( - 2 weeks)

xXx

"...I'm from Japan, but when my Dad got transfered over to Korea, Kyo and I had to adjust somehow," Asami stated with a shrug and took a sip of her smoothie. 

Her companion nodded, a little pink 'o' forming on her lips.

"So you learned to speak Japanese Sign Language for your brother then?"

Asami nodded, proud at her achievement. Chanlim let out a very immpressed "woahhhh" and gave Asami a thumbs up.

"That is so cool! You should teach me sometime Unnie!" she proclaimed cheerily.

The older girl chuckled, "Alright alright, but only if you stop calling me Unnie."

Chanlim pouted, leaving Asami to only laugh and continue to munch on her muffin. The two girls had decided to stop by a popular coffee shop near YG building before practice started. Asami was drinking her delicious taro bubble tea and blueberry muffin, while Chanlim sipped on a peach-mango smoothie.

The two had bonded quickly in the little time they had known each other, and enjoyed their random chit-chats, which seemed to bounce from topic to topic in a matter of seconds.  

"How old is your brother again Unnie?"

Asami glared at the mention of 'Unnie,' but responded nonetheless.

"Just a bit older than me."

Chanlim nodded, and allowed her friend to continue.      

"I actually haven't seen him in a few weeks," she confessed. "I wonder if he's doing okay.."

She trailed off, a bit worried. Although Kyo was older, Asami had always been overprotective of him. No matter how big or how small, she would always go out of her way to make him feel comfortable. Now that she was so busy with practice and with her debut coming up in a few months, she was unsure if he was doing okay.  

She felt uneasy.

How was he? How was her mother? How was her father?

She shook the thought from her mind, trying not to ruin the atmosphere. The two then began to walk towards the YG building, it would NOT be a smart idea to be late to practice. They did not want to find out what sort of punishment Kangdae and Sooyeon had in mind today. Asami remembered what happened last time, when Miyoung and Jinhak had been messing around. 

She shuddered at the thought of facing Sooyeon's wrath. 

She turned her attention back to her friend, question already upon her lips.

"What about you Channie? Anything interesting about your life?"

Chanlim walked slightly ahead, with one foot slightly ahead of another.

"Hmmmm," she thought aloud to herself. She shrugged and turned towards Asami, a small smile on her face. "Not really. I don't do much except dance."

She laughed, adding, "And I don't really have anything interesting to say about my family either. I haven't really had a lot of troubles.."

She went quiet, and Asami couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of her young friend; how lucky she was to not deal with things like language barriers and prejudice. 

"Well, at least you dance well! That's interesting." She nodded. 

Chanlim shook her head and scrunched up her nose, disbelieving.

"What are you talking about Unnie? I'm not that good at dancing.."

Asami rolled her eyes and lightly shoved Chanlim, responding "Don't say that! You're the best out of all of us. Better than Jinhak!"

Chanlim laughed, embarassed. She wasn't used to such praise, and was unsure how to respond.

"I just work hard!"

"Well it definitely pays off," Asami declared, smiling. 

The two continued to walk in comfortable silence, only continuing the conversation here and there, Asami giving more insight to her life at home and Chanlim talking about her countless hours at Woollim practicing.

Although Asami didn't really look like it, she was known at the company for being rather blunt. This is what made their relationship with Chanlim quite an odd one; Asami was too straightforward, and Chanlim was too kind and forgiving. Their relationship didn't seem like one that would mix well together. Nonetheless, as the two began to practice and continue to work towards their debut, they got along together the best. Asami saw Chanlim as the younger sister she never had, and wanted to protect her new groupmate at all costs.

The two continued to walk to YG, Asami nudging her playfully. "You know, you make it seem like life is so simple. I've had to struggle my entire life and for you, everything comes naturally."

Chanlim widened her eyes and quickly shook her head in a cute manner, "No no that's not what I meant at all! Asami Unnie no! Don't take it that way, pl-" 

Asami laughed and shook her head, signalling that it was okay. Chanlim was too cute. 

When the two finally reached the building, Chanlim only had one thing to say to her. She smiled at Asami as she walked through the hallway.

"I'm really glad I got to spend the day with you Asami. I'm so glad I made a new friend!"

Asami smiled back.

