#from Bluey I think but I was barely paying attention

[surenschompychompers]

Thomas: ...Please pretend I didn't just do that 

Virgil: It's. It's kind of hard to unsee. 

[theblindgoddess]

so

heres the story i mentiond yesterday

i reposted that post with it

but its not showing up in the tags

so we’re trying this instead

prepare yourselfs.

angst ahead

and feels

and a bit of confusion because it is the end of the story.

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The real world came back into focus as Dewey rejected the fantasy he had been trapped in and was faced with the howling winds and screams circling in the underground headquarters he had called home for the past few months, the howling winds and screams that he had caused in his anger and sorrow, too consumed by his own feelings to realize that his family and friends were also hurting, to upset to think about the future, only worrying about how he would never forgive Scrooge, how he would make him pay, to see that by doing so he would only make things worse.

Dewey looked around at his family, all clinging to something, anything to keep from being blown away by the tempest that he had made and into the nearby walls. His eyes darted from Webby, Mrs B, Huey and Louie, Uncle Scrooge, and Launchpad, never resting on any one person for more than a millisecond, skipping from face to face, barely even taking them as they all blurred together with the speed and the wind and the tears, and then his eyes stopped on Uncle Donald. Uncle Donald who had raised him, and cared for him, and loved him, and who had always been there for him, and there he was, blood dripping from his forehead, down his face, matting his feathers along with sweat and dirt and tears of his own.

“Uncle Donald!” Dewey cried out, voice cracking and wet and shaking with fear as tears streamed from his eyes getting blown away by the wind to quickly to wet his face.

The sailor snapped his eyes open despite the wind to look at his nephew, wanting desperately to make it better for him, to make it all go away, to hold him close and say that it will all be alright. But he can’t.

“I’m scared!” pure, unbridled terror filled the duckling’s voice, consuming the senses of everyone in earshot.

“That’s ok!” The older duck shouted back, hoping that his voice would carry in the storm, “It’s ok to be scared, it’s ok to not know, that’s how you know you are human!”

“I don’t, I don’t wanna go! I don’t wanna die!”

There it was. What everyone there knew but no one wanted to say. Dewey would die. There was no way around it. While his body would still be intact, his mind would be gone. All his memories, all his experience, all his fears and hope, his annoying quirks, his personality would be gone. Swept away in the wind with Magica, and no way to bring it back.

The blue duckling’s features were filled with determination, mingling with the terror already there. “But this is my mess, “ he looked down to the Talisman of Blodig Erik, tightening his grip on it, when only moments ago the urge to throw it as far away from him as he possibly could was overwhelming him, “and I’m gonna clean it up! Because we all make choices! And some of those are bad ones! And choices come with consequences! But we can’t just run away from them! Part of life is learning to live with those consequences,” Dewey’s gaze turned abruptly to his Uncle Scrooge, meeting his eyes, “and part of it is learning to forgive others for the consequences they bring!”

He widened his view to encompass all of his loved ones, to see them for the last time, wishing that the missing members of their odd little family were still there.

“I love you all! And I’m truly sorry for all the pain I brought! I hope you can forgive me! And please, “ his eyes pleaded with all them, asking for something he knew would be impossible, “don’t blame the new Dewey for the mistakes that I’ve made!”

Dewey looked to the talisman, and willed it to clear his mind.

He was so focused on the talisman that he didn’t at first when he was joined in the eye of the storm by someone new, someone he thought had died earlier in the battle.

“Hold tight Bluey!”

“Lena?!” despite logic screaming at him to the contrary, before him, holding his had with the talisman, was Lena. “But, how?!”

“Magica displaced me out of time!” she yelled, “But she forgot something! She displaced me with my amulet!” she pulled the mentioned object out of her shirt with her other hand, “If you know the right spells, it’s really easy to replace your self! And I’m not gonna let you do this part alone!”

