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━━━  " 📂 " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝙍 𝙀 𝙈 𝙀 𝘿 𝙔

! chapter eighteen ─── ʚĭɞ

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Fortunately, they were only ten or so minutes later than they were scheduled to arrive, met with a gentle warning from Heekyung as they rushed through the ground floor of the building - it was only a formality really, the Im woman promised.

Miss Jo was waiting for them in the studio, and didn't say anything about their tardiness, giving them two minutes to settle their stuff down and organise themselves before launching into their usual routine.

Considering that it was rather early in the morning, the loud music and the exercise, it was quite the wake up for the four girls. And Miyeon, still determined to forget all about Soojin, completely threw herself into it.

Hours had passed by the time she properly thought of anything other than practise and learning the new routine that Miss Jo was teaching them, and it wasn't necessarily unrelated to that - Chanmi had asked her if she wanted to go to the gym on another floor of the Entertainment building, and after a moment of consideration Miyeon had agreed.

And now she was on the treadmill, dark hair tied back and swinging back and forth as she ran. Chanmi was doing exactly the same on the equipment beside her, the both of them focusing on solely that rather than anyone else - it was somewhat unbelievable the amount of times they had been witness to accidents on the machines because people weren't paying enough attention to their actions.

But when they reached their set target and the treadmills began to slow back down to a walk, the girls cooled down with drinks of water. "So, what happened last night?" Chanmi was the first to speak, pushing a button on the top of the machine that slowed down the pace even more.

"Hm?" Miyeon asked, taking another sip of her water and after placing that down she reached upwards to tighten her hair.

"What happened last night?" Chanmi repeated, keeping an eye on Miyeon's expression in the mirror several feet away from them. "You know... I thought I would ask, y'know?" Chanmi gave up far too quickly. "We were a little concerned when you didn't turn up last night."

"I'm really sorry." The Hwang girl was quick to apologise, words filled with sincerity. "I was really tired.. and I wanted to spend some time with Dae - you know how I worry about him - and I just ended up falling asleep."

"So everything's fine? Really?" Chanmi pushed a little, knowing that although Miyeon was telling the truth, there were just little bits that were missing from her story.

Including the rather forlorn expression that had appeared on the girl's pretty features that didn't seem to add up with the idea of her just falling asleep there.

"You were far too focused in practise as well." If anything was going to come out of their joint workout, it was answers to Chanmi's questions. She could be incredibly pushy and persuasive when she needed to be. The first wouldn't perhaps be viewed as such a positive trait, but in all honesty, it had its uses.

"I'm just cautious about our debut." Miyeon's voice was a little higher pitched than usual and she was quick to clear her throat with a small cough. "Fine, I was just a little upset."

"Okay, so explain it to me?"

"At school, there was a girl named Kang Soojin. She seemed nice, but she turned out to be incredibly jealous of one of our – mine and Seojun's – friends who happened to be the girlfriend of Soojin's childhood best friend. Not only that, but the girlfriend and Soojin were best friends as well." Miyeon began the retelling of the story that had led to the Kang girl's downfall.

The girlfriend.. well let's say that there was nothing too serious, just a secret that she was keeping about her appearance. Soojin used this secret and spread it around the entire school." As Miyeon said it, she began to feel even worse for even considering the idea of becoming Soojin's friend.

"Then what happened? To everyone, I mean?" Chanmi was always interested when either Miyeon or Seojun brought up their school history. Their years at Saebom High just seemed so exciting and dramatic at times.

"The girl owed up to her secret and became more confident. Soojin.. disappeared, for lack of a better word." Miyeon shrugged as the treadmill came to a complete stop and the pair moved off of them and clutched their water bottles, sitting down on a ledge. "She didn't come to school, she had lost all of her friends after being revealed as the person who spread the secret around."

"And this the reason you've been focused so much?" Chanmi seemed a little disgruntled at the news – she couldn't quite seem to figure out where this fit into Miyeon's bad mood.

"No.. I saw her the other day, after we went out to that restaurant with the boys – hey, did you find it funny that they all insisted on paying the bill?" Miyeon cut herself off as she remembered the rest of the night.

"That was weird!" Chanmi confirmed, before reverting back to the previous subject. "And I hadn't heard Maiya or Kai talking about it so I didn't know who I should have asked."

"No, it's alright." Miyeon waved her had dismissively. "My therapist says that I shouldn't even try and figure it so that you and the others can make good of this experience."

"Make good?" Chanmi repeated. "I think you're forgetting the fact that you're the reason why we're all here."

"You've got to stop crediting me with things I didn't do before my ego becomes so inflated it's like a burger.. or something." The slightly anti-climax end to Chanmi's metaphor provoked several spluttered giggles. "But back to the question, why were you so focused because of seeing that girl?"

"She looked different. Nicer – she was working for a charity so she must be nicer. But she was awful to the girlfriend and practically ruined her life.. there were other things going on behind the scenes that I don't really know the details of.. but she looked a lot happier and nicer." Miyeon shrugged. "It's stupid, I know, but I think she wants to talk to me about something."

"Well then go and talk to her!" Chanmi encouraged, turning in her seat to face Miyeon properly. "You've got the money and you've got the clues- "

"She wasn't there went I went to check yesterday." Miyeon replied, and now the Lee girl understood why family was such a touchy subject. "So I don't think I'll see her for a while."

"That gives you a chance to think about it." The Lee girl seemed to genuinely having fun. "You'll find her, one way or another."

"Oh, I'm sure I will." Miyeon laughed, eyes widening and twisting around quickly when she heard commotion  - one of the staff members was rushing through the gym.

"Ah, thank god!" The man panted, hands on his knees and propping himself up. "You two are needed for a meeting in Conference room 3 in ten minutes."

"Alright, thanks!" Chanmi shouted after her with a smile, turning back to Miyeon before they both became a mad rush to the changing rooms.

Being late to dance practise was one thing, but a meeting was another.