Pretty Boy

17

I woke up at 4:30 am, 3 hours after I went to sleep, to my phone screen lit up with "Music Video." I slipped out of my bed and grabbed the clothes and bag I had laid out the night before. In the restroom, I flipped on the clothes, brushed my teeth and washed my face. After all my morning routine was done I threw on a mask put my clothes in the hamper and headed to the backlot.

When I finally got to the back lot my new manager ushered me into the big black van waiting for me. As I hoped in the car I heard snoring as I found my brother curled up in a ball asleep in the back row. Normally, I would wake him, but today I also wanted to take a nap. I climbed into my seat and plugged in my earbuds.

It took 13 songs to get to the first shoot location. When we finally got there the sun was just starting to peek out from behind the clouds, but we were not outside long enough to see the beautiful oranges and coral pinks paint the sky. The set was inside a warehouse filled with blues, purples, and pinks with accents of green stems. In this music video, we were supposed to be trying to find our way through a maze of roses we were trapped in until we let the roses take over. I liked the concept, but I had no idea how they were going to incorporate our dance scenes. I was especially confused because upon arrival I was told we would have 4 different dance sequences.

All of a sudden I was separated from my brother to get styled for the first scene. My lovely makeup artist made me look youthful, but a little bit mysterious. Then stylist put me into the most adorable pink outfit ever. The skirt was asymmetric and pink denim and the top was a sparkly purple crop top. The denim hot pink jacket that was cropped but oversized. The shoes were white and looked like mini platform converse and the socks had little polka dots on them. I loved the outfit, but I was now confused about the concept of the video. I looked a little innocent for what I thought the concept was. I soon learned that the reason was that the first scene was us entering the maze and getting lost and becoming scared that we can't escape. I finally got to see my brother on set. He was dressed in a collared, flowy, midnight blue long sleeve and ripped medium wash denim jeans with white converse.

The acting section was going pretty well and 2 costume changes later I finally got to my last outfit of the acting section. As I was getting dressed my manager explained what the scene was set to be.

In the last scene, I had walked up to a mirror enchanted, kinda like Aurora walked up to the poisoned needle. As I touched the mirror the rose stems from the wall behind me reach out and wrap around me. My hand went through the mirror and I decided to walk through it.

In this scene, my body is kind of absorbed in a purple rose dress and I am attached to the walls of the maze. The shoes were slightly uncomfortable because they wrapped around me to make it look like the stems were swarming around me. The Glove thing was the worst though because the stems went from my fingertips to my neck and held me in a place like I was some sort of rag doll. I could not bend my arms unless supervised by the stylist so they could adjust it.

I feel like Jaehyun got the good end of the deal. Instead of a stiff dress, he had a purple muscle tee and dark purple, almost black, pants. The stems around his legs only went up to his calves and he had the pants to provide as a buffer. The stems around his arms only went up to his biceps and were significantly more pliable, though he still was subject to the will of the stylist.

This scene was uncomfortable which was fine because we had to look like we were in agony and simultaneously were some sort of ethereal being. After about 20 takes we were let free to a "lunch break" which wasn't a lunch break because it was already 5:00 in the afternoon. Jaehyun and I were given very small meals with lots of protein and leaves. Management did not want us to bloat so we were both starved all day which was fine by me because I had trained my self not to get hungry. Jaehyun was not so lucky. His meal was bigger than mine, but he was also a much bigger person who was used to eating more than he was given.

During this little break, Jaehyun and I got some nap time. The managers laid jackets on top of us as we laid on the pad they put on the ground. It felt safe to be napping next to my brother again as we had so often as children. I wanted to snuggle into his arms as I had in our crib, but I thought it would look unprofessional considering we were still technically in the workplace. Instead

We then moved on to the hard part, the dance scenes. We were only filming one dance scene today, but we had plenty of Gatorade drinks and chews on standby to keep us from collapsing. When we weren't dancing, we were getting the caffeine and sugar we needed into our body. It took 2 hours to film including our breaks, touchups, and multiple angles. Luckily, the dancing itself went pretty smoothly so we didn't have to film too many times.

The team decided to pack up for the day because we were going to need more energy for the rest of the shoot. They drove us back to the dorms and I went climbing onto my bunk when I saw that Yiyang's bunk was missing all of her stuff. I thought maybe she had gone home for a day or two. When Jungyeon came in a couple of minutes later I asked her where Yiyang had gone. She just looked at me sadly and stated, "She was just waiting for her contract to be up. She left and is not coming back. I'm going to do the same. A representative from LOEN has offered me a spot on their debut team if I move over there."

I sat on my bed shocked, "What do you mean? I thought we were going to debut together."

"I thought so too, but on my recent evaluations, I have not been making the mark. They are going to kick me out anyway so I might as well go to a different company so I wouldn't have wasted so much time." I could tell she didn't want to continue the conversation so I let it go. I went to sleep sad, but I did not let myself cry.

~~~~~The Next Morning~~~~~

I was up and at it again the next morning for the shoot everything seemed like a blur. All of a sudden the director was yelling "Cut" and I was bowing to everyone thanking them for their work. My manager had told us after the shoot we would be able to take rest of the day off so I told Jaehyun I wanted to go to the pool. I grabbed a bathing suit, a high SPF sunscreen, and a cover-up. There was a pool in the basement of SM that no one uses because they were all too busy, but I constantly use it when I have time off so I can keep a slim figure and have time to think.

I slipped into the cool water and let myself adjust to the temperature. Once I was adjusted I dove underwater and swam around like a mermaid. I enjoyed the quiet of being underwater and that feeling that no matter what someone says the mean comments could not reach me. I decided it was time to go up and take a break. As I surfaced I saw a figure that looked kinda like my brother.

It was not just my brother. I emerged from the water and there were several boys in front of me. Notably, the one that liked me was there and my brother was next to him smirking.

I will kill you in your sleep.

You're welcome.

I immediately went back underwater and swam over to my towel. As I popped my head up again I said, "I will get going, you can use the pool."

"You don't have to go," my brother responded. "The pool is big enough for all of us."

"No, it is really time that I get going. I have to go to practice and maybe eat something. Thank you though." I grabbed my towel and pulled myself out of the pool making sure to cover myself as quickly as possible. I looked across the pool to see Taeyong quickly look away and the other boys were busy entering the pool. Maybe it was Taeyong seeing me in a skin-tight swimsuit or the number of shirtless boys in front of me, but I turned red as a tomato as I scurried out of the basement.

Hi y'all!  Thank you so much for reading this chapter and waiting for my lazy butt to write another chapter. If you guys like this story feel free to vote, comment, share with your friends, or message me. Love Y'all. ~BellaBanana