Day 1: A New Beginning - How We Came to Love ❤

Today is the day. Byungchan and I left the dorm and we are both standing in front of the Produce building.
There are so many people...
101 of us with the same dream.
Most of these trainees seem to be younger than me...
Why do I feel like I do not belong here?

---

The wind was picking up and my hands were beginning to feel numb from the cold air. Suddenly, a warm hand grabbed onto mine. It was Byungchan. He gave me a reassuring smile as if everything was going to be alright and I had felt the weight on my shoulders somewhat lifted.

As soon as we entered the building, we did not really have time to think about anything. We were told a couple of rules about sharing space with other trainees in the Produce dorm room and were immediately led to different dorms for our temporary stay (the night before our first evaluation). Luckily, Byungchan and I were assigned to the same room so it was less scary for the both of us. We began to unpack our luggage and soon heard some footsteps coming our way. A very tall boy with a friendly smile and a shorter boy with big cat-like eyes walked into the room to greet us.

Tall Boy: "Hello, my name is Jinhyuk. I am a member of Up10tion and this is my fellow member Wooseok. You guys are from Victon, right? It is really nice to meet you 😊."

Other Boy: "Hello. Like he said, my name is Wooseok and it is a pleasure to meet other debuted members like us."

Byungchan introduced himself to Jinhyuk and Wooseok, but you could tell that he was feeling very shy as he tried to hide behind my back a few times. I tried to confidently introduce myself but there was this slight awkwardness that made us slowly turn around and go back to unpacking our things. More footsteps were heading our way and another tall boy with the biggest smile on his face had entered the room (*did the staff assign rooms by height? I'm just kidding). Anyway, this boy... he was very interesting. As soon as he came into the room, he walked right up to us and introduced himself in the brightest manner.

Tall Boy no.2: "Hello! My name is Seungyoun! I am a member of UNIQ and my specialty is rapping, songwriting, and doing anything crazy fun! I am so glad to meet all of you and I hope we can all get along and have fun as roommates, even if it's just for tonight! 😊"

As someone who's really shy, I really liked Seungyoun's bright energy and confidence. I could practically see a halo shining around him every time he smiled at us. I hope we can all be good friends too.

Our last roommate was a very handsome boy who looked somewhat foreign. His name was Hangyul and he was also a fellow debuted member. He shared bunk beds with Seungyoun and they bonded very quickly.

We were all still feeling very awkward with one another but Seungyoun broke the silence and asked us if we wanted to eat some ramyun. We did not have a single meal today as we arrived at the Produce dorm during the evening. Byungchan's stomach gurgled loudly as if to answer Seungyoun's question and we all began to laugh.

Jinhyuk: "I brought a water boiler so we can cook the noodles!!"

Seungyoun: "I have 10 cups of ramyun in my bag~ let's have a cup noodle party!!! 🥳🥳🥳"

As silly as it may sound, it was a night of "bonding" over some cup noodles. We opened up about the struggles that we had faced as debuted idols and shared our inner concerns about what the other trainees would think of us. I never knew that opening up to new people would be this easy... maybe it was because we understood each other's pain and the pressure to perform well for tomorrow's evaluation, but I felt safe here with them...

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Before going to bed, we all gave each other words of encouragement. The lights were turned off and I could already hear some cute snoring sounds coming from Seungyoun and Hangyul's side.

*It will be alright tomorrow... Byungchan and I will both be alright... and with that thought in mind, I fell asleep dreaming about my fellow Victon members and all the silly things they've probably been doing today while I was away...