The traffic was usually pretty bad in Seoul, but today it was raining, leading to more crashes than usual. But that didn’t stop Lovelyz from ensuring they’d be on time to the rehearsal. Since they had only just debuted, they considered it an honor to already be involved in the new rookie project, so they felt they couldn’t show any fault to their teamwork.

    But the members, especially the younger girls, were extremely nervous, as they were told by their manager that the other groups to perform were from major companies. But they were a strong group, and practiced the dance for the collab piece over and over again until they were as perfectly in sync. They had to prove that being from a smaller company didn’t mean that they didn’t deserve their spot on this project.

    When Lovelyz arrived to the arena, they immediately flushed at the sight. They had never performed in a building so large! The girls hurriedly went to the stage, where their manager had seen the producers standing. It seemed they were the first to arrive, therefore they got more time to stretch and chat amongst themselves until the other groups came.

    Yein turned her head towards the entryway and saw a group of boys walking towards them. She stuttered in shock, and the rest of the girls turned and saw them. Sujeong immediately recognized them as Got7. ‘Of course,’ she thought, ‘major company rookies… why did we assume girls only?’ The boys reached the stage and greeted them politely, then separated to speak with the producer. The girls were honestly surprised, as their managers were constantly making sure that Lovelyz didn’t interact with boy groups and "stayed pure."

    By the time that another team was arriving, Lovelyz and Got7 were already beginning to rehearse their individual showcases. While the girls were performing on stage, there was a big reaction from Got7 at their arrival. “Yaa Mino~!!” yelled Jackson excitedly. The girls stopped rehearsal and joined the two teams to greet them. It was Winner, YG’s new boy-group. The girls began to feel flustered - their manager didn’t tell them they were performing with boys (nonetheless such attractive ones), so they were wearing little-to-no makeup and casual clothing.

    The producer had to step out for a phone call and returned to them after hanging up. “The last team will be late from another schedule. Lets start planning out the individual performances while we wait for them. Got7 follow me…” the producer finished off as he walked away, a trail of young men following him. A few of them turned and waved at Winner before joining their team.

    “Ya, what the hell. We had to leave an appointment early for this rehearsal and they can show up late? What kind of privilege is this?” Seungyoon complained to the manager. Jinwoo laughed at his annoyance and nudged his shoulder, “Hey, we were barely able to leave early. We’re lucky to have made it here on time. Let’s go warm-up.” Seungyoon scoffed, “Whatever. It’s kind of inexcusable, really. They better be a really beautiful girl-group or-”

    But as Seungyoon turned to stretch his back, he stopped his words and froze in place. He saw four dark-haired girls hurrying to the stage and gulped. s noticed he stopped talking and looked where he was staring and began to snicker. It wasn’t exactly a secret that their leader is a fan of the group, and his instant smile didn’t even try to hide it. He rushed to greet them when they got to the main stage, followed by the rest of Winner. "What was that you were saying earlier?" teased Seunghoon.

    Irene felt so ashamed. She checked the time and saw that they were 20 minutes late. The traffic was horrible on the way over, and the schedule just happened to end right at a rush hour. They were in such a hurry, they didn’t have time to remove their makeup or change out of their stage clothes. As the producer and other groups approached them, Irene felt rushes of regret, realizing they were the last to arrive and were the only ones not dressed in casual dance clothing. She eyed the bag filled with clothes on her manager’s arm, hoping they’d get the chance to change before rehearsal.

    The reaction to their appearance was mixed. The PD and other managers were annoyed, as they requested they’d come in normal clothing so the rehearsal could seem relaxed. But both Got7 and Winner greeted them warmly and welcomed them with interest. Irene felt thankful that not everyone was upset with her today.

    Lovelyz took a bit longer to join the others. Even though they were the first to arrive and were nowhere near late, the reaction to them seemed almost underwhelming compared to the attention received by Red Velvet. It was obvious how beautiful they looked, it could be seen even from the boxing-cage-like stage where Lovelyz stood. The excitement they felt of getting to work with other rookies was now replaced with determination - they wouldn’t be seen as SM side-rookies, they were to admired and loved as equals to them.

    The producer allowed Red Velvet to change, and when they returned, the order for group performances were being assigned. They showed them the route they will take before and after they dance in the boxing ring and where to go for the collab. “Has everyone practiced the basic collab movements?” The PD asked, and was answered with a resounding yes. “Good. Now we will assign partners. Please perform your best of the song and we will decide from there.”

    As Got7 and Winner got into position, Lovelyz and Red Velvet situated themselves at the tables behind them. “Unnie~! I didn’t know we’d get to dance with guys as partners! There are so many cute ones, and they aren’t even wearing makeup.” Joy exclaimed happily. Wendy laughed at Joy’s antics, but she couldn’t ignore Irene’s stoic face. “Ya, Unnie, don’t worry, okay? You’ll get a good dancing partner. And I can’t help but to agree with our maknae here. Whether or not you like your partner, he’ll still be hot.” She winked at Irene and she couldn’t help but laugh and swat at her arm. “What are you saying~, I’m not worried about that.” She giggled and stuck her tongue out to Wendy and Seulgi, who laughed at her aegyo.

    “Alright girls it’s your turn.” Irene hurriedly gathered the girls and stood behind Seulgi. Dancing was her passion, and when she turned away from the producer for the Lovelyz solo, she saw a pair of eyes staring right at her from the boy’s seating. She looked away; she knew who he was but couldn’t put a name to it. She knew she had to make up for their mistake of showing up late by giving her best, so Irene put thoughts of him aside and danced to the best of her abilities. By the end of the song, she could feel many sets of eyes on her. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have removed all that makeup earlier - I’m gonna blush so easily.’

    “Good job everyone, I’ll get back to you in a moment with your pairs.” Wendy groaned as she walked back to her group. “What wrong Wendy?” Seulgi asked with an amused expression. “I don’t think I did well. They barely looked at me.” Irene grabbed her arm to comfort her. “It’ll be fine. You worked hard on that one part. They’ll put you with someone who matches you well, ‘OK?’” Wendy laughed at her random english. “Yeah I guess. I wish I could dance like the other girl group - they were so together.” Seulgi smiled at her comfortingly before the PD called them over.

    “Alright rookies, we have made the pairings. Please raise your hand and stand over there when called. Let’s start with Lovelyz. Baby Soul, put your hand up, you’ll be with…” and they started to partner up the girls. Because there were more girls than guys, one of the younger girls ended up being with two guy partners. By the time they got to Red Velvet, there were only four guys left, and Irene was afraid to make eye contact. The guy who stared at her before was there, she could recognize him by his shirt color - purple.

    “And finally, I guess there’s no reason to raise your hand… Irene, you’ll be partnered with Mino.” She raised her eyes up from the purple and saw his smirking face.

‘Mino… His name is Mino.’

Ahhhh that took so long to write. Let me know what you think! (Once again, too lazy to proofread :P)