You Could Never Be

Chapter 4

As soon as Yeji swung open the door to Itzy's apartment, four pairs of eyes fixed on her. "Unnie! Where were you?" Yuna asked. There was no sign of worry in the girls' eyes; instead, they all looked at Yeji with curiosity, wondering where she had been so early in the morning.

Yeji returned to the apartment about 15 minutes earlier than she anticipated the members to wake up, only to find all the girls already up and having breakfast in the kitchen. "I just went to the JYP building to practice dancing," Yeji mentioned nonchalantly. "Wait, why are you all up so early?"

"I forgot our schedule got pushed back today, and I did not update my alarm, so it woke everyone up," Ryujin replied with a chuckle. The amusement faded quickly as she added, "Is everything okay? I've never seen you leave the apartment before a scheduled event in the morning."

"Yeah, I just woke up really early today and I wanted to be productive and get some dance practice in for the music show today." That was all what Yeji could tell the for now. She couldn't tell the members how she actually woke up way before dawn, walked to the JYP building, ran into Hyunjin, and cried in front of him. 

Reflecting on what had happened a few hours earlier brought a sense of embarrassment to Yeji. Despite shedding tears in front of Hyunjin, the majority of their time was spent in quiet companionship, simply sharing the space in front of the mirror. Yet, for Yeji, that silence held a sense of comfort. It felt as if Hyunjin understood all the pain she carried without a single word being spoken. They kept this silent moment for what felt like a long period of time, until Yeji finally looked at him through the mirror and asked, "Do you want to dance?"

Hyunjin looked backed at her, smiled, and answered her question with a question, "Want to dance to Stay?" Yeji nodded her head with excitement in her eyes, and looked for the song Stay by ZEDD feat Alessia Cara. From that moment onward, Yeji cast aside her worries, allowing the rhythm of the music to captivate both her body and mind. Despite fans perceiving similarities between her and Hyunjin, perhaps due to their shared passion for dancing, she felt that their styles were subtly distinct. Dancing with him proved mesmerizing; they each expressed the song in their unique ways, gradually syncing their movements to create a shared but distinct dance.

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"Between Itzy and SF9 - who will win first place?" The MCs of Music Bank announced. Itzy and other idol groups gathered around on the stage to find out the winner of today's music show. The other members didn't say this out loud, but Yeji knew that they all thought that winning a music show this era may be impossible. They were even amazed that they were nominated for first place today. "Please show us the score."

"Congratulations, Itzy! How do you feel?" All the girls were shocked. Chaeryeong was covering her ears as not to get scared by the loud noise of aired confetti. Lia, Ryujin, and Yuna couldn't even react before flowers and the trophy was given to them. Yeji could only cover her mouth for a second before she had to give her speech.

"We had our comeback after 10 months. A lot of people worked hard on this album. Thanks so much to our JYP family. And to our fans who waited for our comeback. Midzy, thank you so much! Thank you, Midzy." Yeji could feel she was getting emotional, but because she barely cries in public, she knew tears wouldn't be falling down her face. "Thank you for showing so much love to Sneakers as we promote. We will continue to be a group that shows you our best. Thank you!"

"Midzys, we love you!" Itzy all said together through their mics. 

All Itzy members were so happy. As they began to sing the song, Yeji got a lipstick and used it to draw hearts on the members cheeks. Yeji couldn't describe the kind of happiness she was feeling right now. But all she knew was that her members needed this. They needed to be reassured that their fans was still with them, and that was all that mattered.