Promise Flower

Let's Dance

"There's no resting for the best dancer at the school," he smiles.

"Oh, is Hoseok practicing right now?" I tease looking around.

Jimin playfully huffs while scrunching his face at me. Hoseok is the other best dancer at the school and although he and Jimin have completely different dance styles, they both are constantly going back and forth in rankings for the top spot in the dance program.

Despite that, and everyone else constantly making this out to be some sort of heated rivalry between them, they're actually best friends and roommates. They find it funny that people assume they would hate each other and tend to joke about it more than they take any of it seriously.

"Anyway!" He says playfully trying to move past my teasing. "I have a recital at the end of the semester and I'm trying to decide what dance I want to do."

"You have to plan a recital already?"

"It's basically our final exam so I want it to be perfect. I'm just having a hard time coming up with something that I think will be good enough."

"Oh come on, anything you do will be more than good enough. Even the little I just saw you doing was amazing."

"Really?" He asks as if he's not the winner of numerous gold medals from a lifetime of dancing excellence.

"Jimin please," I laugh. Just then the gears in my head start turning and I get hit with an idea. "You know what? I have to follow a subject through the semester for my photo project. What if I did a photo series of you?"

"Me? Why?"

"Jimin you're a man with no bones. That would look incredible in pictures. I could follow you as you prepare for your recital. I'll even let you have copies of all of the photos. It's perfect!"

He takes a moment to think on it, definitely being hit with a wave of shyness and embarrassment from the sudden praise. I try to give my best puppy eyes to convince him.

"Fine," he resolves with a smile. "As long as you make me look good."

"You don't need me for that," I laugh. "I still have about 15 minutes before my next class, can I try some test shots while you keep practicing?"

"Now? I look terrible," he says hiding behind his hands.

"Calm down," I laugh. "They're test shots, I just want to get a feel for the way you move and try to figure out how I want to approach this."

"Ok ok." He stands up and turns his music back on as I pull out my camera and get ready for him to begin.

The next 15 minutes I watch as he dances back and forth across the floor. I don't know much about contemporary dance at all, but I know that he looks amazing doing it. I take lots of photos of him using different angles and camera settings. It's hard to tell on the tiny camera screen if they're any good, but hopefully when I pull them up on my computer I'll have enough to help me decide on the focus of my project.

Before I leave for my next class he tells me he'll let me know his practice schedule so we can do this again with much more time to spare. I'm just happy to have a subject for my project, and thankfully it's someone I know to keep it from being totally awkward.

After my class I go home to my apartment and am surprised to see my roommate Jin sitting on the couch. He's a theater major, and like the rest of us in the arts, he spends most of his time somewhere on or off campus perfecting his craft. To see him at home at a normal time is rare.

"Did you see me in the paper??" He asks enthusiastically holding up a copy of the school's student run newspaper.

"Why were you in the paper?" I ask taking the paper and skimming through an article written right next to a large photo of his brightly smiling face.