"So, may I ask your age?"
Mino turned his head to Sina. He was walking down the hallway next to her, his hands loosely in his pockets. After they had left the cafeteria, silence had set in between them, but Mino hated awkward situations like this, so he quickly decided to find out more about the girl through asking some questions.
"I know that this is actually something you don't ask a girl, but I'm really curious." A smile shaped his lips.
Sina put him off with a wave of her hand and smiled too.
"It's okay, I don't mind it. I'm turning 21 soon, I'm the oldest of the girls."
"Oh!" Mino sounded surprised.
"21? That's like.. old for a trainee. If you know what I mean."
"Yeah I do. I was actually shocked when they told me that they want me to train under YG, because I thought that I'm too old myself. But they seemed satisfied enough to ignore my age."
Mino watched her. Honestly, you must be really good to become a trainee at this age. When he joined YG, he as well had been 20 years old. He was sure that if he didn't have all the experience he gained thanks to Block B, B.o.M and his underground days, all of this wouldn't have worked out. So maybe Sina had been able to gain some experience in this field before YG as well?
"And what are you here for? Okay, that's clear, but I mean, what's your position?"
"I'm aiming to be the rapper of a hopefully soon-to-debut new group." She laughed.
"My singing isn't bad and I'm a really good dancer, but I lost my heart to rap years ago."
"Just like me. Though I'm only good at rapping. And eating. Oh, and sleeping. I like these things."
"And you write pretty decent lyrics." The girl looked at him. Mino could feel her eyes scanning his face. It was as if she took a closer look at every inch of it. It didn't bother him, no, it was actually kind of cute, because Sina didn't seem to notice that she was staring at him with big eyes full of admiration. When his smile turned into a smirk, she seemed to wake up from her thoughts and quickly turned her head away.
"Where are you from?" Mino decided not to dwell on it and just kept asking the questions that were filling up his head. There were a lot, but he knew that he would only get answers to some of them.
"My mother is from San Diego in California. My father is from Busan. I was born there, but grew up in San Diego", the girl picked on her blond hair.
"Until we moved to Seoul. I went to school here."
"Sounds like Bobby."
Sina's answer was just a shy smile.
"Well, at least that explains the blond hair and the unusual name."
Mino now stopped in front of a door and opened it. He had led them here without having to check where they were going, it happened automatically. He would find the way to the practice rooms even if he was blind and deaf.
"Here we are", he said after he had walked into the room, followed by Sina who looked around for a moment, before she stepped in front of the huge mirror.
"If you've watched WIN, then you know that we spent quite some time here. We still do, though."
The rapper sat down on a small but long, wooden bench next to the wall that served as a sitting accommodation, and watched Sina checking herself in the mirror. He remembered the feeling he had when he had entered this room for the very first time a couple of years ago. The ghost of a smile formed his lips, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
"The practice rooms I had in San Diego are nothing compared to this", Mino heard the girl saying.
She turned to him and smiled, clearly happy. He shared her smile. Being a trainee meant months or years of hard work and it was unsure if they'd pay out in the end. But the things you learned during this time were something no one could ever take away from you.
Mino was about to reply to the girl, when the sound of the door held him back. He turned his head and got up with the same movement to check who was coming in, but he just grinned when he saw that it was iKON.
"Yooooo!", Bobby entered the practice room after he had noticed that it wasn't empty, and threw his jacket into the next corner. The others followed him one by one with Hanbin at the end. He hadn't seen Mino and Sina yet, he just closed the door behind them, still talking to Donghyuk. But when he noticed the blond hair in the corner of his eye, he stopped and just stared at the girl for a second, leaving Donghyuk a little confused.  Why the hell was she here? The expression on his face got colder, but when he felt Donghyuk's gaze on him, he put on a smile. Man, he had to get a grip on himself.
"Long time no see", Mino greeted the others with a pun, causing Bobby to smirk at him, before he looked at Sina like basically all of them did. The girl bowed a little and waved, a "Hi" on her lips, while Mino walked up next to her.
"You've already met and Sina maybe knows you, but let me introduce you one by one."
The rapper smiled and pointed at Bobby, who was the first in line.
"That's Bobby, I already mentioned him. He's iKON's import from the States. Next one is Jinhwan, the eldest in iKON, Yunhyung, the mom, Chanwoo, the youngest, Junhoe, the master of sass, Donghyuk, the dancing machine, and the one with the scary face is Hanbin, the leader."
