»don't wanna cry, seventeen«

Today was the day that Han Joohee was waiting for. Today was the first day that she would officially be considered a trainee at Pledis Entertainment. She had been going to dance and vocal academies for years now. Although she had auditioned for many companies out there, they all rejected her without seeing how determined she was. Thankfully, Pledis Entertainment saw potential and drive in her, so they let her pass the auditions and join them as a trainee.

She entered the company building with a light heart. She couldn't wait to get started. After timidly making her way towards the practice room, she found her locker in the locker room and began stretching. Then, the rest of the trainees came pouring into the room, all putting their belongings away in their respective lockers and joining her in front of the mirror to stretch.

Joohee looked around, seeing how serious all the trainees were. She thought they would all be happy that they were getting closer towards their goal of debuting, but she was wrong. All of the trainees have been here for a good year or more and they were practicing harder than ever in order to debut. There was no time to socialize and get to know each other.

Just then, the dance trainer came and began their lesson. As Joohee was the only new trainee at the moment, she struggled to learn the dance moves that the rest of the trainees had already learned for months. She considered herself a fast learner, as she picked up the dance moves in less than half an hour, but that didn't mean that she wasn't getting tired. Although she spent countless hours practicing at her academy, they were nowhere as near as intense as what she was doing now. However, as she saw how good the other trainees were, she instantly grew motivated.

All the trainees barely took a notice to her. They were all busy focusing on their own reflections in the mirror, making sure their dance moves were smooth, yet sharp and defined. However, there was one trainee that noticed her right away. As Seungcheol was the last new trainee to join this group, he instantly felt her pain. He could relate to her because he took a long time to finally get used to the rigorous dancing lessons and the difficult training schedule. Now that he has been here for a year, he could say that he got used to it pretty well. However, as he was known as the quiet, yet somewhat cold looking trainee that no one bothered to approach, he remained to himself. There was no point in getting close to the other trainees anyways.

As he smoothly carried out all the dance moves in a satisifactory manner for the trainer, the trainer let him take a short break. Seungcheol took a long chug of water from his water bottle before he sat down. As he gently wiped away all the sweat from his neck and forehead, he began to observe the new trainee t