“And how are you gonna do that?” Magica’s voice jeered out of nowhere, loudest in Dewey’s head where the link lived, beating and fighting against the attack against its existence. “He doesn’t even have the strength to do it, how can you help him?”

“The talisman’s powers have a loophole!”

Dewey’s eyes widened as he realized what Lena was talking about.

“The Debtors Share! But Lena, you can’t”

“You’re my best friend, idiot!” She shouted back, hot tears just starting to spill out of her eyes. “I’m not letting you get hurt!”

“It’ll destroy you!”

“And it’ll leave you an empty shell! You were the first person  to actually care about me and give me the time of day, I’m not going to lose you!”

“Lena, please!” Dewey’s voice was sore from he yelling and crying, and filled with a desperate sorrow, “Just leave me be! Let me deal with the consequences of my actions!”

“My purpose in life since the day I was born was to destroy!” Despair. That is what was in Lena’s voice at that moment, what consumed her voice, what was her voice. “All day, every day! Destroy this, break that, bring vengeance upon McDuck! I have done nothing good in all of my years of existence! I don’t care if I’ll be destroyed, let me help you! Let me do this one good thing in my life! Let me die knowing I saved someone’s life, instead of live for years knowing I let my best friend die without trying to do something! Please Dewey! Let me save your life!”

“Oh, pa-leease!” Magica once again inserted herself where she did not belong, “do you actually think this will work? Erasing the bond inside of your head? IT’S MAGIC! It doesn’t work like that.”

She was ignored though, wholly and foundedly ignored. The young ducklings looked into each other’s eyes, conveying everything and nothing in a single, sorrowful look as saltwater rain filled the air.

“Alright.”

It was barely a whisper, hardly even a noise, yet in the screams and destruction around them, in the eye of the storm, in the little bubble of a world that they three were in, it was the loudest sound of all.

“Save my life.”

“What?!” Magica’s voice was surprised, worried even. She hadn’t expected that, hadn’t wanted that. That’s not what was supposed to happen!

Lena and Dewey kept ignoring her though, as they put their very souls into purging her from this world, into freeing Dewey of the devils deal he had made in a fit of rage.

“Oh come ooon! That’s not how this works!” Magica protested, trying to gain their attention, “you can’t just break a magical bargain like that! You have to uphold your end of the deal, dumb-dumbs!” that wasn’t true though, she was just stalling, trying to get as much time as possible so that she might regain the strength to take over Dewey’s body and mind once more.

“You can’t do that!” she screeched.

A faint glow emitted from the kids’ joint hands.

“Stop it!” she howled.

A light was also born around their heads, like twin halos, growing into radiance.

“NO!” she wailed in despair.

The magic of the talisman soon engulfed the ducklings, illuminating their sad smiling faces and wiping away their tears.

“NO!”

The rest of the world was gone, it was just them, the talisman, and the white that had replaced the world, even Magica was fading.

“NOOOOOO!” The last crys of the witch echoed through the white as the friends opened their eyes to look at each other for the last time.

“Thank you, “ Lena spoke, even as the whiteness began to claim her, “for being my best friend.”

And Dewey watched as the person who had dared to get to know him even as everyone else labelled him a loser, the person who had sat up late at night and answered his phone calls to listen as he rambled about the fears and insecurities he dare not tell his brothers or Uncle, the best friend he ever had dissipated into blue as the whiteness grew brighter.

And Dewey knew no more.

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thoughts?????

[endmetrash]

I was tagged by @1runw1thwolves212

I actually wrote half of this earlier today but lost it, a whole bucket load of fun.

(The) Last (I can make people (@1runw1thwolves212) die by those two words)

1) Drink: Water

2) Phone call: My mother, last week

3) Text message: iMessages - @1runw1thwolves212 and @omggryffindog, text – drama friend, Tumblr - @1runw1thwolves

4) Song I listened to: I Like It by BTS

5) Time I cried: watching a play yesterday, it featured a blind woman suffering from a brain tumour who bonds with a poor art student shortly before her death.

