* 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔

she nudges chaerin’s elbow lightly, the corner of her mouth quirking up. “not everyone can pull off ‘reluctantly dragged to waterbomb chic’, you know.”

a beat passes while she sips her slushie—her slushie, now, and eyes someone yelling incoherently in a bucket hat near the front.

“but seriously? i think it’s just nice to show up somewhere and not have to impress anyone,” she says, a little softer this time, voice nearly lost under the beat of the music. “just water, noise, and sugar. it’s kind of perfect.”

but then the moment passes, and her signature dry smile returns. “also, i like watching people wipe out when they run in flip flops. top-tier entertainment.”

"i didn't even see the sunglasses at first. the rest of your outfit is a lot flashier," she mentions with a shake of her head. unlike sooyoung, chaerin was dressed a lot more subtly. just something that would handle the water well because even if she tried to avoid getting wet, it was inevitable at such an event. at the end of the day, she just wanted to be able to get in a cab without being rejected for possibly ruining the seats or whatever.

"i've written a few things here and there!" she says with a nod. "with the help of a lot of other people, of course." there was still a lot she could work on, and she still found it difficult to fully write a song from start to finish without a bit of help. however, she's been trying.

she’s teasing, of course. it’s not that bad. but there was a very tall, very overenthusiastic fan two rows up who kept jumping and splashing half the crowd with their water gun like they were in a battle royale. sooyoung had taken a direct hit earlier- her hair still smells faintly of whatever perfume they were wearing.

“honestly though, the back’s kind of underrated anyway.” she leans back against the railing, turning her face up slightly toward the sky. “you get a breeze. your drink survives. nobody elbows you in the ribs. what more could you want?”

a beat passes, and sooyoung looks over with a mischevious glint in her eye.

“…besides the entire idol lineup ten feet from your face, obviously.”

"exactly! i think it's pretty nice out here! it's not like the idol is going to notice me just because i'm like five feet in front of them." perhaps a big reason why chaerin wasn't very into waterbomb was because she wasn't big into idols. well, she wasn't disinterested in them, but she wasn't a fan like some of the other people here.

the only thought that kept crossing her mind was how she was going to get home if she got more drenched than she is now. in her current state, she could probably dry herself off and take the subway or something. however, if she were to get any more wet, she doubts the other people on the subway would like her near them.

at the question about her trainee period, she lets out a groan before puffing her cheeks up. "i think it's been over two years now? almost two and a half actually," she explains. chaerin can't believe it's been so long herself. there still weren't any signs of a debut happening any time soon, so she tried not to think about the time she's spent as a trainee, afraid it'd bring her down.

"i feel a little pathetic because of this... but i can't seem to get the idea of failing again out of my head." he mumbles, admitting some of his inner thoughts to chaerin. he feels bad that she has to listen to him mull over something he should be over by now, considering he managed to get into sr media after next gen anyway, but it's a moment that's permanently stuck in his head—what if it happens again? even if this is on a smaller scale, he knows the feeling of acknowledging his own failures despite being so close to reaching a certain goal.

"there are a lot of talented actors in sr media... then again, that is one of our focuses anyway." it's strange how they decided to create this drama when most—if not all—of the female trainees are busy doing god knows what.

"that's kind of a focus in sr media, right?" despite coming together as axis labels, chaerin was aware that each company still had certain areas that they liked to focus on more. sr media was, evidently, pretty big on acting. she's kind of glad that lime isn't because she could never imagine herself as an actress.

yuwol, however, she thinks is different. she thinks he's special. he has so much potential that she'd love to see him more out there. that's the whole reason she's here to give him that push right now. "you're never a downer," she reassured him before giving him a soft pat on the back.

"it's only during these hours that i can work on personal projects," he hums, stretching his arms a little, nearly tipping the soda can over in the process. he steadies it when he realizes though, jay doesn't want to make a mess—despite usually not caring, if it's within the confines of his own apartment. "when it's filled with the hustle and bustle of trainee life i have to follow their schedule." he's not exactly complaining, it's what he signed up for—but he does hope there's a little more color to his routine!

"so you were working on something too? practicing a little extra something?" he questions, even though the answer is kind of obvious. no one just sticks around for nothing, unless she overslept or something. he's not privy to that information!

her eyes grow a little wider at jaeyoung's sudden outburst. she wasn't entirely invested in the personal lives of her fellow trainees, so she hadn't expected it at all. for a moment, she wonders if it was a mistake on his part, and she should ignore it and move on. truthfully, she doesn't exactly need to know which vybe member is his boyfriend anyway.

"it does! that's like, my baby," the sigh that sua lets out is long-suffering, looking more and more like a disgruntled cat at the thought of it. "the last time i opened animal crossing, one of my villagers asked to leave! because i wasn't around. it made me feel so bad." sua had promptly said no and then turned off the game, unwilling to see if any other villagers were going to do the same. it's just a game, but going from gaming damn near everyday to only a few (maybe!) times a week feels wrong.

it is tough. but sua was raised on tough love and learning from dumb, reckless decisions. it feels like a challenge she has to overcome-- because really, if sua can land a position in a group out of lime? she'd be set with connections. sure, she'd sacrifice a few more years to tight restrictions and a controlled management, but afterwards? she could likely afford art school and enough power to get herself off the waiting list, right? hell, she might even be able to skip art school entirely if she plays her cards right. it's the long fight, but sua's good at fighting.

while chaerin wasn't much of a gamer, her younger sister had introduced her to animal crossing, and she found the game relaxing enough to grab her attention. it didn't require any extra skills or whatnot and was just a great way to spend her time.

it's because of chaerin that he believed in himself enough to throw his hat in auditioning for the axis labels company in the first place. it's unsurprising then, that chaerin ends up talking him into participating in another audition, this time for a drama that sr media is heading.

"it feels a little too... sudden?" yuwol tries to relay what he's thinking in his head into words. back then, it was never fully coherent and yuwol had virtually given up trying to speak his mind. lately though, he has been getting better at it, especially when he's talking to chaerin, whose patience knows no bounds. "i feel very... new. inexperienced, because i'm new. surely there are others who can do much better than me... trainees who have been here longer."

however, she's gotten past that phase now, and if she were a little more interested in acting, she would've taken her chance at this audition herself. but seeing that it wasn't one of her interests, she decided to take a step back and instead encourage or help out others.

"i doubt any of the other trainees are much better actors, really. we're all on the same boat, aren't we? sure, we might get some acting lessons here and there, but i don't think that really matters. it's probably why they're holding this audition for the trainees to begin with. they just want to see the pool of potential actors they have!"

at least after following his up-to-date training schedule, he can stick around the studios mixing something. unfortunately, that habit of his often ends up consuming a huge chunk of time. before he knows it, it's already dark out and everyone had cleared out of the building. well, almost everyone.

he knows he should be heading back, but he decides to get a drink from the vending machine first, a treat for the journey home ahead. someone approaches him though, luckily jay isn't out of it enough to mistake her for a ghost. "oh, me? i could say the same to you!" he opens up his canned soda, letting it fizz out for a moment. "honestly, i just lost track of time. woah, when did it get so dark out?" he questions, peering out the windows before turning back to the girl.

letting out a hum, she followed his gaze to stare at how dark it's gotten outside. the axis building was buzzing with lots of different activities. as much as the executives tried to keep things on the down-low, it was pretty easy to tell when something big was about to happen.

that's all to say that chaerin felt a little discouraged that she wasn't next in line for whatever big project was coming up. she's heard of trainees who trained for five to six years before finally making their debut, and she can't help but start to believe that she might fall into that category soon. that is, if she even gets to debut at all.