달라달라

There’s a flickered glance when Somi agrees with him, smiling at her faintly. At least she understood, some people might have thought he was being childish. “I don’t want my sweets confiscated or to be scolded,” he utters in reply, crinkling his nose at the memories from high school that he had. One in ten times, Seokwoo had watched a teacher pluck his favourite sweets from his hand when he was supposed to be studying and asked him if he thought it was lunch time. “They put everyone on diets and those things, it might be bad,” Seokwoo adds, shaking his head.

If Seokwoo could have chosen the type of younger sister he would have wanted, he would have easily picked someone like Somi. Her cute bouncing as she waited for the sweets he had in his hands, and how quickly she agreed, diving her hand in to pick out one. Even her reaction when she finally placed the lollipop into her mouth came with its own endearing qualities to him. Seokwoo’s energy gauge refilled by her actions and expressiveness, grinning to himself as he glanced into the bag himself and picked one of the treats for himself. Somi was different from his sister, or maybe, his sister had simply matured past this phase where everything was exciting and delightful. Now she would have hissed that he was breaking the rules and she didn’t want sugar ruining her figure.

The packet of lollipops were tucked under his arm, tugging at the wrapper of his own sweet and placing it into his mouth. A smile taking over his lips, higher in the left corner as he hears Somi speak up and he looks over at her. Wrapper shoved into his pocket, before the stick was plucked from his mouth and he furrows his brow. “Do I? How so? Who?” Seokwoo questions, curious over whether this was a good connection or a bad one. Although he assumed it was more a positive memory than a negative one, as Somi seemed to smiling, as if she were pleased with whoever came to her mind. “Is it someone famous?” was his first assumption of who it could be, as that, generally where people leaned with these types of statements. Recognisable faces and lookalikes.

somi knows it's bad to stare, even worse to not respond right away. and yet that's what she does. her fingers twirl the candy around her mouth, small smile still clinging onto her lips as he began to ask. she nods her head, humming, "yup~" still a little distracted with the lollipop's flavor spreading more. "this is really good," she lets out with a giggle, taking it out and looking at the candy. "where do you get this?" the young girl looks at the older boy with a smile, shaking her head a bit having realized right away that there was another question. "not yet, but she will be." she finally replies, popping the candy back into her mouth as she smiled sheepishly at seokwoo. "i know she will be~"

she made a mental note to go find sowon soon, maybe hang out with her when they aren't practicing for the evaluation peformance. she always enjoyed spending time with sowon, her words and her presence alone were reassuring to somi. and there's always some sort of advise the young girl finds weaved in sowon's words. it has helped so much in the last few months since the project. and perhaps the part she liked the most, sowon doesn't make her feel dumb or crazy. even if she can be 'too much' most of the time, sowon never thought of her like that. in fact, somi felt like she's... normal when they're together, even when her unnie was graceful and soft-spoken and she is anything but.

he can’t help but laugh at her words, the promise of helping him confess. it makes sense, of course, considering that the younger was the reason why he had ended up in this situation to begin with. he never would have really thought of yoojung in that light, if they hadn’t been forced on that blind date together, and ended up having more fun than he had ever thought was possible on a blind date. though, he knows it’s probably because it was with someone who he already knew, and was comfortable with.someone who he had spent a lot of time telling bits of his problems to late at night, hidden in their usual coffee shop. 

but he could never have thought that he would’ve ended up here. discussing this crush that he had gained from said blind date – and he’s not even mad about it. perhaps he never would’ve ended up seeing yoojung in the same light had it not been for that date, and they probably would’ve only stayed as friends or something. and now there were feelings involved – his. just his own feelings, as he would never in his wildest dreams imagine that she would ever like him back. 

perhaps it was wishful thinking, but somi’s words do encourage him a bit. it gives him a little bit of hope, because she knows yoojung well too. perhaps it wasn’t as one-sided as he thought …? but he wasn’t going to dwell on that, shaking his head. “if i ever confess, not when,” dongmin corrects her wording with a small smile, though he can’t stop himself from looking pleased that she thought they would be a good couple. only in his wildest dreams, maybe. “if i ever plan to do it, i’ll let you know. unless it’s a spur of the moment sort of thing but … you know. i’ll try my best,” he laughs a little, shrugging. 

