Chaeyeon-centric, Dani, Heehyun | ~950w

The staff hands them papers as they walk into the meeting room. It isn't until Chaeyeon is seated that she recognizes the paper - the header that reads MNET PRODUCE 101 and the name she had written in herself: Jung Chaeyeon.

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It had sounded ridiculous back then, and it still sounds ridiculous now. But now it's real, very real, and back then it had felt like a joke - the idea of a hundred and one trainees going into a popularity contest against each other, just for a one year contract - just to officially be able to say they have made it, and they have debuted.

Chaeyeon stares down at the application they gave back to her. It isn't even her original application, just a photocopy of it that distorts her face, makes the handwriting somehow look that much different from her own, even though she knows she wrote it. She filled out this application, with Heehyun and with Dani all those nights ago. The answers they had written together in their old living room - Dani using the coffee table, Heehyun pacing and sometimes stopping to fill in an answer with the sheet against the wall, and Chaeyeon laying on her stomach, her feet swinging in the air as her stomach curled.

The answers look so different now.

Chaeyeon squints and tries to remember what color pen she had originally used, but the black ink spills across the photocopy in her mind and she closes her eyes instead. 

They had filled these out when they were still trainees - before they had suddenly moved out of the old dorm. She hears someone tapping their finger on the desk and she opens her eyes slowly, stares to her right at the source of the noise.

Dani gives her a sheepish smile as she pulls her hand away and into her lap.

They had filled out these applications before they had left Dani behind.

"I know you two have technically already debuted," one of the staff across from her begins after a couple minutes of suffocating silence. "But this is a good opportunity. For Dani," he nods in her direction. Chaeyeon has long since trained her face to look blank, and she thinks she manages to hide her desire to recoil when he turns to look at her and Heehyun. "... And for DIA," he finishes.

Chaeyeon wonders where the other members are now - if they have also been shown their applications again, if they have been given the same opportunity to "re-debut," or if their applications sit inside this man's unopened folder, never to be seen.

Dani is the first to speak up.

"I'll do it."

Of course. For Dani, this application had never been a joke. Chaeyeon wonders if Dani has been hoping for this. Has Dani been thinking about this application, these black and white answers, and hoping that it would come back again? For Dani, the situation hasn't changed at all, has it?

"Me too."

It's those words that send Chaeyeon's eyes wide, her head snapping up to her left. She knows that voice, but she still wonders if she's made a mistake. Because Heehyun would want to talk about it with the other members first. Heehyun would want to ask more questions. Heehyun would know what Chaeyeon is thinking, what doubts Chaeyeon is having. If anyone, it's Heehyun, but -

Heehyun won't look at her. Chaeyeon can't stop staring, still open a little in shock, but Heehyun won't look at her.

"And you, Chaeyeon?" the staff asks.

Chaeyeon doesn't have a lot of talents. She can play the recorder alright, she can tie shoelaces neatly, she can dance just okay - Chaeyeon doesn't have a lot of talents, but as she notices Heehyun's bottom lip trembling, as she notices those eyes that still won't turn to look at her blinking too quickly to be anything but forced, she falls back to one thing she has always been good at.

Chaeyeon is good at following Heehyun.

"Okay," she says softly, her eyes still not leaving Heehyun's profile. There is an instant sigh of relief that almost makes Chaeyeon feel better because Heehyun is happy with her decision (happy?), but instead Chaeyeon feels worry begin to curl in her stomach again. 

Dani shouts and takes one of Chaeyeon's hands into both of her own, repeatedly squealing over whatever the staff is trying to say. Chaeyeon wonders if he knew she would agree. She wonders if they all knew she would agree.

When the staff finally leaves with a promise to meet them again tomorrow for more details, Chaeyeon is left in the room with Dani, who immediately launches into quick ramble about how they're together again, how this time they'll stay together for sure, and so many other words filled with so much hope. Chaeyeon is left in the room with Dani and Heehyun, whose posture finally loses its stiffness as she slumps forward a little, both elbows on the table to support her face in her hands. Heehyun eventually looks up and reaches across Chaeyeon to grab one of Dani's flailing hands from mid air. Her words are for both of them, but her gaze is on Chaeyeon.

"We'll do well," Heehyun says, her words confident but her voice shaky. "We'll do well this time."

Chaeyeon thinks she can see the apology on the tip of Heehyun's tongue, but it stays there, unspoken. She just nods, even as Heehyun and Dani share a smile and Dani shouts a cheer again. Chaeyeon can't shake the bad feeling that she has about this.

"Together," Dani says again. Chaeyeon tries to swallow, but is so dry and she doesn't know why. They're both looking at her now, as if her opinion matters even though they've both made up their minds.

"Together," she manages to croak out after a moment of silence.

But Chaeyeon doesn't believe it.