I heard my voice followed by the voices of other girls, which I realized were the voices of the other contestants. We were all saying the same word: Diamond. When I turned around, I saw a montage of the ten finalists. At the end of the montage, it was Hanami who said, “Diamond Entertainment’s Idol Search Special”.

            Again the host spoke. “Today, the girls went through makeup, a photo shoot, interviews, dance practice, and vocal training, but no one was able to tell them why they were doing so. The truth is that all the staff was sworn to keep the secret that they were actually being filmed the whole time with secret cameras!”

            Everyone’s faces turned sour, which caused a great reaction from the crowd.

“What they also don’t know is that the President watched and review all of the footage and made his decision based upon it. For now, we’re going to show you our favorite parts.”

            On the screen, we saw us getting our makeup on and shooting our photos. It was fun to listen to the crowd’s reactions as they watched. It was just different clips from the footage of today, some of us talking to each other or practicing. We watched parts of our interviews that made us look good. “Why I sing?” I heard a familiar voice from the screen. Shuri. “I sing because I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.” The crowd “awww”ed at the comment. They played other parts of our interviews, but I was too nervous to really pay attention.

“How many? Koieru no? I can see sugu niwakaru wa…” When I heard my voice from the interview, my head snapped up to look at the screen. I did what I always did when I was nervous, I laughed. The crowded laughed at my embarrassment.  I did the same thing when they showed the footage of me volunteering to dance. The crowd “ooooh”ed when they heard Green call me “dear”. I liked the footage of us singing and dancing. The crowd clapped and cheered for everyone, especially when we were in our singing groups.

The end of the montage brought me both relief and anxiety. I was relieved that the thing was over, but that meant that the results were about to be announced.

“It’s time for the results of Diamond Entertainment’s Idol Search!” The host yelled, followed by cheering from the crowd.

“…after the commercial break.” He continued. The crowd was disappointed.

            When the director announced that we were off air, I sighed. “The anxiety is killing me!” I said to Shuri, who was two chairs away from me. “Same here.” She replied. We all went back to our nervous chatter until the director began to count down again. The room was silent and we all put on smiles.

“Hello, and welcome back to Diamond Entertainment’s Idol Search. As I promised, we will reveal the results of Diamond’s search for trainees to be in their new girls group. Please welcome a very honored guest: Jun-young Diamond, President of Diamond Entertainment!” The host yelled, introducing him. The man was of medium stature. He was not thin, but not fat, a normal size. He wore a gray in-striped suit with a black tie and black shoes. He looked very professional with his black hair slicked back. The crowd roared louder than they had on any of the other nights.

“Thank you, thank you, I am glad to be here. I’ve been watching you all via video footage since you first auditioned, and now here you are, ten extremely talented girls out of thousands. A few months ago, I did a lot of thinking and I came to the decision that I wanted to create a new girl group. Although Diamond already had a successful five-member girl group, Ri-bon,” He was interrupted by the crowd’s cheers for Ri-bon. He smiled. “Although we have Ri-bon, we are looking to create another girl group in a different direction than Ri-bon. So I came to the conclusion of creating a four-member girl group which will be named later. Now that I feel like I know all of you girls, I wish that I could make you all trainees, but once I make a decision, I never go back on it. This decision was really difficult to make, know that. Even if you don’t make it today, that doesn’t mean you won’t make it in the future, even if it’s with another record label. You are all very talented young women. Now, if you would all step forward and make a line.”

            We did as he said and lined up according to our seating arrangement, however, a lot of us moved to be next to our friends. Shuri took the chance to stand next to me.

“I’ll begin now.” He stated.

“Ms. Chung-ae, please step forward, also, Ms. Kyung-min.” The two stepped forward.

“Chung-ae, you are a very skillful dancer. I was very impressed with your skills, and that is main reason that you are here today. However, you’re style of dance is different than that of which the new group will be, so I am sorry, but you did not make it.” He gestured her to sit back down, and she did so. “As for you, Kyung-min, from when you first auditioned, I knew that your voice would carry you through to this point, but as I watched you more, I kept noticing the same problem. Even though you are a beautiful girl with a voice to match, I fear that you don’t have enough confidence, or even drive, to be a singer. So it is with a heavy heart to tell you that you did not make it.”

