It was the last day of their week off for SOUL. Since the jungle-trekking incident, the girls had decided to stay cooped up in their dorms, not daring to go out of their humble abode until they are back to start working on the activities that are set for them. Hyun Ah was still sleeping comfortably and contentedly in her shared room with Chaerin when the fearless leader of SOUL had woke up to the sound of two persons arguing loudly in the living room. Two persons who were exactly female, and extremely unhappy.

"— JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T ACTUALLY LIKE CHANYEOL DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT OUT ON ME! YOU —"

"— EXCUSE ME?! TAKING IT OUT ON YOU?! I WASN'T —"

Blearily, Hyun Ah poked her head out of the door to her room to see Hyeomin and Jinkyo doing the same from across the living room, looking sleepy and truly annoyed. From behind her, Chaerin also poked her head out of the door, an expression of true nuisance on her face.

"Really? This early in the morning?" Chaerin queried, the eye bags on her eyes were still evident. "Can't they pick a better time to argue?"

"For Xiong Mao unnie and Sung Hwa unnie, I hardly doubt so," Hyeomin said, leaning against the doorframe for support. 

"— STOP ACCUSING ME OF SOMETHING —"

"I'll get them to be quiet." Hyun Ah said suddenly, walking out of the room and into the kitchen where the argument took place. The three remaining girls looked at each other before running after their leader.

"— THEN STOP TALKING AND LET ME EXPLAIN —"

"All right, that's it!" Hyun Ah finally screamed. 

Sung Hwa looked at their leader and pointed a finger at her. "Hyun Ah unnie, stay out of this!"

"All right, look you straightforward girl who apparently has no sense of what time to argue," Hyun Ah strode right up to her, swatting away her hand as her eyes blazed in complete fury. "I have had e-freaking enough of your endless arguments and banshee shrieking! Of all the times you choose to argue, it has to be the last day of our week off?! Don't you know that some of us are still trying to regain our energy for the rest of our activities starting tomorrow?! Now listen here —"

Both Sung Hwa and Xiong Mao were shell-shocked, as they have never seen this side of their leader before. Hyun Ah turned to Xiong Mao, jabbing a finger at her chest. "— I have been hurled around with tons of responsibilites, trying to keep our image clean, keeping you guys from going into an insane mess, still haunted from our unplanned jungle trek, have had only three hours of sleep last night for some certain reasons, and I have not even took my daily dose of coffee! You two will both calm down, you two will be quiet, you two will act like nothing has ever happened right now, and you two will both stop those ear-splitting pointless arguments! Do you understand?"

Utter silence in the dorm.

Xiong Mao and Sung Hwa just nodded meekly at their leader, gaping at her with sudden fear. Hyeomin and Jinkyo, who were already in the kitchen, were paralyzed with shock. From the doorway, Chaerin was staring at the fearless leader of SOUL with varying degrees of amazement and utter fear. Hyun Ah, breathing hard, now turned heel and strode towards the living room, past the three girls standing in the doorway. 

Hyeomin and Jinkyo scrambled after Hyun Ah, who was rubbing her temple in a circular motion. "Are... you okay?" Jinkyo asked in a soft, frightened whisper.

Hyun Ah, who had stopped in the middle of the area, groaned silently as she dropped her head in her hands, face flushed. "... I need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee."

Hyeomin ran past her immeidately to go get it from the kitchen.

"Um... are you guys okay?" Chaerin asked the two girls, who were still white as sheet and staring at Hyun Ah. "You know, that was a bad strategy to provoke Hyun Ah unnie in this time of the day — "

"She — she — she just — !" Sung Hwa managed to stammer, shaking slightly. 

"Yes, yes, I know... And if you really value your life more, I suggest you two to never do that again," Chaerin said in a low tone as she steered the two girls to sit down. 

Hyeomin watched the three girls go before cautiously before going to Hyun Ah and handing her the coffee gingerly, making sure not to touch her as she did so. The drink might have been searing hot but Hyun Ah took two long sips and groaned in relief. 

