Derek didn't have the decency to apologize. Instead, his teammates and Ayumi apologized for him.

They bowed low in front of me muttering their apologies.

"In behalf of Derek, we're sorry. He didn't mean to say that," Ayumi said with her head low.

How can you say he doesn't mean it? I'm extremely sure he was, "It's okay and I would've appreciated it if he were the one to apologize. You guys aren't the one in fault. You shouldn't take someone's burden and claim it as yours."

Hudson sighed, "Well that's the thing. He doesn't apologize, and since we're the kind and caring members, we apologize for him."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Beside me, Tony squeezed my hand and nodded his head.

I sighed, "Okay," I said and held out my hand.

Ayumi gratefully accepted it and beamed at me, "Thank you very much, Sophie!"

I gave her a small smile before retreating my hand, "Alright. I have to go now. I'll see you guys at dinner."

Ayumi nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! Oh and sit with us!"

I pursed my lips, "Um . . . I don't know."

Ayumi pouted, "Come on, please?"

"I—"

"Don't force her, Ayumi," Tony stated, "If she doesn't want to, then don't push her. Give her a little space."

I smiled gratefully at him.

Damien rolled his eyes, "Right. Like the way you're giving her space," he stated and motioned to out intertwined hands.

We quickly let go with heat coating our cheeks. I kept my hands to myself, trying to ignore my temptation of holding his hand once again. My hand was left cold at the loss of the contact.

Tony laughed nervously, "I—I can explain."

Hudson smirked and shook his head, "Don't worry, bro. Disappointing, really. Kinda liked the chick."

Damien chuckled, "You better not let the others know. The boss'll kill you."

"Oh and what about Derek?" Ayumi asked, "he just said he owns you."

Tony looked at me with questioning eyes.

"I honestly don't know what he was talking about," I replied, true to my words.

Ayumi sighed and shook her head, "That guy causes so much trouble."

I smiled at the girl. I didn't know if she felt responsible for the acts of that stubborn devil but she really shouldn't.

"Why are you apologizing for him, Ayumi? I can understand why Hudson and Damien are here, but you?" I shook my head.

She laughed awkwardly, "Well, that's just how things are. He does something stupid, I apologize for him. I do something stupid, he scolds me like my mother."

That's when I remembered that they were being shipped. I almost shed sone tears of sympathy for the girl because of being linked to that devil.

There were a few moments of silence when no one else knew what to say.

Tony cleared his throat, "Well, we best be going now," he said and looked at me. He gave me a smile and took my hand. He placed a kiss tenderly on my knuckles and eyed me, "I'll see you when I see you."

A smile crept on my lips at the familiar gesture. If I was in my right mind, I would've scolded him for acting all formal while pretending to be someone who isn't.

"Be careful," I told him.

Then, Hudson—being the ever romantic he is—grabbed Tony by the collar and dragged him away, "Alright, enough of the cheesiness. We'll see you at dinner, cupcake," he said and waved me goodbye.

Ayumi flashed me a teasing smile before following the two of them. Damien shook his head at his teammates and gave me an apologetic smile, "See you."

I left to our practice room after that apologizing session. I decided to dance and dance to take my mind off things while waiting for my members.

The music resonated all around the room as I danced. I might have looked weird doing steps that weren't supposed to be performed solo but I didn't care.

Also, this was the lest I could do for my members. It was almost their time to debut when I came around and I had to prove to them that I was worth it.

I improved my stamina by singing while dancing and it left me gasping for air, but at least it was effective. My voice wasn't as stable as Maxine's when we danced, and my movements weren't as sharp as Nichola's, but I was certain that none of my members were as graceful or elegant as I. Penelope was graceful, yes, but she lacked confidence and she doesn't memorize steps that easily. I might sound arrogant by saying this but this was the truth—nothing sugar coated.

I decided to take a break when I've danced to the song for five times. I took my brand new phone—curtesy of Samuel—and scrolled through twitter using our group's account.

