chapter 3: start of a new chapter

2012

Hayi fidgeted with her cardigan, twirling it around while waiting outside the training room. She was nervous, heck she was more nervous than when she performed on stage. Meeting new people had always been one of her weaknesses. She found it hard to get the words to come out and ended up being awkward and being labelled as the shy girl. She hated it but she knew deep down that it was not a total lie either. She wished she knew an easier way to make friends.

"Come in," the instructor said and when she stepped into the room, she gulped hard. There were so many trainees, talking, chatting, joking, some even were showing off a few dance moves in front of each other. And all of them were girls.

The instructor clapped his hands to get their attention. "All right, I'm sure most of you know who this is. From today onwards, Lee Hayi, the runner-up from Kpop star would be joining all of you as a trainee under YG until she is noticed to debut." She took her step forward knowing it was her cue. "Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Lee Hayi. Please take care of me," she bowed. "Okay, everybody take your places!" the instructor yelled and the other trainees immediately shuffled.

Hayi followed along and ended up beside a girl who was wearing a pink cap with the word 'HATER' written across it. "Hey, I'm Jennie and I believe we're the same age so I'm going to talk comfortably to you. That cool?" she smiled which made Hayi feel somewhat at ease. Her smile totally washed off the arrogant feel she gave earlier. "Yeah, sure," she replied before facing forward to begin her first dance lesson.

Hayi wasn't much of a dancer and so her dance class being her first class was not how she chose to start her day at YG Entertainment. It was advanced, fast, everyone seemed to be catching on faster than her. She was dazed at how everyone could seem to memorize the moves in one go. But still, she tried her very best and gave it her all. Jennie mouthed out a few words when she was wrong and she immediately corrected them. The first lesson was hectic to Hayi. It only made her realize that she really was bad at dancing.

After that, all of them were given a break considering it was lunch. The trainees rushed over to the YG cafeteria and Hayi was already concerned about lunch. With whom would she eat? She literally knew no one there. Back during Kpop Star when she first visited this building, at least she had her friends with her. But now? She felt lonely.

An arm was slung around her and she was bewildered. "Let's go eat!" Jennie screamed while pointing forward and Jisoo just laughed at her dongsaeng's antic. Hayi walked with the two of them feeling better than she was a second earlier.

"Hwangssabu is like the epitome of beauty suffering. Just wait until your first training with the guy, he's going to make you feel hell on a whole different level but at the end of the day, you'd be thanking him with all your might," Jisoo was busy explaining to Hayi about the instructors they have in YG. One of them, being their trainer who would make sure they fit the ideal weight and fitness level a female idol should have. Just the thought of it scared her. His training sounded horrifying based on Jisoo's explanation.

All of a sudden, Hayi noticed the other trainees whispering to each other, giggling and stealing glances. She looked up ahead and spotted three boys who were not too far from them. The shortest boy had an adorable face while the one next to him had an eye-smile which Hayi found to be quite attractive. The two were whispering and nudging each other, so that was a weird sight. The last boy on the other hand was just observing. Hayi locked eyes with him and to her surprise, he didn't look away. He wasn't a flower boy nor was he not good looking. He was wearing a beanie at the moment and Hayi thought that made him look more street-like, like an underground rapper or something.

"Ah, I hate this part," Jennie exasperated as she shoved in another spoonful of rice into . "What?" Hayi couldn't decipher what she was talking about. "Meet B.I. or Hanbin, the one all of these people are talking about now. He's a trainee too, like us."

"Hanbin is really famous among the ladies, you know. He's a great rapper and President Yang's hidden weapon," it was Jisoo's turn to introduce this Hanbin guy. "Hidden weapon?" Hayi quirked an eyebrow. Jisoo nodded eagerly, "His rap skills are insanely good. I have a feeling he's going to be like GD one day or something." Jennie scoffed. "Yeah right, if he keeps his attitude in check, then maybe he'd be given a chance to debut."