"Yeah. Me too."

xXx

Sooyeon walked through the halls silently, her mind in a thousand different places. She rubbed her temples as she walked by practice room 04, a few doors down from where she was supposed to be right now. 

*Practice is today. Stay focused.*

Even though her mind told her to keep walking forward, she found herself walking into the practice room, where the trainees were, prepping for their monthly evaluations.

*I would be helping them with evals right now if I wasn't a trainee.*

At the sound of the door opening, a few bright and eager faces turned to look at her, obviously surprised.

"UMMAAAAA!" They all yelled. 

Sooyeon blinked, trying to take in the sudden outburst, when she was suddenly tackled by a flurry of hugs. She stumbled backwards, and heard Hayi scold the others. 

"You guys should be more careful! Umma and I are short so we're not good at being tackled!" Lee Hayi grinned and hugged Sooyeon after pushing Soohyun and Chanhyuk off. 

"Hi Soo!" 

Sooyeon let out a rare smile and hugged the younger gently, glad that her body had ignored her mind and visited the practice room. 

"Hi guys. How are your evaluations going?"

Chanhyuk huffed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Don't you care about us? It's not all about monthly evaluations you know."

His sister rolled her eyes and smacked her older brother in the shoulder.

"Shut up Chan! You should just be happy that Umma came buy to visit! She's been so busy ever since she became a trainee."

Sooyeon laughed at the exchange and gestured towards Soohyun, trying to calm her down.

"No no I should have visited more often," Sooyeon replied somewhat regretfully. "I haven't seen you guys since-"

"Since YG PD said 'Hey you're no longer a manager; I'm making you a trainee so come with me?' " Hayi interjected.

"And then YG made you the leader of his new project?" Chanhyuk added with a pout.

Sooyeon let out another small smile, embarrassed. "Yeah, since that happened."

It actually hadn't been that long that Sooyeon had become a trainee. In moments like these, she wished that she stayed as a manager, so that she could stay besides her friends. Sooyeon appreciated YG for allowing her to become a trainee, but as of now, leading a 10 member group...being a manager didn't sound so bad. 

Soohyun clung onto Sooyeon's arm, trying to guilt trip her friend. "Stay with us a little longer? Pleaseeee?" 

Chanhyuk clung onto Sooyeon's free arm, trying to keep her from leaving. "Don't tell me you're leaving."

Sooyeon gave them a pointed look and attempted to free herself from their desperate pleas. "I have practice in 5. I just came to wish you guys luck."

The siblings let out a groan, flopping themselves onto the floor. Hayi patted Sooyeon's shoulder, shaking her head at the sibling duo. 

"Don't worry, I'll handle this. Just make sure to visit us soon, okay?" 

Sooyeon nodded and waved to the three, before turning towards the door and exiting the practice room. 

*And here we go again.*

xXx

Kangdae stood outside a block away from the YG building, looking at his wristwatch every few seconds or so. 

*Where is she?* He continued to think repeatedly, growing more and more worried with each second. *Practice starts in 30 minutes. She told me she would meet me here a half hour ago.*

"Oppa!" A female voice called out to him. Kangdae turned to face the girl, ready to lecture her. 

"Miyoung, you were supposed to meet me here almost an hour ago. Where did you go??" 

Miyoung's smile faltered, unsure how to respond. Kangdae continued, "Now it's one thing that you came late, but you couldn't have at least call-"

He paused, looking at her hands.

"What's that?"

"What's what?" Miyoung mumbled, obviously hurt that Kangdae was yelling at her.

"In your hands."

"Oh!" Miyoung's face brightened into a smile once more, and Kangdae couldn't help but think at how ridiculous the younger one was. She was always veering off into 20 different directions. She held up in her right hand two boxes filled with assorted boba's, and in her left, a bag of what seemed to be assorted sweets.

"I went downtown to buy these really good sweets so that we could eat them all together after we finished practice - because you know we've been working really hard and I think we all need some sort of treat - and then when I was coming back here I saw this really cute boba place and I thought that everyone would like it so I stopped by but then I realized I was going to be late meeting you so I ran five blocks-"

"Enough." 

Kangdae cut Miyoung off and took the boxes out of her hands, laughing at the situation.

"Well, it's sweet of you to do this, but next time, just have me go with you okay? I was scared something happened to you, and you could have probably used a few extra hands." He used his free hand to pat her head. 

