Yueliang

Honestly, Yueliang wasn't so sure why everyone was so keen on calling her a . es talked behind your back. She, on the contrary, said everything to your face. In her book, it was much much better than lying, and so she had no idea why she was being called a all the time.

People were so sensitive sometimes. God.

Such a case was with Dahyun.

"You do realize you can be a little nicer to people?"

Yueliang could only blink at the other girl. "I just pointed out your mistake. If you kept on ignoring that minus, the whole equation would've been wrong, and then your answer wouldn't have been correct."

The hallway was noisy and busy, as every high school hallway was, with teenagers in dark blue wests and red ties walked and talked, enjoying the semi-normal student lives (because, honestly, how normal could a school were eighty percent of the students were idols be?) in Hanlim multi art school.

Dahyun gave her a look Yueliang interpreted as: You're either retarded or high. "Yeah because saying it in front of the whole class in that y tone of yours was very helpful. Thanks."

Ah. There it was again. People calling her a .

She watched the retreating form of the future Twice member, and as she could only wonder if the girl truly thought she was being a when she said that.

That was what she asked Seoyeon during lunch.

Her friend took a few seconds to respond, shifting her head left and right in the way Yueliang knew she did when she was trying to understand how to voice her opinion in Korean correctly. "Um… it's not that you don't mean well," she began, taking a bite from her fried chicken (made by Ardene as a celebration for the end of their promotion and return of food with actual calories). "It's more that you can't express yourself that well in Korean, and that… well you can be really blunt, XingXing. Like, really really blunt."

Yueliang swallowed her own piece of meat. "But why is telling the truth considered acting y? I mean, yeah, I know I'm not the most emotional girl in the world, but in that case I only tried to help Dahyun."

"Dahyun is probably stressed because she debuts in a month and she doesn't want to spend potential practice time at school, and that's why she's on edge. But let's look at the bigger picture, Liangie.  You know I love you, but I think that sometimes you can try to be a little gentler when you say things."

"Like what?" She raised a brow.

Seoyeon took a breath. "Like for example with Shigure-unnie. I mean, yeah, we're all a little upset that she's going to Japan instead of focusing on Arora and ISAC, but I can also see where she's coming from. Her dance crew is like a second family to her, and she has been with them for far longer than with us. I really don't know what I would've done in her position, but I do know that we can try to be considerate to each other since we're a team, and talk it out or something like that."

No way. No ing way. "Wait a minute. You're saying she's going to Japan? Again?"

Seoyeon didn't seem to notice her expression just yet. "You should check your Kakaotalk more often."

Reaching for her bag, Yueliang retrieved her phone, immediately noticed that she had notifications from the Kakao group chat of Arora.

 Gudemorning [08:13] :  Sup sup sup I'm going to Japan in two days! What do u want as presents?

 TheOGBusan [09:11] : Yo what about ISAC

 The OGBusan [09:11] : When r u coming back

 TheOGBusan [09:12] : And that tasty thingy u brought last time… what's the name

 Eyelinermonster [09:15] : Chaerin means Pocky

 TheOGBusan [09:15] : Yup that's it thx Yoon

 Gudemorning [09:16] : I'm coming 2 days before ISAC. No worries we will kick

 Kwokakwoka [09:17] : Good luck unnie ~~

 Chocosky [09:17] : Unniee gooddd luckkk

 Gudemorning [09:19] : Thxx :-* :-*

 Valarmorghulis [09:20] : If u see a minion case for galaxy s5 buy 4 me. I'll send a pic

 Valarmorghulis [09:20] :   

 TheOGBusan [09:20] : Can u please tell me already what your username means Aeri????

 Valarmorghulis [09:20] : WATCH GOT

 TheOGBusan [09:20] : TELLL MEEEEE

 Kiwidee [09:21] : Bring some wasabi kit kats I wanna poison NJ

Yueliang stared. And then stared some more. "Why do you act like it's a normal thing!?" She couldn't help feeling a little betrayed by how casual Seoyeon was acting about the ordeal.

