Tomorrow was to be Minkyung’s first day at PLEDIS Entertainment and she was currently pacing around restless. Checking her phone, 10:45 pm blinked back, Screw it I'm going. She shifted off her bed and threw on a grey hoodie and leggings. There was still time before the night ended and Minkyung was too curious to stop. Slipping on her favorite white sneakers and donning a black face mask, out she went into the cold air.

By the time she arrived it was past 11 pm. There, ten feet ahead of her was the Pledis building. The color is my style, Minkyung noted and started ascending the short steps in front. Without warning, the doors swung open and out stepped a girl with long black hair looking effortlessly beautiful. Time seemed to have stopped when after a pause, she locked eyes with Minkyung. Minkyung marveled at her beauty. Unfortunately it was at theat moment her legs decided to stop functioning and she found herself falling down and hitting her hands on the ground. Brushing herself off after the most embarrassing fall of her life, Minky bowed and quickly excused herself, walking briskly away. Face burning and feeling embarrased Minkyung hurried back to the subway station, You fool how could you mess up before you even start. The whole ride home however, another thought remained clear and prodding. Who was that mysterious girl? Minky guessed her to be trainee seeing how beautiful she was, the image of her looking straight into her eyes with the night sky their only witness—she shivered at the memory. Minkyung couldn’t decipher her stare. She knew when girls glared at her and this was not one of those times. It wasn’t cold nor was it friendly, but intense and strangely curious at the same time. Past midnight, Minkyung dreamt of cold stars and a particular girl with long black hair. 

BEEP BEEP BEEP her phone alarm rang out disturbing the peaceful morning. Groaning, Minkyung covered her face with her hands and opened a weary eye to check the time, it was 8:40 am. "I’m going to be late on my first day!”, Minkyung scrambled out of bed cursing and quickly threw on an orange jumper and shorts. She checked her face and applied a little bit of eyeliner and lipstick before rushing off to the station. Thankfully most of the morning crowd had already disappated so Minkyung arrived at Pledis in only 20 minutes. The building looked different during the day, the dark gray a contrast against the natural colors of the buildings around it. At least in the day time, the stairs were much more manageable.

Minkyung had finished writing her name down for the lady at the front desk when she had exclaimed, “Oh! You’re the new trainee! The girls have just started their morning warmup. Go upstairs to the first room on the right.” Minky bowed thanking her and hastily climbed the stairs until she reached the door of the room. Bracing herself and breathing in and out slowly, she gathered her courage before knocking firmly.  

“Come in!” The door opened and she stepped into the room, suddenly painfully aware of the 15 girls in front of her wearing similar practice outfits and similar expressions on their faces. They weren't exactly kind to slackers, she surmised. “Kim Minkyung, our new trainee you are late on the first day” the instructor at the front noted. She was a short lady, although let’s be honest compared to Minky, almost everybody was considered short and had a permanent scowl on her face. “I apologize” Minky bowed deeply towards the teacher and the rest of the group. “It won’t happen again”. The instructor sighed, “This will be the last time, our trainees are expected to follow the rules. Go towards the back you can stand next to Kyungwon”. Minkyung followed in the direction where the teacher was pointing and found herself beside a tall girl with legs that never seemed to end.  “I’m Kyungwon” the girl introduced herself “,how old are you?” “I’m 97-year”, Minkyung responded. “We are the same age! Let’s be friends.” Kyungwon warmly declared and shook her hand. Minky smiled, grateful to have come upon a friendly face. Halfway through the practice, the instructor now known as Teacher Youngji stopped the music. “Jung Eunwoo, you are still making the same mistake on the last beat!” The girl in front of Minkyung froze while the teacher waded past the sea of trainees. “You need to work on your flexibility and stretching, Eunwoo-ya” Ms. Youngji pulled at Eunwoo’s legs farther and farther until Eunwoo yelped, “Ah!! It hurts!” A girl near the center spoke, “Eunwoo, this will help you”. Minkyung had noticed her during practice because she was almost as tall as Minkyung herself and when the entire class struggled she had executed all the moves with ease. She also had no expression on her face the whole time, which quite amused Minkyung. “I know Nayoung unnie, I know” Eunwoo gave in, grimacing in pain. Various girls started giggling and smirking and Minkyung feels a smile making it's way onto her face.

Another hour had passed when they were finally given a short break. “Let me introduce you to the rest of the girls”, Kyungwon had grabbed her wrist and guided her around the room. "That’s Nayoung she’s the oldest and most responsible. Don’t worry if she looks like she’s not thinking about anything, she’s not actually a stone. Eunwoo is the one that got scolded by Youngji teacher earlier”, Kyungwon casually pointed towards a small group with three girls playing around. “There’s Yewon next to her smiling, she’s actually always smiling and oh the shortie on the right is Yebin she’s a rapper”. She remembers Yebin had smiled and offered her a sip of water from her bottle with a cute rabbit on it twenty minutes ago. “And finally, over there in the corner is Siyeon, she’s been here the longest”. Minkyung gaze moved towards that corner of the room and stopped. There she was the girl from last night. Still beautiful and still inscrutable. She had not yet looked at Minkyung once. Just then, Eunwoo and Yebin’s voices raised in volume, they had started arguing over who was shorter when Siyeon turned her head towards their direction. Her eyes scanned the room and stopped at Minkyung briefly before looking away. If Siyeon had recognized Minkyung, she didn’t show it. The optimistic thought that her face mask had actually succeeded in disguising her last night crossed Minky’s mind. Her hands still hurt from when she scrapped them as a reminder.

“Okay girls! It’s time to go to vocal practice. Meet up on the third floor. Siyeon, I want you to pair up with Minkyung today, show her the ropes and how we do things around here.” Minkyung fought the urge to look at Siyeon and kept her facial expression neutral. “Good luck Minkyung,” Kyungwon whisphered, “Siyeon doesn’t easily open up”. I’ll keep that in mind, Minkyung muttered as she started the trek up towards the stairs.