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“Na naman? Namie, are you still with us?” The choreographer’s voice echoed through the studio, rattling her back to reality.
Namie snapped upright. “P-po?”
“You missed your cue again,” he said patiently, though the frustration in his eyes suggested he was running out of patience for absent-minded Namie. “Ano ba naman iyan.”
“Sigurado ka bang kaya mong mag-practice?” Dominique asked, lightly tapping her shoulder.
Namie almost flinched. She forced a smile. “Don’t worry.”
“You okay?” Eurekah whispered beside her.
She gave another sheepish smile. “Yup. Don’t worry.”
As if “don’t worry” was the only thing she knew how to say lately, when in reality, confusion had been sitting heavily at the back of her mind for weeks now.
“For once, tigilan mo muna kasi ang tumingin kay Dominique, ano? Focus, Namie, focus,” Tin teased with a fake scowl.
She pouted. “U-uy, ‘di kaya! Imbento ‘to!”
“Na para bang hindi niya nakita ng isang buong linggo si Dominique,” Lei added, arching her perfectly-shaped brows. “Miss na miss, Namie?”
“Heh!” Kainis!
“Ano, kaya mo ba talaga? We will take a break if you needed it so badly,” the choreographer said. “We still have enough time pa naman.”
Namie blinked. “I’m fine po talaga. Practice na po ulit tayo. Sorry po talaga.”
“Sure?” When Namie nodded, the choreographer clapped his hand. “Okay, let’s all continue, please! Formation, in three… two… one…”
The dance studio slowly came back into focus. The mirrored walls reflected the seven girls moving with the kind of precision they had spent years mastering. The wires of speakers and microphones tangled across the floor. Half-empty water bottles sat abandoned by the corners, not to mention, their exhausted manager rubbed his temples nearby, already looking ten years older.
“Okay, 15 minutes break! 15 minutes break!” announces the choreographer after they finally finished rehearsing the whole song. “Good job, everyone!”
While catching her breathe, Namie drank her almost-overly-decorated tumbler. At first, she didn’t mind the stares she got from other members, especially Ella and Megumi’s prying eyes, probably teasing her again without them saying the obvious. She’s used to it until she noticed Dominique’s.
“Problema na naman nito sa ‘kin?” she said in the back of her mind.
Dominique was standing directly in front of her with one eyebrow raised and the faintest smile threatening to appear. The former don’t have to push it through to taunt her more. Dominique can literally do nothing but still does something to her.
Namie cleared her throat. “Yes?”
“Yes?” Dominique echoed.
“May sasabihin ka ba?” she asked, trying to hold her head high.
“You’re weird,” replied Dominique, chugging her own tumbler.
“Mas weird ka. Tingin nang tingin, wala naman palamg sasabihin,” she retorted.
The other laughed coyly. “Sabi no’ng kanina pa ako tinitingnan. Asus! Don’t me!”
Gasping, she now has her hand on her hip. “FYI, I didn’t!”
Still, Dominique insisted, “You did.”
“I—uhhhh, ano—I was just experimenting artistically.” Her most lame excuse for today. She almost grunted. She could do better than that.
Dominique sighed, confused. “Ang gulo mo. Gets ko na para kang kiti-kiti na nakalunok ng megaphone pero minsan, bunak ka rin eh. Thesis not defended, girl. Revise your papers—”
“Mukha ba akong nag-d-defend ng thesis?” she hissed, almost regretting her life decisions. Why the hell did she move closer? Now, they’re only breaths away from each other.
“Well, you failed. Might as well step up your game?” whispered Dominique, clearly unbothered about their sudden closeness.
Not fully trusting herself, she backed away. “H-heh!”
“Experimenting artistically you say? Ano’ng connect no’n sa pagtitig mo sa akin?” the other teased her more. “Or you’re just trying to tell me you’re simply staring at a particular beautiful art and that art… was me?”
Namie fanned herself. “Whooooaaaaa! Hangin! Mas mahangin pa sa aircon nitong studio!”
From somewhere behind them, one of the members, Megumi, snorted loudly. “Ella? May naaamoy ka ba?”
“What naaamoy? Do I smell na ba? OMG—”
“Anak ng—hayaan mo na nga lang. Mabango ka, girl,” Megumi buts in, massaging her temples.
While looking at Namie and Dominique, Ella then clapped her hands. “Aaaaahhhhhhh, gets-gets.”
Before Megumi could say anything, the choreographer called them once again. “Girls, time’s up! Sabi ng manager, ulitin daw ang bridge. Remember, bagong areglo na ito ngayon, hindi ang studio version! Come on! Double time!”
Bridge?
Yeah, the bridge. The bridge, otherwise known as the exact point in the choreography where Dominique turns toward her under the dim lights and accidentally looks like every love song ever written (only for her because duh, she’s delusional).
Namie rolled her shoulders dramatically before taking position beside the latter. This was fine. She was fine. She have to act normal, professional rather.
