"Well now I'm told that this is life, and pain is just a simple compromise."

 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Extremely long footnote at the end explaining stuff. Sorry about that.

 

 

Their late night practices aren’t as productive as they used to be. Yaebin could probably get about 20 minutes into a dance routine before she is pushed up against a wall by a grinning Minkyung. They then spend the rest of the night as a mess of tangled limbs and giggles on the dance studio’s wooden floor. 

 

Yaebin realises why Minkyung was so insistent on keeping her distance before the now infamous (infamous only to them) “7 Eleven Ramyun” moment. Minkyung is the type to get completely attached to another person once she is close to them.

 

With the string of trainees leaving the company after only a few weeks/ months of training, Minkyung must have had to build a wall to protect herself somehow. It must have been painful for her, seeing her friends leave one by one.

 

Sometimes Yaebin notices that Minkyung’s fingers would absentmindedly reach out for her own whenever they are walking to the convenience store or just sitting down as a group after practice. Minkyung’s eyes would occasionally dart to her, as if trying to make sure Yaebin was still there in the room and that she hasn’t disappeared. Yaebin would usually respond with a warm smile and by intertwining their fingers just to let the fox-eyed girl know she doesn’t have plans to go anywhere anytime soon.

 

“….There’s something going on with you two, isn’t there?” Eunwoo asks in an accusing tone one day, eyes narrowing while locked on to Minkyung’s hand which Yaebin was caressing in her lap.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Minkyung answers calmly, but the hint of a smirk at the corner of her lips threatened to betray that innocent front.

 

“You!” Eunwoo turns her attention to Yaebin instead. “Tiny rapper! Spill!”

 

“She doesn’t know what you’re talking about either.”

 

“I don’t.” Yaebin agreed, giggling when Minkyung places a kiss to her temple as if congratulating the shorter girl for going along with the plan.

 

It takes a few moments more for Eunwoo to put two and two together but when the gears finally click into place an accusatory finger shoots up to point at the both of them, accompanied by a dramatic gasp.

 

“Y-you two—late night practices my perfect arse!”

 

“Hey, that IS what we do! We dance around a lot. We also kiiinda do other things too. Rena thought me how to multitask.”

 

“I bet she did.” Eunwoo states with so much snark that Yaebin couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

 

“I’m happy for the two of you!” Yewon bounces in out of nowhere, glomping both Minkyung and Yaebin in a tight hug which sends all three of them crashing to the floor, starting another chorus of laughter.

 

A chorus of laughter which immediately halts once Yaebin catches Nayoung’s eye, who was standing a few feet away from them with her arms folded.

 

A sudden chill ran up Yaebin’s spine, and she knew it wasn’t exclusive only to her because even Yewon’s smile manages to drop, a feat that has been known to happen on extremely rare occasions.

 

Nayoung’s eyes travel between Minkyung and Yaebin, face wearing all the emotion of a statue. The whole room waits with bated breath for their leader to say something—anything—instead of just standing there like the imposing figure they sometimes forget she has the capability of being.

 

Nayoung eventually sighs. Yaebin turns blue from not breathing.

 

“....As long as it doesn’t interfere with your duties as a trainee and as long as the two of you remain a valuable asset to this group, I won’t be reporting you to Management. Or to my sister.”

 

Minkyung blinks once, twice, before Kyulkyung breaks the silence by leaping from across the dance studio into Nayoung’s arms, thanking the leader for “being cool” and not being a wet blanket.

 

Yaebin breathes a sigh of relief, and Minkyung squeezes her hand in reassurance. Everything was okay. They weren’t going to get in trouble. Nayoung has given her blessing, and that meant the world to both Minkyung and Yaebin.

 

“Great. Roa is better looking than me AND has the better love life. Some people just have it all!!” Eunwoo whines, playfully sulking in a corner while Minkyung continues to aggravate the situation by sticking her tongue out at the blonde.

 

“I could kiss you a few times if it’ll make you feel better Eunwoo-unnie!”

 

Eunwoo sighs weakly at the ray of sunshine now bouncing like an Energizer bunny by her side.

 

“....Thanks Hana. You’re the best.”

 

 

*********************************************************************

 

As a trainee, one is expected to spend hours upon hours on end practicing/training/dying inside the dance studio, perfecting your craft and honing your skills. Pledis is an entertainment company that takes extreme pride in the rigorous training methods they employ to ensure their trainees are “up to snuff”.

 

The Pledis Girlz (still an incredibly cheesy name, if you were to ask Yaebin. Then again, nobody really asks Yaebin anything) have made Dance Studio 5 into their home, spending more time shuffling about on the studio’s wooden floors than in their own actual houses. To their credit though, Pledis Entertainment did their best to ensure the trainees were in optimum condition to practice.

 

The sound system in the room was amazing. Yaebin remembers the first time Nayoung had played a Tinashe song for them to dance to and being almost literally blown away by the bass pounding out of the speakers. The leather sofas in the studio were extremely comfortable as well. Ideal for napping in between routines. The one gripe Yaebin has about the studio is that for some inexplicable reason, the room always feels too warm.

 

Maybe it was intended that way. Make the trainees sweat extra to lose weight faster. Ingenious, if that was the reason.

 

The room gets so warm so fast that at times the air conditioning in the room felt as useful as someone trying to cool you down by blowing on you.

 

Now in July, in the middle of summer, Yaebin feels like she is being roasted alive in Dance Studio 5. Her energy reserves get depleted several times faster than normal, and the vending machine outside the studio needs to be replenished at least twice a week.

 

The sun was punishing. So so punishing.

 

“I want ice-cream.” Siwon says while she lies down spread-eagled on the wooden floor looking like a dried up starfish.

 

Sungyeon’s response to that came in the form of a strangled groan. “Urgh. I hate how good that sounds.”

 

“Right? Seriously. Imagine how good a cone filled to the brim with cold, creamy goodness would be right now.”

