DISCLAIMER: Everything that happened behind the scenes in gp999 for this fic is purely fictional!!! Just my imagination of what happened for all the Ziyin-Chaehyun stans out there :] Enjoy!

I wish upon the stars that you’d have your dreams come true.

One day.

____

The first time that Chaehyun noticed Ziyin was when her team chose YES or YES, being the team who’s up against her own team in the first mission.

But when Chaehyun thought about it, it might have been during the audition stage, when she heard Ziyin speaking Korean fluently in YES or YES team 2, and it seemed like they chose her to be their leader just a few minute’s time after they sat down for discussion.

Ziyin caught her attention was actually because of her fluency in Korean, since the Planet Masters were able to talk to her without using a translator, which also left a nice impression for the Korean trainees as well.

She should be an unnie who’s easy to communicate with, right?

They became closer once they started to practise YES or YES together. Chaehyun even got to know that Ziyin had once passed SM’s auditions, alongside with JYP and CUBE’s, when both teams sat down for a chat after a tiring practice. But Ziyin had never become a trainee in Korea even though she passed the auditions.

“If unnie had become an SM trainee, maybe we would’ve known each other earlier,” Chaehyun smiled at Ziyin as she said.

Ziyin hummed a “yeah” as she smiled a little at Chaehyun, too.

After their practices that day, Ziyin walked beside Chaehyun on their way back to their dorms.

“Chaehyun-ah.”

“Yeah?” Chaehyun replied, turning to look at Ziyin, visibly confused.

“What was it like…to be an SM trainee?”

Chaehyun stopped in her tracks to look at Ziyin who was looking at the starry sky, trying to search for a hint of regret on the older’s face.

But there was none.

Maybe she was just curious what it’s like – if she had become an SM trainee, what would she be like right now?

And that was why five minutes later, Chaehyun found herself sitting cross-legged with Ziyin at the end of the corridor outside their dorms where they could see the night sky, telling Ziyin about her trainee life for the past few years.

They should be returning to their respective rooms to clean up and rest, but they talked about anything and everything for a very long time instead.

There was a moment when they both sat quietly, looking at the starry sky of Seoul, until Chaehyun asked, “Unnie, have you ever regretted?”

“Regretted not being a trainee under SM, JYP or CUBE?” Ziyin asked.

“Mhm. If you became their trainee and with your talents…you could have debuted as a TWICE, Red Velvet or (G)I-DLE member.”

Just like what she experienced, she once thought she would be able to debut as the new SM girl group member, with just a slight slip of chance…

Ziyin laughed a little, shaking her head as she noticed how Chaehyun was looking at her with a confused look, “Instead of thinking about the ‘what-ifs’ from the past, I think it’s better to think about the possibilities in the future and work hard to make our dreams come true.”

The words from Ziyin hit Chaehyun’s heart on the right spot, which left her thinking about it for a very long time.

Yeah, everyone is working hard to chase their dreams, that’s why they’re here – even for herself, she wants to hold tightly onto this opportunity to debut that is right in front of her, and she didn’t really think about the what-ifs for her past too.

 

After that night, the two of them would exchange techniques of singing, polishing their choreographies and more when they have the time. Although they were in two different teams, they helped each other to solve some problems within their teams too.

So when Chaehyun saw Ziyin opening the door for the group of 6 for the combination mission, she was really happy. So she stood there, spreading her arms as she waited for Ziyin to come into her embrace.

“There’s my favourite girl!!” Was what Ziyin said as she jogged towards her as she smiled.

“I’m really happy that unnie came to My Sea team,” after they were done hugging each other and stood side by side, waiting for the rest of their members, Chaehyun said, “We can finally perform a stage together, Xu laoshi (A/N: laoshi means teacher in Chinese).”

Ziyin laughed a little when she heard the awkward pronunciation of “Xu laoshi” from Chaehyun, and taught her how to pronounce the three Chinese words properly, word by word.

As expected, Ziyin became the leader for My Sea team again, they got their preferred parts peacefully and moved their dorms to live with their new cells the same night.

The period for preparing and practising before the performance wasn’t too long nor too short, they still had the chance to sit down and rest while chatting once in a while, especially about their cultures (and food).

However, Chaehyun felt that Ziyin’s mood went down recently.

She remembered seeing Ziyin going to the hospital with the other trainees together, so she pondered a little before she sat on the floor beside Ziyin’s bed when Shana went to the other dorms to chat.

Before she gathered enough courage to ask, Ziyin started as she put her folded washed clothes into the small cupboard just on top of her bed.

“Chaehyun-ah, I might –”

Chaehyun heard Ziyin taking a very deep breath.

“– not be able to continue anymore.”

“Huh?”

How…what happened…?

Her shock and confusion made Ziyin smile a little and proceeded to ruffle her hair as an attempt to comfort Chaehyun, “It’s not really something big, just…health issues.”

“Unnie…” Chaehyun felt as if there was a lump in that made it hard for her to swallow, and her chest was feeling unwell at the same time, “Are you going to withdraw from the show?”

