Little Starlights | Mark Lee

♪ | thirteen

Not a single face expression, not a single sentence, can express all of you

Taemin - Move ♪

"I'm glad I found you," he said, looking into the distance.

I was surprised at his words. It sounded sincere. A warm feeling overtook my body and I couldn't stop a shy smile from forming on my lips.

Then his phone rang.

The loud sound made us both flinch, destroying the moment.

He looked at the ID and rolled his eyes.

Who's making him this bothered? Mr. Kim?

I looked at the screen, "S".

He hesitated picking up.

"Who's 'S'?" I asked, worried at his expression.

"No one," he stood up, "we should probably get back," he said turning to the direction we came from.

Did I touch a nerve there? Who was that?

𖥸

The trip had come to it's end. Only lasting the weekend. It didn't seem like much time, but everyone seemed to have really enjoyed it.

Sadly, we all returned home that same Sunday, and Monday morning we were back to work.

I dressed a little nicer that day. Even though I had become a trainee it was part of my contract to still work with lyrics. I tried hard to balance both jobs as I spent days working and nights training.

"Are you sure you're not overworking yourself?" Mark asked me.

We were sitting on the practice room floor, as I took a break from dancing. He had been sweet enough to stop by to cheer me up even though his practice had ended hours ago.

"I'm okay," I said as I sipped on some water, still a little out of breath, "it's weird you know? It's like I didn't know how much I wanted to do this until I did it."

We laughed. I guess I wasn't making a lot of sense.

"So," I changed the subject, "how's the debut coming along?"

"Well, you know all the songs are pretty much recorded and the choreo is good, hard but good. Some of us are still struggling a little with it..."

"Show me!"

He looked surprised at my enthusiasm, "really?"

I nodded and he got his phone out, handing it over with the song ready to start. Once he was in his initial pose I pressed play.

It was like he transformed into a new person. The way he moved his body to the rhythm, hitting every beat with a different move, was captivating. The choreography wasn't very easy. I wondered how hard they had to work to pull it off. His arms kept high as he stomped and kicked and jumped. So much power in every move. I couldn't help but let my jaw drop at the complexity of the movements.

Will I have to learn something this hard? God I hope not!

The music ended and Mark stepped closer to the mirror where I was leaning. "So? How was it?"

For some reason I couldn't snap back to reality. How did his aura change so much just by dancing?

"Seyeon? You okay?"

I realized I was staring and not saying anything back. He looked concerned and stepped even closer, trapping me between his arms and the mirror as he put a hand on my forehead, "is something wrong?"

"Good," I whispered. I cleared my throat, "y-you were really good," I finally was able to respond, even though he had asked other questions by then.

He laughed at my delayed reaction and smirked, taking a step back, "want me to teach you?"

I shook my head, "I don't think I'll be able to follow along," I said awkwardly, knowing that my dancing skills were nothing compared to his.

He sucked his teeth, "nonsense, c'mere." I couldn't do anything but follow him to the center of the room.

He started to show me how to position my arms and legs and I was honestly a huge mess. He didn't seem to mind though, just laughing along as I tried my best to not look like a complete fool.

"Now lean into your right leg," I did as he said, "now back to your left. Good, now hands by your sides and body roll," he demonstrated.

"Okay, hands... and body roll..." I tried my best to do it as similar as him but all my effort ended in a loud laugh as I looked at how ridiculous I looked. It was like I was exaggerating all the movements but they still looked wrong. "I suck!" I laughed.

"No you don't," he laughed too, "here just put your hands here," he stood behind me and gently guided my arms to the right angle. I felt a shiver go through my spine at his touch. "And now wave. Like it's coming from your head, not your shoulders," he was just trying to help but I wasn't moving, still unsure of just how much I needed to move.

He let go of my arms and placed his hands on my shoulders, "relax your shoulders," he said as we looked into our sweaty reflections in the mirror, "try again," he said and I did, finally getting it right, "yeah, there you go!" He cheered, letting go of my shoulders, "now do it from the top." I repeated every step successfully and a huge grin appeared on my face as I did.

"I did it!" I turned around jumping, completely forgetting how close he stood until our noses were almost touching. I froze at the close proximity, him along with me, breathing hard as a I felt a small drop of sweat roll down my temple. Hi eyes kept darting from my own to my lips.

The heat in my body kept increasing as I felt like time had stopped, not knowing what would happen next.