𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣

5. ɪɴꜱᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴄʟɪᴄᴋ

Despite what her ability to gush about the four other girls of ROSE for hours might have others believe, Sena had only known them a short while.

They met six months before their debut was announced, leaving them with a little over half a year to prepare.

Their first meeting had been lackluster, to say the least. As in the true entertainment industry cold fashion, no time is wasted on formalities or workshops. Instead, they shove the girls into a practice room for their first meeting while one of the staff members stands at the entrance, leaning on the door frame and chewing loudly on a piece of gum as she reads aloud all the information they need to know.

"You're a five-member girl group called ROSE — you know, like the flower. Your name is basically an acoustic poem, R for Rise, 'cause you'll rise above all the hardship of the idol life." The woman reads, snorting aloud in amusement. "O for Optimize -- you'll make sure to put on the optimal performance every time. S for Succeed because that is your goal and you'll achieve it no matter what. and E for Exceed because you'll exceed all expectations. Yup. Good luck with remembering that..." The woman then moves on. "As for names, Sena yours stays the same, so do Aera and Hana. Byeol your Bella now, and Kyungmi your Mimi -- don't forget it."

Everyone nods and the woman proceeds.

"Okay, positions. Aera lead vocalist. Hana main vocalist. Bella supporting vocalist and rapper. Mimi main dancer. Sena main rapper, main vocalist, and leader -- per PD orders. Okay, your debut goes like on November 4th -- that's your debut. Until then you learn how to dance, sing and rap perfectly, as well as how to present yourself to the camera and how to interact with fans. There's no room for mistakes. Good luck!" With a weak-hearted shake of her fist, the woman leaves.

"We'll, isn't she pleasant..." Byeol drawls after the woman's exit.

Silence prevails as the girls awkwardly glance at one another, trying to discreetly assess their new group members.

Sena is the first to speak up. "Hello, my name is Sena. Nice to meet you."

The girls follow her awkwardly formal greeting. Aera is the last one to introduce herself.

"I'm 19 years old, born in February. I'm assuming I'm the oldest, right?"

"I'm 18," Byeol says.

"I turn 19 as well, but I was born in October," Hana says.

"I'm 18 too, born in January," Kyungmi says.

"I'm 16," Sena says, self-conscious at discovering she's the youngest in the room.

"Ohh so the baby is the leader," Aera says and for a second Sena is worried she would oppose the decision with the status as the oldest. "I like it!"

Sena beams at the older girl, grateful for her good nature.

They spend the rest of the day like that, conversing among themselves and slowly getting to know one another.

.
.
.

Three days after their first meeting the girls are called together once again, this time to listen to the song they would be debuting with.

The song is titled 'Extraordinary.'

Sena is not fluent in English but even her limited storage of vocabulary allows her to call forth the meaning of the common word; unique, something out of the norm. She finds it to be an ironic name considering the song itself essentially embodies normality.

Put simply, the song is boring. So mundane that it dulls the usual excitement Sena feels in the recording booth and practice rooms. Nonetheless, she puts up with the uninspiring lyrics, static vocal range, and stupidly-simple choreography, because the company promised them this would be what distinguishes them.

But then she notices something. Kyungmi drags her limbs along when she does the choreography, her expression the embodiment of boredom and disinterest. Aera sings the chorus of the song as if speaking normally, putting no effort whatsoever into the song (because it requires no effort, Sena thinks). Try as she may Byeol can barely muster a smile when she performs the song. Even Hana, the most reserved in the group, cannot conceal her distaste for the song.

So, as the leader of the group, Sena takes it upon herself to bring up the issue to Daehyun-PD. Her intentions were pure but perhaps her approach was not well-thought-out.

"We hate Extraordinary." Is her opening when she barges into Daehyun-PD's office. 

The older man looks up the paper he had been hunched over before Sena's entrance. "It's nice to see you too, Sena."

"It's so boring! Everyone thinks so."

"It's not boring Sena," Daehyun corrects, putting the paper away. "It's safe. There's a difference."

"I don't see the difference. You need to change the song."

Daehyun sighs, leaning back in his chair. "We can't change the song, you're debut is only a couple of months away. Besides," he quickly continues, not allowing Sena the chance to interrupt him. "We don't have any producers willing to work on a new song at the moment."

'I could make it,' Sena wanted to say, but with nothing to back up her statement, she choose not to. 

She left Daehyun's office.

Only to return a month later, flash drive in hand. She hands it to him silently, standing anxiously at the foot of his desk and Daehyun, puzzled but exasperated, inserted the flash drive into his laptop and opened it up. 

The instrumental of the song she had slaved over for the past thirty days rang through the room. It filled the room, along with her own amateur vocals, for the next few minutes, neither Daehyun nor Sena saying anything to interrupt it. 

Once when it ended did Daehyun remove his eyes from the blank screen of his laptop and turn to look at Sena. Her gaze met his, and she waited for his response, knowing it would determine the fate of their group. Their eyes continued to clash for a while, but in the end, it was Daehyun who looked away, falling back into his chair in defeat. 

"Fine, you win."

And as Sena would come to find out, that meant that ROSE's debut single would no longer be a mind-numbingly boring and unexciting track. Rather, it would be 'Le Vie en Rose' a song made by her.