“How about this one?” Ok Eunhwa asks, staring at her reflection in the mirror. “I think this one fits me a lot better than the last one, look, it hugs my shoulders nicely. The other one was a bit too droopy I think.” Twirling around, the tall girl strikes a pose, throwing her head back and lowering her eyes to give the piece of glass a ‘seductive’ stare.

            “It looks good I guess, but really, are you going to wear it with that skirt?” Kim Minji, Eunhwa’s best friend since, well, ever, eyes the offending piece of fabric warily. She kisses her teeth, bending forward to poke Eunhwa’s leg, before sitting back down comfortably in the chair she had dragged into the changing room.

            “Why? What’s wrong with it?” Eunhwa frowns, the soft cloth of her skirt. “I like it.”

            “It’s polka dotted,” Minji responds in a ‘are you stupid’ tone. “And you’re wearing a plaid shirt. Do you not understand? You must, never, never, do you hear me? Never. Mix. Patterns.” Sighing at her friend’s confused expression, Minji picks at her nails. “That’s like, the first thing any girl ever learns.”

            “Well obviously I missed that day of kindergarten,” Eunhwa rolls her eyes. “In between learning my colours and letters I guess I forgot to pay attention to fashion class.”

            “Shush you,” Minji says good naturedly. “Is that how you’re going to treat me now? After all I’ve done for you? All the painstaking hours I’ve spent trying to improve your wardrobe but to no avail? Actually, no. I take that back. You already dress a lot better than you did back in middle school, which, honestly,” Minji looks at Eunhwa’s outfit once again, “is kind of sad.”

            “Shut up,” Eunhwa teases playfully before pulling the shirt off. “Whatever, I’ll take this shirt and the shorts I tried on before. I won’t mix patterns, don’t worry about it.” Nodding, Minji stands up and exits the changing room to give Eunhwa some privacy. After changing into her street clothes, Eunhwa enters the main showing room of Minji’s boutique. The other girl had opened up a store in Seoul around the same time Eunhwa had returned to South Korea from her childhood home of New York. Ever since they began to reconnect, Minji had declared herself Eunhwa’s ‘fashion advisor’; as Eunhwa’s sense of style was “so twisted beyond belief even a blind fourth grader with uneven thumbs could throw an outfit together better than you” (as quoted by Minji herself).

            “Are you going home after this?” Minji inquires as she snips the tags off of the clothes Eunhwa had picked. She wouldn’t have to pay for them, Minji refused to accept any payment, as long as she told everyone who asked her where she got them (free advertising on Minji’s part). “Want to go get drinks later tonight?”

            “Ey, I wish,” Eunhwa laughs. “I have to go back to Yunrae for a meeting of some sort. I don’t really know, Minseok ssi just told me to come back after I finished visiting you. Said I had to meet with Yoo-nim or something.”

            “Oooh, is someone is trouble?” Minji sings teasingly, folding Eunhwa’s clothes carefully before placing them in a paper bag. “I’m just kidding, you’ll be fine. Here you go, come visit me again soon okay?” Minji hands the bag over to Eunhwa, winking cheerfully at her to erase the sings of worries etched onto the other girl’s face.

            “Alright, see you later Minji,” Eunhwa winks back, causing the older girl to snicker. Eunhwa swings the bag back and forth as she exits Minji’s boutique. It was only a short bus ride from there to Yunrae – yet Eunhwa couldn’t help but wonder what the meeting was about the whole way there. She couldn’t be in trouble could she? Shaking her head as Eunhwa boards the bus (and smiling apologetically at the young girl who she almost hit with her bag); the tall female quickly finds a spot near the middle of the bus to stand. Watching the Seoul streets pass by in a blur, Eunhwa allows herself to relax in the comfort of the mundane.

            She wasn’t eavesdropping per say, more like; she was just being an observer. She stood silently as the two elementary students in front of her chattered about some kind of field day they were going to have later that week. The elderly couple behind her were dozing, leaning on each other for support, and had to be awaken by their son (and his family) when they arrived at their destination. There was a young woman carrying a baby that took their place beside Eunhwa, the mother smiling tiredly at her in greeting while her baby babbled in amusement – no doubt excited by the number of new memories it was making today.

            When it was her turn to get off, Eunhwa bids the young mother and baby goodbye before gracefully hopping off of the bus. She looks up at the large, new building that was Yunrae Entertainment’s Seoul headquarters, and smiles gently.  The company might be quite small now, but it was nice. All of the staffs and trainees pretty much knew each other on a first name basis and, unlike some other, larger companies; they really felt like a family.

            Sliding her card through the slot, Eunhwa pushes the door open gently and welcomes the soft scent of jasmine wafting through the main lobby area. The secretary seemed to be out on a break so Eunhwa let herself into the inner area with her card. Checking the time on her phone, Eunhwa realizes that she better hurry up and get to Hyeri’s office. Patience was never one of Hyeri’s best qualities after all.