“I’m still not sure how it’s going for the production team,” Ziyin sighed a little, turning so that she could face Chaehyun properly. “The doctor advised me to quit the show.”

“Is it that serious?”

Ziyin gave her a smile, hoping to comfort Chaehyun but there was only a helpless expression present on her face. “I don’t know how to explain the situation, but…I guess I will be withdrawing from the show.”

Chaehyun fell silent. As a person who’s also chasing her dream of debuting in a girl group, she really wanted to tell Ziyin to hold on and continue the show, but at the same time, having a healthy body is more important than anything…

Unnie’s really sad too, right? She must have mustered up a lot of courage to participate in a survival show again, but things had turned out like this.

Chaehyun didn’t know what more she could say to Ziyin, so she reached out her hand to hold Ziyin’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, hoping what she was going to say will give her unnie some strength.

“No matter what unnie decides to do, I will support you.”

Chaehyun understands the feeling of being so close to your dream but you just had to let the opportunity slip away, more than anyone.

So she stood up and climbed onto Ziyin’s bed, giving the older who always looked like she’s the strongest unnie a hug.

“One day, unnie will have your dream come true too. No matter where and how.”

“I will surely be one of your fans.”

In exchange, there was only Ziyin’s small but sincere “thank you”.

Along with rhythmic pats on Chaehyun’s back and gentle ruffles on her head.

 

The performance for My Sea went quite well, although Jiyoon was kind of disappointed with her mistake, but Chaehyun, Ziyin and the other members were comforting her that she did great regardless.

My Sea is a hard song to perform, so it was not her fault.

Most of the trainees had already known that Ziyin was going to quit the show, so when the second mission was done, a lot of them came to tell Ziyin that she gave a great performance.

Chaehyun sat beside Ziyin and agreed with their compliments for her Ziyin unnie.

Ziyin didn’t show how much she will miss this, only laughing along with the girls as they chat together.

 

The day after their second mission’s performance, they were called to receive their song for the third mission, chosen by their fans. The songs all sounded great, so Chaehyun was curious which one she would get voted for.

She was also quite curious Ziyin’s song choice too…

Chaehyun turned a little to look at Ziyin who was sitting right next to Jiyoon beside her.

But she won’t be able to see her performance for this mission, right?

Half an hour later, Chaehyun sat cross-legged in the Utopia team, watching them choose the leader, then the killing part, the main vocalist…

Ziyin didn’t raise her hand for any position this time.

They returned to their dorms after a short practice session for the day, and after a simple wash up, Chaehyun, Ziyin and Shana gathered together to talk about the elimination that was going to happen a few days later.

“I’m actually quite scared and worried,” Shana said as she hugged her knees tight.

“Don’t be, you can do this,” Ziyin said, giving her a comforting smile.

Chaehyun nodded too, “You did great in this performance, so don’t worry.”

“Unnie…” Shana looked at Ziyin with a complicated look. “Did you really quit the show?”

“Yeah. I’ve told the production team to just eliminate me during the ranking announcements, so that the others would have a chance to get into the next round. I don’t want someone else to lose the chance of surviving this round just because of my health issue,” Ziyin said, “Although my journey here is coming to an end soon…”

Chaehyun heard a small sigh from Ziyin.

And then she remembered Ziyin’s expression when she saw the interim rank for herself.

She rose two places from her ranks in the first eliminations…she would’ve survived this round safely.

Her fans are working really hard.

Ziyin, too.

“Unnie, when you go back, don’t forget us, alright?” Chaehyun joked, although she couldn’t help but feel that her heart is dropping because of the thought that Ziyin is leaving.

“You girls too, don’t forget me once you debuted.”

“Debut along with my dream, will you?”

That moment, Chaehyun blinked the tears in her blurry eyes, turning her head to the other side to wipe the tears away.

On the day for the filming of the second eliminations, Chaehyun, Ziyin and Shana sat together as a cell.

Chaehyun couldn’t help herself to look sadly at Ziyin who looked expressionless every time they announced the ranks of the other trainees, turning her head to face the stage, forcing herself to not think about it too much or she felt like she was going to cry on the spot.

She’s an unnie who shouldn’t have stopped here…

Not long after congratulating Shana for being J04, Chaehyun was announced to be ranked K02.

Ziyin stood up as she pat Chaehyun on her back, telling her “you did great, Chaehyun-ah” as she smiled.

Ziyin’s words were soon flooded over by the other girl’s congratulatory words.

As Chaehyun stood beside the two others who ranked 2 in their respective groups, she stared at Ziyin who was sitting under the stage.

Unnie…

Of course, Chaehyun was really happy for ranking 2nd in the K group, but she couldn’t help but feel sad that Ziyin was not going to survive this round.

Then she saw Ziyin shaking her head gently at her.

Chaehyun took a deep breath, putting on a smile while holding the mic that was passed to her to greet the camera with thankful words.

Don’t think about it anymore, Kim Chaehyun.

