두근두근

she thinks she has what it takes. sorry—she knows she has what it takes. it isn’t only the features on her face, but the way she can work with them. while nakyung had never taken a step on the acting path, the girl could probably do a good job at it. she’s good at lying and at getting what she wants. it’s more than only using your words. you can’t win someone over with a straight face unless they are as much of a psychopath as you are.

when to bat your eyes; when to turn your head. was she perfect? not yet, but that’s why they keep offering all of these workshops. as a trainee, nakyung has access to a multitude of options to help her achieve her goals. this isn’t limited to singing and dancing, but posing and smiling too. you can’t make it in the idol world without a sprinkle of charisma. she likes to believe she has more than that.

the van takes her to the pink pool cafe. it’s cute but not too cute. it’s more on a playful, adorable spectrum than pure. one of the best feelings is getting dressed up and beautified like a doll in a flash game. she likes to take care of herself on her own. going to professional beauty salons and buying designer clothes isn’t much of a viable option, but no one needs to know that. nakyung makes good use of what little she has. as long as people can believe what she puts on her face, then so be it.

#rkpicnic starter for @rknak !

pj shields his eyes from the sun with one hand while clutching a woven picnic basket in the other, the remnants of a smile slowly fading from his face. he’s still not entirely sure whose idea this was; on one hand, nakyung did mention something about wanting to take aesthetic pictures. but it was pj who had volunteered, despite the fact that he was the furthest thing from a photographer. but, hey, how hard can it be? he tries not to overthink any aspect of it, especially whether or not she only brought up the pictures so that he’d invite her. would she? dude, stop.

“this looks like it might be a good spot,” he begins, motioning to the grass in front of them. “you could probably get some good pictures here, right?” pj hesitates, eyeing the girl for a moment as he tries to get a read on her. he has no idea what he’s talking about, but at least he’s trying his best—he just hopes that his best is good enough. “i mean, it’s up to you. because we could keep looking, i really don’t mind either way.” smooth, pj. he needs to work on trusting his own judgment.

her eyes are focused on only one thing: the glistening screen of her phone. while her left arm crosses her chest, nakyung uses her right hand to scroll through the endless feed of social media. it’s a beautiful day out, but that isn’t something the girl usually appreciates. she might take a photo of the view later if she looks up. if not, the best she’d get out of there with is with pictures of the food they brought or something jisung might take of her.

it was a bit of a mistake for him to decide to choose this class. his intention with joining it was really just to have fun and he didn’t think it’d be hard because he was pretty good with stretching. but that’s the thing about yoga. it wasn’t just about stretching. the moment he realized that, it was already too late for him to drop out of the class because he was already IN it. it did have its perks with the calming effect that followed after, but yeonjun’s not exactly calm when he’s doing almost every movement the teacher taught wrong. if anything, he just feels like a clown. 

but he tries not to give up just yet. there’s still some determination in him that he’s not willing to give up. he’s never found the idea of quitting a good idea, so he doesn’t plan on doing that now. not to mention, he’d be an idiot to just give up in front of a pretty idol like eclipse’s jennie. trying his best, he follows her instruction with the next yoga pose. he raises his foot to try and hold it, trying his absolute best to hold his balance, only to feel his foot touch someone and a small groan next to him following after it. uh oh. that wasn’t good. 

he immediately stands straight and looks over at the person he hit only to see a girl holding onto her nose, also not holding onto the position (he thinks that’s his fault). not wanting to make a big scene, he bows his head slightly. “sorry,” he whispers, hoping not to interrupt the class if he spoke any louder. “i didn’t mean to hit you! it was an accident, i swear. i’ll try not to do it again.” and the emphasis is on try because he’s not the best with balance. 

her fingers not so gently massage her nose. the moment she realizes the boy has decided to suddenly speak to her, nakyung drops her hands and stares at him. “well, maybe you should have tried it the first time, no?” she snaps. “i don’t remember this being part of the position.” while her tone is angry, the girl tries her best to keep it down. whoever was standing around them were probably already disturbed and she wouldn’t like for it to reach the participants standing further away or the instructor in front of the entire class.

