“I was scouted at a coffee shop,” Blue said, listening to the whispers and gasps of surprise from the people around her. “I was a barista at a little known coffee house and the singer for the night didn’t come and so my manager said, ‘Hyori, if you don’t sing, you’re fired.’ He calls me by my Korean name, Hyori. I was scared because I only sang when people weren’t around. It so happened that there were talent agents from Academy there that night for coffee. Next thing I knew, I had to quit my job as a barista to train full-time.”

          She belonged to the girl group A. Drenaline, which had debuted a little more than a month ago. She, along with her three members, was sitting on a new television show that interviewed new idols.

          “So that is why,” Blue continued, “I have trained the least. When they found me, they wanted to put me into this group, A. Drenaline. So I continued to train with them. I was scared because Angel-unnie and Hara-unnie had been training for two years and I barely trained at all. But they have better vocals than Minah and I, so maybe that’s why we didn’t have to train as long.”

          The female interviewer nodded. “So, why is your name Blue? And why is your name Angel?” She asked her and the leader.

          Blue smiled. “My mother is not Korean. My father married an American woman, and I have her blue eyes, so she named me Blue. That is my American name and that is what I am used to being called at home. So, when we prepared to debut, they thought it would be good to dye my hair blue so I could stand out as well.”

          Angel smiled also. “I am Angel because I have the most angelic personality. When I was training, everyone said I was the most innocent-looking and I am the nicest.”

          “Angel-unnie is only an angel for people she likes,” Hara added.

          “Ya! Jugeullae?” Angel snapped, playfully hitting her best friend on the arm.

          Minah and Blue, the two youngest, laughed.

          The male interviewer spoke now. “You girls debuted with the song ‘Saranghae’ about a month ago. What was it like shooting the music video? Wasn’t most of it under water?”

          Minah nodded. “We were supposed to be like water nymphs and really peaceful and natural. But it was really cold outside and Blue and Hara didn’t know how to swim, so their parts were the hardest to shoot. Hara had the hardest time staying underwater so that’s why all of her parts, she’s dancing in shallow water.” Everyone laughed.

          “I thought it was going to be easy, but it wasn’t at all. I kept shivering too.”

          “So, we are told that you girls will be performing your newest single for us today,” the male interviewer said.

          Angel looked at her band-mates and nodded. “Ne, we are going to sing our new single ‘Alone’. Instead of our peaceful and natural image in ‘Lost No More,’ we are going to have a more edgy and y image.”

          The female interviewer led the applause. “Show us!”

          The girls smiled, looked into the camera, and said, “Hello, we are A. Drenaline. Please listen well!”

[“Alone” is a combination of “Bad Girl, Good Girl” by Miss A & “Mirror Mirror” by 4Minute.]

          Blue sighed and collapsed onto the couch of the A. Drenaline dorm, ruffling her frost-blue hair that was recently cut into a bob for their debut. Though she had not slept at all the night before, she felt both energized and exhausted. Part of her wanted to go for a run and the other part wanted to go sleep for a day or two. When she heard Hara scream from their back room, followed by a “YA!” from Angel, she hurried, changed into a baggy red sweat suit, tossed her hood up, and grabbed her iPod.

          She was running around the park, listening to 10cm’s “Americano,” when she heard someone call her, “HYORI-YA~” She was afraid she would be mobbed, but she looked up and saw it was none other than her label-mate Yoon Jaehyun of Style X. He was standing with two of his band-mates, Saint and Chinhwa. They waved her over and she smiled and returned their wave.

          She stepped into the street, heard the screech of tires, and suddenly saw the black tarp of the street. Her body ached. She could barely move.

          She heard Jaehyun call again, “Hyori-ya!”

          She heard someone say, “! You hit someone!”

          A familiar voice kneeled beside her and asked, “Miss, are you okay?”

          She tried to nod, but her neck hurt. “Ne…” Then she slept.

          “Noona’s going to be okay, right?”

          Why did Chinhwa sound so worried? He sounded so cute when he worried.

          “Ne,” Jaehyun responded, though he was not convinced.

          Blue opened her eyes and let out a groan. She felt groggy and nauseous, and her body ached still. “Wae…?”

          Chinhwa’s round face and big brown eyes were suddenly all she saw. “Noona!”

          She cocked her brows. “Why am I in the hospital?”

          Jaehyun looked relieved as he rose from the chair beside her. “You were hit by a car yesterday.”

