My Shining Light

Chapter 12

Lucy hummed a little tune and walked with a spring in her step as she made her way back from the cafe with Kyungmi. Upon entering the school, she gave herself an internal pep talk. No matter where she was allocated this afternoon, she would stay positive and focus on doing her best for the students. Inside the locker room, she found the idols lounging around looking bored. There weren't enough seats so Jinwoo was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.

He looked up from his phone when Lucy entered and instantly stood up. "Lucy, where've you been?" he asked as he came towards her, his brow furrowed. "You weren't at lunch... Did you eat?"

"Huh?" Lucy's mouth dropped open a little. Had he really been worried about her? "Oh yeah, I ate with Kyungmi," she explained, toying nervously with her ponytail.

Jinwoo's shoulders relaxed.

"That's good," he nodded and licked his lips. It seemed like a habit he had when he was thinking of what to say. "I spoke to Manager Lee, you'll be with me in the music room for the next session," he said, his eyes lingering on hers.

"Really?" A smile spread across her face as she held his gaze. She hoped that this would be a session with musical instruments, something she could actually assist with!

"Yah! I thought we were the ones scheduled to the music room," Eunjong cut in, standing up beside Jinwoo with her hands on her hips.

"Has Xenaz's manager mixed things up again?!" laughed Sanha from the back of the room.

"Argh, I miss Manager Kim," Rocky complained.

The others nodded in agreement.

Eunjong scowled at them and then turned to glare at Lucy. "Well maybe if he didn't have to deal with extras who aren't up to scratch and taking up space..." she sneered.

"What do you mean?" Jinwoo asked with eyebrows raised.

"Oppa, everyone here has gone through intensive training to become an idol. We've all got the skills to do this program except her. How is she going to do the second half of the program? We have to perform on live television and she can't even dance!" Eunjong cried as she waved her hands around in exasperation.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Lucy asked, going cold inside. "Did you say perform on television?"

Aera had not mentioned any of this to her. Did she intentionally lie to her? Why would she do that? She felt sick to her stomach. She would never have agreed to this had she known.

"What's this about performing?" Jinwoo asked, looking to the other Astro members seated around the room. They all seemed as confused as he did.

"Right now we're helping the students with their skills, then we'll choose the best group that we want to train ourselves. At the end of the program, there will be a competition. First, the idol groups will perform, and then our chosen student group will perform. It'll all to be televised," explained Eunjong.

"How could we not know about this?" Eunwoo asked. "I haven't heard anything from other idols either. Are you sure this is happening?"

Lucy couldn't believe that this was part of the program. No wonder they were against her being here. It wasn't just because she was different, they didn't want to perform with her and she could understand why.

"I swear I didn't know any of this," she said not just to Jinwoo but Eunjong as well.

"Neither did we," said Jinwoo, "but we'll sort it out. Astro, go to your next sessions as usual. I'll organise a meeting," he ordered and then turned back to Lucy. "Are you okay?" he asked, gently placing his hand in the middle of her back. Warmth spread from his palm and the delicate touch of his fingers distracted her from the uneasy feeling in her gut.