OPEN YOUR EYES (BLIND I) - MUSIQ SERIES PART 2

26. COMPANIONSHIP

Three weeks later, the day of the evaluation finally arrived after two months of hard work and no team other than «Libido» had presented their songs. Although some had not because they were not ready, others had decided not to after the CEOs brought the WonderQ-28 project to a halt because they felt like it would not make a difference and that way they would get to rehearse for longer.

Heejin continued working with Hikaru whenever he was free and they both had perfected their performance as well as grew closer, which made their chemistry improve even more. Her struggles with the other trainees made her spend even more time with him, which translated to them being more comfortable around each other and, therefore, affected their performance positively.

"Welcome to today's evaluations, everyone!" Leah said once they were all inside the venue. "After long and hard work, today you will be showing us the results and we are all very excited to see what you've got. This time, however, we once again have some guests with us. Please, let's welcome them with a big applause."

As the trainees applauded, the guests went out of the backstage area to greet the trainees, and they saw Dara and Hikaru along with Changbin and Mark Tuan. Although they had seen Hikaru around the company no one knew he would perform with Heejin, so to them he was just another person evaluating them that day.

"Hello, everyone, I hope you are all ready to work hard today!" Dara told them.

"We love you!" one of the trainees said as the rest cheered.

Even if she was born in 2008 and she was therefore younger than some of the trainees she still had debuted long before them, so for them she was just their senior and someone they looked up to.

"Let's have fun today together, shall we?" Hikaru added, earning more cheers.

"Why haven't we ever gotten this type of feedback from them?" Mark Tuan asked Changbin, making the trainees laugh before chanting their names too. "No, don't bother now. I'm hurt."

"Okay, everyone, let's calm down," Mika told the trainees. "We expect all of you to work hard today and show us the result of your hard work. Originally the «Libido» team was going to perform first but, as Jax and Joontae had their own schedules they won't be performing today. Either way, we will be showing you the video they have filmed for the WonderQ-28 project instead so that you can all see the result of their work. We decided to let them film it in the end, but the video won't be released for the time being."

"Before that, however, we will tell you about the order in which the teams will perform. I will name the leader of the team according to your submissions. Pay attention to who you go after, okay?" Lin said holding up her tablet. "Xia, Nico, Eunae, Blue, Chris, Jaehyun, Mirae, Hwang Hoon and Heejin. Did I miss anyone?"

As no one said anything, the CEOs along with the guests and some of the teachers from the company sat down on the first rows to watch the performance. Before Xia's group went on stage, however, the lights dimmed, and they played the video for «Libido».

Although the video was simple, the boys owned it with their dancing and their expressions. They truly went all out in showing the essence of the song and the concept. The only C1K member in the venue at that moment was Axel because he had to perform later, but the trainees still cheered for them although very evidently skipping Axel's parts.

"Wow..." Dara let out when the video finished. "This is just a project?"

"Yes, it is," Mika told her proudly. "Did you enjoy it?"