𝑻𝑩𝑹 𝑨𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚

All Hana could say is that, in the contact that was given by Eunhee; it was much more pleasing compared to MMG. Scratch that, Eunhee was much more understanding of the contract. MMG was far more not understanding. 

Now, she is sitting in the meeting room of the TBR Agency building; waiting for Eunhee as she received a direct message from Eunhee herself to meet her – the CEO didn’t say much but she just texted Hana to meet there. 

Hana was scrolling through her phone and saw the groupchat of the team name NOUVEAU – which was the new unit name, and of course in the groupchat was the members themselve. She couldn't help but smile a little. The first time she met them was actually after they had their first video call – yes, before they met, Eunhee had actually added all of them into this video call where all  the members were present, except for one.

And the fact that all of them weren't aware about each others’ presence in the groupchat actually shocked all of the members. It was exciting actually, to Hana. It was actually the first time she spoke to some of them; the only person Hana had spoken to was Yeonwoo since they were family-friends.

Hana wasn’t supposed to be surprised but she can’t help it; the girls are all so young, all were younger than her. But thankfully they somehow had the same maturity level as hers – she could tell when they met for the first time, it was the first time that Hana had seen Olivia.

Someone that Hana had heard so much from Eunhee, since Olivia is important to the agency on finding the number one case that the The Bloody Roses’ girls are finding for; NROVERO. All Hana could say is that Olivia is very introverted at first, but opened up the more they saw each other and had small talks in the agency building.

As she was scrolling through the chat group, that’s when she heard clicking sounds of heels – she looked up to see Eunhee walking in with her laptop. Hana quickly stood up in respect.

Eunhee groans as she puts down the laptop. “Stop it, Lizzy. We are way past that.” She jokingly roll her eyes, earning a teasing smile from Hana herself – though Eunhee was older than her, they already made the decision to treat each other as friends – with Eunhee not wanting Hana to call her ‘eonnie’, this was discussed way back when they were just trainees.

“How’s work?” Hana looked at Eunhee’s expression that showed pure tiredness – hearing the other girl sighing as she pulled her chair closer towards the table with Eunhee resting her arms on the table.

“Terrible.” Eunhee shakes her hea, “Lots of meetings with companies that wanted us to sign with them.” She sighs, “...and regarding the on-going case we decided to help NIS on.” 

Hana knew which case Eunhee was talking about – she had actually seen Eunhee’s team, The Bloody Roses’ girls staying up all night on this particular case that needs them to be in front of their laptops 24/7. “The chat-trafficking case.” 

The CEO nodded as her expression showed a sudden smile – now remembering why she had called Hana.

“Right! Back to the topic of why I call you here.” Eunhee raised a brow – Hana was kind of taken aback on how Eunhee went into ‘work’ mode, different compared to how she was a few seconds ago. She sounded tired and just not her casual self. Now she was already on her laptop – eyes move left and right on her laptop screen, before moving towards Hana.

“I have discussed with the rest on NOUVEAU's future’s schedule.” She added, “NOUVEAU will be guarding NCT….” Eunhee raised a brow towards Hana who was slowly nodding. 

“..and I assume we will be scheduled with the three of the groups..” Hana trailed off – with Eunhee giving her a nod. “Yes, that’s the instruction I was given for now.” Eunhee then proceeds on telling Hana about all the girls’ roles in the group. 

To summarise them, all of them are required in guarding NCT but Lizzy and Yina would 80% be stationed in TBR Agency since they are more advanced in administrative and technical skills – hence they are the Technical Team.

Noelle, Olivia, Alissa and Yeon would be the Public & Dispatch Team, where they would frequently be out spotted to guard NCT members compared to Lizzy and Yina. 

Each one of them has roles to play.

“Oh, I forgot to mention that Yerina would be guiding all of you when it comes to handling overseas schedules.” Eunhee smiled a little as she closed her laptop. “She and Olivia approached me regarding this.”

Hana wanted to ask more but she knew that asking Olivia straightforwardly would be ideal so she could only agree for now.

“Any questions?” Eunhee gave her a teasing side eye, with Hana chuckling as she shook her head. 

Hana was excited – she spent weeks in the gym room where she trained herself. She had asked the other members but most of them had their own fair share of schedules. Two of NOUVEAU members were not even in Korea right now – they were preparing themselves to move back to Korea as they spoke right now.

Speaking of moving, Hana’s family too had completely moved to Korea a few weeks ago from the U.K. It was good timing since her other family members had work in Korea. 

“Your first schedule will be sent out next week.” Eunhee told her simply as they were standing up from their seats.

As Hana and Eunhee were walking out of the meeting room with the two girls who were catching up with each others’ life that wasn’t related to work, Eunhee’s phone rang.

