young & wild | chaeyu

twenty-four ; sunset

"Actually, I do have someone in mind," Nayeon ventured, deciding to ignore the last comment Jeongyeon had made.

"Do share," remarked Jeongyeon.

"She's one of yours, actually. Tzuyu. You know the Taiwanese model?"

Jeongyeon laughed. "She's a model, Nayeon. And you don't even know her. What, none of the Korean trainees are good enough for this job?"

Cheeks flushing dignantly, Nayeon retorted, "I have girls that would do great at this job-- Dahyun, Ryujin, and Chaeryoung are all fit for the task. But I'm not just factoring in skill, but how this would also be a confidence booster. Jihyo talked to me a couple days ago, about a girl named Tzuyu she helped with vocals. She told me she's decent, with a lot of potential but just as much self-doubt. Because she was debuted as a model, Jihyo told me she feels she isn't talented. Despite this, she's still training in voice and dance, correct?"

Nayeon nodded in acknowledgement. "You're right." She sounded fairly impressed.

"So this would be a big confidence booster, right? Especially since it's for Jihyo's song, since Jihyo told me she really loved her OST."

"Okay," Nayeon admitted. "I like this train of thought. My Mandarin is pretty bad, so we normally talked in Korean, though she was only just starting when I spoke with her the most. But despite that, she seems like a pretty sweet girl. Funny, too. She had her moments back at headquarters. At this point, she's gotten very good at Korean, especially since Chaeyoung agreed to help her. I'm not worried about her learning the prounciation, especially since it's fairly simple. But I don't think she's got the neccessary vocal range or tone right now."

"What do you propose, then?" asked Nayeon. "Better vocals, worse pronounciation? Or worse vocals, better pronounciation, and a confidence booster?"

Jeongyeon exhaled slowly. "Who's to say we can't have both?"

A slow smile grew on Nayeon's face. "You're right. We have them both record. Give Mina the more techinically and musically challenging lines and Tzuyu the more lingually challenging lines."

"And!" Jeongyeon said enthusiastically. "This also adds to our international and open feel. A Japanese trainee and a Taiwanese model, on a Korean soloist's single."

"Perfect," Nayeon breathed, and laughed suddenly.

"What is it?" asked the younger girl of the pair.

"It's just funny," Nayeon said. "How we can still read each other so easily. Just imagine how confused Sunghyun would be if we forced him to stay to pick the trainees."

Jeongyeon laughed softly in return. "We do make a pretty good team, don't we?" The way she said it-- regretfully, her voice sad and deep-- made a shiver go down Nayeon's back.

"Yeah," she whispered. Tension filled the air, so thick that Nayeon felt she'd choke on it. Then, suddenly, "I miss you."

"I'm right here," Jeongyeon said with a low laugh.

Nayeon looked down. "Who is it?"

"No one."

There was another pause. "So you really did just get sick of me. No one even had to sway you?" Nayeon's voice was thick and shaky. "I know I'm being stupid, b-but... I just thought we were on good terms. I don't know what happened."

Jeongyeon closed her eyes for a second, before opening them and locking eyes with Nayeon's. The older girl couldn't look away. "Baby, you know we were always a bit on and off. This is like that."

Nayeon shook her head. "It isn't like that at all. We were messy at times, but we never really fought bad, or actually split. God, Jeong, you were my everything. What changed?"