Tri-Angle - Nine

Nine

[ Sun’s POV ]

It was my big day today. I waited nervously at the backstage. My palms are sweating, I couldn’t manage to sit or stand still. The loud chattering of the crowd continued on the other side of the stage. I waited. Why are they taking so long? I glanced around the waiting room at the other contestants. Most of them were nervous like me, but some looked pretty confident. They were calmed enough to play and joke around. I rubbed my palms on the back of my shirt and tighten them into a fist. I tried taking deep breaths. Inhale, exhale, inhale, ex- ARGHH !! I feel like screaming my lungs out ! I was getting more and more impatient as the time passes. I darted out from our waiting room and went closer to the main stage. I tried to peek out from the back of the thick curtains and was immediately blinded by the dazzling stage lights. I narrowed my eyes and tried to keep my focus on the judges. They were still doing their work with a serious expression on each of their faces. Finally, one of the judges stood up and handed a pile of papers to the emcee on the stage, they spoke softly to each other for a second, and both turned back to their positions looking pleased. I ran back into our waiting room, trying to look calm. A minute later, all of the contestants were called out to the stage. I put on my best smile and stepped out from the thick red curtains confidently. All of us lined up in one row and stood aside.

“ Ladies and gentlemen. “ The emcee greeted. “ Sorry for the wait. After all of the great performances from our contestants, it was a very hard decision for our judges to decide who should be the winner. Still, our honorable judges managed to choose the best out of the best from all of these contestants. “ The crowd cheered. “ The names of the winners are now with me. WHO DO YOU THINK SHALL BE THE WINNER?” The emceed yelled into the microphone. There was a loud cheer from the crowd, different names were shouted.

“ WHO IS IT?” The emcee yelled again, followed by a loop of drum rolls. The crowd continued to cheer and yell different names, the atmosphere was very exciting. I looked around and saw Poppy, Bunny, Changmin and a bunch of my friends holding up a banner with my name on it. They screamed and cheered my name over and over again.

“ THE CHAMPION – “ continued the emcee, bringing up the atmospheric mood to the maximum. My attention was drew back to the emcee at once.“ OF DANCE BATTLE 2010 IS – “ I gulped and held my breath. “ CHEE SUN !!” The crowd roared, whistles were heard, everyone stood up and clapped. I looked around, trying to make sure that I hadn’t heard it wrong. I took a glimpse back at Poppy and Bunny, both of them were jumping on their seats, holding the banner high up in the air and waving it violently. They caught my eye and showed me a thumb up excitedly. I looked back at the emcee. He was walking towards me with a big trophy in his hands, smiling encouragingly at me. I cannot believe this is real. I did it. I am the best dancer now ! I won first prize in our country’s largest dance competition. I can fulfill my dreams this time. I can represent our country to join all kinds of international dancing competition. MY DREAM CAME TRUE. The emcee was standing in front of me now, holding the trophy out to me. I reached out my hands to take over the trophy that meant everything to me. I was reaching out for my dreams, my future –

“ RINGGGGG !! “

My eyes flickered opened instantly and I jumped with shock, throwing my hands up in the air and legs kicking in all kinds of direction. The next thing I know, I was sitting on the floor rubbing my aching butt. The phone on the table continued to ring.

“ Stupid phone. “ I grumbled, feeling extremely unhappy for being interrupted in the middle of my fabulous dream. I climbed back onto my chair sleepily and answered the call.

“ Hello?” Despite my anger, I tried to be polite and keep my manners.

“ What takes you so long to answer the phone? Are you sleeping again? I asked you to look after the shop, not having nap times over there. You should know there isn’t anyone else in the shop, what if customers come in and took things away without paying?” Mom’s voice flowed through the phone.

“ Those are not customers, those are called thieves.” I yawned. “ Besides, what else can I do other than sleeping? Like you said, there isn’t anyone else in the shop. I don’t even have someone to talk to.”

“ Can’t you see the pile of new stocks at the corner?” I glanced at the pile of boxes which were sent here this morning. “ Pack them and put them on the racks.”

“ All of them?” I asked doubtfully.

