Chapter 10: Square One

Over the next several days, Jimin refused to return to the dance studio and preferred to stay in to paint for Juliette's Instagram. Juliette was mortified that she pushed Jimin so hard to learn to dance again that now he wasn't even passionate about it anymore; any spark that could've remained was nowhere to be seen now. All the members tried to get Jimin to at least watch the rehearsals but to no avail. Everyone gave up hope and they even post poned their tour plans to even later with the hopes that Jimin would learn by then. Since the tour had not been announced, it was ok to keep pushing it back. They also severely decreased their amount of time on TV by claiming that they had something "big cooking up behind the scenes."

On one of their days off, Jimin invited Juliette to paint with him.

"What's the point?" Juliette asked, "I can no longer paint."

"Try please, I tried to dance. Maybe at least you can paint again," he replied with a gentle smile.

"Alright, only because you tried."

Juliette sat at the table with a small canvas and some paints in front of her but she had no inspiration on what to paint. Most of the time, she would have an idea for what to make but this time her mind was blank.

"Why don't you start by just making strokes with the brush? Anyone can do that," Jimin suggested.

Juliette grabbed some paint on her brush and made a short stroke on the canvas.

"I did it! I painted something!" Juliette squealed with excitement.

"Do a few more, maybe something will come to you."

She made some more and switched up the colors but she wasn't making something per say, just lines.

"This is fun, I feel like a kid again."

"You've been painting since you were a kid right?"

"Yeah, my mom got me washable paints as a kid so I could fingerpaint. I didn't like using a brush so I only ever used my hands. I eventually picked up a brush when I wanted to make more complex paintings."

Jimin held Juliette's wrist and made her spread her fingers before dipping a brush in paint and painting her hand with it.

"What are you doing?"

"Teaching you to paint like a kid. You started with fingerpainting so start from there again."

Juliette used the yellow paint he had put on her hand to make a handprint on a clean canvas. When she saw it, it was like a childhood memory was unlocked and she started to brush other colors onto her hand to paint on the canvas using it. Jimin let her do her thing as he continued his own painting. By the time Juliette finished, she managed to make a beautiful fingerpainted flower with a multicolored background. It lacked some definition as it was all clustered but it was better than what a kid would make.

"That's a great start! How do you feel?" Jimin asked.

"I think I got my spark back. It reminded me of how fun it is to get messy and just paint. I really felt like a kid again, it's silly."

"It's not silly, you're starting from square one again."

"How did you start dancing Jimin?"

Her question caught him off guard but he kindly responded.

"I didn't start until high school. I learned to pop and lock first, believe it or not. Then I focused on contemporary dance before I became a trainee. As a trainee, I was pushed to learn other dance styles."

"I never knew that about you. I thought you began dancing way before high school."

"I wanted to because I danced around the house when I was a kid but I never had access to a good affordable dance program until high school."

"I see."

Juliette suddenly got an idea to help Jimin dance again and she cut the conversation short after thanking him for inviting her to paint. She snuck into Jimin and J-Hope's room to talk to J-Hope without him knowing.

"I'm glad you're here. I need your help."

"How can I be of service?" J-Hope asked with his usual bright smile.

"I think I know how to get Jimin to dance again."

*Time skip ahead one week*

The following week, Juliette invited Jimin to go out for a ride in the city to get some inspiration for painting. Juliette began to incorporate more brush painting along with her finger painting and was slowly but surely getting to the level she used to be at. She had advanced so much in just one week. However, Juliette had lied to Jimin and used that as an excuse to lure him out of the dorms. She actually took him to a beginner ballet academy in Seoul called "Yejong Ballet School." J-Hope set up a meeting for them to arrive as "special guests" to observe a lesson with the instructor Ms. Cheon who taught the youngest members of the ensemble. She put on a wig to not match Jimin's hair, explained to him what was going on, and then forced Jimin to go inside. He didn't want to but figured it would be rude to not show up.

When they walked into the studio, the kids were doing their stretches and when they saw Jimin and Juliette walk inside they all got very excited especially the only boy in the class. Ms. Cheon introduced him to the class and everyone applauded his appearance. Juliette was "Jimin's assistant" and one of the girls said she was very pretty.

Ms. Cheon handed them some ballet slippers so they could participate in the class. Jimin grew nervous as he put them on and watched all the kids admire him. Juliette patted his back and smiled at him to help him calm down.

"Ok kids!" Ms. Cheon began, "Mr. Park will take the class with us today as if he was a beginner like you so be kind to him if he makes any mistakes to test you."

"Ooooooo," all the kids said.

J-Hope had told Ms. Cheon that Jimin was going to pretend to not know how to dance to boost the kids' self-esteem as they would be "teaching" a pro. Ms. Cheon began by doing some stretches. When that finished, the oldest girls in the class who were almost about to advance to the other level, taught Jimin some basic ballet poses. Jimin's face lit up as he was being taught how to keep his form and how to properly balance. He began to feel some sort of rush in his body that he thought was no longer in him. Juliette followed along on the side while Ms. Cheon supervised and smiled. At the end of the lesson, the boy in the class raised his hand.

"Yes?" Ms. Cheon asked him.

"Can Mr. Park show us one of his big boy moves that he does?" the boy asked, all shy.

Jimin and Juliette exchanged a panicked look.

"That's up to him," Ms. Cheon said, "Would you like to show us something Mr. Park?"

"I didn't exactly prepare a demo," Jimin replied.

"Please?" the boy asked with puppy eyes.

Jimin looked to Juliette for help but she only shrugged. They all stood in an awkward silence as the kids stared at Jimin. Seeing his struggle, Ms. Cheon made a suggestion.

"Why not show them the first move you were proud of achieving?"

Oddly, Jimin was not against that and agreed to show the kids the first move he remembered being proud of doing in high school. The kids lined up against the wall opposite side of the mirror as Juliette and Ms. Cheon sat aside. Jimin stood in the corner of the room and looked at Juliette who gave him a nervous smile. He took a deep breath and ran. Halfway across the room, he jumped, split in mid air, and then gracefully landed at the other end of the room.

The kids cheered for him as Juliette's jaw was dropped, not expecting him to have pulled off such an advanced move after one beginner lesson. Jimin turned around and screamed "I did it" with the biggest smile Juliette had ever seen him put on. The kids ran towards him and gave him a group hug.

"Thank you Mr. Park," the boy told him.

They all waved goodbye to Juliette and Jimin as they walked out of the studio and went back to the car.

"Jimin, that was amazing!" Juliette said, finally letting out all the excitement she had built up in the studio.

"I know! It was exhilarating!"

Jimin held onto Juliette's hand and squeezed it tightly as he looked into her eyes.

"Thank you! This is exactly what I needed. I got my spark back!"

Juliette leaned closer to him and held his other hand and squeezed too.

"I knew you could do it. We just both had to start from square one to remind us of what got us into our talent to begin with."

"I couldn't have done this without you Juliette. I...I..."

"I love you," they both said simultaneously.

After a couple seconds of smiling at each other in silence, they closed the gap between each other and softly kissed.