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Minho squeezes his eyes shut, rubbing his palms over them to try to alleviate some of the tiredness caused by the bright studio lights. He's been practicing for around an hour, warming up and going over his part of the choreography while waiting for his partner to show up. His eyes aren't usually this sensitive but he hasn't been sleeping much lately, cause unknown, so he's struggling and it's a bit annoying.
His friends (and colleagues) had seen he wasn't at his best almost right away but he had shut down their suggestions to take it easy and come back in the afternoon. He can't reschedule at the last minute. Dal is coming to the studio today for the first big rehearsal and Minho just can't skip. He's been chosen as the dance partner for her new comeback title track and he's not going to slack off.
With a sigh, he stands up and resumes practice.
✧✧✧
The first thing he catches sight of is legs, the knobs of the knees and soft tanned skin unmistakable. He wishes he was less weird about it but alas, everyone has their flaws.
His heaving chest flutters pathetically when his eyes focus on Jisu's pretty face. She's looking down at him with sympathy, a soft smile forming in response to Minho's own.
“Hey, stinky.” She says, grinning wide when a few chuckles resound from around them. Ha-ah, Minho's going to kill them later.
He rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue out, accepting the hand she's offering.
When he's back on his feet, he finally takes in what she's wearing. A light jean jacket on top of a short flowery dress, sneakers on her feet. She looks so cute. Hair tied in a small ponytail with strategically placed strands that frame her face, sunglasses perched on top of her head. She's in her barefaced glory today.
“Missed me?” He asks, walking to one of the benches to get some water.
She scoffs and Minho turns around to look at her, waiting for a follow up. She bites her lip for a fraction of a second, before jutting it out in a pout.
“Maybe. I have done my part at the studio and wanted to see how you were doing.”
Minho's eyebrows shoot up in surprise at that. “No nap on the comfy-as-fuck studio couch? Wow, you must have missed me a lot.”
Her expression quickly morphs into indignation and Minho has to stop himself from pinching her cheeks like an old lady would with a cute kid.
“Whatever. I'm leaving.” She says, making no move to actually leave and Minho smiles, reaching over and booping her nose, just because.
“Sit down wherever. My current boss is about to show up.” He explains, toweling off his sweaty forehead. He probably looks a hot mess. “And remember –”
“–no cheering and whooping when it's important business.” Jisu finishes for him, mimicking zipping her lips and throwing away the key as she walks backwards until her back is against one of the mirrors of the room. Minho quickly looks away when she's about to sit down. He needs to focus on practicing and not her legs.
✧✧✧
Dal, an up and coming soloist from a small company, had personally chosen Minho to be her partner for the MV shooting of her title track “Feel this moment” and the three stages her agency had managed to book for her.
Her team had found him thanks to his Youtube channel where he usually posts covers of popular Kpop dances or self-made choreographies. Dal liked his style and the deal was done in a short amount of time.
The concept is a sensual one, something you don't see much of anymore, the song slow and very reminiscent of older generations of Kpop. Minho likes it, has felt his body naturally fall into the beat of it from the moment he was presented with the song and shown the choreo. It had taken him a day to get it down and he had found himself dancing to it even at home while he waited for his food to cook, despite not having a partner to practice with.
He had someone in his mind the whole time, the ghost feeling of soft skin under his fingertips almost too much.
He had caught himself and had felt his whole body flare in embarrassment even if there was no one to witness his pretend dance. When he's left alone, Jisu always occupies his thoughts. She thrums in his veins, swirls in his gut, rests in the center of his chest, filling it with a million fireflies.
She looks at him now from the corner of the room as he gets into position with Dal and the brief glance they share leaves him wondering, an expression on Jisu's face he can't recognise. No matter. The music starts and Minho's body and soul are called to it.
Minho's hand rests on Dal's waist and ascends, lightly caressing her side as the beat takes form, her slow singing filling the room from the stereo system. She lifts her arms above her head, her ponytail swishing just above Minho's head as she twirls in his arms. They're now face to face, their steps matching, reminiscent of ballroom dancing. Minho's taken some classes when he was in high school and now, he finds that old rhythm again, hands trailing down Dal's back before she pushes him away, the character of her story trying to fight their love for each other.
Her eyes are fierce as she circles around Minho, mouthing the lyrics as she alternates between getting closer and stepping back.
Just as they're both moving again, touching again, Minho's gaze catches Jisu's, intense and focused on him. She doesn't break the contact once they lock eyes, her fingers tapping on her bent knees in time with the beat. Everyone in the room has a fundamental understanding of music but Minho can bet that no one truly feels it like Jisu does. Her body, her soul , even more attuned to it than that of dancers who become one with the music. She creates the music, envisions it in her mind, breathes life into strings of notes. Minho wishes he could hold her, feel her close as the music thrums through their bodies.
Her thin waist would look even smaller under his hands, her soft skin would break into goosebumps under his trailing fingertips. Their breaths would mingle and she would never pull away from him, would hold him as something precious, smile at him, complicit, feeling what he feels.
“Okay, that was good.” Dal says, breathing heavily, and Minho blinks back to reality. He wasn't even looking at Jisu anymore and yet, he was transported somewhere else, his body guiding him through the choreography while his mind wandered astray, forever enchanted by Jisu's presence. Minho is a simple man: if Jisu is in the room then all his attention will be on her. He is hopeless like that.
He nods to Dal, agreeing as she tells him how they should go about the last chorus. Just like that, Minho's mind is back in the game, focused and determined to do well. If he tries to avoid Jisu's eyes for the rest of the two hours of practice and fails, that's between himself and the gods above.