the more dongmin resisted, the more somi was determined to help. "what do you mean 'if'?" she repeats his words, brows knit and lips pouting after. she looks into his eyes, leaning forward and almost squinting before her features melt into a small smile, then letting out giggle as she straightened up. "it's 'when' you confess, oppa~" she insisted. she was teasing him a little of course, but also feeling every bit of determination coursing through her system. now that she thought about it, if there was anyone she wanted to see yoojung with, it was dongmin. it was just a thought that came to her, but now that it does look like they had a chance, she will help however way she can.

i'll try my best. the young girl believed her friend, she recognized those words and that look well. the turmoil of emotions when one is unsure of how the other feels. the anxiety of not knowing if they feel the same way... and the hope that perhaps they do and everything could work out better than how they imagined. yoojung and dongmin have a chance, those were the only words that somi kept in mind as she observed dongmin more. she could see it, how that blind date must have changed how he felt about yoojung all this time. it was something he didn't expect, but somi could tell he does like her. maybe even a lot more than he thinks. she thinks it's beautiful that the two of them had found each other.

the laugh starts out small, barely a chuckle at all, until it bursts past his lips in a loud guffaw that would probably scare someone who were unaware and walking by. “yes, a seedling,” he says with another snicker, now imagining tree-somi as a little baby groot, still in her potted plot but still lively and dancing all the same. “don’t worry, i’ll remember to water you every day so you can grow into a nice giant oak tree.” he pauses, realizing may be a reliable and gallant tree, but it’s not exactly the prettiest, but the harder he tries to think, the more he realizes he doesn’t really know the names of very many trees or any of their properties. “or any tree you want to be. reach for the stars~”

he feels slightly bad that she seems to wholeheartedly believe in his bold-faced lie, but apparently not bad enough that he makes any move to correct it. “yes, absolutely. i could totally win at one of those cooking shows, like chopped or master chef or something,” he answers, only adding flame to the fire. he thinks that maybe with a bit of training and more focus in that area, he might have been able to become one, but his focus has always been on music, and cooking more of a hobby passed down from his mom and grandmother. “and don’t worry about tiger jk,” he says, completely full of shit now; he would never do anything to anger or put himself in a bad light in the ceo’s eyes. “we’ll just operate in the shadows. a black market for amazing food~”

the scolding comes as a surprise to him. he hasn’t met someone in a long time who objected to cursing, and he can’t help the laughter that settles into him as he slowly recovers. it’s endearing. “sounds like a plan to me, cap,” he responds cheekily, unsure if she’ll even get the reference but he’s unable to keep himself from making it.

her imagination starts to wander off again, a smile still on her lips as she thought of herself like small plant creature compared to the others, sort of like guardians of the galaxy's baby groot. they weren't much different, now that she thought about it, they both like dancing and listening to music, and of course, their very modest vocabulary with his 'i am groot' response to everything and her very limited knowledge of korean -- which she's hidden rather well. "like baby groot~" she replies, giggling and moving her arms in a wave, mimicking baby groot's dance moves at that scene with drax. "except i say 'i am somi and i wouldn't frantically run around the halls--" she stops, blinking, brows knitting as she laughs, "you know what, i think that would be me too if i was late."

somi listens and nods her head, amazement painted across her features, mouthing a quiet 'wow'. the young girl wouldn't be surprised if there were more multitalented trainees in the company, after all, it was something 'out of the box' that trc would probably do, scout trainees with unique talent and those who would stand out from the crowd. hearing the reassurance makes her feel at ease, not entirely about the topic, but because chanyeol seemed really fun to talk to. and as soon as he says 'black market for amazing food', it makes somi chuckle. she quickly rolls her lips inward and taps her lips lightly before she looks around, "shhh... he could be listening right now, we have to be quiet about the operations." she adds, playing along.

how can kids so young be so judgmental? they should learn to have a little more fun instead of being mindless puppets of their parents. one day it would all come out though. she knew for a fact. but from her own experience but from people around her. her parents were never strict with her and her brother, but there was an explanation to that. they knew just how fragile a life could be. that the two little ones they had brought to the world could be gone just as fast as they came. that’s why they let them live, let them breathe, let them be who they wanted to be. which turned out to be a failure for mina since she still doesn’t know what she wishes to do with her life. she just goes with the flow and wings it. so far, it has worked out perfectly.