“ Yes. Try to get them done by today. I’ll be back soon. Bye.” She hung up.

I sighed and laid my head back on the table. It’s a Friday morning and here I am, looking after my mom’s grocery shop all alone by ditching school. I thought of the dream I was having before this. I thought of dancing. I thought of the person who danced so charmingly in our school’s practice room. I thought of Yunho, the features of his handsome face, his strong jaws, his muscular body, his manly voice.. and I thought of Bunny. I thought of the day when they both went downtown together. The jealousy inside me flared up. I wonder where did they went, what did they do. If I hadn’t need to look after this damn shop, I would be there too. I would be spending my day with Yunho, and not sitting here like dumb. Hatred overwhelmed me, I wanted to scream.

“ Excuse me?” Someone tapped the table, taking me by surprise. I gave a small jump and my head jerked up immediately.

“ Oh! I’m sorry, did I scared you?” The girl standing in front me spoke. I stared at her with my mouth hung open. It was Yuri.

“ N-n-no, no, no.” I managed to choke out. I cannot believe I’m talking to Yuri – one of the most popular girl in school – in my shop. There she is, standing right in front of me, looking gorgeous as usual. Wait, is this a dream again? I tried to pinch myself on my leg, hard.

“ Ow!” I yelped. Yuri looked at me surprisingly.

“ Are you okay?” She asked.

“ Yeah, yeah. I – err, it’s.. “ I fumbled over my words, trying to think of an excuse for my embarrassing act. “ It’s just – “ Ok, nevermind. “ I’m fine !” I laughed dryly and hastened to change the subject – “ How can I –“

“ Oh hey, aren’t you the girl in my class?” Yuri cut me off and asked in delight.

I was too surprised to speak for a second. SHE RECOGNIZED ME. I “ YES !! YES !! We are classmates ! Oh my God ! I can’t believe you recognize me !” I was so excited that I was half screaming.

Yuri smiled politely. “ Sorry.” I said in a low voice, smacking my head mentally for doing so much embarrassing acts in one day.

“ I didn’t know you work here. I’ve never seen you around before.” She settled down a bunch of groceries on the table.

“ Oh, I only work here once in a while, mostly during weekends or holidays. Sometimes I’ll work here too on normal days if my parents have things to do, like today.” I proceeded to calculate the amount of payment.

“ This is your mom’s shop?” She asked.

“ Yep.” I announced proudly.

“ Wow, then I’ll have to visit often.” She beamed.

“ Really?” I asked with joy. “ Please do so. I’ll give you a discount.” I grinned at her and we both laughed.

“ How much is it?”

“ 20 bucks.” She handed me the cash, took her groceries and turned to leave.

“ See you at school on Monday.” She waved and left.

I couldn’t help grinning like a dork. I had a conversation with Yuri ! Just wait till I tell Yoona to proof her wrong, she is going to be so surprise. Yuri is very friendly after all. I have a very good feeling that Yuri and I are going to be great friends. Maybe.. she can give me some tips about “ How to be hot like her” ?

***

Mom finally let me off from work. It’s evening now but I didn’t feel like going home yet. I decided to go to the club to practice my dance. I went home to change and grabbed a few discs of best hip hop songs before going.

There were quite a number of people at the club, but luckily the dancing room was empty. I left my things at a corner and went to play the songs. I tried to remember the old dance steps I had learnt last time. I tried to practice popping – my favourite genre of dance. While I was fully concentrated on dancing, there was a faint “ click “ sound from the door. I spun around to see who was there.

“ Wow, you sure can dance.” A deep voice spoke, and a familiar figure stepped in. “ Sorry to disturb you.” He chuckled.

“ Yunho?” I was surprised to see him. “ What are you doing here?” I asked dumbly.

“ I came to dance too. I saw the lights on so I decided to see who was using the room, and it turned out to be you.” He beamed and continued. “ I saw you enjoying dancing so much, that’s why I didn’t want to-“

“ You were out there watching all the time?” I asked in horror.

He paused. “ Not really, like five minutes or so.”

“ Oh my God ! I cannot believe you saw me dance ! This is so embarrassing !” I buried my face in my hands.

