January 1st 2015

“Okay, Myung, please bring your group inside.” CEO Lee Hak-Kun’s secretary called, smiling sweetly at the stressed leader. Acid Teochii in its entirety had been called to the Ace Entertainment offices to have a meeting with CEO Lee, they hadn’t been told why or what it was regarding, only being told that all 10 remaining members had to be there.

Myung stood with a sigh, running his hands through his messy hair, his eyes hidden by prescription sunglasses. “Come on, guys.” He called to his colleagues, before walking into the office ahead of them, much like he had done months previously when he had first come out to the CEO and Namjoon. He could hear the shuffling and stumbling behind him as the others joined him. They’d all had a late night, since it had been New Year’s Eve the night previous, and none of them were really prepared for the 5am wakeup they’d had. He knew that Ae-Cha and Yuuki had gotten drunk out of their heads and made out a few times, so they must have been feeling rough.

He was pretty sure they were currently refusing to talk to each other from embarrassment.

Inside the meeting room, CEO Lee sat at the end of the long conference table, Namjoon stood directly to his left, his hand resting on a young girl’s shoulders. In front of him, sat on the chair, sat a small girl. She was only around 16 in age, maybe an inch or so taller than Ae-Cha was. She stared at the floor, her eyes trained on a single spot. She appeared to want to look anywhere but the group that had just walked into the room. Her eyes were a very dark, chocolate brown from what Myung could see, and her hair had been bleached almost to the point of breaking off, then dyed a faint lilac tone, pulled back with a pink ribbon tied in a bow.

Myung frowned as he walked into the room, going over to join Namjoon and CEO Lee at the end of the table. “What’s going on?” He asked them, looking curiously down at the girl before giving the terrified girl a small smile.

CEO Lee gave a sigh, he knew the group wasn’t going to like what was about to happen. “Myung, I’d like you and the rest of Acid Teochii to meet Moon Qiuyue. She is a dancer from China and has been training with us for several years now… she’ll be joining your group as of today.”

Instantly the room burst into shouting and complaints.

“Now, calm down everyone!” Namjoon shouted, his eyes wide at the violent response they had gotten. “Please, calm down. She’ll be going by the stage name ‘Yue’ since it is easier for people in Korea and internationally to pronounce, and she’ll be rooming with the girls. Now, please don’t see Yue as Hyo’s replacement, that isn’t our intentions at all.”

“Of course not, we don’t want to replace Hyo.” CEO Lee cut in before anyone else could complain anymore. “And we’re not, but the fact still stands that, as much as we regret it, we have a spot in your sub unit, Antidote Teochii, and a lead dancer position that needs to be filled. We all believe that Yue will be perfect for the job, so please, everyone, be kind to her.”

A dangerous sounding growl came from the doorway. “No way am I sharing a room with the new girl! No way! You’re only saying that you’re not replacing Hyo so we don’t get mad, but this is exactly what this is! He’s hardly been gone 2 months and yet you’ve gone and added another dancer from China, exactly like Hyo, to our group and Antidote Teochii? That’s exactly what replacing him is! I won’t stand for it, I won’t! It isn’t fair, okay?!”

“I agree,” Jin cut in, although his voice was much calmer than Ae-Cha’s angry one. “It’s too soon to replace Hyo, the public and the fans won’t accept it. They’ll complain and we’ve had enough backlash from Hyo leaving, we can’t deal with anymore scandals.”

“Yes, I understand that, Jin. But the fact still remains that the spot needs to be filled. We don’t want to replace Hyo, but it doesn’t seem like we have a choice.” CEO Lee rubbed his face, trying to wipe the stress wrinkles from his face and stop them from forming anymore. “If we don’t add a new member now, they definitely won’t be accepted. The sooner, the better, and you’re all just going to have to deal with it.”

Ae-Cha growled again from where she stood, before turning and storming out of the room.

“What’s her deal?” Vann asked with a frown, watching his colleagues retreating back. “Her and Hyo weren’t even that close, she spent 90% of her time ignoring him or being angry with him, I don’t see why she’s taking this so hard.”

