Why did I even say yes in the first place? Oh god I'm so stupid I-  

“Excuse me Miss, you cannot enter without permission.” 

“Oh sorry, I’m here to meet Ms. Jang. I’ll be filling for one of the staff” Rosie took out her phone to show the guard the texts but he aggressively patted her hand away making her phone fall down. 

“That line is too old miss, you should come up with something else.” line? What line? 

Right then the doors opened and a lady walked out. “what’s with all this noise?” 

“Sorry Miss, this fan girl keeps trying to get in just like always.” I AM NOT SOME WEIRD FAN GIRL YOU ST- 

“She doesn’t look like one. She isn’t wearing any make-up either and she looks foreign to me.” 

The lady walked over to Rosie in one big stride and looked her square in the face.”  

Rosie had enough of this weird drama . She inhaled through her nose to calm herself down. 

“Look I am not a fan girl. I’m here looking for Ms. Jang. I’ll be filling in for one of her staff members who happen to be my senior in college. I look foreign because I am. But as you can see, I speak Korean quite fluently.” 

Rosie eyed the security guard and the lady straight.  
 

“I am Ms. Jang. “Oh . 

“Oh, I’m sorry” Rosie quickly bowed deeply hoping she hasn’t offended her soon to be boss. But to her surprise Ms. Jang chuckled before waving the guard off and beckoning Rosie to follow her into the company.  

“So Somie sent you?” Ms. Jang pressed the button for the elevator. 

“Yes, she is my senior in college. She asked me for a favour.” 

“Ah, yes. It's a shame she’s missing out on this comeback project. But her family is more important. Let's first go into my office and talk this through.” 

The elevator ride was quite quick and they came up to a floor which was packed full of stuff from the very beginning. From stage props to clothe hangers to shower curtains to shoe boxes. You name it, it was there. 

“This is the design department of the company and our side is right over there in that corner.” Ms. Jang pointed to a door that was labelled “SKZ”. “Each Idol group has their own design team which includes costume, hair and makeup, stage props. You'll be working with me in hair and makeup as well as costume.” 

I’m going to be working with Idols? Hold up! I thought I was only designing. Somie you little shi- 

 

“Take a seat. What’s your name?” 

Rosie took a seat on the sofa in the room they had just entered which appeared to be Ms. Jang’s office. She took out her file from her bag and handed it over to the lady. 

“I’m Rosie, but I go by Jinah since it’s easier to pronounce.” 

Ms. Jang flipped through the file and she was impressed. For a 21-year-old this girl was impressive. Her sketches were neat and new. Refreshing for the eye to see. And the girl herself looked pleasant enough. 

 

“Do you know Stray Kids?”  

Rosie stuttered; well, she knew the name. They sang that song hellevator. 

“I think so, but I’m not so familiar with them.” 

Ms. Jang chuckled before handing back the file to Rosie. “Well, I suggest you look them up because you’ll be working with them for the next 3 months.” 

Wait what?  

“Send me a visitor’s pass to the office now.” Ms. Jang hung up the phone after ordering someone and rose from her seat. “Let’s get you used to the place. We're starting to shoot the music video tomorrow. So, you will start working tomorrow. But the boys will be at the changing rooms getting fitted. We'll head on over as soon as we get your pass. But before that let’s go down to the HR to get you signed in” 

 

Signed in? 

 

As if Ms. Jang read her mind, she patted Rosie’s shoulder “You’ll be signing a confidential contract. To keep yourself and our Idols out of harm.” 

 

Oh, phew. Okay then. 

 

The two walked downstairs to the HR department where a 12-page contract was signed. Rosie read through all of it before carefully signing her name on the dotted line. 

Damn, I’m an employee of JYP now. 

“Jinah, you can call me Sohee from now. And here is your pass. Keep it with you while you are here and remember to get your new ID from the HR tomorrow.” 

Nodding at Sohee, Jinah followed her towards a set of elevators which they rode to the same level as they were before but took a different door this time. This door led to another room which was much more spacious and well-lit. And Jinah could see people inside. Soon as people saw the two walking in, most of them bowed at Sohee and 8 boys looked over and waved at the two. 

Holy ! Who the hell are they? Mighty they look so good! 

“Jinah let me introduce you to your fellow workers.” with one clap the whole room went silent and all eyes were on Jinah. 

“Listen up! Somie will be absent for this comeback and Jinah over here will be filling in for her. She will be in charge of hair and makeup along with me and Joo-Hyun. And she will also be on standby for costume. Please make her feel welcomed.” 

People cheered and clapped and few others waved at Jinah. 

“Oh, and one more thing, these are the guys that you are not familiar with but will have to get familiar with because you’ll be seeing them often now” Guys, this is Jinah, Jinah this is Stray Kids.” 

 

A chorus of hello’s went around and Jinah was sure she heard an accent somewhere which she couldn’t place on who it was. Jinah waved shyly and bowed deep hoping to hide her embarrassed face. 