Then the instrumental started again. One step. Turn. Slide. Dominique’s voice entered first in a soft, smooth, and annoyingly pretty tone that comfused her even more.
It’s not helping how she looked at Namie directly, like she always did on normal occasions. It’s like Dominique looked at her like she had nowhere else to be.
In that very instant, Namie forgot her lines. Again. “Dang! I’m Dominique’s—errr doomed!”
“CUT!” shouted the choreographer.
The backtrack stopped. Even their manager sighed the sigh of a man who had witnessed too much. “Namie, Namie, Namie! Ano ba? Are you really okay?”
“OMG, sorry po talaga. Sorry, sorry…” she could only mutter a few apologies to them and to the group.
“You need to focus,” they said in unison.
“I am focused,” she whispered more to herself.
“Oo nga, pero hindi naman sa kanta,” said Tin, giggling. “Sa kanta kasi, hindi sa mga magaganda.”
“Yeah, yeah. Maya na iyan, puwede?” added Eurekah, dribbling her brows suggestively.
“I think I need coffee later. Mukhang pulutan na naman ako mamaya sa tukso!” she silently cried out.
“Isa rin kayo eh! Inaasar niyo palagi,” their manager commented. “Ikaw naman, Namie, focus. Either you’ll sang the wrong verse or you won’t sing at all.”
Namie pointed defensively at Dominique. “Well, she keeps looking at me po kasi.”
Every single person in the room turned toward Dominique. Dominique blinked once. “I’m literally facing you in the choreography. At bakit kasalanan ko pa?”
“Gets niyo po ba kami?” Megumi said to the manager and the choreographer.
Ella even seconded to that. “Yeah. You see it too, ‘di po ba? I mean, the evidence is right in front of you na. Don’t tell me—you guys will keep being dismissive na naman sa gut feels namin.”
Her forehead creased. “Ha? Ano? Uy, ano’ng pinagsasasabi ninyo? Ba’t wala akong alam sa pinag-uusapan ninyo?”
The room then exploded into fits of laughter. “Ang cute-cute mo talaga eh ‘no?”
Namie dropped dramatically onto the floor, clutching her chest. “I can’t work in these conditions.”
“Girl? Let me tell you, you’re the condition yourself,” Tin said matter-of-factly.
“You’re not helping!” she faked a cry.
Dominique finally laughed too but to her, it just sounds warm and horribly cute. What the hell is wrong with her though? Namie felt her soul leave her body a little. This was getting ridiculous.
It had started during their TABI MV filming last month. Could she blame the balcony scene? The hand touch? The stupidly soft smile from Dominique? Or the fans making it obvious? She can’t even watch the compilation edits and ‘imagines’ they made for them.
One more thing, how can she help herself when she was apparently incapable of functioning within a three-foot radius of her co-member?
Which was also insane to her because Dominique was just Dominique. The latter was quiet, gentle, pretty in a way that made people instinctively soften around her.
No, not that Namie noticed frequently. Oh, maybe every day. But hey, it was against her ‘will.’
“Ulit! Aba, hindi tayo titigil hangga’t hindi iyan plakado,” the choreographer announced.
Namie stood up with the determination of a soldier going to war. This time, she would survive the bridge. No staring. No gay panicking. No emotional collapse. That was easy, right? Right.
The backtrack started once again. Everything went smoothly until the bridge arrived again. Dominique stepped closer. Namie couldn’t help but held herself steady. The former resched for her hand as part of the ‘choreography.’
Their skin was warm against each other’s touches. Soft. Very unfortunately real. Dominique smiled, not for the camera kind of smile, not the P-pop idol type of smile, but the other way around… the one only reserved for backstage jokes and shared coffee drinks and moments when nobody else was supposed to notice.
Dugdug. Dugdug. Dugdug. Dugdug. Dugdug.
Namie figured out her confusion and she knew she was finished, completely. Her heartbeat tripped over itself so violently she nearly missed the cue again. Fortunately, she survived that freaking ordeal with beads of sweat and shaky hands.
“Yes! Yes! Good job, girls!” the choreographer shouted.
Even the manager looked impressed. “Ang gandaaaaaa!”
She smiled awkwardly, clapping along with others, though she wasn’t aware what they’re celebrating for, because she was stuck with the scary realization that she was slowly free-falling into her co-member’s trench.
“Yaaaaaay! Galing-galing mo, Namie!”
“Y-yeheeey?” she said sheepishly with her unfocused gaze.
“Seriously, are you okay?” Dominique whispered after they all settled down.
She groaned more to herself. The other just made everything worse. Though she managed a weak thumbs up. Dominique just nodded, confusion and worry swimming in her eyes.
“Oh, next time, trabaho muna bago crush-crush ah,” said the manager bluntly.
Namie choked on air. Around them, the members immediately burst into shrieks like high school students witnessing live gossip unfold before them.
Meanwhile, Dominique suddenly looked away, oddly shy in a way Namie had never seen before.
Why does Dominique suddenly won’t look at her eyes? That was when a terrifying thought hit her. What if the fans weren’t completely delusional after all?