4 Days before the debut showcase:

"Hyeri!" Jinu called me. I stopped walking and looked at him.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Come to my office." he ordered.

"Is that detective here again?" I sighed.

"No, but I want to talk about her as well."

"Alright." he said and we walked to his office.

When we got there he sat down near his desk and I sat down in front of him, on the opposite side of the desk.

"About the detective.." he started talking. I looked curiously at him. "The police got an anonymous tip that she has mental problems. They checked her record and they found out she forged her documents, including her psychological checks."

"So where is she now?" I asked.

"At jail."

"That's great."

"There is something else.."

"What is it?" I asked. Jinu took a deep breath before talking.

"Zico is out."

"WHAT?!" I asked in disbelief. It can't be..

"But she told me they found drugs at his place, and they still have the hut thing.. I told her everything I know." I mumbled.

"Well, his lawyers claimed that the evidence can't be reliable because of the detective and that she could have forged it as well in order to get him in jail. She holds a grudge against idols, so they used this detail as well. Making long story short - They found a loophole because the police didn't check their staff properly, so he is out without charges."

"Are you kidding me right now? How is this jerk out because the police is not doing their job?"

"There is nothing we can do about it."

"Why isn't the media talking about it?"

"There is a gag order about everything related to it because it's an embarrassment to the police."

"No kidding.." I scoffed. "Then what do I do? You know he will be after me now."

"We will have body guards. We need them anyway beause you'll start promoting, so it won't look suspicious. In the rest of the time, try not to go out by yourself. I'll ask the staff to put an eye on you and help you."

"It's ridiculous."

"I know, but this is the best solution we have for now."

"Alright." I sighed. "What else did you want to talk to me about?"

"First, I wanted to tell you that Himchan is the MC for your showcase."

"That's great." I smiled. Himchan is good at talking and improvising, so he'll do well.

"And the other thing is about the girls." Jinu said quietly.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"I talked to Gun."

"Okay.." I still don't get his point.

"Yujin is falling behind in dancing. It's obvious it's not her strong side and she can't reach the other girls level."

"So what do you want from me?"

"It's your responsibility to make sure she gets it right until the showcase. I don't care how much you have to work, but it has to be done."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Yes. Sumi's voice is not stable. Her voice cracks even though she is not doing the high notes."

"The vocal teacher should work on it with her, not me." I said before he could finish his sentence and ask me to teach her as well.

"Convince her to go and get extra practice."

"How it that my responsibility? She should be responsible enough to improve herself."

"Do the training together so she won't feel bad."

"Are you serious?!" I exclaimed. "I have my own practice, I have to dance with Yujin to make sure she gets the dance right and now I have to do extra vocal practice because of Sumi? Does it make sense to you?"

"A good leader is doing things together with their team and not just ordreing them around all the time."

"First of all, I didn't ask to be the leader, you were the one that decided it. You can give the job to someone else if you are not satisfied with my performance. Second, I never ordered them around and we are doing things together. Third, I'm human, not a machine. I can't do everything on my own. If you haven't realized, my parts are the most complicated ones in singing and dancing, so I'm already working harder."

"Don't talk back to me." he raised his voice, annoyed. "I don't care what you'll have to do, make sure everything is perfect until the showcase. It's your job."

"Yes, oppa."

"Now go back to practice."

~

When I came back to the dorm I found the girls in the leaving room, watching TV.

"Hey.." I greeted, smiling.

"Hey." they answered.

"What are you watching?"

"The news." Sey answered.

"Do you want to do something tonight?" I offered.

"Like what?" Yujin asked. All of them looked at me curiously.

"I thought about what you told me yesterday and I have an idea. It's something I used to do in order to practice and build my confidence performing in front of people."

"Let's do it!" Eun Hee beamed.

An hour later, all of us stood in front of a public bathhouse.

"You brought us here?" Sumi asked in contempt. The other girls looked confused.

"Look, we can't really perform on the streets without permission since it's against our contracts, but they didn't say anything about a bathhouse. When I didn't have a place to stay I slept here and I practiced here as well. It was fun and I learned how to perform in front of people without getting embarrassed. I even earned some money by doing it." I explained.

"We can get in trouble if we get caught." Sumi said.

"Why would we get caught? No one is here so no one will know." Yujin exclaimed.

"I'll take responsibility because it was my idea." I stated.

"I guess we don't have anything to lose.." Eun Hee said.

"Right." Sey agreed.

"Let's go in!" Yujin exclaimed.

We went inside and changed clothes. We decided to have fun and take a shower first before going into the baths and saunas. We should enjoy the facilities if we are already here..

After the bath we got dressed in the pink clothes we got at the entrance and entered the saunas. It was nice and relaxing and we bonded a little more.

"What now?" Sumi asked after we finished visiting the facilities.

"Practice." I smiled. "Let's go over there." I pointed at one of the empty halls. "It's still early so we won't disturb people's sleep and we'll have enough space since it's quite big."

"Let's go." the girls agreed.

"Look, we can't perform our songs, so we'll have to do the covers we did for practice." I said.

"Sounds great." Yujin said.

"How long do we have to do this?" Sumi grumbled.

"Until you'll feel confident. We have all night if you want to." I smiled.

"I'm out." she stated.

"As you wish." I shrugged. "Who is the most nervous one?" I asked and turned ny gaze to the other girls.

"I am." Sey admitted.

"Good, then we will do a song first." I smiled.

"I'm scared. There are people here."

