Year 2013

“It’s just a simple game,” The boy replied, “we’ll ask random questions and you’ll answer and see if you’re right.” He added. “I don’t really get it…” Jina mumbled to herself. “Well who do you think is the youngest?” Jin Young asked as he motioned towards the group of boys. Jina instantly pointed to the shortest boy. “No!” that boy cried as he dramatically fell to the floor. “Introduce yourself as well.” Another boy from the group suggested. The short boy stood up again and formally introduced himself. “I’m Bambam, the second youngest.” He emphasised. Jina shook hands with Bambam as Jaebum motioned her to continue the game. “I don’t know…” Jina swayed as she randomly chose from the group of boys again. “Ani,” the boy smiled, “I’m actually the oldest in this room. Mark Tuan.” He introduced himself with a slight bow. “Oh?” Jina said shocked comparing him to Jin Young and Jaebum. “Actually I’m the youngest.” The tallest boy came out. “Ah, I can see it!” Jina exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. The boys didn’t really understand. Jina walked up to the boy and squeezed his cheeks. “Just look at him! He’s like a giant baby. How cute!” she squealed with joy as she played with his hair. The boy just awkwardly laughed. “My name’s Yugyeom.”

“What’s everyone’s roles?” Jaebum asked as he looked at everyone. “Oh that’s easy!” Jina puffed as she pointed towards the row of boys. “Rapper, rapper, rapper, singer and singer.” She simply replied. “Yah, isn’t that a little weird for a group?” Jaebum tried to throw her off. She just looked seriously at him. “It’s weird but JYP likes foreigners as rappers.” She pointed out. “I’m Jackson Wang, lead rapper.” He smiled. “I’m Youngjae the lead vocalist,” he last boy introduced, “Nice to meet you.” He smiled as well. Jina, Jin Young and Jaebum happily greeted the five new trainees. “Since you knew we’re foreigners,” Jackson rested his arms over Jina, “Where are we from?” he winked. Jin Young pushed Jackson off of Jina. Jin Young simply looked at Jackson seriously, making Jackson wonder why. “I’m going to say, China, Thailand and America. The typical places JYP gets trainees from.” Jina nodded as she stared at Jackson, Bambam and Mark. “I’m going to say Bambam is from Thailand.” Jina smirked. Bambam laughed, “that’s right! How did you know?” he added as he greeted her in Thai. Jina decided to think about the other two first before answering him how she knew. “Hi, how are you?” Jina asked in English. Jackson and Mark both answered fluently. Jaebum chuckled and whispered in her ear, “Could they both be from America? Maybe even Australia?” Jaebum tried hinting, once again distracting her. Jina just waved near her ear, as if there was a fly there, causing Jaebum to instinctively move back. “Mark is American and Jackson is Chinese.” Jina nodded, sure with her answer. Jackson quickly greeted her in Mandarin. “S-Sorry, I only speak Cantonese.” Jina softly replied. “What?” the five trainees shouted.

Jina just looked around worriedly at everyone. “W-What’s wrong?” she asked politely. “Aren’t you American too?” Mark asked with certainty in his voice. Jina shook her head. “I’m not really sure what I am.” Jina laughed loudly. Everyone just awkwardly stood there. “Ah, Jina was adopted when she was around four. From China.” Jin Young quickly explained. “But you can see she’s somewhat mixed. We only know that her father could have been either Australian or American.” Jaebum added on. “Anything really.” Jina spoke out nodding reassuring everyone. “So you guys knew each other from four?” Jackson questioned, realising how much Jin Young and Jaebum knew about her. Jaebum nodded then pushed Jin Young and Jina together. “And they’re the only couple allowed in this company!” he shouted laughing before running away from Jin Young chasing after him. Jackson finally understood Jin Young’s harshness earlier.

The group of them all started heading for the gym, before Jin Young Park found out that they weren’t practicing anything. After training a little, Jina was getting fussy. She sighed loudly and fell to the floor. “Everything okay?” Jaebum asked rhetorically, motioning everyone to ignore her. “I’m hungry!” she shouted spreading out wider across the floor. “You’re always hungry.” Jin Young mentioned softly as everyone continued training. “We should celebrate!” Jina rolled over gleefully. Jaebum and Jin Young looked at each other worriedly.