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“Can I ask you a question?”
Soyeon lowered the water bottle from her mouth, staring blankly at Shuhua for a moment until she remembered to swallow. Kind of reasonable, in Shuhua’s opinion, because this was probably the first time she’d ever approached Soyeon like this during dance practice.
“Of course,” Soyeon agreed, but she stood up a little straighter and her eyebrows furrowed.
That was her serious leader face; Shuhua must have darted over a little too fast and given her the wrong impression. Oops.
But the clock was ticking. They had maybe five to ten minutes of down time while their instructor took a call out in the hallway. The other members were idling around, spread in different corners of the studio talking, or in Yuqi’s case, snacking from a cache behind the old sofa. Against the rules, sure, but it was a secret passed down through generations of debuting teams.
Shuhua had other things on her mind though, and she decided now was as good a time as any. Soyeon was always first to leave the studio after practice, so she’d be off like a bullet when they finished for the day.
“How do you—” Shuhua started, and then paused as she tried to remember the Korean expression for what she wanted to ask. “How do you learn charisma? To be charismatic?”
That felt close enough.
“Oh.” Soyeon’s shoulders dropped into a looser stance. She looked relieved, as though she’d been expecting the worst. “Why? You care about that kind of thing?”
“Well, everyone says you have it, charisma. But is that just…” Shuha gestured with her hand, folding the middle and ring finger down and shaking it up and down. “Being, you know, cool? I’ve just been wondering about it. Unnie.”
She added the honorific after a pause, in case the question came out too direct. But Soyeon just laughed, her eyes creasing up. That was something Shuhua had always liked about her; Soyeon never laughed at Shuhua’s expense, but she always seemed to find her entertaining. Even when Shuhua was actively trying to be rude. It seemed to flow right off her.
“It’s hard to explain, actually.” Soyeon raised the bottle in her hand, pressing the cap under her chin thoughtfully. “I didn’t really know until people started telling me I had it. Maybe it’s a natural thing.”
“Could I have it?”
“You?” Soyeon looked at her, eyes squinted as if trying to gauge Shuhua’s potential on the spot. As if she had some kind of radar for it. “Hm. You’re kind of mysterious sometimes. That’s a good place to start.”
Shuhua had never considered herself mysterious, particularly. Sometimes she didn’t feel like sharing everything that crossed her mind. Unlike Yuqi. And sometimes she just said the end of a thought without the connecting steps that led her there.
Was that charisma? No, Soyeon was always very up front about her perspective on things.
“I don’t really get it,” Shuhua said honestly.
Soyeon tilted her head, and then her gaze flitted over Shuhua’s shoulder. She smiled, but mischievously. “How about a live example?”
“Eh?” Shuhua turned on her heel and followed Soyeon’s eyes to where Yuqi was squatting on the floor by the couch arm, biting into an unwrapped choco pie like she’d been starved for days. Her face looked blissful, and for a moment Shuhua reconsidered this use of her time. Her own stomach gurgled with interest.
Instead of waiting for Shuhua’s answer, Soyeon put her bottle down and crossed the studio until her shadow crept wraith-like over Yuqi’s hunched form. Slowly, Yuqi turned her head and looked up with the snack still poking out of her mouth.
They shared a long look, until Yuqi finally finished chewing. Then she groaned openly.
“Ah, it’s never good when you approach me like this. What did I do now?” Her voice was already pitched to a whine.
Soyeon waved both hands defensively. “Don’t be so paranoid all the time. I just came over to talk to you.”
“There’s no chocolate left, if that’s what you’re skulking around for,” Yuqi said, crinkling the empty wrapper.
“I told you it’s not. Those things are too sweet.”
“Not to me. I really need the sugar right now before I crash.”
Yuqi stood and crammed the wrapper into her pocket, where it would probably dislodge over the course of the afternoon and drift to the floor. And then she’d probably blame Shuhua at full volume when the instructor set her beady eyes on them. They’d played this game before.
