The clip-clop sound of heels resounded through the lone corridor as Jaemi briskly made her way through the JJE building, her backpack on her back and her duffel bag slung across her left shoulder. She glanced at the watch on the wrist of her left hand briefly before quickening her pace toward the stairwell, her mind whirling with the events that had already occurred that very morning.

She was once again the leader of the Starlets.

The very idea of it was surreal.

She never would have imagined in her wildest dreams that Minyeon loved Sungmin, or even act upon that love.

She sighed.

At least things between Sungmin and Minyeon had not escalated further; otherwise, they might be dealing with a huge scandal on their hands.

Minyeon chose to leave the Starlets, in part due to the fact that she would be tempted to go further with Sungmin if the opportunity arose and partly because the pain of seeing him so often would be too great. She would rather wait for Sungmin at a distance to decide what he wanted and proceed from there. She opted to forego a debut in a group to train as a solo artist at JJE until her contract with SM fully expired.

Jaemi genuinely hoped that Minyeon would be happier this way and that her career eventually would take a better turn.

She opened the door to the stairwell and began ascending the stairs. She was to head to one of the departments where they were going to decide what was to be done with Minyeon's image in the albums and the recordings of her voice. As she hurried up the stairs two at a time, she debated whether she should stop by the dance practice room first to check on her dongsaengs. She glanced down at her watch again. Though she would prefer to speak with her teammates face-to-face, time was of the essence. There was too much to do and so little time. She had to get certain things done quickly if they were to still debut on time. If they had to delay their debut even just a little bit, the publicity regarding it would most likely be negative. They did not need that.

There was no need to break the news to her fellow teammates anyway. Without a doubt, Leeteuk had already told everyone that Minyeon was no longer a member of the Starlets. She had seen him leave the SM building long before she was able to leave.

As she came to a landing in between floors, she set her duffel bag on the floor to take her phone out of her backpack. After putting the backpack and duffel bag back on, she began to call Aeyeong as she resumed her trek upstairs.

The phone did not ring long.

"Hey Jae," Aeyeong's voice came in over the line.

"Hey. Can you put me on speaker so everyone can hear?" Jaemi asked.

"Yeah. One sec." There was a slight pause. "Okay, you're on speaker."

"Jae! What's going on?" Byulhee's voice came over the speaker. "Minyeon can't have left like that!"

Jaemi's chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry I couldn't call you guys earlier. Things have been so hectic. And I was hoping that Minyeon would perhaps change her mind up until the last minute." She shook her head. "Late night, Minyeon decided it was time for her to leave. She wants to be a solo artist now."

"But--but-- All the hard work she put into this. She couldn't have just-- Urrrghhh!"

"It's going to be okay," Jaemi continued calmly.

"It's all over Allkpop already!" Byulhee cried. "What are we going to do?"

Jaemi groaned. "How many times have I told you not to read that garbage?" She shook her head. "They don't know all the facts anyhow." Thank goodness for that at least.

"But--"

"We're still going to debut," Jaemi continued reassuringly. "We're not going to let this setback get the best of us, ok? We're going to debut no matter what. I promise. We're going to get through this, ok?" She could hear a stifled sob on the other end of the line. "Don't worry, Sijin, things are going to work out," she continued, sounding more confident than she felt. "This is just a little hurtle that we have to get over. It's nothing that we can't handle."

She heard a muffled "mmhmm" on the other end of the line.

"I promise. I won't let anything stop us from debuting, ok?"

There was another muffled response as the youngest member tried to stifle her tears once more.

"We'll talk more about this later," Jaemi continued. She took a breath and cleared . "I'm in the building right now, but I have to go up to another department. Have to talk over what we're going to do about the recordings and the albums, but as soon as I'm done, I'll head down there to practice. Nell?"

"Yes?" Nell's voice came over the line.

"Is everyone there to practice?"

"Yeah. We're all here, and most of our partners are too," Nell replied. "Except Sungmin hasn't been here at all, but do we even need him now that Minyeon is gone?" There was a slight pause. "And now Leeteuk just left the room."

"Well, Sungmin won't be in the dance any more anyway. He just started another musical," explained Jaemi, leaving out the main reason he was no longer a part of the choreography. "When you, Shindong, and Eunhyuk re-work the choreography, go ahead and re-distribute Minyeon's lyrics. Text me who has what part in case I need that information. We may have to do a few late night recordings or something, but I don't know for sure yet. But be prepared for some late nights just in case."

"Alright," Nell replied.

"Thanks," Jaemi responded, smiling gently. "Hang in there, everyone. We can do this. I love you all. I'll see you guys as soon as I can. Bye!"

