Before joining this cruel survival program, before debuting as DIA, Chaeyeon had only been a trainee for eight months. When the company asked her to audition for a survival show, she didn’t ask why, she didn’t ask how, the only thing on her mind was to train and debut.

It was like any other day, after hours and hours of practice she was finally able to go home, not the home in Suncheon but the home in Seoul – the trainees dormitory. She was dead tired and all she wanted was to lie in her comfy bed. Once set foot in the dorm, she absentmindedly greeted her dorm mates and went to the bedroom where she shared with Seunghee, a very pretty unnie. Although it had only been a few months, she and Seunghee were already comfortable to change in front of one another. Half dragging her duffel bag, her other hand fiddled with the hem of her sweaty hoodie, wanting so badly to take it off. Walking into her bedroom with eyes half-closed, she didn’t notice the second presence other than her pretty unnie. She started to take off her hoodie once her duffel bag hit the floor, however was stopped when a rather loud ‘Chaeyeon ah!’ pierced through her ears. With an arm already out of a sleeve, she turned to see two stunned faces looking at her.

Chaeyeon actually forgot how that night went but she recalled three things. One, she forgot to shower and climb straight into bed, hiding herself under the covers because of embarrassment. Two, the other girl with Seunghee unnie has a very unique voice. Three, that other girl was called Heehyun.

Heehyun unnie (she knew Heehyun was older than her because the next morning Seunghee couldn’t stop teasing her for being almost half in front of a sunbae) and her seldom crossed paths in the company, they never had the same classes, be it singing or dancing. She did run into her a few times, in the company’s washroom. However she was too shy to start any conversation and the older would only give her a tight-lipped smile and walk away, that always left a frustrated and pouting Chaeyeon behind.

It was a half day-off, Chaeyeon would have gone home after morning practice if not for Seunghee who had not stopped begging for her to stay and wait. She planned to stay at the floor where Seunghee was, however after waiting for half an hour and hearing the annoying dance track seeping through the studio door for more than twenty times, she pressed the elevator and went up, to where all the singing training happened.

Roaming aimlessly around the hallways, she came to a halt when she reached a door where she heard someone rapping. By the sound of it, it was a girl and with such clear sense of rhythm and strong dictation, this girl must have tremendous charisma. Out of curiosity she peeked through the round window on the door, her eyes widened realizing who the girl was and she stepped back from it. Thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, she went forward and tried to peek again, right then the door flung open and she was met face to face, with Heehyun.

“…Chaeyeon-ssi?”

Chaeyeon was shocked the other actually knew her name, she bowed, “Nice meeting you…Heehyun sunbae.”

“How was it?”

Chaeyeon didn’t understand the question, she looked up and frowned when Heehyun was looking expectantly at her. “Sorry sunbae, but how was…what?”

“The rap.” Heehyun chuckled. “You were outside the door weren’t you?”

Chaeyeon looked down and blushed, she was embarrassed, one because she was caught eavesdropping and two because of how much she liked the husky chuckle. “It was…very good sunbae.”

“Do you like it?”

Chaeyeon’s face went a shade redder and whispered. “Ne I like it sunbae.”

Heehyun smiled but because Chaeyeon was still looking down, she missed it. “Thanks Chaeyeon-ssi.”

Silence then settled between the two. Chaeyeon waited ten more seconds before looking back up, only to be greeted with Heehyun looking right into her eyes. She looked away when the stare from those cat-like eyes became too intense.

Heehyun chuckled again, loving how cute this dongsaeng was. “Next time, just come in the studio okay?”

Chaeyeon blushed and nodded, not trusting her voice anymore.

“And seeing you’re Seunghee unnie’s roommate, you can just call me unnie.”

“Ne…Heehyun unnie.”

Ever since that day, the term ‘half day-offs’ were officially gone from Chaeyeon’s books. She spent all of that limited free time in a studio right above where her pretty Seunghee unnie practiced dancing. She learnt that Heehyun had a habit to lip sync the whole song even all she needed to do was rap; she had this kind of hand gesture when she was rapping, she could not rap when you asked her to stay still (that would make her grunt out of frustration in which Chaeyeon found it absolutely cute); the older sometimes sounded like a cat meowing when rapping in speed (not does she look like one but also sound like one); the girl could actually write her own lyrics and her charisma when rapping has the unit of megawatt.

There were times when Chaeyeon walked in to a silent studio (it scared her the first time, she thought the older finally got tired of her and left to other studios for practice), but found Heehyun with her hair tied up sitting in the swivel chair, brows furrowed and biting on a pen, her left hand tapping on the notebook. Sometimes the older was too immersed in her own world to notice Chaeyeon, the younger would then sneaked up quietly behind and made her presence by leaning over Heehyun’s shoulder (that always left a startled Heehyun and a laughing Chaeyeon).

With days passed, Chaeyeon got used to Heehyun’s presence. She could look into the other’s eyes as long as she wanted, she noticed the older drew her eyeliner with a thin flick, it accentuated her cat-like eyes very well and made it more captivating; she still blushed around the older, but now because of those unpredicted skin-ship, Heehyun just seemed to love leaning on her (be it on the shoulder or her arm); the name ‘Chaeyeon-ssi’ turned to ‘Chaeyeonie’ and ‘Heehyun unnie’ turned to a rather affectionate ‘unnie’ (in times Chaeyeon would dare to call the older ‘Heehyunie’ and explained with a grin that it was the combination of Heehyun and unnie).

Chaeyeon would never forget the day she and Heehyun were told by their manager oppa they had to temporarily withdraw from DIA promotions. She was too shocked to ask why and she was glad Heehyun was there, the older didn’t hesitate to grab on their oppa’s arm and demand for an answer. She watched as their manager laughed heartily, as if the situation amused him, he took a breath and pried Heehyun’s strong hands away, he then told them they passed the audition for Produce 101.

“You know it’s going to be very hard.”

Chaeyeon looked up from her phone to the older who’s last-minute packing for the survival show.

“It’s going to be harder than normal training...” and I’m worried about you.

Though Heehyun’s tone show indifference but Chaeyeon still caught on to the unspoken concerns. “I think I’ll be just fine?”

“I ensure you it will be absolutely tiring.”

“Unnie I’m going to be fine.” Chaeyeon smiled because of the awkward way Heehyun showed her concerns. “And it’s not like I can do anything about it, I’m already in.”

Heehyun nodded while stuffing the last few items in her luggage. “Just don’t push yourself like how you did when we were preparing for DIA.” Heehyun looked up to meet Chaeyeon in the eyes. “Every time you were sent to the medics because of fatigue I was there and, I don’t like it.” I don’t want it to happen again.

Chaeyeon blushed, loving the attention and concern from the older. However just for the sake of her pride, she thought she should tease the girl, “I’m sure you will take care of me won’t you?”

The older halted not expecting a reply and certainly not a question. She looked to where Chaeyeon was and saw her grinning. Smirking she walked towards the girl and bent down to eye-level, the smile on the younger faded instantly with the close proximity.

Heehyun noticed the nervousness that flashed across Chaeyeon’s eyes and she couldn’t help but smile at the effect she has on the other girl.

Chaeyeon opened wanting to say something but a light tap on her nose stopped her. “Pabo yah don’t I always?”

A/N: Hi there, this is my first non-SNSD(jeti) story, so how was it? :) Feel free to drop a comment/ prompt if you want to read more, I'll try to fulfil your wishes. ;) I particularly love canon stuff, so if you're proposing something canon, please tell me the source cause it'll make my life easier (and perhaps your desired story to appear faster haha) Till next time!!