Mischa had been parading him to her friends from the moment he arrived. Coming out of his dad’s Mercedes in his dark blue knee length jacket over his casual oversized white sweater and dance pants. His hair tied sleeked back on the top, his long earring in one ear and his dimples on either side of his cheeks were his best accessories.
Most of Mischa’s friends were dancers, and her school friends all knew her as a dancer. She’d been boasting to her friends about her new dance partner who was practically a celebrity dancer in their community. She had her arm linked around his all night, she introduced him to everyone as if he was her boyfriend which made Lee uncomfortable.
He put a friendly smile on his face even though the only place he wanted to be was with Hazel. They all expected him to perform at the party that night, Mischa had even build a stage in her backyard for all her dancer friends to use. Somehow without Hazel, he wasn’t in the mood to dance. It never happened to him before.
Some of his friends from the dance studio were there too. It was quite a large party with at least 50 guests, Mischa’s parents were there too and some of their colleagues. They were celebrating her win at the competition because her parents were very supportive of her dancing. They wanted her to go to Juilliard to further pursue her dreams.
He thought Mischa was lucky, his parents although they were very supportive, they never saw it as something he could pursue for his future. It was hard for him to explain why he wasn’t going to a formal dance school and it was something a lot of people always asked him.
People were also unaware how shy he was in a social setting. It was the most uncomfortable situation for him, but ever since he was friends with Hazel, he was able to overcome his shyness. She made him feel comfortable in his own skin, and they were almost always together ever since. It felt like he was missing a limb that night without her and he couldn’t wait to excuse himself to get to her house.
“Oh come on, just one dance,” Mischa pleaded.
He had declined her request twice that night and it seems like he wasn’t going anywhere until he did at least one routine. He smiled shyly.
Sam noticed his reluctance but she encouraged him to get it over with. “Just do one dance and then you can go to your sweetheart,” she nudged his elbow. “Where is she anyway? Why isn’t she here?”
“She’s house sitting, her parents are out of town.”
“Oh that’s why you can’t wait to get out of this place? You’re going house sitting with Hazel?” she laughed lightly.
He looked down blushing away from her, “No … I’m flying out to Korea tomorrow, I just want to spend some time with her before I go.”
“Right, you’re taking a month off the studio, well … the soonest you do one dance, the sooner you can go … the guys will go up there with you, I’ll play you your favorite song,” she was referring to one of the BTS song he liked to dance along with.
He thought about it for a moment, “Okay, just the one song … and then I’m off,” he whispered to Sam.
He turned to Mischa and told her he was going to do one song, “I kinda need to go after that, it’s late … I have an early flight tomorrow,” he lied.
She was just happy he was finally dancing at her party, she had a whole team of photographer and camera man to document the whole night. She announced to everyone that a show was about to start, Lee and his dance team was like the main event of her 17th birthday.
He got up on the stage with his friends and his demeanor was immediately changed. He was a performer now, and he left that shy teenage boy off the platform to do the thing he loved the most. It made a lot of the girls faces lit up in glee watching him perform. They gathered around the stage, flocking like he was an actual super star. Even Mischa’s parents couldn’t take their eyes from the dancing, he was a talent to be recognized.
He bowed to the small crowed after he was done. Even though they were chanting for one more dance, he had made up his mind to leave the party.
Mischa clung to his arm all the way to the front door begging him not to go, “Please … please … pleaaaase … you’ve only been here for a short time, can’t you stay a little bit longer?” her puppy eyes stared into his hoping he would change his mind.
“I’m sorry … I really have to go,” he said it with a heavy heart. He didn’t like rejecting people over and over again. “I leave early in the morning.”
“I’ll come by to your house before you go … can I?” she was still holding his hand.
He couldn’t say ‘no’ to that, “Sure, I’ll leave at 7 … it’s a really nice party Mischa, thanks for inviting me … I’ll see you …”
She pulled him and kissed his lips before he could finish his sentence.
He turned away from the kiss, she had been doing that much too often and he didn’t know how to tell her to stop.
“I’m sorry … I just … really really like you, Lee,” she told him.
He blushed and looked down on the pavement, he didn’t know what to say to that, he bit his lower lip.
“Thank you for coming, I’ll see you tomorrow morning?” she knew he wasn’t going to respond to what she said, and she was not backing down just because he was too shy to share his feelings.
He nodded, “See you tomorrow.”
She finally let his hand go and watched him got into his car until he drove away.
———-
A heavy burden was lifted off his shoulders the moment he sat in his car, he had to let it out in a long exhale before he took out his phone and saw miscalls from Hazel.
She had been calling him when he was on the stage. He quickly dialled her number, his heart raced. What was so important that she had called him 6 times. She was home alone and he was half an hour away. He started his car with his phone on his ear.
“Hazel? What’s wrong?”
His foot was stepping on the gas to get to her faster.