"Bye!" five voices called back on the other line.

Jaemi hung up the phone as she continued up several floors, her heart pounding in her chest.

How was she going to do this? She had already failed them once as a leader, and here she was again, stuck in the same position. They were so close to debuting, but to have such a setback like this? How was she going to make things work?

She had to.

She was their leader, after all.

She could not--would not-- disappoint them again.

Just after she passed the door leading to the floor where their dance practice room was located, she heard it open behind her.

"Jaemi!" a soft voice called.

Her eyes widened upon recogonizing the voice. Jaemi turned around, her eyes falling upon Leeteuk as he stood on the landing. She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"I uh, came to help you out," he replied as he began to mount the steps toward her. "I know there's a lot you have to do."

Jaemi gazed at him, trying to gauge his thoughts. "How did you know I'd be here?" she asked, gesturing to the stairwell. "Most people would have used the elevators."

Leeteuk chuckled. "I remember you always used to use the stairs when you were by yourself back when you trained at SM," he said. "I figured you still do."

Jaemi shrugged. "You don't have to help."

"I want to," he continued, scratching the back of his neck. "Actually, I feel kinda guilty about all this."

Jaemi quirked an eyebrow as she began to ascend the stairs again, this time with Leeteuk in tow. "What do you mean?" she asked in an even tone.

"I knew that Sungmin and Minyeon had dated in the past," he began slowly. "I also knew that he still had feelings for her. I just didn't think that he'd--" he broke off, heaving a sigh. "I thought he'd get over it, being married to Saeun-- I didn't think he would try to get into a relationship with Minyeon again." He sighed, shaking his head. "I should have spoken to Sungmin. Then maybe this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry."

Jaemi kept her face neutral, but she was genuinely surprised at his confession. It was strange that he would feel guilty and take the blame upon himself in such a situation as this. "It wasn't your fault," she stated. "I should have noticed that Minyeon was interested in him too." She sighed. "I really thought she was going to be a better leader than--" she muttered under her breath.

Leeteuk glanced at the woman next to him, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Jaemi shook her head.

This was unreal. Here she was talking with Leeteuk about her problems. Probably not her brightest move, but then again, he blamed himself too for this new set of issues. The burden of being a leader, she supposed was taking the mistakes of the others in the group upon oneself. Perhaps right now she needed someone like him--one who was familiar with being a leader and knew the ins and outs of the music and entertainment industry--as an ally in the coming days and weeks ahead. It was certainly not going to be easy to scramble together a debut after this setback, so she needed all the help she could get.

****

Aeyeong hung up the phone and glanced around at her fellow members, noting the puffy and reddened eyes of a couple of them. "It's going to be alright." She sent them a warm smile. "We're going to get through this. All the best things in life are worth fighting for, right? Getting there is half the battle." She held up a fist of encouragement. "We've gotten this far. We can do this."

The other members nodded.

"Let's get to practicing then," Nell said as she began to walk over to Shindong and Eunhyuk. "We have to start re-working the choreography now."

They nodded as they pulled up the demo songs.

"We should probably go through the choreography the way it is now," Nell continued. "At least practice a couple of times first to see if we can just tweak certain parts first."

Eunhyuk nodded. "We may not have to do a lot of changes if we can redistribute the lyrics according to the choreography."

Shindong agreed. "The less changes we make the better. That way it's easier for everyone."

The door to the practice room opened suddenly and Heechul strolled in with a cat carrier in his left hand. "Hey!" he shouted, his eyes zeroing in Donghae. "You better thank me. I'm not playing cat-sitter again so that you and Aeyeong can--"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! A Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttttttttttttyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Byulhee squealed, effectively cutting off Heechul as she bolted across the room toward him. "Is this Heebum?!" She fell to her knees and peered inside the carrier. "Hi, Heebummie!"

"This isn't Heebum," Heechul scoffed. "This is Donghae and Aeyeong's cat."

Byulhee's eyes widened. "Wait! Is this Berlioz?!" She whirled her head around. "Are you saying the cat is real?!"

"Why do you have my cat?" Aeyeong asked as she crossed over to the two and took the carrier from Heechul's hand. She glanced between Heechul and Donghae, a look of confusion on her face. "What is going on?" Her eyes widened upon seeing the lopsided smile that broke across Donghae's face. She shook her head gently and then turned toward Heechul. "Thanks Heechul, for watching him. I was wondering where my cat was," she said, sending Donghae a pointed look.

Donghae sent her a cheeky grin.

Byulhee took the carrier from Aeyeong's hands. "Hi there, kitty," she cooed as opened up the carrier door and pulled out Berlioz, squealing excitedly as she did so. "He's so cuuuuute!" she cried, cradling the little bundle of fur. Berlioz in turn, nuzzled his head into the crook of her arm. "Awwwwh! He's so sweet!" She hurried over to her fellow bandmates to show off the precious cat.

