Everyone has their own fights, we can’t judge anyone by their covers alone. They might look normal outside but deep down, maybe each of them are trying their best to survive.

-a tribute to Kim Jonghyun-

 

“PARK SUJEONG WHERE ARE YOU?!” Younghee’s voice echoed throughout ALOHA’s one and only dorm. The floor that’s made out of solid ceramic tiles made her footsteps sounds even louder. She slammed the door wide open, revealing Sujeong and Anna’s room and catch the two attempting to make some ramyuns behind her back. “I- WHAT IS THIS?!” Younghee is quite strict when it around their comebacks. She would nag all day about practice and how they should have a strict diet, and it surely irritates the other girls.

“Younghee eonnie! We can explain!” Anna’s pair of eyes got wider due to the shock while her hands tried to cover her precious ramyun.

“This is not what it looks like!” Sujeong added, both in order to save her and Anna’s.

“It’s not what it looks like you’re trying to eat ramyuns when we’re supposed to diet?! COMEBACK IS IN TWO MONTHS!” she started to raise her voice, “And you!” Younghee is now pointing at the innocent Sujeong, making the female blink in worry. “Explain this.” She showed her phone with an opened article from a Naver page on her screen.

Sujeong, being the confused girl as she is, started laughing freely. “HAHAHAHAHA--why are they so stupid?!” The news’ tagline was ‘Park Sujeong of ALOHA Caught Dating with One of Produce101’s Trainee’ which made her laugh so hard. “I thought everyone knew already, why are you mad at me for?” Sujeong smiled innocently while looking at Younghee.

“What- do you think this is funny? What if your brother’s rank goes down and he lost his chance of debuting? You need to confirm this, quick!” Younghee might be a naggy person but she’s the type who would think of every single consequences ahead.

“Oh my- You’re right! I need to confirm this quick.” Sujeong stood up and swiftly took her phone from the nightstand. Damn it. Ten missed calls from both PD-nim and their manager. And as if on cue, another phone call came in.

Park Woojin.

“Noonaaaaa! What am I supposed to do now? They won’t believe me until your company confirms it.” the younger lad quickly whined on the other side of the phone as soon as the calls were connected.

“Right, ugh- Woojin-ah I’m soooo sorry, I’ll fix this as soon as possible, okay?” Sujeong scratches her head as she paced back and forth. Quickly ending the call with Woojin, she then scrolled her phone to call her PD-nim, immediately hitting the green button as she recognized the caller ID. At first, she was very annoyed by how naggy Younghee was, but now she’s grateful that Younghee came in before things got even worse than they already are.

“Hello PD-nim? Yes- I’m sorry, I can explain- Park Woojin is my biological younger brother. Yes, I understand. I am so sorry, it won’t happen again. Okay, thank you PD-nim.” she bowed slightly in reflex then hung up, sighing. “Eonnie… Thank you so much-”

“OH I AM NOT DONE ABOUT THIS RAMYEON THING!”

And naggy Younghee is back.

 

--

 

One scary thing about comebacks is that idols have to keep a strict eyes on their weight and if they gained even just a tiny bit of weight, they have to spend more time in exercise and refrain themselves from eating until they lose those extra weight. That’s why Younghee didn’t want the girls to eat something with a lot of calories.

The thing is, there is this one member who never gained any weight no matter what she put in her body.

“Comeback is right around the corner, and it’s better to focus on practicing. No more lazying around, no more sneaking out to anywhere unless you’re with our manager. Okay?” Younghee ended her final talk as a leader before she dismissed the team.

“And Jinnie,” Younghee said, making the younger stop on her tracks, “I know you don’t gain any weight now, but you will if you keep having a late night snack.” The remark made the girl pout but still nodded at the elder member of ALOHA.

The girls quietly entered their respective rooms, except for Rae and Younghee. Heaving a deep sigh, Rae quietly moved and sit next to her friend. “I know you’re just trying to look out after us, but you don’t have to be so hard on the girls, especially on Candy. The girl will graduate in only a few days, we should support her, not stressing her out.”

Younghee nodded and leaned back on the comfy sofa that she was sitting on. “I know. It’s just… It’s hard being a leader, you know? It’s like I have seven children to take care of, and it’s better if I nag at them myself rather than having our PD-nim scold them and made the team fight again. Let’s just do our best in this comeback, okay?” Younghee said and smiled at her Canadian friend--which quickly faltered and changed into a worried from as the latter covered and coughed.

