Nell stared at the phone screen in her hand. She leaned back against the headboard of her bed, heaving a sigh as she re-read the online article.

"What's wrong?" asked Siwon, lifting up the sheets on the other side of the bed as he climbed in next to her.

Nell shook her head slightly. "More articles keep coming out about you guys." She sighed. "It's nice that your group is getting attention too, but--" She paused, re-reading the part where it talked about her choreography. "--it's my dance. I own a dance studio! I know how to choreograph more elaborate routines than that! True, I took a few of Shindong and Eunhyuk's suggestions. But it's my choreography. They're making it seem like I needed help." She hastily turned off her phone and tossed it on top of the nightstand. "Why should they get all the credit?" She folded her arms in front of her, her eyebrows furrowing in irritation. "It's my work."

Siwon wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I know. You put a lot of work into the dances. The media doesn't quite understand yet how talented you are." He bent forward, kissing the top of her head. "Don't worry. They will. It just may take some time." He pulled away, sending her a reassuring smile. "You did great today. The choreography was perfect. You sang beautifully. You looked beautiful too, as always." He pecked her cheek.

A small smile drew across Nell's face. "Thanks," she replied.

"Now you should get some sleep. We have another big day tomorrow," he continued.

She nodded in agreement as a yawn escaped her fatigued body.

Siwon smiled gently at how cute she looked as he leaned over to turn out the light.

They settled into bed, Nell resting her head on Siwon's chest. She smiled. She could not ask for a better boyfriend. Siwon was just perfect for her. She yawned, her eyelids proceeding to grow heavier by the second, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat lulling her to sleep.

****

The members of Super Junior and the Starlets stood in front of several long tables covered in black tablecloths as they stared into a sea of reporters and cameras.

Leeteuk held out his hand in a five shape. "We are Super Jun--"

"--ior!" chimed the rest of Super Junior as they extended their hands out.

"And we are--" Jaemi began, holding her hand out in a five shape. How she wished they could have their own sign or something to themselves!

"--the Starlets~!" harmonized the women.

After the introductions, the two groups took their seats at the tables, ready to answer whatever questions the press had to throw at them...

If only the press would actually ask them questions...

"Is Super Junior planning a comeback soon?"

"Eunhyuk, what was it like coming up with the choreography for the Starlets' debut?"

"Is this just the first season of Super Junior's Hindsight? Are there plans for a second season?"

"Are you going to start training other groups?"

Jaemi kept a calm smile plastered on her face as Leeteuk proceeded to answer the umpteenth question directed to the members of Super Junior. The Starlets had been instructed by SM to wait patiently during the conference until it was a suitable moment for the attention to be directed to them. However, a good half hour had already passed and the Starlets had yet to talk about their debut.

"At this time we are not planning on training another rookie group via a show, but that may change in the future," Leeteuk answered diplomatically. "Speaking of the Starlets, they--"

"Is it true that Sungmin will not be involved with the remainder of the show?" interrupted one reporter.

"Yes, he will not be involved with the remainder of the season. His schedule is currently booked as he started rehearsals for a new musical." Leeteuk kept a smile on his face, but Jaemi could tell by the way he shuffled his legs next to her that he was uncomfortable with how much time had been spent on Super Junior. He was struggling to remain polite to the reporters as well as maintain the duty he had toward his fellow members.

Jaemi could feel Byulhee--who sat on the other side of her-- began to sink in her seat slightly, her countenance slowly wilting from the disappointment of the conference thus far.

She could not let this continue in this manner. She leaned forward slightly, looking at the reporter who had just spoke. "Speaking of rehearsals," she chimed in, flashing the reporter her most dazzling stage smile. She leaned even further, cupping a hand to one side of , as if she was about to let the reporters in on a little secret. "Super Junior is about to get involved with rehearsals for a certain music video--" She paused dramatically as a buzz of excitement filled the room. "Shindong has agreed to direct our new music video," she said gesturing a hand towards the man in question. "The choreography was composed by our own, Nell," Jaemi gestured toward Nell. "Nell, why don't you tell them about how you were inspired to come up with the choreography?"