And it wasn't just Seoyeon. All of them were acting as if Shigure going was the most normal, obvious thing in the world, when they all knew it wasn't. Why was she the only one standing for what's right, and then getting criticized for it? For real, all of them wanted to tell the Japanese that she was acting unprofessional as hell, but none of them had the guts. Everybody was just expecting her to do it in their stead. And if she would, everyone would just say that she was acting 'cold' or 'y'.

Seriously, people called her bipolar, when in truth there were far more ambiguous than she ever was.

Taeyong, for one, agreed with her completely.

They discussed the matter over a hot bowl of Bibimbap. The three of them – Taeyong was already far too gone into accepting Seoyeon into their family – met at their regular restaurant, located comfortably between SM's building and Big Hit's, and Yueliang brought up the topic. Taeyong listened to her talk diligently, processed the information, and came to the very obvious conclusion (at least in her mind).

"We had a trainee once, Taiwanese, who kept traveling back and forth to Taiwan under the premise that he was a part of some after-school activity he couldn't quit or something like that, I don't really remember."

"What's premise?" Such high words were too complicated for her level of Korean. Even Seoyeon looked a bit confused.

"Ugh, a statement from someone." The older guy put a huge chunk of rice in his mouth, swallowed loudly and continued. "Anyway, so this guy travels back and forth, misses a lot of practices and evaluations, and you know how tough training is at SM Liangie. He starts to fall back, and things don't go too well with his Taiwanese either. So the instructors give him a speech; that he needs to pull his life together and figure out what's more important to him. But this guy says he will just work harder and everything will be alright."

"And then he works harder and everything's fine?" Seoyeon asked, making Yueliang roll her eyes playfully at her. This girl was too optimistic for her own good.

Taeyong just chuckled. "Everything blows up in his face. He gets kicked out of his Taiwanese activity, and when he gets back to Korea, he gets dropped as a trainee because he had neglected his training to the point of making the company lose money. And you know what? He deserves it. We work our asses off every day, while he thinks he can jump back and forth between some . It's his fault, and I don't feel sorry for him. He should've focused on one thing, and I don't necessarily mean SM. Be it the trainee life or whatever it is he was doing in Taiwan, he should've picked one thing and stuck to it."

"And that's exactly what Shigure should be doing." Yueliang nodded in agreement. Finally someone with some sense.

Seoyeon wasn't convinced. "You can't just demand from people to do this or that, oppa. Trainees and idols have a life outside of their companies."

"Well first of all, I don't think they should." Taeyong countered. "Trainees, I mean. Only the best get to debut and you don't become the best without devoting your entire selves to your cause. That's what they teach us at SM, anyways. I don't know what they're telling you at your low-key company. Remind me why you transferred again Liangie?" He raised his brow.

"Because SM thought I was just a pretty doll that couldn't do anything but be pretty."

Taeyong just shrugged, the way he always did when the topic was brought up. It was one of the rare things that they never agreed on, and would never agree on. Taeyong was too in love with SM to notice its flaws, and Yueliang gave up on trying making him realize that his precious company wasn't so perfect. Not that Big Hit was perfect (far from it, actually), but Yueliang chose her companies like she chose her politicians: the lesser of the two evils.

"Do you think that if we talk to Shigure-unnie then maybe it will resolve the situation?" Seoyeon asked.

"You can try." Taeyong shrugged again and took another bite of his dish. "But if she doesn't listen than she just going to end up like that Taiwanese dude. And the fact that I can't even remember his name is a giveaway to what happened to his idol career."

For some reason, Yueliang had a feeling she knew who would end up giving the speech to Shigure. And who would be accused of being a once again.

CHAerin

Making out with Bongyoung was very high on the list of reasons why he was Chaerin's boyfriend.

It went like this:

1. He was gentle and kind-hearted.
2. He was really hot when he was dancing
3. He was a ing good kisser
4. Basically everything else

He was also really good at having , but there was just something in the way his mouth worked that made Chaerin absolutely melt into his touch. It didn't even matter to her that he probably learned to kiss so well from other girls, because when they were kissing she couldn't concentrate on anything other than the fact that it felt so ing good and she never wanted that moment to end.

But unfortunately, as with any other moment in life, it ended, and then they were left with dealing with their crumbling relationship.

To put it bluntly, Chaerin didn't enjoy it too much.