“Hey, are you alright?” Younghee’s motherly instincts kicked in, but got refused by Rae as she smiled, waving her hands. “It’s alright. It’s just the weather,” she said before excusing herself and walked towards her room.

 

--

 

“Oh my God! Produce101’s final episode is tonight!”  Anna announced in excitement while she was checking on her phone and started squealing.

“I’M NOT GONNA WATCH IF IM YOUNGMIN IS NOT IN!” said Zhu who was lying down the wooden floor of their practice room. It was a smelly place now that they’re all sweaty.

“What’s Guanlin’s final rank yesterday?” Jinnie asked out of curiosity regarding the boy whom she ever met once.

“Oh, he was ranked 20th last week, can you believe that?” Anna shook her head in disbelief.

“I can’t stay calm like this.” Sujeong whined, playing with her fingers because of her anxiety towards the show.

“What’s wrong? Are you worried about Woojin?” Kimi scoots closer towards Sujeong and asked.

“YES! My little brother is too young to get hates, he needs to debut, he has to! And what if he didn’t debut because of me? I’ll blame myself for my whole life! And-”

“SUJEONG CHILL!” Candy put her hands on the latter’s shoulder and gave her a light massage. “Calm yourself down, girl. Everything's gonna be alright.” Candy tried helping the elder sister of Woojin to breath and calm herself.

“WAIT A MINUTE!” Zhu sat up as she realized something and pointed her finger at Sujeong. “Are you going there to watch the show live today?” Zhu squinted her eyes.

“Well, yeah of course, I got a ticket as a family member.” and as she said that, the rest of the fans of the TV show whined ‘that’s so unfair!' at the girl.

 

--

 

“ALOHA - Liar Liar, first take in three, two, one!”

The song started as the girls were ready in their position on their main stage. The stage was made similar to their music video. There were many stairs, normal ones and the upside down ones. The girls’ outfit has many colors matching their aura. Some of the girls were behind the doors before they slowly came out, some were on the stairs before walking down the stairs to perform. Kimi opened the song with her cool monolog as they started to dance to the happy beat. Zhu was the center for the chorus part, but the high notes for the bridge always belongs to Younghee and Rae. This time, Sujeong was the only rapper, Jinnie, Candy and Anna looks the cutest in this comeback.

After four to five takes, the girls went back to their dressing room to change into their darker outfit for the second song ‘Black Widow’. The song was much more fierce rather than Liar Liar, but they performed well after three takes from different angles. This song is more focused on Zhu’s rap and some flips that Anna learned.

And with that, they could check the MCountdown schedule off their list.

 

--

 

“CANDYYYYYYYYY!” Zhu was running,  jumping at her sister and hugged the older sibling tightly. It was a special day--the day that Candy are finally graduating. The whole team came to her graduation and even performed along with GFriend’s SinB and Umji that was also graduating. Remembering that the girl was a year late, she was still grateful that there’s Jungkook, a friend from the same birth year. After taking pictures and receiving their graduation certificate, Candy went back inside her class to take some class pictures together. Both she and Jungkook didn’t have a lot of friends in school, but since they have each other it was all that matters.

“Hey, Heeling! Uhm- congratulations!” Jungkook took a step closer towards Candy and shook the female’s hand. Candy, at the other end, smiled at the taller male and nodded. “Congratulations to you too!”

“So… do you have any plans after this?” he asked, looking around warrily. Being one of the biggest idols of Korea aren’t easy for him, and it was rare to meet someone who has so much similarity to him. He wanted to be more than friends with Candy, but he just need to hold it until the time comes. “Yes, I actually do. Me and the girls are going to have a brunch with our PD-nim since it’s comeback day plus my graduation and stuff..” she said as they walked down the corridors of the school. They were both holding a bouquet of flowers from their friends and teammates. “I believe you have a bunch of schedules too right? You’re ‘the first Kpop idol that made it to billboard’” Candy said with a funny tone, making the male playfully rolled his eyes at the latter.

“Oh you’re making me blush,” he said sarcastically as they continued to walk. “Anyway, I asked because I’ll be having this small party on Friday, it’s at night among the 97liners kids, and they told me to bring a plus one so uhm… would you be my plus one?”

