When Hyera woke, she lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, unmoving. Around her, she could hear two of her roommates already up and getting ready. The other two, she assumed, were still asleep.

The Girls’ side of the rooming quarters in the Woolim Company building was identical to the boys’ – spacious, four-person rooms, and a large bathroom facility to be used by everyone. When there had been multiple girl trainees toward the beginning of the group-making process, everyone had been separated into rooms of four. About a month or so ago, the five girls that remained as pre-members of the new girl group – Soojung, Jiae, Yejin, Dahee, and Hyera herself – had decided that instead of splitting into two different rooms, they would all share one room together, to enhance bonding and become more like a ‘family’. It had worked; all of the girls knew each other like they knew the back of their heads. Hyera was grateful that she had by now become caring, unforgettable friends with the girls; they were all kind souls who just wanted to fulfill their dreams, her included. She knew that so many people in the world were much less – willing to throw away others mercilessly for what they wanted – but having become a make-shift family, the girls and Hyera shared a common goal and worked together for it, always offering help and support to one another.

To accommodate for the five girls sharing a four-person room with two bunk beds, Hyera had taken to a mattress on the floor. It was in fact a fairly comfortable mattress, and Hyera liked that she had the most room on her space on the floor, in between the two bunk beds. As she lay in her mattress, Hyera felt the exhaustion in her body tickle at her skin. She was always tired – it was a given, being a girl group trainee, practicing every single minute of every day – but this morning, she was feeling the mental exhaustion of facing a new dilemma in her life here at the Woolim company.

She recalled her meeting with Sungjong last night, and her head began to hurt, much to her distaste. They hadn’t stayed long – maybe forty-five minutes – but in that time, Hyera had had to mentally process a lot. Sungjong had thrown it all at her; he had told her that he had an insane obsession with her, and her eyes, something with which he needed her help with, to resolve.

Hyera told herself that it was completely okay, to be weirded out by the whole ordeal. I mean, who says that? She’d never heard of anyone who had become ‘obsessed’ about someone and suffered some kind of sickness or something. And besides, that boy – she was using unfriendly terms, she knew she needed to call Sungjong ‘sunbae’, but he was the same age as her, after all – had very rudely insulted her more than once. Oh, wait. She had admitted that all of those insults had been true, to an extent. Still, she comforted herself by reasoning that she had every right to think that Sungjong was absolutely crazy, since he’d said so himself.

“Hyera-yah~” called a voice from above her. She blinked, and the shape of Soojung’s face leaning down at her on the floor came into focus in her vision.

“Come on Hyera, wakey, wakey!” said Soojung. She grabbed both of Hyera’s wrists and pulled her up in a sitting position. Hyera groaned, the day’s unending practice sessions to come skimming through her mind.

“Yah, did you go practice by yourself again?” called Dahee from her position in front of a full length mirror.

“Mmm…” Hyera grumbled in a half-response, as she was practically dragged to a standing position by Soojung.

“Geez Hyera, maybe if you’d stop doing that, you wouldn’t be such a zombie every morning!” scolded Soojung, shaking Hyera by the shoulders.

Eyelids halfway drooping over her face, Hyera fumbled through a few drawers and collected the correct number of clothing articles – top, bottom, socks – before leaving the room, headed toward the bathrooms to wash up.

“Yah~! Lee Hyera! You forgot to put on shoes!!” Soojung screamed after her, waving Hyera’s slippers above her head and following the half-asleep girl out.

Dahee chuckled as she applied a soft layer of lotion to her face.

“Oh my gosh!”

Dahee looked up. Jiae had jolted awake, sitting up in her top bunk, hair sticking out in all directions in a tangled mess on her head. Her eyes were wide, and she immediately jumped down from her bunk, landing with a thump. “Dahee unnie! What time is it?!” she asked.

“Umm… 8:04am,” answered Dahee, wondering what Jiae was freaking out about.

“Ohh Crap!!” cried Jiae. With that, the girl bolted out of the door, toward the bathrooms, Dahee assumed.

In the next 30 seconds, Dahee had finished getting ready for the morning, having put her hair up in a sturdy bun for practice. She glanced up at the other top bunk bed, where Yejin’s sleeping form was buried under a fluffy blanket. With a sigh, she began climbing Yejin’s bunk.

In the next 4 minutes, Dahee had managed to drag Yejin off her bed and in front of the drawers, where the maknae of the girls stood now, digging for her own clothes in the mixture of clothing articles. Dahee decided to recline in a very comfortable chair in the room with her laptop and wait for the others, when Jiae burst in, face half dripping from water she had barely wiped off after washing, hair still sticking out everywhere.

“Yejin-a!! Clothes!!” Jiae screamed, charging, snatching the blue t-shirt and black yoga pants the maknae already held in her hands. In a matter of seconds, Jiae jumped out of her pajamas and into the new clothes. “Okay, did I forget anything?” she said.

“Yoo Jiae, your hair,” Dahee called to her from her seat. With a panicked look, Jiae’s hands shot up to her head, where she d around at the messy hunks of hair. She found a hair tie hidden somewhere deep within the mess, and struggled to pull it out. “Ouch!” she yelped, ripping several strands of hair out with the thin hair tie.

