The next day, Minsuh woke up extra early just to make sure that she wasn’t late again. Besides, she had some things to take care of.

First on her list: quit all of her part time jobs. Although it was what kept her afloat, now that she was a trainee she didn’t have the time to work as well as train. She called the bubble tea shop, the cafe, and also the clothing store she worked at to quit, fearing that they wouldn’t let her quit if she came in person. To her surprise, after telling them the reason, all three of her bosses (now former bosses) told her that they were proud of her and wished her luck.

How relieving.

Next, time to call Jinki. She absolutely hated relying on people, but this was the only time she was going to make an exception.

“Oppa? Can I come over? We need to talk.”

“Oh of course Minsuh, what’s up?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there.”

“Alright, come over in about 20 minutes, okay?” Jinki confirmed with her.

“Got it. See you soon.” She bid goodbye and hung up. She hadn’t told Jinki that she made it into SM, so she was excited to see his reaction.

After a 20 minute bus ride and five flights of stairs, Minsuh found herself outside of Jinki’s apartment. He really does live a lot better than I do. But then again, it’s understandable. She thought to herself. Their parents owned a pretty successful business, and they gave Jinki a position as a director of sales, so his life was in short described as luxurious. Minsuh, on the other hand, worked three part time jobs since she graduated high school and lived on her own in a small, one room apartment in a pretty bad neighborhood.

Minsuh walked up to the door and was about to knock when the door flew open to reveal a grinning Jinki.

“Minsuh!” Jinki exclaimed. He pulled her into a tight hug and squeezed her. “How did yesterday go? You never texted me!” he said, pulling her inside and sitting down. Jinki always did like getting straight to the point. Minsuh took a deep breath.

“Well… I made it as a trainee in SM!” Minsuh said, giving her brother a wide smile. Jinki jumped out of his seat,

“What! You should have told me! I would have bought a cake or something!” he said, pouting. “I think we should call Mom and D-”

“Let’s not, alright?” Minsuh suddenly interrupted him, looking down and twiddling her thumbs. Jinki scratched the back of his neck.

“Ah... right… but, uh, what did you want to talk about besides this? You sounded more serious on the phone.” he continued.

“Right, well, now that I’m a trainee, I don’t exactly have time to work, and if I can’t work I can’t earn money, and if I don’t earn money I can’t pay the rent… Long story short, I was going to ask if I could live you? I wouldn’t have anywhere else to live…” Minsuh trailed off the last sentence, still looking at her thumbs.

Silence filled the air.

“Is that even a question? Of course you can Minsuh. I’ve been offering you my help for a long time, so it’ll be perfect now.”

Minsuh looked up.

“Really?” she jumped up and hugged her brother. “Thank you so much oppa! I can’t tell you how much easier you’ve made my life!” Minsuh exclaimed.

Jinki hugged her back.

“Just tell me if you need help moving in. I’m free all day today.” he said.

“Actually, I have to go to SM today to take a tour of the building and whatnot, so I was going to ask you if you could go to my apartment and move my stuff. It’s not like I have much anyway.” Minsuh said sourly. “If I give you my key, will you go and take care of it?” she asked.

“I’ll do just that. When you come back tonight, your room will be taken care of, alright?” he said, ruffling her hair.

“Thank you so much oppa!” Minsuh looked at her watch, “I have to start heading over to SM. Thank you again oppa, I love you!” she gave her brother a kiss on the cheek and ran out the door, waving.

I’m so grateful I have oppa on my side thought Minsuh as she ran to catch the bus, heading to SM.

Minsuh took the bus and arrived at the SM building at 8:00 AM sharp. The man who she had jumped onto yesterday said to be here on time or else. She didn’t want to find out what “or else” meant, so “on time” it was. She walked into the building and was met with the same man, and a younger male standing next to him.

“Ah, Minsuh, nice to see you again. I don’t think I’ve formally introduced myself. My name is Lee Sooman.” he said, extending his hand out. “You’re actually going to shake my hand this time, right?” Sooman said, with a hint of humor in his voice. Minsuh blushed and bowed, taking his hand and shaking it.

“Ah yes, sorry about that yesterday. I was just so excited…” Minsuh explained, still blushing.

“It’s quite alright. Anyway, I would show you around our lovely building here myself, but unfortunately I have some things to take care of, so I’m going to have your fellow trainee here show you around. Introduce yourself.” Sooman said, lightly smacking the younger boy’s back.

“Ah yes, my name is Do Kyungsoo, I’ll show you around the building.” he said, smiling at her. Minsuh bowed towards him and introduced herself.

