Tiffany and Jessica hated each other. It could have been due to the naturally imbued rivalry that was crackled between them the moment they set eyes on each other for no reason at all, or it could have been stemming from the fact that other trainees and directors alike pit them against each other. Wherever Tiffany went she was deemed as Jessica’s pacemaker, and it was the vice versa for Jessica.

Tiffany still clearly remembered how she got to meet the legendary trainee named Jessica Jung on her first day as a trainee after she was scouted by some big-deal-hot-shot celebrity who discovered Tiffany’s Youtube channel where she mostly posted herself singing covers (Rumour had it that it was THE Krystal). She was ushered in a wide practice room surrounded by floor to ceiling mirrors, with clumps of two to three trainees sitting together on the floor practicing acapella versions of some pop song in various volumes. Fidgeting the pockets of sweat collecting between the creases of her palms, Tiffany looked over her shoulder with a frozen face to study her mother and the sound director who conducted her audition, immersed in quiet but polite conversation. From the corner of her eye, she could see members of already established Idol members walking about in the hallways, raucous and with glaringly neon hair colours.

Feeling the nervous gaze, Tiffany’s mother glanced back at Tiffany to shoot her a reassuring smile- and Tiffany could feel the frog leap in when the same loud and brash idol members flanked her to swarm inside the practice room. The moment they did, the trainees jumped to their feet in a hearty greet, and Tiffany let herself get pushed into a corner.

Then she saw her. A platinum blonde girl who seemed impossibly skinny with a heavily disinterested (or at least stoic) expression walking in with her arms crossed. One of the idol member, Tiffany vaguely remembered his name as being something like Donghee or Donghae, trailed beside her, whispering something in to the side of her head. When she walked in, the whole room seemed to erupt in obvious but controlled whispers, and Tiffany could catch the name “Jessica” being passed around like a fast-paced word game of duck, duck, goose. When Tiffany shot another glance out the door to catch another glance of her mother, mostly because she was beginning to feel alienated that this was the kind of place where people talked about you outright, the hallway was already empty.

A quick tap on her shoulder brought her attention away, and when Tiffany looked up, she saw a trainee, long hair pulled back in a half-bun, grinning down at her with a youthful face. She was one of the trainees belting out a soprano note in one of the clumps practising the acapella number on the floor. Tiffany instinctively knew that this girl was younger than her, even with the height difference.

“Hi. I’m Juhyun.”

“Hello. I’m Tiffany.”

-

It took her a month to get used to the idea of being a trainee, and another two months to get used to her packed schedule of just studying and training. And it took her another two months after that, that earned Tiffany her first medal of honour; a badly twisted ankle after a miscalculated dance move, two days before their end-of-month Performance Review. Her dance partner grimaced as he studied the swelling ankle, biting down on his bottom lip as he saw the whites of Tiffany’s knuckles as he peeled off the sock from the injured foot. Tiffany hissed as it came off, and he shot his head up in apology.

“ girl, you’re not walking this off, that’s for sure.”

He drawled out as he set the foot down and helped Tiffany up to her good foot to stand. Tiffany grabbed his bicep and squeezed, looking up at him with a hardened frown marring her eyes.

“I’m so sorry Jonghyun…”

“Hey, don’t worry. Prepping another routine for myself shouldn’t take that long,” Jonghyun beamed down at Tiffany, lending his hand to walk her out of the practice room. “Besides, dance isn’t our specialty anyways.”

Jonghyun’s comment managed to break Tiffany’s frown; she breathed out a non-committal chuckle as she hobbled to the lounge area. Scrounging the company lounge freezer for a pack of ice, Tiffany called back to Jonghyun over her shoulder to reply, “You’re right, we’re main vocalist material.”

While her fingertips felt the smooth glide of the ice pack beneath mountains of popsicle cartons, Tiffany heard a rather sharp cross of a scoff and a chortle from behind her. Expecting to see an amused Jonghyun as she pivoted on her good foot with the ice pack in her hands, she was surprised to see Jessica, her presence not so unlike the icepack in her very hands, leering up at her. Jonghyun ambled to the side, looking uncomfortable while rubbing down his nape.

“… That’s not funny,” Jessica’s voice, a trill sound that felt like a fine piano string dipped in acid in a harsh sounding statement.

“Jess-” Jonghyun attempted to intervene.

“No, you should know better Jong. Why do you baby her?”

Tiffany didn’t appreciate that comment. She didn’t appreciate it one bit.

“Hey! Chill out, it’s just a joke,” Tiffany half growled out between mashed teeth. Jessica only scoffed and threw her hair over her shoulder in a sign of malcontent.

“Well not to me. I’m glad this is all a joke to you, and while that’s great, don’t bring other trainees down with your lack of talent,” Jessica hissed, and before making a brisk exit, she pointed a finger up to Jonghyun and let out a pretty convincing, “And stop encouraging the newbies with bull. Main vocalist material my - it pisses me off to think these children who can’t even count their steps think that they’re going to debut.”

Following Jessica’s dramatic diva exit, Juhyun promptly walked in with a bottle of water in hand, lists of hair matted with sweat to her temple and neck. Sensing the tense and unusual awkward air between Jonghyun and Tiffany, Juhyun gulped down the mouthful of water and let out a drawn-out whistle. She then followed up her whistle with a simple statement that had both Jonghyun and Tiffany snort, “Woowww. What a .”

-

Tiffany squirmed underneath the covers, the summer sheets rippling under the low evening breeze from the open window.  Juhyun laid to her side, her chin propped up on a hand while the other played with the strands of Tiffany’s bangs.

“She’s just bitter.”

Tiffany looked up from picking at her own cuticles to meet Juhyun’s distracted gaze.

“Who?” She asked, and Juhyun promptly replied,

“Jessica.”

Tiffany puffed out a sigh before going back to analysing her cuticles. “The poster child for success? SM’s favorite? Bitter?? Uh-huh.”

Juhyun lightly slapped Tiffany’s knuckles when she began peeling away a layer of loose skin around her nailbed. (‘Ow, let me be,’)

“Think about it. Jessica was scouted for just her looks alone when she was 10. She’s been training for 9 years since then… It’s her entire life,” Juhyun leaned in to emphasize, and Tiffany rolled her eyes. She knew Juhyun was right, but she wasn’t willing to let her best friend in on that bit of info.

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