Chapter 31

"Late Night Dance Practice"

After slamming the door behind him and sprinting inside his house, scaring the soul out of his sister in the process, Yeonjun ran up the stars and inside his bedroom. Yoo Jin, who was nearly knocked over as Yeonjun ran past her, stood at the foot of the staircase, counting the seconds, but she didn't get far before she saw her brother returning in the same speed he came.

"Slow down," said Yoo Jin and grabbed the collar of Yeonjun's shirt before he could run off, "you will end up getting hurt if you continue at this speed."

"I don't have a choice, I am already late for dance practice!" said Yeonjun and released himself from Yoo Jin's grip, "my teacher wouldn't let me leave, so I was planning on going straight to company, but halfway there I realized I forgot my change of clothes."

"Don't stress so much, they will forgive you," said Yoo Jin, "they know you are trying to balance your school and idol training."

"They don't care about that, all they care about is me being there on time!" said Yeonjun, "so I really have to go now."

"Sure, but be careful not to fall and hurt yourself," said Yoo Jin, "oh, and say hello to your girlfriend!" Yeonjun already had one foot out of the door, but he stopped in the same second and turned around with a confused look on his face.

"My what?" said Yeonjun.

"I just thought you and Kim Su Bin were an item now," said Yoo Jin with a smirk on her face, "you talk about her all the time."

"I… I do not!" said Yeonjun and wanted to continue arguing, but realized he was way out of time, "this is not over! Goodbye." Yoo Jin let out a laugh while Yeonjun closed the door behind him and ran off, down the street.

He had to take two busses to get there and during the whole trip, Yoo Jin's words would linger in his mind. Did he really talk about her that much? He never realized it himself. 

It was the truth that he spoke to her more often now than in the beginning, and maybe that was the reason he also spoke about her more often. She seemed to be slowly opening up to him, but she still kept their conversations short and often diverted her eyes. 

She was kind of cute in that sense, thought Yeonjun with a smile on his face as he entered the building. 

***

After getting a good scolding from his dance teacher, Yeonjun spend the rest of the afternoon training. In the evening he went for his vocal training and before he knew it, the sun had set outside and his stomach was starting to growl, hungry after food. He quickly downed the rest of his water from the bottle he had with him, trying to suppress the hunger just a little longer, but he knew he couldn't continue this way.

While walking to the dance studio where he usually practiced late at night, he took out his phone to search for some take-out places nearby. 

Still deep in thought, Yeonjun opened the door to the practice room, and only after doing so did he realize the room was already occupied. He was on his way to slowly disappear again, when he noticed who the person dancing was.

Su Bin was working hard, moving across the floor to the beat of the music blasting from the speakers. In the light from the ceiling, you could see the glistering sweat on her face, showing she had been dancing like this for a while. Even still, she looked tireless, every move as sharp and precise as the one before, and Yeonjun couldn't help being mesmerized by her. When the music stopped and Su Bin ended her routine in a fierce pose, Yeonjun gave her a loud applause, seemingly giving her the shock of her life as she realized someone was in the room with her.

"Y… Yeonjun…" stuttered Su Bin, "I didn't know you were here."

"I am sorry, I was looking for an empty practice room for myself, but when I saw you dancing I couldn't take my eyes off you," said Yeonjun in honesty, "you really are amazing!" Su Bin suddenly fell silent and her eyes shifted and looked at the floor. The awkward silence was about to fill the entire room, until Yeonjun suddenly took a step forward and spoke up.

"What is this? I thought we were past you giving me the silent treatment." Su Bin immediately looked up, thinking over what to say in her mind.

"I… I am sorry…" said Su Bin and looked at the ground, until she realized she was being rude again and quickly forced herself to lift her head and look at Yeonjun, "I guess it doesn't matter that my dancing is good if my personality is horrible."

"Why would you say that?" asked Yeonjun and now walked all the way up to Su Bin, standing right in front of her.

"I know what people are saying about me behind my back," said Su Bin in a firm voice, "that I act like a Queen, that I am unapproachable. It doesn't matter if it is only because I am shy, people only see what is in front of them."

"There is nothing wrong with your personality, everyone is different. Some people are outgoing and some people are a bit more shy and closed off."

"That might be true for normal people," said Su Bin, "but I can't become an idol like this. Nobody will like me and I will get no fans if I act this way." Yeonjun suddenly turned silent and his face dropped to the floor. He knew where she were coming from, idols had to be approachable at least, for them to be able to gain any fans.

"But still," said Yeonjun after thinking for a while, "you don't have to change your entire personality. If you can put on a smile and look people in the eyes, you have already come a long way. You don't need to be energetic and super outgoing. As long as you put on a smile, people won't mind that you are a little bit shy. At least, I don't mind it at all, it just means I need to put in a little more effort to get to know you." A faint smile appeared on Su Bin's face while her eyes were still on the ground, but slowly, she raised her head and looked at Yeonjun.

"Thank you," said Su Bin, "you are really nice, but now I should get back to practicing."

"Wait," said Yeonjun before Su Bin had started walking away, "have you… had dinner yet?"

"No, I am skipping," said Su Bin.

"You can't skip dinner! Aren't you only 15? Your body is still growing, it needs food." The firm and direct speech from Yeonjun suddenly made Su Bin blush and look away.

"But…" said Su Bin hesitant, "I need to be careful about my weight."