Donghae looked over to Heechul. "Are you sure you don't want him for--I don't know--forever?"

"Hae!" Aeyeong shot a glare over to Donghae. "He's my cat."

"I'm just saying it was nice last night...without the cat around," Donghae continued somewhat sheepishly.

Byulhee shot a hand up in the air. "Oh! Ooooh! Oooh! Can we keep Berlioz at the dorms?"

"Sorry, Byul," Aeyeong replied. "But we're only allowed to have one pet in our dorms. And I want to keep my cat." She chuckled quietly.

"And we can't replace Nick," Sijin added. "I've just gotten used to him." Her family had owned cats all her life, so she actually was a little nervous with Nick around at first, but the dog was so lovable that he quickly won her heart over.

Lìxúe glanced between the cat and Heechul, her brows furrowing. "How were you even able to bring the cat into the building without being stopped?"

Heechul's lips curved into a smirk. "I have my secrets," he said, sending her a wink.

Eunhyuk groaned. "This guy is something else."

Heechul shrugged and crossed over to where Eunhyuk stood near the equipment. "Hey, speaking of cats and dogs, where's Gaeteuk at?"

"He left," Eunhyuk replied with a small shrug. "He didn't say where he was going."

Heechul lifted an eyebrow. "Where's Jaemi?" he asked, leaning back against the wall.

"She's on another floor. Dealing with some issues over--you know," Eunhyuk said in hushed voice.

Heechul nodded, pushing himself off of the wall. "Guess I better go find Gaeteuk and Jaemi before I head outta here. See ya." He sent the younger member a nod and then proceeded to head toward the door.

Lìxúe followed Heechul's back with her eyes as he exited. After the door closed, her eyes darted toward Eunhyuk. She had a feeling that maybe there was more to Minyeon leaving that what was let on. Or perhaps the Super Junior members knew more than they did at the moment.

She let out a sigh.

Or perhaps she was overthinking things.

But...

Why didn't Minyeon tell them directly that she was leaving? Did she have something to hide? Or was she really just not close to any of them? It seemed like she valued the group... or did she accept to be leader, because it was a way for her to get out of her management position over Red Velvet so that she could join another company? Had she planned to go solo from the beginning? Or was it something that she slowly decided on? Or were the pressures of being leader too great for her?

Lìxúe felt her heart ache. It really did not matter what Minyeon's reasons were. In any case, Lìxúe felt betrayed at the elder member's actions. Minyeon was their leader, their unnie. They all deserved to hear from Minyeon herself what her reasons were for leaving the group like that when they were so close to debuting.

It was selfish of her.

Instead, they had to hear the news from Leeteuk, because Jaemi was too busy trying to take care of the mess that was brought about by Minyeon's sudden departure.

It wasn't right for Minyeon to leave in such a way.

But... why would she not tell the group directly unless it was something personal? Something that she didn't want her younger members to hear?

She felt her head begin to pound with a slight headache over the thoughts that consumed her mind.

"Are you alright?" Zhoumi asked, stirring Lìxúe from her reverie.

She shook her head ever so slightly. "Not exactly."

Zhoumi glanced about the room, noting that everyone else seemed preoccupied in one way or another. "Wanna talk?"

Her chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just shaken up over the news of Minyeon leaving so suddenly." She lifted her shoulders in a confused shrug. "Why would she do that? She put so much work into this. Why would she just leave the group like that and not tell us directly?"

Zhoumi's eyes filled with sympathy as he shook his head a bit. "I don't know." He let out a sigh. "Maybe she just didn't have the heart to."

"Still--" she began, her eyes glistening sadly. "It feels a bit like she betrayed us."

Zhoumi nodded in understanding. He wrapped an arm around her, giving her a light, encouraging squeeze. "Maybe it will be better this way.” He gave her a warm smile.

She smiled back, though her smile lacked its usual luster.

"Maybe with all the publicity," he began, a slight twinkle in his eyes. "It would be a good opportunity for The Starlets to prove their worth," he continued, his eyes fixed on hers, waiting for that spark to light her eyes.

Her lips fell into a small smirk and her eyes began to gleam.

He smiled, seeing that familiar competitiveness light within her.

Though this was a setback, neither her or the rest of the group would let it deter their resolve. They would reach their debut no matter what.

Nell clapped her hands together, attracting the attention of the room. "Let's start practicing!"

****

Jaemi looked down at the photos scattered across the table, photos that were to be included in the different album photobooks.