for a split second she wonders if somi is going to chicken out, but instead, she gets surprised by her sudden challenge. “yah! this is cheating!” she exclaims as she tosses the candies in her bag and quickly runs after the girl, almost tripping on her way out. she bows to the kids more as an automatism than actual apology. naturally, she’s the last one out. mina pushes her lips out in a pout. her expressions would make anybody wonder who really is the youngest out of the two. “fine, i lost. you pick what we eat but be prepared for my revenge!”

somi could already hear her parents saying 'we know' once she tells them that she didn't get to finish the whole thing. she never felt bad whenever her parents tell her that, or when their 'i told you so's' end up being true. her parents were always kind and patient with her, not once did they make her feel bad for falling behind or making mistakes. in korea, their way of parenting was not exactly... ideal, not even well-liked. it didn't sit well with other parents that her parents were the way they are. other students said they envied somi, while others say they're just careless... it makes the young girl roll her eyes as she succesfully steps out of the room. she looks back at mina, sticking out her tongue and then smirking as she wiggles her brows at her friend.

rkyerim·:

“yeah, just some things to keep our energy up,” yerim says after being almost scrunched in a surprisingly winding hug from somi. she’d not really talked to somi since the mga’s but she remembers her face, remembers being not so friendly to her. however, since then, she likes to think she’s changed and being in somi’s presence was almost refreshing because she’s so positive and by the looks of it, forgiving. yerim smiles at her softly and sighs a little as she looks to nayeon who’s talking about cookies. 

yerim stretches again and yawns, pushing her hair from her face before she decides to just put it up and get it out of the way. “should we start on learning the lyrics? or would it better to start working on the choreography?” she pulls out line the distribution with japanese pronunciation and translations, handing them to her eval partners. “nayeon got a lot of english parts, so we’ll have to work on that but thankfully, there’s two native english speakers here with you,” she says with an encouraging smile. “somi, how are you with confidence in singing?”

     it’s amusing, seeing how the younger two interact— a sort of seemingly endless ocean of energy from somi, contrasting well with yerims determined ( but inviting ) professionalism. two attitudes on opposite ends of the spectrum, but ones nayeon felt pleasantly balanced working within. she could only hope that, as the oldest of the three, they felt just as stable with her as she felt with them. accepting the line distributions held out towards her, a grateful smile on her lips, she lets her eyes scan over the paper in thought.

     “hmmm…i feel like learning the lyrics and getting pronunciations down first might be better, no? we want to make sure they can understand us,” she raises an eyebrow with a gentle laugh, nodding her head slowly as she peers up towards them both from where she’d been glancing down at her paper. maybe she was saying that for her own sake, not wanting to butcher her english lines and embarrass herself. “oh, i’m glad— having you two to help me is a relief, i’m in good hands.”

somi had never properly thanked yerim for helping her during the mgas audition. if it wasn't for her advise that day, somi would have thought she was doing just fine. thank the heavens for choi yerim! and now, here's an opportunity to do return the favor. the young girl was going to do her very best to give her best-est for the performance to make sure that she doesn't embarrass yerim and nayeon. "definitely have to learn the lyrics," somi nods her head, looking from yerim to nayeon. over the months, she figured it wasn't just enough to not be a burden in a group, she had to contribute too.

jinsoulrk·:

jinsoul reaches over and takes another gummy worm, tying it into a knot and biting it off as some sort of habit and chewing thoughtfully as she listens to her friends talk. it’s crazy to think that she actually has friends here, because when she came to trc she was almost certain that it would be difficult to connect with people that she wasn’t already close to before, and it was ten times more difficult when some of her closest friends debuted in k.arma. but here she is, sitting with somi and sowon and thinking that maybe this isn’t so bad.

“what? why are you guys being like that?” she had said the boy thing mostly as a joke, because they’re not allowed to date anyways but when both of them hesitate like that she can’t help but to think there’s something up. jinsoul looks back and forth from one girl to the other, feeling like there’s something that only she missed out on. “is there something? is there a secret? why are you guys quiet? do you like someone?” the questions come out all at once, but only because now she’s curious.

her eyes open wide when somi brings out the popcorn maker, clapping her hands together and staring at it. “you actually brought one? and it’s bedazzled too?” leave it to somi to think of everything, because some popcorn seems perfect right now. but still, she can’t forget what she was saying before, and she peels her eyes away from the popcorn machine and to the others. “wait but about the boys….”

