If anything, the photo shoot really grounded into us all that this was our reality. So when we made our way back to the practise rooms, everyone had their game face. “Mimi, don’t you dare over extend yourself,” I shook a stern finger at her as she finished her stretching.

Eunmi ducked her head in understanding. “I won’t.”

“Well she’s been sitting on her all week,” Yun said snidely.

“Because she was injured!” Minjung protested.

“She looks fine to me now,” Yun sang. She was flipping her hair ily, seeing if she could master the move in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

“I, for one, am going to work my off,” The normally lazy- Hana stated.

I sent a glare Yun’s way before she could make a comment about Hana’s weight.

“I’m pressing play on the music now.” F(x)’s Electric Shock began playing. It was a good warm up song and it was also a good way to pump us up. Then Shinee’s Love like Oxygen. Soon our muscles were warmed up and limbs loosened. “Okay, I’m raising the bar now,” I announced. We practised some intense hip hop dances with sharp moves and I critiqued everyone from the mirrors. We still weren’t completely in sync. I had to snap at Minjung to keep smiling. Hana didn’t exemplify the aura of enjoying the dances. Yun was more focused on keeping her hair out of her face rather than the moves. It was a trying practise, to say the least.

“Unnie, we aren’t perfect,” stated Eunmi quietly when we took a break for water.

“No we aren’t,” I agreed with her softly. “They haven’t set a date for our debut exactly but at this rate if the ceo were to watch us he’d probably push it back a year.”

“What can we do?” Eunmi asked.

“I’m running out of ideas. Yun is determined to stay a lone wolf. If I want to be honest, she’s the cause of most of the strife.”

“Don’t blame Yun.”

I stared at Eunmi as if she had three heads. “Are we talking about the same person her? What did she do to get you to stand up for her?”

Eunmi shook her head, keeping her secrets to herself. “Fine you don’t have to tell me, but still you really can’t deny that she’s definitely one of the factors.”

“It doesn’t do any good to complain about it though. We just need to fix it.”

I snorted. “Yeah because Yun wants to fix it.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know how to.”

“I’ve offered her a hand many times and she’s slapped it down.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know how to accept it.”

I sighed. For once, Eunmi was making no sense and we were going around in circles. I gave up and we went back to practise. At least when we did our own choreography, I could tell that we were getting better. We successfully completed Eunmi’s backflip and Hana and I made a Eunmi sandwich.

“It’s going to be so cool when we do it on stage. Everyone’s going to be like ‘Whoa’ and then scream and applaud,” said Hana, her eyes shining with the thought of it.

“I’m heading out first to the vocal coach,” Yun called out, bag thrown casually over her shoulder.

“Wait for me Unnie!” Minjung shouted, scrambling after her.

I was the last one to leave the practise room. There was a reason for it. I stuck my head out the door as I turned off the lights and peered both ways; it seemed like the coast was clear. I walked confidently, turned a corner and sighed in relief when no one was there also. I opened the door to take the stairs instead of the elevator because no one took the stairs if they didn’t have to. I was wrong.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite cute leader,” said a voice and I winced.

“Well if it isn’t the one boy I’d rather not run into,” I said back sarcastically.

“Once was enough to make you fall for me, right?” Baekhyun smiled mischievously.

I sighed heavily. “Please, don’t even say that out loud. The last thing I want to do is cause an inner company scandal before I debut.”

“I’m good at keeping secrets,” Baekhyun said, wriggling his eyebrows. When I deadpanned, he burst into laughter. “I heard you took your teaser pictures yesterday,” Baekhyun brought up instead.

“Gee, word travels fast,” I replied.

“Chanyeol said he saw some but wouldn’t say who,” Baekhyun continued.

I paled. Oh god if either Chanyeol or Baekhyun or any of those boys saw mine… I didn’t even want to think what the results were. “Oh.”

Baekhyun peered curiously at me. “Did you not like yours?”

“I…” How did one explain to a boy that you weren’t used to be paraded as a symbol and not ruin your own pride? “It took some getting used to.”

“Wanna see ours?” Baekhyun asked, getting excited.

I nodded. I’d do anything to get off the topic of mine. Baekhyun whipped out his phone and scrolled through until he found them. I took a step back in shock. Gone were the silly personalities I had met. Before me were boys that were kpop idols. They looked so mysteriously cool and yet with their casual clothes they still seemed approachable.

Baekhyun took advantage of my speechlessness. “Almost all the teasers are out now. Soon we’ll be debuting.” He didn’t say this with confidence that he normally reeked of. There was some hesitancy in his voice and I could understand exactly how he felt. What if we weren’t ready? What if we messed up? What if everyone ridiculed us and we let down everyone that had helped us make it to where we were? I shrugged off my own personal fears.

“Two showcases right? One here and one in China. That’s going to be interesting,” I said, trying to direct our conversation to a lighter tone.

“It’s going to be a lot,” Baekhyun nodded, lip caught between his teeth, “But once we start I think I’ll be greedy for more.”

My heart tugged at the emotion in Baekhyun’s voice. I too yearned for the day could step on stage and show the world my worth. Maybe he wasn’t so bad, Baekhyun. “Well don’t get too greedy because we are debuting right after you. Don’t get jealous if we steal your spotlight,” I teased, nudging him in the ribs.

Baekhyun smiled right back at me and totally ruined the moment. “You’ve already stole the spotlight to my heart.”

“Ugh leave your greasy lines for your fans, Baekhyun,” I grimaced.

Baekhyun laughed to himself, looking slightly embarrassed, “Ah but I have to practise with someone.”

“Speaking of practise, that was what I was about to do."

"Don't forget to watch our debut!" Baekhyun yelled at my back as I basically ran away from him.

I found an empty practise room and hooked up my iPod. I locked the doors and turned up the volume, happy to have soundproof rooms. No one knew that I was practicing Jay Park’s Appetizer on my own time. I wanted to nail the English rap plus some choreography. I wanted to have something extra special in my arsenal when we debuted. I didn’t want what happened in the past to occur again. I was 100% sure that I was debuting finally.

I had left my cell phone in sight and low and behold after an hour of sweating and gasping a message from Sanghee popped up. All of us were to go to…to the Ceo’s office tomorrow? I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. What was this about? There was no way my earlier words were coming to slap me in the back...