STRINGS ~ "Can you give up your success for me?"

C H A P T E R 1

AUTHOR'S PERSPECTIVE

"Ae-mi, will you be home this Christmas? You know I get so lonely out here." A voice, delicately pleasant, came from the phone which was held up till her ear. A sigh left her mouth. "I'm sorry eomma, I tried but...you get me right?" "Of course, just work hard okay? Your brother misses you too, he's just so busy nowadays in the hospital." Her mother's tone was audibly saddened after knowing she can't be home for Christmas. "Hey eomma? I'll call you once I'm home. And don't worry about me. I'm good here okay?" Her mother replied, "Yeah, it's been 4 years since you've been home Ae-mi..." her voice broke. She had never heard or seen her mother crying after her father passed away. This was new for her. "I'll be home soon, I promise." She tried her best to console her mother from the phone. "Don't skip your meals. I love you Ae-mi." "I love you too eomma..."

She put her phone down and leaned back into the chair. Staring at her surroundings as her thought were continuously on how her mother almost broke down while conversing with her, made her think...'is this worth it?' But nonetheless she had no choice, she can't back down now. She stared at her guitar in the corner then at the piano next to it. With a few more instruments around it. Then she leaned back onto the table and looked at the mess on it. She was writing another song, the mess was nothing but a headache to look at. But nothing new though. She thought of a few rhythms and tunes and lines and then finally her brain started functioning again. A few ideas came in as she worked her hands and started writing them down. Suddenly the door to her private studio opened with a loud bang.

"Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you to knoc-"

"It's urgent Ae-mi, PD-nim called. He wants us in the meeting room ASAP." She spoke, out of breath. She was normally annoying but this time, she looked dead serious. "Alright, let's get moving." Ae-mi said. The girl who barged in was Chul-Bi, Ae-mi's bandmate.

AE-MI'S POV

Chul looking serious was a brand new thing to look at. So without arguing with her, I moved forward. We both were walking fast and since the elevator wasn't working, took the stairs to the 1st floor from where we were at, the 5th. "So, what's the matter?" I said to her. She looked at me from the corner of her eye before rolling it and responding, "I don't know okay! I don't want to get my hopes up by telling you if it's about us debuting or not." I stayed silent.

 I didn't want to get into the matter of us debuting. I'm tired of waiting. Suddenly we came across a 'Bangtan Sonyeondan' poster when Chul excitedly spoke up, "You know, BTS completed their tour last week and they returned to Korea yesterday! Maybe we can see them around the building!" I scoffed, just as I was about to say something, someone interrupted us,

 "You know it's not so easy to meet them right?" And she was Nateline. The oldest and only Chinese member of our group, spoke up. She's been here since 6 years, longer than me. I was in for 4 years and Chul for just 1.5. Personally, I do not think our group will debut anytime soon. We were lined up for debut 1 year ago, me along with 4 other girlies. And I do not get along with them. Like NOT ONE BIT. They all are so full of themselves. I think than PD-nim sees it too. He definitely has something on his mind. And none of the members actually know how to write a song or produce it. Except for me and Nateline. Nateline plays the guitar and does some songwriting but finds it boring and not her style so she stopped 3 years ago. So it's only me. And I do write songs and submit it to PD-nim in hopes he will make me debut.

Anyways, we three entered the room only to find the other 2 members, Jess and Han-soo sitting there. And let me tell you one thing, I HATE every member in this so called lined up 'group', but the amount of rivalry between me and Jess is honestly annoying sometimes. Jess, the maknae, we hoped to get along, at least I did but I guess she needed someone to pick on. She got along with Chu and Han-soo but oh boy did she hate me. For some reason she hated my music, my style of clothing, my voice; to the point it got to bullying. So in short, we both are never on good terms.

"You three, come sit down." We looked over to PD-nim as we bowed down and I greeted him with a smile as he smiled back. He always helped me in my music and if there is anyone who knows me more than my mother and my brother, then it is him. We three sat down on the empty chairs as he put his hands on the table and started speaking as all of us 5 listened VERY carefully.

"I have 2 important announcements to make to you. So I want you to listen very very attentively. So firstly, you all are not going to be debuting together."

Silence took over the room, everyone was shocked except for me, I saw it coming, there was no improvement when we are together. We just pick each other apart and that causes our downfall during monthly evaluations.

"The reason for that is you all are bringing each other down. I don't know what goes on between you all, but this is certainly not how a group works. This won't do.

And well, the second thing is, the management in charge for your debuts, along with my opinion have thought about it, and decided to make ONLY 1 of you, debut as a soloist."

Gasps filled the entire room. My heart stopped. This was now or never. Never in a million years have I ever thought about any of us debuting as a solo artist. Never. But it's better than being a trainee forever. I started thinking of negative things, comparing myself to the other girls, thinking if I was good enough or not, was was going to happen? Will I make it?

"And the member we have decided upon is....

AE-MI!!"