This chapter is SO long. I'm sorry for that. It must get boring. I wante to end the chapter on a cliff hanger, but I decided that I like this chapter's ending too, because it will give the next chapter a more smooth transition. How do you like the story so far? I have to questions for my readers... see them at the bottom. Enjoy...

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          Now that I had told him to tone down the lovey dovey stuff in public, whenever we’re alone, he goes all out. Justin has a modeling gig today, so he picked me up and drove me, Nick, and Jake to the shooting. Since the only people who know about me and Nick’s relationship are Cologne and A-Bomb, we can only act cute around them. We are never alone. He treats me more like a dongsaeng than a girl friend though. He pinched my cheeks.

“You’re so cute, Mai.”He laughed.

“Nickie, stop it. We’re almost there already. You know that there’s bound to be paparazzi there.” I replied, shaking out from his grasp.

“Bbo bbo! Kiss me first. Right here.” He said, pointing to his cheek.

“Fine.” I pouted a fake pout, then gave him a quick peck.

“Now me.” I said, pointing to my own cheek.

The kiss he gave me was longer. “Now that’s a kiss, darling.”

The car stopped. “We’re here.” Justin announced as soon as it stopped.

“Thank God!” Jake yelled in English. “I thought I was going to go crazy in there.” He whined.

Nick whispered into my ear. “He’s just in a feisty mood because the girl he’s been texting has suddenly stopped replying. Don’t pay any attention to him.”

Noli came to greet me and Nick. She quickly bowed then ran off to jump on Jake’s back.

“Oppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” She yelled as she hopped on him like a koala.

“Ah, Noli-yah. Hello.” He said half with aggravation and half with excitement.

She snuggled her face onto his and giggled.

“Aish, this girl. How old is she and acting like a grade schooler?” Nick mumbled under his breath.

          I didn’t have to be a shooting that long today, since I am in fact a minor role. I just shot a scene with Noli’s character, my character’s older sister. We fought about how I ran away and she lectured me. There was a deeper plot in what we were saying and in the significance of Nick finding me and where he found me, but I wasn’t all too interested. Manager texted me to remind me that I couldn’t stay at the set too long and to check my schedule. I did as she said and checked it. Next I had to go meet the rest of A-Bomb at ‘Kiss the Radio’. Today were Tola and Akie’s first promotions, so we would all almost be arriving at different times. There was no form of transportation listed on how I was going to get there. I decided to text the guy who said to text if I needed anything.

          Whenever I was off camera, the dance tutor called me to learn the dances that I was missing. Being taught individually is much easier than with the other girls. This way, I was able to learn the dances faster.

          I thanked and said good bye to all the staff when it was time for me to leave, saving Nick, Jake, and Noli for last. Noli gave me a big hug, then ran off to do her scene. Jake was still shooting, so I just told Nick to tell him that I said bye.

“Oppa, I’m leaving now.” I told Nick.

“Let me drive you.” He half demanded.
“No, you have to do your shooting. I’ll be fine. Someone is picking me up.” I said, trying to change his mind.

“My scene isn’t for at least another 30 minutes, and with Jake shooting, they’re gonna need more than 5 takes for this next scene.” Nick replied, trying to justify.

I finally convinced him that it would’ve been a bad idea. He gave in on the condition… that he’d sit in the lobby with me until I got picked up. We held hands on the couch under his jacket so that no one would see. Nick tried to act all sunbae-ly by giving me tips about being on live broadcast. No matter what anyone says, Nick is a good sunbae.

My phone vibrated and the ringtone version of ‘Body Groove’ started playing. Nick looked at me with wide eyes.

“Really? An Aqua song as your ringtone? I’m surprised.” He gasped.

“Bye!”I yelled to shut him up.

He gave my hand a tight squeeze before I got up to go. I couldn’t possibly tell him that for each of my sunbae, I had one of their songs for a different member of their group. Body Groove is my ringtone for JD.

“I’ll watch you go.” Nick said.

“No, you go first.” I fought back, trying to avoid him seeing Jae’s car.

Luckily, a coordinator called him for makeup. That saved us another couple’s quarrel.

          I waited until I couldn’t see him anymore, then went outside. Jae’s car was waiting for me there. He was wearing oversized sunglasses and a hat.

“I’m glad you texted.” Jae said to me as I entered the car.

“Manager-unnie said that I had to find my own ride to the broadcast, and you told me to text you if I needed anything. But what about you, Jae-yah? No schedule today?” I curiously asked.

