Chapter 1 | July 20, 2015

It’s been a few hours since the sun had set over the bustling city of Seoul. On the corner of one such bustling block is a small bar. The soft strumming of a guitar drifts out the front door as it opens, overwhelmed by the loud noises of the city. A young lady, perhaps in her late teens or early twenties, strolls in. In the heat of the summer of 2015, she’s wearing a white, loose cropped tank top, dark blue jean shorts and bright red converses. Adorning her head is a white snapback decorated with small, black dust bunnies in Ghibli Studios’ animations, while her hair falls down her shoulders in soft, blonde waves.

She pulls out one of the tall chairs at the bar, waving a one-handed greeting at the male behind the counter who calls out to her, “the usual, I’m guessing?”

“Yes, please.”

Her facial expression doesn’t change from the cold eyes and lips bordering on a frown when she speaks. Her voice is just as icy as her eyes. As she waits for her drink, she crosses her arms on the table and her fingers begin to tap on her arms rhythmically. She turns her head to the corner, where a young man sits on a light-colored stool, strumming away on his guitar. With a microphone suspended a little away from his mouth, he sings clearly with lots of emotions.

The young lady sits there with her head turned towards the male. Her eyes show a hint of content at hearing the man’s comforting voice after such an exhausting day. The light chink of the cylindrical glass on the dark granite shifts her attention to the young bartender who is now standing in front of her with his chin resting on his palm. “Long day, Erin?”

Her fingers wrap around the cold beverage, lifting it up to her lips to take a short sip. The burning liquid sliding down serves as a sweet comfort despite its bitter taste. A soft sigh leaves from her lips before she speaks. “Kind of,” is her curt response. She attempts to hide a cold shiver when a gust from the air conditioning blows across her bare skin.

Just as the music stops for a few minutes, she glances at her the bulky, black G-Shock watch on her left wrist and realizes the singer has finished his gig for the night. She doesn’t turn around to look. Instead, she waits patiently for the comforting arms to wrap around her shoulders. As the words coming out of the bartender’s mouth go through one ear and out the other, her fingers continue to tap away on the countertop. Finally, an arm thrown around her shoulders lurches her forward a little bit and a small, soft smile takes over the corner of her lips.

“Kangrin,” a low voice sings as the owner of the arm slides into the seat next to her. “Fancy seeing you here again!”

Erin turns her head and she tries to hide her smile behind a sarcastic frown. “Oh, you again. I thought I told you to leave me alone?”

“Aww, you know you could never have enough of me,” the male chuckles as he squeezes her shoulder with his large hand before dropping his hand so that his arm hooks around her neck. “Hyung, can I get a Johnny Walker black?”

“On the rocks, please,” Erin quickly adds before the bartender can even turn around. Her eyes are stern as she adds, “don’t you dare give it to him straight up, Shin.”

The man behind the counter lets out a humored chuckle as he turns around. He tosses a glance over his shoulder at the two, playfully bickering together. “You sound more like his mom, than his sister,” he teases the younger girl with a light laugh.

Erin rolls her eyes, before pulling her head back so that she can look closely at the boy who has the same eyes as her, the same flat nose as her, the same naturally jocose smile, the same ears, and the same thin eyebrows. “I hope you’re not giving him straight up drinks while I’m away,” she narrows her eyes, with a threatening aura, at the bartender. “You know his body can’t take too much of it, and we both know he likes to have more than one glass when it comes to drinks.”

“Junhong doesn’t even dare to cross you, how could I ever do it?” the man asks as he fills the same styled glass with ice before he grabs the bottle of alcohol and pours it in. Erin turns her head to her twin as if silently questioning him. Her brother responds with quick, strong nods before his lips crack a playful grin and he gives her a wink.

“Never, ever.”

The three of them spend the next few hours until closing time, chatting away. There’s never a dull moment in their conversations. One moment, they talk about Shin’s current boyfriend. Then the next moment, they’re talking about Junhong’s upcoming exam in his least favorite class. Afterwards, they begin talking about Erin and her debut to come.

“Oh yeah, I heard that one song of yours! How does it go?” Shin taps two of his lithe fingers on his chin as if pondering the lyrics before he breaks out into a rap, failing to reciprocate her charismatic voice:

“I’m a star that shines brighter in the night sky
I just fell down once, I’ll brush myself off and get up
Have strength, it’s alright.”

Erin’s face contorts into a snarl as she glares at her older friend for mocking her voice, “hey, I do not sound like that!”

“You’re right, Kangrin,” Junhong grins widely, using his large hand to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly again. “Because you sound much, much better than this idiot. Tu es certainement la meilleure!” That wide grin she grew up with and loved so much. “You are certainly the best!”

“Don’t be pulling all that foreign language stuff on me! Only Korean is allowed at this bar!” Shin purses his lips into a pout that’s too young for his face as he crosses his arms and huffs in discontent. He leans forward so that his arms are on the granite countertop.

Junhong lifts his glass to his lips for a longer drink this time before he drops the glass on the counter with a loud chink that resounds through the empty room. “But really, why won’t she release your debut date? Isn’t Starlightz supposed to release their debut track soon, too? At this rate, it’ll seem more like you’re a soloist rather than a part of Constellation’s first girl group…”

A smirk forms on the young artist’s lips as a mischievous glint flashes through her eyes. Erin glances up at Shin for a moment, then locks eyes with her twin brother. “Soon. I promise. We’re just all waiting for CEO Park to give the word and we’ll be out. So you better enjoy this time with me in public while you still can, brother…”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I thought I’d give you guys a taste of what my writing will look like. I hope you guys liked it! And I look forward to giving you more as soon as the group gets together~^^