My Little Dancer

fifteen // trust

"Trust is the first step to love."
Munshi Premchand

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It had been two months since the incident and everything seemed like it went back to how it was before. Yein managed to put her confused thoughts aside, enabling her to interact with Jungkook with no issues.

In fact, their interaction was so normal that their friends became a little worried about the situation between the two. However, knowing that it would be of no help if they probed, they all decided to kept quiet.

"Yein noona!"

Yein cringed and made a face. Who the heck are you calling noona?! Wiping the look of distaste off her face, she turned around sporting a blank expression, "yes?"

In front of her were three freshmen whom she didn't recognise. They weren't from her group and hence, she had no idea why these kids would come calling for her.

"We wanna ask," one of them sheepishly started. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Yein blinked. Was it that times were changing and the younger generation was becoming more annoyingly straightforward? Or was it just her being stubbornly conservative? All she knew was that she disliked it when these kind of guys approached her.

Through gritted teeth, Yein flashed a smile and said, "whether I have a boyfriend or not doesn't concern you. You should focus on your studies, please."

As the boys turned around to go back to their group, she heard them whispering to each other, "she doesn't have a boyfriend, for sure!"

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Yein tiredly wondered what kind of other nonsense would befall upon her. It was the second time she was asked the same question within the first day of orientation. In just one freaking day.

Heading back to her own group, she sat down with a sigh. Feeling a hand hook her arm, she looked at the girl to her left and sighed once more.

"Unni, next time you should just punch them or flick their foreheads or like, do a shoulder-throw! They're so annoying!"

Yein chuckled, "Yoojung ah, I think that will get me into a lot more trouble."

"But she's right unni, maybe you can step on their feet or something!" agreed Dayoung who was nodding fervently by her other side.

"Why? Did someone come and bug you again sunbae?" another group member, Joochan, asked.

Noticing how worriedly her juniors looked at her, Yein smiled. She was reminded that this was what having juniors felt like – dongsaengs who looked up to her and clung onto her, and were also sometimes protective.

"It's fine. I'll just ignore them regardless."

//

"Five minutes to performance! Let's get ready!"

Yein did a quick check in the glass' reflection, ensuring her attire was proper and combed her hair with her fingers. Scurrying after the others to the side of the stage, she ran through the dance routine in her head.

She was feeling somewhat afraid she would screw up for she felt like she hadn't had enough practice. Although they had danced the competition routine till it was ingrained in their bodies, having not dance it for two weeks made her worried that she might forget and slip up.

"Ah!" Yein winced quietly as a finger suddenly hit her head.

Although she guessed it was Jungkook, before she could turn around to see him, she heard him whisper, "don't worry, just follow my lead."

With her back still facing him, she heard the sound of his steady breathing and oddly, she felt her worries vanish. His words were so simple and yet it brought so much assurance. She knew she could trust him (or at least, when it came to dance and maybe school work, but that's something else to talk about another time).

Walking up the stage together with the crew, Yein smiled, confidence enveloping her. She suddenly recalled all the times she danced till she dropped, all the times she stumbled and fell, all the times she held her head in frustration, and also all the times she looked ahead and felt with all her heart, that she loved to dance.

The crowd was wild. Everyone knew who Revolution was and everyone loved them. With the music cued by Jimin who raised his hand while the crew was in position, the closing night performance began.

Finishing the first segment, Yein walked to the side of the stage and waited. She wasn't part of the first portion of the second segment. Watching Mijoo rock her solo, Yein enjoyed every bit of her dance from where she stood.

As the performance went on, she got ready to reenter for the second portion. It involved a group part and was then followed by her duet with Jungkook.

Casually glancing across to the other side of the stage, Yein saw Jungkook looking right at her. Surprised at their unexpected eye contact, she raised her fist as she cheered in her mind, "hwaiting."

In response, he smiled and did the same.

Five six. They quickly walk to their positions and immediately joined the rest on stage.

Finishing that part of the routine, Yein did an elegant leap in the air before running across the stage. Taking another jump, she fell into Jungkook's arms. He took her and twirled around, as how the dance was choreographed.

They completed their duet without any mistakes and although Yein couldn't really pinpoint what it was, she knew that it was the best performance they had ever performed up to date. Not that the previous times were imperfect; they were pretty much the perfect duo. But somehow, this time was just better.

The crew excited hugged each other after leaving the stage, telling one another that they did great.

Yein beamed as she reached her hand out for a fist bump with Jungkook, with Mijoo's lanky arms wrapped around her neck from behind. "Guess trusting you really worked!"

Bumping his fist with hers, Yein thought it was the end as he walked past her and Mijoo. But right before he disappeared from the field of her vision, he used the same hand and ruffled her hair gently. At that moment, she wondered if what she saw was accurate: Jungkook had a rather shy smile on his face.

She was about to ask Mijoo if she saw it but realised the girl had her head on the other side of her shoulder, meaning she wasn't looking in Jungkook's direction when it happened. Furthermore, Mijoo was busy talking to a few Revolution crew.

Maybe I was wrong. Yeah. I probably saw wrongly.

But at the back of her heart, she felt a stirring sensation.