 

“Ooooh~ keep up the unnie you’re hitting all the right spots.” Sungyeon began exaggeratedly out before she was cut off halfway by a cushion hitting her in the face, expertly flung from across the room by a red-faced Eunwoo.

 

“Can you not talk like that? You’re too young to say that kinda !”

 

“I’m 18! My vocabulary is perfectly legal!”

 

“….cold, cold ice-cream….melting….dripping between your fingers….”

 

“Shut your mouth-hole Siwon! Not in front of the children!” Eunwoo shouts as another seat cushion goes flying towards the prone starfish on the floor.

 

Sungyeon was the same age as Yaebin, and really Yaebin would resent the statement declaring her a child at 18 years of age but she was just too tired. The heat was weighing down on her and Siwon was still professing her love for ice-cream with a seat cushion stuck to her face.

 

The muffled mumblings of the madman known as “Siwon With A Heatstroke” was starting to get to Yaebin.

 

“You’ve convinced me Wonnie. I too, shall join you on this quest for ice-cream.” Yaebin declared, losing the battle between her parched throat and her waistline.

 

“Comrade!” Siwon cheered, sitting up so fast the cushion that was previously impaled unto her face was flung back across the room, hitting an unsuspecting Nayoung as the leader did her cooldown stretches in the corner, away from the ice-cream conversation.

 

There was a moment of tense silence as the entire room paused to see what the leader would do. Nayoung gingerly picked up the plump cushion lying at her feet, examined it for a brief second before flinging it back across the room with so much deadly force and accuracy Yaebin was pretty sure she had just become a witness to a homicide. Nana’s sister had just killed Kang Siwon.

 

“Oh my god her nose is gone!” Sungyeon screamed, examining Siwon’s corpse.

 

“That was Im Nayoung’s special move: The Killer Assault Drive From Hell. I’ve witnessed it only once before, under the full moon when the cherry blossoms were in bloom.”

 

“Nunu-unnie this isn’t a sports anime. You can’t just go naming things to make them sound cooler.”

 

“What are you on about Baesoong? Leader-nim was the one who came up with the name herself!”

 

Nayoung had a twinkle in her eye as she flashed them a peace sign in support of Eunwoo’s statement. Im Nayoung was scary, but Yaebin has learned that the tall, beautiful freak-of-nature could also be the biggest dork this side of the planet. You wouldn’t catch Yaebin saying that out loud however. The vertically-challenged trainee was terrified of her leader, and that was saying something because having lived in Texas for a significant part of her formative years, Yaebin has been exposed to all manner of scary things. Heck there have been several horror movies made using Texas as a setting. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was an exceptionally scary movie because the title itself contained 3 very scary things. Massacres, Chainsaws, and Texas. 

 

Bottom line was, despite having seen some nasty in her life, her stone-faced leader was up there in the rankings.

 

“Well...” Yaebin begins, seeing that Siwon was still dead on the floor. Was she really okay? The cushion shouldn’t have made a dull 'thud' sound when it hit the girl, but it did. What was up with that? “I guess we can go eat ice-cream without Siwon?”

 

“No you won’t Rena. You’ve been slacking on your diet enough as it is.”

 

Yaebin’s head snaps to face Minkyung, who had been quietly sitting in the corner excusing herself from whatever else was going on in the room. Of course Minkyung would join in on the conversation now that Yaebin was part of it. The latter would be giddy at the fact, if Minkyung wasn’t interjecting herself into the conversation just to drive a wedge between her and ice-cream. “B-but unnie….”

 

“No buts. You’re already sitting too comfortably close to the border as it is. If you keep indulging yourself, do you know what you’ll become?”

 

“Don’t say it! Don’t you dare say it!”

 

“FAT.”

 

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Yaebin sank to her knees in defiance, screaming out towards the ceiling in her usual over-dramatic fashion while Minkyung cackled in the corner looking a little too satisfied at the reaction.

 

Yaebin was nowhere close to being fat of course. She’s been doing well in the gym and dancing continuously for several hours a day, 5 days a week has gained the once reclusive (and incredibly out of shape) shut-in a body that would make any girl her age green with envy. She looked like a bona fide idol-prospect now, with defined abs that even Minkyung would compliment as the taller girl traced lazy circles under Yaebin’s shirt during their “practice” sessions.

 

Of course, it’s also become a running joke for Minkyung to remind Yaebin about how out of shape the latter once was, as a means of guilt tripping the girl into watching her diet. Minkyung does it just to get a rise out of the girl, really. Secretly Minkyung sort of misses the meatier Yaebin. “Men’s Health Rena” was unassumingly hot, but “Plump Bookworm Yaebin” was nicer to cuddle with.

 

“One cone won’t hurt anyone, Roa.” Minkyung turned to see Nayoung approaching her, wallet already in hand ready to leave the dance studio. Minkyung could only gawk at the leader in disbelief.

 

“Nayou—Seriously? You of all people should be stopping them from—“

 

“One cone, Kim Roa.” Nayoung cut off the tallest girl in the room with a stoic face and an unmissable twinkle in her eyes. “We’ll call it a....team bonding exercise.”

 

Minkyung looked as if she had an argument brewing on the tip of her tongue but one look at the determined leader who was all but skipping towards the door in childish excitement and Minkyung could only sigh in defeat.

 

“….I get it, unnie.”

 

 

*******************************************************************

 

Yaebin notes that although she’s been a Pledis trainee for nearly 2 years now, it was quite rare for all of them to venture out of the practice room together like this. Sure there were those odd busking moments Pledis would make them do in Myeongdong or Hongdae in order to familiarize them with performing in front of an audience, but that was all official stuff. Work events, not for leisure or pleasure. Meals would usually consist of them ordering takeout, so they never actually went out to eat as a group.