"Of course, we will just order something low calorie and low fat, cool?" Su Bin looked at Yeonjun who had a smile on his face, almost impossible to say no to.

"Okay…" said Su Bin.

While waiting for the food to arrive and even after it came, silence seemed eager to fill the practice room again and again, but Yeonjun was keen on not letting this happen, constantly thinking of new subjects to talk about. Su Bin did her best to keep up with Yeonjun's high level of energy, but she quickly felt her poor stamina kick in and after a while, her answers turned into nothing more than "yes", "no" or "is that so?". At first Yeonjun didn't think much of it, but when he saw her tired eyes, he turned down his voice and looked at her with calm eyes.

"I am sorry, I keep tiring you with all my questions," said Yeonjun and looked apologetic, making the energy return to Su Bin's eyes.

"No, you aren't tiring me," said Su Bin quickly, but hesitated before continuing, "I am just not used to talking so much. It requires a lot of effort from me."

"I didn't even think about that," said Yeonjun, "I guess I am too afraid of awkward silence."

"Silence doesn't have to be awkward," said Su Bin, "silence can also show you are feeling comfortable enough with the person you are with, so that you don't need to talk."

"Hm," said Yeonjun, "I never thought about it like that. But it does make sense." Su Bin sent Yeonjun a smile, happy to know he understood her reasoning. 

Thinking deeply about what Su Bin had said, Yeonjun forced himself to remain silent, although every fiber of his body was screaming for him to say something. The silence seemed to only get bigger and bigger, along with the sound of his heartbeat. He slowly lifted his head and got eye contact with Su Bin who was wearing the same awkward facial expression as himself and suddenly, they both started laughing.

"I guess we just aren't that close yet," said Su Bin after they finished laughing.

"Maybe not," said Yeonjun, "but I know of something we can do which doesn't require any talking." Su Bin looked a bit weirded out, having no idea what Yeonjun was thinking.

"You said you had to practice some more," continued Yeonjun after seeing her expression, "why don't we practice together?"

At first Su Bin looked relieved, finally understanding what Yeonjun had meant, but her expression soon turned into one of anxiety and she again diverted her eyes.

"I… I don't know…" said Su Bin, "I think… I am too shy to do that."

"But we practice together all the time?" asked Yeonjun confused, thinking about the many afternoons he had been practicing with Su Bin and the other trainees.

"I know, but that isn't the same!" said Su Bin firmly, "if… if it is just the two of us… you will notice my mistakes a lot more… I will get all self-conscious."

"But you will see all my mistakes too, and I bet there are a lot more than there are for you," argued Yeonjun, "besides, it will be good practice to help you to be less shy in front of others."

"That… might be true…" admitted Su Bin. Yeonjun looked at her, excepting her to continue talking, but instead, she turned around, making Yeonjun even more confused, until suddenly, she turned on the music.

"Hey, that is not fair," yelled Yeonjun and ran up to her, "I wasn't ready," continued Yeonjun, while he started dancing alongside Su Bin, both of them dancing the routine they learned earlier that day. Su Bin had put the song on repeat, so they continued to dance the routine over and over and over again, time and space fusing together and melting away before they knew it. When once again the song began, Yeonjun looked at Su Bin and both of them had the same look on their face. 

One last time.

Even after hours of practice, there was no hesitation in their moves, they gave it their all. Even still, it couldn't be helped, their bodies were getting tired, no matter how hard they tried to convince themselves otherwise. They arms and legs wouldn't listen to them as precise as earlier, and when they were about to change position and move past each other, both of them lost their footing and they slammed into each other, landing on the hard floor next to each other.

"Ouch!" Su Bin cried out.

"Ugh…" complained Yeonjun, until he noticed Su Bin next to him, "oh no, I am so sorry, are you alright?" He quickly moved closer to her, looking her up and down to see if there were any bruises.

"I am fine, don't worry," said Su Bin with a chuckle, "I think we might have overdone it a little, but I am not hurt or anything."

"That is good, I would have been devastated if anything happened to you because of me!"

"It wouldn't just have been your fault," said Su Bin quickly, "I always practice too hard for too long and I end up tripping over my own two feet." Su Bin laughed at her own clumsiness, but Yeonjun simply looked at her in awe.

"Woah, you really work hard," said Yeonjun and looked directly into Su Bin's eyes, making her heart beat even faster.

"Don't flatter me like that," said Su Bin, "we are all in this to make it, every trainee works hard." Yeonjun wanted to argue that she worked harder than any other trainee, but seeing the tired look on her face, he instead showed her a smile and got up from the floor. Su Bin looked up and saw Yeonjun extending his hand to her.

"Come on, let us get something to drink," said Yeonjun, "and we should probably sit down for a little while before we go home. Can't have us fainting on our way back." Su Bin looked at Yeonjun's hand for a little while, but eventually she reached out to him and held onto his hand, letting him help her up from the floor.

"You are right, let us take a breather," said Su Bin, "I think we deserve one."

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed yet another chapter about Yeonjun's trainee days. It was a lot of fun writing about him and Su Bin, so I hope it was fun reading about it too.

There's less than 10 chapters left of the story, before we blink, it might be over, so until then, please enjoy the rest of the chapters and please remember to leave a comment down below.

Take good care of yourself and stay safe!

Love, Annalise~