(Jiaye's POV)

After thanking Jeonghan I walked to the second door as he told me and knocked on it. When no one answered, I opened the door and walked into the dark room. My eyes widened at the sight in front of me; two boys sleeping on a bed, facing each other with a blanket of over them. One with bleached blonde hair and the other with sandy brown locks. I tiptoed over to wake them up but tripped over a bottle. Crashing onto the wooden floor, I let out a high pitched shriek of pain. 

"Who's there?!"

The blonde boy shot up and looked around the room before his eyes landed on me lying on the ground. We both froze, while the other boy also sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. 

"What's going on, Jun?"

His eyes widened at the sight of me. The room was pin-drop silent. I timidly sat up, rubbing my left arm.

"H-hi. I'm Jiaye. Jeonghan told me guys speak Chinese"

The blonde boy's - who I assume was Jun - eyes lit up at the mention of my native language.

"You speak Chinese?! Really?!"

"Y-yeah I do"

"Wow. I haven't talked anyone other than Haohao in Chinese for a while. I'm Jun by the way. He's Minghao"

"Nice to meet you guys. By the way, how old are you two?"

"I'm a 97'er and Jun is a year older"

"Ahh... I'm three years older than Jun then, huh"

I could only laugh bitterly at their shocked faces. It's not like I'm not used to this reaction but it's annoying to be too old to make friends. Jun seemed to sense my discomfort and gave me a comforting smile.

"Don't worry Jiaye-jie, we don't care about your age so let's be friends, okay?"

Minghao nodded in agreement. I smiled back in thanks for their comforting words. Getting off of the bed they sat on the floor across from me. We talked about our interests and struggles that we faced being a trainee. I told them about my insecurity over being chosen to be lead vocal even though my korean is not good. What's the point of being able to sing well if I can't pronounce the words correctly? It felt good to have someone who understood the pain you were going through. I love my members but since all of them were born and raised in Korea, they can't really relate to my problems. I felt a kind of kinship to them that I had never felt before.
There was something about them that was nagging me though. For some reason, they reminded me of how Jungyeon and Minseo were when they just started dating.

"Um, can I ask a personal question? Are you guys, like dating?"

Jun's eyes bugged out and Minghao choked on air. Clearing his throat, he looked away while the older turned red.

"W-we...um...are -" 

"We're just close friends!"

Minghao pretty much shouted at me while Jun looked sort of depressed. 

"Ok, ok I get it. No need to scream, Minghao"

He also turned red and kept his head down. An awkward air settled around the room. Just as I was about to say something, a voice cut through the silence.

"Guys, lunch is ready! Come out already!"

The three of us let out a sigh of relief at Jeonghan's voice and stood up to leave the room.

 

(3rd Person POV)

With one last stir, Jihye turned off the stove. Picking up the heavy pot, she shuffled out of the kitchen. In the living room, Jihoon and Seungcheol had set up two low tables and Vernon and Soonyoung set down the rice bowls and spoons. After setting the pot down on the bigger table, she walked back in the kitchen to bring the paper cups and the ladle. The 95's along with Jungwoo sat down around the smaller table while the 96's and the 97's sat around the bigger table. The maknaes sat in a circle on the floor. After setting down the cups, Jihye did a head count and only counted 19 people. 

"Han oppa, I did a head count and there are three people missing"

"Jun and Minghao are in their room and Jiaye's probably with them"

"Guys, lunch is ready! Come out already!"

The Chinese trio came out and joined the maknaes on the floor. With that everyone started to eat, talking and laughing. After everyone finished eating, Jihye left to wash dished while the tables were put away. The Chinese members went back to Jun and Minghao's room while Mingyu, Juye, Seokmin, Wonwoo, and Seungcheol stayed in the living room to watch tv. Soonyoung and Jeonghan were catching up with Leehyun in a corner of the room while Jihoon got ready to go to the studio. 

"Jihoon-shi, where are you going?"

He turned to see Jihye standing in front of the kitchen.

"I'm just going to the studio"

She frowned, her forehead creased in concern.

"But why? Isn't it off-season for you guys? You should rest like everyone else"

He looked away guiltily. Seokmin had told him the same thing when he tried to sneak off this morning. He knew he should rest but at the same time, he wanted to get a head start on the next comeback.

"I-it'll be fine Jihye-shi. I won't be gone for that long so you don't have to be that worried"

"Alright you can go, but on one condition. I want to go with you"

His eyes widened at the request. He normally would have declined the company but for some reason, he found himself agreeing.

"Fine, but don't bother me when I'm trying to make the song"

Jihye broke out in a big smile.

"Thanks, Jihoon-shi!"

She went to tell her brother, leaving Jihoon confused and anxious about what he just agreed to.

 

(Jihoon's POV)

I blew out a puff of air, rubbing my sweaty palms together. The air was crisp but the sun was shining, warming my frozen fingers. Jihye walked beside me, humming an upbeat tune. She was wearing jeans and a black zip-up hoodie. Black hair tumbled out from underneath a pink cap. I adjusted my own white cap and black mask, taking a few deep breaths. I don't know why I was so nervous walking with her. It's not like I've never seen a girl or anything. my lips, I let out another sigh. 
After what felt like an eternity, we reached the studio building. I opened the glass door to my studio and we walked in. I sat in my chair and she sat on the sofa. There was an awkward silence between us. Jihye cleared and smiled.

"Well since we don't know much about each other, let's try talking about ourselves"
"Sure"

We chatted for about ten minutes on topics ranging from our favorite color to the most embarrassing thing we've seen our friends do. We were laughing about her retelling of Jeonghan dropping his phone in the toilet on his birthday when I realized something. 

"Jihye-shi, why did you want to come to my studio? I doubt it was just out of interest"

"Well, I'm kind of involved in the song making process myself so I thought I could get advice from you."

"Oh really? Do you compose?"

"No, no, I never could. I just write lyrics"

"So you're a rapper? It might be better to ask one of the hip-hop unit members"

"No, I'm a lyricist. I write lyrics for the vocal parts"

"Wow, that's kind of rare to for an idol just write lyrics"

"Well, I wasn't originally an idol. I trained to be a lyricist in Pledis originally but CEO saw my "other talents" so I got put in the line up for my group. I didn't want to lose my original dream so I'm still writing lyrics for our album. I enjoy training to be an idol now but in the beginning, I hated having to put my lyric-making second"

As I listened, I felt like I could understand her hardships. Even though my original dream was to be an idol, balancing both composing and training was really hard for me so I can sympathize with her. We continued talking until Jeonghan sent her a text to get home. Even though I didn't get any work done, I'm glad that I let her come along. Who knew this would become a regular routine.

---

Hi guys! I'm back after a long hiatus although I can't promise that the chapters will be updated regularly. I'm sorry that this chapter took so long and thankfully, Chapter 7 is half done so that should be out soon as well. Please, please comment on this story, it would mean a lot to me. Also if you want to, check out my new story "A slice of the life of Yoon Jihye" *shameless promo*

- Authornim~