Have you ever

6) Dated someone twice: People do that? No, I’ve never dated anyone.

7) Been cheated on: See above

8) Kissed someone and regretted it: As a result of never having dated, I’ve never kissed anyone either.

9) Lost someone special: Many friends when I moved houses at 8, others when I moved schools a few more times. My father when I was 10.

10) Been depressed: I don’t think I’ve been clinically depressed. But I’ve been in a bad space…about once a day.

11) Gotten drunk and thrown up: Never drank that much alcohol.

List three favourite colours

12) Bluey green

13) Greeny blue

14) Black

In the last year have you

15) Made new friends: Not close ones…

16) Fallen out of love: Again, never really experienced that type of love.

17) Laughed until you cried: Yesterday, my drama group has a whole heap of inside jokes.

18) Found out someone was talking about you: Again, yesterday, but not at drama.

19) Met someone who changed you: I’m a believer of every single action affecting other people, so undoubtedly yes.

20) Found out who your true friends are: I’ve known who they are for over a year, actually.

21) Kissed someone on your Facebook list: I don’t have Facebook, and again, I’ve never been kissed (ah, I remember that movie)

General

22) How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: See 21.

23) Do you have any pets: I have a dog

24) Do you want to change your name: I’m starting to grow attached to my first name, but I still wanna change my last and middle names.

25) What did you do for your last birthday: I had a shared birthday with a friend. A groups of friends and ourselves went to see La La Land.

26) What time did you wake up: Around 8-9.

27) What were you doing at midnight last night: I think I was asleep?

28) Name something you can’t wait for: BTS comeback! It’s going to be amazing!

29) When was the last time you saw your mother: Can I just register the fact that this question is a little weird? My answer is 2-3 months ago, I honestly can’t remember.

30) What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: This is deep. One of two things. I wish I could either change how emotionally sensitive I am or the fact that my family is so disjointed.

31) What are you listening to right now: You Were Beautiful by Day6.

32) Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Weirdly specific question. Yes, I have a step-grandfather named Tom.

33) Something that is getting on your nerves: My family.

34) Most visited website: YouTube

35) Elementary school: 5 different ones.

36) High school: Only one.

37) College: Not certain about degree, but I’m gonna go as soon as I finish high school.

38) Hair colour: Blonde, I think it’s fair?

39) Long or short hair: Just above my shoulders.

40) Do you have a crush on someone: Not anymore.

41) What do you like about yourself: How quickly I learn and how sympathetic and emotionally creative I am.

42) Piercings: I used to have the standard ear piercings, but I let the holes close in.

43) Blood type: I used to be tested a heap, but I don’t have contact with anyone who knows. I’m actually curious.

44) Nickname: Tash, Trash.

45) Relationship status: Single and not really willing to mingle yet.

46) Zodiac sign: Pisces

47) Favourite TV show: I don’t really know…how about…American Hustle Life (BTS TV series)! That was on TV! It’s a series! It counts, right?

48) Tattoos: I don’t have any, but once I’m legally able to get one, I want a pretty reference to a book/movie/anything really. It would probably be one of those deep and meaningful quotes, it would be somewhere I can hide easily but won’t look weird if I show off.

49) Right handed or left handed: Right handed, though I don’t feel uncomfortable doing some things left handed.

First

50) Surgery: I don’t know if I had one earlier, but I had to have tongue surgery because the join between my tongue and the bottom of my mouth was REALLY far forward.

51) Piercing: My ears, I think I was 9-10.

52) Best friend: Jacob, I haven’t seen him since I moved house just before I was 8, I honestly could barely even remember his name, makes me feel kinda sad.

53) Sport: Swimming, I think I started that before horse riding.

54) Vacation: Cairns, QLD, Aus. I was 8 years old.

55) Pair of trainers: Wait, who ACTUALLY remembers that stuff!