She heaved a sigh as she glanced at the last set of pictures, particularly at the photograph with Sungmin and Minyeon, their facial expressions the opposite of each other. "Looking at this picture of them, I would have never thought that they--" She shook her head. "Oh, well."

Leeteuk shuffled through some of the other album pictures. "These turned out really good." He paused, a dimpled smile appearing on his face. "Looks like Donghae and Aeyeong took a pretty good one."

"Not surprised," Jaemi replied nonchalantly. "They're naturally photogenic." She shrugged. She  also knew that Aeyeong had an interest in photography, and Donghae always brought cameras with him too, so he probably had talent for it too. They probably knew how to take a great picture together without even trying.

There was a brief silence as Leeteuk put down the page and sifted through the stack once more. "Did you know about Aeyeong and Donghae?" he asked finally. "You seemed a little shocked by the news yesterday. I figured that since you're best friends--" he broke off as if trying to choose his words carefully.

"I was a little surprised when I found out yesterday that they were dating," Jaemi replied in an even tone. "I didn't know before. Aeyeong's just very private about her--uh, private life. I wasn't prepared for that at all." She giggled. "Honestly, I think I'm more surprised that Donghae was able to keep quiet about their relationship for that long," she continued quietly, chuckling at the thought.

Leeteuk chuckled. "You're not the only one that's surprised. Usually that guy can't keep a secret for the life of him."

"Yeah. It seems like he's very honest even in just his facial expressions," added Jaemi. "Like his face just gives away everything he's thinking and feeling at times."

Leeteuk nodded. "That's how he is." There was a slight pause, before he continued speaking. "You're pretty good at reading people," he said, glancing to the woman at his side. He wondered what she exactly thought of him.

Jaemi scoffed. "Most of the time. But there are a few people who never fail to elude me," she muttered. Actually, only one person. Even now, here she was falling into a casual conversation with that same person whom she thought she should never trust again. It almost felt like she was back to her old trainee days when she conversed with him easily as a friend. At the time, she never would have suspected that he would betray her group so quickly.

Then again, he had fought for his group. Wasn't she doing the same thing now? Fighting for her group so that they could debut?

Would she be willing to do anything for the sake of her group though? Take the same risks at the expense of others?

No. She could never imagine betraying someone else for the sake of her group. There was always another way.

But maybe Leeteuk had been guided all those years ago by a faulty sense of loyalty? Or maybe he just planned the whole thing all along?

She shook her head ever so slightly, casting the never-ending carousal of thoughts regarding Leeteuk out of her mind. It was useless to delve into the past to explain his motives or actions. It did not matter anyway in the least. It was in the past. She needed to focus on the present and the future both for herself and for her teammates.

The door opened and someone from the album design team entered, clipboard and pen in hand.

After bowing to the newcomer, Jaemi pointed to several of the pages on the table. "So, we need to remove these photos from the photobooks. Pages four and five from the 'You Don't Love Me' album. And pages eight and fifteen from the 'Self Camera' version."

The woman nodded, taking note of the numbers. "Alright. And what else?"

"The covers," Jaemi continued. "Her picture is on the cover of the 'You Don't Love Me' version here," she pointed to Minyeon's picture.

The woman took notes. "That one shouldn't be too hard to fix. We can still keep the same format, but rearrange the pictures and make them bigger to fill the space. However, I'm a little concerned about the 'Self Camera' version. Were you able to identify all the photos with her likeness that were on the front and back covers?"

"Yes," Jaemi responded, showing her the pages with red circles marked on various places to indicate where Minyeon was found.

The woman nodded, clicking her tongue. "I'm glad that this hasn't gone to production yet. Otherwise, we'd be looking at a costly fix." She shook her head. "I'll make sure that my team gets this gets taken care of right away," she said. "Look over the pages once more to make sure that nothing else needs to be removed. I'll send a member of my staff to collect the pages shortly."

"Thank you," Jaemi replied with a bow as the woman exited the room. As soon as the door closed, she let out a breath, shaking her head gently. "I feel so bad for everyone who has to do more work," she said. "All that hard work, gone to waste." She ce more to the pages on the table, pouring over them once more.

Silence reigned over them, save for the sound of pages turning.

After several moments, the door opened behind them, causing the two to turn around.

Heechul sent them a grin. "Am I interrupting anything?"

Jaemi rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the photo pages. "Just my sanity."

Heechul chuckled as he strolled up, throwing an arm around her. "Miss me much?"

"Just your absence," she teased as she turned a page.

Heechul laughed. "This is why I like this woman," he said, giving Leeteuk a grin.

Leeteuk shot Heechul an irritated look.

