December 15th, 2009

Hitomi sighed as she went through the motions of the dance, frustrated by the lack of attention from the trainer. The man was standing against the mirror scrolling through his phone. She exchanged a quick glance with the girl who had introduced herself as Eunsuh earlier that day. They had found out they both here at the company for the same meeting. They had arrived around the same time that the secretary told them to come; the CEO waved them off and told them to go train instead. Hitomi wasn’t sure why they had to come in several hours before the meeting, but she had kept shut, despite how hard it had been. She knew only trouble would come if she mouthed off to the old man. The song playing over the speakers ended. Both her and Eunsuh’s movements ceased, while they tried to keep their breathing under control.

“All right, that’s enough for today.” The trainer said, waving his hand dismissively. “Leave.” Hitomi and Eunsuh stood there for a moment, creating a perfect picture of confusion, before scurrying out of the room. They headed towards the locker rooms side by side. Keeping pace with each other, but didn't speak. Hitomi hadn't spoken even two words to the other girl, despite being close in age and spending the whole day together. Hitomi was beginning to think Eunsuh just didn’t like her. Though she didn’t know for sure. Hitomi glanced out of the corner of her eye at Eunsuh. Communication had never been her strong suit, especially not with people she didn’t know. She kept shut and turned her attention back to the hallway in front of her, not wanting to trip and fall. That would be mortifying.

When they arrived at the locker room, Hitomi made her way to her locker and got changed into nicer clothes. She wanted to look at least presentable for the meeting. The CEO was a creep, and she hated the thought of putting any effort into drawing his attention to her, but it also wasn’t good for her to look sloppy. On the other side of the room, Eunsuh was now also finished changing and was running her fingers through her hair. They made eye contact with each other. Eunsuh smiled at her and then moved closer when Hitomi returned the smile tentatively.

“You ready for this?” Eunsuh asked her. Hitomi just shrugged, not sure.

“I guess.” She said. Eunsuh huffed out a laugh, entertained by Hitomi’s clear disinterest. But, in actuality, Hitomi felt like she couldn’t breathe. She was unsure about what this meeting was for, and she could only hope it wasn’t about them being kicked out of the company. She wasn’t sure where she would go if Star Media decided that they didn’t want her anymore. Her parents would never let her live it down. They hadn’t approved of her decision to join an entertainment company to start with. She was sure they would prefer that she ran one instead. But that wasn’t what she wanted and she would not compromise with her future.

“Well, we had better get going.” Eunsuh said, after a momentary pause. She then held out her hand to Hitomi. Hitomi paused for a moment, not sure what Eunsuh was trying to say. But, when Eunsuh closed her hand several times, Hitomi finally caught on. She flushed slightly before slipping her hand into Eunsuh’s, hoping that her hand didn’t feel too sweaty or clammy. The sudden display of skinship surprised her, but maybe Eunsuh needed some comfort as well. They walked towards the CEO’s office their hands swinging in between them. Hopefully this would be her first day as a member of a group and not her last day at the company. They came to a stop outside of the CEO’s door. Eunsuh reached up and knocked sharply on the door. They waited for a response.

“Come in!” came a polite voice. Eunsuh pushed the door open and pulled Hitomi in behind her. They hung towards the back after bowing to the CEO. As they waited for the meeting to start Hitomi noted the other six people in the room. The CEO was sitting behind his desk, looking old and frail as he always did. There were also people there that Hitomi had never seen before, two women. She figured that they were important. Managers maybe? Then there was Cassandra Kim, the fearsome trainee that Hitomi had so far avoided. The girl had only joined recently, but she was already wreaking havoc among the other trainees. Hitomi was positive that Cassandra could kill her without breaking a sweat.

Next to Cassandra was Kannika Anantasu, another recent addition to the trainee roster. She was extremely beautiful so Hitomi could kind of see why they would want her in the group. If that was what this was about. However, from what Hitomi had heard, Kannika’s grasp on Korean was minimal. Hitomi had meant to talk to the girl, and maybe even helped her with her Korean, but every time she went around the girl she clammed up and couldn’t say a word. The last of the trainees was Oh Chaeyeon, another beautiful trainee. But Hitomi had always gotten weird vibes from the other girl. She seemed nice enough, but Hitomi couldn’t help but feel like the other girl saw her as someone inferior.

The two unknowns continued to murmur with the CEO. Once they finished speaking, the CEO turned his attention to the trainees in front of him and cleared his throat.

“All right, now that everyone's here, let’s get started.” he drawled. He then gestured towards the woman who was standing next to him. “This is Kim Misun, she will be the producer for your group.” Misun bowed politely when they turned their attention to her, Hitomi instinctively bowed back. “I’ll let her explain the rest to you.” he finished leaning back in his chair, looking exhausted. Misun smiled brightly and moved forward. Her whole demeanor looked very laid back.