 

They made for quite a sight, the 6 of them. Yaebin had gotten used to being surrounded by attractive people since she moved back to Seoul but it was still hilarious seeing the actual impact that the collective lot of them could have on their surroundings. Minkyung had flipped her hair nonchalantly because a sudden breeze had blown a few strands into her face and the simple act had caused two highschool boys to trip over their own feet and a delivery boy to crash his bike into a telephone pole.

 

Yewon had ran over to the delivery boy to make sure he was okay and that just made things worse because the embodiment of sunshine herself didn’t realise how pretty she was. Eunwoo had to drag an apologetic and confused Yewon away from the unfortunate boy’s unconscious body.

 

Cathy’s shop was only 600 meters away from Pledis Entertainment for goodness sake. You’d think they wouldn’t be able to bring such disaster to society within such a short range.

 

Somehow, they managed the last few hundred meters to Last Kiss Creamery without any more incidents. Yaebin would have thought that the ever-controlling Nayoung would have made an attempt to make sure her girls didn’t cause a riot but the leader was too busy planning which flavours of ice-cream to choose with Siwon all throughout the journey. Nayoung made no attempts to reel Yewon back in when the girl had wandered off to chase after a puppy, made no attempts to chide Eunwoo for teasing Yaebin too much, and she definitely made zero attempts to dissuade Sungyeon from running full speed towards the shop the moment the building came into view.

 

“I DEMAND AIR CONDITIONING!”

 

Cathy blinks at the girl currently heaving and panting in her doorway. She wasn’t familiar with this one but she could see her favourite Texan amongst the gaggle of pretty girls walking towards her shop and it wasn’t hard to deduce a conclusion. Great, the Pledis kids have arrived.

 

“Well....” Cathy began, motioning to her employees to get back to work and stop gawking at all the pretty girls entering the premises. “...The air conditioning is here. In the air. All around you. Help yourself to it if you’d like, it’s complementary.”

 

“Sungyeon please don’t be a bother to the lady that’s going to serve us ice-cream.”

 

Cathy takes note of the way this “Sungyeon” seemed to immediately straighten up her posture in response to the request, which came off as more of a command if anything. She seems to be respected, this tall girl. Must be a leader or something close to th—

 

“UNNIE!”

 

“Ghrk! CAN’T BREATHE—BINNIE PLEASE!”

 

Cathy feels the arms around her loosen somewhat and she lets out a sigh of relief. Yaebin has gotten stronger, in the few months since she’s last seen her. Taller too, but not by much. Cathy looks down to see the girl smiling up at her, smile radiant and hair sticking to her forehead from perspiration. She’s missed this girl. Yaebin had stopped coming once her diet had kicked in at full swing.

 

“Place is pretty empty isn’t it? It’s the middle of summer! Why is an ice-cream shop empty in the middle of summer?” Yaebin asked, looking around to see empty chairs and tables. An uncommon sight for the shop, and nearly impossible given the season.

 

“Because, young Yaebin, we are currently closed. Y’all just barged in, ignoring the sign.”

 

Yaebin follows Cathy’s finger to the door and sure enough she sees the sign on it flipped to “closed”. They must have missed it when they were storming in.

 

Feeling bad, Yaebin turns to the rest of her friends only to see them already placing orders at the counter to a gaggle of employees who didn’t seem to have the heart to refuse. She gives Cathy an apologetic smile to which the shopkeeper just shrugged in response.

 

“Looks like they can’t resist attending to you lovely ladies.”

 

“Well, if you’re closed why is the shop still fully staffed?”

 

“Oh we were open earlier. I just decided to close it for a few hours because the crowd was ridiculous. Also I’m a millionaire that can afford to turn down that kind of business.” Cathy had the proudest smile on her face as she said that. Yaebin couldn’t help but smile weakly in return. She’s not sure she’ll ever know how having that kind of freedom feels like.

 

“Babe, come pick a flavour. We’re sharing.” Minkyung calls out to her, looking obviously overwhelmed by the assortment of flavours on offer. The taller girl was standing by the counter staring into the display window with her arms crossed, looking so adorably confused at all the flavour options that Yaebin couldn’t help but squeal. She just wanted to pick Minkyung up and sit her down at a table and baby her with all the flavours under the sun.

 

Yaebin turns to give Cathy a small apologetic smile for having to cut their conversation short but the older woman just nodded and shooed her off, telling her to go. The shopkeeper watches with a faraway sigh as Yaebin skips over across the shop to latch herself onto Minkyung’s arm like a koala.

 

Young love. It’s a wonderful thing.

 

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

“So.”

 

Yaebin turns to see Cathy right next to her, an eyebrow raised and a knowing grin on her face. The former sighed weakly.

 

She knew this conversation was going to come, she just didn’t really want it to come out so soon. Being a trainee from a large agency meant that she was under the public eye now, so she and Minkyung were careful to keep the nature of their relationship a secret outside of their agency. Well at least Yaebin was careful. Minkyung just likes to live dangerously, oftentimes not giving a damn about where they were before indecently groping Yaebin in public.

 

With that being said, they were secretive enough that even Yaebin’s friends didn’t really know about it. Well, Siyeon was always quite sharp, but even she would not be able to guess that the reason Yaebin wears turtlenecks during summer was because she needed to hide the marks Minkyung would accidentally leave.

 

There really wasn’t any harm in telling her close acquaintances. She could trust that they would keep it a secret. Cathy of all people would be completely understanding since she herself was dating an idol. It was just a chore to be having this conversation, since Yaebin didn’t really fancy talking about herself or her personal life.

 

“So….?” Yaebin repeats, trailing off and waiting for the older woman to continue.

 

“You two?” Cathy points to Yaebin, and then to Minkyung who was sitting a few tables away with the other girls, well out of ear-shot. Yaebin sees the bored expression on Minkyung’s face as Siwon tries to engage her in a conversation.

 

Dragging a girl on a strict diet to an ice-cream shop might not have been the brightest of ideas. She should probably intervene soon, before Siwon ends up with a face full of Mango Sunrise.