Nell felt a wave of relief wash over her. She finally had a moment to defend herself in front of the reporters and assert credit for her hard earned work. She smiled towards the numerous cameras. "Much like how I choreographed 'You Don't Love Me' and 'Piano Man'--" she began politely. "--I incorporated retro dance moves into a modern choreography. I drew from the song’s lyrics to make a dance that was both fun and flirty." She flashed the cameras a smile. “Much like how I made the choreography of ‘You Don’t Love Me’ and ‘Piano Man’.” Part of her wanted to dazzle them all with terminology that only a true danseuse* and patron of all modern dance would know, but she knew better than to try to talk dance to them. "If you want to know what I’m talking about, you should watch our live performances tonight." She sent them a smile. "Byulhee especially likes our 'piano hands', so you should keep an eye out for those."

Byulhee made a motion with her hands, demonstrating the 'piano hands' that Nell was referring to.

"What is the title of your new music video?" asked one reporter.

"'I Did It'," replied Byulhee hastily as she bolted upright, her legs bouncing under the table in excitement.

Jaemi bit back a smile. She was rather thankful that there were covers over the tables, otherwise the reporters would get a good look at Byulhee's bouncy legs.

"The song's called, 'I Did It'," repeated Byulhee in a much slower tone. "It's going to be our first English song. Jaemi unnie and I wrote the lyrics. And Seolmi and Donghae helped compose the music."

Lìxúe nodded in agreement. "It was fun composing the music," she said.

"Isn't it a little hasty to perform an English song?" asked another reporter. "Aren't you worried that you haven't been able to establish a fan base here first?"

"Not at all," Aeyeong replied with a warm smile. "We're just striving to show everyone what we can do."

One of the reporters clicked his tongue. "Are you sure you're confident enough to write a song in English?" he asked, directing his attention towards Byulhee and Jaemi.

Jaemi simply smiled. Sure, she could reply to the ignorant man in unbroken, American English, since her own mother-- who was from the United States-- taught her, but it was better to let the matter alone.

Byulhee, on the other hand, responded readily. "Of course! We actually started writing this song years ago when we were trainees together at SM."

"Speaking of which," another reported chimed. "Why was the group disbanded 10 years ago? Was it too much pressure? A scandal perhaps?"

Byulhee paled and her shoulders stiffened.

Jaemi could feel the tension about her dongsaeng. She cleared , eyeing the reporter who had asked that question. Her face fell into a teasing smirk. "Do you really want to know?" She leaned forward, her eyes twinkling.

Byulhee felt her shoulders relax as she watched her unnie take over the question. Her heart hammered in her chest as Jaemi continued speaking with the reporter.

"Put simply," Jaemi began, her eyes still twinkling. "The world wasn't ready for us." She winked. "It wasn't our time then. Now it is. Although--" she smirked. "--I'm still not sure the world is quite ready for us six women."

"You mentioned just the six of you. What happened to Minyeon by the way? The former leader?" another reporter called out. "It seems rather suspicious that she would leave so suddenly. Was she removed because of a scandal?"

Sijin pursed her lips as the reporters continued to barrage the group with questions.

“Do you find it disadvantageous that most rookie groups are considerably younger than you? And that must of your sunbaes are younger as well?”

“Do you think that most Koreans will think you are too old for this?”

Sijin held back a sigh. Why were these reporters so bent on the negative? It was so sad. There had to be some nice reporters in here, right? Maybe these reporters were just trying to test them? She didn't know. It was making her sad though.

She felt her lower lip tremble slightly. She bit down on it, hoping to keep from tearing up. She felt Aeyeong's hand grasp hers under the table. Aeyeong gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, silently telling her that everything was going to be alright.

*****

Sijin sat in the living room of their dorm with a blanket wrapped around her and her phone in her hand. Her earbuds were in her ears as she listened and watched the performances they had done earlier that evening.

She scrolled down to the comments of the first video.

A lot of the comments were ELF trying to spot their favorite Super Junior member among the back-up dancers.

She let out a sigh. Sure, there were comments about their group. In fact, quite a few comments praised the rookies on how great the performance was and how talented the women were vocally or how great they looked. Sijin blushed at a few of the comments. However, it seemed that the media had influenced the public...

