- timeskip to the first practice of BEBE together with ITZY -
Bada's POV:
"Hey, are you at the building already? I'm too scared to go in alone." I heard y/n say over the phone. I chuckled to myself.
"I'll see you at the entrance, baby. Wait there for me." I replied.
Why is she, out of all people, too afraid of the JYP building? She's the one who dragged us into this.
I hurried to her. When she noticed me, she came jogging towards me, falling around my neck. "Thank God you're here. Look at how big this is." She whined. I just laughed at her.
Minah arrived right after, with a remark aswell.
"Okay this thing is huge. We'll be lost immediately. Y/n, can't you tell Yeji to pick us up?" She pleaded and pouted.
Y/n replied, saying she will, once everyone is there.
Soon enough, the last person arrived and y/n finally called Yeji. We were all nervous, especially Sowoen. She was excited about meeting ITZY, as she loved the group with her whole heart. Not to let her know, but I heard her secretly singing their songs in the shower before.
When Yeji arrived, we were all captivated. Her visuals are seriously no joke.
"Hey Yeji, are your girls inside already?" Y/n asked as she hugged her.
"Yeah. They're all excited to see you, just like me." Yeji stopped for a while and looked at everyone. "You guys are all so gorgeous. I might be fangirling right now." She added.
We all laughed and greeted her aswell.
"Sowoen, how are you feeling? Don't forget that you're here for a collab, not a private concert." I heard Minah whisper quietly. Sowoen slapped her shoulder in return.
"Lee Minah! I will get rid of you one day." She glared at her.
I calmed them down before they could say anything further and made them go inside behind the others.
-
"Okay, I already kind of introduced myself but, I'm Hwang Yeji. ITZY's leader. Thank you for accepting our request for a collaboration. Oh, and by the way, Lia sadly won't be able to join us this time, but we hope to see her again very soon." The members started introducing themselves one after one.
"Hello ladies, I'm Shin Ryujin. Hope we'll have fun together." Ryujin said in her usual cool way.
"Hi everyone, I'm Lee Chaeryeong. We will do our best to meet your expectations!" Chaeryeong smiled at us sweetly and bowed deeply.
"Lastly, I'm Shin Yuna. The youngest in ITZY, and therefore the cutest, obviously." Yuna winked and made everyone laugh.
This is going well so far.
My team started introducing themselves aswell, occasionally making jokes. I didn't feel awkward at all, which I was happy about. Usually, when working with new people, I feel awkward and can't think as fast. But I feel more comfortable here.
Yeji told us the song would be called 'Born to be'. The song has a strong chorus and a dance break, signifying that we should definitely focus on those parts heavily. She played the demo of the song.
"Woah, this is really good. Something I can imagine dancing to really well. It fits us, don't you think, Bada?" Y/n asked.
"Yes. I really like the instrumental. I already have some ideas in my head. Should we start immediately?" I replied. When it came to work, I was competitive. I wanted everything to be perfect.
-
Y/n's POV:
When I noticed Bada feeling energetic and motivated to work on the choreography, I was happy. Happy to see her enjoy herself again after a while. She has been so caught up in her worries, and I think this opportunity is a positive change for her.
Almost immediately after the song ended, Bada nodded in approval and made her way closer to the mirror. We followed behind, observing what she was doing.
"Okay so basically, the song is energetic and wild, which is why I think big and bold moves would be fitting, especially during the chorus. How do I start? Hmm.." She thought for a while.
Even without having started, I was already impressed. The way she can easily and subtly take the lead is so attractive. I couldn't wait for this to be done so I could take her out.
"Oh! What about something like this?" She showed us a move in several different ways, and we all loved it. In the end, we picked the one that allowed the us to look the most fierce. It was great.
After finishing up the first point choreo, we took a short break. We were just talking, trying to get to know each other better. Someone came up with the idea of playing spin the bottle, which I thought was corny, but I just went with it.
"Yuna! Who do you think is the cutest out of the girls from BEBE?" Cheche asked when the bottle landed on Yuna.
She took her time to respond, but it didn't seem like she had to think hard about it.
"Sowoen! She's a bit shy, but also so giggly and her smile is adorable!" She threw heart guns at Sowoen, who, unmistakably, was about to hyperventilate.
Some of the girls started squealing and shoving them. It was so funny. I eyed them for a bit but we moved on after a while.
The bottle landed on Ryujin, and Sowoen asked who she enjoyed working with the most until now.
"Hmm, well first of all all of the people here are amazing in their own ways. My girls, the BEBE members, they're all great. So, it's hard to choose just one person." She replied after some thinking, looking up with her eyebrows raised.
"Why are you being so emotional all of a sudden, Ryuddaeng?" Yeji laughed, hitting her shoulder.
Ryujin smirked. "I was joking. Obviously, working together with Bada was my dream, so I think it's obvious I choose her." She answered unfazed and everyone started cheering due to her cool aura.
When I looked at Bada, she was nodding and putting up her thumbs.
"Well thank you. I like your attitude." She replied.
Ryujin went on talking about how she has been watching and learning Bada's choreographies for quite some time now. We were all silent just listening to her babbling, until she stopped at some point and we continued with the game.
