Chapter 25

160511

***

Star is quietly packing her things from her desk in their room. It's already time to go home but in Star's case, they have to go straight to their training unlike their classmates.

She followed Ten's suggestion and didn't attend school and trainings yesterday. But now she's doing fine, so she went to school to do her missed schoolworks. She already texted Ten earlier that she will go to school and Ten just told her to take care and observe herself in case her fever will go up again.

"Seomin-ah, let's go." Star said while wearing her backpack and watching Seomin wearing hers.

"Bye girls!" One of their male classmates bid them a goodbye before going out of the room. He winked at Seomin and she just cringed. Star laughed at them.

"You're gaining lovers." Star teased her. Seomin pushed her towards the door as a response to her. She just laughed at Seomin.

They went out of the room together and went to Chahyun's room while fussing about their lessons.

When they reached Chahyun's room, they peeked on the small glass on the door to look for Chahyun and she's just about to open the door. She was shocked to see her friends' faces right in front of the small window and she just laughed at it.

"Aigoo. You surprised me." They laughed in enjoyment.

"Let's go?" Star asked.

"Hmm..." she just said without looking at her. She looked uneasy, looking down while walking. But Star just didn't pay attention to it and just thought it's a personal thing. Because she know that if she has a problem, she will tell them immediately.

They were about to get out of the gate when someone called their names.

"Seomin noona! Star noona! Wait! Chahyun noona!" They looked back to see who's calling them and they found Jeno, Jaemin, Donghyuck and Mark running towards them.

"Oh, hello!" Star waved at them.

"Are you already going to the company?" Mark asked.

"Yep. Before we got late." Seomin said while looking at her wrist watch. The boys are running out of breath because they ran as fast as they can to reach the girls.

"Plus, I have to attend trainings today because I was absent for two days." Star said while scratching her nape.

"Oh, I see. Hmm, we better go now." Jaemin said.

The seven of them went to the company altogether. They stopped in a food stall for a while to fill their stomachs before reaching the SMEnt building.

"We have to take this way. Bye noonas!" Donghyuck said then they took the right corridor and the girls turned to the left.

Once again, Star noticed Chahyun being silent. Everyday, whenever they go here from school, she's usually talkative. But she's different now. Or shall we say, since yesterday. She's being elusive.

"Ugh. I'm getting tired." Seomin muttered.

"Of what?" Star asked.

"Of our daily routine."

Star's forehead knotted, "Then what do you want to do?"

Seomin halted and reflected herself, "Yah, I have nothing to do. I can't do anything."

"See?" Star said and Seomin just shrugged. "Seomin-ah, as long as you love what you're doing, you will never get tired of it. If this is something you really don't love, then find what makes you satisfied and happy."

Seomin smiled awkwardly, "As of now, 2:34 pm, this is what I want to do. Train to be an idol." She said and they just laughed about it.

"Yah, Chahyun." Star called her, noticing her being so silent while walking.

"Ne?" She responded without looking at them.

"Are you ok? You're being quiet." Star said.

"And that's pretty new." Seomin added. "Is something bothering you?"

"Nothing." Then she entered their practice room.

"Oh. I didn't notice that we're already here." Seomin just said. Star stayed looking at Chahyun while entering the room. The other trainees are already there.

**

It was dinner break and everyone in the practice room is chatting with each other except for Chahyun who is silently eating beside Seomin and Star.

"Yah, Chahyun, I know there's something bothering you." Star said then she put her hand on her shoulder.

"Nah. I'm fine. I just uhm..." she looks uneasy again, "I just miss my family."

"Ah. I see." She smiled at her, "I miss my family too. I hope I can visit them this month." Chahyun just nodded at her and continued eating. Star frowned while watching her. She's not believing her reason.

"Fifteen minutes left. We will have our group dance practice by seven to nine." Their new dance instructor Greg said.

Star finished up her dinner and stood to prepare herself. The other trainees one by one finished their meals too.

While having their left time, the door opened and a bunch of trainees entered the room. Star's eyes widened to see the Rookies.

"M-mwoya..." Seomin muttered while staring at the people coming.

"Are we going to share rooms again?" Star bravely asked while searching for Ten who isn't showing up yet.

"Yeah. We will be evaluating each other." Jaehyun answered. Star just nodded.

"Annyeonghaseyo!" They greeted each other then bowed.

A few moments later, Ten finally came together with Yuta's arms hooked around Ten's shoulders. They are with Mr. Greg and SHINee's Taemin as well. Everyone in the room except for Ten, Yuta and Greg were starstrucked.

"Annyeonghaseyo!" Taemin greeted them and they all greeted back.

"I guess everyone had finished their supper." Greg started and clasped his palms. "For the rest of our training time, we will evaluate each other's skills." He spoke while pacing side to side. "I know how much you are familiar with your co-trainees' skills so we will have an SM Rookies versus unintroduced trainees evaluation. I mean, the Rookies will evaluate the newcomers and other trainees while you," he pointed at Star and her co-trainees' direction, "will evaluate our SM Rookies. Don't be burdened about who has been in this for a long time, because base on my observation, the length of your training days doesn't reflect your skills. I know some who can be at a professional level already and I also know some who are training for years but is slowly improving. And of course, Taemin is here to see how are you doing." He said directly without looking to anyone. Then he looked at them and smiled, "So shall we start?"

"Ne!" All of them said.

"Okay. I will pick who will go first. You may have a seat on the floor. Leave a space on the center please."

Star together with Seomin and Chahyun sat beside the mirror of the practice room. Star sneakily looked at Ten but he caught him looking at her too. Ten smiled at her and she just bit her lips and hid her face. She's being shy and she's trembling in nervousness. She's confident with her talent but not in front of her boyfriend. She cares about how Ten will think of her and she's scared to make even a single mistake.

"First, from the Rookies. Hyerin, Lami, Koeun and Hina. Please go to the center and you will be dancing the one you practiced earlier."

"La cha ta?" Lami asked and Greg just nodded. Taemin cheered for them.

"Wah. I'm jealous. They already have closure with the sunbaes." Seomin whispered.

"Work hard and you will have a chance to be close with them too." Star said then watched SR16G dance.

"Whoa..." Seomin said in amazement as they started dancing. They danced gracefully and they are very synchronized. F(x)'s La cha ta's choreography is tough too.

"What are we going to perform later?" Star suddenly asked as she thought of her performance.

"I guess the one we practiced earlier." Seomin answered without looking at her.

"Hmm... which one? We did two."

Seomin held her chin, "Maybe, Domino. We haven't finished Only One yet." She said pertaining to Jessie J's Domino but it was remixed by their staffs and gave more beat to it.

"Thank you very much." Greg said after SR16G finished their performance. "So, what can you say? Let's be honest, okay? And no hard feelings. We're doing this for our good."

Hime raised her hand, "All I can say is they did it perfectly." Then she clapped and everybody followed her. Taemin showed thumbs up as he agreed to her.

"So next, let's have..." Greg looked at the trainees, "Okay! Hime, Star, Seomin, Daejeon and Soomin. Do the Domino."

Seomin and Star looked at each other. "See?" Seomin said.

"Good luck." Chahyun said timidly and they smiled at her.

Star took a deep breath before looking at the audience. He looked at Ten who is smiling brightly at her and gave her a wink. She shifted her gaze to a different direction before she go crazy on the floor. She looked at her friends and they nodded at her, sign that they are already ready.

***