Chapter 7

Aisha Kim

Background music:http://youtu.be/p5tt8ZTZB0Q 

Oh Jongin, the feels you give me...they'll be the death of me, honestly.

As for Jewelz, I see the start of an awesome girl group. I had no idea what to expect of course, and I didn't know how to communicate with Minji. I learned that she turned 23 so I'd need to call her 'Unnie,' and she had been assigned as the lead singer and the leader of the group. I was the dancer. HeeYoung became the face of the group and the sub singer/rapper. SunJung was the main rapper, and dang, she could rap. She was also the sub dancer with me.

The reason why SM wanted to put us together was to prove to the world pretty much that they were accepting of different races. They knew I was half white (kind of at least), Minji was Chinese, SunJung was 'Afro Asian' and HeeYoung was practically Japanese. I mean, both of her parents were Korean, but she was born and spent half of her life in Japan before her dad's job transferred them back to South Korea. She still swore and muttered to herself in Japanese. I don't see how smashing together a bunch of different cultures together and getting them to sing on stage proves anything.

We each had our own style. I was "Pearl", so most of my clothing choices were to be soft and have an air of sophistication. Apparently sophistication is another word for short puffy dresses. I didn't really care for most of them, but others I adored. I got to design my masks with my girls with pearls and lace which was a lot of fun. I was the "easy going" side of Jewelz. I got to have new pointe shoes, lyrical pads, jazz shoes, soft ballet shoes, and sassy high heeled tap shoes, which stepmother had never allowed me to get until Jewelz came about. My teaser videos consisted of a soft glow as they filmed my dancing and in the end they'd always zoom up to show my mask and eyes.

HeeYoung was "Ruby", so her colors were vibrant and eye catching, but not too much as to where it would clash with her hair. She got to have red rhinestones and SM actually provided to her signature ruby studs and dangles which she had to wear with everything. It was a good thing she had double piercings. She was the "cutie" of Jewelz. She usually got to wear skinny jeans or high waisted shorts with high heeled shoes whenever they filmed her teaser videos. She also wore frilly shirts or tunics that certainly had people saying, "She's so precious!" She had her own signature aegyo at the end of her teasers.

SunJung was "Jade," which was another soft gem, like Pearl, so her clothes were more in greens, blues and purples. She also tended to wear pants or shorts. Her style was a bit more rocker-like thanks to "the puff" ("ya can't tame my puff, so don't even try!" She said to the hairstylist when she did her first teaser, and she ended up being right.) and because she had more piercings than any of us. She tended to also wear some pretty dang awesome black boots. And boy she went nuts over studded jackets. "If I'm going to be the rapper, I'm sure as heck going to look like one." She stated, making even Minji laugh. She was the "Sass" in Jewelz and wasn't afraid of it. SunJung did a sassy pose at the end of her videos, and walk off like no big deal.

Minji the "Diamond" was hands down the sparkliest person in the group. Her dresses were ready for the red carpet in Hollywood half the time and she was definitely the "y" side of Jewelz. They didn't let her do anything too suggestive, but sometimes I wished their version of suggestive and my version were the same. She was the oldest, so if she wanted to be viewed in the public eye as a little y, then so be it. Her signature was all that glitters, and she usually wore long shimmer silver dresses that hugged her in all the right places. I'm pretty sure she was the only one in the group that could make lip biting y. She did it at the end of every teaser video and it suited her and her only.

Each day I'd come home completely exhausted and then have to stay up even later to prepare for my third year of college. I was so glad I had Sage living with me, because half the time when I came home Sage would be waiting in the living room with some food and college scheduling for me. I hardly got to eat anything anymore because I was worked so much for so long. I feared doing this girl group thing while still in college.

I don't remember how many teasers we did, but each one was a ton of work. Each girl had four teasers, not to mention the deut teasers. I did my teasers, and then did my three duets we were to do each. It was exhausting.

"Have you seen HeeYoung?" SunJung asked one day. She had just come back from somewhere. I shook my head and took another drink from my water bottle. My legs were a bit shaky that day. We entered the 'box' which is what we called the room we were always in filming for teasers.

"Because I went on a snack run and got her chocolate bubble tea, she's been wanting that for a while..." she faded off when we saw HeeYoung in the far corner of the room, curled up and asleep on the floor. Instantly we felt bad for her. That can't be comfortable...

"HeeYoung, please wake up, I got you something." SunJung said quietly. HeeYoung slowly opened her eyes and then closed them again, muttering something in Japanese. I assumed something like 'leave me alone.'

"Come on, HeeYoung, please get up." she coaxed. HeeYoung finally un-curled herself and saw the bubble tea.

"Omo! Thank you!" she said sleepily, and began to drink it.

"Oh, and I got you something too, and Minji. If I can find her." SunJung said, pullin