Chapter Two

“It’s okay so far, but I need you to feel the lyrics when you’re signing them. Your range is amazing and your tone is perfect, but when you add that feeling to a song you get so much better. You want to be able to make the audience feel the emotion of the song with you.” Teddy said, messing with a few buttons and knobs on the soundboard.  Na-Young nodded and stretched her back in the small space of the sound booth. She had been in there for almost 3 hours, trying to get the sound of the song perfect. She knew that the singing portion would be harder to perfect, dancing was her strong suit after all, but she didn’t know that it would be this intense. Teddy smiled at her, “Hey, you’re doing great. Don’t worry about it. You’re already doing better than most of the trainees that have come in here over the years.”

“Really?” Na-Young asked. Teddy nodded,

“I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true. There’s a reason why YG asked you to be here.” He answered. Na-Young smiled and looked back down at the song lyrics. She already had them memorized but maybe reading them over again would help her convey the right emotion. Teddy looked at the watch on his wrist and stood up from his chair, “You think you can work on this alone for an hour or two?” he asked

“Sure.” Na-Young said, coming out of the booth and sitting back down on the couch.

“I have to go watch end of month evaluations. You know we’re doing that show with the two boy groups we have?” he asked.

“Yeah, WIN?” she asked. Teddy nodded,

“Yeah that’s it. Today everyone has to show up and pick who they like the best. YG wants to see which one wins among YG.” He explained.

“That most be so stressful for them.” She said, thinking about how she will have to audition for the new girl group. Teddy shrugged,

“It’s part of the job. They can handle it. Just like you will be able to handle it when it’s your turn.” He said, smiling and patting her on the head. “Keep practicing the song and give it some emotion. You’ve almost got it. I’ll evaluate you when I come back.” He said, winking at her and walking out the door. Na-Young looked at the lyrics on the sheet of paper in her hand. She knew the song, it wasn’t hard, but all she could think about was the fight she had with Yongbae. They had never fought before. In terms of siblings, they were unnatural. They were best friends, and this bump in the road was distracting her from something that was really important. She sighed and pulled out her phone, sending a text

‘Hey Jiyong. How’s Yongbae?’

‘He’ll come around. Don’t worry about it.’

‘You know it’s our first fight?’

‘I know.’

‘I can’t sing with emotion because all I’m thinking about is how angry he looked.’

‘Tough love time. You can’t let things bother you in this business. You’ve always got to be your best.’

‘I know…thanks.’

‘You can do this. Just focus. Forget about him for now.’

‘Ok. Sorry for bothering you.’

‘You know you don’t bother me. You’re my sister too. I’m proud of you.’

Na-Young reached up and wiped away a tear that was threatening to fall. She had been waiting for someone to say that to her all day. Of course it would have come from the person she was least expecting to ever say it. She took a deep breath and put her phone back in her pocket, picking the lyric sheet back up with a pen in her right hand. She could do this. She was Dong Na-Young. She could do whatever she put her mind to.

Teddy smiled as he listened to her sing the song again three hours later. It was the same song they had been working on earlier, but it sounded completely different. She was feeling the lyrics of the song, and sharing those feelings with him, the audience. He didn’t know what had happened while he had been gone, but whatever it was, it had worked.

Na-Young walked out of the sound booth and accepted the high five that was waiting for her when she sat down next to Teddy at the desk.

“That was perfect!” he said, giving her a quick side hug. Na-Young smiled,

“Thanks!” she said, feeling pretty good about it.

“What happened in those three hours that I was gone? You’re like a whole new person.” He joked.

“Ha. Ha.” She said, giving him a small glare. Teddy laughed and shook his head, turning back to the soundboard. “Hey, how did the evaluation go?” she asked.

“It went pretty good. It pretty much went the way I thought it would go.” He said.

“Who won?” she asked.