Hana saw Eunhee’s face expression change the moment she picked up the call – with Eunhee’s eyes meeting Hana’s slightly concerned ones. She could hear the end of the caller’s voice – whoever the caller is, he or she sounds urgent since the voice was slightly loud.

“Yeah, okay……. I’ll ask them. Bye.” With that Eunhee ends the call and her expression changes into a serious one.

“About your schedule that will be sent next week… let’s bring it forward to today.”

main masterlist

NOUVEAU masterlist

March 2014, Freshman, In A Classroom of SOPA

Sitting at the back, Hyungseo could only sigh while scribbling onto her notes, not caring that it's her first lesson.

Not after she heard rumors about her after a few days in school.

According to Hyungseo's group of friends — friends who are from middle school, Hyungseo has already made a reputation by having a scary face.

Whenever Hyungseo walked past students, she could hear them whispering about her. Most of them said that she looked like a thug or a gangster, basically teasing her by asking if she comes to school to beat up people.

While Hyungseo didn't give a damn about what others say, she didn’t care about making new friends since she had her own middle school group of friends even though they are in another class.

But she is friendly, her classmates made an effort to talk to her while Hyungseo just went along. This only applies to her classmates, she didn’t tolerate other students from different classes.

Until the teacher suddenly stopped talking, which caused Hyungseo to look up – to see two students somehow looking rushed while taking the empty seats that were just beside her.

'They look familiar...'

Hyungseo couldn't tell them apart now, both of them looked like they ran the perimeter field.

That's when Hyungseo remembered a news article she read on the internet. The new line-up for SM Rookies, from SM Entertainment. 

One of the big agencies that the students want to be a part of and that includes Hyungseo herself.

But auditioning to SM Entertainment was tricky; it was a rare opportunity for them to have an open audition right now. 

Hyungseo heard words from her own siblings, who kind of over-heard their father who owns an entertainment company, stating that most companies are now doing mystery-recruitment.

Where representatives from companies would be doing random walk-abouts, mostly schools, to find their next trainees.

So, Hyungseo is currently testing her luck; whether the opportunity would come to her, instead of running to them. 

'They look like the boys in the picture.'

It seems that one of them caught Hyungseo's gaze when the other turned towards her side, which made Hyungseo do a sharp turn to the front.

"..Excuse me."

One of them called, and Hyungseo slowly turned towards him with a slight hum and her usual poker face. He smiled awkwardly and his eye smile revealed forcefully.

"My name is Jeno," He pointed towards the guy beside him. "This is Jaemin."

Jaemin waved towards her shyly and Hyungseo had her brow raised with a small smile.

'I knew it. It is them!'

"Hi. I'm Hyungseo."

Jeno had his hand out, revealing a shocking red bruise on his knuckles — Hyungseo quietly accepted his handshake, her eyes maintaining the same level as his since she didn't want him to feel embarrassed or just uncomfortable.

"Nice to meet you, Hyungseo. Sorry for being random, but do you perhaps have a  band-aid?"

April of 2014, Outside of Skating Rink

Hyungseo was introduced to them after the 2nd week of school. Hyungseo and the two boys became good friends, and they usually had lunch together — and three figures approached them.

Their first interaction was kind of interesting.

“Yo Jeno! Jaemin!”

The three of them had their heads turned towards the loud voice, Hyungseo spotted them and she immediately recognized them. They were trainees from SM Entertainment too.

“Oh! Hey!” Jaemin waved towards them, while Jeno quickly turned towards Hyungseo.

“Hyungseo, this is—

One of them pushed another. “Hi! My name is Donghyuck! But you can call me Haechan or either one! And this is—

“Hina!” She innocently turned towards Haechan, purposely cutting him off since she could introduce herself.

Jaemin looks at Hyungseo sheepishly. Before he could continue, Donghyuck somehow cuts Jaemin off.

"Anyways, this is Mork Lee." Haechan pointed the boy beside him — seeing the other lowkey giving him a side-eye.

"It's Mark." Mark himself correcting him, with Haechan looking at the other with a look.

Hyungseo learns that Mark is a year older than her, which Jeno said they would see Mark seldom now.

“Is it okay, if we could have lunch together? I’m kind of tired of sticking with him.” Hina pointed towards Haechan who was dramatically clenching his heart — before both of them continued arguing with each other.

Hyungseo felt Jeno’s eyes, turning towards him and meeting his sheepish eye smile.

And since then, they have been a new group of friends for Hyungseo.

And now, after the group study session with Hyungseo teaching them on the subjects they were behind, Hyungseo invited them to an activity which could strengthen their friendship.

Wanting to know their real self, not the ‘famous trainees’ she heard from others.

Haechan mindlessly entered the indoor roller skating rink — pushing the two girls and the two boys out of the way, hearing slight curses particularly coming from Jaemin. 

