Personally, I think this chapter is crap. T_T A lot of it doesn't flow very smoothly at all. Despite the crappiness, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

-study_xd

Practice was finally over. 8:00 PM, the clock on the wall read. Jong-in's legs were aching and tired, while his throat was raw and sore. He had been at the company since 7:30 in the morning, and finally, after spending twelve or so hours at the company, Jong-in could finally go home. He bent down to grab his bag, and said a brief goodbye to his training buddies before he headed out the door into the chilly autumn night.

Jong-in went out of the company building and walked to the crosswalk. While walking, he began to think to himself. Was all this work really all worth it? Almost every day, he would spend nearly ten hours a day practicing and honing his dancing, rapping, and singing skills, and it was extremely tiring. He had been accepted into SM Entertainment when he was just in six grade but was told to come back when he got older. After participating in SM's annual Youth Best Contest when he was thirteen, Jong-in officially joined the company and began to train. He was now sixteen and pondering to himself a very important question: Would he ever be able to debut in a group?

Last year, Lee Soo Man, the CEO of the company, had decided to form a boy group, and Jong in had been put into the group. The boy band was supposed to be called "So Nyun Chun Jee" or "SNCJ." However, the CEO scrapped the idea, and Jong-in’s hopes were dashed.

[A/N: If you search this up, you will definitely find the rumors about this. The group was supposed to have six members including Chanyeol, Suho, and Kai but the line-up for the group changed.]

As Jong-in walked toward the nearest subway station, he let out a sigh. He had been so happy when he had heard he was going debut. It was beyond his wildest expectations but all his excitement had been for nothing. Again, Jong-in had to train and compete for a spot to debut in a boy group that was going to be formed in the near future. Competition between the trainees was fierce. No one ever slacked off, and one could never be sure if they would debut. Jong-in shook his head and tried to rid his head of negative thoughts.

He purchased his ticket and got onto the subway. To amuse himself, Jong-in took out his iPod and headphones, put his iPod on shuffle, and began to listen the music listlessly. 

As Haeri walked outside into the streets of Seoul, she took her cellphone out her pocket and checked for the time. 8:15. She planned to wander around the city a bit to try and get her mind off the day's events, so she wandered aimlessly towards the subway station close to her house. 

When Haeri stepped onto the subway, she looked around for a seat and plopped herself down next to a tired-looking boy who was busy listening to his iPod. 

Jong-in had barely been on the subway for five minutes when a petite, thin girl had boarded and occupied the seat next him. For some strange reason, this girl caught his eye. It was not because she was stunningly pretty or because she was ugly; there was just something about her that made Jong in notice her. 

The girl was dressed in plain gray sweats, a pale pink jacket, and sneakers. Her hand was down, and her hands were fidgeting with the zipper on her jacket. Suddenly, the girl lifted her head up and bit down on her lip as if she was pondering something. Jong-in really wanted to know what she was thinking about but her countenance was too difficult to read. There seemed to be so many mixed emotions running across her face. 

Jong-in sensed a great longing for something, sadness, indignation, disappointment, and ambivalence. He really wanted to talk to her and comfort her; however, he restrained himself.

The girl shifted a bit and glanced around. For a fleeting moment, Jong-in made eye contact with her. Both of them looked away and looked elsewhere. 

For the next ten minutes, the two of them sat there silently.

Haeri had to admit that she felt out of place. She was so trapped up her thoughts that she did not notice that she was fidgeting with her jacket zipper. Haeri gazed at her surroundings and accidently made eye contact with the boy sitting next to her. Feeling awkward, she immediately shifted her eyes to the side. 

The boy had a questioning look in his dark orbs that seemed to ask "Are you okay? Do need someone to talk to?" She tried to ignore. At the same time, something about this boy's presence made Haeri feel secure and comforted. Although the pair did not exchange a single word, they seemed to communicate wordlessly through some sort of telepathy, and Haeri felt calm and peaceful by the time she got off the subway.

As Haeri walked towards a cafe, she wondered to herself, "Who is this boy?" 

