December 2014

Eunjung was beginning to feel those nerves again, the type that she had almost drowned in when Polaris had debuted back in July. The comeback was getting closer every single day and even though every member of Polaris had been preparing so much that they felt as though they could dance and sing their new songs in their sleep (Chaerin had even gone so far as to have joked that she could dance it after death), Eunjung was worried. Usually, she was pretty relaxed and had been reliably told many times that she was the dork of the group, but she was the leader of the group, and it showed at times like this.

It was with a heavy heart that she clambered out of the car and into the SM Entertainment building, ready for another day of slaving in the vocals rooms and the practice room. Yet again, Jimin had decided not to come with them for undisclosed reasons, so it was only Eunjung, Seohyeon, Chaerin, Subin and Gayoon who settled on the black sofa that morning, ready to go over their vocals once more.

“Seriously, what is going on with Jimin-ah?” Seohyeon asked, her face betraying no emotion and her words flat. They always joked about what a weird maknae she was, but the dancer paid them no notice. “She barely turns up to our schedules these days. She’s going to end up messing up on stage if she keeps this up.”

“Yes, Seo, we know,” Subin snapped, obvsiouly feeling the strain. Although the wasn’t the leader, she was the oldest member out of the six of them, and she was often called ‘umma Subin’. “Nothing any of us say is getting through to her, so you complaining about her to us isn’t really going to do anything, is it?!”

“Okay, Subin, time to start drinking coffee when you wake up on a morning again,” Chaerin muttered so that only Eunjung could hear her. “Your caffeine withdrawal symptoms are really starting to wind everyone up.”

Stiffling a laugh from Chaerin’s comment, Eunjung synced her phone up to the speakers and scrolled through to find the MR for their title track, which needed to be practiced the most. 

“Shall we get breakfast first, or just start?” Gayoon wondered aloud. “Skipping breakfast is bad for you.”

“Breakfast is our prize for getting through the song three times without screwing up,” Eunjung decided, raising her eyebrows at Chaerin and Seohyeon, daring them to contradict her. “Maknae, write down what everyone wants. We can decide who gets to eat afterwards,”

“Why do I always have to write down the orders?” the dancer complained with a whine as she reached out for the paper and pen on the table with the stereo. 

“Your handwriting is the neatest, so manager-nim can read it properly,” Chaerin began. “Also, you’re the maknae. Pull your weight. You know what we always want anyway, so just jump to it.”

“Yah, Kwon Chaerin, you’re the second youngest,” Seohyeon breathed with a deadly glare in the direction of the lead vocalist. 

“Can we please just start?” Subin grumbled as she took her place. “I want my coffee.”

Eunjung rolled her eyes as she started the music.

*

That morning was a good one, Eunjung decided as the third run-through of their title track finished. It was the first time in weeks that they had all aced their parts. She was made to call for the order because Daeseun, their manager, was nowhere to be seen (he was probably in meetings as Gayoon as said). When she had asked why it had to be her, the other four had ganged up against her and told her firmly that it was her job as the leader to carry out the dirty work that nobody else wanted to do.

It was only after the food (and Subin’s precious coffee) had been delivered that Jimin decided to show up, and it was around nine in the morning by then. She walked in with the grace and attitude of a snobby monarch and immediately narrowed her eyes at the sight of her members eating breakfast in front of her.

“Where’s mine?” she asked. Chaerin nearly choked on her food and Gayoon was forced to thump the vocalist on the back until she stopped coughing.

“You can’t actually be serious?” she croaked, wiping the tears from her eyes. “You never showed up! This is our reward for getting through the title track three times without doing anything wrong and you weren’t here to join in, so I don’t see why you should get any breakfast!”

“I had other things to attend to, but I’m here now, aren’t I?”

Chaerin snorted unattractively. “Well, don’t think that any of us are going to share with you. Maybe if you’d have gotten up and forced your lazy behind to practice on time like the rest of us, I would’ve.”

The visual flicked her hair off her shoulder and glared coldly at the American in front of her. “Just come out with it, Rin. What are you trying to say?”

“Guys-” Eunjung cut in warningly, but was cut off almost immediately by her ex-roommate.

“Oh, I’m so glad you asked,” she began scathingly. “You never turn up to practice, and then have the balls to stand there and criticise us for doing what you should be doing too? Um, no, I don’t think so. If you insist upon acting like a stupid child, I’ll treat you like one, I have no problem with that.”