Haechan looked around, “Woah… There’s no one here..” He turned towards Hyungseo who was walking at the back. “Do you own the place, Hyungseo?”

‘Shit, I can't tell them about my parents nor that I had rented the whole place just for us,’

There was a hint of teasing in Haechan's voice, and she knows he is just joking but — Hyungseo didn't know why she feels awkward.

Hyungseo awkwardly looked around. “Urh.. It’s not mine. But, it’s my Uncles’. Kind of asked for his favor to rent the place and he didn’t mind.” She shrugged coolly.

“Heol.” The four of them looked at her in awe causing Hyungseo to roll her eyes, shaking her head as she did the usual stuff whenever her friends came to play in the roller rinks — giving them their gears.

Hyungseo didn’t mind the boys, but she was particularly keeping a look out for Hina since those three boys were already ahead, forgetting their only girl friend in the trainee group.

“C’mon! I’ll hold you! Trust me!” 

Hyungseo kept on encouraging the Japanese girl, in which she took Hyungseo’s hands. She lead Hina on, giggling at each others’ body movements. At some point, both of them fell onto each other – causing them to have a fit of laughter.

Not realizing a pair of eyes was watching how happy Hyungseo looked, even when she was on the floor – looking like it hurt.

Jaemin caught the way how Jeno looked at her, earning a playful smirk as he pushed Jeno – that caused him to fall out of nowhere.

“Yah!”

May 2014, Outside of the Funeral Room

Hyungseo couldn’t stand the loud cries and sobs that she walked away from those who were kneeling on the floor; and the never-ending ‘I’m sorry’s , ‘I should be there for you,’ , ‘why didn’t you tell us?’ that comes from her own siblings, especially her older brothers.

Her mother was openly staring at the picture of him smiling widely, while her father was trying not to let out tears just for the sake of proving of being a man but he ended up shedding loud tears as soon as his close friends who came all the way from Japan showed up in front of him.

She didn’t even feel Chul’s suddenned big, squished hug. She didn’t even hear his group of friends who were crying loudly.

Hyungseo isn’t the only child in the family, nor is her older brother isn’t the only one in the family. 

She had five siblings excluding herself. 

Due to her having many siblings, her family is very unique. 

They were the family-oriented type, just like their ethnicity. Despite each individual having their own busy schedules, especially her parents and her older brothers, they still made it to family dinner.

They could be loud most of the time but Hyungseo wouldn’t want to change anything.

There were days where she just wanted to escape from the rowdy siblings but Hyungseo knew she couldn’t leave her twin alone. 

Yes, Hyungseo has a twin named Kaga Atsuki, he prefers to be called Hyunseok – just because Hyungseo changed her legal name to her Korean name. 

Hyungseo was born five minutes earlier than him.

Not many know about the fact that she is Japanese-Korean American and she had siblings – only her middle school friends know about this who are somehow friends with him too, due to his friendly personality although Hyunseok had warned Chul and his group of friends regarding hurting his sister’s feelings, and now the F4 plus Hina only knows she has a twin brother.

They used to go to the same middle school and now she was lucky that he went to a different school.

Hyungseo doesn’t know this but what Hyunseok loves about his twin is, she doesn’t practice honorifics with him, only him. They were like best friends.

Everyone can see that Hyungseo somehow favors his twin more.

Hyunseok’s dream was to become an idol – following their older brother’s step who debuted a year ago, becoming a talented soloist and a model, which Hyungseo strongly disagreed with but she couldn’t let her thoughts out since it’s her twin.

“..Seo..Do you have a dream?”

“...I don’t know.. Why so random? What do you want?”

“..Nothing! I want to become an idol, just like Hyunwoo hyung! Just saying!”

“.......Okay… Go and achieve it then if you really wanna be one.”

Should she be honest from the start? But at the same time she didn’t want to ruin his feelings, upsetting him. 

Hyunseok was a bundle of sunshine in the family, he was the energy-maker, the one who calms both his parents and his siblings if their older siblings have an argument with the adults.

So now, Hyungseo was at a loss. 

Things went too fast for her, she didn’t know how it all happened but all Hyungseo got was some information from her older brothers.

“Seokkie was bullied.” Her first brother, Hyunwoo muttered. 

His eyes were shown like he was in a daze, eyes swollen and his eye bags were shown more visibly. 

He was more like he was at a loss; it was understandable, he flew immediately after his concert the moment he had a call from his father that his younger brother was at the hospital.

Then finding out the heartbreaking news on the spot, and now the next day they are in the funeral room.

“....How?” Her second brother, Hyunwook whispered this time and at that moment, her brother's voices started to become distant in Hyungseo’s ears. 

She was shocked at what those scumbags spoke about her twin.