 

--

 

“SBS INKIGAYO!” “Jin!” “Ji!” “Do”

Today’s schedule for ALOHA was Inkigayo and they got a part for a special interview with the three MCs. And no, it wasn’t easy for the magnae to keep her expression straight when someone that she had a crush on broke their promise. And the other members who didn’t know about her relationship can see it well that Jinyoung kept looking at Jisoo, which actually made the members, who trained with him, back stage.

“So what is this song about? Can you explain, Candy-ssi?” Jinyoung asked one of the girls.

“It’s a song about a girl whos’ lying about her feelings to the guy she actually likes. The key point of our dance is the letter L that we waved on our head while we sing ‘liar liar liar~’” she explained.

“Wow! That must be cute! Anna-ssi, can you show us the dance moves?” Jisoo looked at the female and smiled. “Oh, of course!” Anna, along with Kimi and Sujeong stepped out and dance with Zhu singing at the back.

“Ohh so cute! But I won’t lie about my feelings anymore!” said Doyoung with his famous aegyo as he received a playful glare from both Jinyoung and Jisoo. “What do you mean, Doyoung-ssi?” Jisoo asked the younger boy.

“I’m not gonna lie because we’re gonna see much more performance from a lot of idols today!” the crowd clapped and screamed on Doyoung’s aegyo.

“Nu’est W sunbaenim is coming with Let Me Out!” said Kimi introducing their sunbaenim.

“I don’t like your girlfriend! But i do like WekiMeki! And they’re coming right after this break!” Jinnie introduced another group that's going to perform for the day, which is actually a funny thing because of her current situation.

“Please wait a bit~” said the MCs and ALOHA members until the producer said ‘cut!’, followed suit by the trio and ALOHA members thanking everyone for the good job.

 

--

 

“Baek Jinhee.”

The magnae stood still when a voice called her name. She froze and decided to walk again pretending that she didn’t hear anything. “Baek Jinhee I’m calling your name.” the taller figure came closer to Jinnie and grabbed her wrist, forcing her to turn around. “I got schedules that day, I tried calling you but you didn’t answer,” he tried to explain his situation. GOT7’s comeback was on a busy process when they promised to meet up, but the heart-broken Jinnie was so mad that she declined every single call from Jinyoung.

“You could’ve told me before we made a promise!” she protested, her face were flushed red as she tried to held in her emotions.

“I thought I could wrap things up quickly then come to you, but they held me and I didn’t even have time to open my phone,” he explained as fast as he can before she misunderstood him any further--but it was too late.

“I just can’t believe you let me wait for 6 long hours, having a big hope for you to show up but you didn’t!” she spoke louder, which made Jinyoung froze--dumbfounded. There was no one in the hallway and the echo was loud, but hopefully nobody heard their fight.

“For a second, I thought I actually liked you.” Jinyoung said after the silence left after Jinnie’s outburst, hanging his head low and his voice was barely audible. Jinhee felt as if she was strucked by a lightning the moment those words left Jinyoung’s lips.

“W-what?”

“You’re a really selfish girl, you know? I was doing my job! What I’m passionate about, what I’m serious about, and for once I finally found someone who’s as hardworking and passionate, thinking that you would understand me and my circumstances! But no. You’re just plain selfish.” Jinyoung looked at the younger, hurt was clearly reflected in his eyes.

“You didn’t even care about me, you just wanted to enjoy fame and fortune. Not music.” Jinnie’s gaze started to get blurry, tears full of guilt and regrets. As soon as Jinyoung turned around and walked away, Jinnie fell down and cried on her knees. She just made the biggest mistake in her life. She was young, she need to learn, and that moment was actually the worst time to make her learn her mistakes.

“Jinnie! Jinnie-ya where are you?” her magnae line friend, Zhu was searching for the girl after she lost in the rock-paper-scissors game she played with the older members of ALOHA. She opened a door after hearing a barely audible sob and found her dongsaeng crying with all her make-up ruined. “Jinnie?!” she bend down and hugged her friend. “What happened to you?!” Zhu helped her to get up. The younger girl stayed quiet, she wasn’t ready to talk because of her tears. “Oh Jinnie, we can talk about this later, but if you cry now, and we can’t perform, manager oppa will scold us!” she tried her best, but nothing happened, the girl was still crying. Zhu needed to take her to the other members. She helped her get up and brought her to their dressing room.

