young & wild | chaeyu

nineteen ; ballad

"I'm tired," Tzuyu mumbled, yawning. "It's too late."

Jihyo checked the time on her phone. "It is." And despite Jihyo simply agreeing with her, Tzuyu felt as though Jihyo was silently chastising her. After all, she knew about the long hours and exhaustion when she'd decided to shift her focus to encompass both modeling and singing. She'd signed up for this.

"I need to keep practicing," Tzuyu said after a brief pause.

"Yes."

Tzuyu frowned. "Can you help me out with projection again? It's difficult. I'm not very used to being loud. Especially with Korean."

"Have confidence," Jihyo encouraged her. "You speak very well, and it's only been a few weeks."

Tzuyu smiled half-heartedly. "Thank you. I really appreciate your support and help."

"Of course. Now, let's get to it. Start from the beginning, focusing on vocal projection. Be loud, Tzuyu, as loud as you can while sounding good."

Tzuyu nodded quickly. Truthfully, Tzuyu wasn't sure why Jihyo was even talking with her again. The tall trainee had even chosen to do her late night vocal practice in a different, smaller room so she'd be out of the way of Jihyo. And she'd even built up the courage during the daytime to get advice from their vocal instructer so she wouldn't need to receive help from her anyways.

But Jihyo had sought her out, to her great surprise. And she'd offered to help her out once more. Unlike the vocal instructer, the way Jihyo explained things made a lot of sense to Tzuyu, and their immediately formed bond. Tzuyu felt comfortable.

So Tzuyu didn't want to upset her, but rather show that she could work hard and improve. She wanted Jihyo to see that she was working hard to improve and was making steps towards being able to debut everyday.

So she sang loud and confidently, trying to ignore the fact that she mispronounced at least five or six words by end of the verse Jihyo had specified. Tzuyu was getting sick of that part, really, but the more good practice she got in the better she'd get. And she really really wanted to improve. Something about moving from her hometown and flying to this unusual country had flipped a switch in her. Now she just wanted to improve.

As Jihyo praised her and suggested ways to adjust her singing, Tzuyu found her mind drifting away from the present, and into the past. She couldn't brush aside how Chaeyoung had acted earlier. She had seemed so odd. Tzuyu didn't know what to think about it.

"Tzuyu? Tzuyu, you with me?" Jihyo asked her. Tzuyu blinked rapidly, startled. Thankfully, Jihyo didn't seem mad, just amused.

"I... Yeah, I am. Sorry. I was thinking about something that happened earlier."

"What is it?"

Tzuyu stiffened. "Nothing. It doesn't involve you though, so don't worry."

Jihyo sighed lightly. "It does involve me, though. If it distracts you from my teaching, then I want to know what it is. I want to help you, but I can't do that if something is bothering you enough that you can't practice seriously."

A rush of guilt overcame Tzuyu. She hadn't meant to waste Jihyo's time. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to..." Tzuyu bit back any pathetic excuse that threatened to spoken aloud. "Sorry."

Jihyo sighed. "You don't need to apologize. Kid, I just want to help you."

Tzuyu bristled indignantly. "You're not much older than me."

A smile overtook the shorter girl. "Maybe not, but I'm more experienced. Which one of us debuted, hmm?"

Tzuyu grinned. "Okay, fine. You debuted, I haven't, blah blah blah. But I'm also a model, you know."

"Songless though," pointed out the older.

"You're right. But don't forget, you're a couple minutes of singing away from being songless."

Jihyo stared at Tzuyu for a long second. Doubt crept into Tzuyu's mind-- that hadn't been the wisest thing to say to the person who'd offered to help Tzuyu's singing. Too harsh to say to someone she barely knew.

But right before Tzuyu could manage to mumble out another apology, Jihyo started laughing.

"You're right," she said with a big smile. "And I'm sick of it! But soon, I'll have my first comeback. Three songs. Then I'll have the massive discography of five songs. But hey, better than two, right?"

Tzuyu nodded quickly, immensely thankful she wasn't mad. "Yeah, it's definitely a good thing. I'm really excited to hear your comeback too. Will... Will you have another ballad?"

"I don't think so, since this is a summer comeback. Why do you ask?"

Tzuyu's cheeks heated up a bit. "I really really really love your OST ballad. It sounds really pretty. I kinda want you to write another ballad like that one."

Jihyo smiled. "Oh, I definitely have. Doesn't mean I can release it though. I do enjoy messing around with music, writing lyrics, composing, stuff like that. Unfortunately, at this point, the company can't afford to let Jimin and I create studio versions of whatever we'd like. Maybe one day, but definitely not right now."

Even though Jihyo had just told Tzuyu quite a bit of information, all she'd got from it was that Jihyo had written unreleased ballads of her own.

"Can... Can you sing one of them?"

"What I've written?"

Tzuyu nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I'd love to hear it."

Jihyo chuckled. "Of course. I have some lyrics on my phone, just a second." Jihyo searched her phone for where she'd documented the lyrics in question, as Tzuyu shivered with excitement. Here she was, about to hear a song none of the public ever had. She definitely had never anticipated anything like this happening.

Jihyo began singing very softly, her voice slowly growing in power until she reached the chorus. The small room echoed with the power of her voice, and the echoes caused her voice to resonate and layer upon itself. Tzuyu closed her eyes, listening to the musicality of her voice, feeling it envelop her completely.

Jihyo stopped far too soon for Tzuyu's liking, looking away from her phone and to the younger girl.

"Did you like it?" she asked.

"Of course I did!" Tzuyu answered honestly. "I could only dream of singing like that."

Jihyo shrugged. "One day you will. But first, you need to resolve the issue distracting you. As an idol, you will have to learn to set aside other worries to concentrate on the activities at hand. Often times, personal problems are the lowest priority."

Tzuyu nodded.

"So, is there anything I can help you with?"

Tzuyu shook her head, thinking about it. "No. I'll just talk to her tomorrow, I guess."

"Okay. Now, are you ready to practice singing some more before we leave?"

a/n 19: thank you guys for 1k reads!!!!!! i really appreciate it <3

also, this may be the last chapter for a while. i will be going to a family thing for 15-16ish days and i'm not sure when i'll have wifi. i will try to write on my tablet so i have something when i come back, but who knows what will happen. thank you for understanding!

what's your favorite japanese twice song?