“Of course I do. Aqua just got done with an exclusive interview with All K-Pop, then after I’m done dropping you off, I’m headed to rehearsal for our Good Bye Stage on tonight’s Inkigayo.” JD replied back.

“Ah, really? What is President planning for you all next?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t really know… he hasn’t told us anything. He’s just glad that we’re done with our promotions so that he can better focus on your debut, preparations for Cologne’s maybe comeback, and I hear that he’s also writing songs for a comeback for the Hanabi-noonas. Manager just recently told us that he’s currently staying up late every night to finish arranging the material for your debut. You girls will record soon.” JD said excitedly.

My stomach dropped at that statement. Recording? Am I ready? Before I could thoroughly ponder my confidence, we had reached the building. Jaehyo stopped the car and let it idle there for a few seconds. I didn’t notice him staring as I was thinking so hard. He just watched me hold an expressionless face. I felt him take my hand. With surprise, I turned to him.

“Mai, I know you’re scared for your first live broadcast. It’s okay. Just pretend like you’re talking to me, or one of the other sunbaes, okay? I know your tutor has taught you a lot about answering these types of questions, right? Go, or you’ll be late.” He said, nudging my shoulder.

I got out of the car.

“Good luck!” He yelled. “Fighting!!”

I ran into the building, where I saw Manager waiting for me. Now that I’m thinking about it. I never received the broadcast training that my unnies did. I was absent that day for my photo shoot with Nick. Jaehyo had only made me more scared.

“As I was expecting, you are the last to arrive. How come though all the other members also have schedules, you are always the one is arrives last?” Manager asked rhetorically.

“I prepared for this, which is why I told you the recording time one hour early. Hurry and go up stairs, the others are learning the final dance for the sunbae song mash up and are putting on the final touches with the dance instructor. I expect that the tutor has been teaching you well?” Manager said.

“Yes, ma’am.” I said, nodding my head.

          I did as she said and followed her upstairs. They were in what seemed like a makeshift practice room. At least it had mirrors on one wall.

          The hour passed quickly. We finished learning the last part of the sunbae mash up and had just started polishing it. Since it was time for recording, we’d have to save that for a later date. Manager led us into the recording room when the ‘On Air’ sign stopped flashing. We bowed as we greeted our sunbae. I knew exactly who these people were.

“Annyeong, Sehun-oppa, Suho-oppa!” Mei-lein yelled.

“Annyeong!” The greeted back.

          Mei-lein ran over to sit next to them. The rest of us followed. Of all of the K-Pop groups I knew, EXO and Miss A are my favorites, since they do work in China. I don’t like many rookie groups nowadays. I keep forgetting that Mei-lein was close with the EXO-oppas before she switched to Diamond to be a part of A-Bomb. The four immediately started catching up.

“These three took the job of hosting ‘Kiss the Radio’ since their Super Junior sunbae had done it before them.

          Soon enough, the broadcast had started. They asked questions going from oldest to youngest, which was a lucky break for the maknae. I listened to what my unnies said and formulated answers that I would say. Finally, Suho questioned me.

“We heard that President Diamond calls you the ‘MVP’. What is the story behind that?” Suho asked in a formal tone.

I laughed out of embarrassment. My cheeks turned pink.
“Well, one specific reason that he scouted me was for my ability to speak Korean, English, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese fluently. Other than that, I can play any role in a group,  whether it is singing, dancing, or even rapping.” I laughed at myself. “But, I’m not very good at rapping still though.”

“Next question.” Sehun interrupted with his lisp. “Of all of your sunbae, which group do you like the most?”

“I hope Minami-unnie and Green-oppa don’t get mad but, the Cologne oppas are my favorite. We spend a lot of time with them, so it’s only natural. We also spend a lot of time with Aqua, we are very close with them too.” I replied.

Suho’s eyes lit up.

“Speaking of Aqua, what is your relationship with JD? Are the rumors that you are dating true? I mean you are both the same age and all, and as you said, you spend a lot f time with him.” Suho questioned.

“Well, we don’t spend A LOT of time with them, but no, me and JD are not in a romantic relationship.”

They finished questioning us, so to finish up the show, they asked us to sing a cover of any song of our choosing.

“I think Mai-sshi should pick the song.” Tola suggested. “She’s the one with the least knowledge about K-Pop, fighting with Mei-lein.”

I scratched my head. “Well… I am actually a huge fan of EXO.” I mumbled.

