Yewon’s brain was on fire.

Not literally, but she swore that the inner mechanisms of her mind were working on overtime. Her notebook filled with scribbles of lines, eventually being cancelled after mere seconds of writing them. The tip of her pencil gradually turning into a dull edge. It wasn’t like this was the first time she actually wrote a song. Heck, she composed and wrote two of em’. But this…

This was different.

Not in the way that she would’ve like. She always looked forward to opportunities to showcase her skills. Now, it felt like a weight the size of a boulder was looming over her. Or maybe she was just imagining it. Still, with every lyrics she jotted down, the words ‘not good enough’ echoed repeatedly through her head.

Yewon placed down her pencil, and got up from her slouched posture on the table. She sat there in one of the many composing rooms, staring back at the opened page with a frown on her complexion.

She could hear the scribbles mocking her.

-

“Stare at that for too long, and you’re gonna burn a hole into it.”

The strawberry blonde snapped out of her daze. She turned her head and looked up at one of her roommate, her eyes blinking rapidly to get rid of the tiredness in them. “ I-I wasn’t staring at it, I was just checking,” Yewon stammered.

Yaebin smirked. “You’re working hard, but even the hardest of workers need sleep.”

Yewon couldn’t help but sputter a small laugh. “That’s the deepest thing I’ve ever heard from you next to that maths equation you live by, unnie.”

“I think you’re getting influenced by a certain tsundere. Your snark is showing when you’re tired,” Yaebin ruffled the crown of Yewon’s head  as she closed the notebook on the table in front of her. “Take a shower and get an early night’s rest.”

“But-”

“Or else I’ll take the last vanilla yogurt in the fridge,” was all Yaebin said before she left the bedroom.

‘Tough love’ , Yewon thought with a pout.

She raised her arms and stretched out all the kinks in her body. The older girl was right. A warm shower was just what she needed.

When she finished with her shower and returned back to her room, a yellow post-it note was placed on top of her desk, accompanied by a pack of gummy bears next to her open notebook.

‘Sometimes you gotta eat something sweet whenever the words don’t come to you.’

Was all it said.

The handwriting was familiar; the way the looked a little rushed, casual words written in the most simple but caring way. Few of her members were straight to the point when it came to messages like this. Only one would write without any inclusions of emojis, hearts, or little doodles, and yet still show the love in it.

Yewon smiled, her eyes turning into crescents. A tender smile which was only reserved for that one person who always manages to get on her nerves, but no part of her would ever hate.

She sat back down at her desk and opened the packet of candies. As she gratefully munched on the fruity creatures, Yewon wondered if the company would like a song about gummy bears.

-

“How old are you?”

Yewon furrowed her brows, her usually upbeat persona downcasted into a sullen pout. The notebook in her hands crumpled under her tight grip. Of course a song about gummy bears wouldn’t work. What was she thinking? Guess it was back to the drawing board.

A pat on her shoulder brought her back up to look at the taller girl before her. “I was just kidding,” Nayoung smiled apologetically.

Yewon curved her lips into a smile too, though half-heartedly.

The leader moved in closer to gather the younger one up into a hug. “I’m sorry for saying that. You must have thought hard for your song.”

“It’s okay, unnie,” Yewon gave a slight squeeze before pulling away. “It did sound childish. You don’t need to lie for my sake.”

“It’s really not,” Nayoung gently pleaded with her. “Tell me more about it. Show me what you have. I bet it will be as great as your other songs. Maybe even better.”

A genuine smile graced her lips. She hated to admit it, but Yewon was a er for compliments. Her clumsy attempt to hide it underneath some words of denial worked as well as anyone might think.

Yewon gave up, opened her notebook, and revealed the verses to Nayoung.

The scribbles were not mocking her.

---

The words were down. Not finalized but good enough to have something going. All she needed now was a melody.

Yewon hadn’t thought about it.

Nayoung’s face resembled a stone when she told her that.

“But!” Yewon quickly added. “It’s going to sound cute and sweet!”

 “...Like a gummy bear,” Nayoung simply said.

“Exactly!”

Nayoung didn’t look very convinced. “I trust that you will come up with a good beat soon.”

After her meaningful discussion with Nayoung was done, Yewon went back to the composing room assigned to her. She surfed through the web, going on Youtube and various music sites for inspiration. Sure, she got some ideas for a melody to play around with but nothing concrete as of yet.

Eventually, the few hours of intense music creation got the better of Yewon and she dozed off while in the middle of sampling some sounds in the composing software.

When she finally woke from her nap, a white flashdrive which was definitely not there on her table before greeted her. A small, rectangular post-it note was pasted on it.

‘Listen to these,’ it said.

Yewon softened at the short but simple note. It bore the same familiar and rushed handwriting from the first one. A certain someone was trying to help her from the shadows. The strawberry blonde released a light giggle as she admired the flashdrive. The two of them barely saw each other for the past several days, even in the dorm, due to their own personal schedules.

Yewon missed her. 

She plugged the device into the computer to see a folder labeled very haphazardly as ‘DONT TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS OR IM SCREWED’. When she opened it up, she found several mp3 files (probably illegally downloaded) waiting to be listened. Majority of them were English songs she never heard of before, with some Korean and Spanish songs mixed in.

As she listened to them through her headphones, some semblance of a song was starting to form in her head. When a flash of inspiration finally came in, she immediately got to work on it.

It was starting to turn into something.

Author's Note: Upvotes and comments are much appreciated! ^^