Jay x Daniel - You Came With the Spring

Chapter 14: dancing to the beat (Daniel)

Daniel lived his days normally, carrying on the forms of each body from day to night.

Daylight was slow, a waltz between tests and assessments, crowding girls and frequent hangouts. But he couldn't help but feel that the waltz was broken as though something were out of tune. Each smile and laugh was off by a beat. And there was nothing much he could do to fix it.

His nights were worse.

They were even longer - a glum funeral recession accompanied by ugly, black thoughts.

Look at me.

Those dark thoughts whisper. Look at how disgusting I am.

Daniel kept his face down, glasses slipping down his nose, as an old woman peered down at him. She sighed impatiently, the dislike written clearly. She couldn't leave the store fast enough.

Wherever Daniel went, his reflection seemed to glower in return. Fat, loose face, scrunched in a frown. Rounded cheeks sagging in a downturn. And bleary eyes focusing on anything but what stared back.

It never would have worked. Maybe Jay knew, maybe he could see past that beautiful shell and look at the cowardly pig he was.

Disgusting.

So. . .so. . .disgusting. . .

No one would ever like him. Would ever come to love him.

Daniel sent the woman on her way and shuffled through his textbook and neat little notes. It was a robotic practice by now to study for the test his other body would take.

It was a little past 3 or 4 in the morning when a strange customer sauntered in all flash and smile. A young man with sharp glass-like features and bleached hair, fashionable pulled back. Pieces of silver flashed on his ears and belt and his lean body walked in, thoughtless with ease.

Daniel put down the textbook he had long since stopped reading.

It was the cunning smile simpering across the man's face that struck Daniel's curiosity most of all.

"Daniel Park. . ." the man swayed the words. "That's you."

"Y- yes?"

"You live with Daniel Park of Jae Won High School, Fashion Department. . . is that right?"

"Yes. . ."

"Mmmm wonderful." The man walks across the room and wastes no time sizing the boy up. "I am from LKM Agency where we raise. . .promising youth. Daniel Park has been selected as a contender."

Daniel's face flushed. He was picked. . . ? The corners of his lips twitch and he was about to bow down in a fluster before he realized. . . He was in his other body.

LKM was known for being radical in choosing the young starlets for their entertainment industry. They had an extensive network of scouts, roping in promising talents and then testing them in a "friendly competition". Though it was unorthodox. . .the method proved to have results.

They're the most sought after entertainment industry in the country.

And being picked by them was a dream come true for most teens and young adults.

Daniel was left in a daze as the man cocked his head to the side, neck tattoo flashing a dark red eye. Trademark for any of those working for LKM and virtually illegal for any others to posses.

It seemed all too good. All too strange.

The man's eyes paused to look down Daniel analytically, and he slid a platinum card across the counter. The surface shone a twin red to the tattoo - a blood stain against the glass counter. "Make sure he gets this as soon as possible. The details would be explained. . .at a later date."

And he was gone out the door as abruptly as he'd come.

Daniel stared at the card, hand hesitating. 

And that was when he realized it.

That was the first time in weeks since Daniel has stopped thinking about Jay.

Daniel slipped the glasses back up his nose. 

For once he could feel that beat again, the tune he was meant to follow. And he grabbed the card.

Author's Note:

Anyone like the new cover??? 😅(;