3 weeks later…

            “Kris, why didn’t you wake me up???!” I pushed Kris as she brushed her teeth in front of the bathroom sink.

            “Hey! I’ve been here a week and you’re already treating my like I’ve been here for a year!” I could barely understand her words because was full of foam from brushing her teeth. 

            “I’m late!! It’s not like you have somewhere to go!” I brushed my teeth beside her.

            “No, but I’ve got a date,” she said after rinsing .

            “Dude, I’ve got practice today,” I hit her arm.

            “Yeah, I know, like everyday, you didn’t even come home until 3 last night, you needed sleep, okay?” she said, walking out of the bathroom. It had been two weeks of training and it felt like a lifetime already. Kris arrived a week ago, on Valentine’s Day and so she and Onew Oppa met up right away. He actually picked her up that day, but he still hasn’t mentioned his enlistment. Since then though, they’ve spent about everyday together, getting to know each other, being in that ‘lovey-dovey’ stage of their relationship. Kibum and I have barely seen each other because we both got really busy, heck we didn't even celebrate Valentine's Day!

Krrrriiiiiiiinggg.

            “Yeoboseyooooong?” I answered the call, without looking at the caller ID.

            “So Ra-yah,” it was Kibum.

            “Wae?” I said, looking for clothes. “Are you done filming?” I asked. Kibum had been filming non-stop too. Apparently, the drama was progressing towards him getting a bigger part, so he was as busy as he could be.

            “Almost! Are you busy?” he asked.

            “Yeah, I’m getting ready to leave,” I said, putting the phone on speaker. I found the lightest, thinnest fabric, pieces of clothing and put them on.

            “Where are you going?” he asked.

            “Practice, also, I’m getting weighed today…” I said, with an obvious gloom in my voice.

            “Oh really…? Make sure to wear light clothing,” he said. I was very grateful for his honest and frank personality but I was already nervous enough. He could’ve said ‘Nooo, you’ll be fine, you don’t weigh that much’… He can be senseless sometimes… “I hope you didn’t eat last night and this morning, go poop and pee,” he added.

            “Waah, yah! Stop it! You’re making me nervous, you brat,” I yelled, getting my duffel bag ready.

            “I’m just trying to help! What did I do? You’re so sensitive,” he mumbled.

            “What did you say???” I said, getting frustrated.

            “Hmm? Nothing, nothing,” was all he said. “Call me when it’s over!” he said and hung up.

            “Aish,” I shook my head as I left the apartment.

            “Bye!” Kris called out, but I was already running down the stairs before I could reply.

            “How did you gain that much weight, huh!” Ye Jin Trainer said. “We weighed you last week and now you’re 55 kg?! Did telling you not to eat 3 meals a day, not register in your tiny brain!” she yelled at me, with the other trainers, sitting against the mirror. There were five of them today, they came to watch a dance I prepared for a week. They wanted me to show them my dancing abilities first before practicing my singing. They thought we should work on something they haven’t seen yet from a video yet.

            “I’m sorry, I’ll work harder,” I bowed and kept my hands clasped together.

            “Stop saying you’ll work harder! Do it right,” she pulled me off the weighing scale and sat back down in her seat. The rest of the trainers just looked away and wrote on their clipboards. I fought the urge to be angry and fisted my hands. “Wae? Did I make you angry?” Ye Jin Trainer said, crossing her arms, looking at my fists. How did she even notice that? “You know, a lot of people want to be in the spot where you are right now? You didn’t even work hard for this, you were just chosen, I don’t know what makes you think you could be angry,” she tapped her pen on her clipboard, like she was waiting for a response.

            “I’m sorry, it was my mistake,” I tried to say sarcastically, but failed. Sweat started to drop down the side of my face. These trainers really knew how to make somebody nervous. Though she was right, that a lot of people would kill for the spot I was in, doesn’t mean that she had to be a… jerk (which is a nicer word for it) about it.

            “You know a lot of people would kill for this spot?” she said, flipping her hair back.

            “Oh, you can have one of them then,” I answered back. I couldn’t hold my tongue anymore, she was getting on all the hateful nerves in my system. She had been like this towards me for two weeks now and it was starting to really anger me.

            “What?” she stood up, slamming her clipboard down. By this time, all the trainers were looking at me.

            “I’m just saying, I felt kind of forced to be here already, if you say that there are a million people who would kill for this spot, then get one of them. I was, technically, blackmailed to be here, so uh… have at it,” I said, cracking my neck for effect.

            “What??? This ungrateful little b-“ before she could finish her sentence, one of the trainers grabbed her and pulled her out of the room.

            “I think she deserved that,” Ji Sung Trainer said after Ye Jin Trainer left the room. The other two trainers chuckled.

            “But that was still rude to say as a trainee, even though she spoke to you like that,” T. Ji Sung added. (A/N: Since the trainers will be a common appearance, I will refer to them as ‘T.’ instead of writing Trainer every time, thanks for your understanding! Now back to the story!)

            “I understand… It’s just it was hard to stand this time,” I said, bowing.

            “You’ll have to deal with a lot of that, you know? We only want what’s best for the trainees, which is why we’re hard on you, some are just…a lot harder to please,” T. Hyun Soo said, glancing at the door. Today was my first time meeting him. Apparently, he’s more on the higher ups in dance within the company. He overlooks every trainee’s dancing evaluation and that’s why he’s here today. “But other than what everybody else has to say, since we have this time now, I want to give some comments on the dance,” he said, shifting in his seat. I stood closer in front of them to be able to listen well.

            “I think the three of us here right now, agree that you dance quite well for a trainee who hasn’t trained ever and is new to this industry. Can you understand Korean well? Let me know if there are words you don’t understand in whatever I say,” T. Hyun Soo said, without stopping. I just nodded, since he didn’t give me time to speak. “For the dance you showed us today, well it’s quite uh, more on the boyish side. Now, I don’t know what concept you’re going to be debuting with but, from what I’ve seen, it looks like if we asked you now, to choreograph to an innocent image, girl group, you’d probably have a hard time, am I right?” He looked up from his clipboard.

            “Mm, that’s right,” I admitted uncomfortably.

            “That’s what I thought,” he nodded, not saying anything else.

            “I think we have no problem with your confidence and your skill, since you’re going solo, I think there won’t be any problems with your style since there’s nobody else to match. Your personality matches what you have to show and I think your concept can be discussed,” T. Soo Young said, without taking her eyes off me. The rest of them nodded. “Having said that, you will probably get asked to prepare a girl group feel, type of dance, so be prepared,” she said then leaned back on her chair. The door opened and in walked Ye Jin Trainer and the other trainer who hasn’t introduced himself yet.

            “We’ll weigh you again next week,” she said and picked up the clipboard that she threw on the ground earlier. She was calmer this time but still gave me an icy glare. “I’m very close to assigning a Manager for you,” she threatened.

They all stood up to leave, grabbing the camera that was used to film me, then I was left alone. I laid down on the floor, curled up, and closed my eyes. If I didn’t have a strong mentality for this, I’d probably just give up now… Having a manager would be the worst thing right now. They’d always be looking over my shoulder, watching everything I do... Also, how do they expect me to lose 5 kg in one week??? I could probably gain that in two nights!!