I saw my picture posted there and there were likes. I scrolled through the comments and read some of them. Some complimented me and said I was pretty. Some weren't nice.

She's not that pretty.

The muses don't need that b*tch

Why did they have to add her? They're better off on their own.

I bet she doesn't have talent HAHAHAHAHA she's probably scouted because of her appearance

I sighed and closed my phone. Instead of sulking because of the comments, I was determined. Determined to prove them wrong.

So I practiced again.

"And when I see you there with her," I sang, "holding her hand like lovers."

Just then, the door opened, revealing Miss Delilah and the girls.

Delilah raised an eyebrow at me, "I see you're practicing now."

I smiled at her and restrained myself from retorting a sarcastic comeback.

"Get inside, girls," she instructed, "we will practice the steps for the instrumental until the boys come."

Boys? Oh right. Our partners. I prayed to God that hopefully, my partner would be nice. Not necessarily Tony-nice—although I'd love for that to happen.

"From the top, people," Delilah commanded.

We hurried to out places and ran over the song for two times when we heard a knock at the door.

"They're here," Alyssa stated with excitement.

Psyche and Maxine squealed in delight. I almost rolled my eyes at their childishness.

Delilah went to open the door and in came six males. The first one who came had his hands shoved in his pockets and was blowing his blood red hair away from his bad boy-ish face. The second one looked extremely bored but was unquestionably handsome. His black hair was in a mess but that somehow added to his charm. His piercing light green eyes bore through Heather's who didn't back down and stared right back. The third one had light blue hair and eyes that shone with excitement. The fourth had light brown hair and lips that formed a lopsided grin as he walked into the room. The fifth one had blonde hair and glasses that made him look like the oldest in the group. He glanced at all of us as if calculating how bad at dancing we were. The last guy had a forest green shade of hair and he showed us a shy smile and wave.

Delilah's eyes lit up, "Welcome, boys."

The six males—except the one with black hair—bowed to Delilah. She then turned to us and motioned to the boys, "Girls, these are trainees in our company."

The one with black hair raised his hand, "Except for me," he said in a low voice.

Delilah nodded in acknowledgment, "Yes, except him. This is—"

"Amadeus!" Nichola exclaimed with wide eyes.

The boy—Amadeus—bowed, "Correct."

"He already debuted," Delilah explained, "and he's quite the big shot."

I tilted my head to the side in confusion, "If he's famous, then why is he here? I mean someone as popular as him wouldn't want to be a back-up dancer, right?"

Amadeus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "Like I had a choice."

Maxine cleared her throat, "Um . . . Aren't we going to introduce ourselves or something?"

The red haired guy stepped forward towards Maxine. He held her chin ip using one finger and smirked at her face, "Want to meet me so bad, huh?"

Maxine's cheeks went red—fury or embarrassment, I didn't know—and she sent a piercing stare at the boy, "Where did you get the idea that I'd want to meet you?"

The boy shrugged and removed his finger from her chin, "You were staring at me the whole time."

Maxine rolled her eyes and looked at Delilah, "I am certainly not partnering with this—" she looked him top to bottom then crinkled her nose in disgust, "—this pathetic excuse for a human."

The boy scoffed, "You aren't a great being."

Delilah smiled, "Well unfortunately for you, honey, but the partners were already decided. And in addition, he's your partner."

The boy smiled and bowed in mock courtesy, "Justin at your service."

Maxine groaned, "Ugh. Tell me who assigned the partners and I'll tear her down."

Delilah chuckled, "I do hope you don't kill our boss, Maxine."

Maxine shut up at that which led Justin to laugh out loud. I laughed at her misery. It was amusing to watch her little love story unfold but I was curious about who my partner was.

I raised a hand, "Can we do introductions when we know who our partners will be? And we're nine. They're six. How can we do the dance with three members with no partners?"

Delilah smiled knowingly, "Oh you'll find out soon. Alright, here are the pairings. Maxine and Justin. Alyssa and Adrian. Nichola and Emmanuel. Penelope and Amadeus. Fiona and Daniel. Psyche and Benedict."