All those hatred and false comments just because he had been picked as a trainee in SM, words had been spread that he would be in the next SM Rookies line-up – which got some fans pissed, assuming their favorite trainees won’t be in the next line-up.

Hyungseo didn’t realize that she was crouching while letting out quiet tears and sobs – not noticing that a group of teens, wearing all black was running towards the poor girl.

“Hyungseo-ah..” The knowing voice called, at the same crouching to meet her eye-level. She did not need to look up. 

Hyungseo leaned towards him, accepting his comforting hug.

“I didn’t know.. Jeno, I didn’t… He didn’t even tell me..” Hyungseo sobbed, not seeing that Hina and Haechan were quietly shedding tears, while Mark and Jaemin looked like they were completely heartbroken.

Jeno leaned his head towards her, trying his best not to shed his own tears too. “..I’m sorry, Seo-ah.. I’m so sorry..”

June 2014, Outside the building of SOPA

Meet us outside! We have to see the teacher for 5 minutes. - Samoyed Eyes

“5 minute, my ass. It’s nearly 45 minutes.” Hyungseo muttered to herself as she clutched onto her gym bag and checked her watch, sighing while holding onto the papers in her hands. 

They were homework for Jeno and Jaemin, and their trainee friends, specifically Haechan and Hina. The death of Hyungseo’s twin really opened up Hyungseo’s perspective of social media bullying – thankfully, it wasn’t only her.

Hyungseo learned from her older brother that the company he worked for required all of its artists to attend a talk on "cyberbullying" and "bullying," along with the company's trainees.

Her parents, on the other hand, specifically took two months off from work – them staying in Korea to focus on their mental-health for the meantime.

Hyungseo thank her younger siblings for cheering them up – mainly her father, who sometimes Hyungseo would find him sleeping all alone on the sofa with a glass of whiskey in the middle of the night.

Her mother on the other hand had lost appetite for a few days, Hyungseo was the one who had to ‘force’ her – she was afraid her mother would starve herself, so Hyungseo decided to be with her for almost all the meal times. And it worked, thankfully.

Her mother started to get back to her usual self after a month, while Hyungseo took a month to digest everything, but that doesn’t  mean she accepted his death. 

Hyungseo was still heartbroken, but it made her more aware of the reality.

“LEE HYUNGSEO!”

Hyungseo gestured towards her wrist – indicating that they didn’t stick to the words that Jeno texted her, earning sheepish chuckles from the boys.

“The teacher kind of held us back… Oh well,” Haechan commented, while looking at the group who was somehow agreeing to his words.

Hyungseo could only sigh while nodding before they walked to their usual bus-stop, only to notice the uncomfortable looking Hina. 

Uncomfortable since her head was facing down since just now, and it looked like she just wanted to leave from the school compound.

‘Did something happen?’

Jeno and Jaemin caught where Hyungseo was staring at, they noticed since Hyungseo looked kind of worried – in which Jeno tapped Hyungseo’s arm, indicating they should move.

Jaemin stayed close to Hina, while Jeno stayed with Hyungseo – more like Hyungseo was explaining to Jeno regarding each papers from the respectives subjects.

“..So.. That’s it. I took each copy for Jaemin too,” Hyungseo handed them to Jeno, knowing the two boys were probably walking in the same direction – hearing a quiet ‘thanks’ from Jeno.

Hyungseo looked around her surroundings, to notice the atmosphere was quite off.

It wasn’t only Hina who was acting rather quiet compared to the other days they went home together.

Today was a different kind of silence.

“Jeno,” Hyungseo called, hearing a soft hum from Jeno.

“Is everything okay?” She questioned with a slight frown. Jeno caught her frown, he immediately shook his head with a small smile. “Yeah.. Everything is fine. Don’t worry.”

Hyungseo knew he was lying – compared to Jaemin, Jeno was slightly easier to read the more she hung out with them. They were similar, but they had little differences.

“If you say so.”

Hyungseo had to part ways with them; since she had a ride home where her older brother would be fetching her – waving towards the group as they went downhill to their bus-stop. 

She was minding her own business when she heard conversations of other students – they were mostly about a girl Hyungseo just met minutes ago. The words were discouraging, and had pure jealousy.

‘Is that why they are all feeling down? Because Hina was being bad-mouthed?’

June 2014, Outside the building of SOPA

Sorry, Seo-ah. Jaemin and I had to miss school. You don’t have to keep writing notes. I bet it tires you out. I’m sorry. - Samoyed Eye

Huh? Why? How about Mark? How about Hina and Haechan? Are they coming to school?

No. They had to skip school too. – Samoyed Eye

I don’t understand. Did you guys catch the flu? Do you need me to come to SM to pass the notes? I don’t mind since I live near there.

