A Month Later
Yerin Joins SM and Trains with SOUL

   "Thank you!" I bow at 90-degree angles as I finish my monthly evaluation. The judges, artists, and other trainees including my members clap.

   I sit down with my members of SOUL (Cherri, Dambi, Mary) and watch the other trainees.

   As the evaluation ends, the girls go back to training. "Yerin, may I see you for a moment?" One of the judges points at me and gestures to the secluded hallway. Nervous, I follow him.

   "You did great out there. You really improved." He says, complimenting me. I smile. "Thank you, teacher!"

   "Heh, but- uh, since you're a foreigner and you're in the SOUL project, you're still a bit borderline." He says, closing the door. Nervous and suspicious, I slowly back away from him.

"There are a lot of talented girls who have been training for years... just to be where you are. Doesn't that cause a lot of tension between you and the other trainees?" He asks, walking closer.

   "Um, yes... but it's nothing I can't handle." I stammer, scared.

   "If you want to protect your part in the SOUL project, I could help if you did me some favors..." He pins me to a wall and smells my hair. I kick his leg. "I can be a part of SOUL without doing any favors for someone like you."

   He smirks pulls on my tank sleeve. It rips and half my shirt hangs off my shoulder and down to mid-upper arm. his lips, I run to the door and realize it's locked. Banging on the door, I scream for help. "Everybody left, sweetheart! Now, come here!"

   He grabs my wrist and throws down onto the wall. Wincing in pain, he pins me down as I close my eyes, defenseless.

   The door flies open. "Teacher! What do you think you're doing?!" A deep voice rescues me and pulls the man off of me. Opening my eyes, I see it's EXO's Chanyeol. "Securing her career!" The judge snaps, as he runs away.

   Quickly covering up my tank top, I stand up and bow deeply. "Thank you."

   He smiles and takes off his oversized dark denim shirt and puts it over my shoulders. He still has his black tee. "Be careful from now on... Yerin." His eyes twinkle and his lips reveal the brightest smile anyone has ever given me. Tears well up in my eyes as I silently tell myself not to cry in front of a senior when I'm already seventeen years old.

   "Please don't cry. Don't cry." He rubs my shoulder to soothe me. I wipe my tears away. "Thank you. Thank you. I don't know how, but I will repay you some day." I bow again.

   He laughs and gives me a tissue. "Just debut beautifully. That's how you can repay me." Chanyeol pats my head and walks off to catch up with the rest of EXO.

   I will debut beautifully, Park Chanyeol. I can repay you that much.


One Month Later
SOUL wins in their first single

   "And the winner goes to SOUL! Congratulations!" Confetti is in the air and all of us are crying.

   We debuted... and we won.

   Beautifully.

   The judge who attacked me resigned willingly so I won't tell and ruin his reputation. I decided to keep quiet about it... since it never really happened thanks to Chanyeol. I didn't even tell the girls. They thought I was in the bathroom the whole time. Chanyeol never spoke to me since. I kept the shirt Chanyeol gave me away from the girls: it's in my suitcase, just in case he ever wants it back or whenever I see him. We haven't traveled out of Seoul yet so the girls haven't bothered and I've been so busy I forgot about the shirt for a couple of weeks.

   As we go backstage, happy and jumpy, EXO's Baekhyun and Chanyeol are in masks. Slightly surprised, we bow deeply. "Hello, seniors Baekhyun and Chanyeol!" We smile. Chanyeol's eyes flicker to mine for a split second before he looks at all of us. "We wanted to congratulate our juniors before we go home."

   "Thank you so much!" Cherri exclaims and we bow again.

   Our manager cuts in. "May I take a picture for SOUL's SNS?" Baekhyun and Chanyeol nod. "Mind if you sent it to us as well?" Our manager nods happily.

   We take several pictures and they choose three: one for our SNS, one for Baekhyun, and another for Chanyeol.

   "Thank you for coming all this way to congratulate us!" Mary exclaims and we bow one last time. They laugh. "Perform well!"

   As they leave, I think about the moment when Chanyeol looked at me. His eyes are sparkling and full of life. Shaking my head after a long night, I step into the black minivan and sit in the front. Mary sits on the other side while Dambi and Cherri sit behind us. "Did you know about EXO's Chanyeol and Baekhyun visiting us? It was such a surprise." Dambi says as she scrolls through her phone.

   "Mhm, they were also bare-faced. It's different when they're with fans. Why would they show such a comfortable side to them to us, lowly juniors?" Mary agrees and laughs in the end.

"I think it's nice of them. Look, they posted a picture of us with them." Cherri shows her phone to all of us and we look at the pictures Baekhyun and Chanyeol posed with us.

@baekhyuneee_exo   와우, 우리의 후배는 SOUL 자신의 첫 번째 싱글에 처음으로 인기가요에서 처음 우승! 추가해야, SOUL! #대박 #SOUL
( Wow, our juniors SOUL won first place on Inkigayo for the first time on their first single! Congratulations, SOUL! #Jackpot/Cool #SOUL)

@real__pcy   아름답게 데뷔 사람에 대한 행복 축하를! 추가해야, SOUL!
(Have a happy celebration for the girls who debuted beautifully! Congratulations, SOUL!)

  I may be superstitious right now, but I feel like Chanyeol wanted me to see that. He was the one who told me to debut beautifully.

   "I think in this moment we're truly happy, aren't we?" I say, slightly sleepy. They laugh and poke my nose. "We are happy with our little girl!" Cherri hugs me from behind the car seat and I laugh.

   I'm truly happy. I just wonder if it’ll last long.

/\/\/\

A/N: Hey! In this chapter, I wrote some Korean... but if you know Korean fluently and you see mistakes, please contact me! I would hate to insult or mistake any culture with my stories. Give feedback and point out any other mistakes please! Chapter three will be up by tomorrow hopefully! The story doesn't really begin or get exciting until Chapter four? Eh... we'll see ; ) I'm changing my format like the way I indent and stuff. Give me tips?