Dreams

Chapter 36

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Seuljin's POV - Saturday, 7:30 p.m - SM Town

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An hour later there was still no sign of Changmin or anyone else. Most of us had fallen asleep cause there was nothing to do and we had worn hot potato out earlier.

"Do you think she's going to come back?" I whispered to Seungcheol.

"She has to." He took my hand and squeezed it. "Although how she did it was wrong, she put quite a bit of effort into it. She wouldn't blow it off so easily."

"For her sake, I hope your right." Someone sighed from across the room. Jitae had woken up and was staring off into the distance with her head resting on sleeping Seungkwan's shoulder.

"Tae..." I whispered feeling sorry for her.

"It's alright, I overreacted a bit earlier." She closed her eyes.

"No, Tae she deserved it." I tried to cheer her up.

She sighed and opened her eyes again, still staring into the distance. "Back in middle school we were best friends. We did everything together, especially signing and dancing. We would take part in school talent shows together and won a couple times, too. But most of all we both loved k-pop. We spend countless nights at each others houses, staying up till unearthly hours watching videos together fangirling over comebacks at school and annoying everyone and whatnot and we had promised each other that once we finished school we would move to Seoul and find a way to somehow get ourselves into the industry, whether as workers for a company or as idols we didn't care as long as we made it together. But then everything changed in high school. Our dream was destroyed and I hated her guts."

"Oh... I'm sorry..." I said averting my eyes from her to the ground.

"I think all this fuss she was making was trying to make it all up to me, by only fulfilling the dream for me." She explained.

"But she works for Pledis, that's not exactly fulfilling it only for you if you guys' dream was to work in the industry in any way, no?" I think it was Minji that whispered somewhere to my left.

"True," Jitae answered, "but think of what she's done to get me this far. Sure, she has a job in the industry as we had wanted, but the method she used to get me this far is going to cost her her job. So in the end I'll be living the dream and she won't."

"Wow... She has this painfully thought out." I whispered. "But why exactly Pledis? What difference does it make if we audition for SM? You'll still be living that dream. And what has it got to do with us? Why does she want us for it, too?" I saw mutliple heads go up around the room at the question.

Jitae hesitated for a second. "Well... remember that week when I didn't text at all a while ago? Shortly before we graduated there was this incident where my phone went missing. Changmin was the one who found it and gave it back to me."

"I remember you not texting, but why is it so bad that Changmin gave you your phone back? Maybe at that point she had realized what she had done to you and was trying to be nice." I said.

"I-i think Changmin was the one who took my phone in the first place." She turned to me.

"Wait what?" Jaehee asked.

"She took my phone to search through it and find something that could help her know which company I would want to go to or something, since she didn't know anything about me and kpop anymore. I think while she was doing that she stumbled upon our group and thought that she could bring you guys in as well. She must of somehow gotten in contact with our families and made sure they let us all go, cause when you think about it, what parents in their right minds would let their children fly halfway across the planet to meet complete strangers."

"Say that's true, that doesn't explain why Pledis." I pointed out.

"Yes, it does. She stumbled upon our group. What's the name of the group?" Saying the name out loud here with the boys here is gonna be slightly embarrassing. Especially since it's what we've sorta become.

"Seventeen bae's" someone finally said. I felt Seungcheol's chuckle beside me. I squeezed his and threw him a dirt look, but he just smiled at me.

"Exactly. That's all she needed to know. Eight girls that met each other because of Seventeen, why not out them together under the same company as them? A little bit of research and, poof, she finds out they're under Pledis, bribes her way in and then bribes the management in to recruiting us in exchange for her job."

"Hmm.. that makes sense."

"But it wasn't the eight of us, it was the seven of you." Yoosol pointed at us. "And it still is the seven of you. I'm not included in this, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten me in on her plans."

"That's not true." The door flung open and Changmin came walking in followed by the CEO and the other judges. "Your parents were the only ones that said no. When I asked them Why they said it was because you we're busy with college and that you would be moving away during the time I had planned for. So yes, the original plan when they came was just the seven of them." She paused and told the CEO to give her a minute then turned back to Yoosol. "When I first met you at Pledis I had no idea you we're the eigth, but when I found out that you were acquainted with them I dug around and figured it out. Since I had already sent you out.watching them, I couldn't stop you without you ending up telling them, so I told you the plan so you would cooperate and make it work. That's that. The CEO of SM will continue." She moved out of the way of the CEO and plopped down in a chair away from us.

The CEO smiled at us then also turned to Yoosol. "Kim Yoosol, if you'd kindly follow us." He waved at her and left the room with her in tow.

"What's he going to do with her?" I asked as I watched them leave then turned to Changmin.

"You'll see." She muttered looking at the wall.