The three boys suddenly moved forward, moved towards where Hayi was sitting actually. Hanbin's two friends were scratching their heads while Hanbin himself just looked uninterested. "Hi, I'm Jinhwan and this is Jiwon but most people call him Bobby. We're kind of your fans. Actually we are pretty big fans of you," he grinned awkwardly which carved a smile on Hayi's face. He really was adorable.

"Go away, oppa. She's not interested," Jennie spatted, changing the adorable Jinhwan into a frustrated one. "What the hell? You're already in Jennie's gang?" Bobby exclaimed. "OPPA!" she glared at the latter and stabbed the beef with her chopstick which made the elder shocked. He always loved  teasing Jennie by saying that she was a thug delinquent due to her tomboyish ways. He also never learnt his lesson after that many hits and beatings he received. "I'm just kidding, you know I love you," Bobby grinned and messed Jennie's hair as an attempt to cool her off. But he probably only fuelled up the younger.

"Aren't you going to introduce Hanbin?" Jisoo interrupted and Jinhwan mentally face-palmed himself. "Right. This over here is Hanbin. He works 24/7 and so he never really knows what's going on in the world, like if there's an amazing star like you who decided to join us," this earned a bewildered expression from Hanbin. "Oh and he's also the same age as you!"

"Annyeong," he finally said something. "Don't listen to Jinhwan hyung. I do know who you are. You have a really amazing voice...and you're pretty, too," Hanbin smiled awkwardly but on the inside he was already beating himself. In actuality, Bobby made him say that in a bet that they lose over who was going to get their song approved first by their teacher. He had no choice but to blame himself for agreeing to such a stupid bet. Now, he was making himself appear stupid in front of a girl he barely know.

It wasn't like Hanbin never thought that Hayi was pretty. In his mind, he thought she had a certain charm that made people want to know her. He couldn't exactly pinpoint what but all he knew was that she seemed like a girl with an interesting personality. He knew of her amazing, soulful voice because both his hyungs had made him watch a performance of her on Kpop Star before. But what about the real her? The Hayi off stage? He was intrigued. He was curious. And he wanted to know more.

One Friday night, they decided to take a break from all the intense training by having a picnic by the Han River. Bobby was the one to propose the idea and of course he dragged along his supposed-to-be-members; Hanbin, Jinhwan, Junhoe and Yunhyeong. They decided to invite the girls as well so that they wouldn't have to worry about food. Jennie was an exception though. She would never cook for anyone, let alone anyone who were them.

Junhoe and Jinhwan laid out the mat they had brought from their dorm while the rest opened all of the food Jisoo cooked and snacks they bought at the convenience store earlier. "Oh my God! We totally forgot the ice," Jisoo exclaimed as the rest groaned. "I am not going back to that store just so we could get ice," Junhoe declared immediately, sensing his position as the maknae would be used. But he need no worry really. No one would really dare to ask him to do chores because he would always find a way to get out of it. Sassy maknae much?

"Can you go then? Please," Jisoo asked Hayi instead. She just obeyed since she wasn't really like Junhoe who could just say no. "Hanbin, go with Hayi. The ice must be heavy for a girl to carry later on," Jisoo instructed. "Okay," Hanbin agreed. "Let's go."

After the two's exit, Bobby approached Jisoo. "Yah, you purposely send them on an errand together, right?" She chuckled before nodding. "Those two need some time together. Cupid to the rescue!" Bobby laughed at her fist-pump-towards-the-sky action while the rest of the group were still lost of what was going on.

Hayi glanced at Hanbin. She then glanced at how close their hands were, almost touching each other but not quite. She then looked back at the guy, he was silent throughout the whole way. It was weird but it didn't make her feel awkward. Like the silence between them was understandable, it wasn't forced and it was comfortable. It was a first to her. She never knew silence could be this comforting.

