Final Puzzle Piece || SKZ 9th Member

The 9th Member

Kala's hands trembled uncontrollably. And it wasn't the only thing. Her whole body was shaking too, her knees were weak to the bone, her palms were sweaty and cold, and her heart was being a drummer that hit her chest in a rhyme. 

She was about to meet the other members of Stray Kids. Holy shit. 

It was only fair that she was having a minor anxiety attack right now. Kala tried her best to maintain it by sucking so much air to fill her lungs and breathing out slowly.

In front of the door to the practice room, Chan stood beside her in a contrary state. He was excited to introduce Kala to the others. "You're ready?"

No.

"I-I'm scared. What if... what if they don't like me?"

Chan's face softened, taking notice of Kala's trembling hands. He placed his hands on both of her shoulders and turned her body to face him. "I'll stay by your side all the time. Just trust me, yeah?"

Kala shut her eyes and let out a shaking breath before nodding slowly. When she felt like her body already relaxed a bit, she finally spoke, "Okay... let's meet them."

Chan smiled proudly at the younger girl and retreated his hand from her shoulders. "Alright, here we go."

As Chan opened the door and revealed the 7 boys inside the dance practice room, Kala could feel her ears burning hot she was sure it had become red now. Her steps followed Chan from behind like a duckling tailing its mother to cross the road.

"Boys, I bring someone," Chan announced their presence.

The members stopped doing whatever they did and diverted their attention to the leader and the girl behind him in interest, or just the girl to be specific. They dragged their feet and gathered around the two.

Chan clapped his hands once when all the members were complete. "Guys, meet our 9th member," he set his arm around Kala's shoulder and brought her to the members' clear view, "Kala."

Kala became blank for a second and didn't dare to make eye contact with anyone, so she bowed to avoid it. "A-annyeonghaseyo. K-Kala—ah no. M-my... my name is Ryu Kal... Kala... Ryu Kala." She obviously ended up stammering in the first impression. Not surprising at all. She herself already expected this to happen.

"Annyeong! It's nice to finally meet you, Kala. Chan Hyung talks a lot about you," the hamster look-alike boy said, being the first to break the wall of her awkwardness. "I'm Han Jisung. Just call me Jisung." He gave his hand to her for a handshake.

Kala took it in an instant and bowed. "Jal butakdeurimnida."

Jisung shone her a wide grin that made her less tense and feel welcome.

"Pleasure to meet you, Kala. I'm Felix." A deep voice came out from the boy beside Jisung. And to be very honest, his look didn't match his deep, baddie-type voice at all. He seemed like a really sweet guy from what Kala saw in these first minutes. "Well, I have a Korean name, Lee Yongbok, but I prefer Felix."

"Your name is so cool," Kala stated, which made Felix and some of the members chuckle. She accepted Felix's handshake and bowed again. "Ryu Kala."

"Ah, right!" the next boy exclaimed in realization. Somehow Kala recognized his face, but her brain couldn't wrap on where she had met this boy before. "You're the 'sunbaenim' girl! That time, in front of the building, you asked me if you could feed the cats."

On remembering that memory, Kala's eyes widened. "You're the cat boy who played with them with a stick!" she claimed in an excited tone that she wasn't aware she was capable of using for someone relatively new to her. "Minho, isn't it? Lee Minho."