between. She jumped on his arms and he held her by her waist so she could shrink through his arms like a ball. She jumped out and with the arm that held onto him, dragged him in front of her, and he did the same movement with her, however she stayed behind him.

'Cause my baby's sweet as can be'

Jeno then turned around with a hopeful look and smiled at Mirae, who smiled back at him and extended her arms out to him.

'She give me toothaches just from kissing me'

Mirae ran up to Jeno and held onto his face while he hugged her by the waist, bringing her closely to his body, simulating as if they were kissing. However, there was no time to be embarrassed as the next step was an even more difficult one.

With his arm around her entire waist, Mirae did some backward-splits. He spun her around in the air and took his hand away so the two of them could do some synchronized movements. A small jump, their hands down and they spun one leg up in a circle, trying to keep it as straight up as possible before going to the next, much more difficult movement.

Out of the three couples, Jeno and Mirae had been the only ones to complete the lift with no major risks.

Jeno ran a few steps away and positioned himself into a semi-sitting position while Mirae ran behind him, putting each hand on each of his shoulders and pulling herself upwards with her left leg on his left thigh. In the span of a breath, she swooned her leg around his shoulder and basically sat on his shoulders for less than a second before the next movement came up.

She let her body fall onto his arms and crunched herself like a baby a moment before jumping out next to him with one arm still holding his. She pulled him to her other side as Jeno spun with precision and fluid, and Mirae spun in front of him where he put his arm around her neck so she could drop her head backwards.

Then she slid to the front, raising one arm up and Jeno's hands went to her torso. He crunched down and Mirae put her hands on his shoulders, not facing him, and held herself tight as Jeno lifted her up on his shoulder, keeping one hand around her torso and the other one holding up her legs.

That was another movement that literally no-one on the class apart from them had been able to do. If it weren't for Mirae's joint hypermobility, they would have failed too.

Despite hearing the surprised exclamations of the other students, Jeno and Mirae didn't have any time to even look away. Next up, she dropped herself backwards in a way that her hands ended on his right leg and finished with a backward half-moon.