1st January 2015

The morning of the 1st of January 2015 was filled with lots of rushing around and stress for Polaris; unlike with their debut, the music video would be released the same day as their first comeback stage, which was due to be on M! Countdown. The six girls were running around trying to find clothes to wear as well as attempting to search for some food that was easy to eat and could be carried to the car.

“Hurry up, girls!” their main manager, Daeseun, called through the front door of the dorm impatiently. “We’re going to be late to the recording if you don’t get a move on!”

“Coming, manager-nim!” Eunjung shouted as she pulled on some shoes quickly, picking up her tea which had been made my the ever-prepared Subin, who had woken up earlier than usual in order to at least get them all drinks. She had even had the clever thought to use the type of cups that you got at a coffee shop when you ordered a take-away drink so that they could drink in the car on the way to the studio without burning themselves.

“We all ready? Come on, let’s go,” Eunjung nudged Jimin, who grabbed her own coffee from her bedside table and the six of them filed out of the dorm one by one and clambered into the car.

“Are you guys nervous about your comeback?” Daeseun asked kindly from the drivers seat. 

“Isn’t that kind of a stupid question?” Seohyeon remarked in a flat voice. “Of course we are.”

“It’s always nice to go and perform on your birthday,” Jimin added, sipping at her coffee. “I mean, what else would I rather be doing? Couldn’t imagine myself wanting to lounge around with my friends on my twentieth, or even shopping!”

“Nice sarcasm,” Chaerin muttered as she scrolled through her phone, earphones already plugged in for the journey. 

“Here, let’s take a photo for Instagram,” Gayoon offered brightly. “Ask the fans to wish us luck.”

Jimin shrugged and turned her camera on; she was sitting near the front, so if she angled her phone just right, she would be able to get everybody in frame. “Smile, god,” she called to the members at the back who didn’t seem to realise that they were being photographed; once everybody looked a least a little presentable, Jimin took the photo and posted it to Instagram, captioning it: ‘Guess who’s birthday it is?! It’s our first comeback stage for ‘DREAM’, so please support us and sent us your love!’

“I think you’re addicted to that app, Jimin-ah,” Subin told the younger member, sounding more like the mother of the group than she ever had before. “You go on it way too much.”

“Key oppa does too, so you can’t tell me off unless you’re prepared to say the same to him,” Jimin responded absently, liking the singer in question’s latest post as she scrolled. 

Subin snorted and took another sip of her coffee. “Yah, do you think I have a death wish? He’d kill me for sure if I said that to him, Jiminnie. The only reason he tolerates Onew sunbae saying it is because Jinki is such a kind person,”

“Well, there we go, then.” Jimin finished, not really paying any attention to the conversation that they were having as she spotted a video that Hanni of Acid Teochii had posted up the hour before. She clicked ‘play’ and saw the members cheering and clapping while some attempted to sing ‘happy birthday’ for her. The caption read: ‘Happy birthday, Jimin from POLARIS! Have a good comeback stage! POLARIS FIGHTING~!’ She grinned stupidly to herself as she posted a comment thanking them for their well wishes and assuring them that the group would do well. 

“Girls, we’re nearly at the studio, get ready. Remember, there will be more cameras this time because you’re more popular now than you were in July, so be careful,” Daeseun warned as he pulled the car towards where they were due to film their stage. When they parked, the six members of Polaris attempted to exit the vehicle gracefully (Eunjung had a terrible habit of falling out of the car because she always forgot that there was a step) and almost immediately, the fans began calling their names and shoving cameras in their faces. Daeseun shoved them through the crowd and into the protection of the building’s lobby and they all let out a breath.

“That was intense!” Chaerin exclaimed, adjusting her coat and brushing her hair out of her face. 

“Well, it was certainly something, anyway,” Eunjung corrected. “Now let’s just get to recording so that we can go home and celebrate Jimin-ah’s birthday properly!”

“I was thinking of maybe inviting Acid Teochii over to the dorm later if that’s okay, or maybe going over there for a while?” Jimin told the others as they moved towards the backstage area, ready to change into their stage outfits and get their hair and make-up done. 

“You just want another excuse to spend some more time with your boyfriend,” Chaerin teased lightly from behind the visual; she had been poking fun at the older girl ever since she had told the rest of the group that her boyrfriend was indeed Hanni. “You can’t lie to us, we know you too well.”

“I just like them a lot, that’s all. I don’t want a party or anything, just a chance to see my friends for a while.”

“We could get EXO over, maybe. SHINee, if they have time,” Gayoon suggested, holding a door open for her leader as they powered through the corridors. “Just to have a chat and some food, nothing huge,”

“That sounds like a nice idea,” Jimin admitted. “I think I’d like that a lot.”

