Joohyun danced really well, almost as well as Seulgi. The choregraphers in the company liked to pair them up for dance practice, said they had ‘chemistry’, which neither of the girls gave much thought about. All they knew was that they had bonded really well, and they enjoyed doing everything together.

“Great job today,” Seulgi put an arm around Joohyun and squeezed her shoulder. They just finished an extra hour of practice that day, just the two of them.

“Me? You were great. I was struggling,” Joohyun sighed, and then coughed into her hand.

“Hey,” Seulgi pulled her closer, brows furrowed. “It’s okay, you’re still recovering. Maybe you should skip practice again tomorrow, I don’t want you to have a fever again.”

Joohyun shook her head. “No,” she looked straight into the huge mirror in the practice room. “I like it here.”

Seulgi followed her gaze and stared at their reflection. Joohyun looked pale as usual, tired, sweaty, but happy nonetheless, in her arm. It felt right.

“I like it here too,” Seulgi smiled, enjoying the sight.

When Seulgi fell into a deep funk sometime in her fourth training year, she cried in Joohyun’s arms. It was the first time one of them cried in front of the other.

It was shocking for the older girl to see her friend break down in tears like that, because Seulgi was always the more cheerful one out of the two of them. But, Joohyun guessed, a person could only take so much.

“I’m tired,” Seulgi sobbed in Joohyun’s neck. “I don’t wanna do this anymore.”

She just kept on sobbing. The other trainees were staring at them sympathetically. Joohyun smiled sadly at them and gestured with her head gently to leave them alone for now. They nodded and walked out of the practice room, one of them gave a gentle pat on Seulgi’s back briefly.

It was just the two of them now. Joohyun didn’t say anything. She then turned her friend around in her arms so they both were facing the huge mirror. Seulgi saw her own reflection. Her whole face was red, with tears b in her red eyes and coming out of her nose.

“It’s going to be alright,” Joohyun spoke to Seulgi’s reflection, tightening her hold on the crying girl. “I’m always here.”

It wasn’t much, but Seulgi understood that when it came to Joohyun, her actions spoke louder than her words. Seulgi finally cracked a small grin in between sniffs. Joohyun turned her around and pulled her back in her arms again, resting the younger girl’s head on the crook of her neck, eyes never leaving their reflection in the mirror. She wanted to keep this memory in her head. Memory of a broken down, vulnerable Seulgi, and Joohyun as the knight in shining armor for once.

A year later, it was announced they would be debuting in a group with two other girls.

They were overjoyed. They cried, and then they laughed together. And then Joohyun was nervous.

“What if I’m not a good leader?” Joohyun spoke, sitting on Seulgi’s bed, looking down at her own tiny hands.

They were having a sleepover in Seulgi’s house. The news left them so happy that Seulgi felt the need to talk about it all night with the older girl. It was a Friday night anyway.

Seulgi elbowed the older girl playfully. “Woah, calm down. We don’t even know exactly when we get to debut yet and now you wanna be the leader already.”

Joohyun returned it with a playful slap on Seulgi’s arm. “It’s obvious, no? I am the oldest out of the four of us.”

They were going to be in a group with Wendy and Sooyoung. Sooyoung was two years younger than Seulgi, and apparently full of aegyo. Wendy, who came from Canada, was the same age as Seulgi, and probably the most talented person they had ever met. Both Joohyun and Seulgi knew them, as they practiced with all the trainees every week. Now that it was narrowed down to four for the next girlgroup, they were going to be spending a lot more time together with Sooyoung and Wendy as a potential group.

“It’s just that,” Joohyun added nervously. “I don’t know much about them yet.”

Seulgi paused to think for a moment. She was actually already quite familiar with Sooyoung and Wendy, especially Wendy. Not only they were the same age, they were often paired up by the vocal coaches in practice to sing duets. But Joohyun, although she had improved a lot from when they first met, was always one step behind when it comes to socializing with other people.

Joohyun only ever clung to Seulgi. She felt comfortable and safe holding on to the younger girl’s arm. She liked the other trainees, and she was friends with some of them as well, but she wouldn’t feel comfortable to cling to any of them. As much as Seulgi loved having Joohyun beside her, clinging to her, looking after her all the time, she knew she had to help the older girl.

The company, as well as the girls themselves, liked to arrange something for the four girls from time to time. Besides practicing all together now, they often had meals out together. After a while, Seulgi noticed Joohyun seemed to have opened up a lot more to the other girls. She smiled when Joohyun clung to Wendy’s arm, laughed at the maknae’s corny jokes, and talked about herself to all of them. She smiled at the development, and her smile got a little wider when at the end of the day, her precious Joohyun clung to her again when they walked home together.

One day, Seulgi arrived at the practice room and saw an unusual sight.

“What are these chairs for?” Seulgi gestured at two black chairs in the middle of the practice room. “Where are Sooyoung and Wendy?” She asked when she saw only Joohyun in the room, looking just as clueless as her.

“These chairs,” the choreographer announced excitedly, “are for dancing. Let’s go, we are going to be learning some new moves today!”

A/N: Thank you so much for the comments, subscribes, and upvotes! I really appreciate them :D I'm still not sure how things work here so please ~bear~ with me