Strangers ~ A Taemin Fic

Chapter 1

"One two three spin, drop, left left right left, turn, throw and roll," the choreographer counts, my body following his lead as me and the 7 other dancers do the same. "Great job, guys. You look great. Should we try with music?" He asks, Soona and Wonjin nodding in return while the rest of us either took a breather or rehearsed the dance one more time. I was the one to rehearse one more time.

"Alright, we'll do it one more time and then you guys are done for tonight," he says, my mind counting the hours I had been in the practice room.

My thoughts come to a halt though as the famous soloist's voice sings through the rooms surround sound. "태초에 정해진 너라는 진리에 저항할 맘 없으니," he angelic voice sings before the chorus hits and our choreographer counts us in.

"우아해 날 해치는 criminal. It's okay 날 달래곤 괴롭혀," I sing in my head along with him while dancing to the given choreography. Even though I had been here for 16 hours, it was nice to finally get away from life a bit and dance, even though dancing was my literal job.

Once the chorus ended, we all stood in our ending pose, our chests rising and falling rapidly as we try to hold in our panting. "Beautiful. Yuki, I actually want you and Jun to switch," he says, pointing to me in the mirror. I eye Jun across the room, his position right in front of the mirror while I stood in the back left.

I nod and break my pose where I switched positions with Jun. He gave me a glare, my throat slightly closing at his eyes on me. The only thing I hated about my job was working with someone who almost ended my career all together. I wasn't allowed to complain though, because I let him do it.

"Right, you'll dance right beside Taemin on the chorus before doing a transition that we'll learn Thursday," he tells me, my body holding my ending position once again. I stare at myself in the mirror. My magenta t-shirt soaking wet on the back and a bit on the front and my loose hairs sticking to my face.

"Yes, sir," I reply, nodding my head. He tells us to break and goes off to his things where he packs up. Yoora and Talia both wave me goodbye as I grab my backpack and water bottle from the wall.

"Going back to your dorm tonight?" Wooseok asks, joining my side at the door. I shake my head before chugging my bottle of water. "You have work again?" He exclaims.

"Two girls went home sick," I explain, gasping for air. My heart was pounding from practice all day, but I also felt relieved to get out. However, I couldn't go back to the dorms yet. "I could use the extra money anyways. If I don't succeed with being Taemin's background dancer, I'll never pay off my debt."

"But you've just started your second contract. You're two years of being a beginner idol is over," he says, opening the door of the SM Entertainment building for me. The outside air bit my sweaty skin and caused a shiver to run down my spine.

"I'm still in so much debt from those two years, Wooseok. The only benefits I get is a bigger dorm with Yoora and Talia, a phone, and dating privileges. Other than that, I have to pay back the choreographers, managers, costume designers, everybody. And so do you," I point out, both of us stopping at the crosswalk where we part our ways. I heave a heavy sigh as he shoots me a concerned gaze. "Don't look at me like that. We all have to do what we gotta do."

"I don't know if this is exactly the way though," he shuffles his feet nervously. "Why don't you just deliver food like me? It pays pretty well."

"You know I make more in a day than you make in a week, right?" I sigh at his slight stupidity. He just chuckles before patting the top of my head.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Yuki," he smiles, turning his back and making his way down a couple blocks to where our dorms were located: in a second SM building built strictly for the trianees and idols.

Whipping my way, I also begin my walk in the opposite direction. The cool air gave me the feeling of winter, which I loved. That was the time of the year when world tours happened and also when I make a larger salary from more people coming in because of winter break.

I listened to Criminal a few more times on my way to work, occasionally stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to rehearse the moves by myself. Finally reaching the back of the building. I enter through the side door where all the usual girls were getting my ready in the studio.

"China, where have you been? You're on stage in 15 minutes!" Chelsea, the American boss and owner of the strip club snaps at me. She came for fashion, but found better money in strip clubbing.

"I was at dance rehearsal. I can't leave until the managers say I can. It's in my contract," I explain, shoving my bag under my makeup stand along with a lit up mirror.

I see her roll her eyes in the mirror as I quickly wipe my face and begin to apply my makeup. "Fucking Kpop idols," she mutters under her breath. All I could think was, 'I'm not even an idol...I'm a background dancer and yet I get treated just as poorly as the true talented ones.'

"China, your lingerie is on the end table," Scarlett informs me. China was my stripper name which was a plus for being one in the first place: no one from my company would know I worked here. The only person that knows is my best friend, Wooseok.

"Thank you," I reply, going over to the table and quickly putting the damn thing on. I wasn't afraid of the others looking, we all did it. No more shame could be shared between us. I mean, we all had hard past and needed the money. No matter what it took...