However, Eunjung had already thought of something wrong with the idea. “Will we even all fit in our dorm?” she asked. “I mean, there’s six of us, ten each in AT and EXO, and the five SHINee sunbaes. That’s thirty-one people in a dorm that’s only meant to house six,”

“They don’t have to all come over at the same time, Eunjung,” Chaerin said condescendingly. 

“You want to invite our friends and sunbaes over in shifts?” Eunjung fired back without any real heat as they finally entered their dressing room. “Wow.”

“They’re probably not all free at the same time, anyway,” Seohyeon put in. “If you’re being realistic,” she added sneakily. 

“Regardless,” Jimin butted in, waving her hand around as though getting rid of a particularly persistent fly. “Can we have a few friends over? I’d like to see them - we haven’t hung out with the Acid Teochii members for ages now,”

“Well, we haven’t even met them yet,” Seohyeon pointed out. “And you’re always over at their dorm. Even Eunjung knows the leader. I guess it’s time you introduced us.”

“It’s decided, then,” said Subin, “Jimin’s boyfriend’s group will be invited over, and we can ask the EXO sunbaes if they want to pop over, too. D.O and Chanyeol have been visiting a bunch, anyway, so I doubt it’ll make much difference.”

“So now it’s sorted, can we please get ready for our comeback stage?” Eunjung asked, taking her outfit from the hanger in the corner of the room. 

*

All of the hard work that the Polaris members had been putting in seemed to be paying off - their first ever comeback stage for ‘Dream’ had gone exceptionally well, only needing to be performed three times, though they were all utterly exhausted afterwards. It turned out that while they had been working, Daeseun had spoken to the other managers and the higher ups and had (somehow) gotten the girls the rest of the day off so that they could celebrate Jimin’s birthday properly, which he explained in the car on the journey back to the dorm. 

“I expect you all to be asleep at a reasonable time, of course,” he reminded them sternly, speaking more at Jimin than anybody. “You have a schedule early in the morning, so even though I’m giving you the rest of the day off, I want you to remember that you have a job to do. That being said... Have fun,” he added with a smile. 

“Ah, Daeseun manager-nim, you’re the best,” Chaerin called happily from the back seat, almost deafening Eunjung, who shot a glare at the younger vocalist.

“Stop up,” Seohyeon told her, the ghost of a smile on her face. “He won’t give you time off on your birthday.”

“Good job there’s still nearly five months until my birthday, then,” Chaerin countered jokingly. “Gives you all time to buy me those amazing presents that I know you’re all dying to get me for being such an awesome person.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, unnie,” the maknae warned with a laugh. 

*

When the group got back to the dorm, they could see that the sitting room light was on through the window; Eunjung frowned as they climbed out of the car and approached their front door.

“Did anybody say anything about surprising Jimin?” She quietly asked Daeseun, who shook his head, confused for a moment, until realisation dawned on his face and he pointed towards the window.

“Ah, no. That’ll be your new member. I was told earlier that she would be turning up at some point this week, but we didn’t know when it would be exactly, so I didn’t say anything in case it put you all on edge-”

“New member?!” Chaerin exclaimed from behind them suddenly, mouth hanging open in shock. “You never said anything about a new member! Why do we need one? The six of us are fine!”
“You’ve misunderstood, Chaerin-ah,” Daeseun explained patiently. “She’s not exactly going to be an addition to Polaris; she’s a member for your first sub-unit, which I’ll be telling you all about very soon. Probably tomorrow, if all goes well.”

“You never told us about a sub-unit, manager-nim,” Subin pointed out accusingly. 

“Like I said, I’ll pull you all in for a meeting about it tomorrow,” he responded, unlocking the door for them. “For now, why don’t you all just enjoy Jimin’s birthday? Don’t worry about it. If your new member is in there, please be nice,” he begged.

“We’re always nice,” Seohyeon muttered with all the pleasantness of a shark. “I don’t know why you think we might not be,”

“Oh, sure, with a face and tone like that!” their manager joked, ruffling the maknae’s hair. “Now get inside and enjoy your day, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow, probably. Happy birthday, Jimin-ah!” And with that, he got back into the car and pulled out of the parking space, leaving Polaris crowding around the open door to their dorm.

OOOOOH A NEW MEMBER FOR A SUB UNIT! Are you guys excited to meet her? I really like her gahh I can't wait for you guys to see what she's like. 

Also! I put together a sort of compilation of POLARIS in 'Polaris' era and 'Dream' era and oh my gosh do they look different. I especially like Subinnie's new hair :D Take a look!