“Jinnie?!”

“What happened?”

“Why are you crying?”

“TELL ME WHO DID THIS!”

The members who cared for her like a family helped her sat down and gave her a drink and fanned her. They couldn’t make her talk, even after the manager came to check on the girls. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her but she can’t perform like this.” he opened his phone and called the staffs for a couple of changes. Only seven will perform, and her part will be an Audio Record, they didn't have time to remake their dance blocking, and the manager told the fans that Jinnie was injured before the live performance.

 

--

 

That night, the girls had their usual talk in the living room. They gathered and made a circle as if they’re doing a ritual. The then leader spoke, “Okay, we need you to spill it out. If you kept it in, you’ll either hurt yourself or you’ll hurt us. We’re your family, you know you can count on us.” and as soon as Younghee finished speaking, Jinnie broke into tears once again. She needed to let all those sadness away. She wanted to fixed what she has done wrong, but there’s nothing left for her to fix because it was all her fault in the first place. She broke his trust and hope he planted, and it’s all because she was selfish. She didn’t know what to do, other than to try to move on. When her tears were were all drained up, she then started to speak. She told everyone about it. The promises, the dates, her thing with Jinyoung which was more than a brother-sister relationship, and how she broke his trust. It was hurtful, but she managed to do it and she felt slightly lighter now that she had let her sisters knew.

 

--

 

Jinnie wasn’t the only one who was ditched by the person she had waited for.

It was a fine day in the city of Seoul. A pretty girl was walking around a quiet street in Seoul. It was like a market that’s filled with old lady, selling traditional cakes and healthy food. It was a safe place, no one will know she’s an idol.

The girl looked at her watch, “One hour.” she looked around once more waiting for a particular person who asked her on a date some time before. Kim Hyunmi--or as the fans address as Kimi, was supposed to meet Mingyu there. He told her to wait for him there, but eventually, he couldn’t make it because of some reasons.

“I guess it’s time to go home.” She’s a very carefree person. She’s that kind of independent lady who won’t depend on a man. She decided to go back to their dorm if he doesn’t come in five more minutes. As soon as she started walking, a taller figure came in front of her and stopped her from leaving. He smiled and bowed. He wasn’t as tall as Mingyu, but he has a charming face.

“Hi there! Uh- Mingyu asked me to find you and bring you to our company, and since I didn’t have any schedule, I needed a walk so here I am.” he was wearing a warm coat and she can clearly see his breath-- until she realized something. She knew this guy, she’s seen him before on TV.

“Y-you’re..” she pointed her fingers at him.

“IS THAT KIM JONGHYUN?”

“IT’S JR FROM NUEST”

“JONGHYUN FROM PRODUCE 101.”

He looked down in shock, knowing that he forgot to wear a mask. He then abruptly held Kimi’s hand and pulled her. “I’m so sorry about this,” he shot her an apologetic smile and before Kimi was able to answer, he started to run as quick as he could and hide in the nearest shop they could find.

Saved.

It was a flower shop, they went in and hid between the flower pots until the crowd passed. They heaved a deep breath, both trying to catch their breath. “Phew, that was close.” Kimi held her head and took a deep breath. Unfortunately for them, the fangirl mob didn’t gave up and they were gonna check each store to find Jonghyun. The flower shop where they hid had a glass wall, people can see right through. And no, they’re not save anymore.

“Kimi-ssi, I am so, so sorry.” Jonghyun once again apologized at the younger girl and made her frown in confusion.

“Sorry for wha-” and before she could finish making up her words, Jonghyun cupped her cheeks and pulled her close, kissing her right on the lips, making the girl dumbstruck. She tried pushing him away, but once her eyes landed on one of the fangirls, she realized what he was doing and she can only pull him closer to cover their faces.

One of the fangirls who wanted to check that store stopped because of the awkward atmosphere of the kissing couple that she didn’t bother to look. As soon as the girl walked away, Kimi was really pushing Jonghyun away this time, giving it all her strength to do so. She stood there, touching her lips in shock. It was a reflect to slap his face.

“And that’s for stealing my first kiss!”