            Going up the stairs – Eunhwa preferred to get exercise when she could – the girl arrived at the top floor within minutes. Making her way to the end of the hallway, Eunhwa stopped, peeking through the frosted window to try and see if she could figure out why she had been called. Inside of the room, Eunhwa could see a variety of people. From what she could see, it looked like Hyeri, Xiuxin, Minseok, and someone else she couldn’t recognize were there waiting for her.

            Briefly knocking on the door before entering the room, Eunhwa is met with a wide grin. Hyeri smiles at her excitedly, the CEO was practically bouncing on her toes. Smiling awkwardly at the sudden burst of energy, Eunhwa closes the door behind her and waits for Hyeri to explain the reason behind the meeting.

            “Hi there Eunhwa,” Hyeri greets, clapping her hands together. “Have you talked to any of the other trainees today?”

            “No not really, I left early to deal with some financial issues and then I visited Minji’s boutique,” Eunhwa answers cautiously. “See? I got some new clothes.” Eunhwa raises the bag she was still holding.

            “Oh thank god,” Xiuxin mumbles to herself.

            “Alright, then no one ruined the surprise for you,” Hyeri says half to herself. “Ok Eunhwa – haha, get it? It sounds like I’m starting off with the word ‘okay’ but it’s really just your last name.”

            “That wasn’t funny the last sixteen thousand times someone made that joke Yoo-nim,” Eunhwa rolls her eyes, ignoring the joyful laughter coming out of Hyeri’s vocal chords despite Eunhwa’s retort.

            “Anyways, moving on,” Hyeri wipes a fake tear from her eye. “Eunhwa ssi, I’ve talked this over with the rest of the staff and we’ve decided to debut you with our first group, Cosmos! You’ll be taking over as the leader, rapper, and lyricist, so you’ll be working with Minseok a lot – although you guys spend a lot of time together anyways. You’ll also be seeing Xiuxin more often since well; you especially need help with styling. And finally, this over here is Han Sanghee; she’ll be Cosmos’ manager.”

            “Debut?” Eunhwa pipes up at the word, her calm demeanour breaking to reveal the excitement bubbling inside of her. “No way, and as a leader? I don’t know if I can handle the other members Yoo-nim...”

            “You’ll do fine,” Minseok pipes up, rolling his eyes. “All the other trainees practically treat you like their grandmother anyways. They’ll listen to you no problem. You just have to make sure that along with watching over yourself, you have to look after three other girls. If I hear you skipping meals and causing the other members to skip meals because of it – oh goodness will you hear it from me.” Minseok smirks, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt at being threatening. Eunhwa just laughs.

            “Alright, I understand,” Eunhwa grins, excitement written all over her face. “Who are the other members Yoo-nim? Do I get to know?”

            “Nope, not until tomorrow – or unless one of them tells you,” Hyeri smiles. “Come here and go to meeting room B at around 7 AM, Xiuxin will be there to go over the group concept and your own personal image. You can meet the other members then.”

            “Always keeping me in suspense huh?” Eunhwa says. “I think I know who the other members are though.”

            “Well you’ll find out tomorrow, now leave, go out and enjoy your last night as a trainee. Tomorrow you’ll be a true idol in training,” Hyeri and the other staff members bid Eunhwa farewell as the tall girl practically skips out of the office. Walking back down to the lobby of the company, Eunhwa idly wonders who the other members of Cosmos were.

            “I wonder if Mirae yah is going to debut too,” Eunhwa mumbles to herself. She had been hearing about the group for a while now. The staff had announced their plans for a new girl group near the beginning of the month and it had been pretty much the only thing the trainees had talked about. Who was going to be in the group, what the concept would be, what the song would sound like, everyone was buzzing with excitement. Even Eunhwa couldn’t help but feel enthusiastic about the whole situation. She felt slightly bad for the male trainees however, knowing that with the debut of a girl group, their chances of debut would be pushed back even more. Sighing at that thought, Eunhwa feels her smile drop a bit. She knew what it felt like to wait for a debut that never seemed to come. It had happened to her multiple times. But none of that, Eunhwa berates herself, forcing a smile back on her face.

            Now she was going to debut. She would be the leader of a group of amazing girls – Eunhwa knew firsthand how talented Yunrae’s trainees were – and she’d make sure to hold the title well. Eunhwa wasn’t perfect, she was forgetful, moody, and blunt at times, but for the sake of the group, she’d push her imperfections aside and improve. After all, it wasn’t only her dream now. Eunhwa was part of a team, and that meant, just like the other girls; she’d have to work hard enough to make four dreams come true.

Yayy~ There’s Aspen’s perspective about debut. As you can probably tell, I’ll be making a chapter for every character. I’ll be telling the story like this; each chapter will be from a certain member’s perspective so you can get to know them and their personality more.

Once again, as I’m learning to write these characters, if I wrote your character wrong please do tell me. Just a, “I think so and so would say this instead of what you wrote” is fine. I always welcome criticism!

Hope you're smiling!

~ Yun