CHAPTER 9
11:30 PMA week passed by a blink of an eye and today’s the first evaluation. I’ve been hanging out with Yoongi quite a lot lately at the studio. I finished the song while he’d sat on the couch, giving me suggestions every now and then, sometimes he’d write songs too, other times he’d just sleep. Yoongi is a quiet person but I’ve never found a silence more comforting than his.
I’m ready. The song is done, I know my choreography and the cover song came out pretty good. Now I just have to wait. Me and Hyorin are in the practice room waiting for PD. We barely crossed ways this week and I haven’t said a word to her yet.
“Ready?” I asked
She rolled her eyes “I’m always ready.”
I was about to respond but PD enters the room with the Bangtan Boys behind them. I made my way to Yoongi, pulling him to a corner “What are you doing here?”
“PD wanted us to watch. Are you nervous?”
“No. Yes. Maybe. A little.” I wiped my sweaty hands to my pants and I was starting to walk in circles but Yoongi stopped me and put both of his hands on my shoulders.
“Hey, just breathe.” I felt his thumbs delicately caressing my shoulders, making me more relaxed. I closed my eyes and slowly inhaled and exhaled “You got this.”
“You really think so?”
He nodded “I know so.”
I looked back and everyone was already gathered.
“Okay, wish me luck.”
“Fighting!” he said in the corniest version of aegyo I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t help but laugh and cover my face with embarrassment “Oh my god, you’re ridiculous.”
“Yah! Don’t mock me! I don’t do aegyo to everyone.”
“Now I see why.” I start playing with the zipper of the jacket he had lent me last time “Oh, there’s this really funny thing that I hav…”
“Girls, shall we start?”
Oh yeah, the evaluation. I walked next to Hyorin and Yoongi sat next to Rap Monster.
“I don’t want to drag this for too long so I’m going to be really quick. It’s finally time to see what you have worked on during this whole month. This is may be the first evaluation and you know I’m a really friendly person but I won’t sugar coat anything. I want you to evolve and improve yourselves. I want to make sure you’re ready so when I chose the one to debut, I won’t have any regrets.” I started to feel nervous again so I searched for Yoongi. He was looking at me and giving me two small thumbs up. “I wanted to have a bigger audience for today, but the boys will work for now.” We both nodded.
“We’re going to start with the cover song. Hyorin, you’re going first.” PD sat down in front of Hyorin and I quietly skipped to Yoongi.
“Hey.” he whispered.
“Hey.”
We’re all looking at Hyorin, who is now in the middle of the room. She makes a sign and the first notes of Hush starts playing. I feel my face heating up and both my hands were now in a fist.
“That’s my song.” I whispered.
“What?”
“That’s the song I chose.”
Yoongi remained silent for a moment. I could see he was trying to figure something out but there’s only one thing left for me to do.
“Grab me a guitar.” He nodded and left the room.
*
Hyorin had finished and Yoongi was back with the guitar. That was the only song I had practiced, that was my song. My vocal range is not as good as hers and that song was one of the few that I can sing to. The only thing left for me to do is to improvise. I started playing guitar a few years ago and i know a couple of songs. Melted was the first one that came to my mind so that's the one I'll play.
“Hana, whenever you’re ready.”
I grabbed a chair to the middle of the room and sat down. I placed the guitar on my lap, made sure it was tuned and started playing. My eyes search through the small crowd and landed on Hyorin. That had the nerve to be smiling. I should have expected this when she messed up the practice schedules. I should have been ready for whatever move she had on her sleeve. I know her type and I know she has only started.
I sang the best that I could and as soon it was over, I walked straight back to my seat.
The rest of the evaluation was complete torture. I did my best but I all I wanted was to get out of that room.
“Okay ladies. I can see that you’ve worked really hard and even though you could have practiced more, “he glanced at me” I’m very impressed with what you just showed. Like I've said before, the two of you have something the other lacks on and we could all observe that today. Vocal wise, Hyorin is better. I can see that the vocal lessons were really worth it. The choreography was equally good. I can see that it’s a field that you’re both comfortable in and I liked the different techniques you used. As for the original track…” He was walking forwards and backwards the whole time but he finally stopped “I have to congratulate Hana. Your song was nothing live I’ve ever heard before. It was catchy, the lyrics were phenomenal and your rapping style is unique, I’ll be looking forward for more songs.”
“Thank you.” I bowed to him.
PD wrapped it up really quickly with the same old “work hard” conversation and then we were all dismissed. I left the room and walked as fast as I could to the studio. I was about to close the door but Yoongi was right behind me.
“She’s a .” Yoongi closed the door and walked to me. I felt him hesitating a bit but he ended up holding my hands lightly.
“What matters is that you did great and PD loved your song.”
“What if I didn’t have that song prepared? It could have gone terribly wrong Yoongi! She’s a and she wants to win this no matter what, God knows what she’s capable of doing! I can’t go home empty handed Yoongi. I’ve come too far to let her take this away from me.” I broke down into tears and hid my face on Yoongi’s chest, wrapping my arms tightly around him. I felt his hand my hair and his lips against my forehead.
“This was only the first evaluation. I know what you’re capable of Hana, you’re already a winner to me.” I looked up to face him and he wiped my tears with his hands. They were warm and soft and his gaze was intense. I placed my hands on top of his and held them “I’m going home.”
He didn’t object. He just nodded and let me go.
*
I opened the door to my apartment and took the elevator to my floor. I got out of the elevator and the first thing I see is a yellow tape blocking the entry to my door and to my neighbor’s. There were two firemen, the landlord and my neighbor. I walked to him “What happened?”
“There was a problem with the pipes in our floor, everything is flooded.”
This day couldn’t get any worse.
Mr. Jungnam came to us “Ah you’re here. There was a problem with the pipes in your floor. The insurance will cover any damages on the building. If any of your personal belongings got ruined there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m very sorry.”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself but there’s no use “How long will this take?”
“One more day, at least. Come tomorrow by the end of the day, it should be all fixed by then.”
I took my phone from my pocket and dialed Yoongi’s number “Hey, it’s me. Do you have room for one more?”
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