Bang Yong Guk & Zelo ft. Heritage - Never Give Up

“I need help.” _______ told Nichkhun as soon as the two met up for their scheduled training. “I was told that I need to ‘improve my cuteness appeal as well as know how to exude some iness factor’ whatever that means.” ________ recited as if she didn’t understand those words.

Nichkhun laughed before answering “That’s why I’m here.”

Superficial and funny as it may sound, Nichkhun taught _________ facial expressions to match different moods, vibe and concepts that their management may use in the future. He uses Lizzy, from the girl group After School as an example on how a girl can pull of different images in just a short amount of time.

_________ found it challenging since she really didn’t feel comfortable in being pressured to  act y and cute knowing that the reason, more or less, behind that is to entice guys. She was awkward half of the time but Nichkhun did his best to work with ________ until she felt confident enough that her different looks would convince others to see that she can fit with almost any kind of concept. She needed that ‘class’ from Nichkhun to help her adjust and blend in.

“I have a question but it isn’t related to the lesson now.” ________ brought up after Nichkhun gave her a break.

“I’m listening.” He replied before drinking from his water bottle.

“I don’t know if it’s just me overreacting but I think Donghae sunbaenim has changed and he doesn’t welcome me anymore.” ________ admitted to Nichkhun, he’s the first person that she told her feelings to. The thought has been eating her up and she needed someone to talk to.

“I’ll be honest with you ________, hyung may have been disappointed because of your change of musical path, although I think he doesn’t really have the right to get mad at you. Donghae wanted to build your image into something close to his since we all thought that you would debut as a solo singer-songwriter who’d sing a lot of acoustic songs…the one who’d give the stage a breath of fresh air and probably let other companies think you’re one of the girls to change the game and give them a run for their money. You may seem like the underdog first but for sure you’ll be able to live up to the name of not-just-another-KPOP artist. If you’ve noticed, Donghae hyung doesn’t really have a girl counterpart in the company so that’s why he got excited in having you around after seeing your audition, it was like a ‘Finally! Someone like me.’ moment for him but now that idea sort of went out the window so maybe he’s bitter about that. He already built up some sort of high expectation.” Nichkhun tried to explain to ________ in a way that she would understand where Donghae’s coming from. Nichkhun is close Donghae and he already caught on with his point of view with certain things.

“I dreamed for the same thing but it’s out of my control. How great, I haven’t even begun yet I’ve already let someone down.” _________ suddenly felt sour again. Does Donghae think that he feels worse than _______? Does it even make sense for him to feel bitter more than she does?

“It’s not your fault _________. Just think of Donghae hyung as a necessary evil.” Nichkhun told her as he placed his arm around her, rubbing her arm as he tried to comfort her.

“Necessary evil?” She repeated with a confused tone after she looked at Nichkhun, not noticing how close they’ve gotten.

“Yeah, you know, you need someone like him to push you to your limits so you can improve and be at your best to challenge him and show him that you deserve to be here, that you’re great no matter what.”

“I don’t even know where I stand now. I’m starting to get confused as to who I truly am.” She sighed and unconsciously rested her head on his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t be like that. It saddens me to see and hear you feeling that way. You’re here for a reason okay? Look, I know something that will get your mind off that issue.”

“What?”

“Come with me.” Nichkhun got her hand and got her bag from the floor before heading out of the practice room. The two walked down until the very end of the hallway before they reached the recording room located on the same floor.

Nichkhun first knocked and peeked through the small gap of the door. Once he confirmed that no one was inside the recording room, he sneakily led _________ inside to show her around that place where the magic of music happens.

Nickhun showed her how to use the equipment since he has some experience in not only recording songs but also arranging and mixing sounds.

“What do you think?” Nichkhun asked _________ as he sat down on the office chair in front of the mixing table.

“Very cool.” ________ certainly felt happier now. She has always wanted to enter a recording booth to professionally record her songs.

“So…who’s your favorite senior so far?” Nichkhun teasingly asked.

“You! You’re the best for now!” She answers back happily making Nichkhun chuckle.

“And to live up to being the best, why don’t you step inside the recording booth and try it out.”

“Am I allowed to do that?” She asked warily. She didn’t want to bring any trouble to Nichkhun.

“Well…we have to do it in secret since it isn’t actually allowed. We’ll have to delete the recording afterwards but trust me it’ll be fine.”

After making sure that they won’t get caught, _________ finally stepped inside the booth. She wore the headphones and heard Nichkhun’s voice through it.

“Just sing anything you like, we’ll do this in accapella style.”

After taking a deep breath, _________ started to sing one of her original songs. A song that she longed to be played on the radio, to hear other people sing her song or even just hum to it.

‘I also don’t see why you can’t debut alone and to present and celebrate yourself. She just needs to be guided, not to be fixed from head to toe.’ Nichkhun thought as he watched _________ get lost in her own music. Her joy and passion for music could be seen and heard so clearly, he got more impressed.

Nichkhun stood up from his chair and applauded ________ right after she finished singing. She bit her lower lip and looked down as she blushed, not fully comprehending why Nichkhun gave her a standing ovation.

She went out and sat on the office chair next to Nichkhun while he got her song ready for playback.

________ could only smile and feel overjoyed when she heard her voice, her original composition being played like a demo song.

“I don’t know which I like more, your voice live or your recorded voice, both sounds so soothing to the ears.” Nichkhun flattered ________ making her blush more.

After that touching moment, Nichkhun decided to play around with _________ some more so he edited her voice and made her hear an auto-tuned version of her recording. ________ laughed with Nichkhun as the song sounded weird and funny to her.

Their playtime got cut short when Nichkhun’s phone beeped.

“Oh we have to go. You’re manager is looking for us.” Nichkhun immediately deleted ________’s original song but unfortunately out of their rush to leave right away, they forgot to delete the auto-tuned version.

♥Thank you to celine_neji/fishyfangirl/haewifu for the lovely poster ^_^ 

No Donghae in this chapter but don't worry, he will be in the next one ;)

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