 

“Sometimes.” Yaebin answers simply while shrugging, slightly distracted.

 

“Sometimes? What are you on other times?”

 

“At each other’s throats.”

 

Cathy chuckles lightly. “Fair.”

 

The shopkeeper then turns her attention to Eunwoo, who so happened to pass by on her way back from the washroom. “And where have you been you sack of ?”

 

“Around. Did you miss your favourite dongsaeng, Boss?” Eunwoo asks with a teasing wink as she wipes her wet hands off on Yaebin’s shirt, ignoring the latter’s shrieks of protest.

 

“Somi is my favourite dongsaeng.”

 

Eunwoo looked mortified beyond belief. It was as if she had just gotten slapped across the face with a fresh salmon. “….How dare you.”

 

“Yeah. Yeah that’s what you get for quitting your job and running off to Seoul without any prior notice.”

 

“That was TWO YEARS ago!”

 

“I hold grudges.”

 

“That she does. She does that very well.” A familiar voice chimes into the conversation and all heads turn to see Jung Chaeyeon leaning by the doorframe leading to Cathy’s office. Was the idol posing? How long has she been standing there...?

 

“Pssh. If your groupmate had never walked into the shop that winter, I’d still have an assistant manager.” Cathy scoffed at her girlfriend, who brushed it off like it was an everyday thing.

 

“But you wouldn’t have a lot of other things. Like me, for instance. Yebs was the one that dragged me back to you remember?”

 

“Baek Yebin seduced the only competent employee I had and dragged her away. Like a siren! She snatched my first mate right off my ship.”

 

Cathy and Chaeyeon continued to bicker back-and-forth about DIA’s Yebin and how the latter had charmed her way into Eunwoo’s heart. Cathy seemed to talk about the girl as if she was a disease, obviously not a part of Yebin’s fan cafe. Yaebin watched on in odd fascination because it was a first for her, to see Eunwoo so quiet and possibly even pensive. It was also weird to hear a name so similar to hers being tossed around the room like that. Maybe it was a good thing that Minkyung suggested for her to get a stage name after all.

 

“How’s she doing Chae?”

 

The question was asked so uncertainly. If words could be defined with physical characteristics Eunwoo’s question would be seen as frail, frayed at the edges and brittle to the touch. It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to make the couple pause in their bickering. Chaeyeon’s gaze softens as she looks at Eunwoo, the latter’s usual confident persona all but gone and in her stead was a young girl that looked as if she was nervously waiting to get punished by her school principal.

 

“She’s alright.” Eunwoo nods at the simple answer. Seeing the younger girl still with that faraway look in her eyes Chaeyeon makes her way around the counter so that she could envelop Eunwoo in a tight embrace. “She misses you.” Chaeyeon begins, lips pressed to Eunwoo’s forehead. “She wants to come visit you at your agency but I keep telling her you wouldn’t want that.”

 

Eunwoo shakes her head, nearly headbutting Chaeyeon in the jaw as she did so. Yaebin would have found it hilarious but she knew better than to laugh, given the current mood of the conversation. “Not until I become a full-fledged idol myself, Chae. I have a promise to keep.”

 

“You just like it when things are unnecessarily complicated.”

 

“C’mon babe. She wants to be on equal grounds with Yebs before they meet again. I think it’s romantic.”

 

“Pfft. Someone needs to give you a proper lesson in romantics.” Cathy scoffs, ignoring the icey glare Eunwoo was shooting at her.

 

“Yes. Because my current romantic partner isn’t doing that swell of a job.” Chaeyeon retorts almost immediately, as if she had that reply locked and loaded on the tip of her tongue for several years just waiting to be used.

 

This time Yaebin was unable to hold back her laughter. Chaeyeon's always had a way with words, but when it comes to Cathy the idol manages to somehow make one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Seoul look absolutely pathetic. Cathy grumbles and walks away, muttering to herself as she takes her frustrations out on her other employees.

 

“....Stupid Cathy. Walked right into that one didn’t I? Walked into it like a glass door. Cathy you only have yourself to blame for that one.”

 

Yaebin sees the fondness in Chaeyeon’s eyes as the idol watches Cathy literally throw a hissy fit, flinging whisks and spoons at the shop’s unfortunate employees. There was a dynamic there that Yaebin hasn’t had the opportunity to explore. Cathy’s relationship with Chaeyeon was absolutely fascinating because on paper the two really wouldn’t seem to click together well, with their different personalities. Yaebin’s heard the abridged version of the duo’s love story, but one day she should definitely sit down and request the full version.

 

 “Hi Binster! You doing alright? You don’t visit as often anymore.”

 

Yaebin snaps out of her thoughts to find Chaeyeon smiling that toothpaste-commercial smile at her. If you had told Yaebin back when she had her nose buried in a book in some musty bookstore in Austin that DIA’s Jung Chaeyeon would be one day refer to her as “Binster”, she probably would have laughed. Sometimes Yaebin just pauses and observes her surroundings, and wonders how in the blue hell did her life ever take this turn.

 

“You okay Binster?” Chaeyeon approaches Yaebin, who quickly nods and offers the idol a sheepish smile.

 

“Yeah! Yeah sorry. Was somewhere else there. You’re right unnie, it’s been awhile since I’ve been here. Trainee life though. Gotta watch the waistline, you know how it is.”

 

Yaebin points to her stomach and laughs awkwardly, but pauses at the confused look on Chaeyeon’s face. It then hits her and Yaebin sighs in defeat.

 

“....Right. Born to be an idol. I forgot.”

 

Chaeyeon was a genetic freak. She could eat 5 whole gallons of icecream without having to burn any of it off. The idol probably never needed to diet in her life, of course she wouldn’t know how it is. The Idol Gods blessed Jung Chaeyeon with the metabolism of an overgrown hummingbird.

 

“Y’know, growing up, I actually wanted to become a taxidermist.”