            With every word he said, my heartbeat became faster.

“Next, will Ms. Hanami and Ms. Shuri please step forward.”

            My heartbeat slowed, because if she was up against Hanami, I was sure that she was going to make it.

“Let’s start with Ms. Hanami. Hanami, you give of the aura of a singer, I noticed it even from your first audition. From your looks to your style, everything about you screams ‘idol’, well just about everything. You do have a good voice, but in this tough market, being a singer is hardly enough, and your dancing skills aren’t up to par like the others. You aren’t a bad dancer, you’re just not amazing. As for you, Shuri, you are a very talented dancer. During the last round, I was surprised to see a girl with a small frame and young face dance the way you did. I can definitely see you on stage dancing, but I’m not looking for a dancer. Fortunately, I made a decision and…”

The crowd held their breath.

“You’re both in!” He said excitedly.

            Shuri’s kid side came out then. She squealed and jumped unto Hanami’s arms, which freaked Hanami out a bit. Next, she came to hug me.

“Yes, I understand that you’re excited, but please sit down.” The President said.

The two nodded vigorously, then returned to their seats.

“Next are the three rappers. “May Ms. Minyoung, Ms. Chitose, and Ms. Emi please step forward.”

            The three of them stepping forward caused me to panic. I realized that I was next and I was up against none other than Kristen and Misun.

“As you know, rapping is a key ingredient in K-Pop, so you three are competing for an important role in the group. I’ll start with Ms. Minyoung. You, Minyoung are quite the character. You give off that kind of aura that gets you what you want. I could tell from your footage that you are a hard worker. Although you are of few words, you say a lot with your actions. However, I’m creating a girl group and most girl groups are made up of lady-like girls and you do not fit in that category.”

            He was right, she did give off that aura, she kind of scared me, but even though she scares me, I’m always unable to remember her name because she is so quiet.

“Next, Ms. Chitose, you are not only skilled at rapping, but also dancing. The dancing that you did with your second round performance and during your dance practice with Green, I noticed how confident you are as a dancer, but I’m afraid that you’re dancing skills surpass your rapping skills.”

            Chitose’s face twisted into an indescribable expression, I think she was trying, but failing, to hide her sadness.

“Lastly, Ms. Emi. You are both a skilled singer and rapper. It is rare to find a rapper that is also good at singing before having any formal vocal training. But, even though your vocal and rapping skills are very impressive, what mostly brought you down was your attitude. The way you acted during the footage today was a big influence on my decision. So now, I’ll announce which one of you is going through.” He cleared his throat and took a breath.

“Minyoung.” He announced.

            The crowd cheered and for the first time, I saw her smile. The feeling of surprise didn’t last long because it was then that I realized I was next.

The President paused and smiled, which gave me both a feeling of relief but also made me uneasy. He opened his mouth to speak.

“Will the last three contestants please step forward?” President Diamond rhetorically asked.

            The three of us stepped forward with straight faces.

“As you’ve probably figured out by now, three girls have been picked, which leaves only one more girl out of the three of you. As they always say, I left the best for last. Of all the girls I saw in this competition, you three have the best voices. I guessed from the start that you three would be standing here before me. This was an extremely hard decision for me to make, trust me, but now that I’ve decided, it feels like the decision was staring me straight in the face the entire time.” As I watched him speak, I kept noticing his eyes shift to look at Kristen. My confidence was shot down immediately.

“Misun, I’ll begin with you.” Her eyes widened when he said her name.

“Like the other two, you have an amazingly beautiful voice. Your voice is different from other artists signed to Diamond, which can end up either being a gift or a curse. However, although you have a wide range when it comes to your voice, your personality has a very narrow range. I don’t think that you have what it takes to become a singer.” You could tell that she was fighting tears, which only proved his theory.

“Next, Ms. Minami. You are very talented, Minami. Like many others in this competition and among you ten, you are a well rounded performer. You definitely have what it takes to be an idol: the looks, the voice, the moves, the personality, everything. You have a fantastic voice, it’s just beautiful, but in comparison with the other two, you’re wide voice range looks narrow.”

