i'll give you my galaxy | chaekura book 2

Minjoo: pain

As much as it pained me not to grasp this chance of debuting well, it pained me even more to see Sakura so clearly disappointed. I can't blame her, though. She's probably terrified of the recording studio again. Luckily Chaeyeon was there. 2 days of non-stop practice, Chaeyeon and Sakura. They spent the last 2 days in there and only came out to eat. It was worrying to watch them so tired but it paid off at the end when Mr. Kim finally gave Sakura the credit she's deserved. I was so happy to hear we got signed by Galaxies that I told my entire family even before OneHallyu could release the news on their website. Note to self: don't do this ever again or you might get fired.

Anyways, it's the second day of school and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I'm literally like every other high school senior in my year. There's so much new things in math and it's just a mess. But, since we're in SBSA's idol prep programme, Eunbi, Hyewon, Yena and I won't be graduating until 2 years later. That gives me plenty of time to decide on how I want to go about mine and Yujin's relationship and how I'm going to explain to the rest of IZ*ONE.

Chaeyeon and Sakura had it easier because once Sakura became a part of our group, it was obvious that Chaeyeon had never been happier. But with Yujin and I, it was more gradual and I have yet to give her a proper answer that's not "uhhh's" or "hmmm's".

"Minjoo!" I turn around and Chaeyeon jumps on me. 
"Well, hello there." I glance around difficultly, then Chaeyeon gets off. "Where's Sakura?"
"HEY!" Chaeyeon gives me a sarcastic, angry look. "Just because we're dating doesn't mean I love you any less. I have plenty of love to go around." She animatedly opens her arms wide as we were just about to leave the campus for dinner.

"WAIT-" Eunbi stops in front of me, looking scared.
"What's wr-"
"We need to head to our dorm. NOW! Sakura-chan said there's been an emergency." I un-link mine and Chaeyeon's arms and all of make a run to room 422.

-

"SAKU-CHAN!" Chaeyeon's loud banging on the dark oak door could probably be heard on the other side of the school. "Are you okay? Are you in there?" Oh no. She's getting flustered. I put my hand on her shoulder and we hear a click from inside the door. Chaeyeon barges into the room. The room was dark apart from a few small flames inside. Then, I understood.

I pull Chaeyeon to a halt with as much strength as I could before she could ruin anything.

"What is this?" Eunbi points to the floor where there is a cake with 12 candles. We all bend down to take a closer look, sending chills down on our spines. I point to the red icing on the top.
"Congratulations IZ*O-AHHH" Suddenly the lights turn on and there are balloons everywhere. Sakura, Hitomi and Nako come out of the bathroom with big smiles on their faces. I whack Hitomi. "YA! You scared us all!"
"Unnie..." Hitomi rubs her head. I give her a little hug and apologize.
"Wait, so-"
"We wanted to surprise you." Nako cuts Eunbi off. "It's our one-year anniversary as a group..."
"We wanted to do it yesterday but..."
"We were so busy with the whole Galaxies thing..." Sakura holds up the cake shakily. "Now, make a wish before all the candles melt."
"To IZ*ONE..." Chaeyeon starts, nodding to Eunbi.
"That we will hit daebak and fulfill our dreams. Fighting on 3! One, two three!"
"IZ*ONE FIGHTING!"

-

Time flew by really quickly this year. Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. Next thing I knew, I was already taking exams. Everyone had a hard time meeting up with each other because our timetables clashed. And when we do meet for vocal or dance lessons, we'd have to rush to make it for training at Galaxies. Our teachers were supportive, though. Sometimes they'd release us a few minutes earlier so we could get a light dinner on the way to the Galaxies building. The only people I do get to talk to are the ones in my year. Even though we live in the same dorm, I rarely talk to Yujin and Nako. Usually we'd all be too tired to even talk and we'd just go to sleep. On the weekends, we're all studying. It was of paramount importance to keep steady minimum B+ grades. 

"Where are we eating?" Yujin stops all of us right outside the school. "I'm craving something light."
"You can't eat light Yujin, we have training later. We need all the carbs we can get." Chaeyeon looks at all of us with a devious smile. We all know what she's thinking.
"TTEOKBOKKI!" All of us shout in unison. We link arms and walk to our favourite rice cake shop. 
"I don't even know why we keep asking where to eat if we're just going to eat at the same place." Sakura says.
"Hey! Maybe we secretly want to eat some place else." Yujin defends herself. We enter the tteokbokki place and we immediately laid eyes on an awful sight.

"Heol-" Go-Ara sees us first and her forehead crinkles into a frown. "What are they doing here?" Huiyeon turns around and sees us. She gives a vicious smile before turning back to their group.
"They've disbanded already?" The rest of LIGHT laughs with her. "I didn't know they were that weak."
I hold Chaeyeon back from causing a scene. "Chae, it's not worth it. Come on." I whisper.
"Joo, let's just find another place."
"No." I said to everyone firmly as I walk to a side table. "Then they would win."
"Woah unnie, you're the best. Seriously." Sakura smiles at me and we sit down.

-

"YA!" I jump backwards in shock. "We've gone through this over and over Chaeyeon what's wrong with you today?" Sakura hugs Chaeyeon who's already in tears. "You're the main dancer and you can't get this simple move correct? You're embarrassing yourself in front of your fellow trainees."
"Sir, can we have a break? We've been dancing non-stop for 4 hours." The trainer looks like he's about to scream but recomposes himself.
"15 minutes." Everyone goes to comfort Chaeyeon, but instead I catch up to the trainer.
"Sir, I can explain."
"I'm only just trying to push Chaeyeon. I know she can do better than what she's been doing today. We're going up against LIGHT for goodness-"
"Sir, that's exactly why. Chaeyeon has always felt tremendous pressure when people mention LIGHT. I'm not sure if you know but-"
"Chaeyeon is friends with Huiyeon. Yes, I know. That's why I have to push her. She has to fight through that. If not, she'll never outperform Huiyeon. She's talented. I used to train her under Knet before the scandal. That girl will do anything to be the best and Chaeyeon doesn't have the kind of drive to beat her."
"Sir, there's one more thing I think you should know." Sakura comes from behind me. "There are many rumors circulating around about Chaeyeon's disloyalty to our group. There are many hate comments about her online. I think she's really suffering from that."
"There's nothing much I can do girls. Ms Shin gave me strict orders to prepare you for the worst. I know LIGHT. They are talented. Chaeyeon has the potential to be one of the best dancers among the rookies. We're preparing you for a successful debut." Sakura and I open our mouths to defend ourselves but our trainer continues talking. "I believe in Chaeyeon. I'll stop pushing her when she reaches her full potential. What you can do, girls, is be there for her. Be there for each other. That's one thing you'd have against LIGHT." 

Our trainer goes to get more water and we head back to the dance studio.
"Guys," I start. "Chae, you good?" Chaeyeon nods at me and I kneel down in front of everyone with Sakura beside me. 
"Everyone's just pushing us to be the best we can be. I mean, our goal is to be more successful than LIGHT. That's their goal too. We do have to work hard. They'll push us until we want to give up and stop." I catch Chaeyeon's eye. "Look how far we've come. We're almost there. We're IZ*ONE. As long as the 12 of us become one, we can achieve anything. IZ*ONE FIGHTING!"

"IZ*ONE FIGHTING!"

[a/n]
hello,

sorry for the late chapter, I've been preparing for exams. i can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but I hope you'll all be with me for this :) 

thanks everyone !

c