Dance Partners || N.NK ||

Part 48/S2

A faint beeping sound echoed in the distance.

It was slow.
Rhythmic—Unfamiliar.

Your eyelids felt heavy—too heavy to lift.

The air smelled sterile, clean, yet oddly suffocating.
You found it extremely hard to breathe.
Your body felt light.
Yet at the same time, there was a dull ache pulsing through every limb.

Somewhere nearby, the soft murmur of voices blended with the steady beeping.
The words that once felt foreign—distant, meaningless—now resonated with perfect clarity.
You could understand it, everything that others spoke.

But you couldn't.
You couldn't move your lips, nor could you move your body.
Nothing.

Your fingers twitched slightly, but even that small movement felt like it drained every ounce of energy left in you.

You tried to open your eyes, to know where you even were.
But even that felt impossible.
Yet, you still gave it an attempt.

Attempt, after attempt.
Slowly, after what felt like an eternity, your eyes fluttered open.

Blinding white.

Everything ahead of your eyes was white, the ceiling, the walls.
The faint glow of a monitor casted a dim light across the room.

You blinked.

Where... were you?

A hospital?

Your gaze shifted downward, finally registering the thin blanket covering you.
The stiff mattress beneath you.
The IV needle attached to your arm.

The realization settled in your mind like a stone sinking in water.
You were indeed in a hospital.
But why?

Your eyebrows furrowed as you struggled to remember.
Your head still felt foggy, but glimpses of something—someone—flashed through your mind.

A bridge—a man—a name...

Ni-ki.

Your lips parted slightly at the thought, but before you could dwell on it further, the sound of a chair scraping against the floor made you flinch, your body forcing itself to move.
Your gaze shifted to the side.

And there he was.
The same man from the bridge.
Sitting by your bedside, elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped together.
His gaze was fixed downward, his expression unreadable.

But the moment he sensed your movement, his head snapped up almost immediately.

Your breath caught in your throat.

Those eyes.
Cold, distant—yet laced with something else.
Something unreadable, something... familiar.

His gaze softened slightly as he met yours.

"You're finally awake," he murmured, a smile planted on his face, along with his eyes finally showing an emotion, that you never seen in him before.

You swallowed, your throat dry.
You should've asked why you were here, what had happened.
But instead, the only thing that left your lips was—
"...Who are you?"

The moment the words slipped out, his smile dropped, something in his expression shifted.

Pain.

A flicker of something raw, something almost unbearable, passed through his eyes once again.
He quickly masked it, his lips pressing into a thin line.

For a moment, he didn't answer.

And then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he said—
"...Yn, it's me..."

Last time, they were nothing more than incomprehensible sounds—empty.
But now?
You understood every single word that escaped his lips.

The way he spoke to you, the way he called you 'Yn', an unfamiliar name to you.
It all sounded like it meant everything to him.

"Yn..?" you said, your sentence coming out as questioned.
You still hadn't figured out who the name belonged to.

"What?"
Confusion crossed the man's mind the moment your voice reached his ear.

"Who is Yn?" you blankly asked.
"What do you mean who is Yn? It's you-" his sentence was cut off when you suddenly winced in pain.
His eyes widened in alarm as you gripped your head, a sharp pain pulsing through your skull.

Your breath hitched, and a strained whimper escaped your lips.
It felt as if something inside your mind was clawing to break free—memories, thoughts, pieces of a puzzle you couldn't yet see.

"Yn—hey, are you okay?" He leaned closer, his voice urgent, laced with concern.

You wanted to reply, give him an answer.
But you just simply couldn't, the pain in your head was more than you could handle.

Your breath grew uneven, your fingers gripping the thin blanket beneath you.
The pain in your head intensified, like something was forcing its way back into your mind.

You forced yourself to look up—your eyes locking with his.

Flash.

The Hospital room faded.

A school hallway.

"Hey babe"

Your stomach twisted, that voice—his voice.

"Ni-Ki! I'm not your girlfriend!!"

A flash of a school hallway.
The way his smirk had deepened, amusement flickering in his eyes as if he enjoyed teasing you just to get a reaction.

"Not yet"

Your chest tightened.
The teasing words he used to say, the way you had rolled your eyes, scoffing at his confidence.
Back then, you thought he was nothing more than an arrogant rival—someone who challenged you at every step.

The memories came in pieces—scattered, fragmented—but they weren't just images.
They were feelings.

Your gaze snapped back to reality, back to him.
Ni-ki.

The boy who used to drive you insane, your school dance rival, the person who had pushed you to be better—until one day, he wasn't just your rival anymore.

A lump formed in your throat.

"I..." Your voice came out unsteady.
"I remember..."

His breath hitched.
A flicker of hope passed through his eyes, but before he could respond, another wave of pain crashed into you.
The memories—the emotions—everything was too much, too fast.

Your vision blurred, darkness creeping at the edges.

"Ni-ki..." You tried to hold on, but the exhaustion was stronger.
And just like that, the world faded into black once more.

~ To be continued
Can somebody guess from which season Yn's memory is coming from ? 🤫