            The news shocked me, but it wasn’t anything that haven’t pondered already. Then I saw him turn to Kristen, at that moment, I lost almost all of the confidence I had left.

“And lastly, Kristen” He began. “You’re singing is phenomenal. The voice range you have is unbelievable, among the best in the entire competition. I have no doubt that you’ll make it as a singer, but there’s just one thing. Diamond Entertainment is not only a place for multi-talented people and it is not only one of the most successful groups in Asia, but it is also a family. A family that I’m not sure you’ll be able to fit in because of your attitude. The type of aura you give off, and from what I saw of your footage, I can tell that you’re not a team player. So even though you are extremely talented, Diamond may not be the right place for you.” He finally finished his ranting. Now, I had a little bit more confidence after hearing his opinion on Kristen, but not enough to make me feel confident.

“So at last, I’ll reveal the results.” The President took a pause, giving the crowd a chance to roar. “The final member of Diamond Entertainment’s newest group of trainees is…” Again he paused, but this time the crowd held their breath in anticipation like before. I looked down at my feet, scared to hear his answer.

“Minami Kim” He yelled into the microphone.

            My face immediately lit up. Wait, he said my name, right? The crowd roared and Shuri came to hug me. I was in too much shock to jump around like Shuri currently was. Kristen began to approach me, I was a bit scared. She held her hand out and we shook hands.

“I knew I should have been scared of you two.” She said to me and Shuri.

 

           

            After all the commotion and many people coming up to congratulate the four of us, we sat on the empty stage after being told to wait there. Hanami was surprisingly friendly, even Minyoung seemed happy. We sat there talking like we were old friends until the same woman who had been with us through the chaos approached us.

“Hello, girls, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Hiyoung Park, I’ll be your manager, but please just call me Manager.” She said, giving us a small bow.

We all did the same and introduced ourselves.

“For tonight, Diamond has prepared a room for you girls at a nearby motel where one of our cars will take you. Tomorrow morning at 8am, a car will be waiting for you outside the motel to take you to Diamond’s building, is that clear?”

We all nodded.

            She led us to the front of the building where a black van was awaiting us. The car dropped us off at a motel where we stayed the night. I set my alarm for 7am. I was the first one awake, so I woke the others up. When we arrived at the motel yesterday, our belongings were somehow there waiting for us.

“What are we supposed to wear there?” Shuri asked.

“What do you mean?” Hanami replied.

“Like, do we wear something we’d wear if we were going shopping, or if we at home, or going to a party, or whatever? What are you guys wearing?”

“I’m just going casual, just jeans and a shirt.” Minyoung said.

“I’m going in a sun dress, which is casual for me.” Hanami continued.

“I’m just dressing as if I were going to school. I’m wearing skinny jeans and a top with some accessories. I want to make a good impression on my first day, but I don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to impress them.” I answered.

“Yeah, but what kind of accessories?” The girl whined again.

            After much deliberation, we ended up down in the lobby with our suitcases. Just as Manager said, a van was waiting for us. As we approached the car, its door opened and out came Manager.

“Good morning, girls. I hope you got some rest because today is going to be fun.” She told us. We all got into the car.

“How was your night, Minami-yah?” She asked me.

 “It was fine.” I replied.

“What about you, Minyoung-ah?”

“Same, Manager-unnie.” She answered. Hanami interrupted.

“And you, Shuri-yah?”

“Mine was fine too.” She smiled.

Before manager could ask, Hanami interrupted. “Hello, I’m still here.” She said.

            “Oh, sorry, Hanami-yah. I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t speak Korean.

I hadn’t even noticed that I was speaking Korean until Manager pointed it out.

“I can understand it perfectly, but when it comes to speaking, I’m not very good, but I get along.” Hanami replied angrily.

“Same with me and Japanese.” Minyoung said.

“Let me explain something to you girls. Although Diamond has a building in Japan, its headquarters is in Korea. Although all the staff and others speak both languages, when we are in the building, we tend to speak Korean. Part of the reason that you guys were chosen is because of your ability to understand both languages, that’s what Diamond Entertainment prides itself on.” Manager explained.