“Oh, really?” Sehun said with his eye bright. “Why don’t you sing our first pre-debut single, ‘What is Love’?” He asked excitedly.

          They all looked at each other and agreed. We started singing the song. I didn’t know the words, so I just mumbled. At the end of the song, Suho looked at me.

“I don’t know about you, Sehun-ah, but I don’t think our listeners heard Mai-sshi singing.” Suho smirked.

Sehun nodded. “Yeah, me either. What happened, Mai-sshi?” He asked me.

“Well, no offense to you oppas, but since I did live in China before, I know EXO-M’s Chinese version better…” I muttered.

“Ah, woooooow!” Sehun gasped. “Can you sing maybe the chorus for us, Mai-sshi?”

I shot a look at Mei-lein. “Mei-lein is Chinese, she knows it too, right, unnie?” I pleaded with my eyes.

“Sorry, Mai, but no.” She shrugged. I was paralyzed with fear. Remembering what Jae said, I imagined Nick standing behind Suho smirking. As I nodded and prepared myself to sing, my vision changed and I began to see Jaehyo staring at me from behind the two.

          Sehun and Suho were mesmerized when I started singing. Apparently they didn’t even know the Chinese version of their own song, especially these two, who hardly know the words since ‘What is Love’ is a Baekhyun & D.O. duet.

          The broadcast ended. As we exited the building to get a ride from one of the company vans, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Jaehyo.

“I heard the broadcast. Good job. You did well.” The text read.

“Thank you! ~(^_^)~” I replied.

“Do you all need a ride? What’s your schedule now?”

I explained to him A-Bomb’s situation about polishing the sunbae mash up for the company showcase. He wished me good luck, then we were on our way.

          Back at the company building, the five of us finished polishing the sunbae dance with the capable and sharp eyes of our dance instructor. He made sure that we got everything perfect. Right as we sat down for a short break before we performed the finished project twice in a row, Manager came in. Our heads shot up.

“Girls, fantastic news!” She announced as she walked through the door. “Last night, President Diamond finished the arrangements for your mini-album. After you are all done here, I’ll take you to see him so he can brief you on your new schedule.

          We performed the full performance in front of our dance teacher, manager, and various other staff. Due to Manager’s precise criticism, we ended up doing it a total of 5 times. All sweaty and tired, we went to see the president. Though we were out of breath and huffing, he smiled a warm smile.

“I’m proud of you, girls. Almost as proud as I will be on the day of your debut stage.” He began.

“But to get there, it will be a long, difficult, and painful road. You will be tested to the fullest extent in every way.”

He gave us a long lecture about pursuing our dreams and things of that sort. He even reminisced about the debuts of his previous groups. This side of the president made him seem more friendly and approachable than he already was. I realized at this time how passionate he was about music and how much of himself he was giving to this company.

          The president finally started on explaining our schedule. “From tomorrow onwards, you five will work only on the production of your debut mini-album. This will include recording the 4 songs, making a music video, completing preparations for three live stages, three photo shoots and training for various interviews. A method I learned from my close hyung of mine, Park JinYoung, the music video will contain translations the closed captioning, but instead of just English and Chinese, we are also including Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai. To start out your debut with support from all around the world, you will do interviews with entities from all over. Each of you will have to learn basic phrases in each language, but for the initial interviews, whichever of you are adept at the respective language will lead the conversation. So Tola and Mai will lead the Thai interviews, Mei-lein and Mai will do the Chinese ones, Hung and Mai with the Vietnamese, Akie will lead the Japanese interviews, and Mai the English.”

His words made me nervous. He mentioned my name in every one of those, except for Japanese, which means, I will be talking a lot, which also means more room for me to make mistakes.

He started again. “Every day, you will have to be in the practice room by 7am. You will learn the songs with two of our vocal coaches. They will assign your parts and organize your harmonies. Singing practice will end at 11am, which will be lunch time. You are permitted a 1 hour lunch time, meaning that you will return to the practice room no later than 12:01pm. Am I clear?” The president sternly asked, changing the mood in the room from casual to business.

“Dance practice will start of by learning the dance for your music video to the title song. When you get that down, we can shoot it. Afterwards, you will learn the stage craft for your live performances that you will perform on music shows such as Inkigayo and M Countdown. This training will be until 4pm. From 4pm to 5, you have a two hour break. One hour for relaxing and one for dinner. At precisely, 6:01pm, your lessons will start. These lessons with vary daily from things like what to say during interviews, how to deal with idol life, common phrases lessons and other related things. These lessons will end at 8pm, which will end your day, unless something is planned such an interview or photo shoot or your personal schedules…. Speaking of personal schedules, Mai-sshi, I had all of your shooting moved to past 8pm that was possible. Seeing that you will only be needed three more times, only one date could not be changed.” The President said to me. He went on to tell the other girls of their personal schedules.