Miyoung beamed, glad that he wasn't mad at her. As he turned around to head into the building for practice, she let out a sigh of relief. 

*If I got punished again, I don't know what I would do.* 

xXx

All Jinhak really remembered from waking up from his nap was the large smack that fell across his face. 

And currently, Jinhak was running around the dorm like a mad man, trying to find his practice clothes. Iman just watched from the sofa with amusement, laughing silently at the boy.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP EARLIER??" Jinhak screamed in frustration as he flung clothes across the room.

Iman shrugged in response, obviously enjoying the current situation.

"You were up all night yesterday refining the choreo, so I figured you should at least enjoy your nap."

That itself was not a lie, but it was also more than just wanting her group mate to be healthy. Yesterday Jinhak had oh so kindly informed her that her dancing skills were not on par with the rest of the group, and ordered her an extra hour of one on one practice. 

This was just a small prank to carry out her revenge. 

"BUT I TOLD YOU TO WAKE ME UP AN HOUR BEFORE PRACTICE STARTED. NOT 15 MINUTES." Jinhak groaned.

Another shirt was thrown across the room.

Iman laughed and got up from the sofa, waving bye to Jinhak as she shut the door. "Make sure you make it on time."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jinhak's frustration filled the room, fearing the consequences of being late to practice.

xXx

It was 10 minutes til practice, and the only ones in the room were Kiho and Jiho. The two boys sat in silence, stretching every once in awhile and getting up to drink water. Not much was said between the two, but then again, neither felt as if any words were needed to be spoken. 

Kiho continued to stretch, when he heard the door open with a loud bang. Both he and Jiho turned towards the door, wondering which one of their groupmates had walked in. 

Haesok stood awkwardly in the door frame, looking between the two silent males nervously. 

"Um..hi guys." 

Kiho waved silently and went back to stretching, while Jiho ignored the greeting and continued to sit in silence. 

*Right.*

Haesok walked across the room and started stretching as a warm up, hoping that the other's would come in soon to save him from this awkwardness. It wasn't as if any of they didn't get along, but out of everyone in the group, these two were the ones he felt most awkward with. The two always minded their own business, and when it came to interaction, the two weren't exactly masters of conversation. 

Haesok prayed that the heaven's would send him someone, an angel, anything. 

At that exact moment, the door opened, and in walked Kangdae and Miyoung. 

"Hi guys! I brought snacks!" Miyoung cheered happily. 

*Thank you Shisus.* 

Haesok breathed a sigh of relief. 

xXx

Chanlim continued to huff as she attempted to catch her breath. The sweat continued to drip down her face and she couldn't help but wonder why she just couldn't get it. She placed her hands on her knees, trying to muster enough stregnth to continue. 

In the distance she could hear Jinhak drill Jiho and Iman the refined choreography yet again. They were only two hours into practice, but it felt like a lifetime to her. She looked at the others around her, even perky Miyoung had lost her pep. She sat on floor, staring intently at the ground, it seemed as if she was going to be sick.  Haesok was sprawled besides her, attempting to catch his breath, but also greatful for the short break that had been given to them.

Sooyeon stood off to the side, looking tired yet focused, watching Jinhak repeat the choreography for what seemed to be the thousandth time. Asami, who stood next to Sooyeon, pressed a warm water bottle against her head, hoping it seemed, that it would cool her down. Kangdae continued to cough in a corner, sweating profusely, but refused to sit down. 

Kiho, it seemed to be, was the most kept together of the ten, and stood in the center of the chaos, sweaty yet ready to continue. 

Chanlim groaned and used her last bit of energy to pull her weight up, wincing as she stood. Because their debut was so close, they had to work even harder than before to make sure that the choreography was right. The past month had been nothing but all-nighters at the dance studio, with Jinhak screaming into their ears left and right about how the choreography was supposed to look like. 

Whereas their debut song had been recorded rather quickly, their choreography seemed to be never ending. 

Jinhak clapped his hands and waved Chanlim over to where Jiho and Iman stood, calling her over. "Chanlim! Let's show them one more time what the choreography is suppposed to look like." 

Chanlim smiled with what energy she had left and willed herself to move over to them.

*Hard work always pays off Chanlim. You can do it.*

xXx