in sowon’s mind, she contemplates over whether now would be the ideal time to tell the truth. even though she could have brushed it as a joke earlier, a part of her felt that if she did, she would be deceiving the two of them a lie that they would eventually have to know. if they were going to debut together, honesty was key and sowon wanted to be an example of that. but being honest also meant having trust on them and while that wasn’t the problem, it was actually whether anyone else would hear them.

her thoughts are distracted momentarily when somi reveals the popcorn maker that she had kept inside her bag. sowon’s eyes widen as she quickly realizes that the bedazzled popcorn maker somi happened to describe was really the one she had. “wow, who would have known that you would really have one inside your bag…” sowon says softly, still amazed at the popcorn maker in front of her along with the bag of kernel. at the mention of board games, sowon takes her bag and unzips it to get a few boxes and bags that she had hidden amidst the first aid kit and clothes. “i brought uno, jenga, and pictionary. i thought those would be games that anyone can play.” she explains as she stares at the three games she had brought with her.

turning her head to jinsoul, sowon responds, “we can still talk about boys but we would have to be quiet. we don’t want any of those boys to overhear us.” she laughs, although she is certain that the boys were probably busy doing something else instead. looking back at her games and the popcorn maker, she then thought of a clever idea, “actually, what if we play jenga as we wait for the popcorn? for every time we pull out a piece successfully, the other two can ask the person a question about anything.”

"of course! during trips, you can rely on me to bring the essentials..." somi trails off before ripping the pack of kernels open. "for fun trips!" she giggles before picking up the bedazzled popcorn maker and looking at it with an endearing smile. "and it's shiny~ i like shiny things~" the young girl adds before setting it back down. honestly, somi had long come into terms that she brings that most random things during trips. and yet, most of the time, these random things she brings make the experience more fun for everyone -- that's what somi wants after all whenever she packs all the stuff despite the weird looks she gets.

there was only one person she can think about at the mention of the word 'boys', jung jaewon. the late night walks home, the text messages, and his smile. somi doesn't even realize that she's smiling until she she realized what it was sowon was suggesting. "wait, what?" she lets out quietly, confused as she looked at the other girls. "a question about... anything?" she was usually fearless when it came to the honest game. ennik somi douma was an open book, there was nothing to hide after all. but now, there is. she was scared that other people would know about how she felt for jaewon. it would another round of 'i told you so's' and 'somi, no's', she was sure of it.

jinsoulrk·:

she smiles, holding up her stationery when her friend compliments her on it. “it’s cute, right? i got it from a store near me and i thought it might be useful.” it turned out to be one of her best purchases, especially because she feels the need to plan things out and write things down. she thinks it calms her, even if just a little bit because she doesn’t know if she’s the type of person who can truly be calm anyways.

“well there’s nothing wrong with camping made easy…” she looks up from her list at the two other girls before going back down again. “i think it’s nice. aren’t there like, bears and things that can get you at night? maybe it’s best if we don’t sleep in tents…” since it’s her first camping experience she feels like it might be good for her to ease into it. first some easy camping, maybe with cabins and bathrooms and things like that, and then maybe next time she’ll feel a little braver and do something closer to real camping. but for now she can’t help the sigh of relief that she lets out.

she pauses in her thinking, mouth opening into an ‘o’ shape as she looks at the other girls. “you don’t think they’ll make us do something like running man again, do you? i think i lost a few years of my life doing that. or what if we get there and it’s actually some kind of boot camp so we can raise our stamina. or what if…” jinsoul trails off, shaking her head because she knows that the more she thinks the more negative outcomes she’ll think of, and that’s definitely not a good way to start a trip. “right! we’ll be there together so it’ll be okay. it’ll be fun no matter what, right?”

feeling the bump from somi causes her to chuckle in amusement as she smiles. “of course. i wanted to make sure we got the essentials.” she gives a brief response as she thinks about all of the possible activities that the staff would make us do. “if there are other things that could harm us during the night, i presume that there must be someone around to supervise?” sowon tries to imagine all of the trainees by themselves and without any of the coaches nearby, she can expect it to end either really well or badly. “luckily it’s glamping so like somi said, it’s sort of cheating in a way because we probably will have access to items that could prevent that from happening…or items that could protect us. if we were solely camping, we would have to rely on each other for everything.” she reasons, hoping that would give reassurance even if at the back of her mind, she reminds herself that maybe she needed to bring a survival guide.

at the mention of the running man game, sowon immediately recalled how the game had affected all of the trainees. she had watched the show before and took note of how that game could bring out everyone’s competitive side. seeing it in action was different though for she felt that she had to use her strengths as her way of surviving. “i wouldn’t be surprised if they did something like that to us but at the same time, i feel as if they knew what happened to us during the running man game and didn’t want to give us another surprise shortly afterwards.” she chuckles softly as she tried to think from the coaches’ perspectives.