Some comments questioned whether the Starlets would even make it without Super Junior…

…or if they would make it at all because of their age.

Sijin replayed the second video—“Piano Man”-- and scrolled through the comments below. Without Super Junior in the dance, there was a considerable lack in the number of comments and views than in the first one. However, these comments seemed to praise the group more than in the first video.

Yet, there was one long comment that caught her eye: "I feel like this group is the biggest fake ever. They disbanded 10 years ago before they could even debut, and now they need help from Super Junior to make it into the industry? Why? Because they can't do it themselves? That's ridiculous. And their interview today? Super Junior had to practically hold their hand the entire time. These are grown women for crying out loud! They should be able to handle an interview. I feel like everyone in that group is just for looks. Seolmi and April are a testament to that. The main dancer I feel is all talk, and the main rapper is nothing special. And that blonde one is pretty enough (I’d hit that!), but I've never seen a woman who looks like she's going to cry so freaking much! How the heck is she supposed to survive in the industry if she's going to cry at every little thing!? How old is she? Five? And that annoying red-head is one--"

Tears blurred her eyes.

How could someone think that their group was just there for show? Their group was made up of talented individuals who worked hard to get to this point. All of them were incredible people, how could someone think otherwise?

It was true that Lìxúe and Aeyeong were gorgeous, but their vocals were amazing! How could someone hear those voices and think they were in the group just for looks?

And Nell not only was beautiful, but she had a remarkable repertoire of dance knowledge and moves from ballet to hip-hop. Sijin could not even begin to fathom how much Nell knew about dance. Nell had taught the group so well that there was not a single hitch-- from what Sijin could tell--during their debut stage yesterday or the live performances earlier in the evening.

Byulhee too was beautiful, but her rapping skills continued to impress Sijin. And her vocals? Strong as everyone else’s.

Sijin stopped reading as tears continued to blur her vision.

What about her though? What did she herself have to offer the group?

Her chest tightened.

What exactly was her purpose in the group?

Was she just the maknae?

Was she really that important to the group?

Her phone slipped from her fingers and onto her lap.

Her lips trembled.

She tried to dry her eyes on her blanket.

The man was right. She was a crybaby.

Tears started to fall more.

She couldn't even stop crying right now! How could she survive the industry?

She tried to muffle her sobs in the folds of the blanket.

Lìxúe entered through the front door with Nick on a leash. “Hey, how are—” she halted in her words upon seeing the distraught maknae.  “Sijin? Are you okay?” she asked, quickly taking the leash off of Nick before hurrying to Sijin’s side. “What’s wrong?” she asked, wrapping an arm around Sijin.

Sijin shook her head, sobbing harder. “I’m s-s-sorry. I’m a c-c-crybaby.”

Lìxúe blinked. “What do you mean?”

“They don’t think I can do it,” she sobbed into the blanket. “Am I just for show? Am I just the m-m-maknae?”

“Who? Who doesn’t— Wait, what— What do you mean?” Lìxúe asked, trying to make sense of what Sijin was even talking about. 

Aeyeong hurried into the room with Byulhee close at her heels.

“What? What’s going on?” Byulhee asked.

“Is Sijin alright?” Aeyeong asked, looking at Lìxúe for any indication of what had transpired.

Lìxúe shook her head, shrugging her shoulders to show Aeyeong that she had no idea what was going on.

Jaemi came into the room not a moment later, holding her phone to her ear. “I have to go now, Minho. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to be there tomorrow. Bye.” She hung up the phone. “What’s going on?”

Sijin kept sobbing. “I’m s-s-sorry! Y-y-you must all think I’m a crybaby! And that I just need to be taken care of because I’m the youngest…”

“WHAT?!” Byulhee cried, jumping onto the sofa and throwing her arms around Sijin. “We don’t think that at all!”

“Why would you say that, Sijin?” asked Aeyeong, taking a seat on the floor in front of the sofa and reaching a hand up to pat Sijin’s knee reassuringly. “We all love you. None of us think you’re a crybaby or that you need to be taken care of. What makes you say that, my dear?”

“You’re all so—and I’m—” She continued to sob. “The o-only thing I’m known for is being a c-c-crybaby

Lìxúe gave Sijin a squeeze. “None of us would ever think that about you. We love you the way you are.”

