The song came to an end, leaving the girl in SM Entertainment’s infamous cloud practice room in a heap against the wall, her chest heaving. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead and she watched as they became splotches on the wooden floor. With a grunt, she reached for the water bottle a few feet away from her, exclaiming when she felt herself fall over from the effort. Instead of attempting to get back up though, she simply grabbed the water bottle and poured the contents into her slightly open mouth, uncaring of the liquid that spilled across the rest of her face.

Meanwhile, a boy, to whom she was still oblivious, stood at the door, open mouthed. He had just happened to be passing by the room when he heard the music, and he naturally wanted to catch a glimpse of who was practicing at such a late hour. He stared unabashedly and slowly stepped into the room, wanting to speak to the girl. Before he could open his mouth though, a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back out of the room. “Hyung! Where’d you go? We’re going to be late!” the owner of the hand pressed, his voice slightly annoyed.

Despite his urgent reminders, the boy did not budge; in fact, he turned to go back into the room once he was pulled outside. Groaning in frustration, the younger raised his voice. “Donghae hyung! Are you not coming?” He rolled his eyes, grabbed the older by the arm, and dragged him down the hallway.

Once the two boys were out of sight, the girl stuck her head out of the practice room with a worried expression. The short scuffle had caught her attention and being curious, she had decided to see what was going on. Not many people were in the building at that time of night, so she found it odd that two people were arguing right outside of the practice room she was in. She had figured it was just a couple of new trainees—that is until she heard that one was called Donghae.

Now that she thought about it, their voices did sound familiar. Her eyebrows furrowed as she ran the possibility of the existence of multiple Donghae’s there could be in the company. But this only caused her to whine as she thought of anyone watching her dance, let alone one of the idols she looked up to the most. Mussing her hair up in frustration, she grabbed her things and decided to quickly head home before she embarrassed herself any further.

~*~

    Kyuhyun and Donghae hurried down the hallway and quickly pressed the up button by the elevator door. As they waited, the younger turned to the other, his hands on his hips while he stared expectantly at his hyung. He rolled his eyes when Donghae began whistling and avoiding his gaze, tapping his foot the beat of the tune he had begun to create. Kyuhyun continued to stare though and it took a total of 5 seconds to break him. “Ah, what! What is it?” the brunette basically whined.

“You already know what—who was that girl in the studio? Your girlfriend?” Kyuhyun immediately questioned, nudging Donghae who only swatted at his elbow. The two entered the elevator and pressed the button that would take them up to the top floor of the building.

Donghae gave his fellow band mate a pointed look before answering, “Well, I was trying to find out who she was, but as a certain maknae had pulled me away, I was not able to. Besides, I would totally tell you guys if I was in a relationship, especially if it was with someone like her.”

His voice trailed off as the train of his thoughts veered back onto the track of the mystery dancer. Yes, she would definitely be bragging material, he decided. Kyuhyun noticed his hyung losing his focus once again and he could only shake his head in disapproval. Why did he always have to act the part of hyung? The elevator doors opened to their desired floor and without a second thought, Kyuhyun “escorted” Donghae (who was still drooling over the girl) to the door at the end of the hallway.

The room they entered was an empty lobby sort of room, but he continued walking to the double doors that lead to an office. Being the office of SM Entertainment’s CEO, its design was very spacious and large. When the whole of SM Entertainment’s largest group, Super Junior is placed into any room though, they are able to make it look quite crammed; the current room they all stood in did not exempt these circumstances. The buzz of low murmuring was interrupted with a shout. “Oi! Quiet down, we’re going to start now,” a middle aged man, otherwise known as one of Super Junior’s manager, turned towards Kyuhyun and Donghae. “Nice of you two to finally show up.”

Kyuhyun grunted while Donghae finally snapped to his senses, meeting the gazes of the members who had noticed his trancelike state. He simply pat the hand Hyukjae had placed on his shoulder and flashed a smile at Jungsu, whose constant glances were beginning to be noticed by the more clueless people standing in the room. The manager cleared his throat to reclaim everyone’s attention, giving everyone an impatient look this time. “I know you’re all wondering why we brought you here at such a late time. Mr. Kim has something very important to tell you all, and he insisted that it could not wait for a more decent time as his schedule is very tight. He wanted to tell you this directly, though, so please understand.”