 

No one expected Ziyin’s name to be called as one of the two candidates for C08, since she had already told the production team that she was going to withdraw from the show – which was why no one mentioned her name during the announcement of rankings.

Liang Jiao was the other candidate.

Chaehyun felt the confusion arising amongst the trainees, including her, too, but she was sure that Liang Jiao would be the one who made it.

She saw Ziyin gently patting Liang Jiao’s shoulders, and it seemed like she told her some comforting words.

Liang Jiao would be the one who’s ranked C08.

“The trainee who survived this round as rank 8 in C group is – “

“Xu Ziyin.”

It was needless to say that the trainees were all shocked by this outcome, only clapping their hands a few seconds too late.

Chaehyun looked at Ziyin hugging Liang Jiao with a stunned expression, getting the mic for her speech.

How did this happen…?

 

After talking to her friends who were eliminated that day, Chaehyun went back to her dorm, only to find Ziyin packing her stuff in their room.

“Chaehyun-ah,” Ziyin stopped packing as she heard Chaehyun coming into the room, “Why…”

“Unnie,” Chaehyun approached Ziyin and held her hand, looking straight into the older’s eyes that was filled with some pain in them, “It’s not your fault.”

She felt Ziyin’s hand held hers a little tighter.

“I’ll stop thinking about it.” Was the only response from the older after sighing.

“Unnie, will you be leaving Korea, going back to China right after leaving the dorms?” Chaehyun tried to change the topic, so she asked something she had been curious about.

There it was again. Ziyin smiled as she ruffled Chaehyun’s hair, “Nope, I will be living in the house previously rented, I’m going to rest here for a short period of time before I go back. If I were to go back straightaway, I’d need to quarantine first and it would be troublesome if I need to go to the hospital when I’m quarantining.”

“I see…how long will you stay in Korea then?”

“I’m still not sure yet,” Ziyin looked at her packed luggage, “Why do you ask?”

“I’ve heard your great cooking from the other C-group unnies a lot, so I hope to try it someday,” Chaehyun said as she got another ruffle from Ziyin as the latter laughed heartily.

“If there’s a chance, I’ll cook for you.”

“Then promise me that you’ll cook for me regardless if we meet again in Korea or China,” Chaehyun reached out her pinky finger, “Pinky promise?”

“I didn’t expect that you’d still do pinky promises,” Ziyin found it cute, and she sealed the promise with her own pinky finger.

“I’m still a dongsaeng anyways,” Chaehyun replied with a laugh.

They then took the time to chat until it was the time for them to sleep.

About their dreams and future.

 

The night when Ziyin left, Chaehyun gave her a letter.

“Read it after you leave, unnie, don’t read it now,” Chaehyun said when she passed Ziyin the letter.

Ziyin nodded, taking her backpack off one of her shoulders before getting a letter from it for Chaehyun.

“I don’t have anything for you to keep it as something you’d be reminded of me, so I wrote you a letter instead,” Ziyin said. “I hope you’ll debut successfully here.”

“You deserve it.”

Ziyin’s words were always giving the others strength.

Chaehyun felt warm in her heart, however, her tears started to make her eyes blurry again.

Ziyin looked fondly at the little bunny who had her eyes filled with tears, as she reached her hand out to pat Chaehyun’s head gently and comfortingly. “I think we’ll still be able to meet each other in the future. No matter in real life, or through video calling.”

“Unnie, you must live a good life too. But the most important thing right now is for you to take good care of your body,” Chaehyun sniffled as she told Ziyin.

Ziyin tugged the corner of her lips and smiled, “Of course, I will.”

“Don’t forget to cook delicious food for me in the future,” Chaehyun showed Ziyin her pinky finger childishly to remind the older they have a pinky promise together.

“Got it,” Ziyin playfully pinched Chaehyun’s cheeks, “I’ll get going.”

“Goodbye, unnie,” Chaehyun said solemnly, thinking if she would be able to meet the caring unnie again.

 As if knowing what Chaehyun was thinking, Ziyin nodded determinedly, “We will meet again.”

“For sure.”

And Chaehyun watched Ziyin walk away towards the car that had been waiting for her as she waved goodbye to the friends she made here.

She held the letter from Ziyin with both her hands as she made a wish upon the shining stars in the sky –

“I hope our dreams will come true one day.” 

A/N: Thank you for reading the whole fic until the end! It has been more than six months since I last written a fanfic, and I didn't plan to write one until...well, now. So if my writing looks rusty to read, or if there's any typos, grammatical errors, I'll apologise for it TT I miss Ziyin and Chaehyun together so much so I had to write something to fill the emptiness I have been feeling, so I hope this helps for you who's reading this too! I hope it's an enjoyable read :D

Let's keep supporting Ziyin and Chaehyun in the future too!

You can follow me @ziyiniverse on twitter, and feel free to comment your thoughts for this fic, or drop by my curiouscat to leave an annonymous review, link in my twt acc's bio!

Thank you for reading :]