We’re okay, Hyungseo. Really. It’s just we need to take time off from school. – Samoyed Eye

Hyungseo sighed loudly while roughly putting her phone down, and resting her face on her arms — not knowing a group was approaching her.

The leader, rumored to be a gangster, went towards her table.

“Seo. Hey, wake up.” He tapped on her table loudly, earning a loud groan and her hands swatting towards the direction of his voice. 

“What do you want… Go away, I wanna sleep.”

There was a slight pause, before he gasped dramatically. “You have no time to sleep! Help me out! It’s regarding a trainee that I am voting for her to debut asap!”

Hyungseo clicked her tongue, sleepily looking towards his way – seeing him placing his laptop on her desk.

“It’s kind of bad….. Help me Seo-ah… It spreaded to the school community website.” Chul pouted at her, kind of acting cute since he is asking his only girl friend of his group to help.

Hyungseo confusingly looked at him then to the group who was somehow clasping their hands together to her.

‘They look desperate…’

She turned towards his laptop screen, to see a board full of comments.

Chul is one of Hyungseo’s middle school friends. He is a die-hard fan of SM Entertainment groups. Hyungseo has gotten used to his die-hard fangirling whenever they went to concerts together.

‘Hina attention-seeker… Hina not fit to be… Hina ugly… SMRookies… Why her.. Not suit.. Fail… No debut…’

It wasn't just Hina, the other four name's were being typed too.

Hina got the worst comments compared to the boys.

Her eyes furrowed shockingly, before it turned towards an obvious scowl. Hyungseo puts the bits together as she closes her eyes in annoyance and stupidity.

She can’t believe she just realised the reason why they can’t go to school was because of this ridiculous scandal.

Together with Chul and the others, they decided to settle this right after school –  them staying back at school to solve this case, with unleashing Hyungseo’s secret talent which is hacking onto the system to find out who would start this stupid rumors.

One by one, some of her friends had to leave due to their curfew which left Hyungseo and Chul. In less than two hours, Hyungseo had to slightly slap Chul’s cheeks who was sleeping loudly.

“What!? What!? What happened?!”

Hyungseo showed him a certain address and some usernames, which Chul squinted his eyes – before rubbing his eyes to not see things.

“What? You know where this is?” 

Chul blinked towards her.

“The address is from class 1-3, basically two classes away from us.” Chul gulped, making Hyungseo to crossed her arms.

“How about the usernames? You recognize them?”

Chul nodded, letting out names and Hyungseo’s face dropped immediately.

June 2014, In A Classroom in SOPA

“The kids here call them Fake Barbie 1 and Fake Barbie 2. Heard from others that they got kicked out from SM Entertainment, they said those two bad-mouthed the on-going trainees just because they got kicked out. I mean we don’t need to know the reason why SM kicked them. The students have seen the reason.”

“Okay. Chul, I need you to do something for me. Reward is a pile of your favourite branded chocolate. Deal or—

“DEAL!”

“Woah. She looks pissed.”

“Look at her face.”

“God.”

Hyungseo huffed out the anger from her nose, while annoyingly putting her slipping gym bag – the students in the hallway could tell that she was super pissed, she was actually infuriated. 

Instead of turning to the first classroom, Hyungseo walked ahead – hearing her classmates from behind calling out her name, mistaking that she went to the wrong classroom when she knew what she was doing.

Reaching the classroom of 1-3, Hyungseo roughly opens the door with a loud thud – screams of frightened girls were heard as they turned around. 

“What the―

“What is she doing here?”

Ignoring their words, Hyungseo looked around to see two girls who stood out from everyone. 

‘Who on earth would dye their hair like that? They looked like neon sticks.’

Walking towards where they were, she stood in front of them — earning weird looks from both the girls.

One of them smiled innocently “Ah.. Angry freak.”

Hyungseo gave them a brief glance.

“...What do you want? Scram―

 Hyungseo didn’t let them finish. She flipped both of their tables, not caring that it scratched on her hands.

July of 2014,  Locker Hallways in SOPA

They haven't even taken a step inside the school building, yet she was met with gazes from the students — they were looking because Hyungseo’s nose had a nose cast from the confrontation of Fake Barbie 1 and Fake Barbie 2.

“This is a good opportunity to have plastic surgery don’t you think?”

“Chul. No.” Hyungseo looks at him with a straight face, not caring that he was telling her the positive feedback of doing plastic surgery.

“What was that for!?!”

“What was that for!? Did you just say what was that for!?! After making up rumors about Hina… It isn’t just Hina. How dare you mention Mark, Donghyuck, Jeno and Jaemin names in your filthy mouths.”

“Why do you care? You’re not even a trainee.”

“Yes, I’m not a trainee. But I am their friend!”

