“Are you ready to go out yet noona?” Haneul heard Dongho chirpy voice from the other side of her bedroom door. She pulled the door open and smiled at Dongho the best she could and nodded.

“Noona… Why do you have make-up on?” Dongho enquired and looked closer.

Haneul acted naturally, “Because I wanted to look good today, is there a problem?” She lied with a straight face when actually she put on the make-up to cover up her puffy eyes from crying the night before. I’m crying an awful lot lately. I don’t know if that’s a sign or not. Haneul thought to herself.

“Ah, there’s no problem. You do look good though noona!” Dongho said brightly and put his thumbs up.

“We’re going to go to the company and you haven’t even debuted yet so no one cares. Is there a need to look good just for the president?” Kevin grumbled as he lugged a gym bag of his towards the two of them, “And we’re going to the gym afterwards. Your make-up’s going to get smudged then anyway.”

“Sunghyun, seriously, I don’t care. I’ll take the make-up off when we’re at the gym. Looking good for just a few hours is good enough for me.” Haneul said plainly as all she willed for was for her eyes to stop being puffy and then it wouldn’t matter anymore. She made sure to open her eyes a little wider than they would stand to be comfortable on a day with puffy eyes.

“Strange girl.” Kevin muttered and lugged his bag back off.

“Geez, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today.” Haneul muttered as she noticed his dark bags. “And since you’ve already debuted, shouldn’t you put make-up on to look your best for the fangirls? At least get rid of those horrid bags.” She said and closed her door to prepare her gym bag.

She grabbed a black gym outfit and 2 towels, one large and one small. She also grabbed a pair of runners and placed it in the bag. She zipped up the bag and headed back out the door. In the kitchen she grabbed her water bottle and filled it up with cold water. “Let’s go now.” Haneul said smiling at the last two U-Kiss members who were waiting for her.

“About time.” Kevin rolled his eyes, “How long do you take? You’re such a girl.”

“Indeed, yes I am a girl.” Haneul raised an eyebrow.

“Not what I meant.” Kevin mumbled and headed out the door.

-----------

It was 10 minutes into the rid and everyone was silent. Haneul was in the second minivan with Hwayoung, Eun Ae, Kevin, Dongho and Kiseop who had fallen asleep quickly.

Why are you wearing so much make-up? Hwayoung discreetly used Chinese sign language to Haneul.

What’s wrong with wanting to look pretty? Haneul signed back in English.

Because it’s strange of you, you hardly even care about how you look.

Well maybe it’s time for me to change. We are going to debut soon, you know.

Do I care about that? Just tell me the truth.

Can’t.

Why not?

Because I just can’t.

Why not? Hwayoung signed a little more impatiently.

Just because.

Hwayoung sighed and gave up. Haneul sighed as well and started twisting her sister’s amethyst bracelet around her right wrist again and again. Again and again.

“Hey! That’s a pretty bracelet!” Eun Ae exclaimed and grabbed it off Haneul’s hand, “Is this new?”

“Ah, yes.” Haneul said and frowned and tried to grab it back from Eun Ae who quickly moved her hand over.

“It’s so pretty!”

“Why thank you?” Haneul replied in a voice full of uncertainty.

Eun Ae twisted it around a bit more and then noticed the small inscription. “For the girl I love most?” She turned around to face Haneul again and gave her a sly raise of her eyebrows, “Who’d you get this from, hm?”

Haneul rolled her eyes. “It’s not mine.”

“No, come on.” She winked at Haneul, “You can tell unnie.”

“But you’re more like a dongsaeng than an unnie, you immature girl.”

“What?” Eun Ae pouted, “Just tell me who you got it from!”

“I got it from an old woman, okay? So the original owner of that bracelet is not mine.” Haneul snatched it back and gently placed it back onto her right wrist, “So don’t question me about the boy who wrote that.”

The vehicle fell into silence at Haneul’s way of talking. “What?”

“Why are you so protective over the bracelet then?” Kevin asked suspiciously.

“Because it’s mine now and I like it.” She huffed and mentally added at the end ‘Because I have someone I need to return it to.’ She then faced out the window and ended the conversation at that.

