Screams echoed the whole studio as I did the final pose with my group members, my chest heaving up and down. It was moments like this that reminded me of how much I loved dancing and how thankful I was to have been able to debut. I loved the crowd. I loved the stage. I loved the adrenaline. I loved performing. I loved my 7 team members. We bowed, waving at our ever growing and supportive fanbase, as we ran down the stage. Originating in Starship, many people had high expectations from us because of how successful Sistar and Monsta X was. As I was assigned the role of the leader of the whole team, I felt somewhat responsible for the success of the group and I was thankful that the nation was accepting of us. We bowed as we walked past a few senior performers.

            “Girls, rest up for today. We have a meeting with the CEO tomorrow,” our manager said as he entered our dressing room. Jen, the youngest and our only other English speaker of the group of 8 girls, popped her head out of the changing room curtain.

            “What? Why? Is he not happy with something we did?” she asked, worry filled her eyes as she looked at our manager. The manager smiled, shaking his head. The rest of the girls looked at Jen, and smiled to ourselves knowing how worried she could get. Most of us were between the ages of 18-21 but only Jen was 17, making her all the more precious to us. By us, that includes our makeup artists and managers.

            “No, it’s a surprise, a good one though,” manager raised his right palm up, reassuring all of us, “he said you girls will see tomorrow.” He left the room to let us finish up. Jen grinned as her concerns resolved and went behind the curtain to change out of her performance outfit. Well, after abandoning her whole high school life in the US for this debut, she treasures this more than everyone else in the group. We all had sacrifices we had to make too, but it could never beat the passion Jen had for performing. She wasn’t scouted, she auditioned time and time again. When she got into Starship, she worked harder than ever. After we all got changed, our managers drove us back to our dorms.

~

Plopping down on my bed, thoughts about tomorrow’s meeting started floating into my head. What could be so important that he had to see us in person?

            “Maybe we’re going to get our own concert!” Sooji said as shot up from her bed, her red hair whooshing in front of her face. I laughed looking at her messy hair. I hadn’t realized I said my thoughts out loud.

“Ayeeee, there’s no way. We’re barely a year into debut, I don’t think that’s possible.” Shaking my head, I looked at Sooji as she pouted. Sooji’s dream was to sing her own solo on stage. I had trained the longest with her, and we both were pretty much best friends. We were both each other’s support systems. There were times where we weren’t even sure if we would be able to perform, for her to sing and for me to dance on stage. The room became silent for a while until a chirpy voice broke the silence.

“Oh! Maybe we’re going to get our own variety show,” said Hyewon, her head peeking from the bunk above my bed. Sooji and I looked at her and then nodded, agreeing at the possibility of it. Hyewon loved variety shows and she has the right skills for them. She talked well, and was always there to pick up the pieces whenever the members said something embarrassing on camera. As if on cue, Jinni walked in with a towel wrapped around her head.

“Guys! I heard from Junhui that they’re coming to Starship tomorrow!” She said excitedly, looking up from her phone. We looked at her, confused.

“Oh sorry, I meant Jun. Like Seventeen’s Jun,” she smiled sheepishly. Jinni was the only Chinese member of our group because Starship, just like many other companies, wanted to join the bandwagon of having more multi-national groups in Starship to help promotions. Jinni had been in the same middle school as Junhui back in Shenzhen, and became even closer friends after joining the same industry.

“Are you sure Junhui isn’t coming over to meet you?” Sooji said, raising her eyebrows playfully at Jinni. Jinni laughed and shook her head, walking over to the dresser. She grabbed the hairdryer and started drying her hair. Hyewon groaned and covered her ears with her pillow, being the light sleeper she is. Jinni’s hair was the longest at this moment, so it took her forever to dry it. I laughed at Hyewon’s reaction. Nothing would affect me falling asleep, and they all knew that.

“Goodnight girls!” I said, in between giggles. I did simple breathing exercises and gradually slipped into dreamland.

I woke up and was greeted by a text message in our Kakao group chat by our manager.

Manager Park 8:37a.m

Girls, meet at Room 506 at 10.30a.m. later. Don’t be late!!!

Jen 8:40a.m

Yessir!

I groaned, and checked the time: 8.55am. I made sure everyone was up before heading to the bathroom to wash up. By 10a.m., all of us were ready except Nari, which was no surprise to us.

            “Will you hurry up!” Nara, her twin sister yelled from the living room making everyone jump. Our group’s twin sisters were the complete opposite of each other and the only thing they had in common were their faces and their synchronized dance skills. They were born only a minute apart and were the second youngest after Jen.

            “I’m almost done!” Nari yelled from her shared room with Jen and Nara. Nara groaned.

            “Why am I related to her?” she mumbled to herself, but loud enough for the rest of us to hear. We just chuckled, used to their morning banters.

I checked my phone again: 10:15a.m.

            “Sori, some of you go with her to the company first. We’ll catch up after Nari is done.” I said to Sori. Sori B., the oldest member of the team and the only person I never had to nag at because she practically shares the role of being the leader with me. Although she was older, I was appointed the leader for knowing the ropes of the company better. But the girls listened to Sori more because of her strong independent woman vibe. Sori was scouted at an underground hip-hop concert after a freestyle rap session, hence naturally the rapper in our team.

            Sori left to the company, leaving only the twins, Sooji and I. When Nari was finally ready, we had to alternate between speed-walking and jogging so we wouldn’t be late.

Sori B. 10.32a.m.

Are you girls here yet? Everyone’s waiting for you guys!

Everyone? Who else is there? I thought to myself.

The four of us finally got to the building, 5 minutes late and running out of breath. We walked to the room and I took a deep breath before opening the door. My eyes widened at the number of people in the room.

“Sorry.”  We all said profusely, bowing at everyone as we entered the room.

            “I told you not to be late.” The manager’s voice echoed through the room, making me jump as I didn’t see him sitting behind the door. I mouthed a ‘sorry’ at him, before paying extra attention to the meeting. I apologized again to the CEO, and he nodded in response. I noticed another smart-looking man next to him, so I bowed and apologized to him as well. He just flashed a relaxed smile at me.

            “Alright, now we can start the meeting,” Starship’s CEO started off, “this is Pledis’ CEO.” I gestured to the man sitting next to him. The girls stood up and once again greeted him.

            “And as you girls can tell, this is Seventeen.” Our CEO said. I looked around the room, seeing all the familiar faces and greeting them. I couldn’t connect the dots between the names and the boys just yet, as we never promoted at the same time and only ever briefly greeted each other at joint concerts.

            “Now last year, Monsta X & Seventeen’s collaboration stage was such a success that we want you both to collaborate for this year’s award shows.” The whole room nodded in silence.

            “We know it’s still a while before the year-end award shows, but we want you kids to have a grasp in making the whole performance; choreography, remixes, and concept. I know the girls have no experience in that, but I’d like you girls to take this opportunity to try it and learn something from it.” Pledis’ CEO spoke. The