Jieun don’t know how she did it but she managed to get through day by day despite having extra hours of training.  She also still attended cram school with Moonkyu who consistently commented with a sympathetic look of understanding, “You look like you haven’t slept properly for ages.” 

She hadn’t.  It was hard to when her day ended past 1am and her day started at 8am everyday.  She spent most of her lunch time sleeping with her head on her desk.

She had been so busy with her training and cram school that she hadn’t seen Jongin for almost two whole weeks.  They had been texting back and forth, but other than that, they were both too busy to meet up.  Jieun didn’t realise how much she would miss him. 

She didn’t realise how much he meant to her until one day he called.  It wasn’t anything special, he just called up to ask how she was and what she had been up to.  But she realised how much she was relied on him as support.  He would always encourage her.  He always asked her if she was having a hard time or not.   And she then wondered, what she had done to help him?  What has she done to show him she cared?

She had heard the rumours around the office that the company was preparing to debut a new boy band.  But when she told Jongin about it and how she was excited for him, Jongin simply smiled a bit sadly and said, “I hope so too.” 

He mentioned that there were problems within the group and that no one was working together.  Instead everyone was trying desperately to not be the one to be cut from the group.  Jieun only knew Jongin, Sehun and Yixing were in that set of trainees and to her, they didn’t seem to be hard to work together. 

“Not everyone are as nice as the two of them,” Jongin said. “Jieun you have to remember some people will always try and use underhanded methods against you.”

Maybe Jongin spoke too soon because little did the both of them know, things were about to get out of control.

- - -

Jieun had only left the dance practice room for a little while to go to the bathroom but when she came back into the room, she didn’t expect to see Jinee and the dance teacher crowded around where she left her sports bag.

They seemed to be having a serious conversation so Jieun walked over towards them, cautiously.

When the teacher noticed that Jieun was present, she looked at her with an unreadable expression.  Then she took the bag and opened it. 

“Is this yours?”  She asked seriously.  The teacher had taken out a packet of cigarettes out of her bag.

Jieun looked at the packet of cigarettes, confused.  But then she realised exactly what was happening.  Jinee was trying to frame her. 

The company had a strict no smoking policy and even with that, minors were not allowed to smoke anyways.  This looked bad for Jieun, in every possible way.

Ara had just entered the room as well and when she saw the situation before her, she too knew what was happening.  In a moment of panic, she rushed out of the room to find Jongin and Sehun.

As the teacher grilled her with questions, Jieun didn’t say a single word.  She felt like if she did, Jinee was going to do more than accuse her of smoking.  Jieun knew that Jinee knew that her and Jongin were together. 

She could see Jongin watching outside by the door now.  But even if Jieun was getting scolded and framed by Jinee, she did not want him to come in. 

She saw the smug look on Jinee’s face.  Her whole face was practically beaming.  Jinee obviously not hiding the fact that this was of her doing in front of Jieun.

“This is a serious problem Jieun.”  The dance teacher said.  “How can I believe