Every member of Super Junior felt their stomach drop. They all glanced at each other nervously, the atmosphere suddenly becoming uncomfortable. What could be so important that the CEO had to tell them personally? None of them were particularly optimistic, especially since a rising topic was the age of Super Junior. Even they talked about it in the dorms: new, younger groups are constantly debuting, taking charge of the Hallyu wave they had started. One day, they’ll just be a bunch of has-beens trying too hard to cling onto the spotlight. Eventually, maintaining Super Junior will just be unpractical. Though their fanbase was strong, could they hold their interest any longer? Especially since most of them still needed to serve their time in the army?

With these thoughts in their minds, they all held their breath when Kim Youngmin turned in his chair to face them. The smile on his face looked forced as if it was difficult for him to do such a thing. He cleared his throat and put his hands together on top of his desk, leaning forward. “Hello, boys. Or should I say men? Super Junior has been together for quite a long time, and we have seen you mature into the top idols of kpop.”

Almost immediately, everyone’s faces became ashen. The age talk. They knew where this road led, but they also knew that it couldn't be helped. A heavy sense of resignation washed over Super Junior as they braced themselves for what they thought to be their end. "I've been doing some thinking lately and throwing around some ideas, and I think it's time."

"Super Junior will be receiving a new member."

~*~

Meanwhile, Eunha was making her way into the lobby of her apartment building, basically dragging her feet to the elevator. The day was exhausting both physically and emotionally for her; university, work, and training had all drained her of the energy she had managed to muster with the two hours of sleep she had sneaked in the night before. Not to mention her encounter with the two boys at the SM building, from which she was still starstruck, continued to nag her thoughts, only adding on to her stress. Eunha was well prepared to collapse into bed and sleep for a good two weeks straight-- after she did her homework, of course.

She called out to her roommate as she removed her shoes at the entrance and replaced them with slippers. "Yumi! I'm home!" When she received no reply, she simply shrugged. Yumi was probably already sleeping-- that or she wasn't home at all. Unlike Eunha, Yumi, as all the other university students not named Kim Eunha do, led a very active social life; this called for attendance at club meetings, study groups, and of course, parties. It was considered a regular occurrence that Eunha's best friend would turn in later than her (even after her own hectic schedule).

Tonight though, Yumi had stayed in to fall asleep to the comforting sounds of late-night drama reruns. The two had used to do this together in high school, but due to their clashing schedules, the activity was presently an individual one. Eunha sighed as she thought back to the time they actually had time to hang out, reminiscing as she stared blankly at the television. She was just about to fall asleep herself when she suddenly heard a sleepy mumble from  the couch, opening one of her eyes to look over at the yawning girl. “Eunha unnie, you’re home?” Yumi let out a groan as she stretched herself out of the uncomfortable position she had been in. “A letter came from the landlord today. If we pay rent late again this week, then we’re done for.”

Though the two both worked part time jobs that offered reasonable paychecks, putting aside money for rent proved to be something that is easier said than done. Like everyone else, Eunha had her vices, and she was shameless to say that video games was one of them. More often than not, she spent paydays locked up in the apartment, playing the first game that managed to catch her eye at the store. It wasn’t her fault hacking at virtual zombies relaxed her in an odd, morbid way. On the other hand, Yumi spent her money on what any other girl would: clothes. She couldn’t help that she was such a fashion icon at the university! She could only imagine the chaos on campus the day she comes in looking like… Her eyes flickered over to Eunha. Well, not everyone is blessed with her sense.

In the end, there was simply no money left to pay rent at the end of the month. “What are we going to do?” Yumi whined, kicking her feet out childishly. “What if we have to live in cardboard boxes? And then, what if we have to grow beards? Beards are gross, I don’t want to grow a bea--”

“Yumi, Yumi, calm down. We’re not going to grow beards,” Eunha sighed as she rubbed her temples. She loved Yumi, but honestly? She wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box. “We’ll figure something out like we always do, right?”

