1.08

                                    

                                          
━━ April 2014
Dami often saw Jaemin slacking off during practice. She could never understand why he was at the company training if he didn't want to actually be there. Instead of stretching with the others, he sat in the corner playing games.
Even Jeno, who had joined around the same time as Jaemin, was started to get fed up with the boy's indifferent behavior. In his mind, there were many kids who would die to be in Jaemin's position. A chance to become a singer and pursue their dreams, but all Jeno ever say was Jaemin slacking off.
"I don't get why he's here," Jeno said softly.
"Hmm?" Dami thought she had heard him wrong.
"I get that we joined together," Jeno sighed, "But if he doesn't care about training then why is he here?"
Dami looked off to where Jaemin was sitting, "I don't like to think about it too much," Dami admitted, "It annoyed me a lot at first," she leaned back against the wall she had been sitting against with Jeno, "I worked so hard to get here and he was recruited off of his good looks,"
Jeno nodded in acknowledgement, "I don't know, maybe I should talk to him or something,"
Dami waved her hand, "If you do it might annoy him. He might think that you're trying to pick a fight."
"The staff keep comparing him to me," Jeno grumbled, "It's annoying. I'm improving and he isn't and they're trying to use that to persuade him to train harder." Jeno shook his head, "Why am I being compared to someone who doesn't care when I'm putting my all into this," 
Dami frowned. She agreed with Jeno, it definitely wasn't a fair circumstance. But there was nothing the two could do about that. It wasn't their place to push Jaemin to do something he wasn't interested in. If anything, it would probably make things worse.
"Just leave him be," Dami shrugged, "Focus on yourself. He probably feels the same way,"
"Same way?" Jeno looked confused.
"Yeah, like," Dami sighed, "'Why am I always being compared to this guy? I don't want to do this. Why do I have to be here? I'll just not train and then they'll kick me out and I don't have to do this anymore.'"
Jeno stared at Dami for a moment. He hadn't thought about Jaemin's situation in that way. For the past few months, he had been so annoyed by the staff's constant comparing of him and Jaemin. But he hadn't really thought about that Jaemin could have been feeling the same way.
"I'm sure he's struggling with being compared to you as well," Dami added, "But I wouldn't worry too much about it. Some day the staff will talk to him, and what happens from there isn't up to you. So you should just do your own thing, try not to let it bother you too much," she said gently patting Jeno's shoulder. "You'll see, I bet Jaemin will come around,"
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As the weeks went by, Dami couldn't help but be impressed Jaemin's improvement. Since the day that she spoke with Jeno, Jaemin had slowly started to change his training habits. He came in earlier to practice, warmed up with the others and even spent extra time after practice. Dami suspected he probably got chewed out by the dance instructor after everyone left practice.
That day, Dami came in early to practice and found Jaemin already warming up. The dance studio was empty except for him.
The two made brief eye contact before Dami gave a hesitant nod of acknowledgement and went to put her things down. Jaemin nodded back and continued stretching. As he got ready, Jaemin looked out of the corner of his eye.
His eyes caught a small red inhaler in Dami's hand. Dami took two puffs of her inhaler before putting it away. Jaemin quickly looked away in hopes she wouldn't catch him looking. But just as he looked away, his attention was caught by Dami as she stopped next to him.
"Can I join you?" Dami asked softly.
Jaemin hesitated for a moment before nodding. Dami gave a small smile before sitting down next to him to stretch.
As time passed, Dami and Jaemin would plan to get to practice early so that they could spend time to stretch together. It started off in silence, it didn't matter which one arrived first, but they would silently put their things down and then sit next to each other to stretch.
Slowly though, they began to greet each other. Then these short greetings turned into short statements and conversations. Eventually, Dami found herself looking forward to those moments, the ten minutes she would get before the other trainees showed up. 
"Hey, I have a question," Jaemin said catching Dami off guard.
"Hmm? What is it?" Dami asked.
"A few months ago, Jeno talked to you about me," Jaemin brought up, "Why did you defend me?"
Dami paused, trying to recall the moment Jaemin was talking about. When it finally dawned on her, her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected Jaemin to overhear her conversation with Jeno, and she certainly hadn't expected him to bring it up.
"I don't know," Dami shrugged, "I guess it just didn't make sense to me why you stuck around at practices if you really didn't want to be here. You must have been interested at least a little bit in training."
Jaemin stared at Dami. He still couldn't quite understand her reasoning. But in a way, maybe there wasn't much to her actions anyway. Regardless, he was grateful that she had spoken up for him. It made him feel like maybe he did have a place at SM Entertainment.
A year passed where the two met early before every pratice every day. Until one day, Dami rushed into the dance studio and she found not just Jaemin but Jeno, Jisung, Mark, Haechan and two other boys that she hadn't seen before. Hesitating, Dami went to put her things down quietly. The seven boys were so lost in their conversation that they hadn't noticed Dami.
That was until Jaemin caught sight of her and called her name. "Mimi!" Jaemin rushed to her and stopped by her with a bright smile, "Guess what!" 
Dami felt her face flush pink at the nickname and his bright smile. He had one of those smiles that Dami couldn't stop looking at. It was infectious and Dami found herself smiling at Jaemin as well.
"Something big?" Dami asked.
Jaemin nodded, "We're debuting in two months," he said turning to the boys.
Dami's eyes widened, "Whoa, that's amazing!" she exclaimed, "That's great for you guys! Congrats!"
The boys chorused their thank you's but weren't able to hold a longer conversation with Dami as Jaemin had stepped in front of them to block Dami's view of the boys. He seemed visibility nervous now, his eyes flickering around her head but never focusing on her face.
"But also, I was wondering," Jaemin said softly, "Do you want to get ice cream with me later?"
"What?" Dami replied just as softly, "Just us? Or with your friends too?"
Jaemin hesitated, his bottom lip finding its way in between his teeth, "Just us,"
Dami felt her face go hot and she looked away flustered, "Sure," she tried to reply nonchalantly but her heart was racing, "Let's go on a date,"
"A date?" Jaemin said a bit too loudly and all his friends turned to look at him with wide eyes. Jaemin winced and tried to ignore his friends, "Um, a date sounds great," he said quieter this time. "I'll see you after practice?"
Dami nodded, trying to hold back the grin that tried to make its way onto her face, "I'll meet you in the front,"
"Perfect," Jaemin's toothy grin made its way to his face and after a moment of hesitation, he leaned in and gently pulled Dami into a hug. 
It only lasted a few seconds but Dami's heart had done a whole backflip. When Jaemin let go the the cheers and giggles of Jaemin's friends were only muffled to Dami. She hadn't realized it yet, but she had completely fallen smitten for him. 
She wasn't sure what it was but something felt right when she was with Jaemin.