SING ME TO SLEEP, woosan

39

arms stretching into his ending pose, wooyoung freezes in his position, his eyes wavering over to the indulged pairs of eyes at the front of the practice room. two long, hard breaths are dragged out from the corners of his lips before the hands of his dance teacher and the captain of their squad, as she liked them to be called, met an applause.

wooyoung wouldn't say he's skilled by any means of reading expressions, but to him, the smiles across the faces of the women before him seem genuine. usually, that'd be more than enough for him to leave with a content heart.

applause dying down, wooyoung's dance teacher steps forward. contrary to the sound of palms clapping against each other, her smile remains, teeth bright beneath the gleaming yellow lights above them. "wow." astonished, she pauses, as if collecting her words. "i don't believe there is much for me to say, but i am for sure grateful you decided to join us when you did."

wooyoung grins, and nods, shoving down the urge to jump up and down on his toes excitedly. "it's a pleasure, ma'am."

"that was incredible, jung," his teacher continues, her struggle in pronunciation prominent. yet, wooyoung is far too ecstatic to begin a mental tangent over it right now. "your way of expression through your performance is truly something i look forward to, having you as my student. wonderful job!"

"thank you so much," wooyoung returns, this time the urge to squeal like a child being a battle to fight.

the woman nods her head shortly, cheekbones still high as she leaves the studio. exhaling one of the biggest relieved sighs in his life, wooyoung dashes — well, the most he can do without triggering a weirded-out look from his dance caption — towards his belongings piled up in the corner of the room.

he throws his hoodie over his arm, grey and sprinkled with lint, before patting its pockets for his phone. there's no chance he holds the patience to do other than announce the goodness of the day to his best friends right now.

taking wooyoung aback, however, and burying his plan beneath the depths of his mind, are the messages displayed beneath the big, bold numbers, 09:56.

###

sannie
wish i was there to see you but i'm certain u did absolutely amazing wooyo
i am so proud of u
seen

###

wooyoung blinks a few times. perhaps he shouldn't be so surprised after san's countless attempts to reach out to him already, but he is nevertheless; the latter is this committed to be there and it's really something wooyoung has never expected from him, nor would he expect so from anyone, for that matter.

still, it makes wooyoung's heart bounce around a little in his chest, full with gratitude.

and in hindsight, he begins to think just then that maybe he does want san as much as he despises to admit.

"uh, wooyoung?" a voice, which takes the aforementioned male a brief moment to catch onto, interrupts his conflicted course of mind. "i said that right, hopefully?"

wooyoung looks up to see his dance captain standing directly in front of him, her features a blur of different beiges. he sweeps away the tears fogging his eyes, as discreet as he can, his vision quickly clearing up. "uh, yeah. that was fine," he lies, only because he doesn't have the heart to correct her.