red // hwang hyunjin ✔️

chapter five

gone, but not forgotten

"we're so glad to have you back!" the director smiles at you, bowing politely. you bow back with a small smile.

"i'm glad to be back." you chuckle.

"so, i'll get right to it. we think you'll be perfect for our latest girl group, 'hidden'." he states, your eyes going comically wide at the quick offer.

"i— really? that's— that's a fantastic offer!" your eyes practically shimmer with excitement.

"of course! we loved you in the audition, we think a solid month of training will get you where we want you for this group. if you're interested, i can grab your contract now for you to read over?" he offers.

"yes, please! i would love to!" you nod enthusiastically. he smiles as he stands up, excusing himself to grab the contract. you couldn't believe this was actually happening. about seven companies later, and one was finally accepting you. yg entertainment.

of course, after three rejections, it was difficult to keep going, but you couldn't let yourself down. and finally, five months later, you were being accepted. the undeniable urge to celebrate by telling the one person who understands just how badly you wanted this was overwhelming. but you couldn't talk to him anymore. the two of you didn't talk. he was always too busy, always forgetting, or not caring to get back to you. you weren't sure, but you really didn't care.

you were about to have a lot less time on your hands yourself, and soon enough, hyunjin would become a distant memory. you weren't very happy with the fact that the long term relationship you had was over so fast. but you had time to heal, time to understand. the two of you have so much life ahead of you, your mere two-year relationship was barely even a chapter in it.

"alright— i grabbed everything, your contract, and a folder containing everything you need to know about your groups debut." he smiles heartily as he plops all of the papers down on the desk in front of you. your eyes scan over the contract, the key points already being highlighted, though you knew what the contract said.

"how soon can i start?" you ask, hoping you didn't sound too eager, but you really didn't care. it was finally your turn.

"as soon as you sign." he replies. "the contract states the usual, i'm sure you're familiar. one i always like to highlight is our dating policy— it's a little different from other companies, but not really. your dating ban is in effect until your group wins it's first award." he explains.

"of course, understandable." you nod, and without any further explanation, you sign the contract, opening the chapter to your new life. things were about to become a lot more different, and you were more than prepared.

the moment the pen left the paper, it was as if time sped up. everything started happening so fast. the director took the contract from you, storing it securely among other contracts, you could only assume. he then began to quickly go over the groups debut with you. explaining that it will consist of seven members. this is where he also informed you that you were the youngest of the group, not by much, but you had secured your place as maknae of the group.

"so, your one month of training with the group starts now, if you'll follow me we'll head down the hall so you can meet everyone. after getting to know everyone, you will be dismissed for the night, returning tomorrow at eight in the morning with all of your belongings to move into the dorms. if i remember correctly, you'll be sharing a room with luna and hari." the director spews a plethora of information. you tried your best to keep up, despite having no clue at all who luna and hari were. he stood up, motioning for you to follow him.

you take a deep breath before standing up from the chair, following him as he practically sped walked down the hall.

"alright everyone, meet your maknae!" he chuckles, holding the door open for you. you couldn't help but smile upon seeing the six other girls sat, all looking at you with wide smiles. one of them stood up, walking over to you instantly.

"hello, it's so nice to meet you! i'll be your leader, jiyoung." she speaks, bowing politely to you. you bow back, introducing yourself immediately after, and one by one, all the other girls introduced themselves as well.

"i'm leah!"

"i'm areum!"

"i'm nabi!"

"i'm luna!"

"i'm hari!"

you quickly learned everyone's age, learning that jiyoung was the oldest, and luna and hari were a little bit older than you. luckily, everyone was super friendly, and easy to talk to. you had a really good feeling about this group of girls. it was nerve wracking having not met any of the girls beforehand, but after meeting them, you were no longer worried. the seven of you quickly fell into conversation, everyone sharing things about themselves.

you guys even fell onto the topic of stage names, and your fandom name.

"since we're called hidden, our fans should be called treasure! wouldn't that be so cute?" leah suggests, making puppy-dog eyes at jiyoung.

"i think i know leah's representative animal." nabi laughs.

"treasure is actually really cute." jiyoung agrees with a chuckle.

of course you agreed to the cute fandom name, laughing along with everyone. at least, until one of them dropped some very interesting information.

"our debut performance is literally going to be at the award show. i'm so nervous we'll literally be the only rookie group there!" luna pouts.

"there's other rookie groups, just not ones that have never performed before..." hari says, trying to comfort luna, but she doesn't do that good of a job.

"that's why we'll work hard this month!" areum states confidently. everyone nodding in agreement.

"jiyoung, your ex is going to be there." nabi smirks, elbowing the older.

"your ex?" leah questions.

"he's not an ex. we just had a fling before he debuted." jiyoung responds, shooting a glare towards nabi.

"okay but who?" hari cocks an eyebrow.

"do you know stray kids?" nabi asks. you freeze. stray kids was the name of hyunjin's group. but it wouldn't be him. there were seven other guys in that group, it couldn't be him.

"of course!" luna nods, clearly a fan of the group. and you couldn't lie, his group was really good. you'd seen a lot of their work since they debuted, and you were so proud.

"if it's lee know i'm literally going to be so jealous of you." areum states.

"not him." nabi chuckles.

"then who?" hari asks again, still waiting for her initial question to be answered.

"hyunjin." nabi smirks. your heart drops. you knew you had no right. the two of you broke up. clearly jiyoung met him during training, the time when you and him had stopped talking because he wanted to focus on the survival show. but out of everyone else, it just had to be your leader?

in that moment you made a vow to yourself. forget about hyunjin. the relationship with your group was much more important than a past relationship that clearly didn't mean much to the other party. it wasn't worth bringing it up anymore. the leader was definitely the main one you didn't want to piss off.

besides— this was a new chapter in your life. the past is in the past.