          With that, we were dismissed for free night before our new busy schedules. He suggested that we turned in early for a fresh start tomorrow morning. The five of us knew that wasn’t happening.

“What should we do, girls?” Akie asked in a friendly tone.

          I have been really happy lately. Because of the busy schedule lately, we have been able to become a little bit closer as A-Bomb as a whole. Hopefully our struggle to debut will make us be ultimately sisters. I can’t wait for that time.

“Jae told me that Aqua’s good bye stage is tonight.” I replied, looking at the time on my cell phone. “Shall we go watch it live?”

“If we take the van right now, we can catch them, since good bye stages usually go at the end.” Chai pointed out. We all agreed and went on our way.

          The Inkigayo stage was not as elaborate as the one at M Countdown, but it was a still pretty nice stage. I smiled to myself imagining the five of us on it.

          We clapped for the ‘Candy Girls’ who had just done their debut stage. They were the second girl group to debut this year, bringing some needed competition to the rookies. The five of us had a good time watching other artists’ comebacks and promotions. You could tell that we were all taking mental notes on stage performance. Finally, the hosts announced the last act. Akie grabbed my hand, with her other one, she took Chai’s hand. The five of us had just decided to hold hands out of excitement. I bet Akie was so excited to see Hiroshi on stage. I was pretty excited to see them all too. The lights turned off and three boys walked out on stage. The room full of fan girls started screaming, including the five of us. Akie screamed the loudest.

          Hiroshi sang first, like all main singers. The fan girls screamed. I watched Akie’s reaction. I had to hold her up because her knees went weak when Hiroshi hit a high note. Doing a cliché, but classic move, Hiroshi bent down and let JD jump over him, assisted by Justin. Surprisingly, Jae’s voice gave me butterflies. I stumbled a bit onto Akie, she laughed. I had never heard Jae sing live. It was shocking how much better he was when his voice wasn’t fixed. The reaction from the fan girls when Jae came out was much larger, the girls screamed louder than ever. When Justin started his rap, the sea of girls screamed again. I couldn’t decide who’s reaction was greater between him and Hiroshi. The other three were paying attention, but Akie and I were completely rapt. I only tore my eyes away for a second to laugh at Akie who didn’t even blink when Tola gave her a pat on the face.

          The song ended and the rest of the program went on. In all the commotion, I didn’t feel the vibration in my pocket. I received a second text, which alarmed me. I checked it, of course from Nickie.

“I’m exhausted from the shooting today. You should buy me dinner ;)” The text read.

“Nickie, I’m being a good Aquarius and watching my sunbae at their good bye stage.” I replied.

His reply was almost immediate. “Be a good Tester and come take care of me. Oppa is exhausted~~” He replied with 3 whining emoticons.

          I got the courage to ignore him and I went back stage to congratulate Jaehyo and the oppas. I gave them individual hugs and greetings, starting with Justin.

“Justin-ah, good job! You’re rapping was daebak!” I said, giving him a double thumbs up. Next was Hiroshi. “Hiroshi-oppa, you did an amazing job. Your live vocals impressed me.” I saved Jaehyo last for some reason.

“Jae-yah!” I called. My unnies left his side and they all gathered around the other two. Akie didn’t leave Hiroshi’s side. I gave him a tight hug. He was the most sweaty of the three, probably because he was the one doing the b-boy moves. “Your stage self is really y, Jae-yah.” I told him.

“So my off stage self is ugly?” He joked.

“Yes.” I laughed. He pinched my cheeks hard, then used them to drag me to the rest of the group.

“I say we celebrate the end of our promotions!” Maknae Justin yelled. “And the beginning of our promotions!” Chai added.

“What do you all want to do?” Hiroshi considerately asked us all. They all started fighting on which is the best place to go.

Nick texted me. “We’re going at a club. You coming?”

“Which club?” I typed.

I interrupted the elders. “What about we go to a club?” I suggested with ulterior motives.

They talked it out and decided it was a good idea.

“Which club?” Jae asked.

“One in HongDae!” Party animal Mei-lein screamed.