Aeyeong nodded. “And there’s nothing wrong with crying. It’s just the way you express your emotions.”

“Who said you’re a crybaby anyway?” asked Byulhee, pulling away from Sijin. “I’ll punch his or her lights out for talking to you like that!” She jabbed the air with one fist than the other.

Sijin’s eyes fell to the phone on her lap.

Aeyeong picked up the phone, her eyes narrowing when she read the comment that had upset Sijin so much. “Don’t pay attention to comments like these,” she said, handing the phone to Jaemi to see.

Jaemi’s face darkened upon seeing the comment. “Jerk,” she muttered as she exited the internet page Sijin was on.

“Those are just the words of cynic,” Aeyeong continued in a motherly tone. “Words like these will only bring you down. Focus only on the positive and learn to view things in good way. If we focus on the negative, we will only do ourselves damage. You have just as much right to be here like every one of us. You have a beautiful voice, you’re a hard-worker, and you’re a good dancer. And you’re a wonderful, sweet person to be around. If you weren’t any of those things than you wouldn’t be you and you wouldn’t be in the group.”

Jaemi handed the phone back to her dongsaeng. “Ae’s right, Sijin. Don’t read those kinds of comments. That’s just some sleazy jerk who probably can’t carry a note to save the life of him.” She smiled. “You know, I heard a lot of people talk about how well you did after the show tonight.” She wriggled her phone. “Minho said the president was really impressed with how much you’ve improved in your performance. Your singing and dancing were perfect. She hardly recognized you; said you looked like a true professional out there.”

“Really?” Sijin replied, trying to dry her eyes.

Aeyeong handed her a tissue.

Jaemi nodded. “Yep.”

“Ryeowook and Yesung were also talking about you earlier,” Lìxúe added.

Sijin unconsciously blushed. “They were?”

“Yeah, they said you did really good and it seems like you’re having a lot of fun on stage, which makes them really happy,” Lìxúe continued with a smile.

Sijin nodded. “I did have a lot of fun…”

“Good,” Aeyeong said. “That’s what matters.”

“So, no bad vibes from others,” Byulhee added with a decided nod. “Not allowed.”

Sijin giggled. “You’re right. No bad vibes.”

Byulhee’s eyes widened. “I just realized something.”

“What?” asked Lìxúe, her eyes widening slightly.

“There’s a reason why Minho told us we can’t have men over here,” Byulhee continued with a solemn nod.

Jaemi cocked an eyebrow up. “You mean other than the main reason?”

Lìxúe chuckled. “What’s the reason?”

“Well—” Byulhee tilted her head. “We all could hear Sijin crying, right?”

“Yeah. So?” asked Aeyeong.

Byulhee clicked her tongue. “That means the walls are really thin… If any of us brought a guy home, we’d hear everything.”

Jaemi smacked a hand against her forehead. “Really, Byul?”

Sijin blushed a deep crimson.

Aeyeong pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling a sigh. “Did you have to go there?”

“Sijin’s right here! Don’t ruin her innocent mind!” Lìxúe said, throwing a pillow at Byulhee. “Thank goodness Nell isn’t here right now!”

Byulhee threw her head back and laughed. “Why? So I can’t ?”

“Yeah!” Lìxúe replied. “She’d be furious with you!”

Byulhee bounced up from her seat. “Who says I still can’t ?” Her eyes gleamed. “I should text her right now and ask her what she’s wearing--if anything--what she’s doing, and how--”

Jaemi clamped a hand over her dongsaeng’s mouth as Lìxúe covered Sijin’s ears.

“Will you stop it?” Aeyeong cried with a groan.

“You are not texting her anything like that!” Jaemi added. “Got it?” She removed her hand from Byulhee’s mouth. “Let her be. Don’t ask such personal questions.”

“But I’m reeeally curious now! She’s never told me anything about her love life with Siwon. Like does she like being on t—”

Jaemi clamped a hand over Byulhee’s mouth again. “Are you done?”

Byulhee shook her head.

Jaemi rolled her eyes. “I’m not letting you go then.”