“Hello everyone, I’m Rosie, but I go by Jinah, I’m from Sri Lanka but I lived in the US for 4 years before I came to Korea last year to study. Please take care of me, thank you!” 

Another round of applause and murmurs of her name were heard before Sohee clapped again to make people go back to work.  not a minute later Jinah was still standing right where she was while everyone else was busy helping the Stray Kids boys dress up and fixing any mistakes and some were getting their trial make up looks done on one corner as well. Jinah just stood there, awkwardly shifting her weight from one leg to another.  

She slowly scanned the boys. Four people stood out to her. A guy who had bright red hair, another guy who had long blonde extensions on his hair which made him look like an Asian version of Goldie locks, another dude who was munching on something and he looked identical to a squirrel and another guy in the far corner who looked like as if he came straight out of a comic book. And the other four members were just scattered everywhere but she couldn’t figure anything on them to help her remember them. 

 

“Jinah! Come over here!” Silently feeling happy that she finally had something to do, she quickly rushed over to Sohee, who was putting makeup on a guy Jinah wasn’t still familiar with. 

“Grab that iPad, and in that you’ll find a folder called “Hyunjin”. Open that up and find the makeup picture and see if you can try it on him” Sohee nodded her head towards the comic book looking guy. 

Jinah quickly went through the iPad and found the hand drawn picture of the same guy. The makeup looked quite simple. It was just light foundation and brown shaded eyeshadow with a light pink lip tint. She could do that. 

“Sohee, I can do this.” 

“Great! Do that and tie his hair up in a half pony tail as well.” 

Jinah nodded and set to work in the desk next to Sohee. The desk had a lay out of makeup ready and hair products as well. Looking over at the comic book guy she inhaled sharply before walking over to him. 

“Excuse me, but you need to come with me to get your hair and makeup done” 

The comic book guy suddenly looked up from his phone. Holy guacamole he looked so pretty like how? 

“Ah yeah sure.” 

He sat down on the chair with his phone inside his pocket. Jinah was flustered to be honest. She had never met an Idol this close. Shaking her head and clearing her mind Jinah quickly took a hold of a comb and a hair dryer and set to work.  

His hair felt dry, and damaged. Poor thing she thought. Must have had to go through some serious damage. 

“Hyunjin, did you put that face mask I gave you?” Sohee piped up making the comic book guy jerk his head and almost getting stabbed with a comb. He quickly glanced at Jinah through the mirror to make sure he didn’t ruin anything and the two caught eyes and Jinah felt her knees go weak when he smiled slightly at her.  

“Yeah, I did, my face feels more moisturized now. Thanks, Noona.” 

Sohee nodded before getting back to finishing the final touches on Lee Know as Jinah heard. So, the comic book looking guy was Hyunjin. She poked a hair pin through his hair and Hyunjin jumped a little. 

“I’m sorry! Did I hurt you?” 

Hyunjin chuckled and shook his head before patting Jinah’s hand which was on his shoulder. “It’s okay it didn’t hurt. I wasn’t expecting pins. That's all.” 

His small touch was soothing. She was shaking. Not only is she touching an Idol’s hair, she nearly poked the guy with a bloody hair pin! 

 

She could barely focus on the makeup itself because whenever she did something Hyunjin would crack open his eyes to look at what she was doing. She silently wondered why he wasn’t listening to music like the others members were. She didn’t know if it was okay for her to start a conversation so she kept mum. But she really wanted to ask him about how smooth his skin looked and how unfair it was for his eyelashes to be that long. She also wanted to ask him how good his hair could look even in the state it is in. 

“Sohee, I think I’m done.” Jinah stepped back from the desk and let Sohee walk over to check her work. Sohee made noises of praise and checked everything before walking behind Hyunjin to stand behind him. Staring at the mirror she looked at Hyunjin in the reflection before turning to Jinah and raising an eyebrow. 

“What do you think? Does it suit him?”  

How the hell am I supposed to say anything? 

“Uh well, I think the makeup compliments his features. But - “ 

As soon as the ‘but’ slipped from her lips Hyunjin turned his head to look at Jinah as well. Sohee prompted her to finish her sentence. 

“But I think that his pony tail hair could be a bit messy and slightly wet as well. To give off that ‘don’t care but I look good’ vibes.” 

Sohee chuckled and Joohyun walked over as well. “Joohyun I think we did it! The new girl found the error in Hyunjin’s look which we couldn’t find.” 

Joohyun gave a thumbs up to Jinah before smiling at her -” Thanks Jinah we couldn’t figure out what to do with his hair and he didn’t want to cut it either.” 

Jinah smiled shyly while playing with the comb in her hands.  

“Jinah, please re-do the hair and take sample pictures and save them under the same file so we have those as reference for later.” 

Jinah nodded quickly and set to work. Hyunjin was deeply engrossed in something on his phone so she cleared to get his attention.  

“I’m re-doing your hair now.” 