Bobby shot a glance at Hanbin while slugging down his laugh. It spoke for itself that Mino brought up his first impression of Hanbin and while the iKON members exchanged quick looks, Hanbin just fixed his gaze on something next to him so that he didn't have to meet eyes with Mino. But he was the leader of the group, so he couldn't just stay quiet whenever Sina was around. He gathered himself, taking a deep breath, and then he turned to the girl and bowed briefly.
"Hi, we're iKON, it's nice to meet you." What a lie.
Mino could tell that as well. The hidden smirk on his lips got wider the longer he looked at Hanbin who was obviously avoiding eye contact with him. Was he jealous or something? There was actually no reason for such a feeling, but maybe Sina's presence bothered him. He couldn't tell for sure, Hanbin sometimes had his moments when he just turned into a teenager and behaved like this. It was cute though. Mino liked it. His gaze was still fixed on the younger boy, but when he felt that Sina was looking at him, he turned to Bobby.
"I guess you want to practice now. Is it okay if we stay? I think it would be cool for Sina to watch you guys."
"That's okay with me." Bobby nodded and looked at the others, who also agreed, leaving Hanbin outvoted. There was no need for him to disagree then. He was the leader so he had the last word, but he didn't want to make himself look like an idiot, and he definitely would if he said that he wanted them - well, Sina - to leave. So he just stayed quiet and took off his hoodie, what was equivalent to an Okay. Mino seemed satisfied and told Sina to sit down next to him, before he watched Hanbin. The boy had turned his back on him now, fixing the loose jersey top the hoodie had revealed. Everyone around them was getting ready, but Mino only had eyes for the younger rapper who now drew his shoulder blades close together for a few seconds, and then flexed his arms just to extend them again with the next move. He tilted his head sideways, left, right, left, right, streched his arms out and shook them afterwards, as well as his legs. He bend over and reached for the ground to stretch the muscles in his back and repeated this once, twice, three times. Ah, it was such a pleasing sight to watch Hanbin getting ready for practice. Mino was still staring at iKON's leader when he turned around to the others while running his fingers through his hair, and their eyes met. No need for Mino to look away though. He shamelessly kept staring until Hanbin focused on his fellow members. Well, at least he tried to focus on them, but it would be better for him and especially his concentration when he ignored Mino and Sina.
"Okay. The reason why we're here today is because we wanted to go through the choreo again and practice the new moves for the special stage."
Everyone nodded, except for Mino and Sina. Mino was busy watching Hanbin and the girl was busy watching him. A smirk spread on Bobby's face. Thanks to the reflection in the mirror, he was able to see what was going on, but he didn't say a word and just focused on Hanbin again, who gave Donghyuk the sign to turn on the music.
"Oh!" The first sounds that left the speakers caused the only girl in the room to turn her head towards the group of young men who all stood in position, ready to follow the choreography.
"I know this song!"
"Well, who doesn't", Mino laughed and leaned back.
"No no, I mean I practiced this song. Right after it was out. Rhythm Ta is amazing!"
The girl seemed excited. With shining eyes, she watched the practice, slowly nodding her head to the music, until Mino raised his voice again.
"Well then, dance."
"What?" Surprised, she looked at him.
"You said you're a good dancer, then go ahead and prove it."
Before the girl could respond, Mino was up on his feet and grabbed her arms to get her on her feet as well.
"No, oh my god, this is embarrassing!"
She tried to stop him, but it was too late already. A laugh left her lips which she covered shyly, but she soon gave up and began to dance just like he demanded.
It didn't go unnoticed by the iKON members. Bobby was the first one to turn his head to watch what was going on, followed by Donghyuk and Junhoe. Their moves stopped so that they could watch closely and a second later the others stopped as well. First, Hanbin wasn't that amused, but when Bobby ran over to her to join her dance, he just let out a silent sigh. The others seemed to enjoy the performance, so he let them. And she was good, he couldn't lie about that. Especially when she rapped. Bobby's part came on and he was as surprised as the others when they heard the girl starting to rap. It was a fast and fierce rap, definitely not that easy to handle, but she did, attracting much applause from the boys.