 

Yaebin nearly laughed at Chaeyeon’s sudden confession, only to realise the idol wasn’t joking. “....Really?”

 

“She thought a taxidermist was a dentist that operates out of his cab. Hah! Operates! I’m hilarious!” Cathy chimes in from the side, slapping her knee as she laughed at her own (incredibly dumb) joke.

 

“Babe don’t make up stories like that, they might believe you! I wasn’t that dumb! I was just very fascinated with dead animals!”

 

“You’re right! Not dumb! Just creepy as !”

 

“Catherine Ki Heehyun I swear—“ Chaeyeon begins, only to sigh in defeat. “....Why do I love you?”

 

“That’s something we’ll never know. You’re too good for her.” Eunwoo interjects, which only causes Chaeyeon to sigh again because in the back Cathy was still laughing at her own joke.

 

“At least your girlfriend looks pretty sane, Binster.” Chaeyeon addresses Yaebin, who gets caught off guard at the sudden implication.

 

“Oh she’s not my—I mean we haven’t actually—y’know what? I’m not even going to correct you, Chae-unnie. That mental image is too sweet.” Perhaps she can dream. A relationship wasn’t something Minkyung would pursue because above all else the girl’s primary focus was to debut. Yaebin respects that, but at the same time she does wonder what it would be like to put a label to all this.

 

Yaebin looks across the room to see Minkyung laughing at Sungyeon and Siwon, who must’ve said/done something amusing. She could dream. She could dream of calling this vision of beauty hers. If Minkyung wanted time to define their relationship, Yaebin would gladly give it to her. Heck she knew in her bones that she’d give Minkyung the world wrapped in a bow if the brunette so wished it.

 

Minkyung looks away from her conversation and their eyes meet. It doesn’t take much, just a slight tilt of the head and Yaebin is apologising to Chaeyeon, excusing herself from their conversation so that she could make her way towards the girl who holds her heart.

 

“What are you up to you idiot?” Minkyung asks as Yaebin takes the empty seat next to her, the smile from Chaeyeon’s earlier assumption still being worn proudly on the shorter girl’s face.

 

“I prefer the term ‘Alternative Genius’, but idiot works just fine.”

 

Minkyung grimaces as Yaebin attempts to spoon-feed her some “California Sherbet” from the half-melted cup she was holding.

 

“You know I can’t eat ice-cream.”

 

“I know you want to eat ice-cream.”

 

Minkyung frowns, and Yaebin can see the inner conflict inside the idol-prospect. It was adorable how transparent Kim Minkyung can be. Yaebin decides to push it a little further.

 

"You said we were sharing, remember?"

 

"....I just wanted an excuse to buy you ice-cream."

 

“Even Nayoung-unnie is letting loose today. Besides, it’s hotter than Satan’s out there. You’ll sweat it all off on the way back to Pledis. A bite won’t hurt.”

 

“Just one spoonful.” Minkyung finally relents, and Yaebin resists the urge to pump her fist in victory.

 

“If you can resist having a second, that is.”

 

Yaebin scoops up the most generous helping of ice-cream she could fit onto one plastic spoon and brings it to Minkyung’s lips, who frowns at the excessive amount but eats it all anyway. Cathy makes the best ice-cream, and even Minkyung (who tries her best to seem cool and collected) lets out a loud moan of satisfaction as the flavour hits her tongue.

 

Yaebin’s job here was done.

 

“Wanna do something for your birthday next week?” Yaebin suggests, and giggles when Minkyung raises a surprised eyebrow at her while dabbing her lips with a napkin.

 

“You’re a celebrity, didn’t you realise? I follow your fansites. They’ve been planning your birthday for days now.” Yaebin informs. Minkyung grumbles lowly and the shorter girl couldn’t resist but to poke the brunette in the cheek. “You can’t keep your birthday a secret from me, Miss Roa Kim Minkyung.”

 

“Have you seen what your fansite has been posting? They think that you and I are finally getting along well with each other.” Minkyung makes a show of laughing at the absurdity of it all, and Yaebin plays along with a grin of her own.

 

“What? Us? Getting along? How absurd.”

 

“Exactly. Your fans are delusional, Kang Rena.”

 

“How dare you insult my fans, Kim Roa. I’ll have you know that we may be small in number but we can put up quite a fight!”

 

“It’ll be a pretty short fight then.”

 

“That’s low.”

 

“Low like your point of view, pipsqueak."

 

“My fans are better than both of y’all fans.”

 

The two of them simultaneously turn to face the source of the interruption only to see Eunwoo with a proud smile on her face, shrugging nonchalantly. “Just sayin.”

 

“Are you two gonna kiss or what? All the in this room is making me feel a certain kind of way.” It was Sungyeon’s turn to chime into the conversation, having watched the two bicker from the sidelines all the while.

 

“I hope your certain kind of way leads you to the nearest church, Baesoong.” Minkyung says, sticking her tongue out at Sungyeon like a kid.

 

“Hey, I’m the only straight one in this room. I’ve found my Jesus-nim, thank you very much. He’s firmly embedded in my heart.”

 

“Huh. Doubt such a cramped space would provide much comfort.” Sungyeon looked as if Siwon had just insulted her mother with that statement, somehow looking both affronted and scandalized at the same time.

 

“Yeah Bae.” Minkyung starts, a grin stretching a mile-long on her face. “You should keep him firmly embedded on your wide forehead instead. Realllly give him some room to stretch his legs.”

 

They all laugh at Sungyeon’s expense, and the laughter intensifies when the vocalist starts pouting pathetically. Sungyeon had her arms crossed in front of her as she huffed, looking like one of those tiny birds with extremely poofy feathers Yaebin remembers seeing on the nature channel once.

 

“Y’all are as mean as y’all are gay.”