Byulhee narrowed her eyes and tried to shake free from Jaemi’s grasp.

Sijin giggled. Though she could not really hear what her unnies were saying with Lìxúe’s hands still covering her ears, she felt much more at ease now than she had been a few minutes ago. They were all truly like family. They were all sisters and they were in this together to laugh with each other and support each other. Her place was here with them, and she knew that she could make it in the industry with them by her side, no matter what others said. 

*****

Early the next morning, Jaemi made her way through the JJE building to the topmost floor. She let out a breath as she stepped up to the secretary's desk just outside the president’s office. "Excuse me," she said, bowing her head. "I'm Jung Jaemi. I'm here to see--"

"Ah, yes," the man replied. "The president is expecting you. One moment." He pressed a button on the speaker to the president's office. "Mrs. Park? Miss Jung is here to see you."

"Send her in, please," the president's voice replied over the speaker.

The secretary nodded to the office doors. "You may go in."

"Thank you," Jaemi replied with a bow, before heading to the doors. She took a breath, steeling herself for the moment before going through the doors. She bowed respectfully upon entering. “Good morning, President. You wished to speak with me?” She lifted her head up to find the president sitting at her desk, her head bent over some papers, her slick black hair falling over one shoulder.

The president raised her head, her plump lips falling into a smile. “Ah, yes. Have a seat,” she said, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of the desk. “One moment.” Her eyes fell back to the papers on her desk.

Jaemi took a seat as directed, folding her hands on her lap as she watched the president. The president was about twelve to fifteen years her senior, a beautiful woman who once was a part of an unsuccessful music group. Jaemi was not sure of the particulars, but she knew that after the group’s disbandment, the president pulled all her resources to make her own entertainment agency, building it up into the successful business it currently was.

President Park shuffled the papers into a stack and set them aside on her desk. “Thanks for coming today, Jaemi,” she said, folding her hands on top of her desk. “First off, I want to congratulate you and your fellow members for a great debut so far,” she said with a warm smile.

“Thank you,” Jaemi replied, bowing her head gratefully.

“I have a lot of expectations for the Starlets. Speaking of which—” the president paused, picking up a packet from her desk. “—I’ve been a little disappointed over this whole SM collaboration.” She let out a heavy exhale. “I believe that despite our best efforts to make things fairer, Super Junior keeps getting more publicity than you are.” She shook her head. “It would be great if we could do some promotions or something without Super Junior around, but that can’t be. However, I have a proposal that I want you to look over.” She handed the packet to Jaemi. “It well fits in the parameters of SM’s contract and would give you girls a chance to show the world who you are while giving more opportunities for Super Junior to be seen through the show.”

Jaemi began reading through the proposal, her eyes widening. “Wait, you want me to—” She paused, looking up from the papers. “—start teaching acting workshops again?”

The president nodded. “That’s just part of it. I want you to be on our theatre committee. You’re an actress after all. When the Starlets are on hiatus between albums, I want you to be in musicals or plays, or at least be on the projects in one way or another. This will generate publicity for you and the group.”

“But what does that mean for me in the meantime with Super Junior’s Hindsight?” asked Jaemi, glancing back down at the pages.

The president smirked. “It means you will be holding a workshop with Super Junior at the theatre.”

“Oh, I see,” Jaemi replied, her eyes twinkling as she continued to read on. “Sijin will be volunteering with Yesung and Ryeowook at an orphanage…” She nodded, looking back up at the president. “I like it. Sijin’s such a sweet heart.” She smiled. “She’s good with kids too; I saw her help a lost kid at the store once.” She continued reading on. “She will also be performing a duet at a charity event with one of the Super Junior members…”

“She has such an innocent vibe already, I thought we should capitalize on that aspect of her personality,” the president explained.

“Nell will sing a duet with one of the members of Super Junior and choreograph a dance routine to go with it…” She nodded. “Seolmi will continuing modeling now under the JJE label.” She whistled. “And you want her to co-host a fashion show?”

The president nodded. “Yes, if Seolmi wants to do it, then I’ll contact our branch in China and have her host a fashion show there.”

Jaemi nodded. “I think she’d love that.” She looked back down at the page, eyes widening. “April will have a solo music video?”

