19 || h.hj

16: competion

The competition was about to start and the boys had already been waiting behind the stage for their turn, most likely going over their dance through Minho one last time before performing, while Seoyun and Jisung took their place amongst the crowd.

"You haven't seen this dance, huh," Jisung spoke up.

"I haven't had the time to stay for their practices lately, I'm back to just bringing food during their breaks," she said.

"Is everything okay? I'm sure Jeongin isn't taking that much time from you," Jisung joked.

"My mom is coming back in a few days, she wants me to come to the office with her to get a glimpse of what it's like. My grandparents have also been mentioning wanting me to study about their business for a while now, so I've been looking over old files and reports," she explained.

"Don't you have an older sibling who can take over before you? And what about your cousins?" Jisung asked.

"I'm just trying to follow their directions, I can't disappoint them more than I have already," she answered.

"A few mistakes wouldn't kill you," Jisung answered as he put his arm around her and squeezed her tightly.

"Let's enjoy the competition for now and worry about mistakes later," Seoyun smiled from his comfort.

Several performances went on before it was their turn. Every once in awhile Felix would peek his head through the crack of the doors and sometimes the curtains when nobody is performing.

"How many more before they go?" Seoyun asked in a whisper.

"2 more, why?" Jisung answered.

"I have to go to the bathroom real quick, I'll be back," she said before leaving for the bathroom. It had been an hour or so since they came and her lack of sleep had finally caught up to her. Seoyun lightly splashed her face with water, careful not to ruin her makeup. "I wonder if he's tired too," she muttered to herself as she dried her hands.

"I heard Stray Kids is competing today, they have a really good winning streak this season, you think they might win this one too?" A girl said in the bathroom.

"Half of the kids on that team go to Joongdong High School, the private school with rich kids, they've probably been bribing the judges that's why they keep winning," her friend laughed. Seoyun rested her hands on the edges of the sink as she gathered her patience as the two girls talked in their stalls.

"What are they even doing here anyway? Can't they just buy their own trophy?" The first one asked followed by a flush.

"Hah! I'm sure that's exactly what they do, let's not act like we don't see bodyguards around a few of their competitions," the second one said in a snarky tone and laughed.

Truthfully, her blood was boiling to the point that her grip on the sink could crush the marble slate, but she shouldn't cause trouble anymore.

"I mean they're a good team, but do they really deserve to win?" That was it. That was her tipping point. She didn't catch them asleep on the floor from sheer exhaustion or spent nights to take care of injuries they got from too much dancing, she wasn't going to let them discredit their hard work.

"What you're saying isn't nice," Seoyun grabbed the second girl's arm right before they had the chance to leave.

"Excuse me?" She was forced to face Seoyun's blank eyes. The other one instinctively held onto Seoyun's wrist to pry the grip off her friend which only made Seoyun tighten.

"I said your words aren't nice, those can really hurt people if spoken at the wrong time or place," Seoyun said as she pulled both of them closer to her face, her expression not faltering.

"Let go before I call security," the snarky one growled as she tried to pull her hand away.

"Go call then. Call while you can still speak and run while you can still stand, or learn to respect and not talk shit," Seoyun dug her perfectly manicured nails deeper into the skin, but still careful not to make a wound.

"Can you just stop bothering us, we didn't even do anything to you!" The first one almost in tears out of fear.

"But you did," Seoyun said the loosened her grip after regaining a bit of her patience back. "I go to Joongdong High School, my cousin goes, and so do my friends. You disrespect them, you disrespect me."

"We didn't know, we're sorry," the other one said as she apologized for both her and her friend, who seemed to not want to apologize at all.

"What are your names?" Seoyun asked as she took her hand away from both of them.

"Moon Eunso," the passive one said.

The other one stared down to Seoyun, burning with anger and rage after looking so pathetic, "Kang Sua," she said.

"Park Seoyun," Seoyun introduced herself as she stood her ground in front of Sua.

"We don't want a fight," Sejin said. "Let's go Sua," she begged softly while pulling Sua. Sua stared at Seoyun before leaving the bathroom. Seoyun clicked her tongue then washed her hands again before going back to Jisung to tell him about what just happened, sparing a few details about their encounter.

"It's good that you protected them, but was that really the right approach? It's seemingly uncharacteristic of you, Yunnie," Jisung said.

"I tried controlling it, I did. They were just so rude," her voice going quiet, just like when they first met.

"I know, and you did your best in doing so. Let's just move on, they're about to perform soon," Jisung smiled. Seoyun nodded and put all her focus into just watching their dance.

And it was beautiful. The song was upbeat and fast, their moves were sharper than usual, and they looked happy after days worth of exhaustion. She could feel their effort through every move. There was an intermission after their dance, Jisung and Seoyun took this chance to check on the boys backstage.

"I think it's this way," Jisung led the way. The passed through all the other contestants diligently practicing before it was their turn.

"I see Woojin's head, they're over there," Seoyun pointed out then moved towards them at a quicker pace.

"Hyung!" Jisung called for him while catching the other's attention too. "If you keep dancing like that championships are definitely in the bag," he complimented.

"We have to work a little bit harder next time to secure our undefeated spot, success isn't an easy road Jisung," Chan told him with an endearing smile as he rested his arm around Jisung's shoulder.

"Wise words coming from an idiot," Minho countered with a smirk. Chan hit his shoulder lightly before the two began to smile at each other then hugged tightly.

"Should we go eat? You guys must be hungry," Seoyun smiled. Their smile grew large at the thought of food then nodded in agreement enthusiastically. They visited the nearest restaurant that served food they all agreed to have, it was a small, family-owned restaurant that barely had any people in it.

"So, what'd you think of our performance?" Hyunjin asked Seoyun expectantly.

"I liked it a lot, I remembered a few moves that you practiced every once in a while. You told me you were most excited about this one since your teachers allowed more creative freedom for this dance, I'm glad I got to see you so happy on stage," she said earnestly.

Hyunjin couldn't suppress his smile from her sweet words, "I'm glad you enjoyed it, maybe it was a good thing you visited little these days," he said.

"Hey!" She hit his arm, "you should be grateful that I even get to show up. I work hard to make sure you guys get food during practice, a little 'thank you' would go a long way."

"I'm kidding! I like it when you give us food, I get energized after seeing you even for just a second," he smirked.

"You're disgusting," she blushed then hit him again.

"Yeah, well so are you," he giggled.

"I hate you."

~
Disclaimer
Joongdong is an actual high school in South Korea and the characters aren't in any way affiliated with the school, the name is only used for the story.