A Place Called You

CHAPTER TWO

The studio was empty as May stretched out, the warm morning light streaming in through the large glass windows. The girl liked to arrive early and enjoy time alone in the studio while the other company members weren't around.

She used to arrive early to practice with Mingi, with whom she was the protagonist of Romeo and Juliet the year before. He preferred to rehearse early, and she ended up having to adapt to her partner. And that had become a hard habit to break, so even without him there, there she was.

He had left the company with just three performances left in the season. Nobody knew what had happened and San had taken Mingi's place during the last few performances, which caused quite a stir in the academy. May always expected him to come back at some point, maybe that's why she still kept arriving so early at the studio, expecting to find Mingi with his warm smile and awkwardness offstage. She'd grown attached to him from the time they'd spent together rehearsing, but she didn't know anything about him outside of the academy. Mai missed him, but she didn't know how to find him.

That's what she was thinking about when she heard the door open and an infectious laugh fill the room.

Wooyoung's laugh was the happiest thing May had ever heard, and in the last couple of months, she had gotten used to hearing that sound a lot, which was usually followed by some excited comment from San.

Wooyoung was one of the rookies in the company, he had just gotten his spot, just like Thai and Seonghwa. He was an amazing dancer and a boy full of energy and charisma.

San had been with the company the longest, and like Woo, he was also full of energy, wouldn't sit still for a minute, and was known for being very seductive, with an ethereal beauty and great technical skill on stage, San always got good roles.

The two were the happiest, sweetest couple in the Company's history, at least that's what everyone said. The two were completely in love, anyone could see that. They were always together and were huge fans of public displays of affection.

The company was preparing A Midsummer Night's Dreams, and May was Hermia; San, Demetrio and Wooyoung were Lorenzo. The three of them had a lot of scenes and acts together, so they spent most of their time together in rehearsals, and thanks to their friendly ways, they ended up convincing Mai, who was very outgoing and loved to party, to accompany them on their adventures outside of the academy.

May, like everyone else, adored them both, but lately, things had started to get a little...strange between the three of them, so she'd been avoiding being alone with either of them outside of rehearsals.

Woo, who was laughing, immediately stopped when he realized that he and San were not alone in the studio. The two looked at each other and walked towards the girl.

"Good morning, May." San said, pouting.

"Good morning" the girl said, then turned around, heading as quickly as possible to the opposite side of the room.

She could feel Woo's confusion, and San eyes following her. At that moment she prayed to all the gods who were listening that someone else would arrive, so she wouldn't have to deal with the tension between the three of them alone.

And it was at that moment that Tati and Lia walked through the door.

Tati stopped to greet the boys and chatted with them, Lia spoke to them quickly but then went to May, she was carrying a large paper cup with the bakery's logo.

"Good morning, I brought coffee." she said, handing the cup to Mai.

"You and Tati just saved my life" May exclaimed, hugging Lia after getting the coffee she started drinking right away.