Right now

56) Eating: Haven’t eaten for AGES

57) Drinking: I finished a bottle of water just recently

58) I’m about to: Get back to doing my homework, I gotta annotate myself a book by Tuesday.

59) I’m listening to: Fire by BTS

60) Waiting for: As above, BTS COMEBACK ITS GOING TO BE AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL. Also for the next Every Day6 release, Hi Hello is beautiful and makes me feel emotions.

61) Want: My friends, food, sleep, no homework, BTS comeback, all BTS merchandise and music, to meet BTS.

62) Get married: Umm? Not at the moment, and I’m uncertain about making that commitment at all.

63) Career: Frankly, I have no clue.

Which is better

64) Hugs or kisses: Hugs, because I have experience and a good hug is the BEST feeling.

65) Lips or eyes: Eyes, they tell you so much about a person and they’re really pretty to look at.

66) Shorter or taller: Depends on what for. For friendship I’ll say shorter because I’m used to that. For a romantic relationship I’ll say taller, but not by much, probably because of relationship stereotypes. I think I’m slightly traditional in terms of romantic attachments.

67) Older or younger: I don’t care about age specifically, but I internally believe in the stereotype that older people are more mature so might go for someone older for relationship on that basis. I focus on personality more that age.

68) Romantic or spontaneous: I really don’t know, I want a connection with my partner so I don’t really care about romantic gestures.

69) Nice arms or nice stomach: Honestly, I couldn’t care less. I care about how I get along with my partner. Can I answer nice personality?

70) Sensitive or loud: I want someone who is both. I suppose more sensitive as I want someone who really pays attention to me and cares about how I feel. I want someone who can be loud though as I want to be able to have fun with my partner.

71) Hook up or relationship: Relationship, no doubt. I care about emotional connections.

72) Troublemaker or hesitant: I want someone who can do both. I suppose troublemaker as that person would be more confident than the hesitant one?

Have you ever

73) Kissed a stranger: As above, I have no experience.

74) Drank hard liquor: Nope.

75) Lost glasses/contact lenses: Real talk, I am the WORST when it comes to losing glasses. At one time I had THREE pairs of glasses lost AT THE SAME TIME.

76) Turned someone down: Um, no one’s ever propositioned me…so…

77) Sex on first date: No, I despise the thought.

78) Broken someone’s heart: Does my own count?

79) Had your own heart broken: Platonically, yes, almost constantly because of a few bad friendships I’ve been in. Romantically, see above.

80) Been arrested: No.

81) Cried when someone died: When that someone was a fictional character, yes. I am TERRIBLE at not crying, I just feel all the emotions and can’t help myself. When that someone is a real person, yes. Nowhere near as much as a fictional character, but still a lot. I taught drama to young primary school children and one of them was involved in an accident. This was around November last year and I still wanna punch anyone who brings the topic up.

82) Fallen for a friend: I draw a strict line between people I allow myself to feel that way for. Anyone in a position of authority or I am close to platonically are definitely in the DO NOT FALL FOR zone

Do you believe in

83) Yourself: Not really.

84) Miracles: No

85) Love at first sight: That, my dear, is called hormones and is an ATTRACTION. I believe that ‘love at first sight’ will not last unless built up and strengthened over time.

86) Santa Claus: Nope, the only reason I pretend to around my family is so that I get the benefit of presents.

87) Kiss on the first date: Depends on how long you’ve known each other, how close you are and the dynamic at that moment. I would definitely say no to anything too extensive,

88) Angels: Not beyond the comparison to really kind people.

Other

89) Current best friend’s name: I refuse to choose between Tara and Payton, so there you go, you get both (see Tara, one of us is fair).

90) Eye colour: Blue

91) Favourite movie: I really have no clue…

Ok, that’s it. I don’t really have anyone to tag so just feel free to do it. Sorry for the delay in posting.

[jisooleeauthor]

The Idol Who Became Her World Chapter One

제 1 장

Luna

 The June before Luna’s Sophomore year

 I fell in love with Lee Minhyuk three days before my thirteenth birthday.