“Does that mean I have to start using words like sshi, ah, yah, and unnie instead of chan and san?” Hanami asked

“You can use either, but usually, we use the Korean suffixes. But with me, don’t worry about adding unnie, it makes me feel old. Just call me Manager.”

We all agreed.

Manager spoke again. “So tell me about yourselves, girls. We’re going to get to know each other very personally; we might as well start now.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked her.

“Hmm, let’s see… how about your age and your  favorite artists?” She answered.

“Well, I’m 17 and I absolutely love love love Ri-bon!” Shuri squealed. “They are my favorite artists ever. I also like G2Y.”

“Yeah, same here.” I said. “G2Y is my all time favorite group ever, then Ri-bon. My two musical idols are actually from those two groups.”

“Oh really? Who?” Manager asked.

“Shinji and Risa.”

“Oh, the two leaders, that’s smart.”

            Hanami surprised me when she said that she was 19, I thought that she was 20, she looks very mature. She had a long list of favorite groups. She named almost every girl group that I knew. It didn’t surprise me when Minyoung admitted that her two favorite groups were C.N. Blue and FT Island, but if she had to pick from Diamond, she liked Cologne the best. She told us that she was 18, the same age as me.

            We had finally stopped and we were pulled up in front of a large building. I recognized the Diamond Entertainment logo on the doors. I heard Shuri whisper into my ear. “Do you think that we’ll get to meet G2Y, Cologne, or Ri-bon today, Minami-unnie?” She asked. It was weird for me to hear Shuri call me unnie. Manager was right, it did make me feel a little bit old, even though I only one year older than her. I shrugged my shoulder.

When we entered the building, it was exactly like it looked in the pictures. I couldn’t believe that I’d actually be training under Diamond Entertainment; I couldn’t help my mouth falling agape at the sight. The other girls followed behind me with the same expression on their faces. Manager led us to the elevators.

“We’re on our way to the practice room.”

I snapped out of my trance just long enough to sharply turn my head towards her.

“You mean the same practice room that G2Y & Ri-bon practice in?” I asked, sounding like the fangirl I am.

Manager nodded with a weird expression. Up until now, I was giving off the ‘calm, cool and collected’ aura, seeing me like this was a first for her.

“Are you guys G2Y & Ri-bon fans?” She said, gesturing to all of us.

Excitedly, we all nodded.

She smiled. “Well then you’re going to like the surprise we have for you.”

The four of us took in a sharp breath and our eyes became wide. As we walked down the hall, we could hear Ri-bon’s new song they did with G2Y. Inside, I was fangirling like crazy.

We entered the room, just before the song ended, and there they were, Ri-bon.

“Annyeong, baby. Good bye.” The five girls sang, followed by their signature move, blowing a kiss.

Behind me, the short-haired one squealed.

The girls sat on the floor against the wall and drank from their Diamond water bottles. Manager broke the silence.

“Hey girls, the new girls are here.”

They all smiled and got to their feet. Before I knew it, they were racing towards us.

“Hi, I’m Risa” The long haired one smiled.

The short one followed. “I’m Ritsuko.”

“Rita.” The black-haired one added.

“I’m Rika.” said the short, blonde one.

Lastly, the red-haired one spoke. “And I’m Rin.”

The four of us started giggling like little schools girls who were talking to their crushes. I finally got the courage to open my mouth.

“Yeah, we know who you are, of course. We LOVE you.”

They all smiled.

Manager spoke again. “Where are the guys? They were supposed to be practicing this song with you guys for the tour, right?”

“Yeah, they were supposed to be here, but Seung-young-oppa called and said that the van broke down and they’ll call a cab. They’ll be here any minute.” Rika replied

Shuri turned to me. “Minami-unnie, did you hear that?” She said, unable to hide the excitement in her voice. Trying not to seem immature, I whispered into her ear to save it for later. She nodded in reply.

The girls started the song and began to practice again while the others and I sat on the benches that lined the right side of the room. Shuri and I took a seat on the floor for a better look.

When the song was over, loud clapping came from behind me. I was too mesmerized by my female musical idols that I didn’t notice my male musical idols enter the room, nonetheless that they were standing right behind me.

