It would be an understatement to say that the atmosphere was tense when Jieun saw Jongin enter the practice room.  All eyes in the room turned their attention on the latecomer, Jongin.  She wasn’t supposed to be there so she stood outside in the hallway, peeking through the glass door. 

She recognised Sehun and Yixing in the room, who were talking to a few other trainees she didn’t know of.  But she realised something, there was a lot of trainees in there, way too many for a final group.  She was sure that not all of them would make it in the end. 

She didn’t want Jongin to be so carefree.  She didn’t want him to lose such a good opportunity because of her.  She was going to definitely tell Sehun to give Jongin a good scolding later. 

As Jongin entered the room, another trainee, one she didn’t know of, immediately walked towards him.

He was slightly shorter than Jongin, and possessed milky white skin.  Like a lot of trainees, he had nice skin but Jieun had to say, his was especially white.  The boy with the milky white skin didn’t seem angry with Jongin but it looked like he wasn’t pleased Jongin was skipping out on practice.  He kept talking to Jongin, in what would seem like a lecture.  Jongin looked at him bored, with an “ok, I get it” expression but the boy was persistent and continued talking.

To this, Jieun laughed.  At least someone was trying to set Jongin straight.  Jieun looked around to see if the instructor was there but there wasn’t.  Everyone seemed to be taking a break.  Then a voice behind her suddenly said, “If you have so much time to look around, shouldn’t you be practising instead Jieun?”

Jieun turned around to see her unimpressed dance teacher looking at her.  It gave her a mini shock to see her teacher suddenly appear out of nowhere.  Jieun quickly bowed and said, “Yes, I’ll be on my way.”

But as she was about to leave, her dance teacher said, “Oh I forgot to tell you but I’ve decided to move you to a different dance class. So you won’t be in beginner class anymore, but instead you’re in the class that’s from 9pm to 11pm, so if you have something else on, you will have to change it, alright?” 

That would mean she needed to change her Japanese language class which was at the same time.

And then Jieun looked at her dance teacher, shocked when she realised what the teacher was actually saying.   She smiled, which was rare to see on her, so Jieun didn’t know if she was dreaming or not.  She was actually advancing to another class.  She never hoped or dreamed that she would reach the same class as Jongin, which was the infamous advanced class, so being the class that was not the bottom was already amazing for her.

“Jieun, you’ve worked hard.  Don’t let me down, ok?”

Jieun nodded and bowed to her teacher. 

It had been such a long time since she felt like her hard work paid off.  She had been uncertain was there any reason to practice so hard if she wasn’t going to get any better.  It was really like a breath of fresh air, and just for the moment, her shoulders didn’t feel as heavy anymore.

- - -

Jieun decided that she would go back home early today since there were still exams on Monday tomorrow.  She hadn’t been sleeping much due to all the extra practice for the evaluation, so this would probably be the most opportune time for her to catch up on her sleep.

She didn’t enjoy being at home.  Since it was a Sunday, both her parents were at home and ever since the day she asked her parents for permission to become a trainee at the company she had secretly auditioned for and got in, their household was no longer peaceful.  Her father, who was a lawyer, had opposed the idea of being a singer completely. 

It’s not like she didn’t understand how they felt.  She knew that he wished that her future would not be difficult.  Jieun knew they wanted her to study and become a doctor or lawyer or some other stable high paying job.  Basically it was almost anything but becoming a singer. 

Her mother had been less objective, even encouraged her for a while but in the end she was her father’s side.  Jieun wanted to tell them that she improved in her dancing, that the manager was praising her, that there was someone who believed in her, but she couldn’t.  To her parents, she had become the ungrateful and disrespectful daughter.  But more than anything, she wanted to show them, that she could do it, that she could become a singer and that they didn’t have to worry for her future.

But it wasn’t easy, to fight for something that she was having trouble fighting for herself at the same time.

As she reached for the handle of the door she had just unlocked, she took a deep breath before opening it.  The living room was to the right of the front door and she saw her father sitting on their faded brown couch, watching TV.  His head turned to the sound of the door, and when their eyes met, her father said, “Jieun, you’re back?”

Jieun nodded, “I was studying for my exams tomorrow.”

“I’ve noticed your grades are not improving, so I’ve signed you up