“if anything, i imagine that they would make this month relaxing for us. next month is when they decide to give us something challenging as a reminder that we can’t slack too much.” glancing at the two of them, she thinks about how much they have gone through since joining trc. sowon nods her head in agreement while saying, “as long as we’re here together, we will get through it. we have gone through so much as trainees so we can handle anything that they throw at us during the trip.”

somi finds jinsoul very soft and adorable, finding herself getting a little distracted with her smile as she nods her head in response, giggling. she did have her preference when it came to camping, finding herself more drawn to the kind that she had grown up to, the real kind -- as her dad had pointed out earlier today, but she couldn't bring herself to insist on it. hearing jinsoul's worries about 'bears and things that can get you at night' made her find the other girl more endearing. there's really just something about jinsoul that makes somi want to take care of her and hold her hand, like in kindergarten when two kids become bestfriends, that kind of feeling.

"that's true," somi adds as sowon explained in detail what they might find at the site. "i'm sure we'll have access to most of the things that you're not supposed to on a regular camping trip." she adds with a giggle, wrinkling her nose as she taps lightly on her lips for throwing another 'shade' for this trip they were going to take. "and besides, if there are things that can get us in the night, i'll save you, jinsoul~" she continues, linking her arms with the other girl and giving her a reassuring smile. "and sowon unnie too, of course!" she quickly adds looking over to the older girl.

yujin can’t help the grin that spreads across her lips at the sight of somi’s enthusiasm. she herself would’ve been the same if not for the copious amounts of the dessert she’s already had yesterday and earlier today. watching the older girl eat is almost as satisfying, anyway—a learned skill in her stage of life. 

“i’m glad you like it,” she giggles, a teasing tone in her voice. “you owe me now, since you liked it so much,” it’s a joke, but she keeps a business-like quirk to her eyebrow as she pulls out her phone, pretending to take note. she notices the time on her lockscreen while poking about on it, though, and notes that it’s almost time for practice, anyway. man, time flies when you have literally no free time. 

“i hope that happens for me soon,” she sighs, setting her phone back down. “i can’t keep feeling this tired or i’ll die in the long run,” she’s already regretting having to wake up this early in the morning everyday after strenuous exercise, let alone having to keep up with school on top of everything trainee-wise. is this supposed to be this hard? or is she just really bad at time management? “i mean, same here but…i don’t know,” yujin ends up resting her forehead on the table with a small thud. “i’m losing it a little—but it’s fine,” she laughs at somi’s self-roast. “i don’t even know what you could say in this situation.”

somi was slowly coming down from sugary heaven when she hears yujin say that something that sounded like she owed her. she looks over the other girl, blinking as though confused, brows furrowing a bit. the young girl realized that it was a joke, and her features soften before she breaks into a giggle, deciding to play along as she nods her head, "i owe you big time for this one!" she tells her before noticing yujin looking at her phone. it makes somi look at hers too, unsure why, out of habit she supposed.

she hums, still eating, while yujin spoke, keeping her eyes as she watched and thought of herself after the initial excitement has faded. her first few weeks were great and full of energy, but the weeks that followed were hard. maybe because she went straight into a debut project, or maybe it was how things really were. nonetheless, she enjoyed most of her time there, underneath all the tears and stress, somi can confidently say she had a blast. it's good that yujin was more kind (and very understanding).

This wasn’t what he expected from Somi, seeing her come back with a snarky retort and rolling her eyes, hearing her giggle at his actions in the heat of the moment. It stung his ego to think that he was losing his touch, becoming weaker as time went on and would soon be unable to protect himself from whatever was coming. Being angry and making people leave let him control the situation, control when and how it happened; control the reasons why. Any timidness, any uncertainty, any hesitation, would let it become something that he was unable to control, and he might have got hurt in ways that he was unprepared for. Yuta had a fondness for physical pain, the type he could prod and poke, scabs he could pick at and bruises he could watch fade in colour – but emotional pain was stressful, scarring him in places he could nudge and couldn’t study with fascination at how much he could handle. 