----------

“What’s with the atmosphere?” The president asked with an amused look on his face as he eyed Kevin and Haneul who were positively radiating dark auras from themselves.

No one answered so he just shook his head and muttered “Kids these days” under his breath. Haneul caught every word of it and rolled her eyes.

“Alright, well first of all I’d like to say that you girls’ group name will be Athena if you haven’t already heard.”

“We’ve heard.” Haneul said sharply.

“Alright, well then that means you girls will definitely have to debut with a fierce, dark concept. And so I’ve hired Ryan Jhun to help you girls write some songs. Haneul you’re going to have to come up with one or two songs, up to you really.”

“I’ve got one already. It’s not quite a fierce type song but rather a dark and sad one, if that’s okay?” Haneul asked.

“Alright. Of course! I have great faith in you, Haneul. Just show it to me some time later, okay? Do you want me to get someone to write the lyrics for you?”

“No, actually…” Haneul paused, “I’ve already got lyrics. I just need Soo Jin to write a rap, that’s all.” Haneul smiled at Soo Jin who was suddenly taken back by how nice Haneul was to her all of a sudden.

“Oh, that’s good. But I wanted you girls to meet your manager from now on. I pick her personally because I thought she’d be good for you girls.” He opened the behind him to reveal a seated, relaxed, casual looking woman with her hair tied up in a loose bun. Haneul estimated her age to be in her high 20s and her height to be about 163cm when she wasn’t wearing those sole stuffed shoes of hers.

“You don’t have to wear insole stuffed shoes to impress us with your height, you know.” Haneul spoke up.

“Oh my, how did you know?” The woman said embarrassedly, “I just wanted to make a better impression on you girls, you know?” She laughed slightly. Haneul curtly nodded to show she somewhat understood the woman’s meaning.

“This is Park Hyo Jin, your manager from now on. Take good care of each other. I’ll now give you guys a chance to acquaint yourselves.”

“Uh, then what are we doing here?” Kiseop asked and pouted in confusion.

“To acquaint as well.” President Kim said with a smile, clapped his hands together and left.

-----

“Park Hyo Jin, 1983, Blood Type A, 163cm.” Hyo Jin started it off while they were sitting in the circle she had recommended everyone get into. Haneul nodded in approval that her estimate of her age and height had been correct.

“Park Hye Su, 1989, Blood Type A, 166cm.” Hye Su continued on.

“Kim Eun Ae, 1992, Blood type O, 163cm!” Eun Ae excitedly continued.

“Choi Soo Jin, 1991, Blood Type B, 172cm.” Soo Jin said coolly while looking at her nails.

“Wow, so tall!” Hyo Jin said excitedly and Haneul stared at her strangely wondering if she was really 28. She then seemed to realise how strange she was and blushed, “Do continue.”

“Lee Hwayoung, 1992, Blood Type A, 169cm.” Hwayoung nodded for Haneul to continue.

“Jang Haneul, 1993, Blood Type AB, 167cm.” Haneul quietly added on.

“Alright, the boys turn now!” Hyo Jin clapped her hands happily.

“Shin Soohyun, 1989, Blood Type A, 181cm.”

“Lee Kiseop, 1991, Blood Type A, 180cm.”

“Kim Kyoung Jae or Eli, Blood Type O, 181cm.”

“Kim Jaeseop or AJ, Blood Type A, 183cm.”

“Yeo Hoon Min or Hoon, Blood Type B, 181cm.”

“Woo Sunghyun or Kevin, Blood Type O, 180cm.”

“Shin Dongho, Blood Type B, 178cm!” Dongho ended the introductions happily for some unknown reason.

“Alright, so now that we’ve finished introducing ourselves, what else should we do?” Hyo Jin asked happily.

“Let’s go out and eat!” Dongho happily suggested.

“Who’s paying?” Hyo Jin asked worriedly.

“Noona of course!” Dongho said and raced out the door.

“Aigoo…” Hyo Jin said and sighed, “Anyone know any cheap places?”

Haneul thought for a while then remembered the text message she received in the morning while she was changing.

“Come with me.”