Chapter 2: Stepping Up

 

As promised, Ms. Jung woke us all up at 4 o'clock on the dot the next morning. No words were spoken as we grogily moved around our dorm to get dressed for the day. We simply shuffled passed each other and wondered how our manager could be bright and smiling at this time of morning. She was obviously an early riser.

"You guys should be excited! You should be pumped up!" Ms. Jung said as she commenced running in place and punching the air with her fists, "MV filming! Let's go!"

We followed out overly hyper manager out of the dorm and into a company van that would take us to a studio to film. Soomin sat up front in the passenger seat beside Ms. Jung, Toni sat on the whole second row by herself, and Rin and I shared the last row of seats. We all had more than enough room to be comfortable as we rode to our destination, which was good considering we were still tired. The last thing we needed was to create tension before we go film by getting at each others throats.

"Oh yeah, Soomin, there is a bag by your feet. Can you get it for me please?" Ms. Jung asked while keeping her eyes on the road.

Soomin reached down and pulled out a black bag and set it in her lap.

"What's in here?" she asked. We all sat up, curious to what was in the bag. Our sleepiness now gona and instead replaced with curiousity. 

"Go ahead and open it." our manager replied, a sly smile appearing on her face, "And give one to each of the members."

I watched as our leader reached into the bag and pulled out a video camera. At the sight of the hand-held device, I could feel myself getting excited by imagining all the things we could capture to share with our fans. They would be able to see the real side of us and connect with us on a more personal level when we record. 

"Woah!" Soomin exclaimed, stretching into a wide grin, "Are these for us?"

Ms. Jung nodded and smiled, enjoying our reactions to the cameras as Soomin passed them out. We instantly started fiddling with the cameras, trying to figure out how to work them as Ms. Jung informed us of the reason behind giving us the devices. 

"The agency did reasearch and they found out that the groups who do more behind the scenes camera work have really good reactions from the fans and they decided to do the same for you guys." she explained.

"This is so cool!" Rin exclaimed while wiggling the camera around and pointing it down to the floor of the van. She was recording, but I wasn't sure what was so interesting about the floor of our van. I was starting to think that nobody would ever understand our maknae when I realized she was filming her "lucky" shoes.It was still a little weird, but I didn't comment on it.

For the rest of the ride, we all recorded something on our new, personal cameras.

Soomin just made faces at the camera while laughing to herself, Toni fixed her hair and commented on how good she looked early this morning, Rin started singing a song (once she was done filming her shoes), and I just talked about our plans for the day and how excited we all were to debut soon. To sum it all up, the van was a little chaotic considering there were only five of us in it.

We arrived at the studio in good moods because of our new gadgets. I could tell that whenever these videos were going to be uploaded, our fans would enjoy them.

"It's so nice for you all to make it so early! I hope there wasn't any problems for you." a man said to us as he met us outside of the studio. He seemed to be nice. "I am Kang Chisoo, the director."

After we all introduced ourselves, we immediately began getting our hair, makeup, and outfits done. I felt like the world wwas flying so fast past me as I sat in a chair while about four people worked on me. Hands were on my lips, my eyes, my cheeks, and in my hair all at the same time. I didn't know how to handle the situation so I just sat still until they were done. It didn't take long, and the end result was amazing.

I had never really worn makeup because I have no idea how to put it on, but seeing myself now made me want to invest in some. Although our concept was kind of dark, they didn't drown my eyelids in eyeliner or mascara, which I was thankful for. The other members had the same style of makeup as me, but we all had our own individual look.

"Are you nervous?" Toni asked as we all waited for the director to call us when he was ready. We apparently got to the studio earlier than we expected and the techinical crew still had to set up some light fixtures.

We all shook our heads no but I found all of my group members looking at me in disbelief. They caught my lie. 

"You guys, I'm fine right now. I will tell you how I feel once we get in front of the camera though." I explained before they had the chance to bombard me with questions. They chuckled at my small joke before changing the subject.

I felt like I needed to let off some anxiousness so I ended up getting my camera out and confessing my feelings about filming. Just talking to the inanimate object at first felt weird, but the more I did it, the more it felt like I was talking directly to our fans and it really calmed me down a little.

 "Girls, we have a problem." Ms. Jung said as she rushed into our waiting area. We all gathered around hurriedly to see what was wrong. 

"What is it, unnie?" Soomin asked, her worried expression mirroring all of ours. 

"The backup dancers got into a wreck and they can't make it to the filming today. We need them to shoot the video." our manager psuhed out in one breath while running a hand through her hair in frustration. 

"Oh no.." we gasped in shock. Our backup dancers were a necessity to film the music video. We can't do it without them. 

"Are they alright?" I asked, being concerned for their health. As a dancer, I know how important staying healthy and not getting injured is. One small thing like a car accident can ruin a dancer's dream completely. 

Ms. Jung nodded and I let out a sigh of releif.

"What will we do?" Rin asked, her eyes glossy and I could tell she was on the verge of crying, "The director said we had to get done with filming today because the studio will be busy for at least a month befoer it has a free opening."

"I know..." Ms. Jung trailed off, rubbing her chinwith her thumb and index finger; something she only did when she was in deep concentration or confused. She was thinking of ways to make this work. 

I felt my worries come back tenfold with the silence of our problem-solving manager. This was it. If we have to wait a month to file our music video, our fans will get bored of waiting and not care about us anymore. We will never debut now. We let not only ourselves, but our parents, fans, and each other down. We even let BTS down since they were anticipating our debut... Wait...

"How about BTS?" I suggested.

