I quickly opened my laptop when we got back to the dorms and looked up the most recent fan cams. It had become a bit of a habit when I missed Chanyeol. I couldn't help it. I was following him as EXO progressed and I even bought the albums. I voted for them as much as possible and cheered when they got awards. No matter what had happened between Chanyeol and I, they were all still my friends. And I couldn't help but wonder about Chanyeol. He seemed absolutely fine after the last day I saw him. I remember getting a call from Kai asking where I was and I had heard a drunk Chanyeol on the other line.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

"Chaerae! Are you home? Did you get there safely?" There was concern in Kai's voice and I felt a pang of guilt in my chest. Had I taken advantage of his kindness? I shook the thought away.

 

 

 

"Neh. Just got home actually. Thank you." Just as I was about to ask where he was I heard the voice of the person I had just rejected.

 

 

 

"Is that her? Hang up! She's mean! She broke up with me! Yah! Ajusshi! Where can I get some more soju!? I finished my bottles. Ajusshi! Ajusshi!" My heart clenched. He was drinking? Why would he drink? Was he able to drink?

 

 

 

"Chaerae-ah, I have to go. I'll call you later. Take care." Kai was quick as he spoke, not letting me ask questions. He hung up and I was sitting there like an idiot with the phone still at my ear. I frowned at the wall as numerous emotions flooded me. I couldn't sleep at all that night.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

I questioned that night right now. I always wondered what had happened to him that night. My only guess was that Kai had called Baekhyun to take care of him. And when Baekhyun got there, he probably made him go to their shared apartment to sleep off his drunken state. Neither one of them had been at school the next day, nor the day after. I was told that he had his schedule changed. And by the next week all of them were taken out of the school. With their absence the showcase was canceled. I stayed there on my own the next four months and finished with Jueun. She was my only friend after they left. Sunny and the other girls left me alone except when I walked past them when no one was looking.

 

 

 

 I'd somehow been able to work at Jueun's cafe for a couple of months until Lee SooMan himself scouted me. It was a huge shock to me and it was as though all of my dreams were coming true! I couldn't believe it at all. At first I rejected the offer. I couldn't leave my friend whom was in need alone. In the end he agreed to scout Jueun as well, and promised us to be kept together. He loved her tone when she sang and he seemed to have interest in both my singing and rapping. He was impressed by my dancing until he saw how much I had to work at it to get perfect. I was good at freestyle, but learning choreography proved difficult at times. Jueun was graceful and had to be hardened into the hip-hop style by me and our oennie, and fellow group member, Hyorin.

 

 

 

 Hyorin was one of the kindest oennies I had ever met. It turns out that she was scouted out of YG Entertainment just a year ago and had been chosen to be in our group just when we showed up. From what I had heard from other trainees she was in training at YG for four years with no luck in debuting. When YG wanted a younger trainee, SM gladly picked her up. I remember meeting her by accident when I entered the wrong practice room late at night, hoping to get some time to work on my sharpness. I watched her for a good five minutes before she noticed me. When she did she asked my name and how long I'd been a trainee. I could remember seeing the sadness in her eyes as she talked about her six-year trainee period. At this time we were unaware that our group was being planned out. We ended up becoming late night dance partners with Jueun joining when she needed help. Most of the time it was Hyorin and I, going over choreography and just making up choreography to our favorite songs. Since then she had joined my small group of friends. Just two days ago we were told that we- Jueun, Hyorin, and I- would make up a six-girl group with three other trainees.

 

 

 

I sniffed as I felt the familiar tears that spilt every time I saw Chanyeol smile. The smile that used to infect me and make me smile in turn now made the tears burn in my eyes.

 

 

 

"Chaerae-ah..." I jumped at Jueun's voice. Had I woken her up? I wiped my cheeks before putting on a smile and turning to Jueun's bed opposite our shared desk.

 

 

 

"Yeh?" I asked sweetly as possible trying to hide the sadness from my voice. She didn't buy it for a minute, but she let it go.

 

 

 

"You should get to sleep. Filming is tomorrow." She commented sleepily. I nodded and closed the laptop. I tip toed out to take a quick shower and then slipped back into the room to my bed above hers. She had already fallen back asleep so I whispered a quick goodnight before slowly slipping into unconsciousness and into a dream of debuting.

 

 

 

***

 

"Great job girls! Your Teaser video and Music Video are done! Chukahabnida~”

 

 

 

"Neh! Kamsahammida!" We said at once, bowing simultaneously. It had become natural for all six of us to become almost completely synchronized. I looked at my members and smiled. They all gave me grins of excitement as the crewmembers from our MV shoot cheered our group name.

 

 

 

Hyorin grinned at me and I began what had become our new routine. “Hana, deul, set!”

 

 

 

“We are priceless! We are Pearl!”

 

 

 

CHANYEOL P.O.V.

 

 

 

I watched as Kai messed on his laptop in search of something. I saw him pull up our company’s page in one tab, and YouTube in another. Curious, I jumped onto the couch beside him. “Yah, what are ya doing?” He jumped and shut his laptop closed. I raised an eyebrow at him as he looked at me with eyes as wide as D.O’s.

