Disclaimer / Note, please read this:

Like what I just tweeted, I want everyone to fully understand the struggles and mindsets of recent POVs — that is the only way for everyone to understand the flow of this POV. Okay too much talk, enjoy!

Another NOTE will be added at the end of this chapter.

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Yeojin has always believed in love moving in all mysterious ways, all genders, and all ualities. She’s very lucky that both her parents are never the traditional ones, the ones who are fixated on what the norm is — that men are for women and vice versa. She and her siblings all grew up in a very open-minded family in terms of love preferences, relationships, and ualities.

Coming out of the closet within their family is never hard, they believe that mental health is far more important than anything else, after all, South Korea has been the leading country in Asia that has a high mortality rate for years than any other country in the continent. Losing someone permanently because people fail to understand the concept of being you, is and will never be worth it. Never.

So when Yeojin became friends with people from every spectrum, she became their listener, their friend, their adviser, and defender — may it be others or her own relatives. Her parents once told her how proud they are of her, pleased with the woman she had become until she told them she wants to be a dancer and choreographer.

As supportive as her parents are of the openness of relationship preferences and identities, it went exactly the opposite for her desired profession. After all, typical Asian parents would always want you to either be a Doctor, Engineer, Lawyer, or any other profession that can bring not only glory to your name but to your family as well.

“Dancer? How are you going to feed yourself and your future family? Is that even a job?”

Yeojin understands their concern though but she just can’t see herself being happy if she’s going to have any other job that is not dancing. Despite the disagreement from her parents, Yeojin went on and enrolled herself in dance classes. She worked part-time to gain enough money for every dance class she wants to attend and learn from.

Practice and perseverance will never fail you so Yeojin constantly improved and finally found the genre she’s most comfortable with and that’s where she had met Jihye. A young, very passion-ridden, and beautiful girl busting out the choreography that was taught in that class. Despite the charisma and that in-your-face attitude while dancing, it’s the exact opposite when she’s not. Jihye is shy, never really talks to anyone she’s doesn’t know or familiar with, careful, and very introverted.

Yeojin really had no idea they’re going to have a conversation at all let alone be friends but even being polar opposites, Yeojin found a trustworthy, loyal, and kind friend in Jihye. They’d enroll in similar classes since then, exploring other genres to keep and constantly make them versatile. Gets breakfasts, lunches, snacks, dinner, and midnight snacks together — they’d practice, day in and out, almost having no breaks at all just so they’d see the results as soon as they could.

The dancing community is very competitive, being good isn’t enough, being better is fine but still isn’t enough, and being best is something everyone wants to be part of. Being part of the best means you’d get scouted, you’d get gigs, you’d slowly get your name out there. So Yeojin strived to be in that category, both she and Jihye joined competitions to get their experience and resume going. They win, they lose, it doesn’t matter as every competition provides huge room for improvement.

As the moments went by, Yeojin found her own circle in the dancing community and so did Jihye. They weren’t together that much compared back then but their communication remains the same. They’d get scouted together, compete against each other, and improve altogether.

Being part of a crew is already hard enough to survive as the industry becomes like a battlefield conducting a battle of the fittest every single second, how much more if you’re independent. Yeojin was looking for a place where she could call home for security and proper management and that’s when an opportunity of a newly opened dance academy went knocking on her doors. She’s friends with some of the exclusive dancers and choreographers in that academy so it wasn’t hard for her to agree and sign a contract on top of really having more opportunities that would obviously come along from being a member of one of the subsidiaries of a well-known entertainment company.

That’s where and when she was finally able to constantly team up with Leejung. A young, talented, eager, and genius choreographer whose aim is to prove all her doubters wrong while enjoying the process. They used to attend similar dance classes until Leejung started traveling around the world to join competitions and teach or attend classes from well-known choreographers outside South Korea.

Since being part of the academy, Yeojin and Leejung had performed on music shows, special performances, music video appearances, and a concert together. Leejung has always been a ray and ball of sunshine and it was no longer a surprise for Yeojin for Leejung to immediately form a close bond with the other dancers in the company especially the tenured ones other than the fact that she’s very talented, to begin with. It didn’t take Leejung that long to get the trust of the senior dancers, the CEO, and the directors of the company, she became one of the most trusted members in no time.