My eyes were locked on him. Right in front of me was Shinji Park. He noticed my stare and smiled. I felt as if I had just melted. My body began to move on its own, and immediately I was on my feet. I took two steps backwards, and then did a long, deep bow. The girls followed my example and did the same.

They laughed, and then Seung-young spoke. “You don’t have to be so formal, girls, we’re a family now.”

His statement was followed by “Yeah”s from the other members.

“Well,” Manager said to us, “introduce yourselves, girls.”

I bowed again, not so deep this time. “Nice to meet you, I’m Minami Nakahara, but I usually go by ‘Cherry’.”

The short-haired girl bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Kang Minyoung.” So that was her name, I keep forgetting it.

Shuri and Hanami repeated the process.

Tai was the first to speak this time. “Well, I’m Taichi, Tai for short; and this is Shinji, Kang-min, Seito, and Seung-young.”

The guys did a simultaneous, “Hey” which sent the three of us into an invisible frenzy.

“You girls can just call me Shin.” He added with a wink.

The manager again broke my fangirl trance with her words. “Okay, you guys know the drill.” She said to the oppas and unnies. “This is their first week and the hyungs picked Tuesday through Friday, and since 29Bass is still on their tour for the next couple of weeks, one of you two is going to have to do it twice.

Risa replied swiftly. “We’ll do it.”

“What if we want to do it?” Seung-young said

The two started arguing.

“What are they talking about?” Hanami asked in a whisper. I shrugged. What are they talking about?

Shin interrupted the two. “Let’s settle this with a game.” Everyone else in the room sighed.

“Why do we always have to settle things with a game?” Kang-min asked.

Shin answered with “because”.

“Yeah, okay, but what are we going to do?”
At the same time, Tai and Seung-young looked at each other and said, “Dance-off!!”

Seito face went blank as he firmly said, “No way in hell.”

Different suggestions came of such as race and sing off, when

Rin asked us, “Do you girls have any ideas?”

We looked lost with our confused faces, which made her realize that they still hadn’t explained what they were arguing about.

“Every time Diamond gets new trainees, for their first week, they spend a day with each of groups signed. The solo artists get to pick which group they go with. However, since 29Bass & Cologne are on tour, you get to have two day with a group.”

“Oh, so you guys are fighting over us?” Shuri asked.

“Yes.” They all replied.

 

            In the end, manager just stopped them and let G2Y have the extra day.

“Why, Manager-unnie?” Rika whined

“You’re going to be spending everyday with them at the girls’ hostel. Aren’t you? Let the boys have them.” All the girls pouted, which made me feel happy that they wanted us so bad.

The guys were cheering in the corner.

Shuri, trying not to sound too giddy asked manager, “So how are we going to group up?” I laughed, seeing that she was looking at Seung-young.

“Yeah, Manager, how’re we going to group?” asked Kang-min

She thought for a second and then started writing on her clipboard again.

“Okay, I’ve got it.” She took the paper from her clipboard and stuck it to the door with one of the magnets on it.

We all huddled around the door to see it.

Minami →Shin

Miyoung →Seito

Hanami →Sang-young & Tai

Shuri → Kang-min & Tai

“Ah, Manager-noona, why does Tai get two?” Seung-young whined

“He’ll spend half the time with Shuri and then he’ll spend the other half with Hanami. Now go, you have until 11pm. I’m going to call the girls at exactly 11:01 and if they say that the girls aren’t home yet, I’m going to get you guys. Here, take this.” Manager said, handing the boys a piece of paper. “Follow this schedule closely.”

The boys examined the papers then led the others out of the room. Shinji tapped my shoulder.

“The schedule says that we’re supposed to stay here for about 35 minutes. After that, I’ll show you the recording studio.” He went to sit on the bench, then pat the space next to him, calling me to sit next to him.

How lucky is it that Shuri and I both got who we wanted?

I sat down a little less than a foot away from him.

“So, tell me about yourself, Minami-sshi -um, I mean Cherry.” He said.

“Oh, if it’s a little uncomfortable for you to call me that, you may also call me Mimi or Nami; they’re my other nicknames.” I explained with a smile.

“Mmm, okay.” He replied

“Well what do you want to know?” I asked.

“Let’s start with why you wanted to become a singer.”