“Oh, so you’re saying I’m lazy now, right? How about you-”

“Oh for God’s sakes, stop this right now!” Eunjung yelled in frustration, handing her food to Subin and standing up. “You two need to stop jumping down each other’s throats, it’s ruining everyone’s day,” She turned to glare at Chaerin first. “You - you stop ing at Jimin-ah now. Carry on eating, go out of the room, I don’t care. Just shut up. Stop it. And you,” she turned instead to point at Jimin, who looked pleased that Chaerin had been told off first. Well, Eunjung was determined to wipe that smile right off her face. “You need to actually bother to turn up to be able to criticise us. If you’re really that obsessed with not getting any food, go and order some yourself, because we’re busy eating right now. And while you’re at it, try to get rid of this ing attitude, because it’s really pissing me off.” And with that, she turned back to grab her food from the rapper and immediately began eating again. 

Jimin simply stared at them all for a moment or two before she huffed, took some money from her purse, dumped her bag in the corner of the room and launched herself out of the room to get something to eat for herself. Seohyeon was staring at the Brit with hanging open while everyone else sat in silence.

“What?” Eunjung finally asked. “I’ve had enough of everybody arguing, and I’ve definitely had enough of Jimin being a and acting as though we all owe her for being in our group. I’m sorry, but we’re meant to be a team, and we can’t do this if there’s someone who won’t co operate when everybody else it trying their absolute hardest.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get so angry, and I’ve known you the longest out of all of us,” Chaerin commented, picking her spoon back up again. “It was kind of like watching a train wreck.”

“What, terrifying but scarily meserising?” Seohyeon asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, kind of,” Gayoon agreed. 

“Shut up,” Eunjung spoke into her food, face growing red. “Everybody is allowed to lose their temper sometimes, even me. Especially me, having to put up with you freaks,” she joked halfheartedly.

Jimin chose that moment to walk into the room, laden down with drinks and snacks. 

“Eunjung, can I talk to you in private please?” she requested curtly. The leader shared a surprised look with Subin and together, she and the visual exited the room.

“What is it?” Eunjung asked, folding her arms over her chest. 

“I want to apologise for not turning up on time lately,” Jimin began. Her voice had changed, become lower and more sincere. It didn’t carry the usual snobby tone that it usually did, and Eunjung was surprised. “It’s just that I have a lot of things going on lately and it’s hard juggling everything. 

“You mean it’s hard juggling us and your boyfriend,” Eunjung corrected harshly. 

“No, it’s not that sort of thing,” Jimin quickly shook her head. “Did you hear about what happened with Acid Teochii, Jungie? Hanni told me that you speak to Myung sometimes, so I guess maybe you have... Well, Hyo has left the group and I don’t know, they all try to make it seem like they’re not finding it hard, but I can tell that they are.”

“No offence or anything, because you know how much I like Acid, but what exactly does this have to do with Polaris?” Eunjung inquired. “Because them having to dance and sing and do everything without one of their members is basically what we’re having to do right now because you’re never around. I mean, if it was only when we’re enjoying our free time that you went out, it’d be different, I could understand that. But now you’re cutting into our preparation time, Jimin. You do realise that our comeback is literally in, like, three weeks, right?”

“I know that, Eunjung, believe me. I do.” She sighed and covered her face with her hands. “I guess what I’m trying to say is this: someone that I’m very close to is going through some right now and I’m trying to be there for him, but I’m going through my own , too, and that doesn’t even even count comeback stuff.”

“You need to be straight with me,” Eunjung demanded. “Tell me now: what is it that is going on with you that makes it so hard for you to be around us? Are you having problems with one of the girls? Is it Chaerin? Because I can talk to her-”

“NO!” Jimin interrupted. “No, I’m not being bullied or anything, Eunjung! No! It’s stuff going on with my... With my family, I guess. I’m just so damn stressed right now, Jungie, I’m finding it really hard.”

The leader softened slightly at her words. “Okay, well, you don’t have to tell me what your family stuff is if you don’t want to, and believe me, I understand completely what you mean with the whole stress thing. But you really do need to step up and do what you’re meant to be doing, Minnie, because it’s not just you who is finding this tough, you know? Your absence means that the rest of us have to word twice as hard. Can you understand that?”

“... I can.”

“Well then, let’s go back in and get started and put this behind us. Just... I want you to know that if you ever need to talk to someone about those issues you’re having, you should know that you can come to me with whatever, right? I won’t judge or anything, or tell anybody.” Eunjung told her seriously. 

Jimin showed her a weak smile. “Thanks, Jungie. I’ll bear that in mind,” was all she said before she opened the door and the two re-entered the vocals room. “Let’s just get today over and done with and I’ll buy dinner tonight to make up for being late. Maybe I’ll get some cake by way of apologising to Chaerin.” Her voice got slightly louder to make sure that the others could hear her, and apparently they could, because her statement was met with a set of cheers.

Woo, just implemented a new plotline >:D Aw, Jiminnie ^.^