Prologue: Duo

It was finally done. The audition had passed; their fate was no longer in their own hands. At least they had done their best. Well, Jina knew she did. It was stressful, especially when she found out that such a huge crowd of people was watching her perform. There had been few of the debuted artists as well as all the big shots of the agency. Nevertheless, Jina had confidence in her stage presence and even if there was technically no stage, she was quite happy with her performance.

“Nervous?” she asked, sitting beside Woobin.

“A little bit?” Woobin admitted with a hint of a smile.

“I’m sure it’ll go well. I mean, after Minseok came barging in, we pretty much rocked, didn’t we?”

Woobin laughed at Jina’s tries to relax the tensed atmosphere and the redhead just kept talking like she usually did.

“Jina unnie,” called Kang Jihye. “You should calm down too. I can tell you are really nervous.”

Jina let out a smile indicating she was embarrassed to have been figured out.

“So, how many members do you think the band will get?” asked Jihye with a touch of worry in the voice.

“I personally think you’ll get much more spotlight if you have less members. But if you’re not that confident, it may be better to have more members…” Jina rambled, thinking out loud.

“I think it would be best for the group to have lots of members… Nonetheless, I agree with Jina,” Woobin told Jihye with a sweet smile.

Jihye just nodded, letting everything that had been said sink in. It was for a short time because before she knew it, the gym’s door opened to reveal Hwang Jimin, the head stylist of Frost. While Jihye wondered why she would tend to the auditions like a secretary, Jimin looked down at her pad at then lift her eyes to scan the room.

In fact, it wasn’t much of a room, but more like a big alcove in the corridor’s wall that just happened to be in front of Frost’s gymnasium. There were benches, so some trainees were sitting down while others, too nervous, were quickly pacing around.

“Jung Jina,” called Hwang Jimin. The redhead blinked before getting up, biting her lips.

“Han Woobin,” Jimin also called.

The two girls turned to look at each other. What was happening?

Jina went inside the gym, followed by Woobin who looked cautious and Jimin, who was clutching her roster as if it was her baby.

Jina automatically remarked how some of the higher-ups, here at Frost, were already in the room, talking within themselves and fumbling with some audition forms. Jimin gestured for them to sit down and they both obliged after bowing. The head stylist then went to sit beside Lee SeoYoung, Frost’s CEO.

After a few seconds, Lee SeoYoung took the lead on whatever announcement she had to make: “I wanted to meet with you first because I was impressed by your talent and I believe you will be great additions to the Korean musical industry.”

At that point, both Jina and Woobin were happily smiling, grateful that the CEO was complimenting them.

“How would you two like to debt as a duo?” Lee SeoYoung asked with a piercing stare.

Woobin’s jaw dropped open, but she managed to smile and nod. Was it possible that they could finally debut? Did the company plan to debut a duo all along?

“However, you will not debut now. If you accept, I’ll make you too undergo some more specific training. As a unit of two, you both have to be perfect and can’t afford mistakes. Will you meet the challenge?”

Jina looked at Woobin and, even though they didn’t know each other that well as they weren’t of the same age, didn’t attend the same classes and were not in the same dorm room, contact was instantly made. Duo! Funny how both of them were talking about smaller groups earlier. Maybe it was fate?

“Of course we will!” Jina exclaimed happily. Oh how she couldn’t wait to tell everyone…

“Thank you!” said Woobin while standing and bowing. “I am really grateful for the opportunity. I will not disappoint you!”

Lee SeoYoung smiled and stood up and approached them to shake their hand, American way. “I will contact you to give you your new schedules. I hope you’re ready. It’ll be hard. Now, you’re free to go.”

Jina bowed down a second time and thanked everyone before going out the room, jumping up and down like a teenage girl whose crush just confessed to her.