"Impressive!", Bobby yelled happily and gave her a high five after she had stopped, overwhelmed by the response. Her cheeks turned red and she bowed down.
"Thank you!" A wide smile on her lips, she covered her cheeks with her hands and looked at Mino, who then ruffled her hair and laughed.
"That was amazing. You're really good!" He sounded like a proud father.
"But now you guys should go back to practice, right?"
Of course Mino had noticed that Hanbin had just watched the scene without participating. The younger was standing in the back, his arms crossed. He didn't look happy, but at least he didn't look like he wanted to kill them all. Seems like he was just sitting it out.
Bobby nodded and they all got back to practice, going through Rhythm Ta a few times, then the new moves for the special choreography. Which was amazing, in Mino's opinion. But which dance, created by Hanbin, was not amazing?
All in all, two more hours passed until iKON's leader was satisfied with the other members.
"You did well", he praised them while he turned off the music. Armed with towels and water bottles, the others sat down on the floor in front of the bench Mino and Sina were sitting on, exhausted but happy. Hanbin got his hoodie and joined them.  
"You guys are so good", Sina looked at each of them and smiled.
"I'm happy that you let me watch you practice."
"But you're good as well!" Bobby nodded at her.
"I've never heard a girl rapping like that. Since when are you into it?"
"Oh, since school."
"And do you have someone who inspired you to become a rapper?"
Bobby looked at her asking. Well, not only he did. Except for Hanbin, who had grabbed his mobile phone, everyone was anticipating an answer. The girl seemed a little pressured, but only for a moment. Then she cleared and bit her lower lip.
"It was someone from school."
This statement alone was nothing special, all the persons present had heard this quite often already. It was the way Sina shot a glance at Mino that made it interesting. Bobby blinked, he had noticed the glance. A smirk shaped his lips and he leaned forward a little.
"Ya, was it Mino?"
Actually, he said this as a joke. Just a joke, he wasn't serious about it. But the fact that Sina only looked at her hands that were placed in her lap, not saying a word, let the smirk slowly disappear. Even Hanbin lifted his head.
"It was really Mino?", Bobby asked and looked at said one, who just stared at Sina.
The girl nodded, causing some jaws to drop.
Mino didn't know what to say. He seemed confused and surprised at the same time, still looking at the blonde who laughed shyly and shrugged her shoulders. They had went to the same school? Could that be?
"We need to know everything!" Donghyuk also leaned forward.
"Every detail!" Bobby was excited.
"Well.." The girl laughed again, now looking at Mino.
"It's true. We went to the same school. Hanlim Arts High School. I looked different back then. Just like you, I had lost quite a lot of weight and my hair was dyed black. I got to know you through a school performance where you were rapping. I don't know if that sounds weird, but since then, I wanted to rap too."
Bobby covered his mouth. This was like a drama! The excitement was clearly written on his face, while Hanbin just blankly stared at the blonde. This couldn't be true..
"We never talked in school, I was too shy. And then you graduated and I couldn't see you anymore for quite a while, but I followed everything you did. Block B, B.o.M - that's actually when I saw you again. I went to every performance you had. Especially when you were underground."
Hanbin pricked up his ears. He didn't know why, but there was a strange feeling inside of him all of a sudden. Underground. Sina didn't just know him from school, she also went to underground shows? Just like Hanbin did?
"I especially remember one underground show. We talked for the first time there", the girl continued.
"It was at a club in Hongdae, there was a competition, and you and some friends were there as guests, I was there as a participant. I talked to you after your performance. It's weird, but I remember that the light in the room backstage was blueish and that there was graffiti all over the walls." She laughed, while pure shock spread on Hanbin's face.
Blueish light. Graffiti. Sina Kim. Of course. Sina Kim from California. Now he knew who she was and now he knew why he felt like he had already met her before. Because he did. At the underground show she was talking about, outside a blueish room with graffiti on the walls. .
Mino was still thinking. Everyone looked at him now, and they could tell that he had to think really hard, but suddenly he gasped and slapped his forehead.
"Sina Kim! Oh my god, it's you! Your hair was shorter and black, and you were wearing a plain white shirt with your name tag on it! You performed one of my songs!"
Sina seemed relieved. She laughed and nodded and put a blond strand of her hair behind her ear, before a warm smile shaped her lips.
"I know, I changed a lot, but yeah, it's me. It's great to see you again, Mino."