“That was just amazing," Bara said immediately after getting back stage.

“I had such an adrenaline rush," Aimee told them while they were walking towards their changing room. She asked their managers with a small pout, "Oppas, could you treat us to dinner, please? Because this was our debut stage?”

“Maybe when we finished our promotions but not now. We wouldn't have time for that anyway, since we still have to wait for the winner of the week to get announced and we have to greet the Producer.” One of their two managers, Park Jongbae, said as he led the way to the dressing room.

Aimee knew about the weekly competitions on the music broadcasts. Each week the group with the most points for digital sales, physical sales and SNS points would get a small trophy. For that event all of the other singers and idols that performed on that day had to be present. However, she had no clue about the latter part. “Greeting the producer?”

“Yes, any group that isn't top tier usually has to do that after the show ended and the producers are about to leave. It's a show of respect and necessary if you want to have a good relationship with the broadcast companies. Only a few idols with great name value like Big Bang, Soshi and DBSK don't have to do that anymore. So basically, in about twenty minutes you are going to go on stage again since the results for the weekly performances will be announced. Until then you are free to do whatever you want as long as you are punctual.” Park Kyungtae, their other manager, explained as he shooed the older girls, particularly Seulyong, away from him.

Some of the girls split up in little groups to explore the backstage area. Sori looked for Nahee but saw that the maknae was already going ahead with Hyehyun and Tiao Ning. She also wanted to speak to Seulyong but noticed the leader walking towards APink and 4Minute. 'Great, they are leaving me here alone', she thought sourly until her eyes caught Yuntue standing alone in a corner and she smirked and went over to her group mate.

When Yuntue saw Sori approaching her with the sly grin on her face and a eerie sparkle in her eyes she already knew that this wasn't going to end well.

“Yunnie”, Sori called out, hooking one of her arms around her and dragging her in a random direction, “did you already know that you were one of my favorite group mates?”

Yuntue gave her an incredulous look.

“I really admire the way you are composing songs.” Sori nonchalantly nodded her head at her own comment.

She knew better than expecting a simple conversation when it came to Sori since the Lead Rapper never talked to anyone except Seulyong and Aimee without having some kind of hidden motive. Sori was pretty obvious in these things.

“You compose well and I think that you also tried your best at splitting the parts equally. But don't you also think that Bara is a bit overrated as a rapper? I mean, she's our group member and she's pretty and friendly and of course I treasure her as a dear friend, but honestly speaking, don't you think that I would be the better rapper? I mean, she's okay I guess but in the end my flow is just more..” Sori prattled on.

Yuntue should have listened to her first instinct and run away when she saw Sori coming towards her. Instead she was here, hearing the complaints coming from her band mates' inferiority complex and getting a headache because of the lack of sleep and Sori's annoying voice.

Objectively speaking, Bara was the better rapper. Both were good, and although Yuntue wouldn't ever say this in front of their seniors, they were clearly better than Tiffany, Amber or Hyoyeon but considering their pronunciation and breathing control, Bara was a slight notch better. However, Yuntue also didn't want to discuss with Sori about that since the older member would be too stubborn to just let it slide if Yuntue would tell her why exactly Bara was better than her. And despite Yuntue composing the songs she wasn't even in charge for splitting the parts and in the end Sori was actually rambling without being able to archive anything. So Yuntue just decided to stop listening after a while and only nodded from time to time, saying things like 'Hm', 'Yeah' and 'Right' in her sleep-deprived state.

“...And so we could make a new system that gives our group unique dynamics. If the Leads, like you and me , had the most parts in songs it would be really outstanding and it would catch attention. Oh, hey, Zico." In the middle of her monologue Sori had spotted one her idol friends and so she waved in his direction, a happy smile on her face.