Despite her reassuring, Eunha couldn’t even convince herself, and she began to bite nervously at the nail of her thumb as she brainstormed their options. “Oh! There was also another letter, but it was addressed to you, so I didn’t open it.” Eunha held out her hand distractedly, her mind completely spaced out-- something that often happened. She absentmindedly opened the envelope, not even bothering to check who it was from. Once her eyes flickered down though, she immediately recognized the pink logo of SM Entertainment, and suddenly, her heartbeat quickened.

“Eunha? What is it?” Yumi asked, her hand reached out to her friend. The stunned girl only shook her head as she read the short paragraph once more. After a few times going over it in her head, she looked up with a resigned smile.

“I have to report to the office tomorrow morning.”

“For what--”

Both the girls knew that this could only mean one of two things: either Eunha was finally going to get her chance to debut or the company has determined her to be no longer useful, meaning her days as trainee are over. Eunha knew that only the top 1% were able to say that they visited the president’s office to hear the former, and to be quite honest, her hopes weren’t high. She did still have some hope, though. How couldn’t she? All those hours, months, years dedicated to realizing the ultimate dream; would life really be so cruel to claim her sweat and tears to have been in vain?

“It didn’t say,” she whispered, clinging to that last bit of uncertainty, quite literally gripping onto the paper. “Will you… will you come with me? Tomorrow?”

Yumi raised her eyebrows in surprise, and was quick to nod, an eager smile on her face. Her best friend wasn’t one to ask for anything, as she preferred to take things head on and alone, but Yumi always felt that she owed so much to her. So she didn’t hesitate to take any chance she got to be at Eunha’s aid, glad to be the one giving and not getting for once. “Of course!” she blurted out a bit too enthusiastically. She giggled gleefully and leaned back into the couch, her huge grin never faltering.

As hard as she tried, Eunha couldn’t suppress the laugh that escaped her lips. She grabbed the pillow she had been leaning on and threw it at Yumi’s shining face. “Why are you so excited, huh? You just want to meet Super Junior!”

“Pft, no I’m not!” Yumi casually denied, only to be defeated moments later by her inner fangirl as she clutched the pillow to to muffle a squeal. “Do you really think they’ll be there?”

Recalling the previous happenings of the day, Eunha hesitated, before shrugging as nonchalantly as she could manage without seeming too suspicious. “Y-you never know?”

Yumi’s eyes narrowed at the other. “Yah… Something happened, didn’t it? Tell me!” she yelled, almost pouncing the girl who started covering her face. She pried the hands to reveal that Eunha was blushing furiously, which only piqued her curiosity even more. Yumi began to whine and shook her friend until she spilled. With a groan, Eunha knew that this wouldn’t end until Yumi got what she wanted.

“I may or may not have encountered Lee Donghae while I was practicing today,” Eunha spoke softly and slowly, so as not to startle the girl clinging to her arm. Yumi was to be approached with caution and should not be excited at ungodly hours in the morning. Nevertheless, Yumi could not contain her shrills and she very nearly fell to the ground to curl in a bundle of high pitched screams. “Quiet down! People tend to sleep at this time!”

“What was he wearing? What did he say? Was he as beautiful in person? Oh my Gooood, you’re so lucky, I hate you,” Yumi half-sobbed.

“I didn’t actually talk to him or anything, you know, I just kind of heard him in the hallway and I so happened to be in a room in that hallway?”

“...Oh,” Yumi now sat slumped on the floor. "Well, they were still there, right? Maybe we'll be lucky this time!"

Eunha snorted. In all her time training, she had never had a firsthand encounter with an idol. True, she may have passed them by numerous times, and one time, Jonghyun of SHINee even glanced at her a little bit while smiling (not at her, but at something someone else had said). Other than that though, she wasn't among the favored trainees that were all buddy-buddy with the seniors.  "Yeah. Maybe. We'd have to get there on time first, so get to bed now!" she chirped as she ushered the pouting Yumi towards her room. "Sleep tight!"

Eunha slumped against the closed door of Yumi's and exhaled loudly. What a day.

(A/N): Ah, it feels good to be back. My writing style has changed a lot, I think. Hopefully the story is still to the original subscribers' liking?? I'm sorry for abandoning those of you who have waited two long years ;A ; Feel free to give me some feedback in the comments, yeah? Chapter 2 is currently in the works!