“Don’t laugh, Somi. If you think I’m fu… If you think this is funny, then you don’t know me at all. If I wanted to hurt you, I could. Easily. Without hesitation,” he threatens, despite the truth being far from that. He was hesitating, he was finding it difficult. Still, he knew if push came to shove, he would do anything to protect himself. Selfishness, survival, whatever people wanted to call it. Yuta knew his was stronger than most and he’d already proven more than once, when it came down to it – he’d put himself first and drink away the guilt. Or try to. “Don’t take me lightly, just because I say nice shit sometimes. After everything, I can take more than you can take. I’ll be fine, you won’t,” Yuta mutters, shaking his head at the thought of what had happened before she arrived in TRC. 

If he could handle that punishment, if he could handle his parents, if he could handle high school, nothing that happened in the future was going to break him. “I’ve been doing this longer than you have, so don’t mess with me,” he adds, voice evening out, losing the hint of agitation and coming more from a place of concern; something he’d deny until his end. The internal conflict was ever-present for Yuta. He knew what he could do, it benefited him, but he hated how it made him feel from time to time. Warnings eased that. If he warned Somi, and she continued, then it was on her. That helped, even just a little bit.

Yuta huffed out a breath when she passed him, his head turning to follow her and then snapping back to look at where she’d stood before when she started to speak up. There’s a weird hope in his chest, waiting for her to tell him to not worry about it, to leave her alone then, that she didn’t need him. He was pushing her, he wanted to feel her push back. Instead, she seems to speak, quieten, and then say something else. He’d seen this happen more than once, had this happen to him more than once. Yuta didn’t know what people thought in those few seconds – did they think they could save him? Did they think he was worth saving? Did they think they were going to be the ones to do it? Fix him, mend him, make him something better. “You think I would let you go up there and make a fool of me?” He questions back, taking a breath before he looks at her for the first time in a while. It was’t that he didn’t value himself, it was that he knew one thing. “And if you think I’m going to change. I won’t. People don’t change Somi. If we’re assholes, we stay assholes. Nothing you do is going to change what I am.”

“You know that, right?”

somi didn't know what exactly it was that yuta wanted her to do. i wasn't like she was hoping things would change after this, she wasn't anyone special, not anyone with a pocketful of wisdom like her dad who always knew the right words to say. she was just... ennik, somi. just that. and these days, that doesn't really count for anything really she stops from her steps at his words. 'i know that.' the words immediately came to mind, a small, sad smile pulls on her lips as her gaze falls, confidence wearing off as she lingered in the sharp, cold sting that brushed over her chest. "i know..." she lets out, loud enough for herself only to hear and quiet enough for yuta not to get the satisfaction that he was right.

"you. you. you..." somi finally says out loud, sighing as she turned around. "make a fool you? not going to change what you are... always about you..." the talk was not going at the direction she had intended, somi figured she had opened a door and stepped into a room filled with things she was not prepared to deal with. but it's too late to walk out now, isn't it? when the claws of whatever issues yuta was dealing with was wrapped around her arms and pulling her deeper and deeper into the dark. "if you want to stay an... excuse the word, asshole... then stay that way. i'm not going to feel bad about it. maybe i will, for a bit, but you know..." her thoughts were going off course again, but she shakes her head a bit and resumes, "change doesn't happen without choice. if you can't change, that's not because i can't make you, but because you chose not to. i'm not going to let you make me feel bad for... trying to help the only way i can."

rkyerim·:

an eval starter for @rkiny· and @rksomi· !

stretching in the practice room, yerim finds herself surrounded by faces she hasn’t seen in awhile but it feels nice to reach outside her company for a moment and experience trainees that are running on different schedules and with different skills. this eval seems not simple, but challenging in a way that makes sense for yerim. thankfully they’ve all agreed on japanese, which should sound nice while they sing, even if they’re not fluent. 