Hyunjin looked up from the screen of his phone and nodded at her smiling slightly. His phone vibrated in his hands signalling he got a text from someone. 

Chan Hyung – Yo! What's with the silent treatment? Talk to her! I swear I can see stars in your eyes 

Hyunjin - but Hyung she hasn’t even attempted to talk to me. I don’t want to scare her. 

Chan Hyung – Idiot! Just ask her something! Anything! She seems like a nice girl.  

Hyunjin closed his phone and peeked a look at her through his hair and he saw that she had her bottom lip between her teeth while she worked on his hair. Her nimble fingers barely touched his scalp and he felt so relaxed he let out a yawn without realizing. His eyes darted towards Jinah when he heard a chuckle. 

“What?” Hyunjin asked, confused as to why she was chuckling. 

“You yawned; it was cute.”  

! I called him cute. Wtf Rosie. He might think you are a weird fan girl now.  

“I- I didn’t mean it that way but you looked cute when you yawned. That’s all.” 

Hyunjin couldn’t help but laugh a little loudly. She was flustered at such a small thing. She was the cute one, not him. 

 

“It’s alright. I feel sleepy with you touching my hair like this.” 

That sentence was merely to express how good she was with her skills.  but it came off a little too weird for Hyunjin’s liking.  

“I mean not in a bad way but you don’t scrape my head with your nails like the others. It's almost like a feather touch.” 

Jinah blushed. Why was he so good with words? 

“Hey, why did you say that messy hair would look good on me?” Hyunjin actually turned around in his seat just to ask this and honestly it was bothering him. For the past 3 years all his concepts were sleek and decent and dry. And here she was doing the exact opposite to him.  

“You have delicate features that look very masculine with your long hair. But it might look a bit too feminine if it was neat. So, wetting your hair a little before tying it up might make you look more alluring.  and also leaving a few hair strands here and there will make you look normal.” 

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow at the word normal. Wasn’t he normal? 

Jinah swore in her head. ing idiot! Use words Rosie you stupid baboon!  

“I mean, you look like a guy from a manhwa so it’s only fair to make you look like a person.” 

Hyunjin chuckled at the reason. Well, she was right. His fans were probably going to say the same thing when they see the teasers. 

“We have Hyunjin over here. Say hi to the camera”  

A camera was shoved in Hyunjin’s face and Jinah nearly dropped the blow dryer when the squirrel looking guy stood next to her and started pulling at the lose hair strands on Hyunjin’s head. 

“Hello! Is everyone doing well? We are currently getting our final preparations ready to show you all our new side. Please wait patiently while we comeback. I love you stay!” 

Hyunjin shut off the camera and handed it to the squirrel looking guy before swatting his hands away from his head.  

“Stop messing with my head Jisung!” 

“Why? It's fun! Right?” 

Jinah just giggled at the question directed at her. Hyunjin rolled his eyes. 

“So Jinah right? Hi, I’m Jisung, but I go by Han. All round ACE Han.” 

Jinah bowed slightly at Jisung. He was LOUD. Reminded her of Baekhyun from EXO. She giggled at the picture in her head of Baekhyun and Jisung together being chaotic together.  

“What’s so funny Jinah” Hyunjin acquired. Jinah slowed her giggles before nodding her head at Jisung who was staring intently at her hands that were fastening the hair tie into Hyunjin’s hair.  

“Jisung reminds me of Baekhyun from EXO.”  

Hyunjin laughed out loud at that. “True, they both look like they are siblings because they are both loud and energetic.” 

“Hey! That's a nice thing alright? I’m offended.” Jisung placed a hand on his hand acting dramatically before walking away with a wave. 

“So you like EXO?” 

Jinah nodded with a small smile on her lips. She was almost done with her work. She took out the iPad and snapped pictures of Hyunjin from every angle.  

“Yeah. For 7 years now.” 

Hyunjin felt something tighten in his chest. So, she wasn’t their fan.  

“Do you like us?” Hyunjin swore he wanted to ask if she liked him but he opted to use the plural word. 

Jinah stepped Infront of Hyunjin to place the tools in order and quickly glanced at Hyunjin through the mirror. Her face felt like it was on fire. How was she supposed to tell the artist himself that she only knew one song? 

“I didn’t really listen to any 4th generation artists. But I do know your debut song.” 

Might as well say the truth than spitting lies. 

“Oh.” 

Jinah cringed. Way to go Rosie. You not only made an Idol speechless but also you made it awkward on your first working day! ing idiot! 

“But I promise to listen to more songs!” Jinah crossed her heart and smiled brightly at Hyunjin hoping he would smile. And smile, he did. 

“Good, are you done with me?” 

Jinah looked confused for a second. Done? 

“Oh yeah, yes. You can go and get changed now.” 

Hyunjin hopped off the chair and waved at Jinah before he passed by her and went over to the red-haired guy who high fived him and the both turned to look at her. 

What the hell was that?