"One and two and three and four, step, spin and step again," chanted Arena as she directed the backup dancers. They were adapting amazingly and Arena was soooo proud of herself to see how good the hook looked.

The 6 guys finished dancing and Arena clapped. "That was amazing you guys, thank you. Drink some water while I look over the placings and then we can start with those." She smiled and walked over to the table where her own water bottle and notebook were laying.

She could see the guys chatting and laughing with each other from the corner of her eye and that just made her smile more and more.

She had met them for the first time yesterday and had been delighted by their cheery smiles and attitudes. Arena had been somewhat self conscious to teach someone something she had made. What if they don't like it? What if they don't like her? What if she embarrassed herself?

Thank god none of that had happened. The 6 trainee boys were fast learners and didn't forget to mention that the choreography was astonishing. They enjoyed learning and were more than happy about the opportunity to stand on stage with MX. Arena had accidentally heard the guys talking yesterday about something that had made her heart beat just a little bit faster.

"How many members do you think are going to fall in love with her while she trains them?" *laughs*

"I'd say about 3 or 4."

"Are you kidding? More like all of them... I mean look at her-" *glances at Arena scribbling in her notebook* "-she's amazing."

They thought Arena hadn't heard or seen them glance her way, but she had. She had been nothing but bright smiles after that for the entire lesson.

"Okay so, I asked Monsta X's stage managers to borrow the signs they use on them for music show rehearsals for the camera crew to recognize them. I thought it would help for when I start putting you guys into positions, so come here and pick yourself a member," she laid the signs on the floor and took one for herself.

[the signs looked something like this}

The boys rummaged through the signs, finding their desired members and then pulled the signs on over their clothes.

"Nice," Sung Jung.

"Feels like the real deal," chuckled Taemin.

Arena pulled on her own sign and pressed the music station button to start the beginning. She paused it again, looking at the boys who seemed eager to start dancing.

"Ready?" asked Arena and smiled.

"YES TEACHER," was the answer she got as the 6 boys all spoke at the same time.

Arena chuckled, unpaused the music and ran to the middle of the positions, taking her place as the center.

The place that belonged to Kihyun.

***

Arena woke up the next day feeling nauseous. There was absolutely no way she could escape seeing Kihyun now. She was going to have to teach him.

She was going to give him a freaking dance lesson?

Arena sighed and rolled herself out of her bed, dragging her every step behind her to stop the inevitable from happening.

Did she want to see Kihyun?

Yes of course.

Did she want to teach him the choreo?

Maybe not so much.

Did she still like him the way she used to when she didn't know him personally?

Mmm not so sure anymore.

Those feelings? Arena didn't know what she had been thinking. It was never going to happen anyway so why should she lead herself on just to get hurt?

That's right. She wouldn't.

But deep inside...Arena knew that seeing and interacting with him again might bring them back.

And she was scared of that.

But there was one thing she had to do, that didn't have anything to do with her nor Kihyun.

She had to fix Naha and Wonho..those two were made for each other, for real. But Arena didn't know how she was going to do things yet, only knowing that something had to be done.

In conclusion Arena wasn't sure in anything and had no idea what would happen today. Guess she was just going to have to live and see.

She shut the bathroom door behind her and splashed some water onto her face as she contemplated whether or not she would survive today.

She came out of the bathroom to get dressed in grey sweatpants, a black top, a red flannel tied around her waist and a black bucket hat as an accessory. Her blood gushed in her ears and that creeped her out slightly. Imagine hearing your own blood flowing around your body. Ew.

"I'm just going to stay here today if that's okay."

Arena whipped around to look at Naha who was sprawled out underneath her bedding and scrolling through instagram on her phone.

"Noooo... please don't make me go alone," Arena fell to her knees next to Naha's bed but Naha merely glanced at her kneeling friend. She shook her head. "You're the choreographer not me, you can tell me how it goes when you get back."

Arena pouted and rested her head against Naha's bedframe. She took a few slow deep breaths and then pushed off, standing up. Naha pulled the covers over her head and kept scrolling, occasionally double tapping.

"Huh, okay, I can do it." Arena grabbed her bag and pulled on her red Puma sneakers.

"Yes, you can," came Naha's muffled voice from the bed.

Arena stood for a second and then walked out of the door, into unknowingness.

Well not literally, she actually just stepped into the hallway but whatever...SHE STEPPED INTO UNKNOWINGNESS

Okay moving on.

Arena took the elevators down to the ground floor and stepped out of the hotel building to see her driver's car already there and Jaehyun himself standing outside and leaning against the car, grinning.

"Good morning," said Jaehyun as he saw Arena exiting the hotel and smiled. He opened the car door as Arena mumbled a good morning back and sat in.

They rode in silence, Arena's heart was beating like crazy. Was Kihyun going to try to talk to her? Was he going to ignore her? What would he think when he saw her?