✧✧✧
He's fresh out the shower when his phone beeps in his bag.
jisuwu (^v^♡)
> waiting outside !!
you
be out in 2 mins <
jisuwu (^v^♡)
> nuh uh dry ur hair properly
> or you'll get sick
Minho smiles, warmth spreading in his chest. He's tired but relaxed and thinking of spending the evening with Jisu makes him feel all giddy. He needs to hurry so they can finally go eat bulgogi at that new place they found.
you
okayy~ <
✧✧✧
He bumps into someone as he exits the locker room and his hands shoot out to steady the victim.
"Sorry– oh, Dal-nim."
The girl smiles up at him, a soft laugh escaping her. "Oppa, I told you to drop the honorifics."
Minho blinks, wondering where oppa came from. She might have told him to be informal but he never did in return. He'd rather keep this as professional as possible but... she's grabbing his arm.
"I was wondering if you wanted to eat something together. I know a place–"
"Minhoring?" Minho's eyes immediately fall behind Dal, landing on Jisu, standing there with a bottle of water in hand. Her eyes fall to where Dal is holding Minho and he sees the moment things click in her mind and alarms start blaring in Minho's.
Thankfully, he doesn't have to shake the girl off since she lets go of him a moment later, eyeing Jisu.
"Oh, hello!" She greets, tone suddenly strained. "I didn't know Minho-oppa had a girlfriend."
Jisu bows a little in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Dal-nim. We were just about to go, right Minhoring?"
Minho watches the exchange, the air around them thick with awkwardness and he nods, tightening his hold on his bag.
"See you next time, Dal-nim. Good work today." He says, smiling out of politeness and sidestepping her to get to Jisu. He doesn't look back, doesn't want to think about the way he was very casually hit on by his current employer, doesn't want to wonder why Jisu didn't correct Dal when she assumed they were together. He'll have time for that at night when he's losing sleep over it.
The air is thick with humidity when they exit the building and Minho's limbs suddenly feel very heavy. Jisu is walking beside him, eyes focused on her phone as she checks the menu of the place they picked out to eat. She always does it beforehand, hates being put on the spot with questions by the waiters.
Minho has the urge to break the silence between them. It doesn't happen often, or at all, really. They are usually very comfortable in each other's quiet presence but something about what just happened is making Minho's skin feel too tight for his own body.
“What are we having?” He asks, neutral enough, nonchalant enough.
Jisu lifts her eyes to meet his, big and shiny, and she almost looks surprised that he spoke. “Oh, uh–” She scrolls back up on the menu and starts reading. “I was thinking this and this, if you're up for it. It says it's big portions so we could split them.”
He leans closer to read and Jisu's hair ends up tickling his cheek, her clothed arm pressing against his. “That sounds good. I'm down.”
He feels more than sees Jisu's body stiffen, her step faltering for a brief moment.
“Are you okay?” He blinks at her, stopping their walk.
Jisu walks a couple more steps before turning around to face him. She looks at him, the yellow light of the oncoming sunset making her skin glow, and Minho sees the hesitation on her features.
“Yeah, I–” She stops, chews on her lip and twists one of her feet, her dress flowing with the movement. “That girl was coming onto you, Minhoring.”
Minho's surprised at how unsurprised he is by this answer. He had felt the tension and knew Jisu didn't like what was happening. He's always so attuned to her, even when he tries not to be. He knows her and she knows him. Somehow though, she doesn't know , not completely. Minho wonders if she would still bring what just happened with Dal up if she knew what he felt for her.
“I know. I didn't like it.” He settles with, pushing away all the what if s.
Jisu takes the words in, nods and sways on her feet. “If she keeps doing it, please tell someone. That's harassment.”
Minho smiles at that, warmth filling his chest, fondness spreading like wildfire. He burns with it, with how he adores Jisu.
He resumes walking, patting her on the head as he passes her by. “Don't worry. You scared her off, I think.”
He hears her sputter as she catches up with him and a glance confirms his suspicion. She's bright red, cheeks puffed up in the most adorable pout as she fixes the hair he messed up. She's probably just realized she didn't deny their relationship and if it were any other circumstance, Minho would tease her about it but he doesn't feel like it, his body glowing with contentment, the thick summer air suddenly not so heavy on his bones anymore.
“My treat tonight.” He says and the gasp of surprise and joy he receives in response makes him laugh his loudest.
✧✧✧
The next two practice sessions he has with Dal and her team go smoothly and so do the MV shooting and pre-recordings on music shows.
She ends up with tough competition but manages to score a win on The Show. Minho has already gone home by the time she's proclaimed winner so he only receives a message from her manager, letting him know the outcome and thanking him for the hard work and that's the end of that. He doesn't hear from Dal again and he is secretly grateful that the small incident they had didn't develop into anything more. He was joking when he told Jisu she had scared Dal off but he doesn't think it's too far from the truth.
He's thinking that he should treat his best friend to a home-made dinner to secretly thank her when his doorbell rings.
He throws a quick glance at his phone as he makes his way to the door, wondering if he missed a text from anyone but finds nothing.
He peeps through the hole in the door and finds Jisu there, distorted by the lense.
“Jisu-ya?” He says, opening the door.
She beams at him as soon as their eyes meet and she walks past him to stand in the middle of his living room, hands on her hips and looking extremely proud of herself.
“What's happening?” He asks, huffing a laugh at her antics.
She grins some more, cheeks bunching up adorably, before she extends her hand to Minho.
“I learned the choreo to Feel this moment , Minhoring.” She exclaims, voice bright and happy. “Let's dance!”
Minho blinks, stunned into place. His eyes fall to her hand and then back up at her. She doesn't falter, patiently waiting and Minho's heart somersaults. She will be the death of him.