Everyone turned to me with shocked expressions. I assumed they didn't know what I was meaning so I continued to explain.

"They are very good dancers, and we only need four of them. I'm sure they wouldn't mind subbing in as backups, unless they are busy..." I trailed off, beginning to think my suggestion was pointless. 

"Okay! I could call them and your choreographer to teach them the dance." Ms. Jung said, already reaching for her phone and dialing numbers before she could leave the room for privacy.

The four of us stood together in a tense silence. If this didn't woek, we didn't know what to do, or what would come of us.

Rin was stuggling to keep her tears at bay so she reached and grabbed Toni and Soomin's hands and squeezed them for comfort. It hurt seeing our maknae like that and I promised myself right then that I would do whatever I could to film our music video today. No matter what.

After a few minutes, Ms. Jung came back to us with a long face, "Well, BTS is available to come, but our choreographer will not make it...I'm sorry, girls."

Rin broke down crying and Soomin and Toni immediately went to comfort her, but I could tell they wanted to cry as well. I even wanted to go home and cry until I could cry anymore, but I needed to be strong for our maknae, for our group. I made a promise that I will keep and crying will not let me keep that promise.

"I can teach them the dance. All we need are the boys." I said confidently.

Ms. Jung's mouth dropped at my authoritive tone. She must have been surprised. I don't speak loud or with much confidence, but I did just now.

"A-are you s-sure?" Ms. Jung asked, stumbling over her words.

I nodded, "Yes. Please believe that I will be able to teach them in a short amount of time."

"Yes! Please unnie?" Rin pleaded, looking at our manager with tear stained cheeks. "Aeyoung is such an amazing dancer and she helps us so much. I have no doubt we can get this done with her teaching choreography."

Soomin and Toni nodded, supporting the maknae's claim. My heart swelled at knowing how my members thought so highly of my dancing skills. If this worked out, I would make sure to thank them for being the best group members ever.

"Alright. We will have you teach the BTS boys the choreography." Ms. Jung said to me, "I will call Mr. Song back and tell him what will happen. Don't let me down, Aeyoung."

I bowed and watched as our manager walked away again, holding her phone to her ear. Although alot of pressure was put on me, I felt confident that I could succeed in this task. I had no other choice than to complete it.

"Thank you so much, unnie!" Rin cried as she gave me a back hug. I patted her on the back to comfort her, seeing as she was still crying.   

"Your makeup is all over your face now. Get a hold of yourself!" I joked, which caused all of the girls to laugh.

We watched the stylists work with Rin's makeup as we waited for BTS to get here. The thought of dancing with them made my stomach quiver with nervousness. The thought of teaching them made my palms sweaty. The thought of them even accepting to come and help us blew my mind. I found myself getting nervous again. 

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As the girls started filming their individual parts, I was behind the set teaching Jimin, Jungkook, J-Hope, and V our dance. They were only needed during the second chorus through the bridge, so I didn't have too much to teach.

"Alright, so we start out in a straight line facing the front, but you all will be behind us," I said, gesturing for them to do as I say when I call it out. They all got in line and stood there with smiles on their faces. It was kind of strange. Were they this happy to dance? "Why are you all smiling like that?"

"Well this is the first time we have ever heard you actually speak." Jungkook said and Jimin nodded in agreement. 

"You guys maybe, V and I talked to her yesterday." J-Hope said as if he had something to be proud of. 

"Okay, well you all can see that I am perfectly capable of talking, but can we start dancing now, please?" i asked as politely as I could. We were on a time schedule and they had to learn the dance before I had to go and do my individual filming.

They all stopped smiling and got serious quickly. Ms. Jung had told them about the situation and they practically flew to the studio, eager to help in any way possible. 

Sine my group members weren't with us to practice, I ended up teaching a move then dancing it with each of the guys to make certain they got it right. They were really fast learners so it all went better than expected. 

We had just finished going over the whole thing when Ms. Jung came into the room we were in. 

"Aeyoung, are you done? It's your turn to film." she said. 

"Just got done!" I replied. The smile one my face couldn't be replaced by anything. I was so happy that i was able to teach them and save our debut. But of course I couldn't have done it without BTS.

"Thank you guys so much! You are really daebak!" I bowed before running out the room and following Ms. Jung to the filming area. A few stylists touched up on my make up since I had sweat some of it off before I went in front of the camera. 

In  the end, the music video came out great. There were no mess ups from the staff or any problems on our behalf. Jungkook, Jimin, J-Hope, and V did perfectly, although that was expected. They were part of BTS after all.

"Thank you boys, again." Ms. Jung said to the guys and we all bowed to them, "We are so grateful for you."

"It was no problem! We had alot of fun!" Jimin replied.

After a few more goodbyes, BTS left and the girls and I stood in a circle with Ms. Jung.

"We did it you guys!" Rin exclaimed, jumping up and down in the circle while hugging everyone.

"All thanks to Aeyoung!" Soomin said then added when she saw the look on our manager's face, "-and unnie, of course!"

We all laughed as we congratulated each other and gave each other hugs.

"Let's go get some ice cream!" Toni yelled while pumping her fist into the air. I was surprised she wasn't tired, considersing it was now 9 p.m. and we spent all day filming. Not that I am complaining... that's Toni's job.

"Alright! I will pay!" Ms. Jung offered.

We all cheered and exited the studio, glad our careers were safe and our debut is on its normal schedule.  

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*Hey guys! Sorry for the late update! I have been super busy with school starting but I now have time to write! YAY! Haha Anyways, Leave a comment if you enjoyed! I want some feedback from you all!*