#17. Between Friends (3)
Since the two of us were left alone in the practice room, it felt like we’d replayed the song at least twenty more times. From moving my body non-stop, I was at the point where my mouth tasted bitter.
Finally, when I was doing the move where I turn around and bend my knees to touch the ground, my body swayed forward unsteadily. I managed to avoid falling by quickly bracing myself on the ground, but I completely missed the next move.
As soon as the music stopped abruptly, Na Jihan’s nagging poured out.
“I told you not to let your posture collapse just because you’re tired. How many times are you going to mess up the same thing?”
It was a section where the beat got faster with subtle off-beats. Even though I was being careful, I couldn’t help repeatedly missing it.
“Get up. You’re not an amateur.”
“……I know.”
But the music stopped again at the same part.
Na Jihan’s expression became more menacing, and by this point I was getting irritated too.
“I didn’t mess up just now.”
I protested.
“I kept the beat. I didn’t sway either. I stayed within that cross mark you mentioned.”
“No, you messed up.”
Na Jihan was angrier than when I almost fell.
“You need to engage your core when getting up, but you just bent your back to get up. Do you want to support your body weight with your lower back and end up injured? Is it your dream to debut and then retire around twenty-five after living with injuries?”
I was about to say that if I wasn’t struggling, I wouldn’t have forced my body to move like that.
“Do you think you’ll only go on stage when you’re well-rested, well-fed, and in perfect condition? You have to move the same way even when your condition is bad, when there’s no time, when you’re wearing uncomfortable clothes. The more difficult it gets, the more precise your movements need to be……”
“You said that, right? I know too. Do you think I’m doing this because I don’t want to?”
Na Jihan, Hapil Jae, Joo Lee Seon of course, and even Ahn Haesol who wasn’t even a main dance member had all done this part with ease. Only I was struggling, trying to quickly learn moves I’d never done before.
I want to do well too. I didn’t want to fall behind. I was tired of hearing things like “Seowoo still needs to adapt.”
Debut was next month. How long would I have to keep hearing things like “late joiner” and “added member”? I knew better than anyone in the world that this wouldn’t be an eternal excuse.
“Do you really need to be this picky about this part?”
It sounds long because we’ve repeated it so many times, but it’s actually only a few seconds. I’m not even center. I’m completely in the back, and Na Jihan is the center for that part.
Of course I don’t want to make mistakes either, but even if I messed up a little, you’d only be able to tell from direct cams or full cams. The roaming camera would catch Na Jihan, and people would naturally only look at Na Jihan.
I don’t mean I want to be lazy. I wasn’t saying I’d do less using that as an excuse either. I’d work hard. But…….
“There’s no need to scold me this harshly.”
The frustration I’d been suppressing for hours suddenly surged up. My vision spun and all my tension suddenly released.
I guess he could say this because we’re friends. If someone else had acted like this, it would have left lasting resentment. That’s why Na Jihan deliberately took on this role. It’s not like he wanted to torment me.
As if proving my thoughts, when I glanced back, Na Jihan’s face was stained with dismay and guilt.
“……Let’s go again.”
I approached with dragging steps and snatched the pad from Na Jihan’s hand. I restarted the music from 0 seconds.
In the end, I performed the choreography perfectly without a single mistake. But Na Jihan didn’t say anything, and as soon as the music ended, I collapsed flat on the floor.
“……”
Na Jihan slowly approached me. A gray shadow fell over my body, but even seeing that, I didn’t say anything.
I heard a small sigh. He put the pad down on the floor, checked the time on the wall clock, then came and sat beside me. Not by my head, but by my feet.
“Just a moment.”
I heard his low voice, then his hand gently grasped my ankle. His touch removing the sneakers that had been overworked as much as my body for hours was as natural as flowing water.
“Just lie there.”
His hands began slowly massaging from my ankle to my shin, then my calf and knee. His movements were thoroughly attentive as he pressed firmly on knotted muscles, slowly rotated joints, and checked for any swelling.
