It had been a really tough day, they were working on a hard choreography and Shuhua couldn't memorize it, she was always doing mistakes or forgetting a part. She could tell that the dance teacher was mad because of it. When the class stopped the teacher nagged her in front of everybody. Shuhua didn't understand everything but she understood enough to know that it wasn’t great and that she had to get better soon if she wanted to debut.

When everybody left the training room, she stayed to work a bit more on the choreography. They had access to the training rooms almost 24h/day because intensive training was expected of them.

Shuhua took an Ipad in a drawer and started to watch a video of the dance at a slower pace. 

She continued for two hours straight but stopped because she still couldn't replicate the choreography perfectly. She was extremely frustrated with herself. She really wanted to succeed but despite all of her efforts it seemed like she wasn’t able to. Tears started running on her cheeks. She felt so hopeless and worthless right now. She thought that she didn’t left her country and everything to not debut. 

Then the door of the room opened. Miyeon entered and saw the girl crying, she felt awkward right away. She contemplated leaving the room before the other girl saw her, but right when she had this thought Shuhua lifted her head and saw her. The older girl closed the door behind her and came closer to Shuhua. 

She sat next to her and told her :

  - I know how you feel. We have all been here, It's hard for everybody especially at the beginning but if you continue you'll see that it’ll get better. 

Shuhua looked at her, while drying her tears. Miyeon was also staring at her and Shuhua suddenly felt shy about it. It was the first time that she was seeing Miyeon this close and she was indeed extremely pretty. 

  - So now that you seem a bit better, do you mind explaining what happened to me? 

  - Ummm... the.. the dance... I can't... remember - Shuhua was trying her hardest to explain the situation with her limited knowledge of Korean. 

  - You can't memorize the dance? 

  - Yes. 

Miyeon stood up and showed her the steps slowly, following the video's instructions. Next she invited Shuhua to follow her. They danced for about an hour. Shuhua could tell that this time it really helped and she wasn’t making as much mistakes. Being with Miyeon was really calming, the older girl was complimenting her often and it was like her frustration disappeared. Shuhua was extremely grateful. 

Starting from this day they started to train together a lot. Miyeon wasn't the best dancer of the agency, it wasn't her strength but she had enough experience to guide the younger girl and help her. Shuhua was making a lot of progress and she liked to spend time with Miyeon. 

One day after a dance session someone was waiting for them outside the room. Shuhua knew that she was a friend of Miyeon but didn’t really know her.

  - Hey Minnie! What’s up? 

Miyeon turned to Shuhua feeling that she was uncomfortable. 

  - Oh sorry, I don't think that you know each other. Shuhua this is Minnie. Minnie this is Shuhua. 

  - Shuhua! It's nice to meet you, Miyeon talks a lot about you. - Miyeon gave her a slap on the arm. 

  - Ouch! Anyway I know that you're also a foreign trainee right? Well I've been here for much longer than you, actually I’m one of the oldest trainees here and it was also really hard for me at first. I get it, you miss your home, your parents, your friends. But believe me it will pass, I'm sure that you can debut but you need to work hard and not give up.

Shuhua nodded, she could feel her sincerity.  

Actually she started to feel much better the following weeks, she was hanging out with Miyeon quite a lot and sometimes with Minnie as well. Miyeon was extremely patient with her and despite the language barrier it seemed like she was always able to understand her. Miyeon was helping her with literally everything: dancing, singing and even Korean. 

Miyeon also seemed brighter, Shuhua noticed she was no longer fully dressed in black like she used to and she smiled more often. Miyeon also became friends with Yuqi, and the four of them were staying together often. 

One day when they were all eating together, Shuhua exclaimed: 

  - Miyeon you're actually my first friend in Korea. 

  - What about me? - said Yuqi.  

  - It doesn’t count, I meant my very first Korean friend. 

- Still my feelings got hurt - but she was cleary joking, Shuhua smiled at her. 

Someone interrupted them by running into the cafeteria, it was a trainee who seemed anxious. She started to scream and told everybody “You all need to come quickly to the big room, the CEO is coming and he has something important to tell us”. They all looked at each other with puzzled expressions.