1. Mansae (2/2)

with each step, each arm movement and each beat called for a random memory in his life. in that moment, he didn't care about anything other than the stress being relieved through the movement of art. the squeaking of the floor was something he missed. music was where he excelled, but dance is where he felt like he was closer to feeling happiness. it was such a shame that feeling had been ripped away from him.

as the song came to a halt, he feet stopped in its tracks and made a slow and graceful fall to the floor. sitting down, he panted as he rubbed the sweat off his face. he was so glad no one was there to witness that. it might've been a good dance, but it was definitely not one to be worshipped. back in the day, he would've made people cry with a performance, but now he could only make seungcheol cry.

to jihoon, the world ended as soon as he heard a clap coming from the studio's door. turning his head to face the sound, a hardcore rap playing in the background from the auto play of seungcheol's music player, his eyes widened to see that a boy walked into the room.

thump.

with eyes gleaming with this energy, something jihoon had never seen, that person walked in. bowing slightly, he looked up at his younger acquaintance, he literally radiated sunshine as he smiled at him.

thump.

flushed with embarrassment, jihoon turned away as the other person in the room put their bag down. god, he was panicking for no reason and he felt like some school kid. he hadn't felt this way since he had that small crush on seungcheol, but he didn't talk about that much.

thump.

"hey there. i really liked your dancing." the boy's voice suddenly echoed around the empty room, jihoon's head immediately snapping from the ground. it took him a while for a sentence to form.

thump.

"i don't talk to someone who's name i don't know." he responded, wondering if he was being too cold. well, that was how he always introduced himself as he found it bad manners for any other greeting. maybe he came across as too mean. seriously, why did he even care what he thought?

thump.

"oh, sorry. hello, i'm kwon soonyoung. what's your name? your dance was super good." the man bounced back with a charismatic smile. ew, jihoon hated people like this. he just found it disgusting how people could act so excitedly all the time.

thump.

"i'm lee jihoon and i don't want to receive compliments from a person like you." with disgust dripping from his tongue, there was a slight hint of fondness behind all of that. maybe it was by luck but the other was able to sense that and he didn't become offended.

let's stop with the thumping.

before soonyoung could reply, seungcheol suddenly opened the door and from behind came six others, who seemed pretty offended by the way jihoon was acting. "don't bother, i've been trying to make him like me for years." the man said as jihoon groaned once again.

"you know this stuck-up midget?" a relatively tall person replied as jihoon took a moment to glare at them. they would get hell as soon as seungcheol left. standing up, he straightened out his casual, but expensive, clothing.

maybe seungcheol could sense the tension before clearing his throat and speaking. "don't say that, eight." what kind of name was that? "we've known each other since we were kids. guys, meet lee jihoon. he'll be your instructor while i'm gone."

"hey, i thought i was only supervising. you didn't tell me i would be dancing." jihoon quickly replied, giving him an angry glare.

"i don't see why it's a problem. you're an amazing dancer." soonyoung decided to pitch in, but ended up making both jihoon and seungcheol surprised. they were for different reasons.

"wait, he danced? i've never been so proud in my life. also, jihoonie, i made a mistake with my words. glad to know that you actually don't mind dancing though." seungcheol once again had that shit-eating grin that drove jihoon crazy. in a terrible way, just to clarify.

"so, who's that soonyoung kid, seungcheol? after all, he just decided to reveal my worst secret." jihoon asked with an aggravated tone. it wasn't that dancing was embarrassing, but he knew how much garbage he would get from seungcheol later.

"from today on, he'll be your new student. by the way, he's older than you by a couple of months so watch that tongue."

that day, lee jihoon learnt the meaning of love at first sight, as well as true dread.