𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ˢᵛᵗ

fourteen ♬

Weeks went by, swiftly welcoming the blossoms of March. Nowadays, I had spent more time with Jun and Minghao, as they were in need of a new Korean tutor. Jihoon no longer had the time to help them, ever since pressures of lyric writing had accumulated on his shoulders. So instead, I offered to teach them whilst Jihoon stayed at the studio working on songs. In return, they promised to teach me some Chinese.

As I was with them for every break we got given, I hadn't spoken much to others out with my schedule. Every so often, Seungkwan and Vernon would pass by and we'd exchange hellos but that's all. Dino and Wonwoo invited me to play games with them sometimes after our encounter, which was a nice stress reliever after teaching. I saw Seokmin everyday in classes, but him and Soonyoung were glued to the hip recently so we've barely spoken to each other.

It was lunchtime, and I was sat at the far table with Jun and Minghao. Textbooks were sprawled open messily, both of them studying the concepts hard. They were both quick learners, making my job easier for me.

"Chae-ri, how do you pronounce this word again?" Jun pointed at the sentence describing emotions and facial expressions. The word he was looking for was proud.

"It's Ja-rang-seu-reo-wo," I explained, enunciating each syllable. He gave a satisfied nod before returning to his textbook. Truthfully, as much as I was eager to support them learning Korean, it was really boring. They were too dedicated to studying the books, to the point where they'd forget my presence unless they needed clarification on what a word meant or how it was pronounced; which was rarely. Most of these sessions, I sat wordlessly reading a book I'd borrowed from Wonwoo or writing lyrics to give to Ms Chang for her to look over.

Therefore, when Mingyu entered the canteen, I couldn't help but feel relieved.

Naturally, Mingyu and I were close because our friendship with Jeonghan. We'd spoken a lot these days and hung out during classes. He's reliable and helpful, a good friend to me. Out of all the trainees here, bar Jeonghan, I'm most glad to have met Mingyu. I'd feel a lot lonelier without him.

He caught my eye and bounded over to where we sat, pulling out the chair and sitting down next to me. Jun and Minghao tilted their heads upwards to catch a glimpse of who had joined them. Once they acknowledged that it was Mingyu, they continued to work, neck deep in the world of language learning.

"Some of us are in the practice room playing games, wanna come?" Mingyu suggested, providing me an escape from the boredom. I nodded profusely, following him towards the exit. Glimpsing behind my shoulder, neither of the two appeared to have noted my absence. With that, we made our way through the winding hall stopping at the practice room door.

Inside, almost half the trainees were seated on the floor in a circle talking amongst each other. Seokmin, who was engaging in a lively conversation with Seungkwan and Vernon, shot his eyes to me as soon as I walked through the door. Jeonghan was sitting next to Joshua and Seungcheol, the trio also halting their conversation when we came in.

"Is Chae-ri joining us?" Vernon's voice chirped.

"The more the merrier," I heard Seungcheol say. The six of them stood up and Joshua began explaining what we were about to play.

"It's called I Am You. Basically, you have to pretend to be someone in this room and say a sentence that the person you have chosen would normally say. It seems pretty straightforward, however there is a catch. The catch is that your tone of voice has to match another person in this room, not the same person as who you've chosen."

"So we've got to pick two people?" I clarified, making sure I understand correctly. He nodded in response.

I thought about who I'd pick. Seungkwan seemed to easy is terms of what he'd say, as he's always so sassy. Vernon might've been an alright pick, considering half of what he says is random. I ended up choosing Mingyu and Seungcheol, partly because I thought I could pull off Mingyu's silly catchphrases with Seungcheol's fatherly authoritative tone.

Vernon was up first.

"Your foot needs to be 35 degrees to the left," Vernon nagged boldly, giving away one of his two people straight off the bat.

"Are you trying to be Soonyoung and Seungkwan?" Jeonghan asked the boy, whose face was shocked at how quickly he'd guessed the answer. Vernon nodded, still staring in surprise.

"I said it has to be someone in this room," Joshua said, holding back his laughter.

"Oh sorry my bad," Vernon apologised and sat down, the rest giggling at his efforts.

"I'll go now," Seokmin put forth. "Low quality? I'm the best quality!"

His voice was gentle and controlled, contrasting with Vernon's sassy one. I knew the sentence was based off of Seungkwan, because I was there when he said it. The tone however had me stumped.

"I know that's something Seungkwan would say," Mingyu began. "And the tone sounds like Joshua's. I could be wrong, though."

"You got it right!" Seokmin broke out into a big smile and gave Mingyu a thumbs up. It was kinda cute to watch. Looking back, it actually makes sense that it would be Joshua's tone. I never thought about it much, but he does have quite a soft voice.

"My turn," Seungcheol chimed in. "You shouldn't do that, it's wrong."

The words itself were harmless, but the playful tone in which it was said gave them a whole new meaning. The sentence, the way it was said and hearing it come out of Seungcheol's mouth; I couldn't contain myself and neither could the others. We all burst out laughing, rolling in stitches over his impression.

"That's 100% Joshua's words and Jeonghan's voice!" Seokmin chuckled. A hand covered Seungcheol's face as he nodded, in am attempt to hide his embarrassment.

Joshua and Mingyu had their turns, both choosing Vernon's words and using Seungkwan's tone, probably because they were the easiest to imitate. Now it was my turn.

"I want ramen," I kept my voice as serious as possible, although it was difficult as I wanted to laugh so badly. Jeonghan tilted his head in confusion, Vernon copying him.

"I know the voice is Seungcheol's," He said. "But the sentence? Who would say that?"

They all racked their brains for answers. It was fun watching them struggle, even though to me the owner of the sentence seemed obvious.

"I give up who is it?" Seungkwan asked.

"It was Mingyu!" I said, proud of fooling everyone. The guys all cringed at how obvious the answer was, all except Mingyu himself.

"How is that me?" Mingyu turned in towards me, a dumbfounded expression painted on his face.

"You always want ramen," Seungcheol uttered. "I saw you eat it not even an hour ago."

Mingyu paused for minute, thinking about his next words.

"Yeah you're right," Mingyu chuckled, causing the rest of us to laugh at his defensive reaction earlier.

Jeonghan was last to go. We only had a few minutes before our break was finished, meaning we had to go to our next class. He did an impression of Seokmin calling my name, to which I glared at him. He only stuck his tongue out at me, taunting me more.

Lucky for him, it was time for us to head to vocal practice. Unlucky for him though, because we have the exact same schedule. There was no way for him to wriggle out of the wrath that I would unleash upon him. I was going to make him regret ever becoming a trainee at the same company as me.

But he managed to sneak away this time as Youngpil caught my eye just before class. He gestured for me to follow him, and I complied. I was back in the staff room, where two other staff members and Youngpil were seated opposite me.

"We have some big news to share with you," He announced, clasping his hands together. I internally begged that this was not about my mother. I can't handle any more of her antics right now.

"You're going to be on a survival show."