#bexrisa

@bexrisa

he knows that it's not her fault. he knows that the news she gave him wasn't something she caused, or that she wanted to tell him. the nurse who explained his diagnosis, who stood there as yejun realized what it meant, who witnessed him turn numb and dull in the face of his world being turned upside down wasn't responsible for ruining his life. that was entirely his ex's fault, no one else's responsibility but her own. still, yejun can't help but associate all of those bad feelings, all of that terrible moment, with the unfortunate nurse who brought him his test results.

he just can't figure out what she's doing at the superstore with an employee badge pinned to her chest.

was she actually a nurse? he knows she wasn't lying; his symptoms cleared up after a round of antibiotics and he's been celibate and clean ever since. but it's an absolute mindfuck, like seeing a teacher in public as a child. why is this person not in the place she's supposed to be in?

yejun wants so badly to ignore the strange coincidence, to go about his life as if another run-in has never occurred. fate is never so kind to him, though. he, unfortunately, has to make a return and she's the next available representative. he can only pray she doesn't remember him as clearly as he remembers her.

"i have some water and snacks," he slid the open bag further down the table towards risa, a little out of breath from rushing back to their little work area.

cam had respected the other trainee from the first time they had met. it took confidence and an outgoing side to go around a new company like sr media and hand out goody bags like she had. they had gotten on pretty smoothly from there. cam didn't have much time as a trainee there over her but he had been there long enough to show her some helpful spots to get alone time, and what studios had the better mics for playback.

it was a nice little friendship they'd found in each other so it made sense to work together on something for the songwriting camp. cam had a little experience with writing, it was something that was essentially expected of him at the old company and then it was something he dabbled in lightly in between those periods of his life- mostly in the form of poetry in his journal, never really progressing into the stage of formal lyrics. he was getting a bit better with writing his own raps though, practise and dedication had gotten him somewhere at least.

nayoung is a good trainee. she's very sure of that! she works very hard to ensure that. she's the ideal idol, as far as she's concerned: pretty, can dance, can sing, can rap, can act.

can she write songs? no. does she think she needs to be able to for the sake of her career? absolutely not. she personally thinks this entire songwriting camp is a huge and boring waste of time. what is the likelihood that sr media would ever let her release an original song with them if she even wanted to? how would she be able to do that when she's pretty sure eunae and yuji are good at all that? literally, what do they need her to know this shit for?

she, as she does, remains polite during lessons, and tries to focus and do her best, which is quite frankly bad. it's frustrating, too, not just because she thinks this is useless, but because she's simply not good at it.

when the instructor starts breaking them off into pairs, she's partnered with risa, who nayoung is pretty sure is also good at this shit, only further proving her point.

after exchanging small talk and sitting in an awkward silence, just staring at their notebooks for a few minutes, nayoung finally grumbles, "this is so stupid."

however things ended up going, she was at least here for the next three months, spending most of her waking hours with these people. she might as well give it her best shot at making a good impression if the rumors of long training hours were true.

as she reached one of her fellow trainees, a moment of doubt flashed in her mind, wondering suddenly if this was way too tacky or school-age. but it’s too late to back out now.

with a warm smile and a genuine desire to connect with her new peers, risa extended the bag of goodies (electrolyte packets, honey chestnuts, rice snacks, and face masks).

“hi, i’m risa,” she introduced herself with a friendly tone. “i just recently signed with sr media and thought i would introduce myself,” she offered, hoping to break the ice and make connections with her fellow trainees.

three more trainees to sr media. two of them girls. yuji feels like she’s going through post next gen signings all over again. on edge, nerves on high-- she takes a little while to gather the courage to approach them on her own. instead, she observes, keeps enough distance and goes through the planning of who she should go introduce herself first to. 

however, it seems she doesn’t have to decide. because yuji is approached first, and it stops her in her tracks, momentarily. her eyes flicker over the woman’s face, blinking five times in succession. “oh. hello.” she greets easily, a small smile crossing her face. yuji’s eyes move to the bag the other extends, then to the trainee-- risa, as she’s learned. 

