Hanbok Style

Florence woke up with a bright smile on her face, despite the annoying shriek of the alarm in the corner and the sound of Sungrin and Soohyo's light groans. They were up earlier than usual. Most days they were up at 7 and getting ready for a long day of rehearsal that started in the dance studio at 8. Today they were up at 5:30 and had to be at the salon at 6:15. Florence was excited. Not only was today her 17th birthday, it was also the day of the group's first photoshoot. They were going to be taking pictures for their first press releases announcing the upcoming debut of Jellyfish Entertainment's first ever girl group, officially named Blue.

With a lot of pep in her step, Florence navigated her way through the dorm crowded with her sleep deprived unnies fighting for the chance to use the bathroom first. Their two managers, Jung Joonsik and Chae Yongdae, were in the kitchen. Yongdae, the more free-spirited and younger of the two, was making coffee and tea to go along with the mufins and breakfast sandwiches he had brought for the girls ("Diets be damned when we all have to up at this ungodly hour!").

However, the bulk of Florence's happiness disappeared when she realized that an hour had passed, everyone had been hearded into two black mini-vans, and not a single person had wished her a happy birthday.

Goguan Studio's front doors had a sign stating that their business hours were from 9am to 10pm every day, but the place was already buzzing with life and numerous hair stylists and make up artists who quickly ushered the girls in, washed their hair was various berry-and-flower-scented shampoos and conditioners, and had them seated and ready to be made up and styled.

Chaebin sighed, exhausted, as she closed her eyes and tipped her head back while her hair dresser set to work blow-drying her soaked strands of hairs. Sungrin was seated next to her, but looked over at the slightly younger girl and noticed that she had a Shakespeare playbook as well as what looked like a script of some sort perched on her lap, her hands gripping them tightly.

"What's that?" Sungrin asked.

Chaebin opened one eye at her unnie, just to make sure she was the one being spoken to. "Homework," she answered, picking up the Shakespear book and waving it around a little. Then she pointed to the script. "This is for a movie I'm supposed to be auditioning for... I've done two dramas and Saejun-nim thinks me landing a movie would be great PR for the entire group once we debut."

Sungrin's eyes widened, impressed with Chaebin's work ethic. She somehow managed to work out classes at one of Seoul's most prestigious univities, practices, and apparently auditions. She didn't let any of them slip up either. Just the other week, a boy named Ryu Hanjin who was a Jellyfish trainee, had rushed the girl in the hallway congratulating her on getting top marks on exams in several of their classes. Wooram had even backed off insulting her dancing skills as she had gotten steadily better with their choreography after putting in many extra hours to get it right.

"When do you find time to sleep?" The hair dresser asked, nosily butting in on the conversation as she she set down the hair dryer and picked up a bright purple flat iron.

"I ... don't," Chaebin chuckled, although her voice definitely sounded tired and a little upset about it. "I'm running on sugar and coffee almost 24-7."

But Sungrin raised an eyebrow, suddenly worried about Chaebin's apparent lack of sleep.

"Maybe you should hold off on the movie audition," Sungrin suggested. "Shouldn't we all be focusing on our debut anyway?"

Chaebin shrugged. "The audition isn't until mid-November. I'm just trying to get a head start. Don't worry about me, unnie!" She gave her a large smile, effectively ending their conversation as she turned back to look in the mirror and watch what her hair dresser was doing for a moment before opening the playbook to memorize the scene she had to learn for school.

"Alright ladies!" the female director of the photoshoot shouted as the girls finally made their way to their sound stage and the small dressing room just adjacent to it. "I don't usually work with rookie groups, so consider yourselves extremely fortunate today and please don't give me a hard time! Your company has decided to introduce you to the public through greetings for the upcoming Chuseok holiday. You will be styled in hanboks for this photoshoot. Nothing too complicated right? Now let's get started! Who's your leader?"

Jiwon stepped forward from the group and bowed to the director. "Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Blue's leader Cha Jiwon."

The director smiled at her. "Excellent. Make sure your group is ready to go in fifteen minutes."