“As the CEO said, my name is Kim Misun! I’m 22 years young, nice to meet you!” Misun said a cheerful smile crossing her face. “And this is Lee Jiae,” here she gestured towards the older woman she had been speaking to earlier. “She will be your main manager going forward.” The trainees in the room all mumbled various ‘nice to meet you’. The woman nodded in response, but her stern expression didn’t change. Hitomi bit her lip, concerned about the woman’s response. But, Misun drew her attention away from that thought by chattering, waving her arms around while she described the concept for the group. It was confusing because of how much the producer was jumping around. So she nodded and pretended to understand. She could just ask someone else later.

The meeting went on for a little while longer before the CEO dismissed them and told them to return to the company tomorrow to train. They were debuting, it was a little surreal if Hitomi had to be honest. In her shock she allowed Eunsuh to pull her out of the office. The five members walked out of the company together and awkwardly stood out front for a few moments. Cassandra broke the silence by saying,

“Well, I’m ing out of here. Bye.” Hitomi blinked, a little startled by the abrupt words. But, not knowing what else to do she waved awkwardly at the other girl’s back as she walked away. She turned back to look at the other girls. Only to witness Chaeyeon already walking away, not even acknowledging the other members.

And then there were three. Kannika and Eunsuh both looked as surprised as she felt. Eunsuh released a strained laugh.

“Oh, that’s a good start.” She muttered sarcastically. Hitomi just nodded. “Do you guys want to get something to eat?” Eunsuh asked, turning her attention to Hitomi and Kannika.

“Uh, sure?” Hitomi said awkwardly.

“Yeah!” Kannika said. “But, where?” she asked. Hitomi also looks a little lost as she turned to Eunsuh.

“Uh, there’s a cheap samgyupsal place nearby?” Eunsuh suggested. Hitomi sighed quietly in relief, she couldn’t afford much at the moment.

“Cheap is good!” Kannika said, laughing.

“Right?” Eunsuh said. They all laughed, glad to be on the same page.

“Uh, well… let’s go?” Eunsuh said, grabbing Kannika’s hand and pulling her in the general direction of the restaurant. Kannika in turn ended up grabbing Hitomi’s hand and pulling her along.

*****

The three girls sequestered themselves in a small corner table and waited for someone to deliver their meat. It was still a little awkward, and Eunsuh didn't know what to do about it. Both of the girls other than her at the table had quiet personalities, so she didn’t want to chase them off by going in too hard right away. But, Hitomi soon broke the silence, looking awkward and out of place.

“Uh, so how long have you two been training?” Hitomi asked. It surprised Eunsuh, and going by the look on Hitomi’s face, so was she. But, maybe there was a little more to Hitomi than she had expected.

“Well, it’s been about three years for me!” Eunsuh said, “I’m relatively new here, so I’m a little surprised to be a part of the group!” She continued. “I trained at Convex Entertainment for two years before I transferred here.”

“Uh, training?” Kannika asked cautiously. Eunsuh blinked at her in surprise.

“Training?” Hitomi repeated in English, hoping that older girl might understand.

“Oh! Yes!” Kannika said, “Half a year?” She said. Hitomi fell silent in surprise.

“Wow! A year and a half? That’s not long at all!” Eunsuh was a little relieved that Hitomi repeated Kannika’s answer in Korean. It was for both of their benefits. But, it surprised Eunsuh to hear that Kannika didn’t even have a year under her belt. But, it’s not like they were debuting tomorrow. She would have plenty more time to train and learn more Korean.

“And you?” Kannika asked Hitomi cautiously.

“Uh, it’s been two years for me.” Hitomi said calmly, ducking her head.

“Have you been here for the whole time?” Eunsuh asked, digging for more information about the company. And Hitomi.

“Yeah.” Hitomi said. Her tone of voice conveyed her feelings towards the company. Which were not great?

“That bad?” Kannika asked concerned.

“Oh! Not really, just tiring I guess. They treat the trainees well enough, but the trainers are pretty strict.” Hitomi mumbled. Eunsuh cleared before changing the subject.

“So! What do you think about the other two?” Eunsuh asked. Hitomi and Kannika just shrugged.

“Uh, Cassandra-shi seems… scary?” Kannika offered. Hitomi hummed in agreement.

“I’ve never seen her before, maybe she’s a super new trainee?” Hitomi said, “They could have specifically recruited her for the group.”

“Damn, if that’s true I’m jealous.” Eunsuh said, laughing lightly. “Personally, I’m getting weird vibes from Chaeyeon-shi.”

“Oh yeah, she's a bit off.” Hitomi said, “like she seems nice enough, but sometimes she just appears arrogant.” Kannika just shrugged, probably feeling the same.

The conversation became stilted as someone brought the raw meat over to their table. Eunsuh went about cooking it as Kannika and Hitomi both looked on in interest. They were silent for a few moments before Hitomi asked another question.

“What do you think about the concept?” Eunsuh glanced up at her while continuing to cook the meat. The older girl had a confused look on her face as if she wasn’t sure what the concept even was.

“Uh, well I think it has the possibility of being very cringy, but if Misun-shi is a good producer it could be something really cool.” She said simply. Hitomi hummed. Kannika grimaced.

“I don’t understand?” She asked cautiously. Hitomi blinked.

“Oh right! The concept for the group that Misun-shi was talking about earlier.” Hitomi said leaning towards Kannika.

“Oh, I didn’t understand anyth