CH 20: October 18, 2013

“-Oh, and make sure you take care of your skin,” Tiffany added. “It helps a lot.” Sunny nodded in approval. 

Emika, Ahra and I nodded attentively. I crossed and uncrossed my legs as she continued. 

“And also, like, male sunbaes… like the ones that are like two generations older than you… Like SuJu age...” Jessica said this with her eyes averted. “It's best to stay away from them.”

“Yeah, that's a good idea,” Tiffany laughed awkwardly. 

“Got it,” I affirmed. 

Tiffany laughed at my tone. “Good girl.” She patted my head affectionately. 

“Anything else?” I asked. “I feel like I should be taking notes on this…” Everyone laughed. 

Our rehearsal had been almost nonstop over the past few days. We had a day until the actual concert, though sometimes I felt so apprehensive that one would think it would be happening in the next hour. 

In the spare time that we did have, almost all of our company’s sunbaes would come to us. They congratulated us, gave us advice, etcetera etcetera. Like right now, when the A/V crew was fixing up the stage, three of the SNSD members took us aside to talk to us. 

We sat in our dressing room now, Ahra, Emika and I, with the unnies. Hyerin and Jia were god-knows-where; I was fairly sure they had been kidnapped by Amber and Luna, who had been talking to them last. 

“Also, don't forget to take time to yourself. Being an idol does take a lot out of you, and you need to take all that back. You know what I mean?” Sunny looked at us intently as she said this. 

“Yeah, yeah,” I waved her off. “I had to do that in school all the time, I had to make time for myself.”

“School is different,” said Jessica pointedly. 

“I know,” I confirmed. 

“Do you?” She prodded. 

“Of course.” I was confident enough in myself that I could keep a balance between myself and my idol self. 

The door opened as I finished my words of affirmation. “Aish, you guys are here?” A stage manager burst. All of us groaned in unison. “We've been looking for you all for ages! Hurry up!”

***
“Love me, cut me down…” I refrained myself from laughing as Henry, Sehun, Minho, Key, Suho and Chanyeol tried to mimic our fanchants. 

“GE-MI-NI!” They chanted between laughs. Our formation shifted to center me as my solo stanza neared. 

“Hold me close, baby, please tear me apart,” I sang as the music slowed down with my voice. The six boys did, too. They adopted wistful expressions as they wave