“i brought you guys some things!” yerim says handing nayeon and somi both pretty brown paper bags with vitamin drinks, protein bars, and a few gift cards to nike. “these should ensure we do well,” yerim says giving them both a smile. “i also brought a lot of water so we keep hydrated. we should do well, right? i’m confident we balance each other well at least.”  

     the moment nayeon had learned of the details for this months evaluations, she’d immediately found excitement beginning to grow, the prospect of being able to work with trainees outside of kt only strengthening that feeling. for as much as she’d grown to love all those she’d met these last few months, she couldn’t deny she missed friends who not only still went about their normal daily lives, but friends who were also signed to companies themselves. so, with an opportunity given, nayeon was more than happy to get to work with yerim ( she was also happy to meet somi, a sweet girl she already wanted to give endless hugs to ).

     quickly tying her hair back, she takes the bag outstretched to her with a large smile, gratitude in her gaze. “ah, thank you! we’ll definitely be needing these to stay energized, so it’s good you brought them,” she says, taking a peek inside looking back up, her smile wider. leaning in to whisper comically, she almost laughs. “don’t tell anyone, but for extra motivation, i may have also brought in some cookies for once we finish up later.” finally laughing, she moves to place the her bag off to the side, then turns back to the other two. “i think we can do this really well! we’ve got more than enough time to make this perfect, i’m excited.”

the camping trip was obviously something they needed. well, she did for sure, but most of them looked like they could use some fresh air too. somi wasn't sure if it was just her, but the atmosphere was much lighter the days after and the young girl was turning a new leaf by being having a more positive outlook when it came to performing with other people. it was in her favor that they had agreed on what to perform for the evaluation too.

yerim was someone she had befriended during the mgas. although they didn't get to stay in touch, somi greeted her with excitement (and a hug just a little too tight). her eyes light up at the mention of 'some things' and the sight of a pretty brown paper bag being handed over to her. yerim was not wendy or chungha, and they were a lot closer in age so there has to be not so healthy treats in this ba-- "thank you, yerim~ these are great!" she smiles, still grateful for the welcome gifts they got, speechless at the nike gift cards.

so she isn’t kim yuna yet, and that much is made abundantly clear by the way she teeters over the ice, just one misstep away from a complete disaster in the ice rink, which wouldn’t be so bad if it was just the pain of falling, but coupled with the embarrassment and humiliation she would have to go through she would most likely rather not have that happen. but even though she might not be going to the olympics any time soon, she thinks there’s something to say about trying in the first place. anyone who knows jinsoul knows that she’s never been the first to try new things, but if there’s anyone to experience new things with, she’s glad she’s with somi.

“you’re right, maybe skating around the rink first before i try out for any championships.” she laughs in spite of herself, because even she could see some kind of humor in this. “maybe after i get the basics down.” jinsoul nods in agreement, because she’s always thought that there had to be a solid foundation before all else. it’s the same with singing — before trying to add in emotions and fancy vocal tricks there were fundamental techniques that had to be mastered. she figures it’s the same with everything, even skating.

she nods slowly, “yeah, my mom didn’t like for me to do things that might injure me.” it’s a sentiment that is somewhat common among parents, but most parents didn’t like it because they didn’t want their kids to get hurt, jinsoul’s mother was mostly scared that a bruise on her face or a sprained ankle would mean it would be more difficult for her to book jobs. but she hardly feels any sort of negative way about it, not when it’s been such a normal part of her life up until now. jinsoul pushes these thoughts out of her mind and looks at her friend with a warm smile. “afterwards, let’s go get something to drink. like hot chocolate? it’s cold today.”

her thoughts to get overwhelming, just thinking about 'what ifs' and 'could have beens' were making her feel a little lightheaded. looking at jinsoul now, she wonders what would have happened if she kept going, with all those ballet lessons, skating, maybe even gymnastics, maybe she'd have better chances at this trainee thing. she might not even feel like she needs to constantly be on her toes during practice becaue she feels and knows that she's not good enough. if she had kept going before, maybe she wouldn't feel less of a performer when she's next to everyone in the practice room.

but hearing jinsoul's response, perhaps everythin really did happen for reason. her parents let her do everything that her heart desired, when she got hurt and fell down, they helped her up and taught her never to let fear take control. she was sure jinsoul's mom was doing it all with the best intentions, and if she had not stopped or prevented jinsoul from doing things that injured her, she wouldn't be the jung jinsoul that she is now. perhaps these were hopeful thoughts, but it was better to dwell on the positive side of it all -- they were here to have fun and forget about the stress from training.