REVEAL 02. Not Quite New, but Still!
4xU. The ComeBack: AWARD SHOW SEASON!REVEAL ONE - Fun in the Sun
The sun was bright and hot on the girls this afternoon, their makeup feeling more cakey than usual and the added anxiety of it either melting off or being ruined by the salt water of the ocean. However, it surely didn't discourage the younger girls from playing when they had the chance during filming hours. Others, however, were taking advantage of the sun.
"Chase! Chase!" The long haired beauty slid her sunglasses down her nose to look up at the stylist. She smiled brightly from her beach chair, "Hey unnie~ What's up?"
"Your skin will come out so dark in the music video if you keep laying out like this, come on, we have to do your scene soon." The stylist pleaded. Chase pushed her glasses up before rolling her eyes. This wasn't the first time that she had been scolded by the stylists and directors to not darken her skin. "My skin's already dark, nothing's going to change that, so what's a few hours in the sun going to do? Nothing like a healthy summer glow, you know?" She tossed her hair over her shoulder as she stood up, still smiling.
"Now, let's go film my scene, shall we?" She walked off ahead of the stylist, letting the girl trail after her in shock and a bit of offense.
All dolled up and sunglasses put aside about an half hour later, Chase wiggled her toes in the water, looking up at the sun for a few minutes, hand over her eyes. She smiled brightly behind her before turning and running, long hair flying behind her.
"And cut! Good job, Chase, loved it!" The producer applauded, waving her off. "Let the next girl come on and start before we lose too much light!" Chase nodded and bowed to the crew before shuffling off the area that was known as the set for today, huffing as she tried fixing her hair.
"Aaaaah, if I wasn't so vain about this mane I'd cut it off!" She grumbled to herself, trying to untangle the long strands before giving up, tossing it behind her and getting her phone to check her messages. Usually she wouldn't have it on set with her, but... someone had been texting her her and she couldn't just ignore them.
Y: Are you fried yet? You better be since I haven't heard from you in a while.
C: If by fried you mean dark and gorgeous, then yes, you pale . What do you want?
Y: Rude, after all I've done for you. My pale legs are prettier than yours anyways.
C: ... Okay I can't argue with that, even though your skin blinds me everytime I look at it. But seriously, what's up?
Y: Are you still coming to the show next week? We need to finish the track.
Chase cursed under her breath. Of course! How could she have forgotten?? She and Yoongi were going to be debuting this track at that show, they'd been working on it for months and he finally deemed it worthy for other ears. But the debut time schedule was starting to crack down on them hard, and she had no idea if she'd have any time to actually sleep, much less get away and continue polishing up the track to debut that in time.
C: You know I want to. But my debut...
Y: I know, it comes first. You only debut once, kiddo. Live it and live it well. You'll probably kraing-e on it come a few years, but it'll be something to look back on and be proud of your progress.
C: ... I can't take your profound wisdom seriously with that STUPID PUN IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.
Y: IT'S YOUR STUPID STAGE NAME THAT'S IN THAT PUN SO REALLY WHO'S STUPID.
C: YOU BECAUSE MY STAGE NAME IS CHASE.
Y: Not until you debut, Kraing. See ya, kiddo! Fighting!
A huge groan escaped her as she flung herself back onto the chair, wanting nothing more than her phone to be her friend so she'd be able to actually toss him across the room. He was small, she could totally manage it. She covered her eyes with her forearm, letting her phone slip out of her hands.
"U-uhm, C-c-chai-unnie?" Chase peeked through her eyes to see little Jinsol -- no, Clara, she corrected herself, fidgeting in front of her. "Yes sweetie? What's up?" She leaned forward, smiling.
"T-they, uhm..." Clara bit her lip. "T-they told us to get ready for the next scene, it'll b-be a while, but uhm... yeah..." The young girl blushed, embarrassed at her stutter. Chase stood up, bending to pick her phone up before striding over to her.
"Of course! Let me tell you about the horror of boys, dear, don't ever get involved with them --"
"U-unnie?"
"Yes?"
"M-my brother... a-and his group?"
"Oh... right. Hm. Well, let's discuss something else. Have you eaten today?" And with that, Chase led the younger away to the stylist's room in their beachside hotel, already momming the younger about her eating habits and leaving the poor younger girl in a tizzy. But hey, eating was important and so was staying away from boys... even if you had no choice but to interact with 13 of them because your brother was an idol in a too large for it's own good boy group.
