𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 | csc

𝙫𝙞𝙞.

"Where have you been?"

"Buying you oompa loompas food." Aerin threw the three plastic bags on the coffee table after responding to Xia who grinned at the sight. Now, all they had to do was waste time in the small waiting room. 

Despite the fact Eclipse was nominated, their tiredness seemed to be refraining them from being too excited, except for Yuna who was practically bouncing off the walls. Aerin gave herself a pat on the back for her idea to give the ankle biter candy. 

"Unnie Unnie!"

"Yes yes?"

"How much longer?" Her bright smile and cheerful attitude made Aerin chuckle as she pulled out her phone. Yuna had no idea what time it was seeing as Aerin was the only member who had the privilege to use her phone. This was because she was the leader and was given the device for the purpose of communicating with their manager and other idols/companies she was producing for. The other members would get theirs after their first win. They didn't envy her though, seeing as Aerin avoided using her phone at all times possible to try and make sure all the members were comfortable with her. In fact, she would have been fine without her phone, but it was the company's order.

"Oh dang, 15 minutes." For some reason it felt as if she was talking to Seungcheol just a minute ago but it had already been 2 hours. Yuna gave Aerin a thumbs up and headed off to play random hand games with Aki.

"Hey guys, gather for a sec." Aerin called out to her members and they all formed a half circle in front of her.

They waited in anticipation for her speech. No matter the situation, Aerin always was able to use her words and clear it.

"I know we all want that win more than anything. But, it's our first stage and regardless of whether we win or not, we worked our asses off and did great! Our performance was amazing today and it will be amazing tomorrow. We tried our best and that's the #1 most important thing kay? If we don't win today, theres plenty of more times for us. Lastly, if we do win, be humble about it. Every one of those candidates, including us worked equally as hard and just because we win the award doesn't mean we're better than them." Aerin concluded her speech with a smile and looked to see most of the members with glossy eyes. She opened her arms and the moment she did, the girls fell in them. 

"Love you guys!" 

"Girls? It's go time." Manager Yoo bursted in the room the moment the group let go of the hug. 

They began filing out of the area until a beep from Aerin's phone stopped her in her tracks. She decided to check the message quickly seeing as she had to leave her phone in the waiting room.

𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐥

𝙨𝙚𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙡
good luck :)

thanks!

It was simple sure, but his nice gesture to wish her luck made her smile and regardless of the girls questioning her sudden bright smile, she just shrugged them off and lead them to the stage.

The amount of senior groups intimidated her, but she tried her best calm herself. She wanted to show she was strong, for her members. 

As she was walking to their spot, she suddenly made eye contact with Seungcheol who sent a small smile her way. He seemed like he wanted to go up to her, but sadly the large crowd watching their every move restricted him. She smiled back and then turned away before she could notice Jihoon looking at the two of them in confusion.

It felt surreal the moment Eclipse left the mc's mouth and Aerin hadn't even noticed they won until Aki excitedly nudged her arm. She knew their debut had been popular, seeing as they did many promotions leading up to it, but the thought that they would actually get their first win today truthfully hadn't even crossed her mind.

Being the leader, Aerin maneuvered herself from behind her members and carefully grabbed the trophy. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Yuna who was shedding a few tears and she pulled the younger girl closer, using her right arm to embrace her and hold the trophy as she used her other hand to hold the microphone.

"I- wow um it's just so incredibly surreal to get our first win today and I would love to thank all of our moons for your amazing support throughout everything! Also, for all of our international fans, thank you for your continuous support and we love you!"  Aerin bowed after her speech and passed the microphone to Xia who did her speech in Mandarin and then to Aki who gave a speech in Japanese. The moment the microphone left Aerin's hand, she turned to fully embrace Yuna, trying her best to shield the girl's face knowing she felt embarrassed from crying.

Seungcheol's smile never left his face during Aerin's speech, which confused Jihoon. Even him, her cousin, was able to refrain from smiling due to precautions, but how come their leader who hadn't even properly met Aerin from all he knew, failed to do the same?

Aki finished her speech and the instrumental to their debut song started playing, cue-ing all of the fans in the crowd to start screaming their hearts out.

Yuna's tears had somewhat dried and she found herself singing her lines with a smile on her face, which Aerin took as a good sign for the time being.

Seeing her members and fans, and even some idols, happily singing along to the song she produced and wrote made her more sentimental than she could have imagined. It was only her worry for embarrassment that stopped her from crying.

After finishing her first few lines in the song flawlessly, she subconsciously maneuvered towards Seventeen. 

"She's a good live singer." Seungkwan rolled his eyes at Seokmin's statement.

"Well duh, she's Woozi Hyung's cousin. Plus, I heard she even produced this song too." Seokmin's eyes widened in surprise and Seungkwan gave him a nod, confirming his own words.

As Aerin sang the vocally strong chorus, the Seventeen members studied her, including other idols, but Seungcheol in particular was staring at her. He had no idea why but seeing her in her element made it practically impossible for him to take his eyes off her.

The girl suddenly turned around to fix her shirt and was met with the face of her cousin who did a mini handshake with her subconsciously. The two smiled and Seventeen made their way off the large stage.