Within These Shadows || Park Chanyeol/Do Kyungsoo || Book 1

31

April, 2019

Jay breathed heavily after completing the dance routine. It had been exactly five months since she had started dancing again, and she was getting better and and better each day. Even though it was tough at first, and she wanted to give up so many times when remembering her past traumas, she pushed herself to go on. There were days when she had mental breakdowns; sat on the floor for the whole class, and did nothing. Her instructor was a very understanding person; he let her take her time and space whenever she needed it. He let her take it slow, knowing fully well that the girl was putting in a lot of effort just to get back on her feet again.

The days when she would sit all alone for the whole class, she'd stare at her feet. The scars were gone now, after almost ten years. But the memories were still fresh, as though it was just yesterday that it all had happened. It wasn't the memories of the tragedies that bothered her, rather the terrifying emotions that she had felt back then. Some days were spent in crying, some spent in fighting those emotions.

"Very good, Jayline-ah. You're improving quite fast, and that makes me very happy." Gong Tae Pyung smiled at Jay, who was sitting on the floor, catching her breath.

"Gamsahabnida, seonsaengnim (Thank you, teacher)." Jay reciprocated his action.

"So, are you ready to finally join the team and the jamming sessions?" Tae Pyung smiled.

Jay's smiled faltered; Tae Pyung's words made her gulp from nervousness. "The t-team? J-jamming session?" Jay stuttered.

"Yeah. Physically, you're ready; you've improved a lot in the past five months and are dancing really good. But are you ready, mentally?"

"Seonsaengnim, can I have some time to think about it?" Jay asked after a short silence.

"Sure. Let me know by next week. I'll see you in next class then, take care." Tae Pyung smiled before turning to leave.

"Ne, annyeonghigyeseyo," Jay bowed. She walked over to one corner of the room grabbed her duffel bag and headed out, herself.

*

Mae sat at her table in her room, typing away on her laptop. She was currently busy completing an assignment that was due the next day. She was so focused on her work that she even kept her phone away, to stop herself from texting Chanyeol and be distracted; study always came first.

After 6 hours of coding, her code unfortunately didn't run. There was an error and she couldn't figure out what it was; it frustrated her really bad. She was starting to become very restless; her left leg shook vigorously, one hand supported her head, the other tapped her pen away while she glared at the laptop screen. Just when she was on the verge of losing her temper, someone held a piece of paper in front of her face.

Mae was startled at the abrupt appearance of the paper and tilted her head back to see that Jayline was standing behind her. She was so lost in her work that she hadn't even noticed when her roommate came in. She looked back at the paper, confused for a second.

"What's this?"

"Read it out, and you'll know.".

Mae grabbed the paper, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and read out the title. She didn't need to read the whole thing; reading the title told her what it was. She erupted from utter joy, pushed her chair back and jumped on Jay, hugging her tight.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jay!!" She laughed and jumped up and down like a monkey, while holding Jay in place.

"Yah! You'll suffocate me!" Jay tried to hold Mae tightly, preventing the both of them from falling.