Yuntue looked at the guy. He had feline eyes, a prominent nose, plump lips and a bit of cheek fat and he was dressed totally in black. His white blonde hair looked pretty nice for the fact that he probably had to bleach it a dozen times to get that color. But Yuntue didn't recognize him, not that she knew many idols since she was more interested in music instead of pop culture.

“Sori! How are you doing? Did your debut go well?” He called out, swinging an arm around Sori's shoulders.

“Thanks, I'm fin-”

“And who is the pretty girl next to you?” He asked when he spotted Yuntue, a smile spreading on his face, not even caring about Sori's answer.

“I'm Song Yuntue," Yun said sourly and crossed her arms in front of her chest. He could have asked her herself for the name.

“Your name means Melody? That fits you well, your voice is kind of nice and melodious. You are probably a vocalist, right?” The smile on his face got wider as he came closer towards them.

Yuntue knitted her brows in annoyance. Why was he so interested in her and what kind of guy was he?

“Zico oppa? Why are you ignoring me?” Sori whined with a pout and Yuntue was reminded once again how annoying her voice was, especially when she tried to sound cute and high-pitched it.

“Do you know each other already?” He asked both her and Sori.

“We are band mates. Yunnie, this is my friend Zico. We knew each other even before I entered SM Entertainment. Zico, this is Yunnie, in charge of lead vocals and brains in Solibaljeon.” Sori explained.

“You have a really cute face," Zico muttered and probably realized that this statement was a bit awkward since he looked away and blinked after saying it, while rubbing his neck in an embarrassed manner.

Such a weird creep, thought Yuntue.

She wasn't even surprised at his behavior, she already thought that Sori's friends would be just as weird and socially awkward as she was. Luckily she didn't need to spend more time than necessary with him. “You probably have a lot to tell to each other and I don't want to disrupt that. It was nice to meet you but I'm going back to Solibaljeon's waiting room, fixing my make up before the announcement of the winner. See you later unnie, sunbaenim.”

With a swift motion she turned around to leave. Her eyes spotted a clock on a barren wall of the floor. If she reached the waiting room in a minute, would she have ten minutes to take a small nap before rushing out to the stage?

But apparently that Zico guy was as persistent as Sori because she heard some foot steps and the next moment he was already walking next to her, a grin on his face. Yuntue rolled her eyes and looked demonstratively in the other direction.

“If I knew that someone like you was in Solibaljeon I would have definitely watched your debut music video. ” He called out as he turned to walk backwards and look at her. Yuntue picked up with her tempo and speed-walked on the floors, into the direction of the waiting room. “Now I don't even know how your song sounds. Would you mind singing it for me, Yuntue noona?”

Yuntue gave him a disbelieving look. Did he really believe that she would just stop and start singing a song here? But instead of simply ignoring him like she intended to she actually engaged into the conversation and asked him why he thought that she was his noona. After all, in her opinion he looked a bit older than her. She disbelivingly muttered,  "Noona?"

“Well, Sori is older than me by two years. I'm twenty one. And you?” His grin got wider. He was probably proud that he made her ask a question. In Yuntue's opinion he didn't look overly smart, he probably was the typical idol, casted for his looks and singing two lines in each of his group's songs.

“Also twenty one.” She answered, sweet and simple.

“Great, so we are the same age and can drop the honorifics. But if you want, you can still call me 'oppa'.” He suggested.

Yuntue was about to answer that she would prefer calling him 'sunbaenim' when she heard Sori coughing from afar.

“Wait for me, you guys are way too fast!” Sori had taken off her high heels and was running towards them. “However, I'm glad you get along so well, you would make a cute couple.”

“You think so?” The Zico guy sheepishly asked and Yuntue had to fight the urge to take of her shoes too, and throw them at the heads of these two idiots. Why had all of the other group members left her alone with the both of them?

“As sweet as vanilla ice cream with strawberries, candy floss and a cherry on top. I think I ship you already!” Sori exclaimed.

"Ugh, no please," Yuntue groaned out, rolling her eyes before fleeing into the waiting room.

