“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

I opened my eyes. When I realized it was morning already, I bolted to the bathroom and got myself ready for school. I could hear Ichi oppa laughing in the kitchen, no doubt making breakfast and my lunch.

Jeez. I wish he would get a girlfriend already. It’s not that I don’t like spending time with him but come on, a whole day? Imagine the other more productive things I could do during those times. Oh well, he’s all I have here in Seoul, with our parents not even in our house in Busan. I assume they’re somewhere in the world. They liked to travel A LOT.

I put on the clothes I brought from my apartment: A polo shirt, jeans and sneakers. My usual outfit. I looked at the mirror and dabbed powder on my face. I don’t really put makeup, except maybe on really special occasions. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t dwell too much on appearances.

I hurriedly gulped down my breakfast and rushed downstairs.

“See you tonight, Yuki!” my brother called after me.

Right. Tonight. It will be the first time for him to watch and listen to me play live with the band. No. I shouldn’t think about that for now. I need to concentrate on school first.

Seoul National University is barely a 10-minute drive from my brother’s place, give or take the traffic situation. I stopped before the gates, instinctively looking at the back seat of my car. School bag, check. Guitars, check. OK. I’m good to go. The guard asked for my ID and I gave it to him.

“Miss Kim Yuki, Foreign Studies?” I nodded and smiled at him. I knew that he knows who I am but he still followed protocol. Nice.

There’s always that awkward time when you drive into the campus, and people start staring at your car. I simply rolled my eyes. Hey, it’s not my fault. Oppa bought this car for me. The car model is not one common in Korea so I guess that’s one of the reasons. What really made me hit him is the customized plate which had ONE all over it.

It doesn’t mean that I’m #1 or anything. It’s my brother. Now that I think of it, it’s always him.

Ichi, his name, is Japanese for “ONE” and incidentally, ONE is also his name in the music industry. Our mom once had an obsession about Japan and she took it out on our names. I think you know what Yuki means, though.

Still, it’s kind of disturbing when people are looking at you (or your car) because it had the name of a famous director on its plates. I know I shouldn’t complain. It was my birthday present, after all.

“Unnie!!”

I was drinking a cold chocolate drink when I heard my name. I turned around and I saw my bandmates headed towards me. Yay. We’re complete.

“Hana, you shouldn’t shout that loud, this is a public place,” Miyo, our pianist, said.

Hana is our drummer, and our maknae at that. She’s still a high schooler so we kind of baby her a lot. Beside her was Eri, our bassist. She was the arrogant type and I always wondered if all bassists had that kind of attitude. Miyo, ah, how do I describe her? I assume you watch shows on television where some star would describe his ideal type. Somehow Miyo fits in all those categories. She really is unique, and talented. The three of us are in the same age but the two of them still call me unnie.

“It’s a matter of maturity,” Eri always pointed out.

Tonight we were having a live in a hard to find music hall. I didn’t like to play in the usual bars and cafes where a lot of people could spot us. I don’t think we’re ready for that yet.

“Unnie, can I ride with you? Your car is prettier,” Hana said, the rest of us laughed.

During the ride, Hana and I went through the set list. I always made a point to discuss it with her because she was in charge of the drums, which set the beat for the whole band. When it was over, she asked me a question I never expected to hear.

“Yuki unnie, I was wondering why we never play CNBLUE songs?”

I knew her question was innocent. She didn’t know…

“I guess it’s because I never bothered to learn them,” I replied with rather a guilty smile.

“Huh? But you’ve got a playlist with only CNBLUE songs. I know you listen to them.”

Crap. Caught. I didn’t want to explain to her the difficult workings of my mind so I had no choice but to yield.

“We’ll play one next time. How about that?”

“You have 5 minutes till live…” We heard the manager call to us. Rehearsal went pretty well. Oppa was out there in the crowd somewhere. He said his guests were arriving a little late but he assured us that they were coming. I didn’t know why I felt nervous. I knew I was a good guitarist. I can even say that I’m better than that person, and look at where he is now.

This isn’t our first live performance, of course. We used to play all the time during the summers in Busan. Yes, all of us were from there. It’s our common denominator.

Set list:

1.       Someday

2.       Maybe

3.       Lovely  Day (Hana was the main singer)

4.       Descend from the Sky (this is mostly rap, Eri’s time to sing. Miyo and I backed up)

5.       Into the New World

6.       Perfect For You

7.       Beginning

8.       Only You (Finale)

The songs we performed were few, but enough to make it memorable. I was told that our “guests” arrived when we were halfway through playing Descend from the Sky.

Afterwards, I was wiping my electric guitar when Hana pulled me towards a VIP room.

“Hana! I don’t think we should be here” I whispered urgently.

“It’s okay, unnie” she assured me.

We entered and there sat 9 people I never expected to meet in a place like this.

“Hello, we are Girls’ Generation.”

Oooh, hehehe. Hello. This is my FIRST EVER story so I hope you could support me! I'm sorry if this doesn't make that much of a BOOM. But anyway, it's just the first chapter and I'm establishing Yuki's and her friends' (and even Ichi's) personalities. 

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