In White Houses

It's been a few days since the incident from the party and I haven't told anyone about it, so far, Taehyung has kept it a secret from everyone. I try to take my mind off of it by going to the gym. So far, it's been helping, but at times it still doesn't shake the scary feeling of being pinned down and having someone forcing themselves on you.

Today, I drove to the dance studio by myself to get some practice in before I start working in a few days. I spread my legs into a split, stretching as much as possible before I can start practicing. This is it, I'm going to attempt to dance...I haven't done it in years and I just want to see if I remember anything. I hooked my phone up to the speakers turn on Cello Suite No 1 in G major by J.S Bach, one of my mom's favorite composers, I positioned in a croise devant and began to flow with the music.

As the music stopped, I was trying to catch my breath. I laid on the studio floor on my back looking up at the ceiling, wow I actually danced. I started laughing, hard at myself, I don't know why, and then I felt tears running down my face, I covered my face with my arms, silently sobbing to myself. What is going on? This familiar feeling, felt, so nice. It brought me back to so many happy memories, memories of my mother teaching me ballet.

*flashback*
"1, and 2 and 3 and 4, hold your arms up higher Minjoo-yah like this!" Sangmi called out to her daughter. 9-year-old Minjoo was getting frustrated at herself for her many mistakes. "I don't want to do this anymore mom," she muttered as her mother stopped the music.

"Come over her darling let's rest." Minjoo sighed and sat next to her mom on the stage, "I'm never going to be good like Seoyeon-unnie, she's the best in the class." She mumbled. Sangmi gave her a kind smile patting the top of her hair, "You know, I was just like you around your age in ballet I had the same attitude. I was...the worst dancers in my class." She chuckled, Minjoo looked up puzzled, "You?! But mom you're like the best ballet dancer ever! Better than seonsangnim!"

"Well not back then, to be honest, I actually hated ballet, I was forced to do it by your oe-halmeo-nim, she was strict. She scolded me so many times because I made so many mistakes, and I remember her saying she was tired of me embarrassing her." She sighed, "So, one day, I started practicing...really hard. I practiced from sunrise to sun down, most time till late at night.

I was so persistent with practicing that I became better and better, my instructor even saw drastic changes in my dancing. I got a solo part in a recital and my mother came to watch expecting me to fail, but I conquered the stage, many people clapping giving me a standing ovation. I remember seeing her, the only one sitting looking at me and she was in tears. It was that moment where I knew she was proud of me." "Wow mom, I didn't know," "That is why my daughter that I don't want you to quit no matter what, whatever obstacles you may face, quitting will only bring yourself down even more. Remember, hard work and dedication pays off." Minjoo nodded as her mother smiled at her.

I wiped the tears away from my eyes, calming myself down. How did I forget that lesson she had taught me? The studio door opened and I quickly wiped the excess tears off my cheek, it was Jimin.

"Oh...Jimin, I didn't, I didn't know you were here." I sniffed. He gave a faint smile, I guess he saw everything. "Yeah, I stopped by to grab something here and saw the light on," he rubbed the back of his neck. "You were uh...you're really good..." I chuckled, "Thanks, I'm still a bit rusty." "No, no, you're really amazing, really." His eyes were on mine, they were very sincere. He walked over to me sitting next to me, "Minjoo, I'm so sorry about leaving you the other night, I didn't mean to honestly, I thought it was going to be a short conversation,"



"No you're fine Jimin, it's alright to catch up with friends," I reassured him, his face was still apologetic, "No, no it's not if I just had paid attention to you none of it would of happened," he muttered, wait, does he know? "Jimin, do you know what happened?" I questioned, he slowly nodded his head, "Taehyung told me," I sighed, looking down at my worn-out pointe shoes, "Well I'm fine now, thanks to Taehyung, he really saved me,"

The guy who I thought hated me was the one who saved me, I bit my bottom lip, "Um, Jimin, could you tell me about Taehyung? I mean like, what he's all about, I'm just slightly curious," he raises his eyebrows, it's pretty embarrassing to all of a sudden ask about a person, but I needed to know things about him, him saying he wasn't good for me, what does that mean?

"Ah, Taehyung," he sighed, "I met him back during the first year of Uni, we became good friends since he was in most of my dance classes, he was a goofy guy and a really good dancer, really competitive too, always wanting to win. But then, his attitude started to change during our 3rd year, he stopped coming to class and the studio, and then eventually dropped out. We haven't seen him for several months until we heard he was in jail."

"Jail?!" I asked bewildered. "Yeah, I don't know too much about it, I just know Jin hyung and noona helped him get back on his feet from all the trouble he caused. I'm thinking it has something to do with his mother."

"I see..." I softly said. No wonder he's so hard to read. "Minjoo?" I looked up at Jimin, "Do you..." he ran his hand across his soft black hair, it was like he was struggling to get out the words, "Do you...like him? Taehyung?" "What, no way! Not in this lifetime!" I laughed throwing my head back. Me liking Taehyung? That's a good one.
Jimin smiled looking a bit relieved,

"Yeah, funny huh?"

Notes