“I’m Lee Minsuh, please take care of me!” She said smiling back at him.

“This,” Sooman continued, handing Minsuh a manila envelope “is a list of training sessions and your schedules that you have for the next few months. Although you’re just a trainee, we expect you to be on time, alright?” he said. Minsuh nodded.

“I  expect to see you later, then.” Sooman finished, heading towards the elevator. With that Minsuh was left alone with Kyungsoo in the lobby.

An awkward tension filled the air.

“So..” Kyungsoo scratched his neck, “Shall we start the tour?” he asked her. Minsuh nodded and they started walking.

Kyungsoo must be a man of few words… thought Minsuh as they made their way around the building. Kyungsoo led her around to the recording rooms, cafeteria, and the dancing rooms, but he didn’t seem to be trying to make conversation. The whole tour was made in an awkward silence besides the stupid jokes Minsuh threw out to try to loosen up the tension.

“The cafeteria food here has gotta be better than the ones at schools, right?” Minsuh said as they passed the cafeteria, slightly chuckling.

“Heh… Yeah, I guess.” Kyungsoo answered her.

Minsuh pouted. Does he not like me or something? Why doesn’t he talk?

Kyungsoo interrupted her silent tantrum.

“Hold on a second, I think someone forgot to turn off the music in one of the dance rooms.” he said, walking towards a slightly ajar door. He walked inside but then looked back and motioned for Minsuh to follow him in.

In the middle of the large mirrored room was a light brown haired boy, who hadn’t noticed that the pair had walked in. He was pouring his heart and soul into each move as the beat of the song moved through his body.  As he finished up his dance, his hair was stuck to his sweat soaked forehead as he noticed that Kyungsoo and a slightly familiar girl were standing in the room.

“Jongin, I want to introduce you to a new trainee. This is Lee Minsuh, she was accepted yesterday.” Kyungsoo introduced her to him. Minsuh bowed and smiled at Jongin

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” she said looking at the sweat covered boy.

Jongin smiled and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you too.” Minsuh took his hand into hers and shook it, as Jongin continued to stare into her eyes. Why does his stare feel familiar? Minsuh pondered, and looked down shyly.

Jongin recognized her from the auditions and smiled to himself. Nice to see you again, Lee Minsuh.

Jongin slowly backed up so that he was standing behind Minsuh, not blocking the line of sight between her and Kyungsoo.

As the awkward silence between Kyungsoo and Minsuh started again, Jongin started to nod slightly at Kyungsoo and make faces at him. He pointed at Minsuh and back at himself, trying to subtly make signs that he wanted to show her around. He put his hands together and silently pleaded behind Minsuh.

Kyungsoo caught the drift of Jongin’s motions and was about to speak when Minsuh started first.

“Jongin, what’s wrong with your face? Are you okay?” she asked. Jongin was taken back.

“What are you talking about?” he jeered, slightly offended.

“Well, in the mirror it looked like your face was twitching a lot or something. Are you okay?” she asked again, sincerity lacing her voice.

Jongin looked around the room and realized something that may have been slightly important. Mirror covered walls... Jongin thought, mentally face-palming himself. She would have been stupid if she didn’t notice me doing that. Jongin looked at her through the mirror and gave her a half smile.

“I’m fine, I just had an itch on my face is all.” he tried to make up an excuse for himself.

Kyungsoo snorted on the other side of Minsuh. Nice try, Jongin. he thought sarcastically to his friend.

“Oh, alright.” Minsuh said, smiling back. Jongin is a lot friendlier than Kyungsoo, at least he actually talks. she thought, peering at Jongin who was having an intense staring battle with Kyungsoo, their eyebrows furrowed. Jongin turned his attention towards Minsuh again.

“So how do you like the building so far? It’s nice, isn’t it?” he asked her.

“It’s a great building, I really like it.” she said. “I was kinda hoping that I could get a little more explanation of the rooms and whatnot is all… no offense to you at all, Kyungsoo!” she quickly added.

Kyungsoo waved it off. “It’s okay. I’ve never been a big talker anyway.” he said, giving her a comforting smile.

“Would you like me to lead you around?” Jongin asked.

“I actually think that’s a better idea, I have some, uh, errands to take care of.” Kyungsoo followed up. “I’ll leave you two to the tour, I’ll see you later!” he said, quickly exiting the room. Before he left, he quickly flashed a thumbs up towards Jongin, who returned it with a wink.

“So, should we continue the tour of this fabulous building?” Jongin asked, giving Minsuh a grin.

Minsuh nodded, and they made their way out of the dance room.