 

 

***********************************************************

 

They proceeded to spend the next three hours in the dance studio, attempting to burn off as much of the ice-cream as they could. Training was rigorous but it was fun. Maybe they’ve developed a masochistic side to them over the years but there was something about dancing until your body started crying ‘uncle!’ that was immensely satisfying.

 

The sun was already almost level with the horizon by the time they finished practicing. Minkyung was currently walking Yaebin to the nearest train station, making sure that her fingers were firmly intertwined with Yaebin’s own as they walked. Yaebin has never asked to be accompanied on her way back, but Minkyung just started doing it one day and the shorter girl saw no reason to start questioning it. It immediately becomes a routine, another addition to the long list of ways Kim Minkyung has changed Yaebin’s way of life.

 

There’s not much time left for this. Walking as the sun sets, eating icecream together as a group, having a fixed routine in her life....they can all feel it, although no official announcements have been made. The hushed whispers amongst the managers, the uneasy shuffling of the higher-ups who’ve started to visit them in Dance Studio 5 more often these days....

 

They were about to debut.

 

They will no longer be the Pledis Girlz. Unless the company decides to debut them with that name and if that’s the case Yaebin might just cry because she still thinks that it’s the stupidest name—

 

“What’s up with you?”

 

Yaebin realises that she’s stopped walking and Minkyung was now looking at her with a puzzled expression on her face, her hands still holding Yaebin’s.

 

“....You look great in that tank top.”

 

For a brief moment Minkyung looks even more puzzled, before a small smile overtakes her features. “Thanks for noticing sweetie. Although, I don’t think it’s my revealing shoulders that’s stopped you in your tracks.”

 

Yaebin shrugs. “You’ve stopped me in my tracks with just a smile plenty of times.”

 

“And I’m aware of that. This isn’t one of those times though, is it?” Minkyung pushes, and Yaebin sighs, realising that she knows the girl well enough to know that this subject won’t be dropped just like that.

 

“It’s soon, isn’t it?”

 

“...Yeah.” Minkyung answers, knowing exactly what Yaebin was referring to. It’s probably been on the beauty’s mind as well. They probably have the same concerns even. They probably even feel the same kind of fear.

 

“The budget cuts have been getting pretty out of hand lately unnie. Do you think—“

 

“Don’t go there Yaebin.”

 

Minkyung cuts her off, and she can feel the older girl’s hand tighten around hers in a reassuring squeeze.

 

“Don’t let yourself go there. It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

 

Yaebin looks up into Minkyung’s eyes and feels more than sees the taller girl’s steely gaze, as if bracing for a collision. Although Minkyung is telling her not to let her mind go there, it appears as if the older girl had already beaten her to it. Minkyung was already there, and Minkyung was probably just as scared of the uncertain future as she was. Still, the way Minkyung tried to be strong for her, the way the older girl was trying her best to make Yaebin feel protected, it would be a disservice to continue her current train of thought.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Yaebin finally nods, and she catches the glint in her lover’s eye, the wide smile that was starting to take over Minkyung’s features as if she was satisfied that she’s managed to cheer Yaebin up.

 

“More importantly though babe, have you bought your tickets?”

 

“Tickets to what?” Yaebin asks out of courtesy, pretending like she couldn’t tell Minkyung’s obvious attempts at changing the subject.

 

“Oh you know~”

 

“No I don’t know.” Yaebin begins to giggle, finding the smile on Minkyung’s face to be incredibly infectious. “Tickets to what unnie? The train?”

 

“No~” And Minkyung winks and giggles like a giddy schoolgirl, obviously pleased with what she was about to do. “Tickets to the Gun Show.”

 

With that statement Minkyung strikes a pose, overtly obnoxious just so that she could flex her biceps and display her physique in that tank top that looks too amazing on her. Kim Minkyung, the former ice queen of South Apgujeong All Girls’ School, the ever charismatic trainee from Pledis Entertainment, the girl with a fancafe following of 18,430 people, was currently posing at the side of the road as cars passed by making a complete fool of herself. A few cars honked, a few motorcyclists whistled, but Minkyung still held her pose, committed to her joke.

 

“....How can someone so cool be so un-cool at the same time?” Yaebin was trying her best not to laugh. She really was, but it was a losing battle. Minkyung’s face lit up in satisfaction when Yaebin finally gave in, laughing loudly and proudly at the dork that is her lover.

 

“I seem to distinctively remember a certain pipsqueak drooling while looking at me on her first day of school.” Minkyung’s smile was teasing, where as Yaebin’s completely fell off her face in horror.

 

Wait, no there was no way—

 

“Yeap, I saw you.”

 

.

 

“...Be right back unnie. I’m uhh...just gonna jump off this bridge for a bit and pray it doesn’t hurt.” Yaebin nonchalantly states while beginning to climb over the railing next to her. They were walking on an overpass, pretty high up. The fall would probably kill Yaebin almost instantly. Perfect. Take her away from this embarrassing predicament, and Yaebin shall embrace the sweet silence of death.

 

Minkyung just laughed and pulled Yaebin off the railing with very minor effort, obviously the “guns” on her arms were not just for show. Yaebin whined in embarrassment because she knew the teasing was going to come soon. She’s known Minkyung long enough. The girl revels in any opportunity to poke fun at Yaebin. She could see the grin widening on Minkyung’s face and Yaebin wanted to do her best ostrich impersonation and bury her face several feet undergrou—

 

“How did I get so attached to you?”

 

Huh.

 

Well that question came out pretty unexpectedly. Startled, Yaebin looked up at the taller girl and her knees nearly gave way because Minkyung was looking at her—at HER—with so much affection in those deep black eyes that Yaebin started to wonder if she was even deserving of half of it. Minkyung’s hands slipped down from where they had been holding onto Yaebin to rest around the shorter girl’s hips.

 

“Must be my feminine charms and Maybelline foundation.” Yaebin answered Minkyung’s question with as much wit as she could scrounge up in her current state of mind. Minkyung’s beauty was one that kills brain cells the longer you stare at her. Yaebin has been stuck on stupid for several years now because she’s always staring at Minkyung. Always paying attention to every little thing the foxy beauty does.