"Yes, director-nim," Jiwon said bowing again. She turned to the girls and quickly ushered them to the racks of clothing where the stylists were sorting through the bags to figure out which hanbok belonged to which girl.

Taeksoo frowned when, once finall dressed, she realized that her hanbok was almost entirely pink. She watched, a tad bit jealous, as Wooram twirled around in her teal and orange hanbok while Kyungah laughed along with her, dressed in a yellow and dark blue variation of the traditional garment. Taeksoo could a handle a little pink, but not obnoxious amounts of the overly-girly color.

Soohyo was the last to finish getting dressed, having settled for waiting until the initial rush for clothing and accessories was over. Being in such a big group was certainly proving to be a good way to practice one's patience, she was slowly learning.

Her stylist did a once over and decided to adjust the sash around her waist. The woman grabbed the sash and untied it before pulling it tighter - much too tight. Soohyo let out a small yelp of pain.

"Sorry!" Soohyo squeaked, hoping she hadn't offended the stylist in any way for yelling out.

"No, I'm sorry honey!" The woman replied kindly. "Usually I have to tie these much tighter on all of the other idols. I'm so used to you girls being so skinny!"

Soohyo frowned as her sash was retired and she was pulled by Jiwon out into the studio for their photos.

"Alright!" said the dirctor. "I need the visual or visuals in the center first and then I'll put in the rest of the girls around them."

The nine girls looked at each other, a bit confused. They hadn't really been assigned any titles beyond vocalist, dancer, or rapper and weren't sure who qualified as the official visual of the group.

The director groaned. "Rookies!" She cried out, annoyed. She eyed each of the girls and finally rushed forward and pulled Wooram, Hyunjin, and Florence to stand in the middle in that order. "You three are the prettiest in my opinon, so congratulations. You're all visuals for the day, everyone get around them and let me adjust them!"

Taeksoo shrugged and followed instructions while Jiwon did the same, hoping she was leading well by example. Kyungah frowned, honestly upset that she wasn't a 'visual' in the eyes of their rather mean photoshoot director. Soohyo sighed; she already got accidentally called out on her weight and now she was forced to stand at the edge of the photo. She suddenly felt that she would be the last person anyone paid attention to. Chaebin was grabbed by a makeup artist who wanted to add more foundation to cover up the dark circles under her eyes, a sure sign of her exhaustion and Sungrin simply watched her and shook her head. She placed herself next to Florence, giving the maknae a playful little shove to get her to scoot over a bit.

Once in place, the photographer set to work.

"Good job this morning, girls," said Joonsik once the photoshoot was over and everyone had changed back into the original clothes that they had worn there that day. "Everyone ready to go? We have to get you to dance rehearsal now."

The girls groaned. Of course the rest of their day would go as usual, photoshoot or no photoshoot.

"Actually, before we get back in the vans..." Yongdae said with a smirk, trailing off before finish his sentence.

Jiwon smiled at the group and cleared her voice. "Someone in this group has been looking a little mopey all day because they think that all of us have forgotten something very important."

Florence perked up a bit. She could feel a surprise for her coming a mile away and she suddenly found herself very anxious about what it could be.

"But we haven't," said Jiwon.

From around the corner, Jellyfish's CEO Hwang Saejun came out of hiding, carrying a large birthday cake covered in yellow frosting and fresh fruit, topped with a single candle. Scrawled across the top in big hangul letters, the cake read "Happy Birthday Florence!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FLORENCE!" The group cheered.

Florence happily took her cake and thanked everyone. They didn't have too much time to enjoy it, since they were still on a tight schedule. After each girl had a small piece, the cake was put back into the box in came in and was carefully loaded into the trunk of the van so they could have more later. Birthday and photoshoot or no birthday and photoshoot, the girls still had to get ready for their debut. Florence didn't mind it much; she was just glad to know that the people she was working with were so thoughtful and caring towards her.

Long time no update guys! :x My bad! So I hope you enjoyed this slightly longer chapter. We're getting closer and closer to Blue's debut!