Heechul snorted and then picked up one of the pages. He laughed. "Byulhee looks like she's having fun."

Jaemi grinned. "All of hers turned out super cute."

Heechul chuckled. "I wonder what Nell thinks of this one." He pointed to one photograph in particular where Byulhee and Siwon were goofing around.

Jaemi giggled. "No comment. Whenever Byulhee's around her, I feel like Nell gets a little tense."

Heechul chuckled. "You mean a vibe that says, 'Stay away from my man'," he said, mimicking a woman's voice as he flipped his hair with a wave of his hand. He picked up another page. "Lìxúe's turned out y."

"What do you expect?" Jaemi scoffed as she began to arrange the photo pages back in order. "She is the main visual." She plucked the page out of Heechul's hand and slipped it into its place.

"Isn't the next episode supposed to be on the photoshoot?" asked Leeteuk, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah," Jaemi replied. "I don't know what they're going to do about Minyeon's parts. I don't know if they have enough time to edit out her parts."

"And they don't have enough footage to add," Heechul commented. "Thanks to Gaeteuk here."

"Hey, I didn't know I had the camera off during the shoot," Leeteuk said with a sheepish look imprinted on his face.

"Do you think they'll cancel the show if they can't edit in time?" asked Jaemi suddenly, her eyebrows knit in concern. They could not really afford to lose good publicity at a time like this, but if they could not edit the footage in time, than what choice did they have? Of course, the last episode that aired did not go over so well anyway, so maybe it was a godsend in a way.

Leeteuk's face fell. "Probably."

Jaemi let out a sigh. "Oh, well," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's not like the first episode was the best anyway." She clicked her tongue. "We're off to a great start, aren't we? Bad reviews, a missing leader, and a cancelled show." She scoffed, shaking her head self-deprecatingly.

The door opened and a representative from the album design department entered.

Jaemi bowed to him before handing him the stack of photo book pages. "Here you go. Thank you for your help," she said as she sent him another bow as he exited the room.

Heechul glanced down his phone. "I've gotta get going. Just came by to drop off a cat and annoy a dog. Now that that's done, I'll see ya two later." He laughed as he left the room.

Jaemi shook her head gently. "I don't understand that guy sometimes." She shrugged. "I better call Minho and see what's going on with our show and the songs."

****

After re-working some of the choreography and re-distributing the lyrics, the Starlets practiced their songs, getting a feel for the changes.

As everyone took a break to eat the lunches they packed with them, Jaemi and Leeteuk entered the dance practice room.

"Sorry everyone," Jaemi said with a bow. "Things took longer than expected."

"How did it go?" asked Lìxúe, looking up from her spot on the floor between Zhoumi and Byulhee.

"Well, our show is probably going to be cancelled for tomorrow," Jaemi began, opting to tell them the bad news first. "I spoke with Minho earlier and they don't think they can edit out all of Minyeon's parts in time. They're already planning on just playing a rerun of another show during our slot."

Several sighs and disappointed groans sounded through the room.

"Also," Jaemi continued. "The album covers and photo pages are going to be changed. And also, we just have to record some more to replace Minyeon's voice from the songs." She pulled out her phone to look at the schedule. "I'll be going to the recording studio late tonight. Aeyeong and Lìxúe, you're scheduled for tomorrow morning around nine o'clock. Can you make it?" she asked, glancing between the two.

Aeyeong nodded. "Yeah, I don't have any plans."

Donghae's face fell with a pout.

"That's fine," Lìxúe replied with a smile.

"Great," Jaemi responded, turning to look back at her phone. "Nell and Byulhee, can you both come in the afternoon around 1:00 p.m.?"

"Yep," Byulhee replied with a firm nod. "I'll be there!"

Nell kept her lips pursed. Did she really have to go with Byulhee again? "I think it may be a little hard for me to get there right at time since I'll be coming back from church," she began, keeping a polite tone.

Jaemi turned to Sijin. "Do you think you can come around that time?"

Sijin nodded. "Yeah. That would be fine."

"Perfect," Jaemi said, typing the information into here phone. "Then Nell, do you think you could do it Monday afternoon after rehearsals?"

Nell pulled out her phone to gauge the day's schedule, pursing her lips together. It was rather annoying that she had change her schedule around because Minyeon opted for a solo career. It was so selfish of her to just leave like that without so much as a warning or goodbye.

Nell already had to go out of her way to re-work the choreography to accommodate the former member's sudden disappearance. She had done so much for the group already. Shouldn't Jaemi have at least asked her ahead of time to see what times would be best suited for her? "Maybe closer to evening?" she asked, keeping her tone even and polite. "Recording shouldn't take too long, right? Just a few lyrics in the different songs?"