"How do I look?" his words pulled her back to reality and she just blinked innocently at the boy. "Eo?" she wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, she was busy enjoying the silence earlier. "I know I'm not exactly the most handsome guy, but, I'm quite okay, right?" he asked again. Silence. She didn't know what to respond to something like that.

"Then why were you staring at me earlier?" his questions never seemed to end now. Hayi was shocked, had she been doing so? "No I wasn't," she calmly denied but he refused to accept such a simple answer. "Eyy, I totally caught you earlier." "I wasn't!" her voice went up a notch, even she herself was shocked. "De-ni-al," he stopped on his tracks, his face merely inches away from her as he whispered those words loudly.

She blinked multiple times again, bewildered that his face was so close to hers. She felt something funny in her stomach and the weather was warm all of a sudden. "Look, your face is all red," he pointed out. Okay, maybe it was just her that was feeling the heat. After there was no response from the petite girl, he just laughed and walked away leaving her to think of what just happened.

"One bag of ice, please," he requested and the part-timer immediately went to the back to get one. Hayi finally went inside the convenience store and she noticed that Hanbin was already ready to pay for it. "Yah, stop making ments like that," she pouted. Hanbin laughed again because she didn't expect to see this side of Hayi. It was so different from what he heard; that she was cold and awkward.

After they finally bought what they needed, the two headed out of the store with Hayi carrying the bag of ice. It happened in a matter of seconds really; whoever loses to rock-paper-scissors had to carry the ice bag all the way back to Han River. Hayi mentally cursed at Hanbin. Jisoo precisely asked him to carry it for her, not made her do it herself. And there he was strolling back with his two hands in his pockets.

"What do you think of me?" Hanbin spoke up once again. Again, these kind of questions would make Hayi feel rendered. It was sudden and straightforward, maybe too straightforward. "Just say it. It's been a few months since you first joined YG, what do you think of me, Kim Hanbin?"

"B.I. is cool, pompous and acts like he owns the world," she began. Hanbin scoffed, slightly taken aback by her honesty. "But Hanbin, Hanbin is unique." It was his turn to feel rendered this time. "Unique?" he asked. She nodded eagerly because truthfully, it was the very word that suited Hanbin back when she first know him up until now even. "You're one of a kind. You're talented as an artist, a rapper, and yet your hardworking self never stop pushing for more. You're passionate in whatever you do and you're so certain of your dreams, it's admirable really for a 17 year-old. You seem strong but at the end of the day, you're still human," she looked at him in the eyes this time. "Honestly, I've seen you breakdown a couple of times. I didn't know what to say or maybe what I'll do would make things awkward between us and so, I just pretended not to see."

Hanbin laughed. It was not a response she was expecting at all. "Ah, this is so embarassing. Even Jiwon hyung rarely sees me cry." She chuckled at him, "Don't worry, it's not that bad." "Do you know why I cried?" he asked again but she was never one to feel tired to answer him. "Because it's hard. Life's hard. Being a trainee is hard."

"That, and, whenever I think of my dreams, sometimes, the thought that 'what if I don't make it' would just slip into my mind. Do you know how badly I want to stand on that stage? Having millions of fans screaming my name and having my name engraved in the scene of entertainment."

She nodded. "I know exactly how you feel. I've had a taste of what it's like and Hanbin, it's sweet. It's really a beautiful feeling to stand on stage and just sing. Even if I didn't win, I just had to start again. I don't care how hard it's going to be, I have to stand back on that stage. It's the only thing I'm good at. It's the only thing that makes my heart flutter."

"It's the prettiest side of you too," he said. This time, Hanbin was looking at her, his gaze was so strong she felt like it could actually melt her right then amidst the hot summer breeze. Just then, Hayi figured something out; standing on stage wasn't the only thing that could flutter her heart anymore. Miraculously, this boy in front of her whom she shared her dreams with, could too.

a/n: going back in time to when they first met. thanks for the subscribes and comments! hope you enjoyed this one too :)