Nick had replied. “The Jazz Room in HongDae.” The text full of music notes.

“I hear that ‘The Jazz Room’ is fun.” I suggested again.

No one had a better idea, so we all agreed.

“I’m coming <3” I texted Nick.

          We all hopped in the van, squished like sardines. If Manager saw this, she would have a fit. We could hear the blaring music from inside the car. It got louder as we exited. Immediately the group dancers burst out in dance. Mei-lein and JD freestyled outside of the club. They fit so good together, the dance looked pre-choreographed.

“Yah! Save it for inside, kids.” Akie yelled. She loves calling Aqua that, since they are her sunbaes but she is older than Justin and Jaehyo and only younger than Hiroshi by two months.

          As soon as we got inside, Mei-lein disappeared into the crowd. The other seven of us just gathered together in an awkward dancing bunch. Jae moved closer to me and singled me out. The others seemed to move away from us, giving us privacy that I didn’t really want. I didn’t really mind the close dancing until he started to move closer. My body tensed up and I became awkward, but Jaehyo didn’t seem to take the hint. He kept dancing around me. I didn’t want to be rude by walking away, but I didn’t want to continue this. What if Nick saw us and thought that I was the one grinding on him?

          I felt a sudden tug on my shoulder. In one fluid movement, Jae was no longer in my sight and I was surrounded by the Cologne oppas.

“We have to go. Do you want to come with us?” Nick asked me, gesturing to the rest of his group.

I desperately wanted to get out of this awkward situation, so I nodded. I planned to text each unnie and tell them where I was. I followed them back to their cars. The oldest went in a car together, leaving me and Nick with the Jae bros, YoungJae and HyunJae. However, HyunJae wanted to be with his Hyun Brother, Hyunsu, thus trading places with Taeyoung.

Taeyoung called driving, since he was the oldest in the car. Nick let the maknae sit in the front for once so that we could be in the back together.

“Don’t think about doing anything back there.” Taeyoung joked.

“What are you talking about?” YoungJae asked, obviously oblivious to me and Nick’s relationship.

Nick kissed me on the cheek, then filled the maknae in on our relationship.

“Excuse him. The maknae is pretty oblivious when it comes to his surroundings. He never knows what’s going on.” Nick explained to me.

YoungJae tapped Taeyoung’s shoulder. “Hyung, why are we heading back to the company building? I was just about to get my party animal on.” He whined.

“See.” Nick pointed out. “President-hyungnim called for us, saying that he has a new schedule for us and the six of us needed to some quickly.” Nick explained.

          When we got there, I waited outside the office as the President talked to them. I waited there for 20 minutes, but it felt like an hour. By the time they go out, I was sprawled out on the floor playing a word game on my phone. The door opened too fast for me to get up. The five of them rushed to the elevator, Nick coming out last. He picked me up and led me to the elevator with them.

“Hyungnim convinced Jinguk-hyung to give us one of his songs.” Nick explained to me. “Hyungnim decided to make the song a new single for us.”

“Yay! That’s so exciting!” I said smiling and clapping.

“The catch is that we’re leaving for Okinawa to shoot the music video tomorrow morning at 4am. So we have to rush home and pack our bags real quick.” Nick continued explaining.

Now I understood why they were in such a rush. We all piled back into the cars, and soon enough were at their dorm.

A smiled graced my lips. “I get to see Nickie’s room?” I asked Nick, tugging on his sleeve with aegyo.

“Yeah. I guess so.” Nick replied.

          He allowed me to sit on the bed as he packed clothes. He packed three days worth of clothes and other essentials.

“Oppa? How long are you guys going for?” I asked, playing with a stuffed animal he had.

“It all depends on how long it takes us to learn the song, dance, and the filming and recording.” He answered. “For a normal group, it’d take about two weeks.”

I frowned.

“But for professionals like us, we’ll be back in 8 days, max.”

I smiled a little bit. At least that’s six less days.

“Let’s make a bet.” Nick proposed, bringing me out of my daze.

“If I come back and A-Bomb is not done with recording all the tracks, then you have to tell the president that we’re dating.” Nick threatened.

“So if we’re done recording our mini-album before you come back, then you’ll tell him?” I asked, just to clarify the stakes.

“Yep.” He said smirking.

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Who do you think will win the bet? Who do you want to win the bet?

Also, if you read Diamond in the Rough part I, could you please tell me which of the two parts to you prefer? PLEASE. ~(^_^)~

As always, thanks for reading. Diamond FIGHTING!!!