Parallel Lives | BBANGSAZ

F O U R

H A N N I
—

Hanni Pham,

Welcome to the UBC Dance Academy. We are thrilled to have you join us this year. As you might know, we are incorporating our dance classes into an event with the music program. This program brings the opportunity for young artists to get a glimpse of the music industry and the chance to earn a full scholarship for their career.

We are happy to let you know you will be working with KIM MINJI. She is one of our best second-year students. You can choose not to participate in this event, but we are hoping that you will.

Minji and you will meet today at 3 pm. Together, you can decide whether you want to join the Winter Showcase or not.

You can find the rules and conditions below this message, as well as the event registration.

Thank you so much,
Professor Hailey Lee

"Ugh, I told you we shouldn't be doing this," my best friend whines for maybe the fifteenth time today. She's been reading her email for hours. "Who the fuck is Danielle Marsh anyway?"

"We're going to find out in an hour, don't worry." I chuckle. "We can choose not to participate, though."

She nods. "I don't think my mom would let us. I texted her to ask what would happen if we didn't do it, and she said both participants would be disqualified."

"But why would we? We don't need the money. I feel like we're taking someone else's opportunity."

We're driving towards the Starbucks drive-thru, just killing time before we have to go back to the auditorium to meet our new 'partners.' Suyeon's mom, aka Professor Hailey Lee, told us not to be late and that she was counting on us—on her, anyway. She said she wanted us to do this, but why? Neither of us needs the money or the full scholarship. It feels like we're taking advantage of something that someone else needs, and we already have. It doesn't feel right.

I brush my hair away from my face as Suyeon takes the next turn, entering the coffee shop. "My mom said we can choose not to take the money," she shrugs. "But I don't understand why we need to do this. I really don't want to."

I press my lips together with a loud sigh. "We signed up for the dance classes. We have to do this—I mean, right?"

"We need to make a choreo to someone else's song, do you understand? We have the most important performance of our lives in a few months—we can't get distracted." She rolls down her window and places our orders—an iced vanilla latte for me and a strawberry milkshake for her. She pays with her credit card, and then we move to the next window, where they hand us our drinks. She gives me mine and starts driving to the school again.

I think about it the whole drive. Suyeon is right; we seriously cannot get distracted from what's more important—the Dance Academy. If Madame Mina finds out we're slipping away, she's capable of kicking us out of the school. She doesn't care who we are—she was once the greatest ballerina in the whole world, and as the tabloids like to point out, I'm just behind her to take her place. Mina Myoui had a knee surgery that ended her professional career at the young age of 25. She was at the top of the world, and after that, she didn't give up. She opened her own dance school—which is now the best dance academy in the entire world, and I'm lucky to be in it and have her as a dance instructor.

She's making sure I reach the top of the world, just like she did—do I want that? I have no idea. I only want to dance and have fun doing it.

Either way, we do have a performance in a few months—which is why Mina doesn't let us eat sugar or anything with a lot of calories. We go to the gym every day for two or three hours, then we have dance classes for five to six more hours, and then we go home. That's my life. School, training, dancing, sleep. I don't think I can add another thing like a winter showcase to my routine. I don't have time.