Innocence // STRAY KIDS' Han Jisung

thirty-seven

Rehearsals.

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During any other normal circumstances, Mirae would usually sleep until about midday whenever it was a Holiday Monday. She was the happiest when she would wake up and check the clock, happy that she could sleep her butt off without having to worry about catching up the bus on time.

However, since life didn't go as she planned, she had to wake up as if she was having a normal class-Monday because the night before she had received an E-Mail from Mrs. Wang asking everyone that was going to perform in the Gala to show up that day at eight am sharp for rehearsal.

Mirae wanted to give it up, honestly.

She was willing to give up her free afternoons for the rehearsals, she was willing to expose herself to the whole school while dancing just to get a good grade in Dance class—because believe it or not, the teacher was strict when grading her students.

But there was no way in hell she would be giving up her sleeping time in the mornings for a damned rehearsal. It was a holiday! She should be sleeping, not showering to go to rehearsal!

Despite her not wanting to go, she still got ready. As much as she hated the idea, she knew that she'd be feeling guilty for the rest of the day if she skipped the rehearsal. Besides, after remembering how many times she had committed mistakes in the previous one—not only on one, but several if not all of the choreographies—, she realized she needed the rehearsal more than sleeping.

Yeah, it was that serious.

Mirae could be one of the most flexible girls of the class, therefore having a bit more of fluidness when dancing—also due to the fact that she had a bit of sense of rhythm, so she knew how to move when certain beat played. But her biggest downside was that she constantly forgot some simple moves of the routines, yet she could do the complicated ones with ease. It was a flaw that Mrs. Wang had pointed out, saying that it was very amusing.

"It's as if your brain's alert during the difficult one but disconnects when the simple ones come along," she had explained, chuckling afterwards in a friendly way. "It's a funny quirk."

But Mirae didn't want to be funny, especially not that type of funny. She did not want to make a fool of herself by stumbling when doing a simple change of position in front of everybody.

That's mainly why she pulled herself up from her soft bed and washed herself, changing into a pair of knee-length leggings and a loose light-pink shirt with a tiny heart in the middle. She put on her black sneakers and tied her hair in a high ponytail, then going to the bathroom to put on her eye-contacts.

The previous rehearsal where her glasses almost went missing let her know that she should be wearing her contacts, even if she hated them. Well, that was a lie—more than hate, she feared for them falling off and getting lost since they had been more expensive than the actual glasses.

Once she finished with herself, she went downstairs to eat her breakfast.

"Honey, is it really necessary for you to attend the rehearsal?" her father asked once she sat down, looking over with sleepy eyes. "This is a holiday! We're supposed to be sleeping and resting."

"I know dad, but the Gala is next week and we still have stuff to fix on. I'm sorry you had to wake up early on your day off. I can call a friend to pick me up or something—"

"No, honey, don't worry," her dad shook his head shortly. "I'll drive you there, that's not the deal. I'm worried about you getting enough sleep."

Better hide those eye-bags next time, she reminded herself as she assured her father that she was in an excellent shape. Of someone about to give up, but that doesn't matter.