I was disheartened on not hearing my name. Maxine begrudgingly stomped an inch away from Justin. Penelope approached Amadeus shyly.

"Boys, introduce yourselves," Delilah ordered.

"Justin," the guy replied.

"Amadeus," the boy's eyes bore through mine as I stared at him as he introduced himself.

Clearly, talking was a foreign subject to these two.

The one with light blue hair smiled and showed his boyish charm. His warm chocolate eyes almost disappeared when he smiled, "My name is Adrian."

The guy with brown hair waved his hand, "I'm Benedict. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

The shy one—the one with green hair—cleared his throat before he talked in a surprisingly deep voice, "I'm Daniel."

I was sure I wasn't the only one who was shocked at his voice. It was evident in the other girls' faces.

Silence came after that. There was only one person left. We all stared at him expectantly. He looked like he had a lot on his mind. Benedict nudged the guy in glasses and motioned for him to introduce himself.

The guy adjusted his glasses, "Emmanuel."

Here we go, people. Another member of the 'I don't like speaking' club.

"Girls," Delilah stated.

"I'm Alyssa and am the leader of this group," she said and gave them her dazzling smile.

I could see Adrian resisting the urge to bow down at her feet. He was clearly pleased to know that he got her.

"I'm Fiona," she introduced.

"My name is Nichola," she said.

Emmanuel scanned her from head to toe, seemingly unpleased.

"Penelope," she said timidly with her hands folded in front of her like a true lady.

"Psyche," said her twin. She sighed at the boys' constant look at her and her sister, she raised her arms exasperatedly, "For heaven's sake, yes we're twins!"

"Maxine."

And now, ladies and gentlemen, a new member of the club.

"Hai—" I stopped myself quickly, "hey, I'm Sophie."

"My name is Nina."

Heather's dark blue eyes were stormy as she held eye contact with Amadeus, "Heather."

Another member.

Delilah clapped her hands, "Proceed to your partners please, and to those who do not have a partner yet, please wait for a while. I assume they're just late."

The girls and boys mingled with their partners—except for Maxine and Justin, Amadeus and Penelope, and Emmanuel and Nichola—some of them being happy with their partners.

Alyssa and Adrian had smiles on their faces. Penelope stared at the ground while fiddling with her fingers. Her partner doesn't care. He was still staring at Heather who turned her back on him. Daniel and Fiona were conversing. Psyche was laughing at what Benedict said.

Nina approached me and linked her arm through mine, "Come on, let's sit down and wait."

I nodded and let her lead me to one side of the room. Nina and I sat down and observed our members and their partners. Heather had her arms crossed over her chest as she observed everyone.

They practiced the steps for a while as we waited for our partners.

"Who do you think our partners would be?" Nina asked.

I shrugged, "Probably some back-up dancers."

Nina sighed, "I hope we get trainees or idols."

Heather scoffed, "You know that's mot happening."

"Yeah. Heather's right," I agreed, "there's a little chance that we'll get idols or trainees."

Nina shrugged, "We'll never know."

Just then, the door slammed open and a voice asked, "Sorry, are we late?"

I gasped when I saw the three boys. The blonde ran his hand through his hair and had a lopsided smile.

Delilah rolled her eyes, "Yes you are. Now, Hudson, go to Sophie. Derek with Heather. Haris and Nina. Damien isn't paired with anyone. He's busy for his solo album."

Hudson smiled and made his way towards me. He took my hand and kissed my knuckles, "Pleased to work with you, Lady Sophie."

Even with his sudden courteousness, my eyes were on another boy. Tony did the same gesture to Nina, which made her giggle. I was used to this due to the five or six months I've been in the palace but it still made my heart ache.

"Okay, now that we're complete, let's start with the first step of the instrumental," Delilah ordered.

My heart continued to crack when I saw Tony lead Nina to her place like he did with me.