Jaemi nodded. "Yeah, it shouldn't take too long at all. So, evening then? What time?"

"Five," Nell replied.

"Alright," Jaemi responded with an affirmative nod. "I'll text Minho and arrange it." She began tapping her phone screen, sending the manager the details.

"Wanna sit?" Aeyeong said, patting the empty spot beside her.

Jaemi walked over to her friend and shrugged her duffel bag and backpack off of her back before taking a seat.

Leeteuk took a seat between Jaemi and Donghae.

Aeyeong glanced between Jaemi and Leeteuk, confused as to why they were together. Maybe Leeteuk had been helping Jaemi and Jaemi could not think of a good excuse to rid herself of him. “Did you eat yet?" Aeyeong asked, looking at her friend.

Jaemi ped her duffel and pulled out a thermos. "I've got lunch here," she said, shaking the thermos. She opened the cap and began to sip her protein shake. "How's everything been going here?" she asked, her eyes darting toward the other Starlet members. Most of them had reddened or puffy eyes from crying, no doubt over the distressing events of the day. She glanced between Aeyeong and Donghae. Both of them wore glasses and their eyes looked tired, probably due to... uh, lack of sleep. Her cheeks tinged lightly at the thought.

"Good," Aeyeong replied in a hushed tone. “Everyone’s spirits were rather low at first, but it seems that everyone's slowly trying to adjust."

Jaemi nodded in understanding. She glanced over at Nell, who was sitting among another group, between Siwon and Lìxúe. "Hey, Nell?" she called. "How's the choreography going?"

"Good," Nell replied. "We made a few adjustments, but not much. It's going pretty well. We'll practice both songs after lunch so that you can get a feel for them."

****

All of the Starlets' partners sat with their backs leaning against the wall as the women lined up, ready to practice the adjusted choreography of "Piano Man".

"Five, six, seven, eight," Shindong said as he cued up the music.

(This is the mirrored version for reference. Obviously there's six members in the Starlets instead of the four in Mamamoo. The choreography described below contains the real moves. Not mirrored. And some change in lyrics, particulary Byulhee's rap.)

Aeyeong stood in the middle of the front, microphone in hand. "I'm ready for some action," she sang as she and the other members stepped to the left, crossing the right foot in front of the left before stepping again and repeating the movement. They each crossed their left foot in front, turning to the side and sliding their left hands down seductively as they bent forward on the word 'action'. "Are you ready for perfection?" she continued to sing in a sensual tone as they stepped to left. They raised their right hands over their heads and then slid their arms down slowly on the word 'perfection'. "Hey Piano Man," Aeyeong crooned.

As the sound of piano keys filled the room, the women raised and dropped their shoulders alternating between the right and left as they moved their hands as if they were playing the piano. It was a move that Byulhee dubbed "piano hands" earlier during practice.

After several counts, Lìxúe stepped forward. "Hello~mmwhah!" She blew her audience a kiss before stepping to the middle of the line. The others turned, forming a circle around her, their arms connected above her, forming a bridge. She stepped under, sending the audience a seductive smile. "Hey~" she sang, accompanied by the others.

As the song continued through over a minute and a half, the women flawlessly kept pace with the changes and adjustments made in the lyrics and dance until Minyeon's main set of lyrics came.

Aeyeong stepped to the front, prepared to take on Minyeon's place. "When your fingers brush against the keys," she sang, her voice smooth and sensuous. "I keep getting naughty thoughts, my heart beats staccato..."

The members of Super Junior exchanged glances amongst themselves, noting how well her voice suited the notes. Donghae sat, covering his mouth with a hand to keep from grinning as his eyes twinkled in delight.

"...Hey Mr. Ambiguous," she continued. "Play my body like a piano."

"Bumppappara bumppappara bumppappara bum," the group began to sing together, dancing about, the clap of their hands and high heels adding to the beat of the music. "Bumppappara bumppappara bumppappara bum." They formed two lines again and began using their "piano hands" once more. "Hey piano man, your dancing hands," they continued to sing in unison. "The piano man, your unpredictable body movements. What can I say, I want only you and me to be in this place."

Byulhee slid to the front of the line, a smile playing across her face. "To the right, to the right, to the right," she rapped as her fellow members followed her instructions. "To the left, to the left, to the left," she continued, as the rest of the rest of the Starlets obeyed, slowly forming a line behind Byulhee as she ended at the center of the room. "Word up, Little Star!" she rapped, taking a bow as she introduced herself with her childhood nickname. "It starts with trumpet," she continued. "Can I get that--"

"Here," the other members echoed.