Yeojin always finds herself in the same room with Leejung when the younger is in the academy building, they teach each other and find out a lot of similarities of their liking. They clicked almost instantly and she became the first one Leejung contacted about the survival program. At first, she was hesitant to join, the production company that will be producing the show is known for its editing that could either make or break you. Their profession is already one of those bunch that has been looked down on by others and this show might worsen that. But after several persuasions by Leejung and the youngest of the group, a national athlete, Kim Yeri, she finally said yes. Not only that, the other two members Leejung picked are already her close friends, Jihyo and Isak.

It was also a no-brainer for the four of them to pick and have Leejung as the leader. The young leader’s mentality is far tougher than hers so she knows they are all in good hands. Being the eldest, her aim is to keep everyone in check, she became the glue of the group and Leejung once told her how lucky she is to have her and she couldn’t possibly do this without her presence. Leejung needed an unnie she can rely on when things get tougher like a normal dongsaeng would look for and just like what Leejung said, all five of them are leaders in their own respective ways, and she meant it.

“You’re part of the lineup!” An ecstatic voice coming from the other line greeted her the moment she answered her phone.

“And so are you. We’ll get to compete against each other again, Jihye.” Yeojin hears a chuckle as she continues brushing her semi-dry hair, she’s getting ready to go to the academy to meet the CEO with the other members.

“Yeah, Leejung too.”

Yeojin stares at her display of shoes before picking a pair. “Uh huh.”

“How is she by the way?”

Yeojin sets the phone on the loudspeaker and places it on the coffee table as she laces up her shoes. “She’s good, busy as usual. She’s mostly in the main company’s training room than the academy’s due to multiple projects she’s being part of.”

“Figures. She’s eating well, isn’t she?”

Yeojin stands up, stares at her full fit in the mirror. “Yeah, I made sure she’s eating on time on a daily basis. That woman is a workaholic. You’ve worked with her, you know how she acts when she sets her mind to something.”

“Yeah…” Silence.

Satisfied with her look, Yeojin grabs her bag and uses her earphones to keep their call going while she finally heads out of her flat. “Jihye?”

“Yeah. I’m still here. Knew you’re heading out so I went quiet to get you going.”

Yeojin bows and greets the people in the elevator. “Yes, so when are we going to get that dinner? You’re so busy.”

A chuckle. “You talk like you aren’t. Let’s have it this weekend? Saturday? Can Leejung come with us too? I miss hanging out with her.”

Lucky for her, the basement isn’t crowded so it’ll be easy for her to drive away. She tells Jihye to wait for a bit so she could settle down, turns the phone to loudspeaker as she drives. “I am not sure, I’ll try to ask her.”

“Okay. 6 o’clock then?”

“Sure, text me the place and I’ll be there. No promises on Leejung, but I’ll try.”

“That’s good enough. I’ll text you the place once I’ve finally decided. See you, unnie!”

“See you. Bye.”

“Bye.”

And as expected, Leejung was not able to make it. She had to do one last revision of the choreography that she made for one of the company’s boy groups that is part of a competition program. Jihye and her were both craving grilled meat so the dinner went as planned.

They talked about pretty much all the things they needed to talk to, catching up to everything they’d missed in each other’s lives but there’s one thing that Yeojin noticed though, it’s the subtle bring up of Leejung’s name every now and then. Of course, Yeojin didn’t say anything about it, she just let the younger go on. She thought that maybe Jihye must’ve missed Leejung that much, after all, they were pretty close before the youngest started to get very busy and rarely meets others other than her label mates.

They bid each other goodbyes and promises to have another dinner before the competition starts right in front of Jihye’s flat before Yeojin drove off. But they are no longer able to meet again after that, everyone becomes very busy as they prepare for the first taping of the show. It’s expected anyway.