I laughed. “People always ask me that, but I always tell them that it’s always the same answer. Being on stage is the best feeling in the world for me, there’s no other thrill that can satisfy me like being on stage, especially with singing. I believe that music can change people’s lives. One song can have a big impact. So I want to be able to impact people’s lives just as music has impacted mine.”

He was smiling as I spoke, probably because liked my answer. When I finished, he started laughing. My face turned sour.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked with a frown.

He calmed himself down and explained. “Now I see why Manager put us together, that sounds like the same answer I gave her when I was a trainee.”

We continued talking after that. I told him about my experiences of acting, dancing, and singing.

“Oh, you dance too, Mimi-sshi? Why don’t you show me something, we still have ten minutes left, you know.”

My face flushed, which he noticed.

“I… I know the dance routine for ‘Not Tonight’, if you want to see that.” I told him.

“I don’t want to see one of my own dances. You said that you choreograph stuff for your dance group back home, why don’t you show me one of those? And I have an idea. If you show me one of your original dances, I’ll dance ‘Not Tonight’ with you.”

I swallowed hard and agreed.  He gave me his iPod and showed me how to hook it up to the sound system in the practice room. I looked through his music. Some of the songs he had surprised me, especially his taste in American music.

“Oh! You have the song!”

He sat back down. “Which song is it?”

“It’s one of 29Bass’s songs, ‘Control’.”

I played the song and quickly ran to the center of the room, facing him. I felt his gaze on me, but just brushed it off and continued to dance. In any other circumstance, I would have melted.

When the song ended, he started clapping. Next, he got up and came over to me.

“As I promised, let’s do ‘Not Tonight’.”

“Actually, oppa, do you mind if we do ‘Hard to Breathe’ instead? That was always my favorite live performance that you guys did.”

He agreed and then went to play it.

“Oh wait, I forgot to ask you. Whose part of the dance do you know?” He asked.

I was a little bit embarrassed to tell him. “I know all of them, but I do yours the best.” I muttered with red cheeks.

“Oh, that’s good. I’ll just do Seung-young’s part then.”

We danced to the song. Shin was surprised when I did a back flip just as he does in the dance. I could see the shock on his face. When we were done dancing, he said with awe, “Wow, I’ve never seen a girl do a back flip.”

“Doesn’t Ri-bon know how to do it?” I asked

“No, multiple backhand springs they can do, but not back flips.” He answered.

As we recovered from dancing, we sat on the floor with our backs against the mirror.

“Do you know any of our other dances?” He asked.

“Yeah, I know a lot of Diamond group dances, and other label’s dances.” I listed all of the dances I knew.

“Do you wanna do another one? We have about four minutes left.” I was tired, but I couldn’t give up this chance to dance with my musical idol.

“Yeah, that would be awesome. Can we do the one you guys did with Ri-bon.”

“Do you mean ’Forever Together’? Sure. I’ll be myself. Who do you want to be?”

“Well, I’m best at Risa and Rika’s parts.” I thought about it and picked Risa’s part because…” I looked around and then whispered, “She’s always been my favorite, but don’t tell the girls that.”

            As we danced, I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be here. I’m dancing in the practice room of my two favorite musical groups in the building of my favorite record label with one of the people I look up to most in this world. A pressure on my cheek brought me back to reality. What just happened? Did I accidently hit myself because I wasn’t paying attention, or did he hit me? The song ended, and I noticed Seung-young, Taichi, and Shuri at the door. They all three started applauding.

“Nice job, Cherry.” Taichi said.

Seung-young agreed. “Yeah, that was awesome.”

Shuri also spoke. “That was great guys, but can you guys get out? It’s our turn to use the practice room.”

“Oh yeah” Shin said. “Come on, Mimi-sshi. Let’s head to the recording studio.”

I followed him out the door, when Shuri grabbed my arm and whispered into my ear.

“I can’t believe he kissed you on the cheek!” She squealed in whisper.

It dawned on me then. It wasn’t a hit or a poke, but a kiss. I felt my knees go weak and ended up on the floor.

Taichi, Seung-young and Shin helped me up. When I got up, I bowed. “Thank you, oppas. Sorry, I accidently tripped on Shuri’s foot, right Shuri?”

