{Chapter 1}

“But…do you want to do it?”

“Well, it’s not like I have a choice, do I?”

“Not really….but you could at least tell Mong how you feel. He probably won’t cancel everything, but at least he’d know…”

“I don’t want to be a whiner, though. I want to do something to keep us relevant while Dari’s gone; I just wish it wasn’t this.”

Inati grunted as he placed the dumbbell he had been lifting back on the floor. The leader looked over at his work-out partner, who was running just a little too fast on the treadmill.

“Don’t hurt yourself, man,” Inati said, reaching over to the treadmill controls and slowing the machine down a little. “That’s not going to help anyone.”

Day Day sighed, relieved that the speed had decreased. His body had felt that something had been off, but his mind had been too preoccupied with other matters to realize that he had adjusted the speed too much for his workout.

“Now,” Inati continued once Day Day had caught his breath. “Is there any specific reason that you don’t want to do the show? Or is it just a general dislike?”

Day Day stepped off of the treadmill and followed his leader over to a bench, grabbing his water bottle from the bag he had left under the bench. “There really isn’t a really good reason for me to not want to do the show,” Day Day gasped after he had gulped down some water. “It’s just…I’m not the favorite.”

Inati stopped drinking his own water and looked at his fellow rapper, confused. “The favorite?”

“You know,” Day Day sighed. “I’m not Daniel. I’m not Youngwon or Jisu or Dari. I’m not you.”

“So?”

“You guys are the favorites.”

“We are?” Inati questioned. “That’s news to me.”

Day Day groaned. “Really? You’re going to pull that humble crap?”

“Calm down, man,” Inati said quietly, putting his hands up. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The Korean fans…” Day Day sighed, suddenly very embarrassed. “Some don’t seem to like me. At first, I thought it was because I wasn’t born or raised here, but that can’t be it, since Daniel’s also from the States and you’ve lived in New Zealand, I know it’s not that.”

“Oh…” Inati sighed, understanding now what Day Day was talking about. “Just…don’t listen to them.”

Ever since their debut, there had been some fans, particularly those hidden on the internet, who had taken to making nasty comments about Day Day and his appearance. A lot of comments would be full of praise to Inati, Dari, Jisu, Daniel and Youngwon about their looks, but for some reason, the few that separated Day Day as “not as good looking” had gotten to the rapper. He would never let it show on stage or on shows, but Inati knew that it affected Day Day, despite his attempts to hide it.

“Easy for you to say,” Day Day said harshly. He wasn’t directing his anger at Inati, he was just frustrated. “When the first pictures of you came out when we debuted, you had everyone saying ‘I can’t believe he’s thirty!’”

“Well, I can’t believe it either….maybe that’s the trick.”

“What?” Day Day took another drink of water as he looked over at his leader. It was amazing. He could virtually see the cogs in Inati’s brain working.

“Just don’t believe it,” Inati suggested. Before Day day could scoff, Inati continued, “I know, I know. It sounds stupid and easy, but just do it. Think about it this way: they can sit there degrading all of us, but until they show you their faces, don’t listen to them. Besides, you do this show, you’re going to have a ‘wife,’ and then they’ll see. Just be yourself. Make her laugh, do weird things, you may even consider actually being romantic every once and a while. That’ll get them to change their minds. ”

Day Day, even though he was still frustrated, was very grateful for Inati then. They were closer in age than some of the other members, and though they were close with everyone in their group, it would have seemed weird and awkward for Day Day to go talk to Youngwon about self-esteem.

“Okay?” Inati cried, slapping Day Day on the back in support. “No matter what, you got this. You’re probably the only one of us who could handle it anyway,” Inati said as he put his water bottle away and picked his bag up, getting ready to leave.

Day Day followed suit and asked, “What makes you say that?”

“You’re the only funny one here, and now that Dari’s not here, you’re able to show your true self even more. Not that you couldn’t while Dari’s here, but... well,  I’m sure you’ll make things interesting.” Inati smirked at Day Day as they left the gym, toting their bags into the Seoul sun.

~          ~          ~          ~

“This is so exciting!”

“If you say so…” Livia sighed, skimming through the rack of clothes.

“Are you telling me that you aren’t excited. That this isn’t a great opportunity?” Nattie cried from the other side of the rack.

“I didn’t say I didn’t know it was a good opportunity,” Livia hissed back, trying to quiet her half-sister. “I know it is. Remember Nattie, I don’t get excited like you do.”

Nattie pouted. “I know. And that frustrates me so much.”

Both girls giggled appropriately at the inside joke. Even though they were half-sisters, the fact that they were so close in age helped dispel any awkwardness that could have come from their relationship. They had the same mom, were both born in Germany and raised mostly in America, but Livia’s father was German; Nattie’s father Korean. Livia’s parents divorced, and since then she hadn’t seen her father much—she actually hadn’t seen him since they moved to America when she was ten—so Nattie’s father, who had stepped in quickly after the divorce, first as a friend, then as a husband, was more of a father-figure to Livia than her actual dad.

Nattie’s full name was Natalia, which amused the sisters only because both of their names were technically Italian, but ethnically, they had no Italian in them at all; Nattie even less than Livia.

“Seriously though,” Nattie continued as she pulled a shirt off of the rack of clothes. “You just debuted, and they’re asking you to be on a major television show. You can’t not be excited.”

Livia sighed. “I would be more excited if I spoke Korean fluently.”

“You speak it fine!”

“At home,” Livia clarified. “With people I know won’t make fun of me for making a mistake, or at least correct me politely and explain it to me. This is different. Everyone will see this.”

“You’re speaking it great right now,” Nattie pointed out. “And we’re in public.”

“This isn’t going to be on TV, though,” Livia almost spat.

Nattie shook her head. “You’ll be fine. I know it.”

Livia grumbled incoherently to herself, annoyed that her sister could be so perky about the situation. Even though she had technically spent a lot of her childhood listening to her step-father speak Korean, moving to Korea had been a drastic change for Livia. It became infinitely more important for her to understand and speak Korean, and she found out fast just how much she didn’t know. But her mother and step-father had moved to Seoul after Nattie got into a foreign high school in Korea, and Livia, who had already decided on being a singer, stayed behind in America for a while, until her step-father presented her with an opportunity almost five years ago to become a singer in Korea. All she had to do was pass an audition and go through the company’s training, which she was more than willing to do.

When she had first told Nattie about singing in Korea, her sister first thought Livia was going to be a major idol.

Livia hated disappointing her sister, but in this case, it had to be done. She knew even going into the audition that she wasn’t going to become a big star—her lack of Korean skills, lack of an Asian appearance, and being almost twenty-five years old at the time of her debut playing a major part in that—but really, she didn’t mind. She just wanted to sing.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t completely thought out the intricacies of promoting in Korea, and somehow, she had found herself forced into doing this show, We Got Married. Her company jumped at the chance to have her promoted on such a large stage, since they weren’t an extremely popular company and so didn’t have the money to promote her by themselves for very long or as well as other companies.

“Liv, come on,” Nattie pleaded, trying to make her sister happy again. “How bad could it seriously be?”

Livia sighed, knowing that Nattie meant well. The fact was that she was scared. She was scared that she’d make a fool of herself, that the show would pair her with someone a lot younger than her or a lot older than her, and she was afraid she’d be horribly awkward with whoever her partner was.

She just hoped her “husband” wasn’t some pretty-boy, too-young idol who was too concerned about his hair to do a decent job on the show.

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