 

“The Maybelline definitely helped. You definitely weren’t born with it.” Minkyung states offhandedly, giggling when Yaebin lightly slaps her bare shoulder in response.

 

“I wasn’t born with it but I definitely worked for it! I think I won’t embarrass you when we debut now.”

 

“You still have doubts?”

 

Yaebin tilts her head slightly, confused at the question being asked. “About?”

 

“About being an idol. You got scouted on the streets and before you know it you’ve been training for about 2 and a half years. You’re kinda stuck on this path now. Are you actually happy being here?”

 

That was always the question wasn’t it?

 

Yaebin didn’t like it at first. In fact, her first few months of being a trainee was probably the most difficult period in her life. She almost hated being a trainee, and it showed. Everyone knew that her heart wasn’t in it and they were all waiting for her to turn and run but for some reason she didn’t and nobody including her could figure out why.

 

She had one foot out the door, until a desire to prove Minkyung wrong kicked in. Until staying back and training with Minkyung became the highlight of her day. Until she started becoming better at dancing and Minkyung would affectionately muss up her hair while complimenting her improvement. Looking back on it, her desire to mean something to the brunette beauty was probably stronger than her desire to debut.

 

“To be honest,” Yaebin began, carefully measuring her words as they rested on her tongue. “...To be honest I’m happy being anywhere you are. You’re my happiness.”

 

“Living for somebody else isn’t a comfortable way of living, Yaebin.” Minkyung echoes her words from a much earlier time, back when they were sitting outside 7-Eleven binge eating ramyun.

 

The saner part of Yaebin’s brain would agree, but that part of her has never been very vocal anyways.

 

“I’m a Pledis trainee. I’m used to sweating and crumbling to pieces infront of a floor length mirror. Comfort isn’t really my thing.”

 

Yaebin winked, and Minkyung’s full lips curved into a small smile.

 

“Still the cheekiest lil’ git.”

 

“Not little.”

 

“Biggest, cheekiest git.”

 

“Better.”

 

Minkyung leans down and Yaebin stands on the tips of her toes so that their lips could meet. They’ve kissed plenty of times before but it’s undeniable that every single time their lips touch, pure magic happens. The way Minkyung’s lips felt against her own, the way the pressure was delicate and the tongue coaxing but gentle was proof that perfection does exist in the world. When their lips eventually parted it was like the lost of something great and grand. Yaebin could still taste the taller girl on her lips, could still feel the heat of Minkyung’s breath.

 

“I love you.” Yaebin whispers as she stares into Minkyung’s deep black eyes, which widen slightly in response.

 

It was probably too early in their relationship for her to be dropping the L-bomb, but Yaebin had no qualms in saying it out loud because of how sure she is. Minkyung is her first love. This has to be love, because Yaebin can’t think of what else it could be. Minkyung is the first person to make her heart feel like it’s beating in a different rhythm. She’s in love with Kim Minkyung, and she’s probably known that fact since she first laid eyes on the older girl in the cafeteria on her first day of school.

 

Minkyung doesn’t respond immediately, and Yaebin doesn’t need her to. She just needed Minkyung to know. If anything were to happen after this, if Yaebin didn’t make the group, she needed Minkyung to know how she really felt.

 

An eternity later, and the taller girl finally moves, leaning down to press her lips against Yaebin’s again. This kiss was soft, fleeting but full. Minkyung rests her forehead against Yaebin’s and they get lost inside each other’s eyes. Black as tar, it was all too easy to fall into the taller girl’s gaze and once there, there was no escape for Yaebin.

 

“Stay by my side?” Minkyung whispers softly.

 

Yaebin nods. Because she could never imagine anything else. She couldn’t fathom being anywhere else than beside the girl of her dreams. The girl she was madly in love with. Minkyung’s request was the easiest thing in the world to fulfill.

 

“...Always.”

 

Minkyung smiles, and interlocks their fingers together as they continue their journey to the train station, walking hand in hand like the couple they unofficially were.

 

 

************************************************************

 

Minkyung buys a car, just so that she could have the means of fetching Yaebin from school so that they could go to Pledis together.

 

Minkyung refuses to admit that that’s the actual reason, but Yaebin knows for a fact that Minkyung still holds a season pass for the KTX. The older girl doesn’t really drive the car around on days where they don’t have practice. She knows that Minkyung specifically picked out a car with cup holders on the driver’s side of the center console so that she can tell Yaebin to reach over to get a drink and take the opportunity to intertwine their hands together.

 

The cup of coffee always stays untouched. Yaebin swears its been the same cup for the past week now.

 

Kyungwon, Siyeon and Kyla still look amazed whenever Minkyung pulls over by the school gates with her shiny Kia Morning gleaming in the sun. They were more than surprised when Yaebin broke the dating news to them. In fact, Siyeon and Kyungwon called her a downright liar, something Minkyung overheard and in a cheeky attempt to save Yaebin’s face the taller girl walked up to the lot of them and placed a fat kiss right on Yaebin’s lips in front of all her friends and peers.

 

Siyeon promptly shuts up after that. Kyla congratulates her. Yaebin later catches Kyungwon with pamphlets for trainee auditions tucked between the pages of her textbook.

 

Minkyung kisses her every chance she gets. In between practice, on the way to dinner, when she walks Yaebin up the latter’s porch at the end of the day and whispers “I’ll see you tomorrow” with as much longing as humanly possible.

 

Minkyung kisses her hard. Soft and slow when the situation calls for it, but hot and hungry seemed to be her method of preference. The older girl claims it’s because of how passionate she is for Yaebin. How intense their relationship is. Speaking of relationships....

 

They have never discussed labels, despite having been together close to 5 months now.

