Cora opened the door to the trainee practice room, Mikki glued to her side, and gawked inside of the small space. Passion never truly went through training. It was part of their contract, they agreed that as long as Passion produced a first album within the first six months of being in the entertainment, they didn’t have to do training. They’d made the album, but here they stood, staring into the training room.

“What the hell,” Mikki murmured from behind Cora as they stared into the room, filled with girls who were all laughing and talking.

One of the men who had led them to the space moved past them. “Girls! Girls, please, settle down,” He called, gesturing for the room to grow quiet. The girls did, and they turned to stare at Cora and Mikki. “We will be joined from now on by Mikki of Passion.” He said, gesturing to Mikki. The second man who had showed them to the rehearsal space moved Mikki from behind the stunned Cora and into the room.

He closed the door once he’d moved her inside and turned to Cora. “So Cho Hee clearly didn’t tell you then.” He said, crossing his arms over his chest. “The idea behind this supposed punishment is to pick out who need to be trained most in Passion, since it seems clear that there are a few who need training and others who are pros. This was just Cho Hee’s clever way of weeding them out.” He said, leaning against the door. “She’ll be okay, it’s only for a short period of time, and when she comes back she should be more invested in her work because she’ll understand that she has to work for it, not just have it handed to her like it has been up until this point.”

Cora nodded, biting her lip. “I understand but… it was a part of our terms.”

“She isn’t being put through the entire training. Like I said, it’s for a few weeks, tops. It might not even be a full week that she’s in the training. It’s just being used as a sort of wake up call, so it isn’t going against your terms. She isn’t being trained, she’s just being conditioned away from her group.”

Cora sighed. “When does she come back to the dorms? Later tonight?”

“She’s staying in the trainee dorms for now.” He said, wrapping an arm around Cora’s shoulder and steering her the other way. “But she’ll join you for breakfast and dinner, if you are all up when she is.”

Cora closed her eyes and curled her fists at her sides. She didn’t want to be angry over the silly punishment, but it didn’t feel right to leave Mikki there, regardless of how angry she had made Cora lately. But she knew there was nothing she could do at that point.

“May I lead you back to your rehearsal room?”

“I know the way,” Cora said flatly, walking away from the man and through the hall, her eyes locked ahead of her.

MinHee opened the door to Jinwoo’s car and slid inside. “Thanks,” She said, awkwardly juggling her things. Jinwoo reached across and grabbed her crutches, sliding them into the back, and then doing the same with her backpack.

He smiled as she buckled her seat belt. “No problem. Was something the matter?”

She sighed. “Jackson and I had a disagreement, which apparently we used to do often.”

Jinwoo laughed. “Sometimes, yeah. But it was never particularly bad.” He said, pulling away from the building.
 

“This is the first time I can remember being with you since Minwoo.” Sh said lightly, and Jinwoo’s expression hardened. “I’m sorry I don’t remember, but everyone has told me we were pretty close, lately and before our debut.”

He nodded. “I’d like to think so.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. “So what was this disagreement about?” He asked, trying to change the topic.

“You,” MinHee said, affecting bringing the topic back up.

Jinwoo’s brow furrowed. “Why me?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “With the way everything has been going, and how he’s acted,