"Um... well, that was... was... uh, effective..." Jinkyo started, still staring at the older girl. "... Hyun Ah unnie, are you okay?"

"... what the heck had just happened?" Hyun Ah murmured, disoriented, closing her eyes.

"... you slew the Jabberwocky?" Hyeomin suggested, still amazed and scared of Hyun Ah's sudden outburst.

"You scared both Sung Hwa and Xiong Mao," Chaerin supplied, a faint smile was visible in her face as she entered the room. "And hopefully they would stop arguing in the next few weeks, or if we're lucky enough, months."

Hyun Ah just moaned again in reply, taking another inhale of the coffee and almost draining it. "... it's only been a few weeks since our debut and I think I'm becoming paranoid." She fell and slump completely against Chaerin, who put her arms around her and lead her to sit down. 

"... Chaerin unnie, please don't make Hyun Ah unnie angry ever again. I'm scared. I — I don't think I could live with that," Hyeomin pleaded in a whisper, clinging on to Chaerin's arm.

"Duly noted," Chaerin said, trying her best to suppress the urge to smile as she went to go sit with Hyun Ah on the couch.

----

"I am so so sorry about what happened this morning, Hyun Ah unnie," Sung Hwa apologized repeatedly as she caught up with the said girl across the halls of the SM Entertainment building. "I swear, if Xiong Mao and I had known — "

"You are not helping your case," Chaerin said, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Fine, we may have gotten overboard with that, but we still — "

"It's fine, Sung Hwa," Hyun Ah murmured, waving it  away and trying to concentrate on the papers that their manager had given her. "I can barely remember what I had said or did — my brain sort of shut off on me and then went to autopilot. I still don't know if I should be sorry for yelling at your... uh... what were you both doing again?"

"Argument," Xiong Mao said with a deep sigh. "On the bright side, at least we learned to not provoke you on an early time of the day."

"Cheer up, unnie," Hyeomin said, linking arms with the jokester as she grinned. "Now that both of you at least know not to argue in the waking hours of the day, you'll live. And World War Three doesn't have to happen if you guys don't provoke Hyun Ah unnie in any sort of way." She laughed. "Although Jinkyo unnie looks like she's going to have a heart attack from all that rage from Hyun Ah unnie."

"I'm not all that shock, Hyeominnie," Jinkyo defended herself, pouting. "I was just shock, that's all."

Hyun Ah groaned, embarrassed. "I don't want to talk about this — Heck, I don't even know what came over me."

"Kind of impressive, actually." Chaerin said with a playful smile. "I never knew that you were that forceful. At least we now know to supply you with lots of coffee on your bad days."

"Gee, thanks a lot, you guys," Hyun Ah said sarcastically as all six of them arrived to the recording studio where they were said to meet their manager. Once they got inside, they saw their manager deep in a conversation with the producer and song writer. He only managed to look up when he saw the six girls standing there before them. He nodded in their acknowledgement. "Oh, hello girls. Glad to see you make it."

Hyun Ah nodded and bowed slightly before him, with the rest of the girls mimicking her actions. "Annyeonghaseyo, manager-sshi."

"What exactly did you call us for?" Hyun Ah queried as she straightened herself.

"For Arisu and Chaerin, we decided to have you back from your week off right now," The manager said, causing Sung Hwa and Chaerin to gape at him. He ignored their shocked looks and continued. "Mr. Lee Soo Man wants the two of you to start your individual projects today. You two are to record your first solo projects." He took the papers from the table that was behind him and handed them both to Chaerina and Sung Hwa.

"Wait, what about us?" Xiong Mao asked. "What are we supposed to do?"

"You four are still on your week off." Their manager said. "Tomorrow, you girls need to wake up early so we can start filming your new TV rality series. So the rest of the weeks after your break are going to be a busy one, so enjoy your break while you still can."

Hyun Ah nodded. "Okay."

