The new trainee had real potential. Yuna had known it the second Jung Eunbi had opened to sing a few verses. She liked her voice. The tone was soft and even though her technique still needed lots of improvement, Eunbi had mastered one skill that she herself had been struggling with again and again: conveying emotions. Although Yuna was getting better at it since she was practicing hard to truly feel the songs she sang, Eunbi was doing it effortlessly. She was like a fish in the water. She did not even realize that she was doing anything remarkable. It amazed Yuna to no end.

Yuna fully understood why their CEO had asked Jung Eunbi to come back. With the right training, she would be a force to be reckoned with. It certainly did not hurt that she was had natural aegyo that slowly started to surface through her massive shyness – especially when she was around the other Eunbi. And Yuna was sure that when Eunbi was starting to speak more than a couple words to her, she would be nice as well. She only had to gain her trust and become friends. Which she hoped would be soon. She really liked her. She did not care that it might be weird to feel so drawn to someone she had only met a day ago. Jung Eunbi was fascinating.

“Try it again, hold it steady,” Yuna encouraged their newest trainee, trying to stay focused on her task. She and Eunbi were running laps around the other members who were working out in the middle of the practice room. “When you can hold the tone while running, you’ll be able to sing it well during dancing too. Your voice will stop wavering and you won’t have to breathe as hard anymore. It’s all about the lung capacity.”

Eunbi nodded and started the song again, but instead of improving her voice shook more. Confused, Yuna glanced at the panting girl next to her. Eunbi was grimacing slightly and subtly clutching her right side, but she made no move of stopping.

Yuna frowned. Eunbi should have told her that she was not feeling well. It had not been her intention to hurt her. “Alright, Eunbi-ssi, let’s take a break. You have a stitch in your side, don’t you?”

“I’m fine, it’s nothing.”

“We can take a break and wait for it to go away, Eunbi-ssi,” Yuna tried to convince her, slightly slowing down her pace. “We’ve been running in circles for… half an hour already or something. Sometimes I forget the time when I practice. I’m sorry.”

“Yes, you’re making me dizzy, Eunbi-unnie,” their other Eunbi suddenly whined. “Please, for the love of God, stop running. Take a break. Drink some water. Is it time to eat yet, Sojung-unnie?”

Yuna glanced over her shoulder to the girl on the floor as Jung Eunbi finally slowed down. Hwang Eunbi winked at Yuna and gave her a little shrug. It seemed as if even after all these years of no contact the two Eunbis still knew each other very well.

Sojung looked up from where she had been softly conversing with Yerin during the workout. “You’re on diet, Eunbi-ya.”

“A little food never hurt anyone. It’s just salad anyway!”

“Don’t let the others in the company hear you,” Yerin muttered, rolling her eyes. “It’s never just a salad. It’s never a little food. It’s always the end of the world.”

“Fine, whatever,” Hwang Eunbi mumbled before turning to her namesake. “I bet you didn’t miss the diet and workouts, right, Unnie?”

Jung Eunbi glanced down to the floor before giving her a shrug. Without another comment, Hwang Eunbi reached for the water bottle and handed it to her unnie. Yuna doubted that they had already talked privately to each other about the past few years, but she knew they would as soon as there was time and the right amount of privacy.

An arm was thrown around her shoulder and Yuna looked to her side where Yerin-unnie was standing. She had not even noticed that Yerin had approached her. Sometimes she was just too deep in her thoughts to process things like these.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Yerin said quietly. “Is she any good, Yuna-ya?”

Yerin kept her eyes firmly trained on the two Eunbis. The younger one was teasing the older one about her height, causing her to pout and lightly stomp with her feet. It was refreshing to see that Jung Eunbi was not always the quiet girl and Yuna hoped that she would soon start trusting them enough to let the walls down. Yuna would like a friend of the same age with whom she was able to talk casually. And it would be nice to share singing advice with someone.

“If you’re right with your assumption that I will become the main vocalist of this group, then you’re looking at our future lead vocalist, Unnie,” Yuna answered in a quiet yet confident voice. She did not want anyone else to overhear their conversation. Yerin shot her a startled look, but Yuna nodded firmly. “She only needs the right techniques and we’ll get there in time. She is it. She has something special.”

“But two months?” Yerin mumbled, frowning. “Will she be ready in two months? You know how long it took until you were where you are now. I know how long it took me. Two months is ridiculous. She will never be able to do it.”

“Not with this attitude she won’t, Unnie,” Yuna replied. “You helped me out a lot when I first started. You showed me everything I needed to know. We need to encourage her and tell her that she can do it, or she’ll stop trying. She knows that it’s nearly impossible to achieve that in such a small amount of time, you don’t have to tell her that. She knows. And yet she’s determined to get through this and make her dream come true. What stops you from supporting her?”

“She’s a quitter,” Yerin whispered back. “What makes you so sure that she’ll stay when she notices just how difficult it is? Once a quitter, always a quitter, you know that. It already breaks my heart that our Eunbi is getting so excited about having her old friend back only for her to lose her again at one point. It doesn’t help our group either. How are we supposed to debut when we don’t have six members? It will be all for nothing!”

“Is that why you keep your distance? Don’t look at me like that, Unnie, it’s obvious. You almost never talk to her.”

Yerin sighed and leaned her head against Yuna’s shoulder. “It’s not like she talks to us either. She’s always silent.”

“She’s shy,” Yuna countered. “Just look how she acts around Eunbi. She’s still reserved, but you can tell that she’s more comfortable with her because she has known her as a child. It’s important that we’re nice to her or she will never get over her shyness. You don’t know why she quit. We don’t know the reason. But the thing we do know is that she decided to come back, Unnie. She knew exactly what was awaiting her, but here she is. She’s a fighter.”

Yerin remained silent for a moment, carefully observing the two Eunbis. “You believe in her?”

Yuna nodded firmly. “I have absolutely no doubt that she’ll make it. I’ll keep doing vocal exercises with her and with Eunbi bringing her up to speed with dancing, we won’t have too much to worry about. She helps me a lot and goes way beyond her future role as a main dancer in this. I can only imagine how much work she’ll put in to get her unnie up to speed.”

Yerin bit her lip and furrowed her brow. “We might need to look out for her. Our Eunbi forgets her limits sometimes.”

Yuna smiled and rested her head against Yerin’s that was still leaning against her shoulder. “We always do, Unnie.  We look out for each other. And now we have a sixth one to look out for as well.”

“We shall see,” Yerin sighed. “I’m still not convinced and I will not get too attached, Yuna-ya. My heart just cannot take it anymore. Everyone always leaves. If I let another one in right now and she leaves…”

Her heart broke at hearing the quiet words from her unnie. Yerin had a soft heart, a warm heart, a heart that was easily breakable. While she herself was not all that different either, Yerin lived with her heart on her sleeve. It was one of the things Yuna admired her deeply about. It was responsible for the enormous joy, the childlike smiles, and the most caring side. However, this heart was also responsible for tears that would not stop coming, for hurt and pain that could not be easily brushed off. Yuna could understand why Yerin held her distance from Jung Eunbi. She did not like it, but she could understand.

Her eyes found Jung Eunbi’s across the room. She held her gaze for a split second before Eunbi quickly looked into the other direction.

No, Jung Eunbi would not follow the others and leave them. Yuna would do everything in her power to get Eunbi to stay. They would make it. She would make it. Yuna was sure of it.