Toe to toe, Yuqi had a few inches of height on Soyeon, but with her arms crossed stiffly across her chest she still looked childish. “So what is it?”
“Will the sugar make you less grouchy? Sheesh.”
Yuqi narrowed her eyes, unimpressed.
“I just wanted to say that you’ve been really strong in practice lately. Your technique has improved a lot.” Soyeon’s face was visible in the mirror behind Yuqi’s back, her expression serious. Like someone delivering a sermon, or in Soyeon’s case, a genuine compliment to a fellow member.
“Huh?” Yuqi’s crossed arms went slack. She glared at Soyeon, and then looked around the room suspiciously. Maybe looking for the hidden camera; she’d fallen for that before, if Shuhua recalled correctly.
Shuhua averted her eyes to Soojin for a few seconds, until the heat was off. This by itself was pretty worthwhile too, as Soojin was doing leg stretches against the wall. She seemed to be in her own world over there – the urge to go over and bother her was hard to resist.
Meanwhile, Yuqi’s floodlight eyes turned back to Soyeon, distrust still coming off her in waves when Shuhua turned back to watch. She couldn’t really blame Yuqi for that though; Soyeon had a sadistic streak where she was concerned, even in light-hearted ways, and they all knew it. Most of what she said to Yuqi had some kind of double-meaning, good or bad, and she’d often turn it belly-up depending on Yuqi’s reaction. Just to catch her off guard.
It was no wonder they spent so much time fighting.
“I’m serious,” Soyeon said, in her flattest possible tone. “I could tell the instructor was impressed, too. Like I was.”
“Yeah?”
“You’ve been working hard lately, right? It shows.”
The wariness seemed to melt off Yuqi’s face then, but if anything she just looked more uncertain with the softer expression taking over. Shuhua almost recoiled at the sight. Who knew Yuqi could look like that?
“Of course,” Yuqi said, her chin jutting out as she stood taller. “That goes without saying, but… thank you.”
Soyeon grinned at her impishly. “And you’re really cute today, I noticed that too.”
“Really? Oh, but… I’m not even wearing make-up,” Yuqi argued, putting a hand up to her cheek as if to cover it.
She was blushing now, Shuhua observed, but Yuqi’s energy seemed to spike more with every compliment. Was charisma really about feeding someone’s ego? Shuhua didn’t think she had it in her to lie this many times in a row. Not that Yuqi wasn’t a good dancer, and not that she wasn’t pretty. But she’d been heavier on her feet than usual today, as though she’d barely slept, and her face was breaking out again.
Maybe it was a motivational thing.
“Your bare face is the cutest to me,” Soyeon said, and she pulled Yuqi’s hand away from her cheek, replacing it with her own.
“Do you think so?” Yuqi asked, eyes wide and glued to Soyeon’s face. It was like some kind of hypnosis going on.
“Really, I’m not lying. Except… you have some chocolate right here.”
Time seemed to slow down as Soyeon put her thumb against the corner of Yuqi’s mouth and dragged it across her bottom lip. Yuqi froze up, her cheeks turning a rosy shady of pink as she stared unblinking at Soyeon. Or maybe straight through her into another world altogether.
Shuhua watched Soyeon’s face in the mirror behind Yuqi’s back. The flirtatious slant to her smile, and the smug look bubbling underneath. She took her hand away with a gentle tap against Yuqi’s cheek.
Their dance instructor returned just as Soyeon was walking back across the studio.
“It’s something like that, anyway,” she said to Shuhua, as though nothing in particular had just happened. With one arm extended over her chest in a lazy cross-body stretch, she strolled on ahead to meet the instructor by the double doors, sparking up a conversation with her about the new routine. Carefree as anything.
In her wake, still standing by the sofa, Yuqi had her face buried in a hand towel. The rough material pressed flat over her whole face with both hands so that only her ears were visible. Even from a distance, it sounded like she was quietly shrieking into it.
Shuhua understood charisma a little better after that.