Part Time: Rose's Thorns

Chapter 18: Dreams

A voice echoes throughout the fade, grayish as it seems, opening your eyes as you see your assistant staring at you on your left. What happened, something felt wrong. Everything was only a dream, or a nightmare that you almost believed. Taeyeon wasn't real, she was never beside you, the club never happened – and you were on the bed lying down.

Your body felt stiff, arms felt like a hundred-kilogram metal bar that required effort to lift an inch. You groaned while you rested your forearm above your forehead. Everything felt real, almost believing the different Taeyeon you encountered.

"How the heck did I even fall asleep?" you ask pissed; even how stupid the question sounds like.

"That's like asking me how do I even breath?" he answered, chuckling.
"You slept right away when you sat on your bed."

"So, I never went out? Or clubbed out? Or drove somewhere? Or – "

"Nope" He interrupted, and shook his head. "You wouldn't even find yourself here if you did."

Your remembered Jessica, and looked for her around your sight – yet she wasn't still around.

"How about Jessica?" you ask, and your assistant's lips forms a frown.

"She'll be back by tomorrow. I don't know where she is in the middle of the night but I presume she's safe. She does reply on my messages anyway."

Where did she even go? What happened to her? What was she doing? Those questions running up in your mind and was bothering you in some way. Your arms lighten, and slowly pushed yourself to gaze into the skylines from the large window. Night was peaceful, but never did you.

The next day, you've arrived at your workplace earlier than you do. The procrastination hits you every single day before workday comes. The four trainees were scattered in places inside the room. One on the couch, on the mirror, and on the floor lying down like a full cat that recently ate. They teased you for being an early bird for the day when you got inside, never did was but a choice of killing the boredom.

"Oppa, you promised us you'd be there for us yesterday?" Winter raised her voice while you placed your duffel above the desk. They shouldn't know what happened to you, not a bit, nor a fragment of information.

"Emergency," you turned to look at them. "You know shit happens."

Karina groans and hisses as she stomped her foot in a playful way. She stood and looked at you with eyebrows dropped, even if yards were distancing between.

"Yah? Do you even know how much effort I did at the stage even if I was a backup dancer, huh? Knowing that you may be there watching me." She glances around her members – hesitatingly "us I mean."

You notice Ningning's mouth mumble words as she giggles shortly, not even noticing you.

"Don't tell me you're trying to impress your coach." Giselle grins. "In some way?"

Karina shook her head – and faced her direction. "It's not like that! The point is, he told us he'd be there, and then?"

"You heard him, e-m-e-r-g-e-n-c-y." Winter added.

You walked to the center, slightly closer to Karina, and faced her with a smile as if you're coaxing a sibling. "I'm sorry I never informed you. I'll treat you a lunch instead, is that enough to tilt that frown into a smile?"

She rolled her eyes, and crossed arms – swaying to a slight direction away from you. You knew she's acting up, sort of a hard-to-get vibe that you'd mostly see nowadays. And when she turned to look at you again; with a slight smile now in her lips, eyes remaining flat, you smirked – and raised your fist.

"Donkatsu meal" She slowly raised her fist to meet yours – keeping the same look at you.

Deal is a deal, you and the four girls went down the canteen, or employee's canteen they say, when lunchtime called. Karina walked by your side throughout the time, while the other two were behind. You felt like fetching a kid from school – and asking how her day went through as you walk along the sidewalk. But it wasn't something to complain about, you call them like-students, the thing was you feel old with it.

A round chop of meal you bought for her, and she consumes it on the table you found to stay on. Her immeasurable joy when she sat, and faced her bowl meal. Even with the several thankyou's she had spat out, as it may seem annoying, made you smile at least

Then the day continues with them. You heard a bop music around the corridor – and your eyes met. Even with the slight hesitations, you still followed her to peek into the small window of the door. There were dancers in black jogs and white sleeveless tops – like what you wear on practices. Their movements that matched every beat of the music, how can they dance like that?

"You should be there, Oppa." She mutters, your cheeks an inch between.

"Sounds good," you answer, "but I don't want to. I'd be hating to see myself performing on a stage again."

"What do you mean? I feel that you can even dance that one without struggling. Remember, you thought us a feminine dance."

"That wasn't that feminine enough."

"But still, it was a dance made for girls like us."

You sighed, and turned around. "I have no time for that. As long as I did my purpose here, it's all good."

"I remembered Unnie Yuri told us that you used to be a pop dancer known back on 2015." Karina says as she follows when you walked away. "So, you used to be one."

You chuckle. "Past is past, I never really wanted that to happen. It just came to the point where I woke up and suddenly got popular because of a post or tweet. It's just luck, unlike you, who should focus on your dream of being an idol like your sunbaenims."

"And it'll be better if you remained to be our coach until we became an idol." She answers. "It's just that you're different, we feel like you're someone who's patient enough until we improved."

"That's cheesy." Ningning adds, and her face showed a cringe. Shortly she turns to look at you. "Well yeah, jokes aside we feel more comfortable with you. Our old coach is just an absolute – "

"Dick" Winter interrupts, and they giggled.

"You know what we mean right?" Giselle appears beside Karina. "He's just strict at all, in a way it's getting annoying. He doesn't even seem approachable at all, only if we had no choice then we would approach him."

"Unlike you Oppa, who's treating us for a lunch, and even going with us." Karina added, crossing her arms. "

You feel the world fell on you; they were still clueless. None of them knew you were a part timer, a substitute, a replacement for someone who used to handle them. The expression in their faces – in which defines the slight hatred towards their old coach – wasn't just a joke, but a hidden message of reassurance. It was a relief, a feeling undescribed more than happiness, and even for the mean time you did something great again during your visit; yet not for the other two.

After workhours, you found yourself on the restroom. The faucet water was colder than usual, and soon it meets your skin, it was refreshing. A month left before you'd leave the country again, the memories with your new friends is soon to be missed. You hoped a non-problematic staycation in this country, which seemed to go the way you wanted.

The door creaked open, and the person stood beside you. For a lot of spaces open for him, why on your left? Is he a stalker? a person who's going to strike you within any second? You stood upright, looking at the mirror shortly. It was Baekhyun – his eyes gazing at you while he rubs his fingers.