Stay - Yang Jungwon 양 정원

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

A routine was quickly set in place after deciding parts. We'd have breakfast on the way to the Ground and immediately start practicing, working on the chorus and our own individual dances.  We'd dance and practice for hours until lunch.  Even during lunch we'd plan and discuss what we needed to improve before we started practicing again.

The sun was starting to set outside, it was probably almost eight in the evening.  None of us had eaten anything since noon for lunch. I could tell everyone was getting tired.  Even I was.  "Everyone, please, focus!" Jay said, calling our attention back to the front.

"Jay," I said quietly, tapping his shoulder.

"Yeah, Chae?" Jay asked, not taking his eyes off the mirror as he went over the second part of the chorus.

"Let's take a break," I suggested, stretching my arms, feeling the ache.

Jay shook his head, "Let's get this down first. If the I-landers don't do well enough we have to perform.  We're going up against I-Land at this point, and we only have five days," He reminded me.

I looked at Niki who was watching the conversation. He gave me a small nod and I turned back to Jay, "I know, trust me, if I could I would keep practicing, but it's time for dinner.  We haven't eaten anything except protein bars since lunch."

At the mention of food, Jay finally turned his head to me, "I guess it is getting kind of late..."

I smiled, "Good," I turned back to everyone, clapping my hands together, "Guys, let's have dinner and we can continue, okay?" I've genuinely never seen them move faster.  When we moved to the break room, there were already lunch boxes set on the table. Youngbin and Daniel handed out food to everyone.  I sighed as I sat down, rolling my shoulder.  I was going to need to take pain medicine later.

"I think we should finish what we can today and go rest up afterward," Daniel said, downing his cup of water. "But we need to reduce our sleep," He added. "We're in a really dire situation. You know that, right, hyung?" He asked, looking at Jay.

"Our physical condition is important too," Sungchul pointed out. "A person has to be in a good condition to feel less tired doing anything."

"What Daniel said is true, but I don't think we can finish everything by today," Jimin said. "Even with what we did today, we've only come this far."

Jay looked at me, "Chae? Any thoughts?"

I shrugged, "I can go for a couple more hours.  But I don't mind either way."

After dinner, Jay sent the rest of the Grounders besides me, Youngbin, Jake, and Niki to continue practicing.  He kept us together because he wanted to talk about a few things that Niki had apparently mentioned.

"I don't understand how even the highly skilled people from I-Land work really hard, but the Grounders don't seem to be practicing harder," Niki said quietly.

"In their defense, they really have nothing to lose, as sad as it is.  There's the chance we won't even get to perform and stay here.  For those four, they've been in the Ground the whole time.  It's their mindset," I said, spinning my cup around.  I get why the Grounders wanted a rest and work balance, but really, we only had five days, counting today, and we had almost no time to spare.  Including myself, the seven of us were desperate to go back to I-Land. Even if that meant pushing each other to the brink of exhaustion.

"Even though we worked so hard, the seven of us got disqualified." Jake said miserably, "I don't get it at all."

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