After everyone had chosen their partners and the cameras had been turned off, it was time to eat dinner.

You walked into the spacious dining room, where two tables stood, each with six places set out. A small chandelier hung in the centre of the room, casting a bright glow across the luxurious dark wood tables, which were covered with cream coloured cloth, flowers, and expensive looking glasses.

The tables and chairs were made of the same dark wood, and the chairs had Crimson padding on the seats and the backs, making them look like the kind of chairs which could be found in a post restaurant. The floor was also a dark wood, which contrasted perfectly with the cream walls.

Looking around the room, you took in every detail, it was rather magnificent, and you were happy that you would be eating in a room with such a majestic atmosphere to it for the next week. You glanced across at one of the paintings which were hanging on the wall, and you felt as though you recognised it from somewhere. Before you sat down, you walked across to the painting, and read the caption on the gold plaque underneath it. “A view of Moraine lake, Canada.”

You had visited Moraine Lake with your parents when you were only five years old. Of course, your brother and sister had not yet been born, so it had just been you, your mother, and your father. You smiled as you remembered the holiday.

Your mother had never been fond of boats, as she was prone to getting sea-sick, but your father had somehow managed to talk her into getting into a small canoe, which you had sat in for a couple of hours, floating around the lake peacefully, admiring the beautiful mountain range and the way the water glittered under the light of the warm summer sun.

Remembering how happy you were when you were younger, you smiled, feeling a lump appear in your throat. Sometimes you wished you could go back to then, when you were younger. When you could spend time with your family. When you didn’t have to worry about being shy. When you didn’t have problems with annoying boys.

You turned back towards the table which the girls were sitting at and noticed that it was already almost full. There was a space left for you in between Ae-Sook and Cho-Hee, directly opposite Jae-Hwa. You looked down at the empty space in front of you and fiddled with your napkin a little, not wanting to make eye contact with Jae-Hwa in case it was awkward, which, with the current situation, was more than likely. You were still feeling flustered about the way Niel had looked at you before, and you still didn’t know what he meant by it.

Plates of mild Buldak were brought in, and you looked down at the plate placed in front of you. Spicy foods were nice on occasion, and you liked chicken, so you were happy to be receiving such a nice dish on your first day. Because you were too young to drink alcohol, it was served with water, which you sipped lightly as you ate.

The other members began talking amongst themselves through the meal, and you simply nodded or smiled whenever anyone said anything to you, too engrossed in your thoughts to socialise.

You pushed bits of chicken around your plate, occasionally putting some into your mouth. You didn’t have much of an appetite, as you were busy thinking about Niel, and if he really did hate you.

Of course, he had smiled at you at the doorway, but maybe that was meant to try and be nice to you? Maybe he thought that he wouldn’t have to even look at you again after that, never mind be paired with you.

You wondered why he had looked at you in such a way when Jae-Hwa chose L.Joe instead of him. Maybe he thought it was a set up between you and Jae-Hwa, did he know he had been your bias since you had first started listening to Teen Top?

“Mélodie, are you alright?” Ae-Sook asked, looking across at you.

You jumped a little as her voice pulled you out of your daydreams and back into reality.

“Huh? What?” You looked, snapping your head to face her.

“I said are you alright?” She smiled sweetly at you.

“Oh yeah.” You smiled back at her. “I’m fine, I was just... thinking...” You trailed off, looking back down at your food.

Ae-Sook, patted your shoulder understanding like, like she knew what you were feeling and to make sure you stayed strong. You continued to think about Niel for a little while longer, taking small bites of your chicken as you did so.

“Could someone pass me the rice please?” You asked, looking across at the bowl of rice, which was sitting between Jae-Hwa and Young-Mi. Surprisingly it was Jae-Hwa that passed you the rice, and you looked down as you took it from her, still not wanting to make eye contact. You took the Rice without saying anything, just feeling awkward around Jae-Hwa because of the choice she made between the boys earlier.

You put some rice onto your plate and pushed the bowl away. Continuing to eat, you tuned out of the girls discussions, and began listening to what the boys at the table behind you were saying instead.

“I’m happy though to be honest.” You heard Changjo say. “At least no-one else chose the same girl as me.”

You couldn’t help but be surprised at what they were conversing about.