"In between the sound of the hi-hat," Byulhee continued to rap, her body bouncing excitedly to the music. "Drum drum kick, On top of the sweet dish of rhythm, you place in the piano." She bent forward, playfully looking toward her audience. "Let me introduce myself. Say hi to the Moon. It’s Byulhee here!" she rapped, shaking her head jovially over her own clever play on her name.

The group began to dance together. "Oh swing, let's groove, singing," they sang. "Oh, swing, let's groove, my babe. Oh swing, let's groove."

"Let us introduce ourselves," Jaemi sang, taking one of Minyeon's former lyrics.

"We are the Starlets," they sang as a group, sliding their bodies down seductively.

"Darling you're my own," Aeyeong and Lìxúe sang out, their powerful voices causing the members of Super Junior to whoop and cheer.

"Hey piano man," Jaemi and Sijin sang together. "When this song ends, come to me."

"Come to me," the rest echoed.

"The piano man," Byulhee and Aeyeong continued, Aeyeong taking over Minyeon's lyrics. "The conversation is now over."

Lìxúe and Nell took to the center. "The last melody, I want it to be you and me!" Their voices sent their Super Junior partners cheering again.

"Just you and me," the remaining members sang out.

"I want to listen to it," Aeyeong continued.

"Tomorrow," Byulhee began rapping. "The day after tomorrow, wanna keep meeting."

"Ye ye ye ye ye ye!" the group sang out before taking a bow at the end.

They paused in their bowed position as silence took over the expanse of the room, the only sound they could hear was their own panting breath.

The room erupted in a series of claps, whistles, and whoops of congrats as their Super Junior partners rushed over to them in excitement.

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

"That was amazing!"

"Perfect!"

"Wow! So good!"

Siwon pulled Nell into a warm embrace. He was proud of all the hard work that she had put into the choreography. She had put her heart and soul into it, and all the hours of practice with the other members paid off. She did a great job in teaching them the steps, so much so that even with the loss of a member, they were to adjust easily without any sort of hindrance.

Yesung lifted a hand to give Sijin a high five. "Great job on both the singing and the dancing," he said, sending her a warm smile. "It was perfect."

The corners of Sijin's eyes crinkled up cutely as she smiled in turn. "Thanks," she said, a tinge of pink dusting her cheeks.

Ryeowook came up beside them. "You did great, Sijin!" he said somewhat bashfully, scratching the back of his neck. "Really. Your voice sounded so powerful. Very pretty."

"Thank you," Sijin said, her cheeks darkening in color as she bowed her head low. She was not used to so many compliments, so she was not quite sure how to react to all of the attention.

Eunhyuk ran over Byulhee, a wide, gummy smile plastered on his face. "That was great!" he said, his face beaming with pride. "The rap sounded perfect."

"Thanks!" Byulhee grinned. Part of her was so excited, she really just wanted to throw herself on top of him to get a piggyback ride, but-- He was too much a temptation. No. She had to be strong and avoid him as best as she could. She whirled around quickly, looking for the next best culprit to pounce on. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she squealed in a high-pitched voice as her eyes zeroed in on Jaemi.

There was a flash of red as Byulhee bolted for the new leader.

"Oumff," Jaemi muttered incoherently as she caught the younger member as she pounced on her back, Byulhee wrapping her arms and legs around her. Jaemi adjusted herself so that Byulhee could ride her piggyback style comfortably.

"Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaemiiiiiiiiiiii!" Byulhee squealed. "I'm soooooooooooo excited! Yaaaay! That was our best practice! And we were all so good! I just--Ahhhh! We did it! Even if--" Her body stiffened as her train of thought shifted. She sniffed, a wave of emotions suddenly consuming her. She buried her head in Jaemi's neck as she began to cry.

"Hey," Jaemi began in a soft tone, feeling her heart lurch for her dongsaeng. "It's gonna be okay."

"But why did Minyeon leave? Why?" Byulhee cried, her voice muffled as the painful thoughts she had been holding in all day overtook her. "I thought she wanted to be in the group. I thought that we were all together in this. We waited years for this. After all this time--" She began to sob harder.

Jaemi felt Byulhee's warm tears on her neck and felt a deep knot in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes darted to the rest of her fellow members. Sijin's expression had already shifted from one of happiness and excitement to one of disappointment, tears beginning to stream down her face. Nell stood beside Siwon, her left hand clutching Siwon's right hand. Her face was cast down, but she kept her expression fairly neutral. Lìxúe's eyes blinked as she attempted to fight the tears that threatened to fall. Zhoumi had a hand on her shoulder, patting her consolingly. Donghae had an arm around Aeyeong comfortingly as Aeyeong looked on, a small, encouraging smile on her face. She sent Jaemi the slightest nod.

