promise || minsung

2: NOW

Minho sighed as he sat down on the floor of the dance studio, sweat dripping from his forehead. He now works at a dance studio that teaches teens to dance or improve their dancing, as well as be apart of their studio's dance team.

He closed his eyes and let the mini fan he was holding in his hand do its job to cool him down.

His dance studio luckily has a small following and by posting videos to their social media's allows their popularity to grow slowly, but a huge opportunity had been given to them. A broadcasting company saw one of the dance team's videos, and wants to help promote the studio through subway ads, as well as ads on on popular television broadcasting channels. They wanted one dancer from the team to choreograph their own dance, and send it to them and if it is approved, the video will be uploaded.

A huge opportunity for a small dance company does not come often, and in order to maximize the chances of approval, the dance team unanimously voted for the one and only Lee Minho, with opposition from him of course, to represent their studio. Since he had experience being a backup dancer to BTS, as well as being a former JYP trainee, he was a no-brainer to the members.

Minho's members feel excitement, and they all truly believe in that Minho will deliver the best performance out of all of them. On the other hand, all Minho felt was pressure and fear. The pressure that his own routine will decide whether their studio and team gets the publicity that they've been dreaming of. As well as the fear of failing his members and disappointing himself once again.

"You're still here?" a voice asked, interrupting his rest and caused him to wake up from his partial slumber.

"Yeah," he answered, stretching away the sleep in his arms, "we have a few more days before we need to submit the video and I want to make sure that I have the dance down perfectly."

One of his dance team members, Jungwoo, threw him a water bottle, that Minho barely caught due to his fatigue, but accepted the gift and drank it, thanking his friend.

"You should go home and rest," Jungwoo said, starting his stretching so he could practice, "you won't be able to remember this if you're sleepy."

"There's no time," Minho said and stood up, getting prepared to start practicing once again, "I can't let you guys down."

"This isn't life or death, or a survival show Minho," Jungwoo spoke, that caused Minho to stop, heart aching at the thought of the survival show, "if we don't get it, we don't get it. We'll still run the studio."

"But this is different, Jungwoo," Minho interjected, "in the show, I was the only one mainly affected by my shortcomings, if I mess this up, I ruin this chance for everyone."

Jungwoo shook his head, walking to the small table in the practice room to grab his phone and started to play music.

"I'm not playing your song to practice until you get rest at home, Minho." Jungwoo said simply looking at his friend.

"But," Minho started, but Jungwoo threw a clean towel at the older, causing him to stop speaking.

"Minho, if you're not going to go home, at least grab something to eat at the cafe," Jungwoo offered, "if you still want to comeback after you've eaten and gotten a coffee or whatever, I'll help you practice."

"Or you could just let me practice," Minho objected, annoyed at his persistent friend, "in a few more days I'll be back to normal."

"Go eat, or I will change the locks when you leave," Jungwoo threatened with a playful smile, which caused Minho to laugh, "you laugh as if I won't do it."

"I know you will," Minho said, laughing as he grabbed his wallet and phone, "when you guys had that surprise party for me, I thought I broke my key somehow."

"See," Jungwoo responded, laughing at the memory, "now go and don't come back until tomorrow."

"We'll see," Minho said as he left the studio. Once he left the building, he was hit with the bright sun, which he forgot about since he was stuck inside the studio all days.

As he was walking to the cafe, a feeling of loneliness and nostalgia hit him. Walking after practice to get food with his former best friends, that he still follows and supports, was something that he misses dearly. Now, he walks to get food alone, not in a succeeding band, but a small dance group.

After the show, he decided he needed a break from the trainee life, and moved home for a little before coming back to Seoul. Not to be a trainee, but to work at a dance studio to teach dancing with a friend. Although being an idol was still the dream career for the boy, he couldn't imagine being in an idol group if it wasn't with them.

He sighed sadly, and pulled out his phone, and he had a little hope that during his thought about his former best friends and members, one of them would magically text them, but once again, his hopes were crushed.

It has been over a year since rejection hit him in his face. The day that was bound to happen, the day where Jisung had to get a new phone and number. It was expected, and Minho had no one to be mad at except himself. He could've reminded the younger to write his number down somewhere so he could always comeback to him, but the thought never slipped his mind.

He walked inside of the cafe and ordered his drink and a pastry before taking a seat near a window. He sighed, missing his old friends a little more today. But by a little more, it was more of missing them almost to a point of tears. A few days ago, the report came out that Stray Kids would continue losing their oldest member, and his heart wrenched for his  former members.

He desperately wanted to run into the dorms he once lived in and hug them all, comfort them all, and make sure they were all okay. He has done it before, and would do it again in a heartbeat, however, he felt like it was no longer his job to. They have moved on. A whole year went by without any of them trying to make contact with him, as well as a whole year of Minho talking himself out of visiting the dorms.

"Order for Minho!" a barista called out, and Minho stood from his seat and grabbed his order, with a small thank you.

The cafe he was eating at was very calm. Quiet background music playing as well as the sound of the espresso machines working. Few people sat inside eating, reading books, working on their computers, or having brunch with a friend. A perfect place for Minho to take a break from the pressure of his dance performance video.

Since he was no longer in the mood to dance, due to his thoughts bringing him into a sad disposition, he decided to not return to the studio after his cafe break. He was also in no mood to leave the cafe either, finding the environment very comforting and welcoming.

"Hyung, let me pay!" a voice exclaimed, a voice very familiar to Minho which caused his head to snap up and look.

As if the world wanted to torment him with thoughts of his former members earlier, it seems as if it still wants to torture him. Because, Lee Felix and Seo Changbin were now in the same cafe as he was.

"I told you, Lix," Changbin said taking the Australin's card away and putting it in his pocket, "I got it."

Minho felt frozen, his mind blank. What does he do? What should he do? If he leaves, there's a chance they might see him and stop him. He grabbed his phone, prepared to stand and leave, but since he took too much time deciding on what to do, the two boys were walking in his direction to find a table.