a new comfort ˚｡⋆
time period: 2014 wc: est 0.5k
at this point, stella had been a trainee for almost a year. she’d found the practice room to be a home away from home, even under constant stress.
she hadn’t become friends with many people and found comfort in being alone most of the time. too many people coming and leaving the company, best to not get attached to anyone, her younger self thought.
of course, making at least one friend was inevitable. she had begun to talk to this one older boy, seungcheol, he was nice, and didn’t care about how shy stella was. she couldn’t understand why he cared so much about her, but she appreciated his presence, as he was the one of the only constants in her life at the time. he reminded her of her brother, whom she hadn’t seen in months, which made her feel more attached to him than anyone else she'd conversed with.
──★
at 14, stella believed she was already growing gray hairs.
her monthly evaluation was coming up, and this one was extremely important. the managers responsible for forming groups would be watching her perform, along with the other trainees.
she would be covering “into the new world” by SNSD with a group of girls she didn’t even know. the classic trainee song. even though it was popular, it was tough. she had the responsibility of singing the high note before the final chorus, although her specialty was dance — of course she was scared.
she wasn’t even sure if she’d have good chemistry with the other girls, or if they would even like her. she’d heard stories of trainees being sabotaged during evaluations by their peers, and she prayed that that wouldn’t be her fate, too.
after main practices had ended for her group, she found a small practice room and began to work on her part for the evaluation. after a few hours of intense dancing and singing, she was resting on the floor and heard a knock on the door.
“jihyun-ah? are you here?” seungcheol peeked his head through the door.
“hi oppa,” she smiled from the floor and sat up to bow her head respectfully. he approached her, worried about how exhausted she looked. “practicing for your eval?” he asked.
she nodded anxiously. he could tell she was nervous — he knew the feeling. he’d done his evaluation with the same managers months before. they’d placed him in a group with 12 other boys, and a part of him wished jihyun could join too.
since he was part of an official group now, he rarely saw her anymore. he knew he was one of if not her only trainee friend and worried her shy antics would get her hurt without him there.
“don’t worry yunnie, i’m sure you will do very well. you’ve practiced hard and that is all that’s necessary,” he said, squatting and ruffling her hair.
‘thank you, oppa,” she smiled, her heart feeling less stressed with his comforting words.
they moved to lean on the wall and just sat for a while, basking in their time together since they both knew they wouldn’t see each other as often anymore. stella was scared to be on her own amongst the older trainees, but she knew she could go to him at any time. she also knew that she had to start being more independent as she was getting older, especially in the industry she was trying to flourish in.
noticing the young girl lost in her thoughts, the 95 liner finally broke the silence minutes later, “should we go get dinner?” he asked.
“as long as you’re paying~”, stella laughed.
──★
my tests are finally over so i should be updating more regularly. please send requests of things you want to see!
yours truly, mira ✧