Dancing Hearts

Chapter 11

Derek and I have been practicing for several hours in the JYPE practice room. We finish the East Coast Swing routine and we both are breathing heavily, drinking water.

"I think we have it, Derek. OMG, we might actually win the whole fucking thing," I say jumping up and down.

"You're right," he says as he wipes his face with a towel. "I have never seen you so optimistic before a competition. The guys are definitely rubbing off on you in a good way. It's safe to say that I am not worried about leaving you here for a month."

I nod in agreement as I go to my bag to get my sweats. I take my ballroom shoes off and put them in my bag, taking my socks and sneakers out. I sit down to put them on when I hear the door open to the practice room. I look up to see Channie come in. I get up, smile at him, and make my way to Derek who is standing in the middle of the practice room. Then I realize Channie has a look on his face, one of worry. The others come in after him and they are all quiet which is never a good thing.

"Shit," I say. "What happened?" Felix and Hyunjin flank me as Derek and I approach Channie. Hyunjin has his arm tightly around my waist and Felix is patting my back. Binnie is next to Derek, and he looks pissed.

"I don't know how to say this," Channie starts. "I received a text from Lisa soon after you left the hotel this morning. A crowd had formed outside the entrance to the hotel. She kept tabs on the growth but then had to leave unexpectedly. We suspected it was probably just people trying to get photos of you both the day before your competitions." He hesitates and runs his fingers through his hair, grimacing.

That's when Han picks up where Channie left off. "We don't know how but a few snuck in the hotel posing as your stylists. Since Lisa was out she wasn't there to personally verify who they were," he says. He looks at me tenderly as my brain is trying to register what they are saying.

"The front desk let them have access to the elevator," Binnie says angrily. "Now they only got into the lobby of your suite. Luckily both of you didn't give your stylists access to your rooms. They did damage to the lobby area and were caught when they were trying to sneak out of the hotel. Despite that, the fact they were able to get that far is bad."

Channie looks at me and continues. "Sylinda, there is a video online, and well, let's just say it is not good. You both can't go back to the hotel. It's not safe," he says slowly. I look at Derek and he has the same shocked look on his face. Why the hell would people do this?

Derek asks my question out loud, "Why would somebody do this? What's the point of vandalizing our suites?" Channie and Han look at each other and then look at me. It's not ours, it's mine.

"I am so sick of this shit," Lee Know yells. "These people are not genuine fans!" He stomps up to me and looks at me. "Don't you dare waste your energy on this."

I put on a brave face for them even though I am officially scared shitless. "Fuck them," I say through my teeth. "Why can't people behave with respect? How hard is that?" My voice gets louder with each sentence. Everyone is quiet, even Derek, all staring at me.

Until Seungmin breaks the silence by laughing that evil laugh. "Hehe. I like when Noona is pissed." I smile at him.

"We had security go over and retrieve both of your belongings," Hyunjin says.

Chan nods and says, "We wanted to wait to tell you both until we got items set up in the two empty apartments on our floor. Sylinda I know we said we would get you things you wanted, but we had to improvise." Derek and I just nod our heads.

"I think they are in shock a little," I.N. says softly. "They don't deal with this kind of stuff."

Derek clears his throat and looks at Chan, "Okay, okay, so we move into a more secure place. That's good. I hope they have whiskey in mine because I am going to need a shot of it."