C H A P T E R F O U R
I'm a born singer
A little belated confession

Sitting in her favourite meeting room, with her knees pulled to her chest and feet on the chair, Aeri watched the clock in silence as it ticked methodically by. Her head was buzzing with nerves and panicked thoughts, and her chest ached as she struggled to breath normally, pinching her legs and forearms to try and bring her to her senses.

Stop. Stop it Aeri. It's nothing to worry about.

No matter what she told herself, though, she couldn't stop herself worrying. Tomorrow was an important day reguarding her status as a trainee. JYP himself had met with her to explain her situation and, although both parties were upset with it, she agreed that there was nothing she could do.

Vocal Group (You will be assigned a partner. This is mandatory, Aeri; we need to assess your group skill.)

Apparently, there had been complaints (and Aeri could probably guess who from) about her lack of participation in trainee classes and assessments, particularly in the performance department. No one had heard her sing yet - only JYP and one or two of the vocal coaches could vouch for her solo vocals from her audition tapes and the small private assessments she gave every three months. Solo dance performances were also usually done in private on the same day to save time, and in group dances she blended in with the back line and kept her head down.

Well, until today. But that was her first brave step to changing her habits. Something in what Minji said got to her, and on top of what JYP had sternly told her just pushed her to do it properly.

Of course, it wasn't that she was... shy. It was just that people largely ignored her at first, since she couldn't hold a proper conversation, and from there it just got out of hand. Eventually, she ended up not minding her own company as much and started to keep to herself, being the awkward quiet one in dance class that no one paid attention to and the weird mute one in vocal class that everyone whispered about.

She sighed heavily, dropping her feet to the floor and picking up her iPod to scroll through music. No matter how many times she had checked the schedule, the words would not rearrange themselves. There was no use fighting against the inevitable; she was more worried about the people in her group rather than an audience.

Finding a song she could comfortably sing, she stood from her chair and played it quietly, taking deep breaths to steady her nerves. As 'Sistar - Crying' began to play, she closed her eyes and swayed, letting her voice sound out for the first time in a long while.

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"Bottom's up! Congrats on a successful assessment!"

Grinning, Sumin raised the shot to her lips and threw her head back, cringing and gagging as the vodka ran down . ", why do we drink this stuff!?"

"Because it woooorks?" Someone picked her up from behind and span her around, setting her down with a giddy laugh as the dancer beside her chuckled.

"Oh shut up Taemin, you shouldn't even be in here," she retorted, hitting him in the arm and turning around with a stern look. "What kind of noona am I, letting a kid like you come to a club?"

Her brother just grinned down at her, eyes twinkling. The guy looked old enough to be her oppa, rather than two years her junior - the fine layer of stubble that ran along his jawline and the rimmed glasses he wore gave him the appearance of a rugged university student. He currently had a beer in his hand, and she eyed it disapprovingly.

As a celebration, the dance team had decided to treat themselves to a night of clubbing in town - but as the blonde was forced to remember, her brother was visiting from D