 

 

 

“Nothing. Gotta go practice. See ya!” He got up and ran from the couch.

 

 

 

“YAH!” I shot up from the couch and yelled at him. Punk! What was he looking for? I went to my room, empty since Baekhyun and Sehun had gone out for coffee. Come to think of it, I was the only one in the dorm right now. Manager hyung had taken Suho and D.O out to buy clothes. I found my own laptop and waited as it . The smiling girl on my desktop seemed to taunt me with her beauty. I sighed as I opened up my web browser and pulled up our company’s page. The main picture was of six girls in black and white outfits, turned away from the camera. I frowned. SM with your secrets.

 

 

 

I looked at the back of their hoodies where they had each letter of the name printed, the sixth girl ending it with an exclamation point. Pearl? One of the girls had a small oval birthmark on the back of her left thigh, similar to Chaerae’s. I shook my head as I clicked on the link to the groups’ information. It only had information on their upcoming debut, just a couple of weeks after our scheduled comeback. I shrugged and then noticed the link to their teaser video. I waited just a moment before it loaded. As it loaded a familiar voice sang a high-pitched melody that turned into a quick rap. The audio was accompanied with shots of the singing girls’ lips. I paused the video. I could never forget the voice, and never the shape of the lips of the girl I had kissed a numerous amount of times. My heartbeat quickened. I let the video resume and another familiar voice joined Chaerae’s melody. Jueun-ah? They are in a group now!? The other girls’ voices I could not recognize. I rewound the video and listened to it over and over again for at least an hour before it finally hit me. I would be seeing her again. And soon.

 

 

 

***

 

CHAERAE P.O.V.

 

 

 

I took a deep breath as I looked at my still wet face in the mirror. Today was it. Today was D-Day. I grinned at my reflection and then jumped when I heard my alarm go off. EXO had their comeback just one week before and I had gotten all of the songs on my phone and even pre-ordered the albums. My ringtone was Chanyeol’s rap in Baby Don’t Cry. I couldn’t help it. His voice lured me in so well. I heard Jueun groan in her bed. I chuckled and let Chanyeol’s voice serenade me from the bathroom across the hallway. It felt as though he was right here singing to me the way he used to. I smiled again and left to get the other members up. Even though Hyorin was our leader, she had trouble waking up in the mornings. That’s not to say that I am any better. I just got used to getting up early for the past four years. I went to Hyorin and Eunbyul’s shared room, woke them up after jumping on their beds, and then proceeded on to MinAh’s and AhJung’s room, woke them up and returned to my room. Jueun had finally gotten up and she was now staring at her-no, my phone.

 

 

 

“Yah! Why are you looking through my phone?” I . She looked up at me and smiled. “What are you smiling about?” I walked to her and grabbed my phone. There was a photo message from Chanyeol. It was a picture of him giving a Fighting! sign to the camera in his Wolf wardrobe.

 

 

 

From: Chanyeol

 

 

 

I saw that you’re debuting tonight! See you at Music Bank! Fighting! ^^

 

 

 

A smile spread across my face. Thank you, Chanyeol.

 

 

 

***

 

I walked into the dressing room for our group and grinned. “Well, girls. Here we are!” I looked to each member and smiled. Kang Eunbyul, our lead dancer, whom was our age and one of the trainees we had befriended while trainees ouserlves, grinned at me with her wide eyes. “Eunbyul-ah! Fighting!" I then turned to Jueun and winked at her. She laughed at my action and gave me a "Fighting!" Next was one of our youngest members, Choi MinAh, the face of our group. She grinned at me. 

 

 

 

"Bbuing, bbuing! Oennie Fighting!" We all laughed at her aegyo. She just shrugged and kept on smiling. Before I could speak AhJung, our maknae at 14 years old, grinned and hugged me. I laughed and patted her head. I finally turned to Hyorin whom was pacing back and forth with a worried expression on her face. 

 

 

 

"Oennie. Kokkjjeong mal! Fighting!" I gave her a large hug to which she scrunched et face playfully. We all laughed and took a few deep breaths together. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous at all. In fact I was shaking quite a bit. This was going to be our debut stage and it was a live broadcast! I shifted from one foot to the other a I ran through the choreography over and per again in my head. Just then there was a knock on our door. 

 

 

 

"Pearl? You're up next!" A woman with glasses and a clipboard smiled at us as she opened the door. 

 

 

 

"Neh! Kamsahamnida!" We cheered. We circle up together quickly and grinned at Hyorin. I began as usual. "Hana, deul, set!"

 

 

 

"We are priceless! We are Pearl!" 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~

Yay~ I finally counted most of the votes. Those names were chosen! To see what the girls look like go look at the foreword arasso? :) 

 

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to update again soon! I'm officially on summer break! I'm so happy I can write more! 

 

Enough of my rambling. Comments and up votes much loved and appreciated!

 

A hello to all of my lovely subbies! Thanks for over 4000 views! ^^

Until next time!~