“We have four rooms available here. Three are occupied by the six of us so you would be using the other one.” Yunhyeong was the one showing Jin-Hye around their dormitory. “Things in the house may be awkward since you’ll be the only girl but don’t worry, as one of the oldest, we’ll make sure the others act appropriately.” Yunhyeong assures the young girl to lessen the obvious anxiety.
“Thanks, oppa but I hope you don’t change much of your policies here just because I came. Let’s have a give and take relationship here. I’ll adjust as much as you do.”
“Alright then. I’ll be leaving you so you can unpack your stuffs and rest. Good night.”
“Thanks for the help, oppa. Good night.” As Yunhyeong left the room, Jin-Hye sat on her bed as she looks around the room. Everything that happened suddenly started to sink into her. It was the very start of her achieving her dream. Something she never thought she would do.
Jin-Hye started unpacking her things to fix her room. Most of the things she brought were just clothes and shoes for comfortable training. She also had her laptop, music pads, lyrics sheets, her old notebook with her some of her trackless lyrics, and some other important stuffs for writing music. It was past 11 in the evening when she finished fixing her room but she was clearly not yet sleepy. She was told earlier that everything happening to them have a possibility to be aired under the show , WIN:Who is Next. Their rooms have cameras set up to monitor them. It can easily be found in the corner of their room. She decided to walk towards the camera just like how the other members give comments to make it a diary-like video.
“I’m not yet used to being watched by people but I have decided to push through my dream and I would do everything for it to come true. I’ll be taking it one step at a time.” It was an awkward yet sincere statement. It was the mark of the beginning of her journey.
Jin-Hye decided to head to sleep but her body doesn’t want to. She had so much energy left for the day that her body doesn’t know where to use it so Jin-Hye just decided to scratch up some music. With her laptop and music pads, she started making some beats unknowingly spending the night engrossed in making music. By 3 in the morning in the midst of making her music, sleep suddenly kicks in.
Despite sleeping late from last night, Jin-Hye woke up around 6:30 in the morning. Her body must still be adjusting in the new place she’s in. She made some quick stretches and work out before heading outside her room. It was still quiet in the whole dormitory so she thought that everyone else was still sleeping. She decided to take a quick bath while the boys were still sleeping to make sure that she’s presentable around them. After doing her morning routine, she headed to the lounge thinking of what she would do while the others were still nowhere to be found. Well, it was a given that the boys had a toll in themselves since the survival show was announced. Fifteen minutes more and there was still no sign of the boys so she decided to head to the kitchen to make some breakfast for her and the boys. Jin-Hye was checking the refrigerator and cabinets to see the stock and tools available in the kitchen. That’s when she finally decided on what to make. She decided to make some light breakfast for her and the boys, pancakes.
The little commotion Jin-Hye made in the kitchen while preparing her ingredients probably woke up a member as he heads to find what was causing the noise in the kitchen.
“Ah! Good morning!” The voice coming from the entrance of the kitchen startled Jin-Hye as she quickly turned around to see who it was.
“Good morning, Jiwon-oppa!” Bobby was the morning person of the group that is why he was still not used to seeing someone else up before him, a girl more so.
“You’re up early. I hope you had a good night sleep. What’re doing?” To avoid awkwardness, Bobby decided to walk closer to the girl’s station.
“Breakfast. I’m still adjusting to the place but I’ll get used to it. I hope you don’t mind me roaming in the kitchen.”
“No! Please do so. We don’t really use the kitchen that much that’s why it’s nice to have someone using it now. So what’s the menu?”
“Pancakes!” Jin-Hye looked so cute holding up the flour showing it to Bobby. It still amazes Bobby seeing this young girl in front of him and joining their team.
“Nice! It’s nice to have something aside from deliveries.” Jin-Hye was starting to prepare her batter with Bobby’s little help.
“You’re always having deliveries? That’s not good for you.” Jin-Hye prepares her pan with little heat as their conversation continues.
“Well, with all the lessons and practice, we’re all tired whenever we come home. We don’t have time to cook. And none of the boys are actually good cooks.”
“Then, why don’t I handle the cooking in the house?” Jin-Hye just poured her first batch of pancake batter to the pan as she gave glances to Bobby as she asks for his permission in her house assignment.
“Well, if it won’t be too much of a burden to you then please do so.” Bobby gives her his ‘disappearing eyes’ smile which really looked cute that made Jin-Hye giggle.
“Why?” Bobby was startled to the sudden giggle of the young lady.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that you looked to cute when you smile. You know, your eyes kinda disappear.”
“Oh! I hear that a lot, I have the smallest eyes in the group.” Jin-Hye continued cooking while having small conversations with Bobby when he decided to wake the others up. “I better go wake up the others so we can all have breakfast together.”
“Do you need help with that?” Jin-Hye was about to turn off the stove to help Bobby in waking the guys up but he stopped her.
“Maybe soon but not now. I think it’s better for me to wake them up. You might see some inappropriate things.” Bobby teased Jin-Hye which made her laugh when she understood what he meant.
“Hmm~Hmm~Hmm~”
Jin-Hye was putting some finishing touches to the breakfast she made as she hums. She had also prepared some brewed coffee and hot choco so the boy can make their choice of drink. Few minutes after Bobby left the other members came to the dining area.
“Good morning!” Jin-Hye greeted with a smile. It was Yunhyeong who came first, followed by Donghyuk, then Junhoe, then Jinhwan and Hanbin who were both being pulled by Bobby. They all looked like they were pulled out of bed by Bobby. Jin-Hye kinda felt guilty that they still looked like they still want to sleep but Bobby pulled them out to have breakfast.