“Sorry.”
“……”
“The sub-track we’ll be promoting during the mini album 1 is a similar genre, so if we don’t get this right now, you might get seriously injured later. You probably didn’t think you’d debut with this kind of song either……”
When I didn’t respond at all, Na Jihan said in a slightly dejected voice.
“But you did well.”
It wasn’t empty words. I really had done well enough to satisfy his standards. Even in such an exhausted state.
My heart is so simple. Just moments ago, my whole heart was sharply bristling with hurt feelings, but I don’t know why that one sentence melted it all away.
Even while I was catching my ragged breath, Na Jihan examined my legs. He rolled up my pants for a moment, thoroughly pressed my right knee, and repeated lifting and bending my ankle several times.
“My knee doesn’t hurt though.”
I muttered as I felt his firm fingertips move along the long scar from below my knee to my thigh.
“You never know. Ever since you injured this, you habitually favor your left side a bit, but this time I caught that and stopped you from doing it.”
“Did I do that?”
Since I’m left-handed and left-footed, isn’t it natural to use my left side more? Even though I was really fine and not hiding anything, Na Jihan examined my knee to his heart’s content until he was satisfied.
“I take care of you because you don’t take care of yourself.”
“Did you still have more nagging left……”
I injured my right knee when I was fifteen. I was pushed and fell down the stairs, and happened to roll onto a spot where glass fragments had fallen. I was so shocked that I didn’t even realize I was hurt, but Na Jihan, startled by the sight of blood streaming out, carried me on his back and ran all the way to the university hospital emergency room attached to our school.
Since the wound was deeper than expected and might have damaged nerves, Na Jihan, who took to heart the advice to be careful afterward, has often examined the wound like this ever since.
Even though the wound has completely healed and only a scar remains.
“Turn over.”
I’m too exhausted to even turn my head, what do you mean turn my body over? I grumbled.
“I don’t want to.”
“Not listening again. How old is Yoon Seowoo?”
“Two years old. I dropped the rest while dancing.”
“Even two-year-olds can roll over. Hurry up and turn over.”
“Why are you being annoying……”
He seemed to want to work on my back and shoulders. I was really fine though. Right now, more than anything, I wanted to go back to the dorm early and rest. To bury myself in the bed in my room that still smelled of new furniture since they’d just finished construction, for exactly three hours.
While I was groaning and turning over, Na Jihan got up and went somewhere. He lifted my shirt and began wiping my back with a lukewarm towel.
“What did you put on?”
“Pain relief patches. These are small so they’re comfortable, and they don’t smell much either. I asked Hyeonjun hyung to buy them when he went to Japan last time.”
“I’m going to shower when I get up……”
“That’s why I didn’t put many on. I’ll change them to new ones after you shower. Just rest for 20 minutes then go shower.”
“……Then can I sleep for a bit during that time?”
“Will that work? If you sleep, your body will cool down and you’ll catch a cold.”
“What’s the difference between sleeping and lying down……”
To me it’s all the same anyway. Thinking that there’s nothing I can do if I close my eyes, I quickly shut my eyelids. Na Jihan burst into laughter as if he’d expected this.
“Yoon Seowoo’s stubbornness really.”
Instead of shaking me awake, he made rustling sounds. Was he putting on more patches? But do patch wrappers make this sound? I was thinking this while lying prone with my cheek against the floor.
“Open your mouth.”
At those words, I reflexively opened my mouth slightly, and something round and hard slipped into my mouth. I gently rolled what was placed on my tongue.
“Mm. Candy?”
“Yeah. You don’t sleep when you have candy in your mouth.”
“Of course. I can’t sleep with food in my mouth.”
With the thought that this level of cleverness made him a national representative, I smacked my lips while absorbed in that thought.
“Huh?”
……The candy tasted a bit strange.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
