Chance

It was... my fault...

Many months passed and it was finally the time for new members recruitment. Every club in the campus would held an audition to look for new members for their club. There were many that signed up for the singing and badminton club. For our dance club, we didn't want to scare the freshmen with audition so instead, we held a small testing program to see how well they can dance. Even if they were bad, we would still accept anyone because we believed that if we trained them properly, then they could become a better dancer.

There was only around 7 students that registered for our dance club and one of them was Viona. She finally finished her high school and applied for accounting program in our campus. She was the only new members that didn't have to join our testing program because she had literally performed with us for numerous times. 

"Hello guys, finally official!" Viona said as she entered the dance room. It was quite a difference the moment she first joined us temporarily and now she's finally an official member of our team. She's also livelier and very different compared to the shy girl that could barely speak a word back then.

Of course, the most excited one of us that saw her was Andre. He just couldn't stop jumping around and to be honest, his dance movement was much more powerful since Viona joined us. 

Once everybody was present, we gathered in the middle of the room while sitting on the floor in circle and introduced ourselves to the new members. 

"Okay, good to see so many new faces. Welcome to the dance club and just take it easy. We're not as uptight as the other clubs. The goal here is to dance and have fun, so... any question?" 

That was a really short introduction by our leader Anton, as expected. The new members looked very excited though some looked quite nervous. We spent the rest of the day talking and getting to know each other and finally we called it a day.

A week passed and we had a really important performance coming soon. It was considered the biggest event that our campus had ever held in history, The Halloween Party. The party was open for public and anybody with the ticket could enter and enjoy the entertainment and the show that we prepared. It was very important for us to perform our best and we had just the plan.

We hired a professional dance teacher to teach us a special routine for that particular event. He was considered as one of the best dancer in our city and we were very excited with what he would teach us.

"Hi guys, the name is Ken and your boss here, Anton, wants me to make a choreography for the halloween party. Before I start teaching you guys, I'll need to assess your skill, power and expression so I can decide your formation later. Can everybody perform one routine now?" Ken said and every members stood up and performed one of our routine. He quickly analyzed each of us and finally he decided the line up for his choreography.

"All right, that's good. Now, I'm going to need the lightest girl we have here and I'll also need a guy who is strong enough to do this movement that I've made. Any volunteer?"

"Strongest guy, of course Ryan. And the skinniest girl is of course, Viona." Anton said to Ken.

"Ok, so both of you please come here and try to do this move here. The rest, I'll show you the choreo once I'm done here."

So Viona and I was chosen to do a special couple movement that Ken prepared. We both paid attention to how Ken did it and it involved Viona climbing onto my left thigh, posing and jumping straight into my body with both her legs locking onto my waist. I would then required to hold her back to support her weight and waved her in front of me from left to right then she would dismount into standing position. It was quite a risky movement but if we could do it well, it's going to look great.

So both Viona and I kept on practicing that particular movement and finally we got the hang of it. Andre didn't look quite happy with me and Viona being partner but he kept on dancing anyway, to the choreography that Ken taught them.

We practiced for the whole day and decided to continue again the next day.

In the next day, Andre couldn't join our practice because he needed to bring his mom to the airport. In our chat group, he said directly to me.

"Hey Ryan, you better take care of my Viona for me."

It was quite a funny thing to say in the group chat. 

"Who said that I'm yours?" Viona replied and everyone bursted in laughter as they posted numerous laughing emoticons.

Actually, I really took Andre's word personally and promised myself that I would take of Viona during the rehearsal.

It was rehearsal time, and we warmed ourselves up, stretched and practiced the choreography that Ken had taught us the previous day.

Viona and I repeated the risky movement again several times and it was finally easy for us to do it. 

"I think I need to perfect my pose again when I'm stepping on your thigh. Are you tired already?" Viona said to me.

"No, not a problem. I'll just stand wide and you can just step on it." I replied and she climbed onto my thigh again and practiced her arm movement for the best pose. 

Actually I was quite tired already but since we wanted everything to be perfect, we kept pushing ourselves.

"Please tell me you don't have another..." I talked to Ken when something bad happened.

Something EXTREMELY BAD.

It happened really fast, faster than my eyes could blink. The only thing that I could know was I heard a really strong thump in front of me.

She was there, on the floor, crying in pain. I didn't what had happened.

"NOOO!! No, no, no, Viona!" I shouted and everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around us.

Sharon quickly picked her sister up from the floor and she was still crying.

"Her head, turn her head quick, Is there any bleeding?" Anton said as Sharon turned Viona's head around.

There was blood behind Viona's head.

"I've hurt... Viona..." 

"She's bleeding because of me..."

"I've broken my promise to Andre..."

"Her head... I almost killed her..."

Those were the words floating inside my brain at that moment. I couldn't think of anything else. The feeling of guilt suddenly filled my heart and tears flowed down my eyes.

"I... I don't... I just..." I stuttered. Suddenly, Darwin grabbed my hand and dragged me outside of the dance room.

"You better stay here now. Don't worry, bro. She'll be ok. Just wait here." Darwin said to me.

I was still speechless and this tears flowing, I didn't even know why I cried. I felt so wrong and confused.

15 minutes passed. Anton exited the dance room and approached me.

"She's okay. We have the first aid kit and we've stopped the bleeding. Her head's bleeding because of impact, not cut, so it's okay." Anton said to me.

"How can this happen? I didn't know what she... and she was just... she's on the floor crying"

"Well, she didn't see that you were talking to Ken just now so she thought you're ready to grab her and she just jumped and dropped on her head. It's okay. It's not your fault. Let's call it a day and go home now. We still have several weeks before the performance so take a good rest, bro." 

Every members decided to go home as well and they left the room. The last one to exit the room were Sharon and Viona. I could see that she was still in pain. She had stopped crying and her eyes were still red. Anton brought both of them home and I also returned home as well.

Ever since then, everything changed...