Would his heart race..?

Arena remembered the touch of Kihyun's warm fingers on her wrist. She shuddered.

When they finally reached the building, Arena didn't get out right away and sat still in the backseat, staring right ahead. Arena was breathing slowly.

Jaehyun glanced back, "Miss, we have to go."

"I know."

***

A knock sounded on Arena's studio door. It was weird to think that she already thought of it as her own studio. She had spent so much time in there that it already felt like home.

She turned off the music and checked her electronic wristwatch.

12.03 (military time).

They were supposed already to be there by 12...

Arena frowned, "Come in!" she yelled and cracked her neck. A habit of nervousness.

She couldn't breathe. It felt as if all of her air supply was suddenly being cut off, leaving her choking as her heartbeat became louder and louder in her ears and thumped to a fast certain rhythym inside her chest.

[Also wtf i'm making myself so freaking nervous writing this my own heart is beating so fast that my hands are shaking as i type 😂]

The door opened and the boys started coming in.

At first it was just a bundle of bows and "annyeonghaseyo's" but soon the 7 members of Monsta X were standing in a row before her and staring at her with wide eyes.

Arena's mind went absolutely blank.. was she supposed to say something? What was her attitude supposed to be like? Bitchy and bossy? Cute and lively? Bossy and lively? Bitchy and cute...??

ARHGHGG, she decided for bossy and lively in a hurry.

Arena checked her wristwatch again for show and then looked back at the guys. It was already 12.04.

"Here goes nothing," thought Arena.

"You're all 4 minutes late."

The boys glanced at each other but stayed silent as Arena stood before them, hands behind her back. They had to admit that the small, young, European girl in front of them looked somewhat intimidating.

Arena swallowed and felt panic rise inside of her. It took every inch of self control to push it back down. She had to survive this.

She was Arena Calder for god's sake.

"The reason why it's me standing before you right now is very simple," she paused and allowed a small emotion of pride into her soul as she said the following words, "I'm your new choreographer," Arena smirked. She had gotten into her bossy character well... now she just needed the lively part.

Inside, Arena saw a mini micro version of herself cowering and shuddering in a corner, making herself as small as possible. Doing everything in her power to get away from this studio and run back to America. Arena swallowed. Good thing that it was only on the inside, otherwise she would haven't even let the group in the door.

Arena introduced herself the same way she had with the backup dancers/trainees and smiled as Monsta X did their introduction for her as well.

She was met with similar questions as before. How old was she? Where was she from? How could she speak Korean? Why was she their new choreographer?

Arena answered all of the questions with delight, it felt nice to communicate more with them, even if they were just asking regular things about her.

Two of the members stayed quiet throughout.

"Wait, so when did you come to Korea?" asked Hyungwon and leaned a little bit forward. He was trying to impress the beautiful girl in front of him. And if he was going to be working with her...under no circumstance would he want to leave a bad impression on Arena.

Arena took a few steps to grab her notebook and stood next to the music station.

"I've been here for two weeks," she turned away and squatted to adjust the sound levels before she she started the music.

"Did you all warm up already?" asked Arena over her shoulder to find them shaking their heads no.

"Okay, then 25 push ups, squats, crunches and jumping jacks for every minute you were late. Start now." She turned on some random warm-up music and stood up.

The guys groaned a bit but started doing push ups, some of them faster, some slower.

But one was still standing.

And staring right at Arena as she tried to go over her choreography. She herself had already warmed up before.

"Kihyun, please start, you're wasting our time," said Arena with a bored voice before turning her attention back to the sketches in her notebook.

***

2 weeks??

Arena had been in Korea for 2 weeks and not once had she said anything to Kihyun none less tried to contact him??

Kihyun had been the second to last member to come through the door and had stopped momentarily in his tracks, when he had seen half of Arena's face from the side, most of it hidden by the bucket hat.

Minhyuk had almost walked into him and had pushed him forward to keep walking.

And now..she was their choreographer?

What the f? Kihyun's mind was an utter mess.

Was this a sign from somewhere higher? He hadn't seen nor talked to the girl in a few months yet here she was standing in front of him and smirking?

Kihyun hated the feeling of disgust inside of him when he had seen Hyungwon talking to Arena like that. That should have been him. She should have been talking to Kihyun, catching up with him, telling him how her rib had healed. And yet...

Kihyun knew Hyungwon, he knew very well what he was like and what his intentions were.

"Kihyun, please start, you're wasting our time."

He hadn't noticed that the others were already doing something and that he had been left staring at Arena.

Arena whose face showed 0 emotion, 0 recognition, 0 of the time they had spent together.

Her voice had been 50% bored, 25% annoyed and 25% cold.

So this is how it's going to be between us?

Kihyun scowled as he dropped down to the ground for two hundred freaking push-ups.