“Yeah, I’m quite surprised that happened to be honest.” Ricky joined in.

“It makes the programme more interesting Ricky, they probably did it on purpose.” Chunji replied. “Still, I’m quite surprised she chose you L.Joe, I mean, she’s been cosy-ing up to Niel for quite a while, I was expecting she would choose him.”

“Yeah, me too.” L.Joe replied. “I never thought she’d choose me-“

You were interrupted from eaves dropping on their conversation by Cho-Hee laughing loudly next to you. You frowned as you continued to try listen to them, wanting to know what L.Joe said. Had he only done it to make the programme interesting? Had he wanted to go with you?

Still not being able to make out quite what they were saying (as the conversations going on around you were much louder now) you turned round for a moment to look at Niel. He was sat eating with an unhappy expression on his face, poking bits of chicken around his plate and occasionally putting one in his mouth, just like you had been doing earlier when you had been deep in thought about him.

You continued to look at him, something was clearly troubling him... maybe it was that he was in a group. You sighed to yourself, thinking that he really did hate you. L.Joe noticed you looking at their table, and he smiled at you, giving you a small wave as he did so. You were a little taken aback and you waved back politely, not wanting L.Joe to know that you had actually been looking at Niel the whole time.

You turned back to your table and looked down at the plate of half-eaten Buldak in front of you, as you did you noticed that Niel was looking at you. Part of you wanted to turn around to see if he was still looking at you, or if it had just been a mistake, but you knew that if he was, nothing good would come of it. Your stomach tightened, and you began to feel a little strange, knowing that Niel had looked at you, and you had made eye contact with him for a brief moment.

“Aish! Why do I have to be with her?” Niel complained loudly, clearly wanting everyone (including you) to hear him. “I don’t think I’m going to feel comfortable working with her. Why didn’t you choose her L.Joe? It would have been better for all of us, I’d get to work with someone I’d be comfortable with, she’d get to be with someone she wasn’t shy around, and you’d get to work with a girl who you’ve been getting on well with already.”

Your eyes hadn’t left the plate of food sitting in front of you, and you began to feel more and more angry with every word he spoke. Your fists had somehow become clenched and when you noticed you moved them from the table.

The other girls sitting round the table exchanged glances with each other, not sure whether they should say something to you or not. You didn’t care about them at the moment... There was nothing that they could say or do to calm you down.

Well, if Niel didn’t want you in his team, then you didn’t want him in your team either. You were going to make him pay for what he had just said about you.

Thinking about your decision to treat Niel just as badly as he was already treating you made a smile creep onto your face. The other girls looked at you, a little surprised that you were still able to smile after what Niel had just said. You continued smiling as you promised yourself that whatever you did during this show, you were going to make Niel’s life hell.

You no longer cared that this boy used to be your bias, of course, he was still gorgeous, but his personality clearly did not match up to his good looks.

Everyone finished eating their food mostly in silence, no-one wanting to talk to you in case you snapped at them. When they were all ready to go into the lounge, you remained behind and helped the catering staff clean up the mess that the others had made; you moved the plates, half empty glasses and bowls of unfinished rice onto a trolley, which was then rolled into the kitchen, where everything would then be cleaned. You made a small pie of the used napkins, and helped a younger man (who was clearly new to the job as he fumbled around quite a bit) strip the tables of the cream covers, to reveal shiny brown surfaces, which had an almost-red tint to them under the light of the chandelier.

Once you had cleared up the staff thanked you and you walked back into the living room. No-sooner had you stepped through the door, you came face-to-face with Jae-Hwa. She stood looking at you with a half-smile-half-smirk, but you didn’t know what it meant.

Not really knowing what to do, or how to act in front of Jae-Hwa, you simply stepped to the side and walked into the room without saying anything. Now you were beginning to feel slightly irritated towards Jae-Hwa, why had she smirked at you like that? Did she know something that you didn’t?

***

Jae-Hwa looked at Mélodie, who’s expression told her that she was already angry. She knew why she was angry, of course, it was because Jae-Hwa had chosen L.Joe and not Niel. This was obviously going to make both Niel and Jae-Hwa angry, but Jae-Hwa had a plan. And she was going to make it work.

Jae-Hwa smirked as the thought about how Mélodie and Niel would only have her to thank later...