10 MONTHS (ENHYPEN FF)

9~ evaluation

SOOJIN POV

"Surprise!!!"

I laughed raising my eyebrows at the 12 boys throwing confetti into the air.

"Ah. I'm so shocked." I responded monotonously.

The boys scratched their head in embarassment as they looked at each other defeated.

"Yah. I told you not to get Yedam to go with her. Of course he'd tell her." Doyoung complained smacking Junkyu on the arm.

"Yedamieeeee why would you do that." whined Junkyu stomping his feet cutely.

Yedam scratched his neck and mumbled a quiet 'sorry'.

Chuckling at the situation, I finally looked around the practice room and noticed the massive banner on the wall.

WE LOVE YOU SOOJIN!

Smiling at their hard work, I ran up to the boys.

"Thanks guys!" I chimed in gratitude.

They excitedly accepted my hug, pushing and nudging each other in the process.

"We know you've been having a hard time lately so we figured you could use a little cheering up!" spoke Mashiho as we broke the hug.

I let out an 'aww' as I melted at the thoughtfulness of the boys.

Man. I love these guys so much.

Looking at the boys lovingly, I was suddenly interupted by a loud voice.

"Well why don't we start with some karaoke?" yelled Jaehyuk as he picked up the mics from the cupboard.

The boys all looked at me with puppy dog eyes as I chuckled at their faces. I nodded approvingly and the boys soon erupted into  screams and yells.

This is going to be a long night.

•••

It was the morning after the fat party with the Treasure members and I was exhausted as heck. And to make things worse, Hyunwoo, my vocal coach organised a final live performance evaluation before my debut the following day.

Dragging my feet towards the practice room that held the party the night before, I held my breath in anxiety.

You got this Soojin.
Once this is over, you can reward yourself with a nice 5 minute nap.

Mentally prepping myself, I entered the room, knocking on the door.

"Good morning." I greeted meeting the gaze of a handful of staff members included Saeri and Hyunwoo.

Gulping at the sight, I then noticed a familiar man off to the side leaning against the wall.

Jinhyuk.

Feeling a bit more at ease, I made my way to the centre of the room waiting for further instructions.

"Alright Soojin, for today's evaluation we want you to perform your song as if it was the real thing, however no backup dancers or backing track." announced one of the staff.

Chewing my lip in nervousness I nodded hesitantly. 

I haven't done a completely live run through my song yet.
I swear to God if those snacks from last night make my voice crack...

Finally the CEO Saeri, signalled for me to begin and I took my starting position.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered as much air in my chest as I could and released my first note. Surprisingly it sounded pretty clear and despite the lack of backing track, I managed to sing in time.

Luckily for me, my song had relatively simple choreography, allowing me to showcase my vocals without straining my voice.

As I sang and danced, I watched as the staff scribbled aggressively onto their note pads, analysing every move and facial expression I made. Feeling myself fall under their intimidating stares, I decided to keep my eyes on Jinhyuk who was smiling brightly at me.

Soon enough I sang my last note and moved to my final position. There was silence in the room. I watched nervously as the staff continued to write on their note pads as well as whisper in each others ears.

Taking anxious breaths, I looked over at Jinhyuk. Smiling proudly like an older brother, he shot me a thumbs up with his hands and mouthed a silent, "You killed it." Refraining myself from giggling out loud, I nodded then focused my attention back onto the staff.

"Thanks Soojin. To be honest we are quite impressed." spoke Saeri looking up from her notes.

"We found out about the little party you had with the Treasure members last night and decided to organise this evaluation to hopefully catch you making mistakes. Surprisingly, you were good."

Hearing her words I felt mixed feelings of hurt yet relief.

Why would they do that knowing I was so tired.
Do they really want to scold me that bad?

My eyes teared up as my mind took me back to the past month. The continuous yells and screams from the staff and coaches rang in my head as I remembered myself continually being in a state of trying not to break down.

You guys are assholes.

Staring blankly at the staff, I shot death threats at them mentally. 

"With that being said, to keep up your good work, I have arranged practice sessions for you with the company's top dance and vocal coaches. You won't be getting a wink of sleep til after your stage at MC Countdown tomorrow." Saeri announced smiling devilishly.

Did she really just-
So much for my long-waited nap.

Mentally cursing out the woman, I nodded reluctantly and thanked them before heading out the door. As I entered the hall, I collapsed against the wall.

"Hey, hey, you alright?" spoke a voice frantically.

Loosing all my energy, I fell limp into the man's arms.

"Jinhyuk-ah. Do you know how long those darn boys karaoked last night...five...FREAKING FIVE AM." I shout-whispered letting my pent up exhaustion get the best of me.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry Soojin-ah. But you know there's nothing I can do." he replied soothing my back up and down.

Choking up on my tears, I felt my body start to pain in sadness, anger and exhaustion.

"If it were up to me, I'd be letting my poor baby sleep until one hour before she has to go on stage tomorrow." she cooed quietly into my ear.

Smiling tiredly, I finally built up the strength to get up from the ground.

"Now that Jinhyuk, was by far the cringiest thing you've said since we've met."

I watched as the man chuckled and reached over to pat my head.

"Just you wait Soojin, just you wait."

Shaking my head at my manager, we both dusted ourselves off and soon made our way to the first of my many practice sessions for the day.