Shocked out of her mind, Haneul exited from the browser. She closed her laptop and rested her hands on her lap. Belatedly, Haneul realized she should have listened to Anna when she advised her to avoid everythingkpop.com or any kpop news sites for that matter. Of course, she hadn’t heeded Anna’s words because it was Anna and the girl hated Haneul. It was only natural she would ignore anything that came from the girl’s mouth.

            “Am I too dark?” She raised her arm to peer at her skin tone. She had gotten darker since coming to the island, but it had not been that big of a difference. As for the weight comments what did “not skinny enough” even mean? Her body wasn’t built to be 100 lbs.

            Sneering, Haneul pushed back her desk chair and flopped onto her unmade bed. She had to film today, but not until the evening for some luau/karaoke competition. Jae Hwa had told JYP of her daughter’s singing ability, while not fantastic, but she had a good, clear voice. She and Anna would be in the fake competition while they were filming the scenes with the main characters. Basically, they would be background noise.

            She decided she might as well sleep the rest of the day until she headed into make-up around five. That did sound promising seeing as she did not sleep until nearly five this morning thanks to a certain 2PM member, who wanted to make-up the time he had been unable to spend with her.

            They had gone to the beach before sunset, and then changed for dinner at the outdoor buffet because Taecyeon was intent on seeing the volcano show. His face lit up like a little boy’s during the entirety of the show, causing a blissful smile to cross Haneul’s lips as she recalled the memory.  After the beast was fed, Haneul suggested they go swimming in the outdoor pool until it closed. Taec, naturally, readily agreed to her suggestion and they went up to their rooms to change.

            Making sure her hair was secured tightly in a ponytail, Haneul jumped into the water. She shivered as the coldness overtook her body and then jeered at Taec to hurry up and get in. He followed suit, trembling once he popped out from the water. Swimming over to her, Taec reached out to Haneul, but she laughingly evaded him. This began a game of chase, which ultimately resulted in Taec pinning her against a pile of rocks that lined part of the pool.

            “I caught you,” he murmured.

            “Apparently so,” she replied. His dark eyes bore deeply into hers as they shared a quiet moment. As to what he was thinking, she would never be sure. But she hoped it was similar to her own thoughts, that of this freeing emotion that she could never begin to describe. Here with him beneath the starry sky was all she could ever hope for in the world at this point. Smiling blissfully, Haneul made a silly wish that girls make in the first blush of love. To herself, she thought, Time, please stop. Just this once.Of course, it did not. And continued at the same pace with which it had done for ages.

            Taecyeon kissed her softly on the lips, cupping her cheek in his large hand. She leaned into his touch, reveling in this feeling. He pulled away first, much to Haneul’s surprise. And it must have shown on her face because he smirked in a very cocky way, wriggling his eyebrows. “Just can’t get enough of me, can you?” Then, his face turned serious. “Hanna,” he began, voice devoid of any amusement. Haneul almost felt her heart stop at his intense stare combined with his gruff voice. “I like you a lot.” She knew this, of course, but he had never stated it aloud in either Korean or English.

            “I like you a lot too, Taecyeon.” Then his face lit up into a smile. And he kissed her again, holding her tightly against his chest. During their time in the pool, they did not stray far from this spot. It was nice to have time completely alone since it was scarce with his filming.

            Haneul rolled over on her side, staring out the doors that led to the balcony. It had been a good night, but she was exhausted. As lovely as her initial plan sounded, she could hardly do that. Anna had mentioned watching them film one of the dance numbers by the outdoor pool. That along with the karaoke night would be the extent of filming today. Haneul figured she might as well join Anna and see what she would be singing tonight. They were told to pick a solo song and then a duet to sing together. Both girls had warily eyed each other at that.

            The door to their bedroom slammed open and Anna ran in, clearly excited or upset about something. Haneul jumped at the commotion and looked at her roommate in confusion. Anna was holding a paper in her hands and it in Haneul’s face.

            New assignment for Haneul and Anna. They will be a Kpop cover duo in place of the karaoke night and will be outfitted accordingly. These are the songs they will be performing:

1. “Gee” SNSD
2. “Tell Me” Wonder Girls
3. “Mister” Kara
4. “Like the Beginning” T-ara

    They will need to meet to practice singing and dancing at 11.

            “What the is this noise?” screamed the girl soon after reading the entirety of the director’s note.

            “I know, right? Not only did we get booted out of the film, but now we have to perform one of their songs while they parade around with our boys. This is injustice!”

            As usual, Anna was overreacting slightly. Haneul scrambled to her feet, almost joining in on her ranting. That would help nothing. Yet…

            “This is so ridiculous and humiliating. We have to act cute and dance and have this broadcasted to millions of people…” As Haneul’s words fell over them, Anna cleared . She ran a hand through her hair and straightened her collared shirt.

            “That’s not so terrible, in fact. We could end up on Star King…”

            “Oooh! You’re right!” gushed Haneul. For a second they almost connected on a friendly level, but then Anna stopped the smile that was forming on her face. She looked Haneul over and commented, “You should go shower and change. You smell like chlorine.”

            Haneul sneered back at the girl, but heeded her suggestion. She did after all smell like chlorine. Fishing through her drawer, she pulled out some gym clothes and scurried into the bathroom.

            Practice had gone through painlessly for the girls as they knew the basics of the dance steps and all the lyrics to the songs. The assistant choreographer who was in charge of them could not have been happier with this. They finished everything shortly before five where they were directed to change into the coloured skinnes and T-shirt combination for “Gee.”