Something with Bongyoung was different. Since more than four months ago, something shifted in the way he acted, the way he felt, and even Chaerin, despite her naivety, could feel it. She wondered a lot if she had done anything wrong, but the more she thought about it the more she realized that she didn't do anything out of the ordinary four months ago to make Bongyoung change his attitude towards her. She wasn't being a , nor was she clingier than usual, maybe a bit distant because she was preparing for her debut, but other than that there was –

Oh her in the . Yoonji was singing in her mind "He doesn't want you to debut" so loudly and with such glee in her voice that she groaned out loud.

Bongyoung mistook it for a moan.

He trailed his wet tongue over the same spot on her neck, before on the sensitive skin. It sent shivers down her spine, but Chaerin couldn't focus on the pleasant feeling anymore. Yoonji's beautiful vocals were too loud inside her brain, and she was going insane.

She hated her for putting that thought into her mind. It wasn't true. It wasn't.

"Oppa," She whined, and Bongyoung raised his desire-clouded eyes towards her. "Oppa, do you love me?"

She knew that although Bongyoung was used to dealing with her emotional bull, it still surprised him every time she tackled him with a question like that. Sighing, he pulled himself off of her and took a sitting position on the leather couch. She shifted into sitting as well, and looked straight into his eyes, waiting.

"Of course I love you. I tell you that I love you every goddamn day. Why'd you ask all of the sudden?"

She gnawed on her partly swollen lips. "But what is your definition of 'love'?"

Her boyfriend stared at her with an unbelieving look on his face. Chaerin could clearly see the confusion as he scratched the back of his head. Figuring out there probably wasn't a correct answer to that question, he just said. "I dunno. Love is love. Do you have a definition of love?"

Honestly, she didn't really have one – she always thought love was too magical to describe properly with words – but for the sake of the direction she wanted to stir the conversation towards, she replied, "Love is when you support someone unconditionally and want whatever's best for them."

Bongyoung grinned boyishly. "Then I really really really love you, Chaerin."

Oh my god he sounded so sincere. She suddenly felt so bad for ever doubting him, and guilt crawled towards her stomach mercilessly, leaving painful trails. "I love you too, oppa." She choked out, trying to sound cheerful.

But she was never good with hiding her true feelings, and Bongyoung noticed something was wrong. "Hey, Chaerin, what's wrong?" He scooted closer to her, concern washing over his face as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's just that our 1000 days are coming soon," Panicking for a valid reason for her stupidity, she blurted. "And we're shooting ISAC on the same day so I won't be able to spend it with you."

"That's it? Don't worry; we can go out to eat after you finish shooting."

"But then someone might recognize me, and then rumors will surface and people will start thinking that we're dating and –"

And there it was. That shift in his demeanor. Bongyoung tensed, and then let go of her and moved slightly away, offended. "Of course. People can't think that we're dating. That would be awful."

"Oppa, I didn't mean it like that!" Chaerin tried to defend herself. "You know I don't think like that, but a rookie dating would cause a scandal, and you know the company would punish us."

"Yeah, because little simpleton Park Bongyoung dating the rising star Kang Chaerin would cause such a huge scandal! Oh, how could she be dating him!? How horrible!"

"I didn't see you being so keen on publishing our relationship before!"

"That was because you were a trainee and I was your teacher!"

"And you think anything changed now, Bongyoung!? Do you want to get fired!? Bang-PDnim won't care that I'm not a trainee anymore, he will kick your out faster than Kim Jisoo fell for Jung Eunji on Cheer up!"

"Yes, Chaerin, bring in dramas into an argument, that's so mature of you!"

"Will it be more mature if I would just leave then!?"

"You know what," Bongyoung was breathing heavily, as if he had ran a marathon. She noticed she was breathing just as badly. , she hated fighting with him so much. "Maybe you should leave."

What. The actual. . "Are you kicking me out!?" She shrieked, standing up abruptly. He was not real. Sometimes she felt like she could choke on the love and happiness she received from him… and sometimes she could strangle him from how mad he made her feel.

Her words seemed to have made an effect on her boyfriend, because his features softened, and suddenly he just looked so lost and so tired and all Chaerin wanted to do was hug him and kiss him and forget about everything else in the world.