Hyungseo didn’t care that she was screaming her heart out to the girls, completely aware that the students were filming what was happening.

“Them befriending you? What a joke. Maybe they are just befriending you because they took pity on you. Didn’t your twin committed suicide?”

Hyungseo could hear her own heartbeat, knowing that she was starting to get pissed.

Hearing this, Hyungseo decided to turn away. Afraid that she might go ballistic. 

But before that, she did an unexpected move – giving a powerful blow which landed on her head.

A loud thud was heard together with gasps of horror.

Fake Barbie 1 was seen knocked out on the floor.

Hyungseo stood in front of the big and tall Chul, munching his chocolates while rambling about plastic surgery — causing the big boy to out of nowhere stop at his tracks. “It’s just a slight fracture, Chul! Not a dramatic one! You gotta relax!”

Chul was about to respond to her when his eyes caught a familiar group of friends who kind of disappeared for nearly a month now. 

Hyungseo followed where Chul was looking, to see Haechan, Jeno, Jaemin and Hina. 

‘Ah.. that’s why Chul froze…’

Her eyes landed towards Jeno, realizing that he had his hair dyed. It wasn’t only him, Jaemin too. But Hyungseo can’t help but to look at how handsome Jeno looks.

She met his gaze, causing her to become flustered — turning towards the front not to see him anywhere.

“Chul― C-Chul!?! Aish, he’s supposed to make friends with her, not run away.” Hyungseo muttered at the end, looking around not seeing big Chul — earning a sigh from her.

Hyungseo didn’t know if she should face them or just walk away.

She didn’t tell them about what had happened, Hyungseo didn't want them to worry since they had a lot on their plates with their own training and school itself. So, Hyungseo decided to just walk forward.

“Hyungseo!”

As soon as she turned behind, she was met with a huge weight engulfed on her body. Then realising it was Hina who was hugging her, noticing the others who were smiling towards Hyungseo.

“We heard from the discipline master about what happened! Hyungseo-ya, why on earth…” Hina cupped onto Hyungseo’s face, before nagging the broken nose girl.

Hyungseo didn’t have the time to answer her with the school bell ringing indicating class was about to start.

Haechan and Hina gave Hyungseo a quick hug and words of admiration, before parting ways since they were in different classes.

“You didn’t need to do that.” Jeno voiced out, earning a look from both Jaemin and Hyungseo.

Hyungseo folded her arms, standing right infront of both of them, “..I can’t just sit still knowing my friends are absent due to their company asking them to lay low from a hoax; besides, I got it covered by Chul and my dad. C’mon.” She pulled the two boys into the classroom.

Jeno didn’t realize that he had a small smile plastered, when her hand placed on his arms — pulling him in. But he didn’t realise Hyungseo was smiling twice at him.

‘It’s the least I could do, Hyunseok-ah. I hope you are proud of me.’

October 2015, In A Classroom in SOPA

“Yah! Yah! Is it true?!” Jaemin tapped on her table a little loudly since she was busy writing — causing Hyungseo to look up, then to see Jeno smiling at her yet he looked confused.

“What is true?” Hyungseo tilted her head towards the both of them, seeing them looking at each other confusingly.

“Uh…That you rejected the school’s offer of being the student council…?” Jaemin watched her close her book with a small smile, before meeting her eyes.

“Yup. I did.”

“WHAT?!” The two boys said in unison and Hyungseo looked at them weirdly — wondering why they were so surprised and bothered.

“W-Why did you reject them, Seo-ah?! You just missed a great opportunity! I mean you can straight away audition for SM if you accept it! SM accepts everyone but they are particular to student council students! Seo-yah!” Jaemin was about to whine at her more but Jeno pulled his friend’s arm.

Hyungseo could only sigh, she was already used to Jaemin’s whining and his dramatic personality. “They only recognize me because I caught an idiot trying to start rumors of somebody else.” 

There was a small smile coming from her, as she looked towards her two friends — handing them a few papers of notes. “..And besides if I auditioned and got accepted, who’s going to send you the notes regularly now?”

‘Had a change of dreams, Jaemin-ah. I can’t tell you and my parents yet. They are still grieving. I’m sticking here till we graduate together so that I can protect you and the others.’

“But—

“No buts.” Hyungseo shuts Jaemin with her finger on his lips, seeing Jeno trying not to laugh which he failed miserably.

Hyungseo let out a chuckle, to see Jaemin pouting as he glanced towards the notes by Hyungseo.

“Thanks, Hyungseo.” Jeno said shyly and she could only shrug while letting out a thumbs up — before grabbing both of them arms, locking hers with theirs.

“C’mon! To the canteen we go! Oh and invite Hina too! I have some notes to give her!” Hyungseo turned towards Jeno, to already see him looking at her — giving her his usual eye smile.

