Arena looked into the strikingly blue eyes of one of her coaches and went over everything one more time in her head.

It had been 3 days since she got that life-changing email and phone call. So today was Thursday. And Arena wasn't at work because she (+ Naha as her supporter 4 lyfe) decided it would be good to take a break from work as long as she was done dealing with the auditioning tape and everything that came along with it.

You can imagine how ''happy'' Arena's doctor had been when Arena asked for advice about training with her somewhat cracked rib. She had gotten a handful of scolding for that one. But hey ho that wasn't going to stop her.

Arena was also studying extra Korean with Naha, when she had the chance. Naha had also taken it upon her very self to teach her friend some Japanese basics too.

Arena's coah smiled and that pulled Arena back to the real world, out of her train of thoughts. Her coah was a little bit shorter than Arena herself, skinny but toned and rocking a purple pixie cut. Her vibrant blue eyes sparkled in the dance studio lighting.

"So you want to use one of the studio rooms for your audition?" She was holding a notepad and was taking notes to discuss with the head of the studio.

"Okay, well as far as I know then studio rooms 3 and 4 are free on the weekends but I'm going to have to check."

The first dance studio Arena was a part of was in downtown Colorado, a huge beautiful building where the studio was located. The studio's name was Dancegenie and it was quite popular thus it being big with over 4 big dance-practice studio rooms. Arena had been going here since she was 12, so that made almost 6 years now.

"Yes, thank you that would be amazing." Arena had always had close relationships with her trainers since they were always quite young and the age difference was never more than 10 years. Except when she was small and in elementary school, then her trainers had been a good 20-30 years older than her.

Her trainer put away her notepad and sat down at a table, writing out details for her upcoming lesson, she didn't raise her eyes from the paper as she asked, "How's your side? I heard you were at the hospital."

Arena smiled awkwardly, "Oh that, it's better now." A half lie. Yes her side was getting better and no it wasn't good enough to actually jump hardcore back into dancing again. But her trainer didn't need to know that, Arena was going to be just fine. Her coach leaned against the back of her chair and chewed on her pink pen.

Arena hid her wince as a jolt of pain surged through her side for the fourth time today.

"Good to hear that," her trainer smiled and met Arena's eyes.

"Yeah me too." The lie slipped off her tongue so easily.

***

Arena was walking back to her front door, turning her head to check if she had locked the car doors. She had. Arena nodded her head to herself and kept walking until she reached the door. Pushing down on the door handle, the cold metal biting into her skin, Arena opened the front door and stepped into the building she called home.

"I'm homeeee," Arena's voice rang out clear in the big hallway as she tug off her boots and strode into the kitchen only to find her mom and dad sitting behind the counter, drinking coffee.

It was evening. The whole family was just coffee addicted.

When noticing that their daughter was approaching them, Arena's parents looked away from their mugs of steaming coffee and smiled. Arena waved a hand in hello and walked past them, opened the fridge and pulled out a lemon-water bottle.

"Hey, how was school?" Arena's mom turned in her seat to look at her daughter who was leaning against the fridge, looking bored.

"It was okay." Arena pushed off from the fridge and took a sip of water from the bottle.

She was already walking away from them, her face turned toward the staircase that was located opposite the front hallway.

"How is your side?"

Arena didn't stop walking and didn't bother to turn back as she chirped a reply, "It's fine, mom. Stop worrying." Arena smiled and took the stairs two at a time.

Her room was on the right of the huge second floor and she eased the door open with one of her hips. She put down her schoolbag, finally relieved to be back home, and plopped onto her bed, closing her eyes.

1 hour later, at approximately 10 p.m. Arena woke up. And realized she'd fallen asleep. What a waste of precious time. She shook her head, cursing herself from head to toe and checked her phone.

Hmm.

Nothing.

No notifications.

Nothing.

Weird.