ah yes, daniel remembers nakyung. she’s just one of many faces on the mgas that hated him, of course! that’s what he always thought, anyway. he received plenty of criticism, namely on his use of guitar, and if he wasn’t so sensitive, maybe he could see it simply as such: criticism. instead, he took it all too personally, guitar and his band often under fire, yet two of the things he loved most in the world. 

it’s a little ironic that they meet again here, in an instrument workshop, and one nakyung is helping to teach, at that. daniel thinks so, anyway. he thinks he’ll have the honor of ignoring nakyung, because he gets the feeling she wants nothing to do with him either (he always did.) clearly it’s the perfect arrangment, but then– it’s not. she greets him with a smile that he doesn’t trust, but daniel is nothing if not fake as hell when he has to be, so he smiles back. 

“yeah,” he answers, even though he’s sure she didn’t forget him that easily. he hopes not, anyway, a little stubbornly. “what’s your name again?” he asks, even though he knows the answer to that, too. two can play that game, is all, and if he couldn’t beat her on the mgas, maybe he can beat her here, just for a little while.

“i’m pretty much good, it’s just hard for me to…move my hands the way i need to? it feels different, i don’t know.” he’s probably just babbling now; he probably just should’ve said he didn’t need her help and freed them both from this minor nightmare.

her lips flinch if that’s a thing. a crack on her mask, even if only for a second. before this reunion, she would have classified kang daniel as both harmless and an easy target. at least one of those two things she knows it to be true. had she not made a good hit, he wouldn’t have responded with the same jab. if he will continue with this game is what her interest settles in. 

“my name is lee nakyung,” she pronounces it slowly for him to understand. “it was said at the beginning of the class. maybe you weren’t paying attention...” her eyes look down at his hands to see what his problem could be. he has many—she’s sure of it—but one thing at a time. let’s only focus on his piano skills this time, nakyung. “...which would explain this, right?” and another smile.

@danielxrk

of course, when she hopes that the mgas will come back for her she wishes it to be in the form of a swarm of fans expressing their love. instead, of course, she needs to watch freaking kang daniel walk into her classroom. her classroom! the audacity. nakyung’s acting skills are reserved solely for moments like these. she smiles but towards somewhere else. it’s like ignoring the people you went to middle school with when you spot them at the mall. the problem is, of course, she’s supposed to help all these people with their questions.

@rkhyojeong

oh, she hopes this gets to hyojeong as much as it gets to her. as far as she’s aware, the girl also mainly focuses on dance, and the challenge of the month was to exactly not do that. if that wasn’t enough, the trainees would have to battle it out based only on their vocals capabilities. nakyung is the type to proudly take fewer lines than others (as long as she can stand center whenever possible). however, the girl also has a very big need to win, which she hasn’t really been feeling confident over if it’s going to happen or not.

@rkyoona

she’s been in competitions before and this reads as she’s been in the mgas and she did a pretty good job at it. she had made it to the finals, after all, and the third place was the slot her team got. the main difference between that and now (except for the fact it was a high-quality tv production) is that the trainees were simply bound to singing. there are no coats she can throw for effect or a cool looking dance routine to distract the coaches from the fact they had recently lost their best vocalist to another company.

@rkyjun

she can’t do wonders like the splits or putting your foot behind your head, but nakyung can easily reach her toes which some consider impressive. anything that impresses other people she considers a big win on her book. yoga is the hot girl activity she needs to get on. it’s not like she has the time or the money to go to a specialized yoga studio. this comes as the perfect opportunity to start things out. the fact kim jennie herself is teaching it simply solidifies her choice of going. plus, this counts as part of her trainee schedule. big wins all around.

following the instructions isn’t too hard on itself. as expected, they wouldn’t give an intensive class if it wasn’t specified on the title. with these things, they always tell you to maintain a safe space between the people around you. it’s what she kept in mind when she arrived, but not really the dude who got there right after her. she’s sure his foot is not supposed to be this close to her face, but she can’t make a scene in front of jennie eclipse. that’s a whole jennie eclipse and this is just some random dude. it’ll be okay.

                   * —————                                                   ♡♡♡ LEE NAKYUNG

                                   up-and-coming equestrian  ♡♡♡