My sister, Scarlett, tells me that it’s impossible to fall in love that young, but she’s only ever loved one thing all her life, and that’s soccer.

My first love was dancing. From age four I had been learning ballet, tap, jazz, street and even a bit of ballroom. Okay, the ballroom and street came later, but I’ve spent most of my life in a leotard. Three days before my thirteenth birthday I started at the New York Dance Academy’s summer dance program. That was where I met him.

Minhyuk had also been accepted, only he had come all the way from Seoul to participate, even though he was only thirteen himself. I’d only travelled from upstate New York for about an hour, but I couldn’t imagine being that far away from my family, especially in a country where I barely spoke the language.

I was short for my age, and he had been too, so naturally, Ms. Patton, our street dance teacher, had been the first to pair us up. He had beautiful brown eyes which reminded me of the dark Cherry wooden floors in my living room back home. I actually think it was the color of his eyes, rather than his smile, which put me at ease.

“Hullo,” he greeted me, softly. His voice had been so quiet, I hadn’t heard him at first. It wasn’t until later I discovered he was really shy at speaking in a language other than his own. “I’m Lee Minhyuk.”

“Hi Lee,” I returned. “I’m Lucinda, but everyone calls me Luna.”

He gave me another smile. “Minhyuk,” he said. “Lee is the family name.”

I tilted my head and frowned. “Then why did you say it first?”

Minhyuk shrugged. “It’s how we do it in Korea.”

I nodded, but in reality, I had no idea where Korea was. Judging from his golden toned skin and oval eyes, I was guessing it was somewhere in China. I didn’t pay any attention in geography, but let me tell you, when I’d discovered the truth of that one, I had been mortified. Thankfully, I never said that aloud!

“Ms. Robbins, Mr. Lee,” Ms Patton called. “I find it quite remarkable that the two of you have learned a routine I have yet to teach you. Would you care to perform it for the class?”

My eyes went wide and I shook my head. “Sorry, Ms. Patton.”

It took nearly three days after that to get Minhyuk to speak again.

When the program had finished that summer, Minhyuk had returned to Seoul but he had promised to write. I’d thought he was giving me a brush off – I was just a temporary friend. Who on earth didn’t have a Facebook account? Or an email address? I’d given him my home address, not expecting anything.

Six weeks later, a letter arrived in the mailbox.

The address was written in English… Some of the letter was written in English. The rest of it? It was all strange shapes and symbols.

The little English there was in the letter apologized for lack of it, and said he was writing in Korean. That made me smile. In the days of the internet, I was willing to bet I was the only one at my school who had a pen pal and wrote regularly. But oh, how I would look forward to the days those letters would arrive.

So, I wrote him back in English and a bunch of hand-drawn emojis. The letters were starting to come a little less frequently now, but he’d explained he had been busy and would tell me all about it when we met.

One more summer academy, as well as one Easter enrollment, and I was learning Korean – Hangeul, as the shapes and symbols were called.

“Dad!” Scarlett hollered, the sound almost a shriek. “I need to go!”

“Scar!” I yelled back, rubbing at my ear. Me and Scarlett were now the same age. I had been born ten months after her (I was the unexpected one) and so we were in the same year at school. But because she spent all her spare time playing soccer, and I was dancing, we had very little in common with each other.

“Bite me, brat,” Scarlett hissed. She ran to the stairs, her running shoes making hideous squeaking noises on the marble floor. “DAD!” she bellowed.

Dad appeared at the top of the stairs, sighing. “Scarlett, how many times do you have to be asked not to shout in the house?”

“I need to get to school!” Scarlett informed him, bobbing side to side, impatiently.

“We still have plenty of time, Scar,” he assured her. It was an important game. The summer signaled the soccer tryouts. The private school we went to was a combination middle school and high school, so all the coaches knew who she was. She had been playing soccer as long as I had been dancing, and when she grew up, she wanted to be a professional. She as good enough: she was going to get on the team, even if she was late.

