Christina's POV

I paced around in my waiting room. These last two weeks flew by as I geared up for my debut as a singer in South Korea; I barely got to see Eli at all. I spent hours and many a long night in my practice room with my backup dancers. SM had been kind enough to let me rent one of their vacant rooms-- it was huge, clean, and gorgeous; it had become my home. In ten minutes, I’ll finally be on a stage again.

Everything was flawless.

My rap, my vocals— everything—had been perfected.

The first single I released met amazing results. The climb started slow, but as the days went on, my song rose to first on several music charts. The accompanying music video also received an enormous amount of views within a relatively short period of time. The physical album was sold out within minutes of being released. The digital album was just as prosperous.

I let out a nervous breath.

It’s been a while since I’ve been on stage. It’s been a while since I’ve performed in front of such a large crowd.

And it was the first time I was performing my own Korean songs.

The music shows had allowed me to promote two of my songs at once.

I shook my fingers and shifted my weight from foot to foot. I blew out another breath.

Junhui, one of my backup dancers, a trainee from Pledis, placed a water bottle down in my lap. "Stay hydrated." 

I thanked him, unscrewed the bottle, gulped down water, and juggled the bottle between my hands."

“Calm down, Christina! You’ll be fine. We’ve practiced so much—I’m pretty sure some of us have danced this in our dreams,” Mingming grinned. He was another trainee under Pledis that I had “borrowed” for my debut. My other backup dancers offered their words of encouragement and I calmed down. 

They were right.

We had practiced our butts off for this.

We were ready.

Five minutes left.

My phone buzzed and Ming, as I call him, tossed it to me.

Hey, you.

Good luck on your debut!

I’m in the audience waiting for you <3

Don’t worry, you’ll be amazing.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I smiled as I read Eli’s text.

A PD poked his head in to inform us that we needed to head onto stage soon.

Gathering in a tight circle, we placed our hands in the middle and cheered. Then, gathering up our spirits, we marched out of the waiting room and headed backstage where we could hear the current artist finishing up her song and the roar of the crowd.

I paused and let the noise sweep over me.

Oh, how I’ve missed this!

I closed my eyes and I could picture the stage, the lights, the crowd, the energy.

“Hwaiting!” I high-fived my backup dancers as we filed onto our dark stage.

5…

“And our next performer is making her hot debut!”

4…

“She’s been sweeping the charts with her first release!”

3…

“Known for her roles in ‘Danger’ and ‘One-Way Road’,”

2…

“Please welcome our rookie singer, Christina!”

1…

The lights for my stage and I let the moment engulf me.

Everything was perfect.