With No Words Said- Luwoo

Airplane

As much as Jungwoo tried, it was hard to spend even a day without thinking about Yukhei.
The entire town held memories of their shared childhood and somehow, the brown haired boy always found himself daydreaming about a certain someone as he eyed the house across the street everyday.

His two best friends, Sicheng and Jaehyun knew that and were convinced it would only eat Jungwoo alive. And so, on a snowy Monday of January, the two went to the ballet teacher and almost begged her to somehow get Jungwoo on a famous dance program. They knew she had her own ways, as a retired dancer.

She managed to get Jungwoo accepted on one of the numerous exchange programs of the NCT University, one of the most famous and coveted college of Korea, and so just by showing them his Christmas representation dance and using some of her connections.

And just like that, in early February, Jungwoo stepped in a plane to leave his old self behind. He was decided to become a new man and to get better in dance.

The flight to Kiev had been stressful for the student. He was alone and this would be his first time leaving Asia, let alone Korea. It had been few hours already since they left the country but Jungwoo was still tensed. The sound of the rain hitting hard the plane didn't predict any good in his mind.

He looked through the small oval window and saw nothing but the darkness of the night as the engine flew high in the sky. The pitch black of the night hid the lights of the cities they flew upon.

He tried to ignore the nervousness but his body gave his fears away as his face lost its color and he tightened his grip on the armrests at the slightest turbulence.
Too lost in his thoughts, somewhere between the terror of the moment and the apprehension to join a worldwide famous dance program, the boy couldn't find sleep. Hours passed by and Jungwoo played music in his ears to calm his throbbing heart. Finally, the plane landed smoothly and relieved the boy from a part of his worries.

Almost a day after leaving his family back in Korea, Jungwoo now sat on the tidied-up hotel bed and stared at his belongings messily put here and there on the rug-covered floor, exhaustion fogging his mind too much for him to feel excitement yet. He just let himself fall hard on the bed and bury himself under the covers, hoping sleep would be quick to numb his senses.

'Fuck, what language do they even speak in here?' was the first thing that passed through the mind of the dancer as he stepped out of the hotel the next morning, only to be greeted by the cold and the wind and the busy passerby.

"uhh... p- privet?" he greeted timidly the taxi driver that had, after many struggles, finally decided to come to the hotel.
'Fuck, do they speak Russian in Ukraine?'

The man looked like he was in his late fifties and had no time to waste. He frowned at Jungwoo and said something the latter couldn't pick up. Before asking again, in an english as broken as Jungwoo's "where you want go?"

"oh, uh... Majestic dance studio? Ok... you know?" The driver nodded and started the engine.

It was still early so the streets were still dark and the air was still freezing outside, but people flooded the streets of the capital nevertheless, used to the harsh winter that froze the young male's heart.
Jungwoo kept his eyes on the city and admired its old architecture as the taxi slowly made its way to the destination.

After ten minutes or so, his tired eyes widened at the sight of a tall building.
The man stopped the car and Jungwoo paid before stepping out. He entered the palatial place, trying to guess where he had to go, confused by the writing on the signs.

Somehow, he found his way to the lockers where he put on black tights and a black tank top.

He looked for the place he had to meet his future colleagues in, and after another five minutes, he entered a huge and breath taking amphitheater.

The door swung open with a loud thud and people suddenly stopped talking and stretching to look at him.
The stage was already filled with approximately twenty persons, most of them were young but Jungwoo still seemed to be the youngest. Beside that, the crew looked diverse, with as many women as men seemingly from all around the world.

"uh, privet?" he repeated once again in hope people would stop eyeing him.

The person that looked in charge, a blond man in his early thirties, wearing sweatpants and sneakers, turned around to face the boy and smiled.

"hi, I'm Erik. I was told you would come today... Are you Jungwoo, Mrs Stravikc's pupil?" he asked him in english.

"yes." Jungwoo understood the most of the question but he couldn't really say more, in english that is.

"would you mind introducing yourself quickly?" the leader asked kindly.

"hello, my name is Jungwoo, I'm 17 years old and I am from Korea." He smiled as he recited the sentence he had learned by heart in his english class.

"Doyoung!" The blond man shouted. Then, a tall and young man appeared in front of the two as the others started their activities again.

The two talked in Ukrainian as Jungwoo watched silently, mouth agape from the black haired boy's beauty. He observed his surroundings a little as he waited for the pair to end their conversation and felt strangely out of place in his black tights.

"hi, my name's Doyoung and I'm from Korea too. I'm a little older than you so Erik asked me to take care of you while you're still adjusting." he declared in Korean, not really waiting for an answer as he dragged the boy in the back of the stage.

The choreographer put on music again and all the dancers around him starting repeating the moves they had been working on.

At that moment, Jungwoo realized three things.

First, this program was not a ballet program.
Second, he had no idea whatsoever how to dance hip-hop.
Third, he could definitely tell Doyoung was going to save his life here in Ukraine.