“ Why? What’s wrong?” He asked, sounding slightly taken aback. “ You danced really well.”

I peeked at him through the slit of my fingers. “ Did you saw me do popping?”

He nodded.

“ Oh my God !” I started screaming and jumping around again, face still buried in hands. “ That is the most embarrassing thing that have ever happened in my entire life ! “

“ Why?” He repeated astoundingly now.

“ I didn’t really know how to dance popping ! I sure looked hilarious. Especially in front of you, who was so good at popping..” I mumbled.

He chortled and said “ No, you did quite well. I’m not that good as you mentioned too, but I think I can give you some tips about that.”

“ Really? You’re going to teach me?” I let my hands down.

He grinned and nodded.

“ Yeah !! But I’m a poor learner, don’t flame me if I did it wrong, teacher.” I laughed.

“ Nah, I’m pretty sure you’re not.”

The sound track ended and another song with a quicker beat was played.

“ Hey, it’s my favourite song!” We said in union, and started laughing.

“ Ok, let’s try with this song.” Yunho said, bouncing his body to the beat. He started to dance, following the beat of the song, and giving me instructions of doing a nice popping. But none of his words seemed to sink in. I watched his reflection in the mirror, dazzled by his charm. The way he moved his body, the expression of him matching the dance, everything he did seemed to be so suave.

“ Got it?”

“ Huh?” I broke off from my thoughts. “ Yea- yeah?”

“ Are you listening?” He eyed me suspiciously.

“ Of course I am!” I lied. “ You were – you were talking about – popping, right?”

He shook his head slightly and signaled me to move nearer to him.

“ Here, you have to flex your muscles like this.” He held one of my hands up and showed me. I stared at the spot where his hands were touching mine.

“ Understand?” He waved his hand in front of my eyes.

“ Oh, yes.” I grinned and focus back on dancing.

We spent our whole evening in the dancing room trying all genres of dances. We joked and played around, making funny dance moves. Yunho taught me and gave me a lot of tips about dancing. After all the pops and locks, we even tried to waltz. He held my waist lightly and entwined our hands. I tried to place my other hand on his shoulder, but he was too tall for me to reach. In the end, I gave up and placed my hand on his arm instead. We twirled around the room gracefully – until I accidentally stepped on his foot.

I lost my balance for an instant. Yunho tried to grab hold of me, everything around us seemed to be turning, and I felt myself falling backwards. Something kicked my foot and the next thing I know, I was grabbing Yunho down with me. I fell with my back hitting the ground with a loud thud, and Yunho landed right on top of me. His face was just inches away from mine.

I held my breath. Everything around us stopped. It felt like the time stopped, the earth stopped turning, like the things around us were only an illusion. The room felt like a background image, as if nothing were real, as if the both of us were the one living. I looked at him into his eyes, they were deep. Slowly, I shifted my sight to his lips, his puffy lips – the kind of lips which looked so delicious that you couldn’t resist yourself for wanting to taste it.

He seemed to be moving closer. I could hear my loud heart beat thumping against my chest. I closed my eyes and waited, waited for his lips to touch mine. My heart hammered against my chest violently, as if it was going to burst out any moment. I tried to stay calm and started counting sheep instead. One, two, three, four, five… Why is he taking so long? Six..

“ Hey, are you okay?” I opened my eyes surprisingly. Yunho was back on his feet with his hand held out. Oh my, I’m such a deluded moron. I took his hand and stood up.

“ Sure, sorry about that.” I apologized sheepishly.

“ It’s okay.” He replied, looking uneasy. “ I think I should get going now, see you at school, okay?”

“ Sure, sure.” I tried to smile back.

He nodded, packed his things and reached for the door.

“ Do you need a ride?” He asked, turning back to face me.

“ Oh, It’s ok. I can get back on my own.”

“ See ya, then.” He smiled and left.

That, was awkward. I could feel my hot cheeks burning. Breath, I thought to myself. Feeling better, I packed my things and went out. I sneaked a last glance of the room before closing the door behind my back. I turned and left with a smile playing at the corner of my lips. It’s not such a bad day after all.