Pandora's Heart | d.cx ✓

CHAPTER 1

'Oooh who's this one?' Nikita asked Rio as Rio continued to show her pictures on her cellphone.

'Chengxin.' Rio answered with a smile.

'Chengxin is really cute.' Nikita giggled. 'Wow, I can't believe someone can even look like this.'

Rio swiped to the next picture. 'This is Yaxuan.'

'He has such a pretty smile.'

Before Rio could reply, her cellphone was snatched from her, and she already knew who it was. There was only three people in the room anyway.

'Hey!' Rio protested. 'I was using that!'

'For looking at boys?' Pandora folded her arms. 'Come on, we got better stuff to do. Like talk about the awards?'

Nikita sighed. 'Come on Pandora, you've been talking about that since we heard that we were nominated. Let's do something else for now.'

Rio snatched her cellphone from Nikita, and not in the kindest way. Although Rio and Pandora were members of the same group, they didn't particularly get along.

'Well if you want to do something else, can it not be staring at boys? Especially not TNT.' Pandora folded her arms.

'Hey, why do you hate TNT so much? I think they're really cool and I like their music.' Nikita started to sing TNT's "You Are Beautiful" while waving her fingers with the tune.

'Oh please, their songs don't have any essence and the messages in them are stupid.' Pandora replied.

'Well then they wouldn't have been nominated for "Song of the Year" alongside us okay?' Rio finally commented after having looked away from her cellphone. 'And Nikita thinks Chengxin is really cute.'

Rio turned the cellphone to Pandora to show her Chengxin's face but she scoffed and rolled her eyes. 'I don't have time to look at boys.'

There was a knock on the door to their dorms, and their manager walked in with a smile on his face. 'Where are the lovely ladies of Apogee?' he announced proudly.

Apogee was a name he wasn't ashamed of, because Apogee was one of the most popular and most loved groups in the country. It was probably the biggest girl group, even though it was made up of three members. Rising from the ashes, the company was able to put their name on the map with their group.

Even though all the members of the group were popular, most people couldn't help but be attracted to Pandora at first sight. She was the dancing queen of the group, the rapper and the only lyricist. She made sure to always write songs along with her CEOs whenever they were preparing for song releases.

'Hi!' the girls answered the man who had become a friend and father-figure to them.

'Are you excited about the awards?' the man asked. It was their first time to be nominated, and it was exciting for them to have been nominated the same year they had debuted – and it wasn't a rookie award.

'We are.' Nikita answered then turned to Pandora. 'Actually, Pandora is more excited than any one of us. She's been talking about it the entire day.'

'Let's hope we win then. Song of the year is really big.' Rio commented.

'Your song was amazing, nothing can beat "A Mile Away". If everything is fair, your song will win.' the manager encouraged them.

'I don't know, "Is It Just Me" is a pretty good song.' Rio continued.

'Don't be a pessimist, I think people liked our song more.' Nikita laughed. 'And I don't think Pandora will like the fact that you're assuming TNT of all the artists nominated will win.'

Pandora glared at Rio who rolled her eyes and looked at her cellphone.

'Anyway, no matter what happens, win or lose, just know that you girls are doing a good job.' The manager continued with a smile that brought lines to his face.

'No we have to win, and we will win.' Pandora finally sat next to Rio and sat next to her on the couch. She opened several items on her cellphone and held the phone out to the manager who was still standing. 'See? Even the polls say we are going to win. And knowing our fans, they're gonna make sure we do.'

'Of course we will.' Nikita assured Pandora with a chuckle and rubbed her shoulder.

Pandora looked up at the manager. 'Nikita was gushing at Chengxin, a TNT member.'

'Oh really?' the manager put his hands on his waist. 'Would you like to meet him? Then perhaps date him...?'

'What!?' Pandora frowned. 'Are you encouraging her to date at the prime of her career?'

'I was just joking, I wanted to see your reaction,' the manager laughed and was then joined by Nikita. 'Alright let's go get your outfits fitted one more time, chop-chop girls.' he instructed.

...

That evening, Pandora stood in front of the mirror in the practice room and danced to the loud rap music blasting from the speakers. Her group mates weren't there, it wasn't compulsory, but she felt the need to practice and practice even more until she was at least the best female idol dancer. But she wasn't limited to that, she wanted to become the best idol dancer regardless of gender if she could. And she believed she could do it, she's always been one to defy the odds.

The company now owned a bigger building; they went from renting several floors to a building to owning their own which was much larger. This was all because of the success of Apogee, and Pandora couldn't be more proud of herself.

As she continued to dance, she noticed the manager walk inside the practice room. Pandora continued to dance for a moment, ignoring his presence until he turned off the stereo. The loud music stopped and she finally turned around to him.

'Do you know what the time is?' he asked her. 'It's 3 am. Go to bed.'

Pandora smiled. 'I will. I just need to nail this.'

The manager shook his head. 'I understand you want to improve, but please don't overwork yourself even when awards are tomorrow. You're hardly getting enough sleep and you're going to be drained by tomorrow. Both your friends are in bed as we speak.'

'Yeah but my friends are not me.' She shrugged her shoulders. 'I carry this group. And if I fail to meet people's expectations, the entire group will go down.'

'The entire group can't go down because you didn't practice for one night Pandora.' the manager told her. He put his hands in his pockets and faced the mirror. 'Besides, I know you're an idol and all, and you must work hard...but don't work too hard to the point that life passes you by.'

Pandora turned to him with creased eyebrows.

He nodded, proving to her that he meant whatever he was saying. 'You hardly talk to your family. Even when your family was here, you decided to spend only a limited time with them because you wanted to practice that evening. Yet you wouldn't get another opportunity to spend time with them like that again,' he shook his head with pity. 'You don't have any friends, aside from your group members who are basically friends assigned by the company. You just never take time to experience life like you should. And sure, your hard work led to your success, but is it really worth it?'

Pandora didn't know what to say. She knew she didn't agree with her manager, but she didn't know how to refute him. It seemed whatever he said was correct.

'Anyway, it's your choice. Good night.' the manager announced and walked out of the practice room.

Pandora thought over the words for a moment, then took her phone from the floor and checked it. Her chat was almost empty, while her friends received tons of messages. Pandora didn't really have anyone to talk to because she never texted her family or anyone else. The only messages she had at that moment were official communications.

But she smiled to herself, maybe it was better like that. She would be able to focus on her work more like this. She placed the cellphone back on the floor and turned on the stereo, then continued to dance to the hip-hop music.