 

Yaebin does not know how to initiate it, this being her first relationship. She does not know how to ask Minkyung “are we girlfriends?” Or “are you my girlfriend now?” The topic never comes up, but when Minkyung kisses her with so much raw love Yaebin decides that labels don’t really matter.

 

Sometimes Minkyung would spend the night at Yaebin’s, where they would have a sleep-over but do no sleeping whatsoever. Yaebin suspects her family is aware of the true nature of their relationship, but they never bring it up, so Yaebin doesn’t too.

 

Yaebin wakes up one morning to the sound of her phone ringing, struggling to reach for it because Minkyung’s sleeping form was holding Yaebin close to her, wrapping her arms around the latter’s waist as if afraid Yaebin would slip away in the night. The shorter girl manages to reach for her phone without waking Minkyung up, which seemed to be a feat of it’s own.

 

“Come to the agency right now. Bring Minkyung with you.”

 

Nayoung’s orders were curt and direct, which causes Yaebin to nod (although it was a voice call, not a video call) as she tells the leader they’ll be there soon. Nayoung had said "Minkyung" and not "Roa", which indicates that something serious must have happened. They've decided to call each other by their chosen stage names awhile back, but in the heat of certain moments it's not strange for them to forget and accidentally call the other by their real name. Yaebin glances at the clock on her phone, groaning slightly when she realises that she and Minkyung had overslept again, and they were probably going to get an earful later.

 

The trip to the agency was swift and quiet, both groggy as Minkyung drives them as safely as she could while her eyes were closed from sleep. They’ve gone to the agency so many times the roads were that familiar.

 

Yaebin steps into Dance Studio 5 with Minkyung in tow, and immediately she senses the tense atmosphere in the air. She does a quick sweep of the room, and realises one of them was missing. Maybe they had to leave for the washroom or something. A feeling of dread still settles in the pit of Yaebin’s stomach.

 

“Final lineup for debut is out.”

 

Yaebin feels her blood run cold at Eunwoo’s words. This was it, wasn’t it? They’ve been training for this for so long, this should be a joyous occasion.

 

There was no joy to be felt in the room.

 

“It’s on the wall. Mind you...you might want to....” Sungyeon starts, but doesn’t quite finish her words which makes Yaebin have the sudden urge to punch the vocalist in the face. You don’t just end a sentence that way. What a cruel joke!

 

A dull thud brings Yaebin’s attention to the bulletin board, and she whips her head up in time to see Minkyung falling to her knees while gripping the piece of paper tightly in her hands. Yaebin feels an impending dread loom over her, as if she was standing on the edge of a tall building with winds blowing at 170km/h.

 

Slowly, Yaebin walks over to a sobbing Minkyung and rests a hand on the girl’s shoulder. Yaebin gently coaxes the piece of paper out of Minkyung’s fingers and her eyes scan through the contents.

 

Again.

 

And again.

 

And again.

 

“Isn’t there anything—“ Yaebin croaks, tears starting to fall from her own eyes as she feels her heart get ripped out of her chest by the management’s cruel fingers.

 

Nayoung just shakes her head grimly, with eyes so red Yaebin knew that the leader must have tried her best. Everything in her power. If even Nana’s sister couldn’t do anything, what hope was there?

 

Yaebin’s legs give way as she falls next to the love of her life, embracing Minkyung as they both cried their heart out. The embrace was soon joined in by Eunwoo, Nayoung, Kyulkyung, Sungyeon and Yewon. The piece of paper lay tossed aside on the floor, discarded and ignored.

 

The words “Pristin” were emblazoned at the top of the paper in pink and blue, no doubt suggesting the name of the final debut group. It was a good name. It wasn’t cheesy, wasn’t campy, it wasn’t lame. It was a brilliant name, but none of that would matter because one thing stood out the most about the list. One thing that could not be ignored.

 

Minkyung and Siwon’s names were not on it.

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Hello!

So...uh...hey. Hows it going? Sorry for that. For ending this chapter like that. Did any of y'all see it coming? Please say you didn't. I'm kinda proud of that twist.

I apologize for how messy this chapter is though! You see, that last part, where the final lineup was revealed was supposed to be part of the previous chapter, but I thought it was mean to end a chapter where Yaebin and Minkyung finally kiss each other with Minkyung not making the final cut, so I had no choice but to move the angst to another chapter so that y'all can have your happy chapter 3 uninterrupted. 

The downside of that though....is I had to fill up this entire chapter with random stuff just to lead up to that reveal at the end.

I took the opportunity to use this chapter to delve a little deeper into Eunwoo's relationship with Dia's Yebin, which is still a random pairing that I made in my previous Catchae fic that followed into this story. Honestly that whole ice-cream shop scene was sorta fan service for the readers that came here from my previous fic, so I humbly apologize to the new readers for having to sit through that. If you found that whole scene confusing, feel free to read Just Another Girl, which is the fic that THIS fic was based on. That fic is still in my opinion my best work, but I'm trying my best to have this fic live up to that.

Siwon!

Okay, I wrote a lot of Siwon into this fic because hey I'm still attached to her it's been years since PD101 ended and I still think Pledis should have swept her up I mean she's perfect for Pledis but whatevs she's still rotting in Dream T's dungeon so that's cool I guess. I also wrote a lot of her here because I was going to have her not make the cut in this fic, and I kiiiinda needed y'all to at least get invested enough in her character for y'all to care when she didn't make it hahahaha

I don't know if it worked. I've learned that the more you try to force people to care about someone, the more it backfires. But an attempt was made. 

Siwon you cutiepie first you didn't make it into IOI and now you didn't make it into Pristin I'm so sorry

 

I'm not sure when the next update will come. I'm about 3/4 way through writing the next chapter but I usually take AGES to proofread and do the final touches. This has been a long footnote thing, but I just like to talk too much. 

I shall end it with a cute gif of Minky I found that has nothing to do with anything in this chapter but it's so adorable I wanna squeeze it in anyways.

Thank you for reading! See you in the next chapter!