She nodded nervously.

I brushed myself off.

“Are you alright?” Shin asked me.

I nodded and then followed him to the recording studio.                                                

“Well, here it is. Yes, the same studio where we record all of Diamond’s music. From SML4’s first EP to Ri-bon’s latest single.”

I was stuck in the awe of the moment, which I think he noticed, because he stopped talking. Taking this momentary silence to re-gather my thoughts about the kiss, I calmed myself down. Why did he do it? Well I know why, because that’s what he did to Risa, but…

“So, lemme show you the controls.” He said, breaking my thoughts.

Later, we heard a knock on the door, it was Seito and Minyoung.

“Wow, is it already time to switch, Seito-hyung?”

“Yeah, now come on.” He replied.

We quickly got up and left.

“Where are we going next, Shin-oppa?” I smiled to myself. Saying his name was fun.

“Hmm, lemme look.” He took the paper from his jacket pocket. “We’re going to the costume room.”

“Okay.” I said.

“That’s what I like about getting the trainees first, we get to show you the cool places. Tomorrow, Ri-bon’s job is to take you to meet everyone. You guys are the first trainees that we got to have first. The first day Ri-bon got here, we were on tour, so we had them second to last. The second day, trainees are always with their roommates, or someone the same as them. Because everyone else at Diamond has their own apartments, except for us and Ri-bon, they got you. That’s lucky, when we got here, there was no one was living in the boys’ dorm except for us. All the guys took turns staying with us for a week. The hyungs always get to choose which days they want first, but they can’t choose the first day. Whoever is closest in age gets them, so you guys got us. Even thought Ri-bon is closer in age, they have you tomorrow, so I think that’s another reason that Manager let us have you.” Shin explained.

By the time he was done explaining how this mentor thing worked, we were at the costume room. When we opened the door, we found Hanami, Kang-min, and Tai dressed up in silly outfits. The two guys were dressed as girls and Hanami was dressed as a guy.

“Kang-min, what are you guys doing? Why are you dressed up as girls?”  Shin asked

Tai was quick to give Kang-min up. “It was his idea.”

They got changed and left.

“This is the girls’ changing room.” Shin pointed out.

On the walls of the room were words and pictures. I went to look at one closer.

Diamond forever! I am so thankful to have this chance. I’ve been working hard for two years now, waiting for this day and it has finally come. Don’t worry oppas and unnies! I am going to make you proud. I will continue working hard so that I can be able to repay you for all that you’ve done for me. Ri-bon will not only succeed, but prosper. Thanks to you all, from the bottom of my heart, Cho-hee Risa Jang

“Ah! Cho-hee Risa Jang, this is Risa’s!” It was Risa’s real name. What kind of fan would I be if I didn’t know my idol’s real name?

“Yeah, it’s a Diamond Entertainment tradition that on the day someone debuts, they come here and write on the wall. It’s the same in the boys’ changing room, except that my passage is on the ceiling.” He laughed.

He showed me the boys’ changing room, then explained how the costume room is set up and showed me where everything was. He looked at his phone.

“It’s only 6:45, we don’t have to be at the next stop until 7:15. What should we do for the rest of the time?” He asked looking at me slyly. I knew what he had in mind.

We looked for what we wanted to wear.

“Shin-oppa, I have an idea!”I yelled across the room.

“What?”

“Whoever gets the best overall outfit wins.” I answered back.

“What do I get when I win?” He asked.

“You mean when I win?”

“Come on, Nami-sshi, I’m one of Korea and Japan’s fashion icons. You won’t win.” He replied.

“Whatever, that’s only because I haven’t debuted yet.”

“Okay, then. If I win, you have to carry me on your back to the next stop.” He said.

“And if I win?”

“I’ll carry you on my back.”

“It’s a deal!”

We agreed and then picked a theme. We picked Diamonds.

I looked through the bottoms first, finding white tights with glitter on them. I kept looking; I had to find something to go over the tights. I ended up picking two things; I had to decide between a white skirt with black lace trim and white shorts. When I went to the tops area, I found a cute white tank top that said ‘Diamond Entertainment’ on it. Yes! When going to the changing room, I slipped on something. When I picked it up, the thing I had slipped on was a pair of suspenders that were studded with rhinestones. How lucky is that?

