young & wild | chaeyu

fifteen ; room

Tzuyu frowned, closing her eyes in frustration. This is what she hated about arriving later, with Chaeyoung. The building was always open to trainees to practice, but the few employees they had arrived at reasonable work hours. This meant that trainees would often practice very early and then finish with daylight left. Some, like Dahyun managed to work a little at odd hours, but Tzuyu didn't know that about her. She never worried about food-- her family was pretty well off, and were very happy to see her pursue a creative career, leading them to pay for a reasonable amount of food and her full rent.

Thankfully, she didn't have to suffer the money hardship. But being a trainee in most circumstances wasn't exactly a comfy lifestyle. Having the drive for music and the desire to improve is difficult to maintain, especially after the years of training that some have to endure just for a couple minutes in the spotlight.

But Tzuyu had that needed drive to succeed, most of the time. But sitting there, blisters on her tired feet and her eyes aching from reading lyrics on her phone, she felt exhausted. Whenever she felt unmotivated like this, she'd move to a different room where multiple other girls where at. She didn't mind the noise and the way no one spoke to her-- it simply served as a reminder that she wasn't alone in her dream. She needed to get better and keep her determination to become the best she could. After all, the other girls were the competition. There weren't many of them, but there didn't need to be a ton of people to make a group.

Tzuyu needed the reminder that she wasn't the only one fighting for position. She needed to be prompted to keep going.

But it was late enough that she didn't want to stand. Her throat hurt from trying to project her voice louder than she was used to and from pronouncing so many difficult words. She knew she should go to the hired vocal coach for the projection issue, but it was so hard to communicate with strangers, and they had already left anyways.

Come on, Tzuyu, she told herself. This is important. The last year of your life was dedicated to modeling and music. Get up. Sing. If Nayeon thought she was making steps in the right direction... that was great. She just had to keep doing that. If Nayeon, who had a big part in the company's image, had noticed her especially, she had to keep pushing to get better. Stronger, more charismatic. Fit. Lean. A better vocalist. More skilled in Korean.

Nayeon had noticed her efforts, and that was the important thing.

Hauling herself off the floor, Tzuyu stretched a bit, unable to stifle a yawn. It was quiet enough that she didn't want to disturb the silence, so she decided to freestyle dance a bit-- it wasn't one of her strengths, so any kind of practice would help. She started a song on her phone at low volume, and moved to the center of the room.

Tzuyu's limbs felt stiff at first, but she soon got into the rhythm of the music and ignored the slight ache of her legs and arms. The room was fairly cold, and to Tzuyu's relief, her muscles began to loosen up and she felt herself flush with heat after the song ended.

Breathing a bit heavier than normal, Tzuyu exhaled loudly, knowing that she may as well practice vocal stability since she was so tired by then. It made it harder to sing after hours of movement, but it would make her better.

Stiffly, Tzuyu moved from her ending position of the dance, and to her surprise, she heard light clapping behind her. Understandably alarmed, Tzuyu spun around to face the entrance.

Park Jihyo, the first artist of the company, stood in the doorway, the door propped open with her foot. She had a sad smile on her face, a water bottle nested in the crook of her arms as she clapped.

Tzuyu's eyes widened and she bowed as soon as her brain registered who was standing in front of her.

"That was good," Jihyo told her with a small smile. Though Tzuyu had seen videos of her and had viewed her from afar, in truth she hadn't ever heard her speak a full sentence in person. Tzuyu knew she spoke fluent Korean and had for all her life, but she still felt a small jolt of surprise at the lack of foreign accent. When she'd first seen a picture of her, Tzuyu had thought she was part foreigner, based on her eyes, but she was just Korean, born and raised to act and sing. Because of that original misconception, Tzuyu had always expected Jihyo to have a slight accent. And her speaking voice was deeper than Tzuyu anticipated.

"T-thank you," managed Tzuyu.

"Here," Jihyo stepped out of the doorway, holding out the water bottle. The door slide mostly closed. "You need to stay hydrated."

Unable to find the right words, Tzuyu bowed again, gratefully taking the water. She'd already drank three water bottles, but that wasn't enough. Truthfully, after a while training, Tzuyu would often forget to take care of her self. But now, reminded of her thirst, Tzuyu sipped the water thankfully.

"You're one of the new trainees, aren't you? I don't think I've seen you much before."

Tzuyu brushed away the droplets on her lips, swallowing a mouthful of the water. "I'm a foreign trainee," she said quietly, feeling very shy in the older girl's presence. "My name is Tzuyu, and I'm a model, but I want..." she trailed off.

"To do music?" prompted Jihyo gently.

"Yeah." Tzuyu confirmed, her voice thick. "So I'm trying to sing and dance and stuff."

Jihyo nodded understandingly, looking around the room with an aura of regret. "I know how it is. I trained for seven years at two different companies. Six elsewhere, and one here. And then I debuted a year and a half ago as a soloist."

Tzuyu nodded, her eyes glued to the floor.

"Don't be shy," Jihyo told her softly. "I'm not mean, I promise."

Tzuyu managed a smile and looked up, making eye contact with Jihyo. Unlike most strangers, Jihyo had no trouble understanding her through her accent, and she made Tzuyu feel comfortable in her presence.

"I bet you're wondering why I'm in here," laughed Jihyo lightly.

Tzuyu nodded vigorously. She definitely was confused as to why Jihyo, who was extremely skilled and beautiful, was talking to her.

"I only trained here for a year while the company was still being sorted out and preparing to debut me or Jimin, but I spent a lot of years training. This was the room I always used. It... Brings back memories. I'll be having my first comeback soon, and I was restless at my home. I came back to dance away some nerves, and my feet led me here. I just caught the end of your freestyle," she explained.

That is kind of sad, Tzuyu realized, noting the wistful sound to her voice. She probably felt quite sentimental about the location, then. It probably didn't help that all those hours had led to having only two songs after over a year of debut-- her debut and an OST.

"That's all," Jihyo said after a quiet pause. "It was nice meeting you, Tzuyu. I'll go to a different room to practice now."

"Thank you for the water," whispered Tzuyu hoarsely.

"No problem, just remember to take care of your body. Without your health, you can't sing or dance or model well," she reminded the younger. "Work hard during your training, and it'll pay off."

"Thank you."

Jihyo was at the door when Tzuyu finally gathered her courage.

"Wait!" she called out to the older girl. "Can... Can you help me with my singing a little bit if you have time?"

Jihyo smiled, a sparkle appearing in her eyes. To Tzuyu's relief, she looked genuinely pleased. "I'd be happy to. Do you want to start now?"

"That'd be good," Tzuyu said gratefully. Perhaps staying so late had led to something good after all. 

a/n: what song made you stan twice?

for me, it was the likey music video. i watched it when i barely knew anything about kpop and fell in love. momo's bb papapa had my HEART, and jeongyeon on that skateboard???? eTHEREAL. and that BRIDGE???? perfection.