“Team B.” Teddy answered, “They’ve consistently won over team A this whole time, so it wasn’t really a surprise.” Na-Young nodded. She was somewhat familiar with the two teams of trainees having met some of them during shows or other YG events.

“How is team A doing?” Teddy shrugged,

“Pretty well given the circumstances. They’re a little down but I think they’ll step it up for the rest of the challenge. This was probably an eye opener.” Na-Young sighed; this was the life that she was willingly going into. Teddy turned his full attention towards her. “You should head on home for the day. You have a full day of dance practice tomorrow. Where are you headed? I’ll give you a lift.” Na-Young grimaced,

 “I’m staying with Big Bang in their apartment since it’s closer to the trainee building and YG…Mom said she would clear it with Yongbae today…But I don’t know if she did or not.” She said. Teddy laughed,

“Want me to call one of them?” he asked. Na-Young shook her head,

“No, I’ll call him.” She said unhappily. Na-Young dialed her brother’s number and waited for a while before realizing he wasn’t going to be picking it up. She looked at the phone again and dialed Jiyong’s number, but he didn’t answer either. “They must have a schedule since both of them didn’t answer.” She said. As soon as she finished saying the words, her phone went off, signaling that she had received a text message. She looked at it; it was from Jiyong.

‘4273 is our pass code. Your mom called earlier. Make yourself at home.’

“Well I guess that answers that.” Teddy said, standing up and grabbing his keys from the table. Na-Young smiled,

“Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime kid.”

 

Na-Young stared at the space that Big Bang called their apartment. It had 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, one for each member. The living room had a flat screen TV hung on the wall, shelves of DVD’s standing next to it. The kitchen wasn’t too big and there wasn’t a lot of food in the refrigerator, but she had expected that. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and walked back to the living room, sitting down on the couch and turning on the TV. There wasn’t anything good on so she settled with reruns of daily music shows. It wasn’t until 1 am that she realized she had to be awake in five hours to get to practice. She had just turned off the television when she heard the beeping of the alarm code and the door open. She looked behind her and saw Seungri walk in, followed closely by Daesung. They both looked surprised to see her.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Daesung asked, smiling like he usually did despite the fact that he obviously didn’t know she was staying here.

“Hey guys” she said, “I guess Yongbae and Jiyong didn’t tell you that I’m going to be staying here for a little while?” Seungri shook his head,

“No, they forgot to mention that. Why? Is everything ok?” he asked. Na-Young nodded quickly,

“Oh yeah! Everything’s fine, I just need to stay here for a while since it’s closer to YG and the trainee building.” She answered.

“Why do you need to be closer?” Seungri asked, not quite getting it yet. Na-Young smiled,

“Because I’m a trainee now.” She said.

“Yah! Really!?” Seungri exclaimed. Na-Young laughed,

“Yes really.” She said, returning the hugs that both of them were giving her.

“That’s great!” Daesung said, putting his bags down by the couch and walking towards the kitchen. “When do you start training?” he asked.

“I’m catching up right now.” She said, “I worked on the songs with Teddy today and I’ll catch up on choreography tomorrow before I go join the rest of the trainees at the other building.”

“Wow. You’re moving fast.” Seungri said, “How do you feel about it so far.”

“I’m nervous and excited at the same time.” Na-Young answered. Seungri nodded,

“That’s how everyone feels about it I think.”

“I’m surprised Yongbae didn’t say anything to us about it. It huge news.” Daesung said. Na-Young didn’t look at him and said nothing. Seungri was about to ask further questions, but the door opening to the three oldest members paused his question.

“Hey Na-Young.” Seunghyun said, smiling at her as he removed his shoes and placed them to the side of the door. Na-Young politely greeted all of them and sat back down on the couch, avoiding all eye contact with her brother. Yongbae saved her the trouble and walked straight to his room not bothering to say anything to any of the members. Seungri frowned,

“Why is he so cranky?” he asked. Jiyong sent him a warning look and Seungri sunk into the couch next to Na-Young, shutting his mouth before the leader got angry. Na-Young sighed and looked up at Seunghyun,

“Can I sleep in your room tonight, or would that be too troublesome?” she asked quietly. Seunghyun nodded his head,

“You can stay, I’ll get you some blankets and a pillow.”

