Ayako came back inside the apartment, a wide grin on her face. Soojung, Mayvin and Eunrae were sitting in the sitting room watching a movie. Ayako walked by them with a simple murmur of hello and slipped into the kitchen. Lihua was in the kitchen behind the stove, cooking something that smelled like chicken.

"Hungry?" Lihua asked with a smile.

"Of course," Ayako grinned. She looked over Lihua's shoulders to see what she was making. Lihua answered before there was an opportunity for Ayako to find out. 

"Beef noodles," Lihua grinned proudly.

"Ramen," Ayako smirked.

"No," Lihua glared, "Beef noodles. Don't you dare call this masterpiece ramen!" Lihua hissed. Ayako laughed at the protective Lihua but didn't push the issue any further.

"Anyway," Lihua cleared . "Where were you?" she asked in a puzzled tone.

"Nowhere," Ayako shrugged as she grabbed a ripe red apple from the fruit basket. She let the cool water from the tap wash the micro-organisms off the delicious fruit.

"What do you mean, nowhere? You had to be somewhere! Are you keeping secrets?" Lihua demanded as she stirred the soup. Ayako looked down at the apple for a long silent moment before she made up her mind to trust Lihua.

"You know... I bumped into this guy like... months ago," Ayako explained.

"Aha," Lihua nodded, impatient for Ayako to get on with the story.

"I bumped into him again," she explained. "He was so charming and sweet and handsome..."

"I thought you were lesbian?" Lihua frowned.

"Excuse me?!" Ayako gasped.

"Oh come on, look at your hair and the way you dress!" Lihua defended herself, only earning a death glare from Ayako.

"It's called being a Tomboy, not a lesbian!" Ayako almost yelled. Lihua couldn't help herself but smile as she stirred the soup.

"Told you not to call it ramen..." Lihua sniggered. "Well anyways, go on about this boy who's 'oh so handsome'," Lihua said.

"Nothing much left to that story actually," Ayako stated as she bit into the apple. "We just went for coffee and chatted for a good while," she explained.

"What did you find out about him?" Lihua asked, almost absentmindedly as threw black peppers into the soup.

"He's studying Korean Liteture here in Seoul, am... he works part time in a late bar... likes the colour red..."

"That's a lot to find out about him in just one day... and the fact that you remembered it all!" Lihua laughed.

"What do you mean?" Ayako asked in a confused tone.

"Come on! Every time I give you a shopping list you always forget something... this guy seems to really have your heart," Lihua smiled up at Ayako. Ayako blushed at the mention of her heart, and looked down in a hurried manner. But she smiled. Lihua noticed this as she continued to stir the soup.

Lihua                            Ayako

Snow was sitting in front of the training room TV, watching KBS artists perform for their weekly show. After 4Minute performed, it was NS Yoon Gi's comeback performance. She danced to her new ual song 'Yasisi' where she struttered in her high-heeled boots. Snow's phone vibrated, alarming her a little. She pulled it out the pocket of her grey hoodie and looked at the text message she received.

"Call me," it said, from Wooyoung. Snow's expression turned bitter before turning off her phone and shoving it back into her pocket.

"Someone special on the other line?" Yana came up to Snow Kyo.

"Nope," Snow forced a smile on her face to disguise her pain, and to be frank, she did a good damn job of it.

"Ladies, are you ready?" Lihua exclaimed in a slight screeching voice.

"My lord, my ear drums," Mayvin grunted.

"Come on come on," Lihua called all the nine girls to the center. "Everyone is given a sheet with all of our nine names on it. Here are black pens for all of you! You must tick a maximum of two people on this list who you'd think would be worthy of the 'Leader' title!"

"Who died and made you boss?" Soojung asked, raising an eyebrow.

"J.Y. Park gave us the privilege of deciding who the leader is in the group," Lihua explained. "Since no ones doing anything about it, I'm starting a poll."

"Well I'm definitely not voting for you," Ayako hissed, "You yell like that again and I might just punch you." Lihua stuck out her tongue in response before giving everyone out their sheets of papers. They all went away, ticked one or two members and returned back to the center. Lihua opened them one by one and counted up the votes.

"And our leader is..."

"Drumroll!" Rose announced, getting excited herself.

"Eunrae!" Lihua screeched.

"And again, OW!" Mayvin slapped Lihua on the back angrily, but she ignored it.

"Ye voted for me?" Eunrae almost gasped.

"It's only logical," Rose said with a smile. "You're the oldest member amongst us."

"And you're not as much as a foreigner as some of us," Yana added.

"And you're nice," Ai gave her a sweet smile and a friendly hug.

"Is there any way to decline?" Eunrae asked, unsure of herself.

"You'll be fine," Yana smiled up at her dear friend. "No one would have been able to do the job any better than you would."

"Did you get any votes?" Ayako asked Lihua.

"Don't think so..." Lihua pondered.

"Good!" and Ayako pushed Lihua, who fell on her bum.

"Hey!" Lihua squealed. "That's bullying against short people!"

"It is true," Snow pointed out jokingly. "No matter what you do to her, it will always be considered bullying because she's so short," Snow smirked.

"How tall are you again, Lihua?" Soojung decided to join in the fun.

"Shut up!" Lihua cursed at Soojung, but it was all laughter and jokes to them. Little did they know that Jin Young Park was simply two minutes outside their door, about to announce that their hardcore choreography practice was about to start... now.

JYP Practice Room

Eunrae went out onto the balcony of the dorms, closing the door behind her. She leaned over the banister and looked down at the ground below. It was too dark to see the young daisy's blooming. It had been three days since they started learning the choreography to their new song. They've pretty muched nailed it by now, and all they needed to do was be able to sing and dance at the same time without sounding so breathless. Their personal trainer came over every morning to do yoga with them for an hour and then they all went jogging for an hour. It was quiet exhausting but Eunrae could already tell that she was getting better and better at it every time. Thei debut date was set in the next couple of days, photoshoots, interviews and practice took a lot of time. By the time she finished her vocal practice with Yana and Lihua, she returned home by herself, and now was leaning over the balcony alone.

But not for too long. 

Ai pulled open the door and stepped outside.

"Hello," she smiled, "you're back early."

"Yeah... how come you weren't at practice?" Eunrae asked. 

"Oh... I told the manager that my throat really hurts. They think I should rest up vocally before actual stage practices," she explained.

"Are you feeling better?" Eunrae asked. Ai smiled and nodded in reply.

"Does your mouth ever hurt from smiling so much?" Eunrae asked jokingly. Ai shrugged in reply while leaning over the balcony beside her. It was true, however. Ai was known for smiling so much. She always seemed so kind and sweet and never outspoken.

"Our debut is just around the corner," Ai sighed. Eunrae looked up from the ground to look at Ai's face. She was a little paler than usual, definately showing signs of illness and lack of motivation. For once, Ai was not smiling at Eunrae. Ai was truly and utterly terrified.

Jung Ai                                    Eunrae