This time, strangely, Hyungseo’s eyes widened slightly as soon as she met his eyes. 

She started to hear her own heartbeat. She didn’t know if it was her head playing games with her, but she knows her heart is beating slightly faster than normal.

This caused her not to hear what Jaemin was talking about, but she knows it is regarding the notes she wrote for the times that the boys had to skip due to them being active trainees now.

14th February 2015, Locker Hallways in SOPA

Hyungseo didn’t see it coming.

As soon as she opened her locker, a bunch of flowers and colored letters flowed out of the locker causing her to take a step back.

Hyungseo didn’t need to read them fully, she could see words like ‘I’m your fan.’ , ‘I love your bad-ass personality.’ , ‘Please knock my face just like how you knock her out.’

“Woah, that’s… a lot..”

Jaemin out of nowhere stood beside her, eyes on the letters and flowers — and chocolates. Hyungseo sighed before grabbing all of the letters and flowers into her eco bag. 

“I see that you are alone.” Hyungseo commented, “Where’s the samoyed?” 

“Training.” Jaemin answered cooly, and he noticed her expression fell slightly. 

‘Ah… Jeno isn’t the only one feeling that way…’

He crouched down to help her, then glanced towards Hyungseo. 

Jaemin had to admit that Hyungseo is pretty. The other girls are pretty too but, Hyungseo has an attractive feature which makes her look mysterious — not to mention her personality, she is definitely the type to lowkey care for the ones she is close with.

He isn’t surprised if Jeno has feelings for her, after knowing Hyungseo.

“Thanks, Jaem.” Hyungseo smiled, taking the bag from him – she was about to place the bag into her locker.

“Seo-ah...” 

Hyungseo turned towards him, seeing him rummaging onto his bag — earning a frown from Hyungseo. Seeing his face lit up, Jaemin handed a small brown paper bag towards her.

“Here! From Jeno.” Jaemin said with a wide smile, and Hyungseo had her eyes widen in surprise.

“He told me to give it to you, since he couldn’t come to school..” Jaemin scratches the back of his neck awkwardly – seeing Hyungseo smiling while trying to open the package, revealing a small note and a baby blue flower keychain.

Happy Valentine's Day, Lee Hyungseo! 

Lee Jeno, the Samoyed Eyed.

Hyungseo tried her best not to let out an obvious smile, but she couldn’t help it. 

This caused Jaemin to smirk cheekily, already can’t wait for school to end just to tell his best friend on his crush’s reaction to his Valentine’s gift.

“Help me say thanks to him. Now help me finish the chocolates!”

April 2015, In A Classroom in SOPA

“WHAT!? We can’t― Dad, I can’t just leave halfway! I-I already made new friends!”

“ You’re coming, kid. No buts. And besides, you can make new friends there! I already spoke to your mother about this and she agreed.”

“But―

“Think about it, kiddo. This is a good opportunity. You have skills to work under law enforcement. You can’t hide it from me, weren’t you the one who hacked into the school community system?”

Chul slammed the table, causing everyone in the classroom to look at him. Hyungseo looked around, somehow apologizing towards her classmates due to her friend being a nuisance.

“Calm down, Chul! You’re giving them a heart attack!” Hyungseo pulled his arms towards the back door, them basically trying to make themselves small at the side — Chul pouted as soon as he stood in front of her.

“How am I supposed to calm down!?! My best friend is leaving the country!” Chul out of nowhere started to cry, which flustered the heck out of Hyungseo — Chul had a reputation in school.

Due to his big size and his height, he was labeled and rumored as the bully-looking.

But his classmates knew him better, especially Hyungseo. So they didn’t mind the rumors.

‘Maybe this was supposed to happen.. What do you think, Hyunseok?’

“It’s just for a while!”

“How long is a while huh!? Is a year or two a while to you!?” Chul cried out, him rubbing his eyes — he started to sob which even made her more embarrassed. 

‘He is a big guy but his heart is as soft as a plushie.’

“Y-yah! Yah! Why are you crying!? Aish, c’mon―

Hyungseo was about to accompany Chul by grabbing him, her arms wrapping around his huge waist but her legs stood frozen, as soon as she caught the one who was standing a few feet away from her.

It was Jeno.

Hyungseo was about to give him a smile, but he did the unexpected.

Jeno turned around, and went the opposite direction instead of entering the classroom.

May 2015, Locker Hallways in SOPA

“Aish! This Jeno! It’s all a misunderstanding!” 

Hyungseo closed the locker, facing the girl who was frowning slightly. She was about to speak her words but, somehow she couldn’t let it out.

It only led her to the times when Jeno avoided her in school, and sadly he had to pull Jaemin along – leaving Hyungseo in the dark.

She didn’t mind, she was leaving soon anyway — but honestly she was hurt.