Namjoon sighed a little, cleaning his classes on his shirt. “I think it’s because it makes her feel like all of you guys are replaceable, that if anything happens, we’ll replace you at the drop of a hat. That isn’t the case in the slightest. None of you are replaceable. Losing Hyo was horrible on all of us, but he wanted to go, and leaving was best for his mental health.” He walked over to the group, smiling at them sadly. “All of you are becoming very dear to me, you know.” He told them. “Almost like you’re all my younger siblings, and having to replace Hyo in the group is hurting us all. But Yue doesn’t deserve backlash, she hasn’t asked to join your group, she hasn’t had much of a choice. Please, don’t take your anger out on her.”

There was murmurings of agreement and annoyance, but no-one shouted or protested. “Now,” Namjoon continued. “Does someone want to go and get Ae-Cha?”

“I’d leave her to it.” Yuuki finally spoke, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. “She’s hungover and upset, she’ll get over it.”

Vann pushed in front of the group, before walking passed Namjoon and over to where Yue still sat beside CEO Lee, giving her a gentle smile. “Hey there,” He said, watching as the girl slowly looked up from what be the most interesting spot on the floor. “Are you alright?”

Yue gave a small nod, her eyes shimmering slightly with unshed tears, her breaths hitching. “I’m okay,” She stuttered out.

The dark haired male laughed slightly. “Of course you are. Come on, we don’t bite…well, none of us who are still here bite. Ae-Cha might if you don’t feed her enough though. How about you come and introduce yourself, okay?”

Yue nodded again, although she looked hesitant, and slowly rose to her feet. Taking Vann’s hand that he had just outstretched, he lead her over to the group.

“Um…” She started, directing her gaze back down to the floor. “My name is Moon Qiuyue, I’m 16 and I’ve lived in South Korea for 5 years now… I’ve been told my Korean is fluent, but I believe there is always room for improvement. I’m also fluent in Mandarin, my mother tongue, and I am almost fluent in French. I’ve been dancing since I was 4 years old, my speciality is ballroom.” Yue bowed low at the waist, her hair falling from behind her shoulders, the ends almost trailing on the floor from the length. “I’m sorry I’m replacing your friend, I really wish it wasn’t the case. I will do my very best to be an asset to the group.”

Vann turned to face the group, of which almost all 8 members stood there looked bored, annoyed or just downright angry. Cho slowly stepped forward, pushing her straightened pink hair back behind her shoulders.

“Hey there, Yue, I’m Park Cho, I’m the female visual and the lead vocalist of the group.” She smiled, bowing low to the girl. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

CEO Lee smiled from his seat. “Thank you, Vann, Cho. You look after her, you hear? Now, because Yue is so young, this means that she is now the Maknae of the group instead of Ae-Cha. You’re all now free to go back to the dorm, Namjoon will stop by with Yue’s luggage later. Thank you, guys, and I’m sorry.”

-----

Back at the dorm, tensions were high. Ae-Cha had stormed out a while ago with Yuuki, claiming to be going to the nearby park to relax. Myung has tried to stop her, claiming that being out on what looked like a date wouldn’t be the best idea right now with their notoriety at the moment.

She promptly flipped him off and stormed out anyway.

Yue was sat in the corner of the room, her hands clasped around an iPod Nano.

Her eyes had once again trained on a very interesting section of carpet, avoiding the gaze of everyone she could. Hanni had come over and sat beside her, looking over the girl in silent scrutiny for a few seconds, before giving her a small smile. “Do you like sweet pastries? I’m making some strawberry tarts in the kitchen right now if you’d like me to make you some.”

Yue looked up with a small, shocked smile, before nodding slightly, eyes full of confusion and delight. Cho had come to join her after a little while, stating that the two more feminine girls should stick together.

“You know, don’t take what Ae-Cha says to heart. She can be a bit of a , and she always will be… but most of the time, she doesn’t mean to be. Sometimes she’s just worried, other times she’s pissed off and not meaning to take it out on you… she’s a very boisterous person, and she lets all her anger get to her head and she takes it out on other people constantly. Honestly, you get used to it after a little while, and it stops getting to you… but for now, it’s best just to take it in your stride. It isn’t you she’s angry at, she’s angry at Hyo for leaving us, she’s angry at CEO Lee for trying to replace Hyo… I’m sure once she gets to know you better, she’ll lighten up.”

Yue sniffed gently, looking up with watering eyes. “Are you sure? She acts like she hates me…almost all of you have been acting like you hate me. Only you and Vann-oppa have been accepting so far… and Hanni-oppa tried to be I think, but everyone else has mostly ignored me and I don’t know why. I’ve not done anything wrong, right? Have I been rude?”

