The Trail to Your Gazes | Sunsunki

Chapter 7

The entire lunch period was painfully awkward with Niki fuming with jealousy and Sunoo staring off into space. Neither had much desire to speak with the other so they ate their lunch quietly until the bell rang for class. "See ya," Niki said as he quickly grabbed his things and ran off. What's wrong with him, Sunoo thought. To Sunoo, it was clear why he was staring off into space. It seems as though the last few days have been full of coincidences. Seeing Sunghoon at the ice rink, him happening to transfer to the same school, and being in two of his classes? When Sunoo tried to make sense of it all, it only led to more questions but was certain was his attraction towards Sunghoon. But what was wrong with Niki? None of this seemed to affect him at all yet he seemed the most bothered. Technically they were just friends but deep down Sunoo knew Niki's feelings towards him. He's just a kid, Sunoo thought, he doesn't really know what he feels right now.

Lost in thought, Sunoo was almost late to class when he wandered off in the wrong hallway. However, when he arrived at the class, it was as if he never left the hallway. At every waking moment, as his teacher reviewed the syllabus, Sunoo thought of Sunghoon and Niki and the probability of him imagining the whole thing.

In a blink of an eye, the period was over and the class Sunoo couldn't decide whether he was looking forward to or dreading the most was coming up. Despite this, Sunoo headed to the locker room and got changed and that's where he encountered both Niki and Sunghoon.

"Hey Sunoo," Niki said as he changed out of his uniform.

"Hey, I didn't know you were taking this class", Sunoo replied as he hid his face in a nearby locker.

Sunoo, who has seen Niki without a shirt countless times due to being on the swim team together, suddenly became shy at the sight.

"We decided to take this class together, remember?"

"Oh yeah! Sorry, I guess I forgot"

Before either could say anything else, in the corner of his eye, Sunoo saw Sunghoon take off his shirt behind Niki.

"Bro, your face just got so red"

"No, it didn't!" Sunoo said, hiding his face in the locker again.

"Just get changed quickly so we're not late," Niki said happily, assuming Sunoo was blushing because of him.

"Hi everyone! My name is Seulgi Kang but you can call me Ms. Kang. I'll be your dance teacher for this semester. I'm seeing a mix of familiar and new faces, I'm assuming everyone here has at least a little bit of dance experience since this is a higher-level course but if not don't worry! Everyone is welcome!"

As Ms. Kang continued running through the course and what to expect, the class was sitting on the floor of the dance studio in a circle. "To get things started, let's do some freestyling! Remember, there is no pressure here but if you feel called, go to the middle of the circle and freestyle".

With that, the class quickly got up as Ms. Kang played Cold Blooded by Jessi on her speakers. Niki, as expected, went in the middle first and started effortlessly dancing to the music. It was well known throughout the school that although a freshman, Niki was the best dancer in school and extremely gifted. Sunoo, who usually admired from afar, found himself staring at Niki with eyes of lust rather than friendly support. "He's really good," Sunghoon said, startling Sunoo.

"I know, I'm jealous," Sunoo said.

"Do you wanna go?"

"In the middle? No way!"

"Why not, you're probably great"

"I'm more of a singer"

"Really?" Sunghoon asked

"Don't act too surprised" Sunoo responded laughingly

"You just have more of a dancer's body"

"Thanks", Sunoo said giggling.

"Sunoo, you should try it's so fun," Niki said, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm not as good as you," Sunoo said pouting

"C'mon go!"

Wanting to prevent Sunoo from becoming uncomfortable or embarrassed, Sunghoon went in the middle of the circle as Lotto by EXO played. Though he was hip-hop dancing, there was a clear grace to his movements, it was evident in the way Sunghoon flipped his head and turned in beat with the music. Sunoo stunned by his talent, stood there and was taken back to the moment he first saw him. As he finished, he stood in the middle and smiled at Sunoo before going back to his spot.

I'm screwed, Sunoo thought.