Evening fell quicker than expected, and even if the girls were exhausted, Clara starting to drift off and lay on Little Red, who was currently fidgeting because of the want to move, they were anticipating the next part of their shooting. It was probably the part they were most looking forward to in the whole process.
"Okay girls, it's time for your favorite part!" Their manager approached them. Su-chin was an older woman, mid 30s, with a stylish pixie cut and a warm smile. Her dialect was distinct, being from China, and it was easy to pick out. The girls adored their manager and looked excited.
Naeun was the first to get up, slipping her shoes off and making a good head start towards the beach, now covered in early twilight. The rest got up and hurried after her, everyone now buzzing and awake with renewed energy. There was a small table set up right before the section of beach they were using, filled with sparklers. Everyone eagerly got their own, practically bouncing with excitement to start.
Their oldest "new" member bit her lip, looking down at her own sparkler. This was... this was it. They only had to perfect their choreography, maybe reshoot a couple of scenes if need be, but then... their debut was here. She was actually debuting. After 14 years...
"Ready?" JJ looked over to see Cinderella standing there, grinning and looking the happiest she's ever seen her. And JJ's seen her through a lot. She nodded, "Yeah... Just not really believing this is happening, honestly." She admitted, waving the sparkler around for emphasis.
"It's kinda crazy, after all these years." Cinderella agreed. "But.. I've got a good feeling about this."
JJ raised an eyebrow. "The sparklers?"
The other snorted and nudged her playfully. "No. This. This group. You. Everything. It's... It might take time, but this will be good."
"Well I'm known to be very patient." JJ joked, her attention being called by the youngers screeching as Su-chin brought out a lighter.
"And it's going to pay off. Let's get you into a good shot, shall we? These youngsters need to know their place." Cinderella pulled her along, closer to Su-chin as they started lighting up the sparklers, the cameras rolling as the girls starting running and chasing each other, all smiles and nothing but the feeling of glee in the air. JJ laughed, making shapes with Clara as the sparklers glowed and cracked, even taking to the sea with the other girls, the lights dancing on the water as twilight fell closer to the beginnings of night.
"Wonderful, girls! Let's do a couple more takes, okay? We want more shots of the older girls this round, so all of you try and be more aware of the camera this time!" They were told, lining up to get another set of sparklers. JJ got hers after everyone, and the director motioned her closer. "We speficially want a show of you looking at the camera with the sparkler JJ, so just stay close so we can get you with the sparkler before it runs out."
JJ gulped. She hoped she turned out as well as her sisters did on camera -- they were known for their visuals, after all, and as a fellow Jung, she couldn't disappoint.
"Why me, out of curiousity?" She couldn't help but ask. The director blinked. "Oh, well, you have a very good look with this scene and as the one with the longest trainee time, you should have a pretty decent solo shot, right?" JJ nodded slowly, before positioning herself near the camera and waiting for Su-chin to light her sparkler up.
Even though her nerves ate at her, and she wanted to do the scene at least five more times to ensure that it was perfect, JJ knew that they had a limited amount of sparklers and time before it was just way too dark for anything to turn out right on camera. So hopefully she did well on camera. She sighed, picking up her phone in her hotel room. She was with Clara and Beauty, being the quieter ones of the group, and Beauty had gone out to talk to her boyfriend, and Clara, after talking to her brother, had already fallen asleep in her bed.
JJ dialed the number all too familar to her, listening to the ringtone and hoping that she'd pick up.
"Hey, it's Krystal, or Soojung, or whatever you know me as. I'm probably busy or not in the mood to talk right now, so leave a message if it's urgent and I'll get back to you... eventually. Maybe. Bye~"
"Hey, Soojung," JJ sighed, "It's, you know, me, Soojin. Your sister. Sorry if this is a bad time, I just finished filming and... I guess I needed to talk to someone? Validate the experience, you know? It just...doesn't feel real? But I've been training for so long, and a lot of people know me already, so it's like, I'm new, but I'm not at the same time? Did it feel this way for you when f(x) was about to debut? I know it's weird I'm turning to you, but you know how Sooyeon is about stuff like this now. Anyways, I'll leave you alone. Text me or call me, okay? I worry about you. Love you, bye!" She rushed, hanging up and sighing once more before getting ready for bed.
Maybe it'll feel more real in the morning.
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