I was rolling my eyes when Dad caught me. “Where’s your car?” he asked me.

I shrugged. “Late.”

Dad frowned and pulled out his phone, checking the app. Because Scarlett’s game was sooooo important, Mom and Dad were going to that. As a compromise, they were getting me a car service to me into the city.

The New York Dance Academy’s summer program had rolled around and today was enrollment day. I, unlike Scarlett, was able to contain my excitement. Mainly because I was nervous. After just over two years of writing letters to each other, along with the occasional dance academy, I knew I was in love with Minhyuk. And this year I was going to tell him.

“It’s at the gate,” Dad informed me.

“Good, now can you please go get your shoes on?” Scarlett asked him.

Dad shot her a look. “Scarlett,” he said, his tone low and full of warning.

After saying goodbye to my family, including listening to the lectures from my mom and dad about not going far from the academy, and how, under no circumstances was I allowed to use the subway, I was finally in the back of the car. My cases were safely stowed in the trunk, and I was on my way into the city.

We lived about an hour outside of New York, but in the part of the state that sat above New Jersey. In some ways, I was surprised that my parents had let me go by myself. Dad played for the Jets, (although the MetLife Stadium was in New Jersey) and Mom owned a company which managed various athletes, based in Soho. It would have been easier for both of them to live in the city, but because they thought it was safer, we lived in a big house in a gated community, upstate.

When my eldest sister, Amy, had graduated high school and gone to Columbia University, and then Columbia Medical School, my parents had bought an apartment in Harlem. My mom used it occasionally, but they had never been convinced to live in the city, instead letting Amy use it instead of living in the college dorms.

They hadn’t even given me the option of staying there with Amy. I had to be in dorms. But that was okay, because Amy is even more strict than my parents and if I was I the dorms, it would mean I would be able to spend more time with Minhyuk.

The blur of green and brown finally gave way to concrete, a brief blur of bluey-gray as we crossed the Hudson, then the bright lights and colors of the city. I could smell the pretzels at the stand on the corner as driver pulled my case out of the trunk. I grabbed a cheese one, nibbling at it as I waited for my room assignment, then took my case up to the eighteenth floor.

My room was a double. I was sharing with a girl who had been to the previous summer academies with me, but she had yet to arrive. Feeling restless, I headed back downstairs to the lobby, saying hi to the faces I recognized as I crossed the street to the academy.

I had a dance academy I attended upstate, and I had won so many awards that I had boxes storing my ribbons in the attic. The New York Dance Academy was somewhere I was only allowed to attend during vacations when they had special programs running. Much as I had tried to convince my parents to let me transfer here so I could continue dancing after school, they weren’t able to take me here because of their jobs and I wasn’t old enough to do it by myself. I was fifteen!

I loved this academy. It wasn’t Julliard, but a lot of dancers here had gone on to Julliard. I was hoping I could one day too. Unfortunately, they didn’t accept dancers as young as me. I could only hope that the NYDA and my hometown classes and competitions were enough to get me through the auditions in a few years’ time.

In the meantime, NYDA was a great dance school and the studios were recently upgraded. I headed into the basement where the smaller studios were. These were the ones you could practice in, rather than the bigger ones where the classes were held. The one I had chosen had sun streaming in through the high window so I didn’t bother with the lights.

I switched the stereo on, syncing my phone up with it, and selected the latest Taylor Swift track to warm up to. I didn’t know what time Minhyuk would arrive and the nervous energy I had been mocking Scarlett for had been threatening to make an appearance, so I decided to use it productively.

I had previously learned a Shake It Off routine for fun, and I settled into that. I was midway through a high leg brush into a split leap, when I realized I was being watched.