"I-I'm sorry," he breathed out, running a hand through his hair nervously. "I'm not kicking you out, Chaerin, but I'm really afraid that if you stay here for today we'll just keep on starting the same argument. Please," And his eyes were so ing pleading. "Please, let's just meet up tomorrow."

She was surprised by how broken her own voice sounded. "I can't tomorrow, I'm the backup for the relay team, we're training for ISAC."

"Then the day after tomorrow."

Chaerin didn't say anything after that; she simply couldn't. Emotions were raging inside of her like a tornado in the middle of the ocean; sadness and anger and pure rage were dancing around, confusing the out of her regarding how she felt. So she just left.

Why did everything need to be so ing hard?  At first everything was so perfect with him, because he was perfect. Really, he was. He was so kind, and so so gentle, and hard-working, and the passion that flashed in his eyes when he danced was so consuming that it made her heart swell with pride and love. But there was something between them, some sort of rift between his soul and hers, that was growing with each day and she had no idea what was causing it and what she had to do to stop it.

A traitorous thought entered her mind, what if Yoonji's right? And as much as she tried to push it away, it just nested in the depths of her mind, slowly eating everything away. God, she couldn't be right, not this time. Please, she just couldn't be right.

She really hoped everything would just go back to the way it used to be. But could she be that naïve this time? Could she just say that everything was going to be alright, and that it would be?

"Noona?"

Without realizing it, Chaerin had reached the building of their dorm. She didn't know how long she was simply standing in the lobby, but a familiar voice had pulled her out of her inner dilemma.

Jimin was covered in sweat, his black hair matted to his slightly tanned face, a few strands covering his tired eyes. He was dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt, and a comfortable bag was slung over his shoulder. The warm smile he adorned was directed at her, and he quickly came to stand next to her. "Why are you standing like that in the lobby?"

"Ugh, I was just waiting for the elevator." She said quickly, pushing the elevator button to indicate her point. The sign above them flashed, and the elevator started going down. "Were you practicing, Jimin? It's almost midnight. You really shouldn't do that to your body."

"Don't worry about me; I'm not the one who was staring at the elevator for five minutes." He chuckled lightly, nudging at her side playfully. It forced a smile out of her, and for a second she forgot about the drama between Bongyoung and her.

"Then again, you do need to practice your off if you want to be even relatively close to my awesome dancing skills." She retorted with a cheeky grin. "How are we going to do that dancing duet you're always talking about if you can't keep up with me?"

The elevator door opened with a 'ding', and the two of them entered. Jimin didn't wait and pressed the number '14' for her, before pressing '15' for himself. "Yeah right. It's you who can't keep up with this dancing machine."

Chaerin laughed, and Jimin smiled ever-so-softly at her. At times like that she had no idea what he was thinking, and it made her confused but also grateful that confusion was all she felt, and not anger, sadness and disappointment (like with a certain boyfriend of hers).

"Are you okay?"

His question caught her off guard.

"No," She answered truthfully, "But slightly better now." She smiled, but then the doors opened on the 14^th floor, and yelling filled the hallway, yelling that sounded awfully familiar. "And now it's gone."

She sighed and stepped out of the elevator. Waving to the boy with her back turned to him, she hurried to the door of Arora's apartment. Her key clicked in the dark brown door, and she pushed the handle.

Shigure was fuming.

" – any idea how hard I work!? I work my off, but the almighty Xing Yueliang thinks it's not enough. Is anything ever enough to you, your majesty? Or is your head too far up your to tell!?"

Yueliang was also angry, but she was showing it differently than Shigure. While the blonde walked around the living room, waving her hands around and practically yelling, the brunette sat stoically on the chair, arms folded, the resting -face ever present.

"It's your head that's too up your ." She replied icily. "All you think about is yourself, have you ever stopped for a second and thought about the group?"

"I'm not going to quit Frontrunners!"

"Then you shouldn't have become a trainee in the first place."

"Urgh –"

As the room filled with angry Japanese, Chaerin slowly crept towards a distressed-looking Yoonji, who sat on the corner of the sofa and observed the situation with clueless eyes. Crouching next to her, Chaerin whispered, "What the hell is going on?"

"Yueliang isn't too fond of the fact that Shigure is going to Japan again." Yoonji whispered back. "Which I agree with. But Yueliang is Yueliang, and you know how she says it when she doesn't like something… So here we are now."

