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Within just a few short weeks, it was safe to say that a lot had happened. Most notable was the announcement of Anna’s debut mini-album, an announcement that truly spread like wildfire. Why? Because very few artists here kicked off their careers with a more complete body of work rather than just a song or two.

“It’s because of what she is,” I'd hear a few girls all over the campus comment, green with envy. Of course, despite making her sound like some creature or object, they were partially right. The "what" they were referring to was her American background and it was no lie that Anna’s ethnicity would always give her advantages here. But like with anything else, it would all come with an equal amount of disadvantages. But yes, being white was one of the factors that landed Anna an opportunity that most of these girls didn’t get when they were new like her.

The other factor was that she had more talent by herself than they all had combined. Funny how that worked.

It was in moments like those that I realized how defensive I had started to get in her honor. There were very few peope who meant enough to get me to feel that way but it seemed I’d have to add Anna to that short list. I wasn’t the only one, either. Hoseok would typically join in on my glares as the instinct to protect one of our own kicked in. Jungkook and Namjoon would even do it on occasion. Taehyung, too. The others insisted on ignoring it simply because they felt that as with every other controversial thing that’s happened within SKEES, the chatter would quickly pass.

And it did. Those irrelevant people went back to either disliking her in private or feeling indifference towards her, especially as she made less and less appearances anywhere other than the TV or recording studio as her schedule got more intense. Unfortunately, her lacking presence also applied to her friends, including myself. It seemed like out of our whole inner circle, Chun Hwa was the only one reporting any “Anna sightings” to us. But if they weren’t roommates, she’d probably see just as little of her as we did.

But earlier that morning, I had been called to the recording facility and I hoped that maybe I’d have my own sighting of our missing friend. Somehow, I hadn’t once thought I'd been summoned there because of said friend.

“She wants my help on her album?” I asked her designated creative director for the project, one of many at SKEES. I’d worked with him myself once so thankfully, my unintended lack of formality went unnoticed thanks to familiarity.

“Amongst many others, of course, but yes. She asked for you specifically, said that you two work well together.”

It was my first time hearing that Anna thought so herself. Everyone around me had been claiming it, including myself somewhat, but Anna’s sentimenting it made it all the more encouraging.

“Well, when would I start? And how much of a commitment would this be? Because if it’s anything like Hyuna’s album, I don’t know how much I can actually be involved. That took way too much time away from my own priorities  and I just can’t do that again,” I explained, thinking realistically as usual.

Eun Soo, Mr. Creative Director, gave me a shrug. “I have no idea on those details. It depends on what she wants from you.”

I sighed. I wanted to spend more time with Anna and I doubted she’d be anything like Hyuna but I refused to do anything at the expense of my own career. I’d been pushed around in the past enough to have learned from it. “You didn’t mention when I should go meet her, did you?”

“No, but she didn’t mention it to me either,” he chuckled. “She’s in Studio 7, though. You should stop in and at least let her know where you stand.”

I nodded and immediately went off to do as he said, giving him a quick thank you before I did. Studio 7 was just a right turn at the end of the hallway away so it didn’t take very long before I was knocking on its door and stepping inside.

“Suga-oppa,” she greeted when she saw me, her eyes noticeably brightening.

Suga-oppa? She hadn’t called me anything but Yoongi since the day she learned that was my real name. Though, I guess this wasn’t just some average collaboration like the ones I had with Namjoon and many of the other rappers here.

I greeted her back as Annabelle rather than Anna in suit, keeping things as professional as she made them. Sitting at the large workstation were two producers, only one of which I recognized as a producer solely tied down to SKEES. The other was a white man I had never seen before, most likely a foreigner they had brought in specifically for Anna’s album. I made sure to greet him in accented but correct basic English, which seemed to surprise him- a typical reaction.

“So, I hear I’ve been requested,” I began, returning back to my mother tongue.

“Oh, yeah,” she confirmed before seemingly growing a little nervous. “I was hoping you’d be willing look over the progress of the songs for my album while they’re in production. You know, make comments and give suggestions like you did with my school project.”

Ah, that whole project thing really left an impression on her. But that was all she wanted? Something that easy was hardly a job at all. I was about to agree but my pondering silence must’ve made her anxious, making her feel the need to continue her explanation.

“I mean, if you’d be willing to do more, that’d be awesome. Hoseok-oppa told me you’re really good with the piano so having your help with any synths and melodies would be great,” she suggested before growing sheepish again. “But I don’t want to take too much time out of your schedule so just some occasional input would be enough-”

“Anna, relax,” I chuckled. I mean, it was never my cup of tea asking another busy person for help either but she had no reason to worry with me. “I’d be happy to work with you. Just give me some kind of production schedule and I’ll try to come by whenever I can.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “Really?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, think of how good it’ll look on my resume.”

“Oppa,” she whined, though I could see her struggle to use the title. It gratified the out of me how much she was loathing having no choice but to address me as her oppa. I’d be sure to about it later and she knew it.

“I’m kidding. We’re co-artists and friends. Isn’t this what we do?”

She smiled that smile I’ve been growing to love more and more. The foreign producer, who had been mainly keeping to himself and his computer, looked between the three Korean speakers in the room.

“Chingu?” He questioned, hoping for a translation of one of the words I had just used. “I’ve heard that one quite a few times since being here.”

“It means friend,” the Korean producer translated for him in a thick accent before Anna could tell him first.

“Friends? Who’s friends?” He continued to ask, suddenly interested.

“We are,” Anna pointed between us two, realizing it was really her place to humor him. He was hired for her convenience, after all. He turned to her like he suddenly understood everything.

“Oh, is that why you waned him to work with us so badly? I was wondering why you kept talking about him.”

I watched Anna blush before whining something to him in English. I didn’t speak enough of the language to know what either of them were saying to each other so I was lost as Anna pouted at the laughter directed in her dispense. I even nudged the girl, hoping for my own translation to let me in on the joke- if it was even a joke.

But she resisted, much to my dismay, and by the time Anna and I left the studio together an hour or so later, I still no idea what the fuss was all about. I could only hope that eventually, I'd somehow find out.