“Good morning, Jin-Hye.” Looking sleepy, Yunhyeong and Donghyuk still managed to give Jin-Hye a reply while Junhoe gave her a nod. Everyone made their way to their seats as Jin-Hye placed three piles of pancakes in the center of the table. The sweet smell of the food seemed to have woken up the rest of the members which made Jin-Hye smile a little.
“Does anybody wants some coffee or hot choco?” The attention that was in the pile of pancakes drifted to Jin-Hye. The other boys seemed too shy to let Jin-Hye offer them some food so Bobby was the first to answer since he was already talking with Jin-Hye earlier.
“I’ll have some coffee, Jin-Hye. Thanks.” Jin-Hye nodded with a smile as she went Bobby’s side and poured some coffee.
“Uhm..” It was Jinhwan who was looking at the girl with all smiles in appreciation to the effort she was doing for the team. “Jin-Hye, you don’t really have to serve us. Come sit with us and have your breakfast too. We can help ourselves.”
“Well then, I’ll just leave the kettles here. This one is the coffee while this is the choco.” Jin-Hye placed the kettles in the center of the table along with the pancakes as she sat between Bobby and Jinhwan.
“Well, then, Thank you for the food.” Jinhwan began.
“Thank you for the food.” Wherein the other members followed. In the midst of their breakfast, Jin-Hye started asking of the team’s daily lifestyle.
“So, what’s the team’s plan for the day?”
“For today, we’d be deciding on what to do for the monthly assessment which as you know, happens by the end of the month.” Hanbin explained. “But I don’t really know how you would join the team. Maybe in the song arrangements and composition? But how about your assessment? Since CEO Yang still wants you to debut as an idol right?”
“Things aren’t fully cleared out to me but it was stated in the contract that I would undergo everything that the rest of the trainees do. The only difference is that I had my mind set into producing music. The same goes with my monthly assessment but I’ll be going solo. It seems CEO Yang would be testing the leadership of the team I would be under which happened to be you, oppa.”
“Then we have to get to work early for today.” It would never be a simple task, not for Hanbin nor Jin-Hye and the whole team.
It was 10 in the morning when Team B arrived at the Training Center. They found Team A about to enter their own studio along the way. Mino immediately went straight to hug his sister on the sight of her. “How was last night? Did you sleep well? Do you have everything you need in the dorm?”
Jin-Hye just cannot get used to having her brother near her once again and being clingy with her. “I’m fine, oppa. Don’t stress yourself out with me. You have monthly assessment coming up. You focus on that. I’m a big girl now. I can do this.” Jin-Hye then pushed her brother away teasingly so she can also head to Team B’s studio.
The studio was already filled with cameras for the start of the shoot wherein she immediately greeted a good morning. Everybody else have taken their seats while Bobby was in front of the computer.
“So, what’s for today?” Jin-Hye asked as she pulled a chair to sit beside Bobby and observe what he was doing.
“We’re going to decide on what songs to use for the monthly evaluation then think of some concepts for some possible rearrangement.”Hanbin explained.
The whole team was giving their own opinions in which Jin-Hye just simply observed.
“We need a song with a good hook.” Donghyuk suggested.
“It’ll be fun to listen to that way.” Yunhyeong agreed.
“Or a song they can sing along to.” Bobby also suggested.
Hanbin looked open to all the suggestions of the members which was good to see. He also was open for some suggestions from Jin-Hye which helped her be more open to the leader. While shuffling different songs to choose from, the team was also being playful to help Jin-Hye ease up to them. Donghyuk and Yunhyeong would constantly pull her up from her seat to have her sing and dance with them in up-beat songs. All of this under Hanbin’s watch as if evaluating the girl’s skills and he can clearly see that this girl had training. She wasn’t simply dancing and singing for fun. The sharpness of Jin-Hye’s moves were great. Her voice control was amazing. This made Hanbin excited for their possible collaborations.
The song currently playing was “Turn all the Lights on” by T-Pain.
“I like “Turn all the Lights On”.” Junhoe commented which was agreed on by Yunhyeong.
“We have to do really well. It’s a difficult song.” Hanbin eyed his members well to see agreement with the song.
“We all do well.” Bobby assured.
“Yeah. So it’s decided. We’ll have “Turn All the Lights On”. And then ‘6 Foot 7 Foot’ for the dance assessment since I had that song on my mind for quite a while now.” Hanbin exclaimed which received applause from the whole team as a sign of agreement.
“Then the vocals will start practicing the original song while Jin-Hye works with you guys on the overall composition.” Jinhwan suggested which receive a nod of agreement from Hanbin and Bobby.
“So this would be our work station.”Hanbin shows as he led Jin-Hye to the recording room inside their practice studio. “For now, can you help Bobby-hyung with the initial arrangements while I finalize the choreography for the dance assessment?”
“That’s fine with me but I didn’t know you’re also the one in charge of the choreography. You’re really amazing, do you know that?”
Hanbin really gets embarrassed easily. Fact #1: Kim Hanbin doesn’t really know how to interact with girls. And having someone who compliments a person easily like Jin-Hye could be deadly for Hanbin.
“Don’t flatter me too much.” Hanbin turned to leave the recording room to avoid further embarrassment. “I’ll come check on you guys every now and then.”
“Alright!”Jin-Hye and Bobby both gave a nod as they had the room to themselves.
-------