After some spins and endless compliments flying around, the bottle landed on me. I'm actually really bad at this. Playing games like this always makes me shy.
It was Yeji's turn before me, so she was the one to ask a question. I prayed she would ask something simple that I could answer with a sentence or two.
"What made you want to take care of Bada so much that you postponed our meeting?" She asked smirking.
This will be the end of me. Why me? I wanted to end my life then and there.
"I apologized so many times already! Can't you just let it go Yeji? Please!" I begged her but she wouldn't budge.
"Ugh, she wasn't feeling well. Anyone in the right mind would try to help! You know I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't make this up to make you mad."
Fortunately, she left me alone after this and there were no more questions about it. I didn't know she holds grudges like this. The others laughed at our bickering, clearly enjoying the childishness coming from us.
-
Eventually, after some weeks of practicing, we were at the set to start filming. I was nervous the entire ride there, as this was a huge thing. Nobody could deny that. Sure, we were at least kind of experienced with this kind of environment because of the filming of Street Woman Fighter, but this is new, and definitely a bit more personal. It's just us as 'guests'. Only BEBE.
The filmings of Street Woman Fighter were all done, meaning all we had to do was wait for the results. The date got delayed because some finalist teams had urgent work in Japan, but the filming was set to be in six days. With the stress of that off of our chests, we were obviously calmer, but I was very anxious about the current schedule regardless. I mean, working together with ITZY and even appearing in one of their music videos is a huge push. Of course I'm happy we're able to receive these opportunities. Nevertheless, I do think feeling worried about it is valid.
I was just looking out the window for some time, when I felt someone poking my side.
"Psst, y/n." I heard Bada whisper next to me, close to my ear.
I turned to her, about to ask why she's whispering and what she needs, but she spoke before I could. "The others are sleeping. Don't want to wake them up." She paused for a bit, opening something on her phone.
It was a text message. What I read left me in utter shock. I knew exactly who this was.
Unknown: Oh my sweet Bada, I know where you're going. Mind if I join you and your little gang?
I couldn't believe it. Bada blocked Doyun on everything way before she got a new number, without leaving anything out. There was no way he would know it. We tried making sense of it, but we couldn't figure out how on earth he would know her number. He had no connections whatsoever.
Besides these miseries, did he actually know where we'd be going? We didn't tell anyone we'd collaborate with ITZY. This had to be some kind of sick joke with perfect timing for some magical reason.
"You don't think he actually knows, do you?" Bada asked me, frightened.
I didn't know. It could mean anything.
I tried reassuring her that I'll find out what this meant and that I'll protect her. He couldn't just pop up out of nowhere on the set anyway.
I asked Bada if she could give me her phone, and she did. I wanted to text Doyun back.
Bada: Listen Doyun, whatever you're doing, how is it gonna work? I'm at work. You can't just come here.
Unknown: Wait wtf?? Doyun?
Bada: Quit playing. You've already done enough. Are you ever going to stop it?
Unknown: No I'm serious. It's Redy lol. I heard you talking about your little collab and I wanted to watch. No hard feelings.
It wasn't Doyun? But Redy having Bada's new phone number didn't make sense either. She changed it about two weeks ago when she accidentally dropped her phone.
All of this was definitely weird. I texted who seemed to be Redy back.
Bada: No hard feelings my ass. Get the fuck away and leave us alone. How did you even get my number anyway?
Unknown: Eh, you wouldn't be too happy with the reasoning, so I'll spare you.
I turned to Bada who looked at me with an uneasy expression. I told her it actually isn't Doyun but Redy. For some reason, this was kind of a relief. We knew Redy couldn't harm anyone as much as Doyun.
"Okay but still, how'd she get my number? This is all so weird y/n."
"I know. It feels sketchy. But please, don't think too much of it. She's probably just saying stuff. You know her." I replied.
"Know who? Are you guys okay?"
I turned my head, seeing Cheche looking at us with raised eyebrows behind us. She must have woken up a few seconds ago.
"Yeah, we're good Cheche, don't worry. Were you able to sleep well?" We asked, burying the lingering anxiety for now.
"Yes! I have more power now. Do you know when we'll get there?" She replied.
Bada checked the map on her phone and told us we'll arrive in about 10 minutes.
-
"Hi! You can get started with makeup. I'll lead you there, follow me!" Yeji greeted us. Her way of always being so calm is really comforting.
As we got our makeup put on, I kept thinking about that text message from Redy. Did she actually know we're here? It couldn't be, she probably just tried freaking Bada out.
Bada seemed to be thinking about the same thing. She sat on a chair across from me as she was done with her makeup already. Her frown was visible. Once I was done with my makeup aswell I got up and pulled her towards an empty spot.
"Did she text anything else?" I asked her and she looked at me with scared eyes.
"Y/n.. She said she's coming here. I'm scared she actually knows." Bada replied. I put my hands on her cheek to get her to focus on me.
"I'm sure she's just-" I got cut off by a loud voice.
"There you are! I've been looking for you." The voice sounded like it was coming closer with every word.
I was too anxious to look around. But according to Bada's expression, it wasn't anyone she'd want to see.
"Doyun?!"
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I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE!!!
I had to study for all my exams and then prepare some things for Christmas..
Sorry for making all of you wait for so long! I'll try to make up for it.