“GUYS! GUYS! GET UP!”  Minji’s voice boomed through the dorm.

Haejin’s bloodshot eyes opened. She’s been asleep for five minutes. Five glorious minutes.

She groaned.

First, a fight with Kai. Next, stupid nightmares and now psychotic members who definitely had a good idea of a good night’s sleep.

Perfect. Just plain perfect.

And it just had to be Minji waking them up at three in the morning. She loved the girl to bits but she would probably need a hearing aid at the tender age of twenty five.

If it was because of another insect that got into their room, then Haejin would personally drag Minji out and hang her by her underwear on that lamp post just outside their dorm.

The door to their room flung open and there stood Minji, looking like hell had devoured her. Clutching her phone with one hand and just about biting her favorite stuffed toy’s head off, she had a wild look in her eyes.

Was that excitement? Anxiety? Or an I-need-to-pee expression?

 “Manager-oppa told me that SM has finally announced that there will be a new group that will debut!” she said in one breath.

Oh, just that.

Haejin was just about to shrink back into her covers when it clicked.

Just that a new girl group was being formed.

Nothing serious.

...

Wait.

“WHAT?!” Haejin screamed so loudly causing Eunhwa to fall off the bed screaming, ‘It wasn’t me!’

Haejin shot up in bed. Was this really happening?!

The other member’s faces appeared at her door. All having the same unreadable expression.

“It’s true. Read your messages, kudasai,” Sora said. The poor girl looked as frazzled as the first time she had to converse in Korean with the others.

Haejin picked up her phone from the side table, immediately seeing 20 messages from Kai. She suddenly felt a pang of longing and anger, and those two emotions should never clash between each other.

Because anger wins out.

It almost always does. She deleted every single one without reading them. Then she scrolled down and found their manager’s message:

Lee Soo Man has made arrangements and announced that there will be a new girl group. This girl group is going to be considered the female version of EXO. He plans to assess potential members over the course of the next couple months. Further details will be given on Monday night at 8:00 p.m., when each potential member is available. It is a requirement that you are present that evening. After reading the message, she looked up, running a hand through her tangled hair.

“Wait, Lee Soo Man songsaeng-nim? Why him? Didn’t he-” Haejin asked but was cut off by Jina.

“That’s just the point. He’s the one who made the arrangements for the new group, so this means business. Get dressed quickly girls; today's going to be the start of a war.” She disappeared around the corner, into the living room where she yelled, "THIS. IS. SPARTA!", causing the others to laugh.

If only that laughter wasn't tinged with nervousness.

They stumbled about the dorm quietly moments later, with no one really knowing what to talk about.

All lost in their own thoughts.

Their dreams, everything they had worked for and had sacrificed their lives for.

It was so close

But still so far.

Like clouds; they seemed like one could just reach up and grab a handful of the soft, beautiful substance, but they were seemingly just out of reach.

They would have to fight about 49 other girls to reach those clouds, most of them being their friends.

How do you begin to think of tearing down a friend?

“Hey, JinJin-ah! Don’t think about it too much; you’re gonna stress yourself out.” Hyori’s soothing voice broke Haejin’s reverie. She looked up at the other girl and gave her a weak smile. The two of them sat at the dining table eating.

Well, Haejin was supposed to be eating, but her thoughts gnawed at her; even though Hyori said that, Haejin knew that the exact same turmoil ran through the other girl's mind. Haejin looked down at her half-made, nibbled-on sandwich and sighed.

“You hungry?” Haejin asked as she pushed her sandwich to Hyori. Hyori's eyes brightened.

“Always,” Hyori quipped, not missing a beat. They looked at each other and giggled.

It was more of an inside joke.

A cruel one: being trainees, they had to starve themselves sometimes just to meet their required weight. Even when they were drained from practices, they’d not eat. So when they asked each other if they were hungry, the natural answer was "always."

Hyori had partially finished the sandwich, before she suddenly remembered something and cleared . “Oh yeah! Kai’s been texting us like crazy. Is everything okay?" Hyori’s tone turned serious and worried. Haejin seemed taken back, before she smiled.

"Yes, of course everything's okay. You know how Kai is." Hyori sighed. She knew that this was code for "Things are not fine, and Kai's worried because I won't talk to him."

“It’s okay hun, whenever you want to talk to us, we’re right here. We’re a family now, remember?” Hyori got up with her plate, gave Haejin a one-armed hug, and walked out of the kitchen. Haejin only watched the older girl leave.

A family...

That just made Haejin feel worse.

Because what if not all of them made it?

What if one of them left? Or more?

What would happen then? Who would they be?

They wouldn't be a family anymore... They'd be lucky if they got out with their friendships still intact; everyone knew that trainees may be very close to one another...

But once a group was mentioned, then those friendships didn't matter. There was no "family." It was only competition and betrayal.

Haejin only sighed.

Because now that a group was going to be formed, what would happen to the little "family" she had formed?

~*~Author's Note~*~

so. uhm.. *bows 90 degrees

hello everyone.

I am Cassidy's.. I mean, Artisticseoul's co-author, naneulsaranghae.

Artisticseoul is my other personality  crazy twin sister  friend

I've written this chapter (with the help of her highness) XD

and hopefully, i will be writing with her until the end of this fic :3

I'm probably not as good as she is but I hope that you'll like my writing.

naneulsaranghae over and under.. i mean over and out XD

<3