"You four are now dismissed." The manager said. Hyun Ah ushered the rest of the girls outside before casting one more look at Sung Hwa and Chaerin and closing the door behind her. Chaerin inspected her music sheet closely, then at Sung Hwa's before turning to their manager. "Manager-sshi, how come we have different music sheets?"

"You two are going to record your own solo song, not a duet." Their manager said. Before Sung Hwa or Chaerin could say anything else, the sound of a phone ringing resonated the entire studio. Their manager excused himself to answer the call. After few minutes of talking on the phone, he turned to the two remaining girls with a serious look. "You two are to stay here to practice with your new solo project. The President needs me right now. If I see you two not here by the time I come back, you two are going to hear it from me."

With that, their manager left the room, leaving the two girls behind.

Sung Hwa frowned and inspected her music sheet again before turning to Chaerin, "What's yours called, Chaerin unnie?"

"Don't Cry. Yours?"

"Can You Hear Me Now," Sung Hwa answered, looking at the paper again. "It seems to be more of a ballad kind of song to me. Not exactly my best style."

"Really? Well, mine sounds a lot like a pop song..." Chaerin trailed off, biting her lower lip. 

"Wanna try singing it out?" Sung Hwa suggested. The Lead Vocalist just nodded. "Sure."

----

"It's okay baby, please don't cry — "

"No! No! No! Not like that!" The producer exclaimed, cutting off Chaerin's singing. The latter frowned, saying, "I'm really doing my best here. I don't know what I want if you keep doing that."

"You don't get it, do you?" The producer retorted, narrowing his eyes at Chaerin. "You've got to pour all your feelings and emotions in that song. It's a break-up song, for God's sake! You need to tap in to your negative emotions on this! Why can't you do it right like Arisu-sshi?"

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not Arisu," Chaerin scoffed. The producer glowered at her but he just said, "Okay, take it from the top."

"Sarangeun neomu shipge byeonhaeman gatjyo — "

"You know what, let's just take five." The producer said abruptly, standing up from his seat and went outside for a breath of fresh air. An angered look was visible on Chaerin's face as she tried her best to contain it, her fingernails digging into the palms of her hands. Sung Hwa took notice of this and placed a hand on the older girl's shoulder. "Unnie, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not." Chaerin's voice came out as cold and flat. "That damn producer just doesn't get it! I've been trying my best to sing that stupid song the way he wants it to be, but no! He just have to come and rub it in my face that 'Arisu could have done so much better than you' or 'Why can't you do it right like Arisu'?"

"Then you must hate me because of it?"

Chaerin was caught off guard by her question, shaking her head vigorously. "What? No! I mean, I'm just tired of people making comparisons about me, that's all."

"Well, have you ever tried to relate that song with something that happened in your life?" Sung Hwa queried, raising an eyebrow.

"Um... no." Chaerin said. 

"Well then, why don't you try?" Sung Hwa said. "I mean this song is about a break-up, right?"

Chaerin nodded before she hung her head down low, quite embarrassed. "Ne. But... it's just... I've never been in a relationship before, okay?"

"You've never been... in a relationship?" Sung Hwa said it slowly, trying to process what she was hearing. Chaerin nodded shyly. The Singing Virtuso just shook her head and said, "No wonder you couldn't do it right. How about we work on it then?"

"Really, Sung Hwa?" Chaerin asked, not believing what she was hearing. Sung Hwa just nodded her head, shrugging. "Sure, why not? I mean, at least we could finish early if we keep working on it."

"Right." Chaerin said in agreement, chuckling. "Sometimes, I really wonder if you're the umma of the group or if it's me."

"Please, no. Just no. I don't think I could handle taking care of my dongsaengs." Sung Hwa said, groaning. "Yes, I love them. But they're driving me insane!"

"The feeling's mutual." Chaerin said, grinning from ear to ear as the two powerhouse singers of SOUL began to work on their newest solo projects.

----

AUTHOR'S CORNER

Finally updated! Hope you like this chapter! I really enjoyed writing the beginning part! Hehe... :3