Haeri woke up on a Monday morning to the shrill scream of her alarm clock going, “Beep! Beep!" She let out a tired groan and squinted at her clock. 4:45 AM. "Time to go," Haeri thought to herself tiredly. She quickly changed into a pair of spandex shorts and a training tank top. On top of her gymnastics clothes she wore a set of training sweats. Haeri ate a quick breakfast, grabbed her things, and raced out the door.

Instead of walking to her gymnastic training center, she ran. This was her normal running routine, a three-mile run from her house, that was required by her coach. By the time she reached the gym, Haeri was sweating and overheated.

Her coach, Coach Kim, stood by the doorway with an amused look on her face. "Are you all warmed up?" she asked and Haeri nodded. "Go stretch," her coach ordered. 

After three hours of continuous gymnastic practice, Coach Kim finally allowed Haeri to leave for school. Haeri spent the whole morning practicing harder than she usually did. She did not want to ever, ever repeat the events that happened yesterday so she refused to go easy on herself. Today, Coach Kim had given exercises that were harder and longer than they usually were but Haeri did not complain. The soreness from the strenuous exercises was starting to kick in as Haeri took a quick shower in locker room. She changed into her school uniform and took the subway to school. 

Haeri arrived at Hanlim Multi-Arts School three minutes before the first class of the day started. Technically, she was late. Every day, Haeri missed the morning assembly with permission from the principal so she could accommodate her gymnastics training schedule. People always wondered why Haeri attended an arts school, not a sports school.  They did not know that gymnastics had balletic elements and that other aesthetic aspects were a big part of it. So Haeri's coach decided that Haeri would go to arts school for ballet to save time in gymnastics practice. 

She hurried to her classroom and slipped into her seat just before the teacher entered the room. 

"Hey," Haeri whispered to her best friend, Areum, who grinned in response. 

"Took you long enough," Areum muttered back sarcastically. Their conversation was cut off when the teacher called for attention, and class started.

Ballet practice that day was rather uneventful. Even though Haeri was actually pretty good at ballet, she was not all that serious about it. The pliés, pirouettes, and jetes did not give Haeri the same sort of exhilaration that gymnastics did. However, ballet was crucial to improve her balance, gymnastic spins, and flexibility, so she took the class.

After ballet was Haeri's favorite class of the day-- lunch. It was only time that Haeri ever had to chat with her friends and relax. 

"You what? Again?" Areum asked disbelievingly after she heard Haeri's story about the disastrous gymnastics competition. "Why? Were you nervous again?"

Haeri picked at her lunch and slowly nodded her head. Areum made an irritated noise.

"Haeri..." she said in an exasperated tone. “You need to deal with your problem. No matter how good you are-- even if you're as good as Nastia Liukin-- people won't notice you if you can't perform. No one will ever know and see your true capabilities. Your hard work will just go to waste. Oh--You can't keep letting this happen!" 

Areum stopped and gave Haeri an angry look. "Do you even know why you're nervous? People are bound to get a little bit nervous but you always get too nervous." 

Haeri shook her head. "I don't really know," she replied sadly. Areum made a little grimace and had a pitying expression on her face.

"Alright, I won't bother you about it anymore. I think you know that that's your problem." Areum proceeded to change conversation topics and kept Haeri's mind of gymnastics for the rest of lunch. 

For Haeri, Areum was the perfect best friend. Their personalities contrasted each others. Areum had a very bubbly, bright personality that made her an easy person to talk to. On the other hand, Haeri was more reserved and serious. Neither was she extremely outspoken nor was she shy. Since Areum and Haeri were like opposite poles of a magnet, they were a harmonious pair that stuck together all the time in school. They relied on each other for help and planned to support each other until the end-- the very end.

A/N: Done with the 2nd chapter! Yay. :) If you were wondering-- no, I did not name Haeri's best friend after the T-ara member. As cool as T-ara may be, I chose that name for many outlines in my other fanfics. 

I plan to write more this week since Thanksgiving break is coming up, and I hope I can get more done. Please, please COMMENT! Your comments are like AIR. They give me support, ideas, and motivation to write. Also, SUBSCRIBE. 

Thank you,

-study_xd

PS. Notify me if there are errors. There are bound to be errors that I may have overlooked.