baekhyunâs face becomes a little more sheepish at the girlâs words. he loves getting compliments, he actually eats them up for a nice ego boost but someone commenting on his talent and skill, someone giving a comment like this itâs a real compliment. âyou think so?,â he asks her, one hand coming up to rub over his neck in a nervous gesture, âthank you so much. i love being on a stage.â baekhyunâs always loved it, heâll always love it. âdonât try to overthink it. youâll be drawn to your rightful place without noticing it. it happens on its own.â he makes a brief pause to look kaia over. âand you do look like you fit right in here, so.â
a light shrug comes from him, a warm smile still resting on his lips.
âitâs awesome when you manage to make that jump. now youâre on such a stage in a company while not even sure about debut, but wait soon youâll be in a group and say the exact same thing again.â he laughs, but it fades off quickly and instead his eyes grow a little wider. âwaitâ what? you seriously didnât perform like this before? but you did sing and stuff before going to that contest, right? itâs amazing. wow, you must be so talented.â baekhyunâs swooning, staring at kaia like sheâs one of the wonders of the universe. heâs amazed.
he wants to answer âi was basically born on stageâ but itâs not entirely true, so baekhyun doesnât. but it feels like it, heâs almost always been on a stage. âi have a lot of experience, to be honest,â he tells her, growing flustered again at her compliment â a musical actor, huh? heâs never thought about it but acting in that play back in school was fun. âi did contests since i was young. and last year i was one contestant at the mnet global auditions.â he says that a little careful, always scared of otherâs remembering the rumors about him. âi was performing on stage every week until i got eliminated. it was great.â
when she really put thought into the sudden career change she made, the only similarity that she could find was that she was still on a stage performing for a crowd expecting to be entertained. sheâd never sang or rapped or anything like that in front of a crowd before prior to the contest... or at least not extensively. being forced to do karaoke before waiting club-goers and singing along with her grandmother around the house was hardly anything comparable to what some of these other people had going for them. heck. her dancing experience only consisted of what she took during classes at ewha for her gym credits.
taking all of this into consideration, it was only natural that she still held so many doubts and small bouts of thoughts that made her unclear about her future but she didnât let it deter her. instead, she found joy in the unexplored expressions of musical creativity. as a dj, though she was instrumental, she could understand the art of deciphering music on deeper than just a surface level. maybe that was why she had gotten signed: her musicality. either that or her charisma. those were her two shining factors and so she wore them proudly like a shiny badge of honor.
âdonât we all?â she sympathized with a warming smile. that was one thing that all of these trainees in the seocho facility had in common no matter what company they belonged to: the stage was where they belonged. her arms crossed comfortably beneath her bosom and she nodded because his words were exactly what conclusion she had come to. manicured nails sifted through her dark locks to toss them over her shoulder and she flashed him a smile from beneath her lashes. âthatâs how iâm approaching it. one day at a time. i donât really feel pulled in one particular direction just yet but at least the ride is fun!âÂ
she hummed agreeably because she knew the sentiment well. it seemed far off to even get into a company and now she was in one. theoretically, there was nowhere to go but up. âyouâve stood on a couple of stages like this though. youâre like my sunbae five times over. do you ever get used to it?â she wasnât sure if she had explicitly mentioned it to anyone before but his reaction was one that she figured would come a lot with the territory of admitting that. she smiled somewhat sheepishly. âi mean, iâve sang with my grandmother and, like, at karaoke with friends and co-workers but formal training?â her hand waved in denial her head shaking as well. ânothing like that. i took dancing classes for my gym credits at school but thatâs about it.â maybe it was in her blood considering her parents. maybe she was just naturally musically inclined.
that was too much of a jump.
she waved her hand humbly. âno, no, no, no. i think i have stage presence and thatâs about it.â it was a bit of a pat on the back but she knew her strong suits and her flaws. that in itself was a strength. âeveryone from this company is so charismatic. itâs insane. the trainees too. itâs so hard to keep up.â even as she heard his experience listed, her own neatly painted lips parted in tamed awe because the type of dedication people put into even getting to stand upon a stage like this was admirable. she understood it from a different hustle but a grind was a grind and she could respect that wholeheartedly. âyou were basically born into the stage.â she laughed lightly, softly teasing, but she knew it was all because of a passion that he had made it this far. âevery week? i never actually watched the mgaâs all these years theyâve been on but itâs a pretty big deal to make it for someone trying to get signed. no wonder you made it here.â
the more she got to know her seniors, the more she felt she had so much to learn.