Yueliang and Shigure kept on arguing in the foreign language, and Chaerin scanned the room quickly. The rest of Arora – Aeri, Ardene and Xiuying – were watching as well, from the other side of the room. Unease coated each of their faces, the worst by far being their maknae. Xiuying cringed every now and then, and her youthful features were marred with nervousness and concern. She looked like a lost little puppy, and Chaerin had the strong urge to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

"Do something about it!" She whispered.

Yoonji didn't look at her, her eyes still glued to the unfolding scene. "What can I do?"

"You're the leader!"

Her friend finally turned her face and looked at her, straight in the eye. "Don't go there, Chaerin." She warned.

Not this bull again. "Oh my god, it's time you stop with your ty insecurity and doubts, Lim Yoonji, because now is not the time to be all gloomy and tsundere."

"Wow, thanks Chaerin, now I feel so confident in my abilities. Great prep-talk, real comforting."

Suddenly the main conversation shifted to Korean again, and Yueliang pointed a (disturbingly accusing) finger towards the two of them. "What do you think about it?"

The two eldest looked up at the same time. "Ah?"

Yueliang circled the room with her predator eyes, like a deadly feline searching for her next miserable prey. "Why am I the only one speaking, again? Why won't you tell her how you feel? What about you, Aeri, care to share your thoughts? Or you, Xiuying, I'd really like to hear what you're thinking. Or you, our great leader, what's on your mind?"

"Why are you dragging us into your fight?" Yoonji crossed her arms on her chest defensively. Even as she tried to look authoritative and intimidating, Chaerin could see through her mask.

"That's the whole point! It's not just our fight!" Yueliang, for the first time in this fight, showed any emotion other than irritation. Desperation colored her eyes a shade darker, and (dare Chaerin say) betrayal seeped through her tone. "This concerns Arora as a group. I don't understand why I'm the only one who's fighting for it!"

"Yeah, you know what; I wanna hear what you think." Shigure commented. "She's right. It's not just about us. Let's hear you."

All eyes turned to the leader expectantly. Chaerin could feel the unease radiating from her friend like heat. "I think…" Yoonji started, before taking a breath and speaking again, "I think that Yueliang has a point, Shigure. But Yueliang, you do realize that there's a way for you to talk that won't sound offensive, right?"

As soon as the words left Yoonji's lips, Chaerin knew that the end has come. Because no matter how right she was, Yoonji didn't really have a way with words herself.

"Okay, I get it, none of you thinks that I'm worthy of this group. Alright." Shigure said, storming off into her room and closing the door behind her with a bang.

"So it's my fault, again." Yueliang said. "Great, just great. I'm the again. ing great." And with that she her heels, and just like the other Japanese girl, disappeared behind the door of her room with a bang.

Yoonji groaned, banding the back of her head on the sofa. "Kill me, Chaerin. Just kill me."

Funny. Chaerin was going to ask her the same thing.

SHIgure

Shigure didn't need any of them. She had had enough.

So they thought she wasn't doing enough for Arora? Fine. Let them think so. She didn't care. Really, really didn't care. Not at all.

"Are we there yet?" She asked impatiently for what probably was the millionth time.

Taehee only gulped nervously in response.

Honestly, Shigure had no idea why Big Hit didn't just let her go alone, and decided to make this guy – was he even an assistant? He looked like a nervous twelve-year-old – tag along to her trip. Maybe it was Cheolmin's revenge for defying him. Most likely. It was something her manager could do.

She wasn't sure who she was angry at the most – Yueliang for being such a , Yoonji for doing such a ty job at being the leader, or the other members for being too politicly-correct to take a side. All she knew that she was angry as .

She had a feeling Taehee was a little terrified of her, if the nervous glances were any indication.

The nervous assistant insisted on carrying her small luggage by him, and he huffed and puffed all the way to the main hall of Incheon's airport. All around her the buzz of the busy airport danced, but even among the hundreds of people paparazzi still scouted out potential targets. A few of them caught the sight of her, and then a few cameras flashed in her direction.

Shigure's initial response was excitement because wow she was recognized as Shigure of Arora and people were actually interested in the group – but then the fight for the day before flashed in her mind and her excitement changed for annoyance.

