My Summer in Seoul

Minutes after we started, she left and came back, bringing all of our coffee orders without us asking.

The worst part was that she was quiet.

So quiet that it was making me mess up the choreography.

I missed her chaos.

Rae must have felt the same way because it was officially our worst rehearsal we’d had since learning the choreography.

Great.

Less than two weeks until the comeback stage and one week away from the drop of our MV, and we sucked.

“Take a break.” Solia was at the door, arms crossed, wearing a black pantsuit with her hair slicked back, looking every inch the executive she one day wanted to be.

Her steely eyes roamed over us and finally landed on Kai, a flicker of emotion was all she allowed before sighing and pressing her fingertips to her forehead. “You guys aren’t focused.”

“We’ll get there.” Rae grabbed a towel and wiped his face. “We’ll take a break and regroup.”

“You have an hour left of practice before you start doing press for the comeback.” Solia just had to remind all of us. “Focus.” Her wrath quickly turned to Grace. “Are you not doing your job? Are they eating? Drinking? Are you making sure they’re in bed on time—”

“She’s been perfect,” Rae interjected. “We’re just under a lot of pressure.”

Solia’s jaw flexed as she clenched her teeth. “Okay, I need you guys in the van ready for Idol Variety in fifty-five minutes.”

“I’ll make sure they are,” Grace said in a confident voice that we’d all been missing this morning. “I promise.”

“Make sure you do.” Solia’s heels clicked against the tile floor, each footstep striking like an invisible knife in my brain. Somehow, I kept from flinching as she glided through the door, and it slammed behind her.

Trainees, as usual, poked their heads around the window, trying to get a glimpse of us.

Annoyed, I wanted to block it.

Grace shared a look with me, then very slowly walked over to the door and stood in front of the window. “Well? Are you guys going to go through Move again?”

“Yes,” Rae answered for us.

Grace’s eyes didn’t leave mine.

Was that concern?

Interest?

Boredom?

I had no idea.

And I told myself it didn’t matter as we went through the choreography for the next fifty-five minutes.

Grace had ordered us more coffee.

And instead of throwing mine away, I made a point to grab it, stare directly at her and drink.

Something had changed.

I just wasn’t sure if that something was her… or me.

Chapter Eighteen

Moment of truth…

Grace

Super fun, being rejected by Rae, even though there was nothing to reject. Still, it didn’t feel awesome.

Nor did Lucas’s look of pity lessen the blow.

Note to self: no more soju.

No more relying solely on Rae either, considering I’d apparently been annoying him this entire time.

I still wasn’t completely sure how I even got back to the apartment and onto the couch, let alone covered in a blanket that wasn’t mine. I did have the best dream though, I was lying there, and Lucas was on top of me, his face close to mine, and I remembered just wanting to hold him close because he was so warm and smelled so good, then felt like an idiot when I later woke up and he was on the floor like he’d just tripped over my massive body.

I took a deep breath. I still had my pride, right?

Maybe?

And at least Lucas didn’t throw away his coffee.

Rae hadn’t said more than a few words to me. He either felt bad, or he was just as embarrassed as I was.

Jay at least seemed to be attempting to crack jokes during rehearsal, but all bets were off once we got to Idol Variety.

Everyone suddenly got uber-serious, even though the set looked really fun. I tried not to gape as different idols arrived from other groups, all of them beautiful and larger than life.

I honestly needed to take notes on some killer skin care routines because I was clearly lacking and dehydrated from the night before.

I yawned behind my hand and chugged down more Iced Americano while the guys finished up with makeup and wardrobe.

Staff ran around attempting to get everyone ready and in their spots. It was fascinating; I tried to blend into the back and was thankful again that I looked the part, even though I felt like a giant imposter as people got the stage ready.

It looked like a normal classroom setting, with desks and everything. In fact, it was super cute and made me smile. I knew that some of SWT’s videos were a bit on the intense sexy side, whereas this made them look more approachable. There had to be a marketing plan along with it, and I made a mental note to ask one of them or Solia later—if she returned my texts after being annoyed this morning.

How was it my fault they were messing up the routine?