It's quite early today so I'm going to buy some coffee for the others.
- Na, na, na... - Oh! They'll learn faster if they're fully awake. It'll be fantastic to prepare some dance performances again...
- Ah... so curious... how are you going to do it? - Since we decided to wait until the seven of us could do a good job without stressing too much about Yoongi's shoulder.
I greeted everyone on my way to the practice room. We're supposed to hear news about our team because some dancers can't work with us. I hope they bring in someone else to help create the choreography... sometimes it's hard to see the big picture when I'm dancing with them.
"I'm so excited!" I said to myself.
The room I was looking for was just around the corner, and I was sure someone was already using it. I checked on my phone that we were rehearsing here and was confused to see someone moving around. I went in and said hello, but was ignored, so I decided to go put the drinks on the small table in the corner where we keep our phones and other things, so they wouldn't get knocked over while we rehearsed.
"Good morning! I can't believe I'm not the first one here. Is Yoongi so grateful to be dancing again that he started without us?" Jin said, approaching to see what he was doing and to see if he could have some of the coffee he had for him.
The dancing body ignored us, so we took a seat to wait for everyone to arrive. As soon as I thought of him, Taehyung walked in with a face that said it was too early for him, but he was surprised enough to remove his sunglasses. After swallowing his drink, he was ready to actually open his eyes properly.
"Who is the girl?" Tae said, all serious, and I almost spat the liquid all over them.
"That's just Jimin warming up... I think. There hasn't been a girl dancing alone in the last ten years," I said, more thinking to myself than speaking about it.
"So it's Yoongi, all in black with that bright yellow hooded garment, everything is super big and he's definitely shorter than us, but he never dances to warm up, he's more of a... barely stretching, doing the practice efficiently and leaving as soon as he's told he's doing it correctly," Jin said, making us bet on who was dancing.
It was hard to guess since he didn't turn around or remove his face mask. His hair and ears were completely hidden under a gray hat and black coat, and the ridiculously large yellow top, tight black pants, and black sneakers didn't make me think I was wrong.
He wasn't trying to do anything in particular, but those slow movements didn't match the way Yoongi dances. Suddenly, he stopped to pull out a black phone with a case. But I couldn't say much about that, and his movements changed to something more cheerful, but with a simple rhythm in his feet... a combination of three steps that he repeated as if he'd been doing it all his life.
I didn't notice when Namjoon came in, sat down next to us, and asked why we were so focused on Yoongi. So it was another vote for the mysterious person, but Taehyung was trying to defend his testimony, which claimed it was a woman.
More people entered, but Son Sungdeuk and Rie Hata were already in the office waiting for us while discussing last-minute details, so they must have known that someone was already using the room.
After some time, I decided I was intrigued enough to see who the heck was here on our project, because it has to be pretty secret until it's revealed to the public. But if he could come here and no one would notice him, then it was safe enough to go and meet him.
Jimin and Jungkook came in, and some reminded me of my mistake by making jokes while wondering about the mysterious person and if he was Yoongi, why he was there doing his own thing, and why he didn't pay any attention to the coffee?
I definitely wanted answers, so I went to stand behind him and followed his movements. He didn't stop, but he moved his body from the waist down, keeping his shoulders neutral, and his head moved slightly to the music. I could even hear him whisper very softly, muffled by his face mask.
Jungkook was energetic today so he came to become a sandwich, the mysterious person made eye contact with Jungkook who completely transformed his facial expression, to one of surprise while he remained still as a rock.
At that moment, Yoongi arrived talking to Sungdeuk, so I jumped up to distance myself from the stranger, removing my headphones and turning around.
Jungkook and I stared at the stranger as if he'd suddenly grown three heads; he greeted us with a small nod before approaching Sungdeuk.
"Oh! Baby, I almost forgot you were warming up... Come here, guys! Get ready to start! She's our new choreography assistant. She probably won't be creating your new routine, but she'll help me manage more groups from now on until traveling to other places is easier. She needs to learn the way you dance, so she'll train with us to see if we can use her. Let's go! Warming up a bit... Hoseok, put on some music to start the stretches, and then we'll do Dynamite so Suga can refresh his moves and see how he feels about dancing today," she said, forgetting to do the introductions properly, but we didn't pay attention and did what she told us.
Yoongi and the woman were almost dressed alike; it was so surprising that even Suga was so amazed by it that he didn't care about the boys' comments. Taehyung was proud of having the correct answer, since, due to unfortunate circumstances, she was a woman, and this became even more obvious when she took off her coat and hat.
We stretched out as she neatly folded her things on the floor. Yoongi touched her shoulder and told her she could put her things next to ours, not on the floor. She didn't seem to understand, but looking in the direction he indicated, she clearly said 'thank you' before moving everything to an empty chair.
I saw a couple of guys following their movements through the mirror and Yoongi pouting at Rie because he doesn't really enjoy working out all the time, like we normally do, because right now everyone is making their comebacks for winter after a few holidays.
We don't know if we'll be able to do as much this year as before after all the cancellations we've had to make, so our schedules are more flexible for the moment, but we all miss the hustle and bustle of going here and there with our team.
She barely stretched, though she had the audacity to correct our positions, even Rie's... they call her Baby, though it doesn't seem to be her real name, but she only spoke English and a few words in Korean, and she had a strange accent in both languages. Namjoon noticed something that made him demand her attention as much as possible.
When it was time to dance, she moved to the side of the room, effortlessly imitating us. Somehow, she managed to keep up with us on her first try, and Sungdeuk was a bit harsh in saying that she was a real copycat, able to reproduce something she had never done before.
In other words, that was her talent, which her manager boasted about, demonstrating that she was the best option when you need someone at the last minute to replace a dancer, and how much money she earned simply by filling in.
She didn't say anything about it, but she was practically killing him with the look she gave him. It was quite surprising to hear him say all those words without being able to help, just waiting and preparing to defend her if he continued with the abrasive comments. For us, it's a very delicate matter, since our work is always under scrutiny with comments like those.
He made us repeat the song, but this time she had to take my place so I could see what everyone was doing. She actually did it perfectly, and I even had to correct the boys because they wanted to give her more space than they normally do with me, since we're used to dancing together and touching each other all the time and everywhere.
Another thing was that we were hot and almost sweating, yet she didn't even roll up her sleeves or remove her mask. We were told to sit down while Rie talked about the new choreography, while Sungdeuk played the song. So we all took the opportunity to drink some water. She was reading the choreography instructions before they showed us a guide that seemed to appear out of nowhere.