Yeojin loves observing, she finds joy in analyzing people just by their actions or facial expressions. She is a firm believer that you’d know someone better by their body language and expressions, so far, Yeojin has never missed those clues.

And in no way hell she’s going to miss Jihye and Leejung’s.

All those subtle glances, she thought it might be because they had become awkward but Leejung has never been awkward with anyone she had already met and had bonded with. It also crossed her mind that maybe Jihye is just adjusting to Leejung’s presence again, the younger can be too overwhelming sometimes but Leejung was indifferent when she’s around Jihye. Leejung used to be hyper and talkative, now she’s silent and reserved whenever the other one is around so no, it couldn’t be that Jihye is re-adjusting.

Or maybe, Leejung’s silence is overwhelming for Jihye too.

But… why... something is definitely new.

Leejung gets so flustered around Jihye, that’s new.

Jihye gets so shy around Leejung, that’s new.

Leejung does everything she could to avoid being in one place with Jihye, that’s new.

Jihye does everything she could to have Leejung around her, that’s new — because Jihye lets people come and go.

Leejung stayed idle on the floor having a distant look in her eyes while their mission song continued playing on loop, Leejung didn’t even notice her presence until she called her name, that’s new.

When Jihye and her team had to leave first, not going to lie, she felt a little guilty for choosing them — but it’s competition anyway, it’s the nature of it. Her eyes never left Leejung’s figure when they all get inside WAYB’s room to comfort the team. She noticed the hovering hand, the hesitation in those eyes, the guilt, the unexplainable look, the look in Jihye’s eyes while staring at the retreating figure of the younger, the disappointment, the confusion, Yeojin noticed everything.

It would’ve been a lie if she’ll say she didn’t expect them to go this far because a part of her does, their team was on a roll, winning missions after missions until they started stumbling and wasn’t able to recover in time. If only they won that battle, they would’ve been in the semi-finals but hey, everything happens for a reason.

Once they got eliminated, the members of the group continued with their lives although a lot of things started to change, whenever they go out to grab something to eat, fans would either greet them or ask for an autograph or a picture, it has come to a point where they need a civilian security to accompany them whenever they go out to keep them safe.

Changes are always bound to happen, it’s one of the most constant things in the world and you know what is the other constant? Leejung’s constant decline to Jihye’s invitation to hang out. Not only once, a lot of times.

Leejung probably thought she’s subtle but she isn’t and Yeojin knows that Jihye noticed it too just by looking at the frown that edged her face when Leejung didn’t sit right beside her during the live broadcast of the finals. She has no idea what happened during the pre-recording but she’s almost sure that Leejung tried her very best to avoid Jihye.

Jihye is an introvert but when an introvert had enough, it explodes.

Terribly.

It’s almost laughable to see the panic in Leejung’s face whenever she sees her schedule with the other leaders and Yeojin is enjoying everything from her point of view. One is panicking while the other one is excited to see the other.

But as much as Yeojin enjoys this hide and seek, this push and pull, she has grown frustrated at how oblivious the two are. It has come to a point that Yeojin decided to make her own move to stop this game they are playing.

When Leejung tried to escape again, she immediately called Jihye so Leejung could go nowhere. Leejung was probably telling the truth about her grandpa but Yeojin knows Leejung’s family long enough to know her dad will always understand if she has to go somewhere first. Besides, her grandpa is already in their house as they speak so she knows Leejung was lying.

Too bad, I know you too well.

The look Leejung and her shared just a little after Jihye arrived, it’s an affirmation that she knows what Leejung is feeling and a confirmation of the vice versa. It’s pretty obvious, it’s not really hard to read the youngest in the room when you already know her that much.

Now she needs Jihye’s.

Well, it didn’t age much because on the same day, fate decided to play and make Heejeong the antagonist. Poor bunny had to be killed and buried in Jihye’s mind. As the two went out, she wants to laugh at how mad Jihye looked.

“If looks could kill, Jihye, you’d be charged with first-degree murder by the way you’re shooting darts at Heejeong.”

“I’m doomed, aren’t I?”

“Depends on what it is.”

Another sigh. “No