❝ you said there was nothing in the world that could stop it. ❞ in which liliana vasquez and bada lee joined one of the best dance shows in korea hoping to win a title for their team and ended getting way more than they bargained for. ❝ i loved you...
❝ isn't it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me ❞ — invisible string, taylor swift
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Being on the spotlight has always been part of Liliana's life. Ever since she was a child, even though her parents tried to protect her from the evil men (how she would call the people following them around trying to get into their personal life — the only reason she did not call them evil men nowadays was because of how young and naive it made her feel, but they were still the very much evil men), Liliana had to learn how to hide and run from the media.
When she was old enough to understand she wanted to be an artist, Liana made the decision to actively put herself out on social media, even though her younger self would never imagine the kind of consequences it would bring to her private life, but Liana also understood, especially as she became older, that there would be no way to run from the media trying to prive into her life all the time. So, she still didn't regret any of her choices— actually, she regreted none. Even if Liana had chosen a very much different path to her life, there was no doubt in her mind that the media would still try to portray her the same way they do now.
And that was how she started learning, mostly from experience and following her parents' advice, how to actually dodge the media. Hiding and running could only do very little, and at some point Liana became very tired of that routine. Besides, dodging was fun. She liked seeing them squirm in frustration at not being able to get snippets of her private life. It was very entertaining.
The frustrating part was: it didn't matter how hard she worked or what she did to keep her life as personal as she could, it was never enough. Winning three big national competitions in the same year at the age of nineteen was not enough, not when the media could theorize about the girl who made Liliana Vasquez realize she was a sapphic woman, or why she couldn't just admit to being a lesbian and cut all the crap of "pansexuality". And she would rather forget about all the headlines about her when she was just a kid, barely a teenager, and what she did to win first place in national competitions, because there was no way she could've made it only with talent and ability.
Sometimes Liliana wanted to scream at the world and tell everything they wanted to know to see if they would for once give her credit for being good. Not good, but amazing. Liliana Vasquez was more than just the Daughter of Gustavo Vasquez and Carmen Aguilar. She was more than just a kid to win Beyoncé's attention with a "cute innocent dance". She was way more than a Mexican woman winning places out of pity or a mere attempt of having more diversity in a competition. She was more than the media portrayed her to be, and Liana had every right to be the famous dancer she was.
If only she could make the world wake up from their stupid bubble and see the real Liana.
"Join the team", her manager looked at her with expectant shiny eyes. Liana blinked twice in a fast pace as if she was just waking up — which, in some ways, she was. "Jam Republic's going to be the first international team to ever compete in Street Woman Fighter, and the previous season made miracles in the girls' careers. It's your chance."
"I'm already famous if you don't know", Liana joked just to see the disgusted face in Mariana's face, which she knew had nothing to do with her — if there was anyone in the world that hated Liana's reputation created by the media more than her, it was Mariana.
"I don't have the list of the other girls, but I'm sure they'll be as amazing as you", Mariana tried another argument as if Liana wouldn't agree with the proposal. "I do know you'd be spending at least four months in Seul, though you'll have the freedom to follow your own schedule as long as you still make it to the recordings. And it's not focused just on showing your talents as a dancer, but as a choreographer. Last week you did say—"
"I was frustrated and wanted more jobs, yes, I know", Liana finished her sentence, not wanting to see another one of Mariana's failed attempts to impersonate her. "I agree. You can tell them."
"But you haven't seen the previous season, and I believe it's just your style, because—", Mariana stopped mid sentence, looking at Liana with a very surprise expression, that quickly changed to narrowed eyes and a slight head tilt as if she was trying to read Liana. "Yes? Why?", she added with a sceptical gaze.
"Why what?", Liana asked in confusion, but she knew Mariana would see right through her — the woman had basically raised her, she knew Liana's tellings as if she was her parent. "Look, it's a great opportunity. As I said a million times before", she added with an annoyed tone, though not related to her manager in any way. ", I'm tired of people not seeing me as a choreographer. I'm more than just a street lucky dancer who made her way to the pedestal because of nepotism. Maybe this is my chance to be known as Liana."
They both stayed in silence for a few seconds, though for Liana it was more like hours. She hated silence more than anything in the world, maybe more than the media (they at least gave her something to talk about and fill the silence with), and Liana always hated the feeling of being analyzed and read by someone else, even if that someone was Mariana, one of the people she trusted the most in the entire world.
As her mind always did when there was silence, Liana's head started to overthink— but she already knew the tricks to avoid it like a master. As soon as her mind made the first annoying, and not welcomed at all, question — something along the lines of what if... —, she started paying attention to her surroundings. Liana had been in that room a million times and could draw it only from memory, it was better than thinking.
She personally loved the yellow walls (it wasn't a surprise to anyone who knew her that yellow was her favorite color) and how it made the room lighter, not in looks but in feelings — Liana was not the type of person to believe in auras and all of that mystical crap, but she was more sensitive to other people than she wanted to, so, yes, Liana very much believed in energy. Besides, it was a scientific fact that yellow was a bright and happy color.
Before she could move to the next piece of environment to be analyzed, which would most likely be the ugly couch she hated (that brown with that yellow did break the harmony of the room), Mariana started talking again, making Liana's attention go to her blue eyes that seemed to highlight her darker skin and hair (now was not the time to think about Mariana's haircare routine and how she managed to make her hair so shiny, but Liana felt her mind almost slipping to that train of thought, almost making her miss her manager's next words).
"Alright. I'll let them know", her manager stopped for a second and Liana hated how she could see the worry in Mariana's eyes, and she knew it would be because of how they'd inevitably be far from each other for longer than they were used to — even when Liana would spend weeks without seeing her parents in person, she would never be more than five days apart from Mariana. "You'll do great. And you make sure to show them what you got, ok? You're more than the world thinks. I'm sure they'll regret sleeping on your abilities for so long."