“Yes. She is marketed as your main vocal after all. I think it would be good for her to get a little more publicity. I’d like you to direct the music video with Shindong,” the president continued. “It will mean more publicity for Super Junior if the making of the music video is filmed for Super Junior’s Hindsight. SM can’t possibly say no to that.”

Jaemi kept reading. “And you want Byulhee to release a solo song as well?”

“Yes, she and a member of Super Junior can write and compose the song,” President Park replied.

“But no music video?”

“No music video,” the president replied. “The way I’ve outlined this plan will make it seem like SM is benefiting by involving Super Junior in a variety of activities. If we have more than one solo music video, they might give us the red light on the plan.” She handed Jaemi another packet. “This is what I’m giving them.”

Jaemi perused through the packet. It really was formatted to look as if Super Junior were the stars of these endeavors, as if they were still going through the mentoring process of training the Starlets. Jaemi gave a nod of approve. She looked up, flashing the president a grin. “I think this will work.” She handed the packet back to the president. “Thank you for taking care of us so well.”

The president sent her a warm smile. “It’s all about money, my dear,” she said with a chuckle.

Jaemi furrowed her eyebrows. If JJE was only doing this because of the money they were making on the Starlets, they would have dropped the Starlets at the first sign of SM interfering. As far as Jaemi knew, JJE had to take a rather large cut in sharing the profits with SM. Even if JJE thought the Starlets were a worthy investment, would they want to risk the cost? Wouldn’t they rather invest in a younger group?

“Why us though?” Jaemi asked, hoping she was not coming off too impertinent.

“Let me ask you a question.” The president looked Jaemi squarely in the eye. “How many girl groups with members in their 30’s are active right now?”

Jaemi blinked. “Um, I can only think of one: the Brown Eyed Girls”.

“And even they aren’t as active as they used to be,” the president responded. “I want to see a group with members who are women in their late 20’s and early 30’s make it in the industry and stay active in the industry. I want to see a group who won’t be told ‘no’ just because of their age.” The president’s eyes were filled with determination. “And I need the Starlets to be that group.” Her lips fell into a smirk. “Take this as my permission to do whatever you feel is necessary to make it big, okay?” She winked. “I’m with you one hundred percent.” A beat passed, and she cleared . “Now, you can go. Oh, and don’t forget, you have a lot of activities over the next few weeks, so make sure you check in with Minho to make sure you all are on top of your schedules.”

“Yes, President Park,” Jaemi replied, bowing her head. “Thank you again.” She sent the president a smile before exiting the office.

****

Byulhee, Lìxúe, Nell, and Sijin sat in the living room of the dorms, hanging out together as they awaited one of the company cars to come pick them up. They were scheduled to go on their very first variety show, Weekly Idol. They would have loved to go together on the show as a complete group; however their collaboration with SM did not allow that.

Nell sat, looking at the articles critiquing their live performances thus far. She exhaled a heavy breath. So much credit was going to Super Junior—namely Eunhyuk and Shindong—for creating the choreography. It hurt. No one gave her the proper credit!

Byulhee, who was looking over Nell’s shoulder to read the articles, groaned. “Why are so many articles about Super Junior? Not that I’m complaining. But I am. I mean—I love Super Junior! I think they should get attention—but, but what about us? I—ugh. I don’t know. It’s bugging me.” She stuck her lip out in a pout.

Sijin shrugged. “There’s not much we can do about it.”

Byulhee blew a raspberry. “I know, I know. But it’d be kinda fun to have a live performance all to ourselves for once.” Her eyes widened. “Hey!” She snapped her fingers. “Why don’t we?”

“‘Why don’t we’ what?” asked Nell, raising an eyebrow.

“Why don’t we have a live performance without Super Junior? Just once!” Byulhee said, jumping up.

“How?” Sijin asked. “It’s not like we can ask them not to show up. SM would get mad.”

“Who said we have to tell them?” Byulhee continued with a smirk. “What if we just trick them into not going?”

Sijin’s eyes widened. “What? How would we do that?”

Lìxúe narrowed her eyes. “Like if they just happened to go to the wrong studio? Or maybe got locked in a supply closet by mistake?” Her eyes gleamed.

