Winter Hearts

Message Sent

Siana was annoyed.

She had spent almost a week dancing with Ravi and N and had only just been told that she was "invited" to go hang-gliding with them tomorrow.

N hadn't mentioned any details but insisted that she should accompany them as they felt they might not be able to communicate properly - and safety was an issue. She felt obliged, although she smelt a rat. Of course, Leo would be there.

They had just finished repeating a particularly difficult part of the routine. There was a complicated maneuver where Ravi, who had stolen her away from N, held her in his arms and leaned her back against N's back, until he was hunched over and she lay across his back as if he were a bed or a table.

She had to put her weight on N, which was fine, but Ravi had to stay close, which made it unbalanced. She kept feeling like she would teeter off her feet and slide off to one side, pulling Ravi down with her.

They tried it with N almost down to the ground, then with him practically upright - but they couldn't get the balance just right.

The only way she could stay on, and with Ravi still in her embrace, was to have Ravi hold her very tight. But that meant that N would be taking both their weight, and also that Ravi no longer had balance either. He had to be the one carrying her weight so that she could lean back without falling over.

Plus, it would look weird.

Within the space of a week, I have become the heavy salad in an unbalanced dance Vixx sandwich, she thought drily.

She could see N was trying to think of an alternative. Perhaps he was considering changing it. She didn't know if they were oblivious to the obvious solution, or if they had considered it but dismissed it for some reason - but as she had said before, the only way was to try it and see if it worked. She felt it was obvious what needed to be done.

She gestured for them to try again, pulling into Ravi's embrace as N got into position. She let Ravi push her up against N's back, and could feel N starting to take her weight, keeping his back straight til the last moment, and using the power in his legs to receive her.

At the moment when the balance began to tip over to N, she lifted a leg and wrapped it around Ravi's hip, or tried to, since he was that much taller than her, all the while looking in the mirror to check their positions. It was just a move from ballroom dancing which she was familiar with.

She could only tuck her pointed foot behind his knee, resting the outside of her leg against the swell of his calf muscle. She saw Ravi react, but he schooled his features almost instantly, and she could see he knew this was how it would work. He changed his stance so that he was in more of a lunge, which shifted his position slightly to the back, opening up his body towards the audience as he twisted a little, taking all his weight and some of hers, onto one leg. Automatically, his hand came up to hold her leg under her knee, and as they settled into position, his bending forward made her knee come up high onto his hip, so that her calf was now resting along the back of his thigh.

N, who had also swivelled a little to face the audience three-quarters-on as he felt Siana's weight shift, suddenly saw their new formation in the mirror, and was happily surprised.

They were in a three-way tango suddenly, and it all made sense.

N applauded, ending the practise. Siana let Ravi pull her upright, and after the intensity of the hold and the expression, was charmed to find he smiled like a shy little boy. He and N chatted about how much better it worked that way.

They were ecstatic, because they finally found a solution, and it had acquired a depth of expression that it didn't have earlier. They could draw out the moment as she slid her bent leg higher, allowing Ravi to have a moment where he would be facing the audience with a girl in his arms, and his hand lingering on her leg.

Because the action involved N, it accentuated the story of deceit and seduction. It wasn't a private moment between two lovers, but expressed the pain of jealousy, adultery and lies.

But N was worried that this could actually put off the fans, rather than entice them into the story. Would they mind seeing Ravi so intimately entangled with a girl, even if she turned out to be evilly manipulating him in the story?

"I like it, it works," Siana, said, simply.

Ravi, who had maintained full commitment to the character as much as he could, except for that moment when she had lifted her leg around his body and surprised him, had to agree. However, he knew that fans were not watching for choreography that worked. They were watching to see their favourite idols dancing for them. The intimacy onstage could be too much.

N thought for a moment.

"The only way is to let the boys see it and get their feedback."

"WHAT?" Both Siana and Ravi said together.

"We're not ready, we have barely finished," Ravi grumbled.

Siana paled. She couldn't do this with Leo watching, with all their unfinished business hanging over them.

"Don't worry, I will just show them the video."

"It's almost lunch time, I don't think I can shoot the video now," Siana muttered.

N smiled and reached over to the phone that Siana realised was propped up against the foot of the mirror all this time.

"It's okay, I recorded the whole rehearsal."

Ravi cringed, throwing back his head.

"Aaagh, I forgot that he always records practise for monitoring!"

Siana resisted the urge to snatch the damn phone out of Cha Hakyeon's smug little hands.

As N scrolled through it, he chatted amiably to them as they sat on the floor, watching him with desperate eyes.

"We're done for the week. Tomorrow we have arranged to go hang-gliding as you have suggested, Miss Siana."

Siana was taken aback. They hadn't asked her to arrange anything.

"You have?"

"Yes, your cousin Panos offered to make arrangements when Hongbin told him. They're becoming close. Panos hasn't told you?"

Siana shook her head. She had spent the week flopping into bed exhausted and rising the next morning like a zombie to do some stretching and having breakfast before warming up for another rehearsal.

She had no time for Panos and his new boyfriend.

N wanted to put in almost four hours in a continuous round of repetition every day, and that required rest. She spent the afternoons having lunch with her dad, and walked to the sea for a coffee after siesta time was over. Evenings were quiet. Sometimes when she felt certain Leo was not in his room, she would strum her guitar on her balcony, a little put out that she couldn't do it freely because she had Leo living above her.

The monotony and full focus on their task had kept her brain busy, and her heart quiet.

The sudden panic with which she had reacted to the idea of, not just seeing Leo again, but having him watch her seduce Ravi with her wayward leg on his phone, told her that, even though she thought she had barely had time or energy to think about Leo, the mere thought of him was enough to send her over the edge.

Well, the circumstances are unusual, Siana, she reminded herself. That didn't calm her at all.

N tapped his phone with a flourish.

"There. Sent!" He said, proudly.

Siana could only look at him, mortified.

"Hyungie, no!" Ravi squealed, lying back onto the floor and giggling.

"Oh, Siana. Could you meet us tomorrow at 11?" N said, getting up as if the conversation was over.

"Oh. Shouldn't Panos go with you since he arranged it all for you?" she asked as calmly as she could.

The hell she was going to hang out with Leo and his band of crusty manipulative beggar boys after they had all watched repeat viewings of her hanging on to Ravi's pelvis with her hook leg.

"Panos is busy, so I am asking you."

And with that, Siana's next 24 hours had been predetermined by the mistress of fate, in the guise of Cha Hakyeon.