          She nodded, unsure of how to respond. Well, at least she was alive. “How bad was it? Where are the girls? Who hit me?”

          The door of her hospital room opened and she heard, “BLUE!” Her band-mates stood in the doorway with big grins on their faces. “How are you? Do you feel okay?” Hara asked.

          “Ya!” Angel snapped. “Give the girl a break!”

          Minah sat on the edge of the bed. “The doctor said you were lucky that you didn’t break anything. He said you’ve got bruised ribs and that you’ll be tired for a while, but otherwise, you’ll be fine!”

          Hara smirked. “And you won’t believe who hit you!”

          Angel glared. “Hara…”

          Blue cocked a brow. “Who hit me?”

          “Hyunseung-hyung from B2ST!” Chinhwa chimed in.

          Ah, so that was the familiar voice she heard. She had watched him so many times on Music Bank and Inkigayo. She had seen so many of their music videos. He hit her? What about his image? Surely everyone would know that a famous idol hit another idol while driving. And she was not even injured.

          Minah nodded. “He’s actually here to see you, if that’s okay. He stayed yesterday until closing time and came back again this morning. If you want me to send him away, I will. Also, Sunhwa-oppa wants to talk to you to see if you want to press charges or anything, but that will be later when you’re feeling up to it.”

          Jaehyun raised his brows. “Hyunseung is here now?”

          Hara’s grin widened. “Yeah, along with the other B2ST-oppas.”

          Blue sat up a little more and nodded. “Uh, you can send him in.”

          Angel nodded and stood. “Okay, everyone out.”

          They filed out slowly and Jang Hyunseung from B2ST entered. She had to admit, he was better looking in person. His light brown hair fell around hypnotizing brown eyes. He was definitely skinny, but taller than she expected. As expected, his style was impeccable. He wore leather jacket, a thin black tee shirt, skinny jeans that practically hung off his hips even though he wore a belt, and black and white creepers. She knew he hated to be called pretty, but he definitely was.

          As Hyunseung entered, he hung his head low. “I-I’m sorry I hit you, Hyori-ssi.”

          She frowned. He looked sad and something else. “Call me Blue. And it’s really okay. I’m not hurt!” She smiled.

          He did not lighten up and sat in the chair beside her bed. “If you want to press charges, I completely understand.”

          She shook her head. “Nope! We idols have to stick together and protect each other’s images! And besides, it was an accident… unless you go around running over rookies all the time.”

          His mouth twitched. Almost a smile? He shook his head. “Ani…”

          “There we go. I know it would seriously affect you and the rest of B2ST if I pressed charges and we could live without the extra publicity, right? And you didn’t do it on purpose. I should just be careful where I’m going and stop prancing into streets without looking!”

          He met her eyes. Wow, his eyes are big, she thought. “Do you forgive me?”

          She nodded enthusiastically. “Ne… What has the media said about it?”

          “It’s not good so far.”

          “Is there any way I could help? I did walk into a busy street. If it wasn’t you who hit me, it would have been someone else.”

          He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

          She smiled. “How about you give me your number and if I think of way to help, I’ll let you know?!”

          They exchanged numbers and he gave a small smile. “Thank you, Blue-ssi.”

          “Please don’t say ‘ssi’… you’re my sunbae,” she responded.

          “You’re really bubbly for someone who got hit by a car.”

          Her smile widened. “Really? Well maybe I should start walking into busy streets more often.”

          “Yeah, I think every driver on the road will start avoiding you.” They laughed. “Do you want me to get your friends and bring them back in here?” Before she could respond, he leapt up. “Oh! Wait, my friends and I brought you something.” He sprinted out of the room and minutes later returned with his arms full of tulips. “We all hope you are feeling better.” He sat the six dozen tulips at the end of her bed.

         She smiled. “Thank you. And I told you, I’m perfectly fine. See?” She tossed back the sheets of the bed, still dressed in her sweat suit, and stood, flinching at the pain in her side.

          Hyunseung’s eyes widened in fear? Horror? He rushed to her side. “You’re really not okay—”

          She cut him off. “Ani, the doctor said I only have bruising in my ribs. I’m still fine.”

          He watched her, with his hand still resting on her shoulder. He removed his hand quickly and stepped away. “Okay… If there is any way I can help you, tell me.”

          She nodded and crawled back into bed. “Okay.”