Seven in the morning. We wake up.

The I-LANDers gathered and went to the main entrance of the place. It was quiet and no one said a word. But us girls always had to smile and wave in front of the camera. Of course, I didn't since I'm not exactly a smiler.

We took our seats and waited for the voice to begin speaking.

"We will now select those that are going to GROUND." the voice said in an ominous tone.

I shriveled up.

I hope it's not any of us, I thought.

These were the names of the contestants that will be going to GROUND for the first part of the show:

 

Ni-Ki (72)

Daniel (67)

Jay (59)

Nicholas (69)

Jake (47)

Young-bin (43)

 

Once I heard Jake’s name, I immediately shot my head up and my eyes welled up with tears. Eventually, Jake predicted he was going to be one of the six people who were going to ground. The eighteen of us were in shock.

The portal opened and I stood up.

“Let me go to GROUND!” I announced, “I would give any single thing for my best friend to become an idol. But please do anything else but to send him to GROUND. So…if it’s alright with you…let me, Y/N L/N, take his place. Please.”

There was no answer, and I stepped forward anyway, with the rest of the five dropouts. I had to let the girls cry out for me. But I couldn’t bear it any longer. I had to say goodbye.

I went through the tunnel of woe. It was not a pretty sight to see. Fortunately, at least I thought of Jake debuting and not me. But now I see no future in getting to debut now.

Meanwhile, I saw the GROUNDers looking at me in shock. They knew I took Jake’s place into getting the part in GROUND. But I had to do it…so that Jake’s dream could come true.

“Y/N,” said Sunoo, “What are you doing here?”

“She took Jake’s place,” said Young-bin, “Now her girl groups and Jake himself are upset because she left.”

“But she shouldn’t have,” said Se-on, “She needs to be up there, she is too good to be down here.”

“And Jake is too good to be down here, too!” I shouted, “I despise the fact that there is a high and low here in this place, but I don’t agree with it! If you were all worthy enough, most of you could have snuck out of this place and gone up to I-LAND, making the judges give you a second chance!”

There was a moment of silence. And then the voice of I-LAND spoke again.

“We will select those that will be going to I-LAND. Taeyong, Jae-beom, Se-on, Young-bin, Sunoo…and Y/N.”

I tilted my head as he said my name.

For a few seconds I have been down here and they are expecting me to go back to I-LAND? What is up with this show?

Jake then entered and came straight to me. I turned away as my eyes welled up with tears.

“Y/N,” he said, softly, “Look at me.”

I looked at him with tears streaming down my face. I could tell he wanted to see me one last time before he was officially a GROUNDer. He then gently held my chin in place.

“It was very kind of you to take my place. But the fact is, you are too good to be down here. I want you to live your life in I-LAND. Don’t worry. In the next part, I’ll be sure to come back up there. And we can finish it together, okay?” he said as he pulled me in his arms.

“Promise me?”I asked, tearfully.

“I promise you.” Jake said, rubbing my back and my head.

“But I don’t want to leave you!” I cried.

“I know,” Jake cooed, “But I want you to be happy for me, for trying my best. I’ll improve eventually. Right now, it’s your time to shine. My little star.”

I cupped Jake’s face and slowly walked away. But I ran back to him to hug him one final time. He hugged me tightly and spun me around.

“I’ll miss you…” he whispered.

He put me down and I walked away, sniffling from the sadness I felt.

 

.

.

.

 

Two days went by, and I was still depressed. I ate, but I did not sleep. It was hard without Jake by my side. Although, I hadn’t seen much of him. I assumed he was practicing the violin all of this time.

Sunoo and Jungwon entered the room and found me lying in bed,