Book 3 Chapter 30 – Memory Shards
"You're late. The old witch has already taken the names for the cla.s.s." Liu Meng leaned against the supporting bar. It seemed like she was stretching her leg, but, in reality, she was simply trying her best to salvage some of her lost sleep.
'This?' Li Yiming turned around to look at the busy street he stood on a second earlier and found a quiet corridor instead. 'Morning practice?' Li Yiming entered the studio, a little perplexed. All of his cla.s.smates were inside the room practicing. The event itself offered no clues about when exactly he "was", since he spent most of his mornings during his four years at college this way.
"Come here." Liu Meng waved her hand at him. Li Yiming removed his shoes and walked toward Liu Meng. He stopped right next to her and pushed his leg against the supporting bar out of habit. However, it was not long before Li Yiming realized that he was much more flexible than he remembered himself to be. He lifted his leg slowly, more and and more until it almost formed a straight line with the one that supported his body. '180 degree stretch? And I feel like I could go for more if I wanted. Well, the equipment is gone, but my body's unchanged.'
"Hey, you're here to show off? You think that I can't do that?" Liu Meng raised her voice, and the ruckus she created drew quite a few laughs from those nearby. A few of them were also surprised at Li Yiming's hard work for improving his basic apt.i.tude, and his determination for excelling at the stage performance that was soon to happen.
"Well, you know, it's morning training, so we should train and give it our best." Li Yiming dropped his leg back down, a little embarra.s.sed. He took on another position by supporting himself with both of his arms against the metal bar and appreciated his newfound ability. He saw Ji Xiaoqin spinning around in front of the mirror with pointe shoes. Her arms were supple and she seemed at ease despite her quick cadence. Ji Xiaoqin specialized in ballet and her pirouetteswere an absolute pleasure to watch.
"Hey, do you think that our ch.o.r.eography will be selected?" Liu Meng whispered to Li Yiming with a droplet of yogurt still hanging on the corner of her lips. The mention of the upcoming performance made Li Yiming's mind go astray. He looked at Liu Meng's long hair, which was tied up above her head, revealing her ears and her sensual neck. 'She still has long hair. I remember she cut her long hair after the show in second year and kept it short since then.'
"Of course," Li Yiming answered confidently. He knew that their two-person ch.o.r.eography would be chosen for the performance at the theater of Shangbei. 'That was also when Ji Xiaoqin and I…' He turned his head toward Ji Xiaoqin, who was still busy practicing her ballet moves. He looked at her focused expression, at the fabric of her robe that billowed in the air with Ji Xiaoqin's swift movements, and at the beads of sweats that rolled down her neck. Finally, his eyes went to her heaving chest and stopped there for an instant.
"Where did that confidence come from?" The drowsiness on Liu Meng's face subsided, replaced by worry. The public show was a matter of significance to every student, and, most importantly, Ji Xiaoqin's solo had already been chosen. Liu Meng did not want to lose out to her, despite being very good friends with Ji Xiaoqin. Li Yiming also had another one of his ch.o.r.eographies chosen, and Liu Meng was scared of being left behind. She also thought that Li Yiming and Ji Xiaoqin were growing unusually close and did not like it at all.
"Look at this stretch. You really think that we'd fail?" Li Yiming looked away from Ji Xiaoqin and switched legs. He pulled it further with his arm in a flaunting manner and almost stretched it to 240 degrees.
"Pfft." Liu Meng rolled her eyes. "Speaking of which, pretty amazing progress you've done recently. But what happened when we were auditioning? Are you dragging me down on purpose?"
"Dancing is about conveying a sense of beauty, not just technical prowess. Otherwise I'd be doing gymnastics." Li Yiming dropped his leg back down, showered by looks of amazement from those around him. It was a nice feeling, since he remembered himself to be fairly bad with the basics back in college, actually.