‘He could have gone to me and asked me straight away.’

“I mean, it’s kind of obvious that Chul isn’t interested in you.” Hina commented, “...even if he did, he would have already made his move in middle school.” 

Hyungseo can’t help but chuckle slightly, remembering her middle school days with Chul and his gang – Chul basically being teased by his gang and Hyungseo for crushing on one of her girl frends. 

“But what is really obvious is Jeno’s feelings for….” Hina trailed off, eyes meeting Hyungseo’s eyes. 

Hyungseo didn’t want her to finish the sentence, giving Hina an awkward smile.

“..By the way, I’m dropping out of school. Today is my last day.”

“Oh— I mean we could— WHAT!?!” Hina yelled slightly and Hyungseo could only give her a smile.

Hyungseo wanted to cry at the spot, but she couldn’t. 

She didn’t want Hina to be sad — Hyungseo had somehow become close with Hina after the day where she punched those bullies spreading rumours about her.

A day in which Hina preferred to be alone or to be accompanied by a girl, leads to Hyungseo being Hina’s best friend in SOPA.

Hyungseo turned towards Hina who was looking up to the cloudy sky, them sitting on the steps of the stairs outside the school building. “Why don’t you hang out with your classmates? Some of them look nice.”

The Japanese girl turned towards her, “I don’t trust them.”

“What makes me different from them then?”

Hina let out a small, before turning her gaze towards random students. “...On how you treat us, on how you made us feel no different from the others.”

“I don’t..” Hina trailed off, looking at Hyungseo confusingly.

“I’ll tell you more but..” Hyungseo took out something from the pocket of her uniform jacket, handing it towards the Japanese girl.

Jeno’s name was written on the letter.

“Could you give this Jeno?”

May 2015, The Hallways of SM Entertainment Building

“YAH! Lee Jeno!” Hina jumped right in front of his way, causing Jeno to stop abruptly.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

“Because I had training the whole day and I passed out after that..?” Jeno deadpanned, looking towards the frustrated Hina.

“Have you answered Hyungseo’s calls then?” 

The moment Hina mentioned her name, Jeno’s face froze slightly — before looking while continuing walking ahead since Hina stopped him previously.

“N-no. I have no time. I’m focusing on my debut.” Jeno made an excuse. He didn’t want to act childishly but how could he?

He just saw his crush, being too close to her best friend — it was as if they were a thing.

But what made Jeno more hurt is that Hyungseo was leading him on.

He knew she had the same feelings as him, it was obvious — and Jaemin had been his wingman. Jeno knows that Hina had been Hyungseo’s wingwoman too.

“You idio—

Hina sighed frustratingly, before handing an envelope towards him.

It was obvious that it was for him since his name was written bigly and he recognized the handwriting. How could he not? She had been writing notes for him every week ever since the start, till he could differentiate if it was her handwriting or not.

Jeno frowns slightly, at the same time taking the envelope from her. He quickly opened it, to see a paper with her handwriting.

Chul is just my friend from middle school, but you are my first friend in SOPA.

Chul has a crush on Hina, that he would ask me lots of stupid questions.

I can’t help it but, the more you spend time with someone, the more likely you will have feelings for them.

I didn’t have the courage to tell you face to face but I like samoyeds. I’ll probably like samoyeds for a long time now, even when I am in the U.S. 

Take care Lee Jeno. Your health is your no.1 priority for now, in order to debut successfully. Take care of Jaemin and Hina too, not forgetting Mark and Haechan. I hope we can meet again, after you become an idol. Good luck and stay safe. - Scary Looking Girl, Lee Hyungseo

There was a little weight inside the envelope too – revealing a samoyed keychain and a pack of band-aid on his palms, the same band-aids that he received from her on the first interaction he had with Hyungseo.

“U.S.?... Why..?” Jeno whispered, his eyes already turned cloudy the more he read the letter.

“She said this wasn’t her path..” Hina muttered softly.

“My dad found out that I was the one who hacked onto the systems.”

“...Oh.. Is he punishing you then? He can’t do this by pulling you out of SOPA!”

“No, I don’t think he is punishing me. I think he is trying to tell me that this isn’t my future career. As in like, this isn’t my destined path to become an idol.”

“...How about you then? What do you think?”

“...I love SOPA, I love you guys but.. I think this is for the best.”

Jeno looked towards Hina tearfully. “She was my first crush, I didn't get the chance to even say sorry and confess to her.”

At this point, Jeno just wants to hear her voice. He wants to reconcile before it's too late.

“Then do it now!” Hina rushed him, Jeno fumbling into his sports pants pockets for his phone.

Jeno got a hold of her contact and called her – but not even a ring, he was already connected.

“The number you are calling is unavailable.”

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