chanina!

Chapter 4: Tunnel with light

"This month, you'll have to prepare a duet for evaluations. Partners are posted outside the auditorium. You can produce or cover a song together. You will have the time from 7 - 10 on day 2 to work on your performance. I look forward to seeing them," Jinyoung announced. I've been training at JYPE for over a year now. We all bowed and ran towards the partners sheet. Getting there, I saw my partner, Chan. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I've tried to avoid him. Everytime I get close to him and talk to him, Daisy texts me. "So we are working together?" Chan approached me. Giving a gentle smile, I nodded. "Well let's get to work?" I asked. Chan led me to his studio, room B1. "Why have you been avoiding me, Nina?" Chan questioned once we got in. "What? I haven't been avoiding you," I uttered.

"You have, we both know it."

"I haven't Chan!"

My phone dinged. Daisy.

"Nina, please. Why? Why are you pretending like we were nothing."

"Who said that? We were something! I just, I'm not ready for a relationship."
Second ding. I felt tears well in my eyes.

"Can we just be friends?"

Saying yes could harm us more. Saying no could hurt him. I'll protect Chan at all costs.

"Sure, let's take it slow."

After that 3 dings rang, back to back.

"You might wanna check your phone, Nina."

I tried to hide my shaking reading the notifications.

New Notifications:

XXX-XXX-XXXX: Stay away from Chan.

XXX-XXX-XXXX: Chan is mine.

XXX-XXX-XXXX: So you really wanna be hurt?

XXX-XXX-XXXX: I won't hesitate to hurt you and all those you care about.

XXX-XXX-XXXX: You won't be doing that duet or being friends with him.

"Who is it?" Chan asked. "Just my mom," I lied and put my phone on silent mode. "Shall we get start-" Chan tried saying before getting cut off by the intercom. "Hold and secure. There is a security threat to JYPE's training center. Lock all doors and windows," Jinyoung's voice blasted through the intercom. This can't be happening. Chan ran to lock the door and I pushed a chair towards the door to block it. I felt my tears falling and Chan hugged me. "It's okay Nina. Breath, okay? I have you, you're safe," Chan comforted. It was now I remembered why I love Chan. He puts others before himself, he's a hard worker, a perseverer, he's determined, he has this healing aura to him, he's a beautiful person, inside and out. The hold and secure lasted for 30 minutes. "You okay, Chan?" I whispered. He nodded. "Now do we wanna start?" I asked. "Yes, I have a few ideas," Chan added.

After a talk, we both decided to cover a song, It's You by Henry. We both agreed that we feel more comfortable singing in English and both wanted to do a ballad type of song. "Do you want to meet up at 6am daily to practice and prepare?" Chan questioned. Typical Chan, he's someone who wants to perfect everything and that's another thing I loved about him. "Sure! I actually need to go to acting class," I mentioned. Chan waved me off and I left. My shaky composure continued during acting.

I got to lunch with no appetite. Grabbing a piece of bread, I chuckled as I got to my table. Our once small table with 6 people grew to one with 14 people. Jisung met quite a few people at his dorms and they knew trainees so we grew. Then there's my roommates too, so at our table there's Chan, Minho, Changbin, Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix, Seungmin, Jeongin, Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, Yuna, and me! Quite a few people, but these are the people who keep me going. "Okay but that security threat was scary as hell- OH HEY TWINNIE!" Jisung exclaimed. "If you call me twinnie one more time you will have it," I threatened.

"YoU WiLl HaVe iT PLEASE WHAT WILL YOU DO? YOU CAN"T ATTACK ME IN MY SLEEP LOSER!"

"I CAN!!! I'll make one of your roommates attack you for me, right?"

All of Jisung's roommates nodded.

"THIS IS BETRAYAL."