while making friends has always come easily to her, approaching potential friends yet competitors is still a skill that risa hasn't yet mastered. nerves spike as she sets off on her self-imposed mission, introducing herself to her fellow trainees with the intention to start off on the right foot. however things ended up going, she was at least here for the next three months, spending most of her waking hours with these people. she might as well give it her best shot at making a good impression if the rumors of long training hours were true. as she reached one of her fellow trainees, a moment of doubt flashed in her mind, wondering suddenly if this was way too tacky or school-age. but it's too late to back out now. with a warm smile and a genuine desire to connect with her new peers, risa extended the bag of goodies (electrolyte packets, honey chestnuts, rice snacks, and face masks). "hi, i'm risa," she introduced herself with a friendly tone. "i just recently signed with sr media and thought i would introduce myself," she offered, hoping to break the ice and make connections with her fellow trainees.

it was weird, to say the least.

this was a moment haein's been dreaming for years and yet it didn't feel real. this wouldn't be her first time being a trainee. no, she's gone through that back when she first came to korea, but this time it felt different. this time, it felt like she really was going to achieve something.

she's wandering around the building, trying to get accustomed to the place when someone sparks up a conversation. she's a bit startled by the goodie bag, but she takes it with a beaming smile. "it's lovely to meet you!" haein exclaimed before gently shaking the bag handed to her to express her gratitude.

"unfortunately, i wasn't as smart as you were and i don't have anything to hand to you," she said with a slight pout on her face. "i'm haein. sparkling new as well." she's seen instances in her past company of trainees only thinking of others as competition, and she was afraid that would be the case here as well. however, meeting someone like risa gave her assurance that this time it could be different.

the task had been simple enough. get risa some hair dye. yet for some reason, kou had felt as though risa didn't quite trust him enough to complete such an easy task. "i can do that much," he'd told her. all he had to do was go to a store, find some black hair dye and then – bam! he was done. as much of an idiot as many claimed that kou was, he wasn't a complete fool. he found a store not too far from risa's place, and lo and behold! a whole section dedicated to hairstyling products! kou smiled to himself as he inched closer to the area, covered in many different shampoos, conditioners, moose and waxing products. but he needed none of this. stay focused! he told himself as he searched the area.

"ah," he mumbled aloud when he found the row of hair dye. but here though, came the problem. while finding the hair dye was easy ... finding the right one, would perhaps pose a problem for someone like kou. the words were written in either korea or english – neither of which kou was exactly fluent in. he'd grown up in japan after all, and his family rarely ever used english. and while kou could speak fluent korean, there were still words that he couldn't quite grasp.

he stared at the row, furrowing his brows. "black hair dye. black hair dye. black hair," he repeated to himself in japanese. still, what exactly did they call black hair dye in korean? he had to figure it out. and while he could've easily picked up the phone and sent risa a text, he decided against it. he was not going to let her have the satisfaction of knowing he failed. and so, kou picked up a box with a photo of a woman and black hair and called it a day.

allergies.

yeah. kou has really bad allergies. but that has never stopped him – he'd never been the kind of man to simply be stopped by allergies. would never allow it to get in the way of him and his beloved ... cats. because if there was one thing that kou loved, and truly, really loved, it would be cats.

had a shit day? see a cat. had a good day? see a cat. had an okay day? see a cat.

still, it isn't beyond kou to completely forget his allergies, and even more so forget to take his allergy medicine before his shift. where he worked. at a cat cafe. fuck.

his nose is feeling uncomfortable and he's sneezed about a million times now. he knows for a fact that he's scared all the customers away, so he's turned to the one person he thinks he can count on. the girl he's left his house keys too in case of emergencies ( emergencies being kou accidentally leaving the country for two months ... and needing somebody to water his plants. true story ).