“Thank you.” She said, standing up off the couch and grabbing her backpack. I’m going to take a quick shower then.” Seunghyun nodded letting her know he had heard her and then walked into the kitchen, meeting Jiyong. Jiyong glanced at Seunghyun and gave him a small nod and a smile,

“Thanks for letting her stay in your room.” He said, “I don’t understand why Yongbae is being this way, but she needs someone to look after her in the meantime and I can’t manage both of them.” Seunghyun shrugged his shoulders,

“I think he’s being unreasonable, and if he wasn’t my band mate and friend, I’d probably tell him off.” He said, “But I know that Na-Young doesn’t want anymore trouble. I’m doing this for her, not for him.” Jiyong sighed,

“I agree that he’s being unreasonable, but I have to pick Yongbae’s side in this one.” Seunghyun chuckled,

“What do you mean this one? You always choose his side.” Seunghyun said playfully, taking two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and handing one of them to Jiyong. The leader cracked a smile and leaned back against the counter,

“Shut up.” He said playfully. “Yongbae’s my best friend, it’s always been that way. I just hate to see him push away someone that means so much to him.”

“He’ll come around.” Seunghyun and Jiyong looked towards the doorway that Daesung was standing in. “I can understand what he’s feeling. For so long Yongbae has protected the identity of his sister so that she could live a normal life and make real friends, and now, all of that hard work is going to be for nothing because she’s putting herself in the very spotlight that Yongbae has worked to hard to keep her out of.” Both of the older members stared at Daesung in shock.

“You’re good at using words.” Seunghyun said. Jiyong laughed,

“Alright, alright, everyone get ready for bed. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.” He said, turning on leader mode. Daesung groaned and turned around, slowly walking towards his bedroom,

“I hate when you say we have a ‘big day.’ That always means that it’s going to be long and possible boring.” Jiyong reached up and playfully slapped the younger member in the back of the head,

“Quit your complaining!” he said, smiling at him. Daesung rolled his eyes and closed the door to his bedroom behind him without another word.

 

Seunghyun walked into his bedroom and grabbed a couple blankets from a drawer in his closet. He took a mat out from under his bed and set it up next to it, laying the blankets on top and putting one of his pillows at the head. He finished just in time for Na-Young to come out of his bathroom wearing a pair of tiny pink pajama shorts and a black oversized chrome hearts shirt that was more than likely her brothers. Her long red hair was even longer than usual because it was wet. He remembered the day she decided to dye her hair red after she had seen Park Bom in the new 2NE1 video. She’s left it red ever since.

“Hey. I hope this will be comfortable enough for you.” Seunghyun said. Na-Young nodded quickly

“It looks perfect, thank you!” she said, smiling up at him. She looked at the digital clock and yawned. She had to wake up in four hours; perfect. Seunghyun seemed to read her mind,

“You can go ahead and turn the light out, I’m going to take a quick shower and the get to bed.” Na-Young nodded and thanked him again. She settled onto the floor and under the blankets once he disappeared into the bathroom. She heard the sound of the shower turn on and she sighed. If felt strange not being in the room next door with her brother. She had never stayed anywhere else. She rolled over and looked at her phone; 2 messages from Teddy and a missed call from her mom. She promised herself that she would call home tomorrow before opening the messages from Teddy,

‘Great job on the songs today’

‘Let me know when your safely tucked into bed ;)’

Na-Young smiled and quickly typed back a reply,

‘Thanks Teddy. I’m going to sleep now. On TOP’s floor. Yongbae’s still mad.’

She pulled the sheets over her shoulder and closed her eyes, hoping that maybe Yongbae would be in a better mood tomorrow and that the choreography wouldn’t be too insane.