The Darling Captainess (ATEEZ 9th Member)

~NEW YEAR, NEW COMEBACK~

(Friday January 4th, 2019)

The rest of 2018 came and went and it was a pretty successful year for Ateez being a new group. Maybe not in terms of music show wins, but they did gain some more fans. Tons of international fans. Korean fans still can't figure them out and why they have a girl in the group, but it's whatever.

2019 is here and the group is about to grace atiny once again with a comeback. Their first comeback of their career, only 3 months after their debut. You can't say they ain't putting in work. They're in the studio now, listening to the new title tracks they have recorded already, Hala Hala and Say My Name. The members were vibing, liking what they're hearing. "This is heat!" Itzae said, leaning back on the couch with her legs crossed. "I think atiny will like these songs. And you and Hongjoong's tag team rap on Say My Name was genius!" Seonghwa commented the siblings with a smile. "Thanks. That was her idea." Hongjoong nudged his sister, who grinned bashfully. "Well you suggested we should rap together." Itzae gave him credit. "It's very cool. I wanna do that with you, jangmi." Mingi said to her. "Of course we're gonna tag team, Mings. Our voices would be fire together." She said with a grin. "Promise?" Mingi held his pinky out. She grinned and linked her pinky with his. "I promise. I gotchu." She vowed, making Mingi smile. 

"And Yeosang, are you sure you only want one line in Hala Hala? Don't you want more lines?" She looked over to Yeosang. He shook his head in response. "No, I'm good. And I don't have one line, I have two. Count them, two." He playfully corrected her. "Still not enough, though." Itzae replied with a light chuckle. "You have a really nice voice, Sangie. You should get more lines." She added on. "She's gonna do to you what she did to me. Scold you for not having enough lines." Hongjoong joked, making Itzae and Yeosang laugh. "Look, I'm just looking out for y'all! I want everyone to have equal lines, we're a group for a reason." She told them. "I'll even donate lines." She says. Yeosang shook his head with a chuckle, "That won't be necessary, Zae. Keep your lines." He insisted. "I really think you should have more lines. But if that's what you want, I digress." She says, turning her Air Jordan snapback backwards on her head and leaning on Mingi's shoulder. 

"But these title tracks are frickin bangers! I can't wait to perform them!" She says as Mingi laid his arm on the back of the couch around her. "Say My Name is gonna sound awesome live." Yunho agreed. The group listened to more songs they have on their new mini album. They were feeling good about it and Eden dismissed them to the practice room to continue practicing the choreography to both title tracks.

Remember Anze? The choreographer they worked with while training in LA? Ateez got some help from him while choreographing Say My Name. He sent a video of himself along with other dancers choreographing the chorus of the song, doing the driving step glides. Y'all know the move. They thought that move was fire and decided to use it. Itzae really likes that move. Ever since they learned it, she has been doing it randomly around the dorm. 

The next day, Hongjoong and Itzae decided to have what they call a Sibling Day. A Sibling Day for them is when they take a day out of the week to hang out together, just the two of them. And they just bond by doing whatever. Listening to music, making music, reforming clothes, talking, going out somewhere, whatever it is they wanna do together. They always look forward to days like these because they take these moments to make up for the 4 years of being apart. 

So it's Sibling Day and they're in Hongjoong's studio, hanging out and listening to music. "I haven't heard that song in so long." Hongjoong says as the song they were listening to faded off. They were listening to songs they haven't heard in a while for a nostalgic vibe. The song they just got done listening to was "Lights" by Ellie Ghoulding. "Right? I'm surprised I still remember the lyrics." Itzae said with a slight chuckle. "We were in middle school when that song came out, right? Well I was and you were a high school freshman." She says to him. "Yeah, I was in high school. You should cover this song, jamae. Your voice is so good for this." Hongjoong suggested. "Or that other song she has, what's it called again?" He thought, trying to remember. Itzae thought and she remembered. "Anything Can Happen." She says, earning a nod from her stepbrother. "Yes, that song. You have the voice for it." Hongjoong says to her. Itzae nodded with a grin, looking at her phone, searching for another song to play. "I might. Those are great cover song choices." She says, flipping on of her braided pigtails.

"But the song I really want to cover is "Team" by Lorde. Remember that one?" Itzae asked Hongjoong. "I think so...how does it go?" Hongjoong asked in thought. "We live in cities~ you never see on screen~ not very pretty but we sure know how to run things~" She sang part of the chorus. Hongjoong listened and kind of recognized it. "It sounds familiar." He says. "I'll play it." Itzae searched for the song on her phone and played it. When the song started, Hongjoong recognized it. "Ah yeah, this one! I definitely see you covering this. This used to be your favorite song." Hongjoong smiled. "And Royals, too. I used to scream that song at the top of my lungs!" She beamed. "Yeah, you did." Hongjoong chuckled. 

They continued listening to music and after a few songs, they were talking and bonding together, recalling memories. Then Jayla started humming and vibing to a melody as Hongjoong was looking for another song. "What are you humming?" Hongjoong was curious as he heard her. She shrugged and rested her head on Hongjoong's shoulder. "I don't know. Just a melody I came up with while writing the other day." She answered. "A new song?" Hongjoong looked at her with a proud smile. She hummed with a nod and a smile of her own. "I was thinking about this whole transition of leaving LA and coming to Korea to pursue my dreams at a young age. And I thought I should write a song about it and, you know, let the world know that you're never too young to pursue what you wanna do in life and get out of your comfort zone." Itzae told him.

"Nice, jamae!" Hongjoong smiled. "You have anything recorded?" He asked her, hoping to maybe hear something. "I have a voice memo I recorded." Itzae replied. Hongjoong immediately turned toward her with a big smile. "Can I hear it?" He beamed, making her chuckle. "I knew that's why you were asking." She smiled, pulling out her phone. "What? I wanna hear what my sister is making." Hongjoong giggled, giving her his full undivided attention. "Not you being my biggest fan." She giggled. "I'll always be your biggest fan, sis." He kept his grin on his face. "Here it is." Itzae found the voice memo on her phone. She played it they both listened to it.

And I saw it in my dreams

I knew I'd be 17

Watching reality, spinning around

And I saw it in my dreams

I knew life would change for me

This is reality, look at me now

In the recording, she was also humming more melodies she thought of. "That's all I have so far. I think that's gonna be the hook." Itzae says to her brother as the recording ended. "That's nice, sis! I can't wait to hear what else you come up with." Hongjoong grinned. "It sounds good so far." He added. "Thank you." She says and they continued hanging out, having their sibling day.

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