[[YENA’S POV]]

“YENA-YAAAA! YENA-YAAAA!”

“YENA-YAAAA! Wake up! You’re gonna be late! ” says my human alarm clock. No, I mean, my mom. Expect it. If your alarm clock fails to wake you up every morning, you will have another alarm clock, a much louder one, and there’s nothing you can do about it but to wake up. Because if you don’t, expect the worse.

“Ughhh! Mom, just 5 more minutes!”  I turned to the side and covered my ear with my pillow. Because I know what’s gonna happen next.

“YENA-YAAA! Don’t make me come to you! I’m telling you! Come grab your food here! Now!” My mom shouted from the kitchen.

“Ughh! Fine! I’m coming!” I quickly sat down on the side of my bed and slowly open my puffy eyes. I slowly walked towards the mirror, and looked up myself intently. There’s not a thing that I’m confident about myself. I’m not that pretty, and I think I’m just an average well-balanced trainee. I can sing, dance, and rap but I’m not that really good, compared to the other trainees in which they have their own specialty. But I really worked hard for the past few years, and I have this special someone in my heart, and who had no idea that she gave me inspiration to live my dreams.

I washed up my face and went through the kitchen. I saw my dad in the dining room, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper.

“Hey dad, good morning!” I said enthusiastically while walking near the kitchen.

“Good morning sweetie! So today’s the big day huh.” My dad said, while still looking on the newspaper.

“Ummm. Yeaaaah” I took out the cereal from our kitchen cabinet and when I’m about to get the milk from the fridge, my mom saw me and stopped me.

“Yena, you should eat proper food. You need a lot of energy for today.” She suggested, while taking the milk and the cereal off my hand.

“But mom….”

“No sweetie. Today is your big day. So eat a proper meal. ” She went on the other side of the kitchen to get something. “ Here, eat this. I cooked your favorite food.” She gave me the food and patted my head.

“But mom…”

“I said no, sweetie”

“But mom, can I eat the cereal after this?” I looked at her with the I-Know-You-Cannot-Resist-My-Cuteness Face while pouting my lips. My mom chuckled. “Fine, but not too much, okay?”

“Okay!” I said happily while walking towards the dining room to join my father, eating. I sat down in front of him. He looked at my face, especially my eyes, because it is noticeable and it is really puffy.

“Why are your eyes like that? Did you break up with your boyfriend?” My dad teasingly asked me.

My eyes got bigger, and I choked on my food, literally. I immediately drink a glass full of water, while my dad is laughing at me.

“Whaaaat!? DAD! I don’t have a boyfriend!” and I don’t even bother to have one.

“Then why are your eyes like that?” he said while wiping his tears from laughing so much.

“I ummm… I just….”

Luckily, my brother went out from his room, so all of the attention is on him now.

“What’s the commotion is all about? I woke up because of dad’s laughter. It is much louder than mom’s waking up voice every morning” my brother teasingly said, while wiping his eyes.

“Yaaaa! Choi Sung Min! What did you say?!” my mom shouted, while holding her house slipper in her right hand, and she’s about to spank my brother.

“Hahahaha! I’m sorry mom. I’m just kidding!” my brother said, while trying to run from my mother’s incoming attack. They are running back and forth inside the house. Obviously, my father joined them. They are like little children playing in the playground. As expected from the Choi Family. I just laughed at them. I’m supposed to join them, but I chose not to, because I’m eating. I know my priorities.

After a few minutes of riot in this house, we all continued eating. Of course, I’m still eating, but this time I’m eating the cereal.

“Anyway Yena, back to the last question, why are your eyes puffy?” my dad asked me.

My brother and I both seated oppositely to each other, and then he looked at me with the Should-I-Save-You? Face. My big bro and I are very close. That’s why we always got each other’s back in times like this.

“Ummm. I cannot sleep last night.” I said while looking down at my cereal. I could sense that my brother is looking at me, confusedly.

“Why can’t you sleep last night?” my dad continued asking.

“I ummmm….”

“Because she’s just excited for today. Because today is the first day of shooting of Produce 48, and she will just miss us all. Right, Yena?” my brother said while giving me the You-Owe-Me-Bigtime look.

“Ummm yeah, yeah. Big bro is right” I smiled and nodded.

“I see, we will miss our baby girl too.” My dad said a little sadly, and we all continued finishing our meals.

 I sighed. I hope no one noticed it.