We all laughed, totally forgetting about my worries. Suddenly, all eyes were on the TV in the cafe as it was talking about the JYPE security threat. "Choi Daisy has been arrested for causing the threat," the reporter informed us. I looked at Chan, worried and anger plastered on his face. So it was Daisy? Not surprised. "Chan hyung? You good?" Jeongin asked. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just worried about the company choosing trainees to debut," Chan confessed. "WHAT?!" Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, Yuna, and I yelled in sync. "Jinyoung announced it to the male trainees before lunch," Hyunjin explained, "8 male trainees have the chance to debut through a survival show." Cheers left the mouths of us 6 girls at our table. "Eight? That's perfect, you 8 can debut!!" Yuna celebrated. "But it's a survival show, we might not even be able to compete," Seungmin worried. "Listen, Jinyoung doesn't just ignore talent. You all have some serious talent, anyone with an eye would be able to see that," I whispered. "You all have done amazing on monthly evaluations too," Ryujin added. "He also cares about personalities, someone with a terrible personality won't make it far. You all have the best personalities out of all the male trainees," Chaeryeong assured. "Trainees, please meet in the auditorium at 8:30 tonight for an announcement," Jinyoung's voice boomed through the PA. Our time at lunch ran out and we all had to run to our next class.

Tensions ran high in the auditorium as we waited for the announcement. When I got here, there were 65 trainees. Now there are 35 trainees, either left or got kicked out. When Jinyoung walked in, we all stood up and bowed, out of respect. "So as our male trainees know, there will be a survival show to debut a male group. However, this show won't be like most survival shows, where your chance of debut is in the hands of fans. A group of 8 boys will be fighting to debut, you will be put against trainees from other companies and 6 female trainees from JYPE. Some members may be eliminated, but your fate is in the hands of the JYPE executives. This upcoming evaluation will be the final one before the line up is finalized," Jinyoung explained. Many gasps were heard. 6 female trainees will be put up against 8 male trainees. I thought about my friend group. We could all debut, we really could. My thoughts were cut off by Jinyoung adding, "I won't be choosing the male group, one of your fellow trainees will do that. Please welcome the leader of the new male group, Bang Chan!" Chan! We all clapped for him, a whoop escaped Jisung, a loud cheer from the 13 of us. Chan looked surprised, clearly not knowing this. Changbin and Minho had to push him up the stairs. "In addition, I won't be choosing the female group. Again, your fellow trainee will choose the lineup. Please welcome the leader of the new female group, Han Nina!" Jinyoung exclaimed. What? Han Nina? Did I hear that right? Why me? I couldn't think about this due to the screams, Lia screaming at the top of her lungs, Jisung yelling "That's my sister!", and the cheers. I made my way to the stage, with the help of Lia and Jisung dragging me up. "Would you like to say a word?" Jinyoung asked. I nodded. "It's really a big honour to be given the trust to make a group. Thank you Jinyoung PD for trusting me, I won't let you down. Thank you to our trainers and staff for all the support they have given us! To my family for believing in me, thank you. Finally, to my second family, my friends for cheering me on, thank you for keeping me going. Special thanks to Jisung and Lia for encouraging me to audition. Let's continue to work hard together!" I thanked. Chan said a few words too. "Before closing, due to the security threat today, all trainees will now be driven to the dorms. Have a good night," Jinyoung closed. Approaching my friends, they all bowed to us. "Hello our dear leaders, Nina and Chan," Minho joked. "EVERYONE JISUNG IS CRYING," Hyunjin cried. Going to my brother, I hugged him for the first time in a while. We joke so much and rarely have these moments. "Why are you crying Ji?" I asked. "I'm proud of you," He choked out.

"Don't cry, I owe it to you for getting me into music."

"No you did that by yourself."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"It was a team effort."
"Fine."

Behind us, Felix wiped a fake tear saying, "Wow, someone get the camera. It's the first time they aren't fighting." Lia actually took a photo or two before us finding out. "WE CAN HEAR YOU," Jisung cried. Many hugs and real tears later, we all headed home. Laying in bed, I felt hope shine in my heart. I could actually debut. Finally, I was in a tunnel with light.