She was glad she put such big black sunglasses. She didn't have any power dealing with noisy paparazzi.

"Why are you here again?" She asked Taehee matter-of-factly, while her eyes searched for a familiar face among the crowd.

"You're an idol now, Shigure-ssi, and you need a figure to both represent and protect you, even if you're on duties outside Arora's."

Protect her. Her . Judging by the way the personal assistant trembled; if anything came to it she would have to protect him, and not the other way around.

"SHINOZAKI!" Nano spotted her first, and his yell startled a few of the people. But the guy didn't seem to care. He hurried to their side, crushed her into a bear hug, and then winked at her cheekily. "You looked so pretty you just stood out in the crowd."

"Stop being a tease, Nyanyo." She smacked him over the head playfully.

Nano was about to reply, before noticing the addition to their party. "Um, Shigure… who's this?" He asked in hushed Japanese.

"That's Darth Vader's revenge." She whispered in Japanese before replying louder in Korean, "Nano, meet one of Big Hit's assistants, Taehee."

"Wow," Nano looked beyond impressed. "A certain someone has become a hotshot at her company."

Shigure only rolled her eyes in response.

The flight to Japan was pleasantly uneventful – with the exception of Taehee, who as soon as getting rid of the luggage pulled out a camera and started recording her, justifying himself by saying that it was for "Arora Splash" (because that totally justified the invasion of her privacy. Totally). Fans didn't need to see every nook and cranny of her personal life, the "Splashes" she did with Arora were more than enough.

Two and a half hours later they were standing on Japan's ground, and Shigure was finally feeling happy. She might've been home a few months ago, but god, she missed her home country. Japan was truly beautiful.

Even Taehee and his constant camera-shoving-into-her-face couldn't put her down. But apparently her dance crew could.

Everything was so lovely at first. Her crewmates greeted her with warm hugs and kisses, and they even went out to eat at her favorite Takoyaki restaurant (she ordered hers with egg, of course). But then they started training for the competition, and boy had Shigure realized that she had ed up.

"Shinozaki!" Everyone stopped yet again. It was the tenth time in the past five minutes. Shigure wanted to bury herself in the ground and die. "I showed you this move three times already, you shift your arm too quickly and with too wide of an angle. What's wrong with you? Haven't you practiced?"

She did practice, if by practice he meant going over the choreo that was sent to her via a youtube video at nights after she was done practicing with Arora. She knew she hadn't memorized the choreography completely, and that her moves were shaky at times, but ; she had practiced so goddamn hard. There were nights when she slept for two hours because she was practicing until the sun came up. And so it hurt, it hurt that she wasn't able to showcase her best even though she worked so hard.

"I'm sorry guys," she breathed out, running a hand through her hair nervously. Her coping mechanism kicked in, and she clapped her hands energetically and exclaimed, "Let's go over it one more time! I won't disappoint, I promise!" because being cheerful and happy was better than crying. Shigure didn't do crying.

But three attempts later, nothing was better.

"I think that we should switch the center. I'm sorry, Shinozaki, but we just won't be able to win if you're going to be the center."

Their words hurt.

Everything was blowing up in her face – Arora, Frontrunners, her entire life. Everything was blowing, and Shigure had no ing idea what to do.

A/N:

Whoo longest chapter as of yet, 5000 words!!

At first Shigure's part was supposed to be in the last chapter, but then Yueliang was all like 'nope' and 'I need a chapter too' so she got in. And then Chaerin wasn't even supposed to be in this chapter, but she was like 'but I wanna'... so yeah. They already have a mind of their own, oh boy.

These three POV show three different angles to the situation, and there are a lot of connections and views on the same topic that I hope add to the humanity of the characters - since no situation is clearly black and white. 

Also, I'm going to start using more and more real idols, and not all of them are going to be nice and friendly. I like 99.8% of the idols that I use in this story, so I'm not bashing anyone by giving them a ty personality. On the contrary, I quite like ty characters. Just letting you know, since we already got to see Twice's Dahyun and NCT's Taeyong ;)

Whoo next chapter is ISAC. FINALLY! 

Comment to let me know what you think of this chapter, lots of love <3