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[[YENA’S POV]]

I went back to my room to get my bag and luggage, and sat down on the corner of my bed for a mean time. Today is finally the day. This is the day I’ve been waiting for. After a long hour of pre-interview, practice and training, today is the day where I can show off all of my talent and skills. I lay down and stared at the ceiling, and sighed loudly. Am I able to do this? I wish I wouldn’t mess up our group performance in our first evaluation. What am I gonna do? This pressure is killing me.

I checked my phone, and mindlessly went to my saved videos. I saw this one particular video that I saved almost a year ago. It was HER video. This is the first video of her performance in Idol School where she caught my eyes.  I watched it again. I couldn’t even count how many times I already watched this video; I almost memorize every detail of her singing and dancing in her performance of Whistle by BLACKPINK. Despite of the controversies about that performance, I still can’t stop watching it all over again. My mind exploded when she did that last dance step.

Then suddenly, I realized something. I quickly stood up and checked my luggage. I quickly removed some stuff inside my luggage one by one. “Is it here? Did I bring it?” I’m having a little panic attack. “Oh my god, where the hell is it?” Some of my clothes and snacks are already on the floor. When I’m about to reach the bottom of my luggage, I finally found it. “There it is! I thought I lost it!” I sighed out of relief.

I sat down on the floor, while holding this important thing in my hand. This thing keeps me up all night. Because of this, my eye bags got heavier. When I’m about to open it, I heard my brother’s loud voice at my door.

“Yooo Yena! Come on! We are goi----”

Out of panic, I quickly hid this thing inside my shirt.

“What are you doing here!? Can you at least knock!?” I said all of a sudden.

“Okaaaaay. I’m sorry. Just chill out. Woaaah. Wait a minute, what the hell happened in your luggage? Why are all of your stuffs are on the floor. Are you changing your mind? Will you not go to the show?” He asked me confusedly.

“No! It’s just…. I’m ummmm…. I’m just checking if I Ieft something behind” I said without looking at him.

“Ohhh. Okay, just let me know when you’re ready, I’ll start the car engine.” He said and left.

I almost caught. Why am I so bad at hiding some secrets? I put that thing inside my backpack instead of my luggage. I said good bye to my mom and my dad. They wish me well for my success. I will never fail them, and I will make them proud for having a daughter like me. Then, I went inside my brother’s car. He will be the one who will drop me off in my agency, Yue Hua Entertainment. During the car ride, I’m really nervous about still what happened a while ago, and this first day of filming of Produce 48. It feels like my first day of school. Finally, my brother breaks the silence by playing his playlist inside the car.

♪♪Now Playing: Roller Coaster by Chung Ha ♪♪

My brother and I danced and sing-along inside the car. It helped me to release the stress and anxiety I’m experiencing right now.

When we’re on our destination, I went outside the car.

“Yena-yaaa, I wish you well! Remember, that oppa is always here for you. Okay?” He waved good bye at me.

“Yes! Thank you oppa! Tell mom and dad that I love them so much and I will do the best I can” I said enthusiastically.

He gave me a finger heart and left.

My friends, Kim Si Hyun and Wang Yi Ren, were already outside the building. They waved at me when they saw me. I happily walked towards them, and I can see the excitement and nervousness on their faces. We went inside the meeting room, for the final words of encouragement from our management. After that, we went outside to wait for the van to pick us up to go to the shooting place of Produce 48. When we got there, we left our bags inside a room and checked our attendance there. The staffs told us how things will flow inside the studio once the filming starts and what were the things that we should know. They put us in a holding area before the official filming starts.

“I’m really nervous. I don’t know what to do.” Yi Ren said.

“Ugh, me too. I joined Produce 101 before, but I still get nervous. I hope I won’t get an “F” this time” Si Hyun added.

“Don’t worry! Don’t worry! We practiced really hard. We will get high grades!” I assured them with a big thumbs up. I wanted  to  give my friends my bright energy to cheer them up.

“Yue Hua Entertainment trainees, please stand by, we will about to start.” The staff said.

We stood up and group hugged each other.

“Let’s debut together!” we declared.

We left the holding area and went to the crystal-like room to start the shooting process.

While walking, I realized I left something.

"Oh no! I left my hair tie on the chair. I will get it. I'll be back quick" I started to run back to the holding area.

Suddenly, I don't undertand why my heart skips a beat.

Meanwhile....

STAFF: "Stone Music Entertainment trainees, welcome to Produce 48. This is the holding area. Please take a seat, while waiting for your turn to film."

Thank you for reading! <3

Follow me on instagram and twitter: @yenaxyuri

REFERENCES:

The Choi Family

The YueHua Girls

Choi Yena likes Chungha