|SunMi's POV|
"JuHee, did you finish your homework?" NaHee questions as she flips through her playlist.
"Yeah—Sun helped me." JuHee chirps as she grabs ahold of my arm and smiles at me.
"Do you think you two could go find Aera? She's probably in the practice room down the hall. If you're both ready we can start practice." NaHee motions toward the door as she glances over at Jia messing around on her phone.
"Yeah." I mumble as JuHee slips happily next to me.
"What do you think she's doing? Do you think she's dancing again? Maybe she has a secret boyfriend we don't know about. What if she's eating snacks without us?" JuHee continues rambling off questions, but one in particular catches my attention. Does she have a boyfriend? I know I'm in an unlabeled relationship—but that doesn't mean everyone else is, too.
"She's probably just dancing, you know her, that's all she does." I brush off JuHee nonsense and reach for the door of the practice room. I stop as I hear a faint voice on the other side.
"I should get going. Someone is probably coming to get me soon. I'll see you later, promise." Aera's voice is soft and calm as she bids farewell to whoever she's talking to.
I glance over to see if JuHee caught any of it, but she seems too preoccupied by the poster of a cute cartoon character to even care. I give Aera a minute before tugging the door open. She immediately turns toward us in shock.
"NaHee said it's group time." I mumble as JuHee hurries toward Aera.
"Okay, just a second—I have to grab my water." Aera slips passed JuHee to grab her water bottle before hurrying toward the door.
"Come on, JuHee." I wave my arm for JuHee to follow me and she immediately comes running.
"Unnie, do you think we're gonna practice Licorice again? I thought we did really good earlier. I don't think we need it. I wanna practice Honey Kiss. I like that one. It's really fun and the costumes are really cute." JuHee asks as she locks arms with me.
"I'm not sure. It kind of depends on that one up there. She's the dance expert." I nod in Aera's direction as she slips into the practice room.
"I guess you're right." JuHee sighs and picks up her pace to step into the room before me.
"Are you guys ready?" NaHee asks as we all crowd in the center of the room.
"Yeah." I sigh as I get in a couple last minute stretches.
"Cheer up, we've only got four hours of practice then we get to go home." NaHee pats me on the back before heading toward the speakers to start the song.
"I'm hoping we have a visitor sometime between then and now." I groan under my breath as I get in position.
The moment the song starts, my body takes control. I don't have to think about what move is next because my body is already ten steps ahead of me. The intense moves make my legs ache, but I don't mind the burn. It's nice being able to get out of my own head even if it's only for three and a half minutes.
"Okay—JuHee, we need to go over a few steps together real quick." Aera pulls JuHee aside and waves the rest of us away.
"I'm going to run to the bathroom." I mumble as I slip into the hall.
I take in the silence and emptiness of the building. At one point, it was loud and filled with life, but now it's nothing. I miss the movement and talkative nature, but at least we have a place to call our own. We don't have to practice on the streets—yet. Who knows how much longer we have here?
"Who in the world is that gorgeous girl with long black hair and the prettiest face?" I spin around to see JongHo making his way toward me.
"Shut up before I kick you." I hurry toward him and cover his mouth. I push him into the nearest room and slam the door behind us.
"There's only five of you here—I doubt they'll tell anyone about us anyway." JongHo sighs as he makes his way toward the couch.
"I don't care. This is the only chance I've got. I don't want to mess it up before it's even started." I fall down next to him and hang my head.
"It's hard, isn't it? I told you it'd be rough. You should've called me when it got hard. I heard about the recording—don't let that one audience get you down. We don't always have perfect crowds either." JongHo wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me toward him.
"At least you're have a few fans in the audience every time. We didn't have anyone." I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.
"You always have me and the guys. We will always be your number one fans. You are all talented—I mean especially you because I taught you—but all of you are." JongHo chuckles as he takes my hand in his.
"Aera is a better dancer. She's even a better rapper than I am, but she's spread across all three positions so I get more rap lines—even though I shouldn't." I swallow hard as I pull away from JongHo. I really need to go back before they come looking for me.
"Listen to me—you deserve every line you have. You deserve every line in every single song you guys will ever sing. Don't let this pressure get to you. You're doing great." JongHo senses my need to go and stands up. He takes my hand and pulls me in for a hug.
"You should—you should come see the other girls. That way no one says they saw you come in and you know—if they didn't see you they'll know it was just me—I don't want to start anything." I ramble as I try to convince him to come with me.
"You don't have to twist my arm. I brought snacks for all of you anyway." JongHo holds up a bag I hadn't even noticed.
"Come on." I drag him into the hall just as NaHee opens the door to check for me.