Cho smiled a little, ruffling Yue’s hair before quickly fixing the bow for her. “No, you haven’t. You really are emotional, aren’t you? It’s a little funny, really, it’ll be nice not to be the most emotional one anymore… Honestly though, Yue, you’re just going to have to wait it out. All of us have been living together for almost a year at this point... think of it like joining school. You’ve transferred late into the group, so almost as if you started school and joined a class at the beginning of its second year. Everyone already has their friendship groups, everyone already knows everyone, and it’s going to take a little while for everyone to get used to you. There’s nothing you can do about it apart from being polite and kind until people begin to include you. Before you know it, you’ll also be part of the friendship groups. You won’t even notice the transition happening, one day, you’ll just look back on this day and realise how lonely you felt and how much has changed.”

The lilac haired girl nodded slightly, wiping at her eyes.

“Could you tell me anything I should be aware of…? I don’t want to offend anybody, that’s all…if it’s too much of a bother though, unnie, please don’t feel as though you have to. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to when you’re being so kind to me…”

“Yue, calm down, it’s okay. Let’s see… well, first thing you should probably know is Sherlock and I are dating now…” Cho had flushed a little bit, but she quickly changed the subject. “That happened around Christmas. Anyway… Sherlock is blind, which is why we have Watson running around. Watson is his guide dog, but he’s just a normal dog when he isn’t on duty. When Watson is on duty, example, helping Sherlock around outside, don’t touch him or you’ll distract him, apart from that, Watson loves cuddles and getting petted…hmm… oh, there’s also the fact that at our first comeback, Myung got attacked and shot in the gut. He’s almost fully recovered now, but he has a scar there that he’s quite self conscious of… speaking Myung, he’s dating too, a guy called Yoongi.”

“A guy?” Yue interrupted, frowning a little.

“Yes, a guy… why, is that a problem?”

“No, no, it just took me by surprise is all, sorry Cho-unnie…”

Cho sighed a little before continuing. “Marco and Hyo were best friends before Hyo left, and we’re all pretty positive they were actually dating, so Marco is probably going to be one of the ones where it takes him a long time to accept you, be warned of that… I guess that’s it for now. You’ll pick stuff up as we go along, but those are the major things you need to know.”

“Alright…thank you.” Yue smiled slightly, rubbing once more at her eyes to try and dry the building tears. Her heart still raced uncomfortably in her chest, her stomach twisting in knots. She hated the fact she was going to have to live with a bunch of people who were probably hating her. “Again… I’m sorry for replacing Hyo, it was never my intention. I wanted to debut with my friends who were put into Symphon-EE, but CEO Lee decided I’d be better off with you guys, I’m sorry..”

“Yue, sweetheart, please stop apologising. It isn’t your fault, okay?” Cho smiled. “Okay, now, let’s go help Hanni in the kitchen with those strawberry tarts.”

Yue smiled, nodding slightly before getting to her feet, wrapping the iPod earphones around the device and slipping it into the single pocket of her dress for safe keeping.

Myung yawned from where he was slouched on the couch, pulling his sunglasses up and resting them on his head while he gently rubbed at his eyes, causing Cho to stop walking with her eyes wide.

“Myung-ah!” She exclaimed, hurrying over to him. “Your eye! Is that why you’ve been wearing sunglasses all day?”

“Hm?” Myung hummed, confused, before gently touching the swollen and bruised flesh around his left eye, hissing a little at the contact. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. I ran into a doorframe last night when I was out with Yoongi, that’s all, it was hilarious.” He grinned up at Cho, putting the sunglasses back on. “I just covered it in case any fans saw us. Don’t worry yourself too much, okay?”

“If you’re sure, Myung-ah…” Cho sighed, before going to join Hanni in the kitchen.

Myung frowned a little, before turning back to the book in his lap.

------

There we have it! You now know who the first person is on the last row of the poster!

Meet Moon Qiuyue!

(So you might be getting an update spam for a while since I'm doing this for NaNo and I have no choice but to post as I write since that's what XenexianAG is doing and our stories cross over a lot...I don't want her spoiling anything :'3)

I hope you liked this chapter! Please bare with any mistakes!