Jiae ran to the mirror with a brush and struggled through her tangled mess roughly, all the while Dahee and Yejin regarded the spectacle in front of them with amusement. After some attempts, Jiae cried, “Ehhhahhh!! Dahee unnie, help!!”

Sighing, Dahee got up from her seat and took the brush from Jiae’s hand. She began to sort through the tangled locks of Jiae’s hair with her fingers skillfully, while gesturing to Yejin to hand her a bottle of water. Once Yejin handed her the water, Dahee dampened her hands and rummaged through Jiae’s head again, untangling the mess. Soon, she was brushing calmly through Jiae’s hair in straight lines, much to the relief of Jiae herself. Finally, Dahee arranged Jiae’s hair in her usual part, making her look normal again.

“Oh, gosh… thanks unnie,” breathed Jiae, fixing her hair slightly with her hands, satisfied with Dahee’s miracle work. She was presentable enough; it would have to do. Face flustered, Jiae glanced at the time on her phone. It read, 8:10am. “Aaasshi!!” she exclaimed, and charged through the door again, forgetting to put on shoes just like Hyera.

“What’s wrong with her?” Yejin asked.

“I don’t know…” Dahee replied.

****

Jiae scrambled down the halls in her bare feet, cursing as she felt the cold marble against her skin. Her conversation with Myungsoo last night flashed through her mind...

~~~~

“I can’t believe it’s my last recording of Jiu,” said Myungsoo, “it’s been so amazing. I don’t know how I’m going to enjoy these last moments.”

A bitter smile had crept on Jiae’s face at his comment. A small bit of envy clouded her insides; she had yet to debut, she had yet to experience such things. Still, she was more proud of her friend, than anything else. And she felt as if she could feel his excitement and appreciation for what he’d been through with his Japanese drama, his grief and longing for its ending, transfer through his words into her.

“You’re gonna do great,” she replied, “as long as you bring me an awesome gift this time.”

That had got her friend to chuckle. Grinning, Myungsoo said, “I’m leaving tomorrow morning at 8:30, so you’re gonna meet me at 8:10 in the back lobby to see me off, right?”

“Are you kidding me? I don’t get up that early, Kim Myungsoo,” Jiae remarked coolly.

“Yes you do. And you will be there tomorrow. I know,” said Myungsoo, much to Jiae’s annoyance. She had snorted and walked away without saying goodnight.

~~~~

Jiae had reached the small back lobby, where the Infinite members usually left to their various schedules from. She found Myungsoo sitting on his rectangular, black suitcase, arms crossed, a hard expression aimed toward her.

“You’re late,” he said, pointing to his watch.

Jiae scrunched her eyes to read the time on it. It was 8:11am. “A minute late! You can’t even call that late!” She exclaimed in her defense.

Shrugging, Myungsoo got up from his suitcase. “I told you you’d be here,” he said with a smirk.

Jiae snorted, then sighed heavily, breathless from running.

“Well, don’t worry too much about me while I’m gone. And I’ll make sure to go out shopping, to get something spectacular just for you.” Myungsoo chided.

At his remark, Jiae took one irritated glance at him and then snorted again, louder.

“Oh come on! You need to do more than snort at me. You came running to see me off!” reasoned Myungsoo, his nasally voice rising.

With a sigh, Jiae turned to face her friend. “Don’t forget to practice your new choreography,” she ordered, “and do not hurt yourself. Also, make sure to thank your stunt double for doing your dirty work.”

Myungsoo nodded obediently. Jiae continued. “Well,.. You might want to buy something nice for your parents too, if you’re going out shopping…”

“Hahaha, are you sure?”

“Yah, I never said you couldn’t buy anything for anyone else!”

“I know, I know,” said Myungsoo, and he stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Jiae, in a tight embrace. “Thanks for coming to see me, in your bare feet.”

Jiae felt her whole body heating up as she gawked at how close the two of them were. Hesitantly, she put her arms around her friend as well, and dug her head slightly into his chest. Man, he was taller than she’d thought.

“You’re VERY welcome,” she said firmly, and held Myungsoo a little longer before the two of them pulled apart. Just in time as well, since Hyoan-oppa, the manager accompanying Myungsoo to Japan, came strolling into the lobby, having pulled up a van for the two to depart in.

“Hey Jiae,” said Hyoan, “…ready to go Myungsoo?”

With a nod in Hyoan’s direction, Myungsoo grabbed the handle of his suitcase and said, “Bye Jiae, see you in a few days,” with a slight but sincere smile.

“Bye,” Jiae answered, waving as she watched him exit the building and get into the van. As the black vehicle pulled away from her sight, Jiae thought back to Myungsoo’s unexpected embrace. She tried to recall the other times he’d hugged her: He’d hugged her when the recording for ‘You Are My Oppa’ ended. When she’d told him that she would become a girl group trainee. When Infinite had won their two titles on M! Countdown… Was this last filming of Jiu, really that important to him?

A rather faint scent of Myungsoo’s clothing lingered in the air around her, but Jiae waved it off. She checked the time on her phone – 8:29am. Then, without a word, she turned and headed back to her room, to another day of endless practicing.

