in all honesty, shiah had no idea how to approach the girls who hadn’t made it into luxe from royal survival. what’s worse was that shiah had been certain that elly was going to make it into the group with how hard she had worked the whole time on the show. shiah had been rooting for her... and yet a girl shiah didn’t even know had taken that rapper spot from someone she had been training with. she didn’t know how to feel about it all, let alone what to say when she ended up with elly in the same training room.

she hadn’t told anyone yet, but shiah was planning on improving her rapping skills. seeing royal survival made her realize that the more she had to offer, the better. hence why she found herself in a rapping training room. if she couldn’t focus in on one thing then she’d be good, at the very least, at a lot of different things. nothing wrong with that, right?

elly would be the one to go to for help on rapping, of course, but with given circumstances perhaps it wasn’t the best time to ask her for help. perhaps taking a different approach would be better in starting a conversation with her. “whatcha working on unnie?” she tried to keep it as light and casual as possible. there was an elephant in the room but shiah could ignore it.

of all the people to collab with, he had never been more excited than to collab with elly. she was his noona, almost like a mum to him. he adored everything about her, and appreciated how she looked after him all the time. she was wonderful, and as always, whenever hugo merged with someone musically it was a very personal thing for him. music was a deep part of him, and to shar in it with someone was to share a deep piece of him. he was comfortable doing so with elly of course, in fact he was excited to. he trusted her so much he was surprised they hadn’t done this sooner.

the plan was incredibly unique too! he had done a more serious performance with soyeon earlier in the week, this performance with elly was meant to be a little more fun and off-kilter rather than showing his skills. a very hidden talent his sister had taught him when she had been high out of her mind was how to play the bongos. now, bongos and violin weren’t necessarily the most compatible instruments, but since they were covering spring day by bts together, he figured the song needed a beat along with the smooth melody of the violin. it was a deeper pitched drum, closer to a base sound, which would be a good juxtaposition with the high pitched violin tune. he was more than excited to do this very unique performance.

he arrived at the park near where the stage was set up, looking around for his dear noona, waving to her when he finally spotted her. “noona!! are you ready for this? i am!”

with recent events it was safe to say that shiah’s life had been turned absolutely upside down. not only had she basically disowned her mother (and forced out all the ugliness between herself and her sister myeongcha), she was also now signed as a trainee under royal entertainment. talk about amazing timing for taking control of her life and stopping her mother from being so restrictive. if she hadn’t done that she probably would’ve been forced to turn the contract down. in fact she probably wouldn’t have gone to the trc audition at all. 

she had her father who was incredibly supportive of her though, he had been so excited for her when she received her contract. he had been excited in general over her disowning her mother. it was a positive change, and though being a trainee was now filling up her entire schedule and keeping her busy, she still felt a void where her mother used to be.

they say you can’t pick your family but shiah was always one to disagree. there were people she considered family who weren’t related to her by blood. they shared a spirit though. little did she know elly would be one of those people. 

she entered the rehearsal studio a little timidly. she still didn’t know all of the other trainees yet, she was making her rounds and making it a point to introduce herself. much like johnny, elly was someone shiah had heard of through mutual friends but hadn’t met until now. with a soft smile she made her way over to her, bowing a bit in respect. “hi, i’m shiah, i’m a new trainee here. it’s nice to meet you, sunbae.”

it wasn’t something big, she tried to not go overboard with it, and while scrolling online in thought of what to do, she landed on the idea of doing a hot-chocolate mix in a jar. so that was what she did most of the afternoon’s when she went back home, making sure that things were nice and neat, and tidy as possible. of course, she added her own twist to the drink, because maybe her favorite type of hot-chocolate was the one that had a tad of spice to it, and the pepper mint definitely helped with that.

so, neatly putting it in small bags, and writing the message on the underside of the tag, elly put them neatly next to everyone’s belongings before scooting away as if nothing had happened. the message read;;

happy holidays! dive into the festive spirit and be sure to spend as much time as possible with the people you love. enjoy yourself to the fullest, and i hope you enjoy this present whenever you feel like it. i hope the new year brings you joy and your dreams become a step closer. best wishes and love, ahn elly.

shiah hadn’t been expecting to receive anything for christmas, except maybe something from dahye, so receiving a little something from another trainee within royal was quite a pleasant surprise. it was from elly, which maybe shiah should’ve expected since elly had that unnie / eomma feel to her, the kind to take care of the people around her and look after others even if it’s from afar. the bag was adorable, causing shiah to smile at it. the note made her smile even more.

the note also made her reflect though, especially on her family situation. the people she loved? none of her family came to mind first anymore. dahye came to mind first, out of all the people she knew. not even hyunah came to mind before dahye. she hadn’t seen her younger sister in months, and the girl hadn’t tried to reach out to shiah on her own accord, behind the back of their mother. it made shiah wonder if they actually were as close as she thought they were, or if it was just her. it made her expression fall a bit, but hey, she had dahye didn’t she?

he had been having his own rough patch lately and as a result hugo hadn’t gone out much. he mostly met up with suji to work on their music or went out to do a show. this, however, was very important for elly, and supporting his friends was important to him. he always did whatever he could for miles and sehun at home. it was in his nature to be helpful, and sometimes helping others helped himself feel happier too.

he showed up at her door, knocking before letting himself in since they had been that comfortable already, slipping his shoes off and heading inside, ready to help her pack. “noona, i’m here!” he grinned upon seeing her, arms crossing in front of his chest as he regarded her. “look at you, the future starlette of royal entertainment. wanna see something cool?” he unzipped his jacket, sliding it off his arms and draping it over her couch. he was wearing a t-shirt underneath that had ‘queen of survival, elly’ written on it. he had had the shirt made special so he could wear it while watching the episodes of royal survival as they aired (and he had had some made for his roommates too, there was no room for rooting for anyone else in his house). “i’m geared up to root for my favourite noona.” he smiled to her warmly before looking around. “okay let’s get started! what do you need to pack?”