Byulhee clapped her hands. “I like the way you think, Devil Lì!”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Nell replied, shaking her head.

Lìxúe tilted her head, eyes still gleaming. “Do you really want Eunhyuk and Shindong to keep getting credit for your choreography?”

Nell’s face flashed.

Lìxúe smiled innocently. “If the boys don’t happen to show up in time, our main choreographer will have to adjust the choreography last minute… and then who gets the credit? Super Junior or the choreographer?”

Nell nodded slowly, pondering over her fellow member’s words. “I see what you mean.” A smile crossed her lips. “Alright. How are we going to do this?”

“I can think of a few ways…” Lìxúe began with a smirk.

“Should we tell Aeyeong and Jaemi about this?” asked Sijin with concern.

“No, no, no!” Byulhee shook her head emphatically. “We cannot tell mom and dad about this!”

Sijin giggled. “Which one’s mom and which one’s dad?”

“There’s no way we can tell them about this,” Byulhee continued, her eyebrows furrowing in determination. “It would be better if we do this, that way if Jaemi is questioned about it later, she can honestly say she’s surprised when SJ doesn’t show up.”

“I’m glad I’m not the leader,” mumbled Sijin with an understanding nod.

“So, how exactly are we going to pull this off?” Nell asked, leaning back against the sofa. “Our next live performance is in a few days, so we don’t have much time.”

“I’ve got a few ideas…” Lìxúe grinned. “Jaemi and Aeyeong are out tomorrow all day tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah,” Sijin replied. “They’re filming on Knowing Brothers.”

“Then we’ve got a whole day to put our plan into action,” Lìxúe said with a smirk.

Byulhee’s phone vibrated. “It looks like the car’s here. Yay! Variety show time!” She pocketed her phone and stood up to head to the door.

“We’ll talk about this later when we get back,” Lìxúe said as she slung her purse over her shoulder. “I think Jaemi and Aeyeong are staying at their apartments tonight, so few can talk about after.”

Byulhee’s eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks. “We need a code name! Operation... hmm… Got any ideas?”

They exited the dorms, Nell locking the door behind them.

“Hmm…” Sijin crinkled her nose cutely as she thought about what the code name should be called. “How about ‘Operation Takeover’ since we’re taking over our own stage?”

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Byulhee cried, bouncing up and down. “How about ‘Operation Cobra’?”

Her fellow members giggled at her suggestion.

“We should do something that no one will suspect,” Lìxúe suggested as they walked toward the elevator doors. “Or-- make it seem like we’re talking about something else.”

“Ooooh! I got an idea!” Byulhee clapped her hands as they entered the elevator doors. “We’re Starlets, right? Let’s name it after something old Hollywood. Like a star or something.”

“Like Marilyn Monroe?” Sijin asked.

“Or Audrey Hepburn?” Nell chimed. “Or Fred Astaire?”

“Operation Monroe it is!” cried out Byulhee gleefully. “All we need is a wind machine and a flowy dress.”

Lìxúe giggled.

“In a few days it’ll be only us on stage! Get ready world! Here come the Starlets!” cried Byulhee as the elevator doors drew to a close and the women began plotting their new scheme.  

Author's Note

*Danseuse- female ballet dancer (French)

Hey everyone! I actually got a chapter done sooner than expected! (I swear, at this rate, you all should just pray that I get sick so that I have time to update. lol) I probably won't have another update though for you for awhile (most likley not until late September with my crazy work schedule being what it is). But I'll try to write what I can in my spare time. :) I'm super excited for all the upcoming chapters! The next chapter will be about the Starlets' first experience with variety shows (Weekly Idol & Knowing Brother). Chapter 16 will focus on "Operation Monroe" and what happens with that. And Chapter 17-- Well, you'll have to wait for that. (; I've got a lot of stuff coming up-- more drama and comedy and... more romance. (; (I can guarantee a new Starlet x Super Junior couple is in the works and will become "an item" within the next five chapters.) There's a LOT of story to go in this, so please be patient with me! I will get to all of the character arcs and love stories in time. Thanks again for all your love and support! I love you all! <3 

Thanks for reading!