****

30minutes back~

Once Hyera made it to one of the cool, white sinks in the bathrooms, she was mostly awake. The large mirror of the bathrooms loomed in front of her, and she caught sight of her eyes, reflecting light from the brightness of the room. She leaned in to get a closer look. She stared at her eyes – a bit on the large side and very brown. Were her eyes that scary? She questioned herself, thinking of what Sungjong had told her. She tried to imagine having nightmares where she could see nothing but her own eyes, crying. A rather pitiful but comic image came to her head. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me, or my eyes. There’s something wrong with that boy. She was using unfriendly terms again, but she decided she didn’t care, as long as she was thinking to herself.

The memories of last night again rushed through her head, bringing back with them her headache. Even though she had set up their meeting so that she could keep her word and offer that boy some help on whatever it was he was so troubled with, Hyera hadn’t had any definite plans for what she would do that could actually help Sungjong. In fact, the two of them had simply talked, danced, and then talked some more. She did receive a slightly more detailed explanation as to why Sungjong had asked for her help in the first place, but that hadn’t done anything to clear her mind, nonetheless give her any ideas about what she should do.

Why had she agreed to help him in the first place? If was after she’d found him spying on her in the recording studio the day before – she had been thoroughly surprised to see a thin figure standing in the shadows when she finished singing – that she’d decided. Although she had been shocked, she had looked into Sungjong eyes and seen something odd. The emotions she could recognize were indeed peculiar, but not weird or scary. Instead they were shy, apprehensive, even longing… it was very hard to explain. But, she had decided that she felt pity toward the boy, more than anything else, since she had in fact censored him out of her life after their series of bizarre encounters. Thus, she’d offered to help; but how, she didn’t know!

“Hyera-yah~ You forgot your shoes~” Came a voice from the entrance of the bathrooms. Hyera looked back at Soojung, carrying Hyera’s slippers in one hand.

She looked down at her feet. They were bare against the marble floors. Wow Lee Hyera, she thought to herself, as she gladly took the slippers from Soojung and put them on.

“All awake now?” asked Soojung, a warm smile spread across her face. Laughing, Hyera replied, “Haha, mostly. I’ll pull through.”

Nodding amiably, Soojung headed toward one of the toilet stalls and disappeared into it. Hyera smiled at her reflection in the mirror, glad to have someone like Soojung – friends, like all of the girls – to keep her going at times like these. She knew that her priorities lay with the pre-group and the girls, not this Sungjong business. If only that boy had minded his own business, kept his ‘obsessed’ feelings to himself… She didn’t like where those thoughts were going. She wasn’t a person to deride others.

Just then, Jiae burst into the bathrooms and skidded to a halt to the sink next to Hyera’s, breathless. All in a matter of seconds, Jiae was dipping her face in water and cleanser, seemingly in a hurry.

“Jiae, what are you doing? We’re not late for practice, its only 8:05 or so,” Hyera commented, but Jiae seemed to take no notice of her, as she kept washing away.

In total, it took Jiae about 5 minutes to wash her face, brush her teeth, and pee. In the midst of it all, Soojung came out of her stall and washed her hands, all the while eyeing Jiae in awe. Hyera tried to tell the hastening girl about her more-than-unorganized hair-do, but Jiae hurried out of the bathrooms too quickly, leaving a feeling as if a whirlwind had just gone through the bathrooms. Hyera turned to Soojung, whose expression was just as puzzled as Hyera felt. They shrugged at each other, and then Hyera began washing herself.

Thoughts of her eyes, of Sungjong sunbae, of Jiae buzzed through Hyera’s head as she washed, but the most prominent thought that rang inside her was Sungjong’s dance he had shown her the night before. She was still awestruck by the raw emotions the boy gave off when he danced to the same song that she’d been pouring her time and sweat over for so long. Undoubtedly, the boy had poured over the choreography just as long. But the way he carried out the dance was something Hyera had not ever experienced, at least so close to her. When Sungjong told her about how the energy was fueled through his movements through his eyes, Hyera had understood, in theory, but carrying it out had been a different matter completely, and Hyera knew that in order for her to master that same energy, the same elaboration of emotions, she needed to see the boy again, needed his coaching again.

As she straightened up facing her reflection in the mirror, her eyes glittering from the reflection of light, she determined that the next time she met with Sungjong, she would do two things: One, she would definitely receive more substantial help with her dancing, and two, she would foster out of him the exact reasons why he felt like he had this ‘obsession’ with her eyes, why he had nightmares of them. It was fair that she get that much.

______________________________________________________________________________________

A/ N: Hullo~ I just really felt the need to update this week~ So here it is!

Yupp... I don't really know exactly when Myungsoo's drama ended, or to what scope any of the events that took place during the end actually happened,... so I'm just going to insert that tadbit in my fic here, and it will all be okay~ :)

As for the Scorpion dance~ I basically know what I'm doing now, and I've got it figured out in terms of how to do it. I just need to practice, so I don't look so awkward when I get up~

Thank you for reading! I hope you're enjoying it!