Maybe her WiFi was off or something..? But it wasn't. Arena usually always had Naha or someone else from school texting her, asking for help. Or snapchat notifications or ANYTHING. But there was nothing. Arena tried not to be offended when no notifications also meant no messages from Kihyun. She really liked the guy and talking to him. Not to mention he is a celebrity and everything... For just a moment it had felt as if Arena had been someone important. That Kihyun had actually cared about her.

Arena thought that he probably had a busy schedule, which he always did.

But this wasn't the first time.

And it wasn't just today.

He hadn't texted her for 2 days. He was just probably busy, but people always have and check their phones. And most of the time they take moments reply back. Luckily Arena knew Kihyun was still alive because there were no enormous headlines of his death all over the internet and Kpop websites.

Arena sighed with disappointment for herself and for Kihyun. Perhaps when she nailed this audition and actually got cast as a trainee, things would change. Maybe then he will start seeing her more as a friend. As an equal. Right now Arena was just another fan he had fun spending time with.

Just.

Another.

Fan.

And not the one that cools you off on a hot day, sitting in the corner of your room, generating cool air.

Arena didn't want to be just another fan.

***

Arena wiped sweat off her brow at the end of her contemporary dance class as she threw her towel over her left shoulder. It was going to take a lot more than this to actually get to be cast as a trainee. She had started working on the choreo yesterday to get her mind off Kihyun, but had just ended up falling asleep on her violet carpet. She sighed and walked up to her trainer, smiling.

"Hey, are there any more classes in this hall now?"

"No, I don't think so. Why?" Her trainer's short purple hair was wet with sweat and she had a towel of her own, thrown off on her shoulder.

Arena cracked her knuckles and smiled innocently, "I was wondering if it was okay for me to stay and work on my audition choreography."

"Oh of course it is, the studio closes at 11 so be careful not to get locked in, I'll tell them that you are here." Her trainer gave a shy smile and grabbed her water bottle. "I've got to go now though, good luck." She gave Arena a thumbs up and left the dance hall with her belongings.

"Yeah, bye. Thank you."

So that left Arena alone in the dance studio hall. She took out her notepad and looked over what she had so far. The choreo doesn't have to be long but the longer the better. 2 minutes maximum. Right now, Arena had 20 seconds. And even these were sloppy.

Usually it took effort and time for Arena to come up with different dance moves for choreographies, but today and yesterday, the moves just fell out of her. Arena let her body move and relax, at the same time focusing her brain on the movements and if they could somehow be used in her dance.

Later when she walked back into the locker room, she found her phone's battery dead. Arena felt somewhat relieved at the sight. Of course she absolutely despised the fact that her mobile phone was actually dead and it would take an hour to get home and charge it, but she felt relieved, because now, she didn't have to wait around like a lovestruck fool, for Kihyun to text her.

She knew he wouldn't.

But her aching heart refused to give up hope.

***

"Any news from you-know-who?"

Naha was sitting on Arena's bed and filing her fingernails, her voice sparked Arena's attention and she looked up at her friend from her spot on the carpet.

"Are we talking about Lord Voldemort again or do you mean Kihyun?"

Naha sat up, "I mean Kihyun."

Arena sighed. A legit sigh from the heart.

"No. There's nothing."

Arena was playing with the corner of her carpet to stop from looking into Naha's eyes, as she knew that if she did, the reality would sweep in and the tears would follow. She also didn't notice that Naha had rolled down from the bed and sat next to Arena.

"What happened with you guys?"

Arena looked at the bedframe. "Nothing. Nothing at all, that's the point. I don't even know anymore, " her eyes finally met Naha's. Arena slowly felt the tears in the backs of her eyes.

"I thought we hit off well. I mean all the fun we had at the hotel. It's been weeks since that happened. How can I move on when there's a 1% chance that he might like me back and that there might be something between us? I can't just ask him that by text, and there's no way we could meet up now either. "

Arena took a deep breath in as Naha studied her friend closely.

One moment they were both sitting on the violet carped, the next moment Naha was on her feet, a hand extended to help Arena up.

"C'mon. Let's go for some fresh air."

Arena smiled and took the hand.