"They are busy going to the saunas and baths or sleeping, no one cares about us." I said and she looked around. Indeed, everyone was minding their own business and not paying attention to us. "If you are good they will come here after hearing you. And if they don't, you'll feel how it's like to perform for people who are not interested, which is also important. Either way you gain essential experience of performing in front of a crowd, even if he doesn't give a damn about you."

"Are you sure?" she still hesitated.

"Yes. Trust me?"

"Okay."

"Alright." I smiled.

"Ready?" I asked and Sey nodded. We went to the center and I turned the music on. It was the first song we did together because she asked me to help her - Tomorrow (Tablo ft. Taeyang).

I started singing when nobody was watching. The other girls sat on the side, watching us. Sey did her part and I smiled while watching her. She improved a lot since the first time we sang this song.

As the song progressed she started to feel more confident and I noticed there were a few people watching us now. I sighed in relief. Truth is I was scared no one will come watch because I didn't want to disappoint the girls. I figured someone will come because there are always curious people, but it's still scary if no one comes.. It means we and that I failed.

The song ended and the next one that started playing was "If You" (Big Bang). I was happy it was this song because the girls had more parts than me and they need the practice. I was a bit nervous because Sumi said she didn't want to participate, but at the end she joined when it was her part and she did well. She actually looked like she enjoyed it. When the song ended we heard clapping from people who came to watch. The crowd was bigger now. It was mainly males and ahjussies, but there were some females watching as well. We smiled and thanked them, bowing.

We performed more songs, including ballads and upbeat songs. Each song brought more people to watch and we were happy and energized. It made everything worth it and it reminded all of us how fun it is to perform and why we are debuting.

After two hours of singing and dancing we got tired. There were quite a lot of people watching us now, and they all clapped when we finished. We thanked them and bowed and hurried to get our stuff from the lockers before they start asking questions. We didn't mean to be rude, but we were scared to be discovered. If they ask who we are we don't want to lie about our identity, but we also don't want rumors to start going around.

~

"That was fun!" Eun Hee declared when we were out of the bathhouse after showering and getting into our own clothes.

"It was." Yujin agreed.

"I'm feeling more confident now." Sey stated and stretched her arms.

"Did you see how any people watched? They looked like they enjoyed watching us.." Sumi commented.

"Hyeri, good idea!" Eun Hee said, hanging her arm on my shoulder.

"Right!" the rest agreed.

"How about we go for a drink? It's still early and I don't want to go to sleep.." Sey offered.

"We have practice tomorrow." I reminded them.

"Stop being heavy.. Just one drink!" she tried to convince me.

"Yeah, let's go for a drink!" Yujin said.

"Alright." I sighed, giving up. "One drink and we are going back to the dorm. We need to get up early tomorrow."

"Yeah!" they cheered and I smiled.

3 Days before the debut showcase:

"Hyeri, come to the CEO office." Jinu ordered the moment he noticed me in the company.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"Get ready to beg. He is furious." Jinu informed me.

"What did I do?"

"Just go in there. He is waiting for you."

I walked slowly to the CEO office, trying to run all the possible scenarios in my mind. I didn't do anything wrong, so I have no idea what he wants from me and why he is mad. Jinu followed me quietly, not giving any hints.

"Sit down." The CEO ordered when I entered his office. I obeyed.

"Do you know why you are here?" he asked dryly, staring at me.

"N.. No." I stuttered. He entwined his fingers.

"Where were you last night?" the CEO asked.

"At the dorm."

"And before that?"

"We went out.. All the girls.." I stuttered, finally realizing what he is talking about. But how did he find out? It was only us, and the people watching didn't know who we were because we didn't say anything.

"Jinu, give me the contract she signed on." the CEO ordered.

"Yes, sir." Jinu gave him a bunch of papers that I asummed that was my contract.

"Read paragraph 5.b." The CEO ordered, showing me the contract.

"Hmm." I cleared my throat. "I am well aware that I can't perform at any event that wasn't organized by the company and wasn't coordinated with them."

"Did you coordinate yesterday with us?"

"No, sir. But they didn't know we are idols and they don't know who we are. Besides, we didn't perfom any of our songs.."

"I asked a 'Yes' or 'No' question, I didn't ask for explenations!" he slammed the papers on the desk.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Who's idea was it?" he asked coldly.

"Mine. Blame me, I dragged the girls there."

"Alright. Do you remember our last conversation, miss Kim?"

"Yes, sir."

"What did we talk about?"

"You said.. That if I mess up.. You will.. Kick me out." I stuttered.

"Excellent memory." he smiled and his smile creeped me out.

"Jinu." the CEO said.

"Yes, sir?"

"Tell Gun to rearrange the choreography for four people."

Author's Note:

Looks like Hyeri's good intentions are hurting her in the end :\

If your'e curious about the songs they sang at the bathhouse, these are the songs I had in mind (beside the ones I mentioned in the chapter):

Why Did You Come To My home? (Minx), No Oh Oh (CLC), Danger (BTS), Ice Cream Cake (Red Velvet), Empty (Winner), Ghost (Spica), Butterfly (Beast), Hot Pink (EXID), Lie (EXID), Your'e The Best (Mamamoo), 1004 (B.A.P), Feel So Good (B.A.P).

I didn't mention it in the chapter because I wasn't sure if it's interesting and it doesn't really matter to the plot. You can put any other song instead of the songs here :)

By the way - "Why Did You Come To My Home?" is one of the songs that inspired "Oppa Is Mine" :P

I'm going to be busy until the end of the month, so it might take a few days until the next update.. I'll try to update quickly.

Thanks for reading, commenting, etc.!

M.