I put everything on and chose the white shorts over the skirt because they had rhinestones instead of lace.

            Now it was time for makeup and jewelry. I looked at the clock; I had five minutes. I picked out long chandelier-like diamond earrings and long silver necklace that had a big rhinestone on the bottom. Looking through the makeup, I found silver glitter eyeliner, which I applied over my black eyeliner. For lipstick, put on a bright light pink shade. After that, the only thing left was my hair. I tied it up in a high ponytail with silver ribbon. I heard voices coming from the costume room, so I went out there.

            I found Shuri and Seung-young there staring at me with confused faces.

“Shin and I are doing a costume contest and you guys are the judges.” I explained.

I yelled into the boys’ changing room. “Shin-oppa, time’s up! Come out here!”

“Shuri and Seung-young are gonna judge, okay?”I said to him.

“Now,” gesturing towards them “Whose outfit is better?”

After one minute of looking back and forth between the two of us, they actually chose me.

“What?” A surprised Shin asked. “Why?”

“Hers is more flashy and intricate, Shin-hyung. Although your style is almost just as flashy and complicated, hers matches the theme more.” Seung-young stated.

Shuri nodded her head. “I agree, Shin-oppa.”

“Okay, I’ll go change back, now.” I said.

“Wait, we’re already late, let’s just go.” Shin said rushing out the door, I followed.

“Let’s head over to Manager’s office, it’s our last stop.” He stated. Shin bent his knees a little.

“Okay, get on.” He said.

I smiled; I didn’t think he’d do it. We stayed like that until we reached Manager’s office. I was a bit sad that our time together was over though. That only took a little over 2 hours, why did manager say we had to be home at 11?

            When we got to Manager’s office, she was sitting at her desk on her computer.

“Oh, you guys are here. Okay, I’m just going to give you a quick briefing, them I’m going to let you go.” She said

“Go where?” I asked.

“Out” She answered. “Didn’t Shin-sshi show you the schedule?”

“Haha, no I didn’t.” He laughed.

She gave us a lecture about rules and now to make a fool of ourselves or draw attention when we were in public, especially because I haven’t debuted and because Shin is such a big star. Shin just nodded his head, saying, “Yep”, “Yeah”, and “Mmhmm”.  Before I knew it, Shin was leading me again.

“So what do you want to do?” He asked.

“I’m good, you can pick.”

“Okay then, let’s go back to the practice room and we can dance some more. After that, we can get some ice cream. At 8:30, we have to go meet up with everyone at the carnival.”

We got to the dance room, when I stepped into the room, the memory of his lips on my cheek flooded back. I got weak kneed again, causing me to instinctively grab onto Shin.

“Sorry, oppa, I slipped.”

He laughed his cute laugh again. Wait… did I say cute?

For the umpteenth time today, his voice interrupted my train of thought.

“Excuse me, oppa?” I asked

“What do you want to dance?”

“What about ‘Believe Me’?” I asked.

Shin looked at me weird, “You can do ‘Believe Me’?”

I gave him a weird look back.

“I mean, no offense, but that dance is pretty difficult.”

“Oh, you want to see difficult? Put Ri-bon’s song, ‘Perfume’, on.”

His eyebrows rose. “Are you sure?” He asked.

I shot back a glare that caused him to fumble with his iPod. The song started playing and I focused my mind on nothing but the music. I could feel Shin’s eyes on me and I saw his eyebrows raise at the promiscuous dance moves, but I wasn’t focusing on that, all I could think of was the dance.

            When the song ended, I snapped out of my trance. I smiled to myself seeing Shin’s mouth agape.

“What did you think about that?” I asked. “That’s like baby steps compared to Cologne’s song ‘Hooked On You”.

He was speechless, the only thing that came out of this mouth were random words that didn’t make much sense.

“So… ‘Believe Me’ then?” I asked, breaking the silence.

He nodded.

            The dance left us both out of breath and sweaty, which I had been since the last dance. Shin looked at his phone.

“Damn, 8:20! We’re gonna be late!” He grabbed my wrist and ran out of the building.