I stopped, thankfully with grace, but felt my face heat up. Lee Minhyuk was standing in the doorway, grinning at me like an idiot. I froze, mild panic setting in. I didn’t dare look in the mirror. I had spent hours that morning with the flat iron, straightening it, wishing it would lie flat naturally like Scarlett’s did. I was sure that wasn’t the case now seeing as how I hadn’t even bothered to pull it back into a ponytail.

My eyes, bright blue, were ringed with eyeliner and I’d found a nice pink lip gloss for my lips, but I knew the lip gloss would have worn off by now, and my face felt warm and damp from the dancing.

“Luna?”

Snapping out of my trance, I darted over to the stereo, killing Taylor Swift and allowing silence to take over the room. “Minhyuk?” I asked, surprised by the person looking at me. Gone was the puppy fat from Minhyuk’s face. It was thinner making his face look longer and somehow older. Or maybe that was just the time that had passed. He still had the heart shaped lips and eyes that disappeared into crescent moons when he smiled.

The smile he gave me made my shyness melt away and I leaped over to him, wrapping my arms around him. “It’s so good to see you,” I squealed at him.

There was some awkward patting on my back, then I stepped back.

“Hi, Moon Princess. How have you been?”

I grinned. “I have been well. How have you been?” I responded, in Korean.

Minhyuk’s eyes disappeared into those crescent moons. “You’ve been practicing your Korean!”

“You’ve been practicing your English!”

We smiled at each other, then suddenly, I felt shy again. I ducked my head, slipping my hands into my pockets for something to do. “I take it you got your room assignment?” I asked. “Do you want to go look for a place to have a drink?”

“I’d much rather look at you,” he grinned, cheekily.

I blushed. “I’ve changed a bit.”

Minhyuk nodded. “I nearly didn’t recognize you.”

“Oh,” I muttered, chewing at my lip, finally turning slightly to check out my appearance in the mirror which adorned one of the walls. Did he still think I was the same uncool kid from last summer?

Minhyuk gave me another bright smile. “Your hair is longer, and you’re taller than me,” he pouted. “But you’re still just as pretty.”

That sent a blush spreading over my cheeks. “Let’s go get a drink,” I suggested. I hurried to put my running shoes back on, aware that he was following close behind me. Despite many long letters between us, I suddenly couldn’t think of anything to say, instead remaining silent as we left the academy.

Outside, the streets had become busier as the evening traffic hit. It was a hot June and every bit of concrete was acting like a radiator. “How are you not bothered by the heat?” I asked, giving Minhyuk a sideways look.

Minhyuk shrugged at me. “I guess I got used to the humidity in Seoul. New York is drier.”

We didn’t go far before we came across a coffee shop. The NYDA was in the eastern part of Upper West Side, just off Broadway. Armed with an iced Americano each, we carried on walking until we were in Central Park, finding a patch of grass to claim in the shade. I sat down beside him, stretching my legs out in front of me, mimicking him.

Minhyuk pulled his sunglasses up to look around. “Central Park is always a lot bigger than I expect it to be,” he told me. “Every time I come here, I have somehow forgotten that.”

“How is your dancing going?” I asked him.

Minhyuk didn’t answer, taking a sip of his coffee. “I’ve been looking forward to dancing with you again,” he said, not quite answering my question.

I set my cup down beside me, running my hands over the grass. My hands were sweaty and it wasn’t because of the heat.

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

I nodded, chewing at my lip. My heart was pounding faster than it had after I had spent four hours dancing. “I need to tell you something,” I admitted.

“Me too,” he muttered. He took in a deep breath, crossing his legs, then lifting himself so he could turn and face me. “You first.”

His deep brown eyes were fixed on mine as he waited patiently. “I like you,” I blurted out.

I’d been rehearsing how to tell him this for months. Not once had that scenario come up.

I winced, closing my eyes. Smooth. It was a lot harder when the person was in front of you rather than your own reflection. I sighed, shaking my head, and then opened my eyes to look at him. “I like you,” I repeated, stronger.