PROJECT HEARTZ ♡ JULY EVALUATION ⇢ results . . . & surprise announcement ✰
the girls had gathered together at the end of the month, as they usually would. it’s here that they announce the girl of the month before explaining the requirements for the next evaluation. their hands are usually clasped together or holding the hand of the girl beside them, their hearts beat at a million miles per hour. or at least that’s what it’s like for juyeon, she can hear her heart beat in her ear drums. it’s deafening. today they are introduced to two new girls who will be joining the pool of heartz hopefuls. one is kang mina, the sweet new girl juyeon had met in sphere recently. the other is heo yurim, another new trainee who juyeon had yet to meet. the girl of the month is revealed to be choi yena, aka yuzu. it comes as a bit of a surprise as yuzu had just joined the group. but she had a lot of experience from her time as a royal trainee so juyeon understood the reasons behind giving her the debut opportunity. still, it was always a little difficult to hear that this month wasn’t her month, or chungha’s. it made her feel a little empty for a while but she cheered up quickly at the thought of looking ahead and working on new routines for their next evaluation.
juyeon claps and cheers for yuzu in unison with the other girls. it’s become routine at this point, but ultimately juyeon is happy for every girl who makes it. at the end of the day, their dream was able to come true. and that’s all anyone wanted from this project. it’s what juyeon wanted. the announcements don’t stop there and trail into evaluation requirements, though. “both of yena’s songs will include a featuring member.” seungkwan explains to the girls. juyeon nods, pursing her lips as she watches him intently. “on her main track, it’ll be done by minhee.” juyeon quietly claps, she was so happy about all the opportunities minhee was getting. it must be hard to go and debut first. now she has to wait around for the rest of them. “her second track, however, will be done by any of the girls already confirmed.” juyeon’s brows raise. wait . . . this was new. was this a surprise member confirmation, inside a member confirmation? juyeon glances between all of the girls, wondering who it could be. it could be gahyeon, who joined at the same time as yuzu or it could be sua. it could even be chungha. juyeon wants it to be chungha. seungkwan pauses.
“and that person will be . . . son juyeon.”
she stares at seungkwan in disbelief. had he really said her name? son juyeon . . . that was her, there wasn’t another son juyeon hiding around here, was there? she covers her mouth with her hands, trying to hide her shock. seungkwan claps for juyeon and juyeon finds herself looking around at the other girls, unsure if she heard correctly. “you’ve been a trainee in sphere for a long time, and we believe that you deserve a spot in heartz.” you deserve a spot in heartz. what is happening hasn’t exactly clicked with juyeon. “while you won’t be making your solo debut quite yet, we’d like to confirm your spot in the group through this featuring. hopefully, you’ll get to meet your solo soon.” juyeon does her best to stifle the crying while seungkwan is speaking but she feels like the crying is about to turn into ugly sobbing. juyeon would be making her . . . pre pre debut featuring on yuzu’s debut track. this was it. son juyeon was a member of heartz.
son juyeon after nearly three years . . . was debuting.
juyeon felt so silly right now, in this moment. so happy, so grateful, so overcome with emotions. it doesn’t feel real that in this moment her dream just became true. that she actually got a chance to do this. a part of her feels like she would be happy with just featuring on a track before going back to training normally. knowing her time was coming and that come the end of the project she wasn’t going to be kicked out of the company or something just as scary lifted so much weight off of juyeon’s shoulders. she felt like she could breath again. and she does cry, in front of everyone, quietly though, through seungkwan explaining what’s happening next month. juyeon wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand before pulling on the brim of her baseball cap, straightening it.
she wanted to tell her parents immediately, and her baby sister. she wanted to call her girlfriend and tell her that she’d be with her soon. juyeon also wants to hug chungha, because the thought of leaving her behind is so scary and unsettling. who’s she going to talk to when it’s late at night and she’s mad at the world? juyeon takes in a deep breath, lacing her hands together behind her back. she didn’t have to be afraid of the unknown anymore. she made it.
well . . . almost.














