19 years ago

These past few weeks have been getting more and more tiring and busy. 
 

The agency just recently announced that they will start selecting trainees for their new girl group which they will announce the year after they select six trainees that fit the vision with the group they want. 

The third evaluation is soon and there are only 10 girls left before the final announcement is made for the 6 girls who will be able debut into the group that everyone has been working hard for. 

Out of ten girls, I knew three of them which were Sojung, Xiao and Jiyeon which was very surprising to me as they were my close friends. Who I knew if my friends and I would be the ones to make it. We would get along very well and our group chemistry would be something else. 

I didn’t know the six other girls that well apart from the two who I see often at the dorms. They were a duo who were known for their heights. One girl who was very slender and tall with a beautiful figure, Dawon, and her best friend who is small and cute, Luda. Dawon is often quiet at classes and keeps to herself but Luda seems to keep herself occupied with chattering to Dawon. They were literally the definition of two peas in a pod. 

It was around 12am and I just went back to my room from staying back in one of the training rooms after practising some extra hours before the last evaluation which was a few days away.

I plopped my whole body onto the bed and turned to see if the other bed was occupied, surprisingly it wasn’t. Often when I came late from training, Jiyeon would be in bed already to practise very very early in the morning. 
 

I forced myself out of bed to find my best friend with a fresh towel and cold water bottle from our fridge to give to her. I went down to the training rooms to find only one had the lights on with a small sound of shoes tapping against the wooden floor. 

I quietly went through the doors that were opened to observe her. She was sweating a lot as there was a lot of sweat visible on her forehead and along with her being out of breath. 

I didn’t want to disturb her session so I waited until she finished dancing to one of the songs before knocking on the door I was leaning on, waved and smiled at her. 

She gave me a half smile before laying flat on the ground. I went over to her and gave her the bottle of water and went down on my knees to wipe the sweat on her forehead. 

“Jiyeon! It’s time for you to rest. You already woke up around 6am to have some extra practise. You should sleep now.” I scolded while frowning at her as I was concerned with her wellbeing. 

I knew that she was going to keep up like this until the evaluation was over. I didn’t want her to push herself too hard as there could be any moment where she could collapse due to lack of sleep or not eating or drinking enough water. 

She grabbed my right hand that was wiping her forehead and held it as she propped herself up from laying on the ground to look at me from eye level. I could feel my heart speeding up as I thought to myself for my heart that it wasn’t the time now. 

“Xuan Yi, I know... I know… you always nag about it to me these past few weeks but I couldn’t help but fit in a little more extra time to brush up on my moves.” She looked at me with her puppy eyes asking me for permission to let her be.