Jaemi took a breath, her eyes wandering toward Leeteuk. He was the only other person in the room beside herself who knew of what happened. Probably a few of the Super Junior members had an idea of what happened, but only she and Leeteuk knew the whole story.

If she told her fellow Starlet members the whole truth of the matter, how would they react? Would they blame Sungmin or even Super Junior? Would they hate Minyeon for the choice she made? Would they be more hurt over her betrayal to abandon them to pursue a solo career and a tragic love story? Or would not knowing why tear them apart even more? Always wondering why someone made a choice... Which was a worse fate? Knowing the selfish motives or forever wondering why?

As her eyes met Leeteuk's, she knew in her heart exactly what she had to do. She shifted her eyes to the door, nodding her head slightly in the same direction, silently asking if he and the rest of Super Junior could leave.

Leeteuk gave her the slightest nod. "Hey guys," he said, turning to his fellow members. “Let’s go grab dinner." He gestured to the door.

The rest of the members nodded, mumbling in agreement.

Donghae kissed Aeyeong's cheek. "I'll see ya at home."

Siwon squeezed Nell's hand as he bent down, pecking her forehead. "See you tomorrow," he whispered.

Nell sent him a nod as his hand slipped from hers.

"Thanks for all of your help today," Jaemi said, bowing her head down as they left. "I really appreciate it," she continued, lifting her head. Her eyes connected with Leeteuk's, and she sent him the faintest of smiles.

The door closed and the Starlets were left alone.

Byulhee slid off of Jaemi's back, wiping her tears on her shirt sleeve.

Jaemi took a seat on the floor and patted the empty spaces beside her. "You guys might want to sit down. It's kind of a long story," she said, taking a breath. She glanced between her fellow members as they began to sit.

She would rather spare them the knowledge of their former member's actions, but she was not going to make the same mistakes she made as a trainee at SM.

Her group deserved to know the truth...

And she was going to give it to them.

If they were going to debut successfully as a girl group, then she had to be a different leader than she was in the past...

Author's Note
Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I kind of had to take a couple steps back with this one, because I had to go through and actually re-do the album covers completely (which was kind of a bummer since it took me so long to do the originals and I've been waiting to reveal them for like a year now TT.TT). So, I had to at least release Minyeon's pages in this chapter, because I couldn't just get rid of them after all the work I put into editing them. Plus, now you get a bit of a teaser for what the albums will look like. ^^ (I have to say, I really like the "Self Camera" version as I based "Chapter 5: Picture Perfect" on the pictures in it.) I'll be releasing all of the album pics either in the next chapter or the one after. (Most likely in the one after. Just depends on how long the next chapter ends up being.) Oh, I also had to go through and re-destribute Minyeon's lines in the songs for the debut and live stages. So, basically this chapter was kind of a reflection of what I've been actually doing. lol (At least I don't actually have to record songs! lol) 

And just a friendly reminder, please, please, please remember to comment every 1 or 2 chapters. I'm a busy person and I understand that others are busy too. But I put a lot of time, thought, and effort into these chapters and the only thing I get out of it are the comments you readers leave behind. Even though I may not write another character out of the story again, I may be less inclined to write your character if you don't comment. So in other words, if you don't comment, your character won't have much (if any) screen time. (If you're one of my readers who PMs me with your comments, then this doesn't apply to you.) I'm not trying to be harsh, but with the amount of work I put into this story, I want to make sure that it's not going to waste. I mean, what's the point of writing a character, planning that character's arc, weaving that character's love story into the the main story, and coming up with a satisfying ending for that character if the creator of that character is never going to read the content? I've already got so much of this story all planned and outlined, and I just want everyone to enjoy it. And comments allow me to see who is still onboard with the story. 

Speaking of the which, we've got some pretty interesting chapters coming up. We've got the anniversary party, the album release, debut stages, and variety shows. So, I kind of wanted to get some opinions on this: Variety shows. I already know that the variety shows are gonna be long. (Just the rough outlines are long already.)  I'm thinking that I'll only have the Starlets on three variety shows. Everyone will be on "Weekly Idol", while only a few will be the other two variety shows. Now, with that being said, if your character is NOT featured on the other two variety shows, I'll give you a choice. Would you like your character to have more screen time with her love interest either as part of a mission for "Super Junior's Hindsight" or in a "date" setting? (Or if your character hasn't gotten quite to that stage in the relationship just some "bonding time" with said love interest?) I've got rough outlines for the different scenarios, so it'll be easy to adapt. ^^ Just let me know what you would prefer for your character if she is not featured on the other two variety shows. Thanks! ^^

(And Sorry Sorry Sorry for the long author's note.)