            They entered into make-up while the SNSD girls were getting ready for their parts. Sunny, Tiffany and Hyoyeon greeted them enthusiastically. Yoona and Yuri were behind a screen changing, while Seohyun was texting on her phone.

            “I can’t wait to see you two perform,” the former exclaimed, skipping over to them. They bowed in thanks to her words.

            “Thank you, unni, but I doubt we’ll compare to the original. We hope to do our best on all the songs.”

            “You guys will do great! I’m sure of it!” Tiffany assured the girls, offering a kind smile.

            “I heard that you both learned the dances really quickly,” Hyoyeon said. Anna and Haneul looked at one another and nodded.

            “We already sort of knew the steps from watching videos of live performances,” explained Anna.

            One of the stylists handed Haneul a pair of orange skinny jeans and a white T-shirt with rainbow lettering on it that said, “I love my boy.” She pointed to a pair of pink heels with round-toes and rosettes to go with her outfit. The other stylist handed purple skinny jeans and a white T-shirt that was identical to Haneul’s, and a pair of green open-toed heels.

            They thanked the stylists and then changed into the outfits. Anna and Haneul stared at each other in amazement when they walked out, half-transformed into SNSD members. Anna was given a purple bow for to wear after they curled her hair. Haneul’s hair was pulled into a high side-ponytail and curled so it was bouncy.

            “Omo, you guys could be part of our group,” cooed Tiffany, clapping her hands.

            “I want to take a picture of you guys.” Before they could protest, Sunny whipped out her phone and urged them to pose cutely. “C’mon, let’s see your aegyo.” She counted down and at the last minute Haneul winked with a cute smile while Anna tossed two peace signs.

            “You guys do look really good,” Yoona offered, having finished her own hair and make-up. She was looking very pretty in a pair of short denim shorts and a dressy black T-shirt. She was even taller than normal with a pair of black wedge heels.  

            “Really good,” agreed Yuri, equally dolled up. The four girls smiled awkwardly at one another.

            “Well, uhm, we should get going to set they want us to practice first and all…” Haneul explained, voice drifting off.  “Good luck filming. I hope all goes well.”

            “I’m sure it’ll go well for Yoona-sshi, she has her kiss scene with Taecyeon-oppa tonight,” Yuri told them, nudging her friend softly. Yoona’s eyes shot open wide and she gave Yuri and dirty look.

            “Unni…” She gestured violently at Haneul whose expression had not changed, save a single eyebrow was now raised.

            “Ah, gwaenchanha, Yoona,” Haneul insisted. She even offered up a giggle to enforce that. The two girls sighed in relief and wished them well on their parts. Anna and Haneul turned to leave. Once their backs were to the girls, Anna rolled her eyes dramatically and mouthed about how fake they were.

            As they walked they practiced some of the lyrics from “Gee.” The girls were very caught up in this that they missed when they passed by 2PM to go to the stage. Junsu and Chansung thought they were Sooyoung and Sunny and addressed them as such. Junho exasperatedly berated the maknae and his hyung for being so idiotic.

            “Ya, youbabo, that’s Anna and Haneul. Remember they’re doing background stuff while they film our storyline.”

            “Oh yeah,” the maknae replied, lowering his arm. Junsu just shrugged and called them by their proper names. The girls stopped and pivoted to face the members. Both faces broke into wide smiles and they walked over.

            “The eatinator and the Daegu joker thought you were Sunny and Sooyoung,” Wooyoung notified them. Haneul’s left eye twitched ever so slightly and she twisted her head to look at them. Both had no real explanation for this mix-up. Anna merely took it as a compliment and continued on with her life.

            “Did you guys pick your pants colour?” Nichkhun asked suddenly, eyeing both girls’ colour choice. His words sparked something in Taecyeon’s memory because he leapt out of his seat and pointed at Haneul’s jeans.

            “I wore orange when we performed with Super Junior, 2AM and SHINee!” Haneul pursed her lips and looked down at her pants. Anna did the same. She vaguely remembered the performance he was referring to. If her memory served her correctly Nichkhun had been wearing purple. She raised her gaze and was surprised to see that he was already staring at her. Nichkhun winked at her, knowing he had made the same connection as Taecyeon.

            “Omo, that coupled with your shirts…the netizens will have a field day. Especially since you and big teeth are the new big news these days.”

            Haneul found it odd that no one ever talked about Nichkhun and Anna. Weren’t they in a similar position as she and Taec? Except Nichkhun’s not a big, goofy man child. That had to be the key difference between a public relationship and a private relationship. As she was thinking, Taec had in one swift motion, pulled out his cell phone and pulled her next to him.

            “We haven’t taken any photos together yet, Hanna. Now’s the perfect time.” In a matter of 10 seconds, he snapped five pictures of them and Haneul did not remember if she posed or not. He seemed satisfied though. “I want to take pictures with you after every outfit change, okay?” She felt her bottom lip protrude into a pout. Taec clapped his hands to his face and cooed about what a cute girlfriend he had.

            “Hyung, remember when we wished that he had a girlfriend so he wouldn’t complain about being lonely?” Junho said to Junsu.

            “I regret that too. This is worse,” he answered, shaking his head at Taecyeon. The beast happily ignored them and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek before she left.

            “Is it just me or has Anna-nuna mellowed out a lot?” Chansung’s question went unanswered since the director was ready to start shooting.