All of the idol groups gathered out on the stage for a second time as the winners were announced. Solibaljeon wasn't even in the runner ups but the manager assured them that this was okay since they were still rookies that debuted just this week and that they couldn't have gotten a strong fandom in this short time period. Block B's 'Jackpot' won instead and Yuntue was making an annoyed expression when the boygroup was announced. She saw how Zico's eyes were searching for her after he gave U-Kwon the microphone so the latter could hold a small award speech, but Yuntue refused to meet his gaze.

Afterwards they snacked some cookies Bara brought along to the Broadcast station. Both of their managers luckily went away, saying that they wanted to talk with some broadcast officials so they could eat in peace and didn't have to hide. All of them knew that their managers wouldn't be too happy if they'd find out that they were consuming food such high in calories but they thought that they could allow theirselves some sweets after weeks of dieting.

"You sure Kyungtae isn't looking?" Sori asked, looking left and right to make sure the "younger" good-looking manager was nowhere to be seen. Not that the "older" manager wasn't good-looking, the younger girls preferred Kyungtae since he was a bit more lenient.

"Positive." Bara confirmed. "At least Kyungtae-oppa isn't as strict as Jongbae-oppa."

"Well Kyungtae is younger than Jongbae by a year..." Seulyong muttered as she munched on her cookies. If Park Jongbae found out that the leader ate cookies,  he would have made her do squats and jumping jacks all day long. "Jongbae is older than me by two months. And he's scarier."

"Weren't they idols too?" Tiao Ning asked, taking a sip of water from her water bottle. "In like Thailand?"

"I think so." Hyehyun answered. "Jongbae-oppa was in a five member group and Kyungtae-oppa in a six."

"Maybe I'll ask them later!" Aimee shouted out, the members hushing her before she got them in trouble for being too loud. What if they got caught?!

They ate in silent for a few minutes and then began to chatter away again.

"My voice once cracked," Hotaru said bashfully. "It was really obvious."

"And during the first few beats I was too blinded by the stage lights and I messed up the dancing right at the beginning. I was really unprofessional," Bara complained about herself, hitting her legs.

"Don't be sad, your rapping was awesome. And I didn't even hear that your voice cracked. It can't be as obvious as you just said," Hyehyun reassured her dongsaengs. "I think we did pretty well for a rookie group."

"But we can't say that we were good as long as we haven't seen our performance on TV." Seulyong pointed out, sending a text message to who knew who.

"Uhm, I told Mir that he should record this week's Music Broadcast. Maybe I could ask him to send me our stage?" Tiao Ning asked uncertainly as she fiddled with her hands.

"You know Mir? Do you mean the Mir from MBLAQ?" Sumin excitingly asked. She liked a few songs from that group.

"Yes, we met each other when I was background dancer for BoA-sshi." Tiao Ning explained.

"Don't tell me you are a couple," Aimee teased, grinning cheekily. Upon hearing that, some of the other members immediately asked more questions about them, leaving Tiao Ning flustered and blushing furiously.

"N-no, unnies, it's not like you think," she lied, "we're just friends. So should I ask him now to send me the performance or not?"

"I think I want to stay on a stage forever," Hyehyun said as Aimee, Hotaru, Sumin, Tiao Ning, and herself were seated in one van driven by Manager Kyungtae, driving back to their dorm. Unfortunately,  the other four members were stuck in the other van with scary Manager Jongbae.

"Mhm.. Performing gives me chills. That's actually the reason I wanted to become an idol, the feeling of singing on stage is addicting." Aimee sleepily said. Her head was leaning against Hyehyun's shoulder and her eyes were closed. They wouldn't arrive at the dorms in less than half an hour but Aimee was tired from staying awake for so long and Hyehyun's shoulder was cozy so she tried to take a nap. They would soon have a busy shedule, with the promotions of 'What should I do?' just beginning.