Amore||Jake Shim

five

"alright girls. now we're about to get serious. your parents left now, so it's just you, me, ms. ava, and your new teacher, jake, rosie's older brother," ms. park introduced.

jake stood next to ava with his arms behind him and slightly smiled down at the girls as they observed him.

"your brother is very handsome," eunbi whispered to rosie.

"and you're 7," rosie whispered back, "he's 17. that's a ten year difference eunbi."

"i was just saying that jake oppa is very handsome," eunbi mumbled.

"just jake. no oppa," rosie corrected, cringing at the words coming from her own mouth.

"okay girls, let's split into our groups. rosie, ara, jieun .. you're with ava and jake. ryumi, jia,
and eunbi .. you three are with me," ms. park instructed.

the two groups split the practice room into two and began following their teacher's instructions.

as for jake, he hadn't learned the choreography, therefore the only thing for him to do was compliment the girls and give them shout outs here and there to boost their confidence.

"okay," ava sighed, "everyone got it?"

the girls nodded and ava broke the dance down once more before letting the girls practice to the music.

"5, 6, 7, 8!"

katy perry's firework began playing on the speaker as ava and jake's group of three girls danced their hearts out, while having fun.

"that was better than expected," ava clapped once the girls finished.

"uh oh .." ms. park exclaimed, "it's raining. we're going to end practice early then."

"you know what that means!" rosie exclaimed as the girls followed her outside into the rain.

jake and ava were quick to run after them, making sure nothing would happen.

it was just like a scene from a movie. the girls ran in the rain to the park near the dance studio and began playing in the puddles together.

ava ran under a pavilion to prevent herself from getting more rain on her and smiled at the sight ahead of her. the six girls were having the time of their lives and jake was with them.

rosie held jake's hands and jumped in the puddles with him.

this very moment, ava realized that jake might have actually moved on for the better. he's changed in every aspect in a good way and ava was more than happy to see him smile again.

it was just that this smile wasn't the same smile ava's heart would flutter for. jake's new smile was a smile of reassurance for everyone around him.

if ava remembered anything about jake, it was that jake likes to keep to himself. he likes to make sure everyone around him is happy even if he, himself, isn't, which he would always hide.

there was something inside ava that made her want to be by his side again, even if it meant having just a friendship with jake.

what ava and jake had in high school may have been childish memories, but it definitely helped the both of them mature for the better.

"c'mon!" rosie exclaimed, pulling ava into the rain to join the chaos.

ava hadn't noticed it, but she enjoyed playing in the rain and puddles more than anticipated. memories of her childhood were definitely being brought back up in her mind.

rosie grabbed jake and ava's hand, joining them together as rosie took their other free hand and begin spinning around.

jake and ava shared a moment of eye contact for a while before they truly felt each other's warmth from their hands.
—
*minutes later*

after letting all their stress run free by playing in the rain, ms. park came out and collected the girls back inside the studio as everyone began to leave one by one.

right when mrs. shim walked through the studio door with two towels for jake and rosie, ava received a phone call.

"hello?"

"hey sweetie. i've got quite a stack of papers to go through at the company and won't be able to come get you. i'm sure ms. park wouldn't mind dropping you off right?" ava's dad asked.

ava plopped herself onto a chair and let out a heavy sigh, grabbing the attention of someone.

"yea no don't worry dad. you're busy, so i'll let you get back to work. i'll figure something out," ava replied.

"are you sure?"

"yep."

"well alright. it's raining quite hard, so make sure you cover yourself up. you don't want to catch a cold alright?"

"got it," ava replied, "bye dad."

"bye sweetheart."

"ava sweetheart, what are you still doing here?" mrs. shim asked, walking closer to ava.

"oh uh- my dad's going to be a little late. he'll be here shortly," ava smiled in assurance.

"well okay then," mrs. shim smiled, "tell your dad i said hi for me will you?"

"you got it mrs. shim."

"alright," mrs. shin smiled and greeted ms. park goodbye before leaving the studio with rosie following her.

"and how long is 'a little late'?" a voice asked.

ava looked up from her phone and saw jake standing in front of her with a towel wrapped around him.

"the last time you said your dad was going to be a little late was when i saw you waiting at a bus stop at midnight," jake said.

"that was also a year ago," ava chuckled, but it didn't come out so enthusiastically.

"we're taking you to our house. c'mon," jake said, putting his hand out for ava to take.